'I didn't-' He gestures again at the band without looking up. 'It wasn't me, was it?' he says, his voice quiet, too. Todd's leant down, his hands on his knees, staring at the floor. ' Lieutenant?' I say again, lowering my voice. The man waits for a second, then goes back inside. 'Everything all right out there, Lieutenant?' The side door opens and the man who let me in leans out. The skin is still red, and band 1391 still trobs, despite the healing of three mistresses. He moves his fingertips of his other hand within reach of the band, hovering over my skin, over the band that'll never be removed unless I lose my arm. He puts a hand to his mouth to stifle it but his Noise is suddenly washed with blackness. He actually calls out as if he felt the pain himself. 'Three months wondering why you put these on women!' Three months of wondering why the hell you're working so hard for the Mayor and how he knew to go right for the ocean the day after we spoke.' He winces, but I keep going, thrusting out my arm and pulling up on the sleeve. 'Three months of defending you to people who'd only be too happy to call you enemy, Todd. 'Yeah,' I yell, my voice getting louder to match his. The Ask and the Answer Patrick Ness 4.19 92,323 ratings8,087 reviews We were in the square, in the square where I'd run, holding her, carrying her, telling her to stay alive, stay alive till we got safe, till we got to Haven so I could save her - But there weren't no safety, no safety at all, there was just him and his men. 'Three months I don't see you, three months I don't hear nothing from you and you been spying? Is that what yer doing in your spare time when yer not blowing people up?' The man who shot me, Todd, and who you ride to work with laughing every morning.'

'What do you mean what?' My voice is harder now. Hammar is grinning and holding her there-Īnd her wrist are starting to bleed from where she's pulling. 'STOP IT!' I shout as she's thrashing again-Īnd I'm pounding even tho my hands are breaking-Īnd Mr. He's looking right at me, as if he could see me even if I was behind a brick wall.

'NO!' I shout, pressing myself against the mirror. 'Captain Hammar,' the Mayor says and Viola's plunged into the water again, unable to not scream out in fright as down she goes.

My stomach sinks, my heart drops, my head feels so light I feel like I'm going to drop right to the ground. He doesn't even flinch.Īnd then she says, 'Todd would never tell you.

The Ask and the Answer by Patrick Ness