[Todd]

Mistress Lawson finally cleared Wilf to go home – other than bein' traumatized by the explosion, he only had a few injuries. So while Viola was helpin' Jane get settled in at our house, I was walkin' him home, makin' casual conversation, tryin' to put his Noise at ease. But the closer we got to the house, the more his Noise rattled, cuz of gettin' so close to Jane; which made me nervous about another explosion. I told him to wait outside of the house so I cud let Viola kno.

And that's when my fiancé kicked me out the house.

"Viola." I say after she answers the door, her arms crossed against her chest, one of mine holdin onto the doorframe. "Yer can't be serious."

"Todd." She says, imitatin' my tone. "Jane and Wilf have nowhere else to live, and even if they did, they can't live together. It would only be for one night. You two could stay with Ben and make a whole sleepover out of it."

But I wasn't tryna listen to all that, so I shook my head no, crossed my arms like she had hers. "We haven't slept a part since…" I say, my voice trailin' as I sought for words in my Noise, but cudn't find any. "Since I can't even remember."

Viola snorted, then raised her index finger to my temple, tapped on it twice. "Are you forgetting that we're connected up here? We wouldn't actually be a part."

She ain't wrong. Viola was with me everywhere I went – quite literally, cuz of our Noise. "How do yer kno it'll only be one night? Wut if they can't learn to control their Noise by then?"

But when it came to other people, Viola had no doubts, and even tho she cudn't tell me how, her Noise was more than positive. She just knew. "They'll get it. Just… trust me."

"I do. I always do." I say, then take her hand, let out a long sigh, look down to the ground. "Well, I guess this is goodbye, then."

Viola lifts her face up towards the sky and laughs, then pulls me into a hug, her chin on my shoulder, arms tight around my torso. "Todd, you are so dramatic." She says, and then pauses before saying in a soft voice, "Thank you for helping with this. I really mean that. And I love you."

"I love yer too, Viola." I say, then pull away from her, kiss her on the cheek. "We'll see yer in the mornin."

I start to turn away, but Viola has me wait a second, and I'm standin there in the doorway, tryin' not to go into my own house, until she comes back with my mother's journal in her hands. "Just in case you want to read it, you know, on your own."

I stare at it in the space between us. Do I want to? I don't even kno. But I take it anyways. Slowly, reluctantly. But I do take it.

"Alright." I say. She waves me goodbye and I only look back once.

How are you feeling, Todd? Ben asks me, even tho I'm the last person anyone really needs to be worried about. We're standin outside of his house, kickin our feet in the little bit of snow that was still on the ground. The sun is nearly set, and I'm missin Viola, and I'm tryin to hide the fact that all my ma's secrets are hidden in my coat pocket. Shud I tell Ben about it? Isn't it somethin' he deserves to kno? Maybe, but if I'm gonna confront the elder Spackle, it's probably best to keep this between me and Viola. If I ran my mouth to the entire settlement, tellin people the elder Spackle was out to get the men and women who shared Noise together, that'll just put me and Viola in more trouble than we were already (potentially) in. Wilf and Jane, too. And whoever else was startin to share Noise like us. Cud be everyone at this point, for all we ruddy knew.

I'm alright. I say to Ben, and mostly, it's true. I'd be more worried about Viola if I didn't have a way of seein wut all she was doin. But by the looks of it, thru my Noise, I cud see that she and Jane were just fine. She even had Hildy and Steff come over, too, all of them laughin and talkin and askin Viola wut it must be like, to be sharin all her thoughts with someone else. She says that it ain't as bad as they may think; It's not like he's listening to my every thought, or anything. She says, and then I smile, because of course she knew I was listening, and she'd only said that to tease me. I started to think that maybe, if other couples were gonna have this connection with their Noise, it wudn't be such a bad thing. Well, maybe it wud be at first, since it was difficult to control. But it wuz worth learnin, if yer got to be forever connected with the one yer love. I saw Viola smile about that.

All the more reason I needed to confront the elder Spackle.

I get the sense that you aren't telling me the truth. Ben said. I can tell you're closing off parts of your Noise.

Hm. I said, still kickin my feet on the ground. I never got too good at hidin it, did I?

Not really. Ben said. But you don't owe your thoughts to anyone. Even though they're out there for everyone to see.

Sometimes, I feel like I do. I admit. It wasn't until the war that I learned to have secrets, yer kno.

That's because you had people to protect. Ben said, lookin at me now, his eyes tryin to get me to understand. But just know, you can always talk to me. Just because the war is over doesn't mean the fear is completely gone.

He wasn't lyin about that. Are yer worried about people getting Noise like me and Viola?

Ben gave it some thought, and I watched his Noise go over all the reasons he should, and shouldn't be worried. I think that it would be a beautiful thing, at the end of the day. You and I both know how wonderful this Noise is. But I don't know if the settlement could handle so many couples getting it at once.

It wud be chaos. I said. Viola is gonna teach Wilf and Jane how to control it.

If anyone is right for the job, it's her. Ben said.

Oh, yer right about that. I'm just worried that if too many of em get it at once, she won't be able to- I started to say, until my eyes wandered off into the distance, and I squinted, just to make sure wut I was seein was correct-

Flames-

And smoke-

Against the dark sky-

In three separate places-

Burnin down three separate houses-

Ben saw it too, before I even mentioned it, and then we were both callin for Lee and Bradley, but tellin Wilf to stay inside when he tried to come help us. Viola wuz askin me wut's wrong not too long after, until she saw it herself, saw the flames and the smoke and the explosions that were happenin all at once, caused by our own people. I told her to stay put but she didn't listen – just instructed Hildy to watch Jane while she and Steff came to help us.

No, let Hildy come and leave Steff behind. I said to her thru my Noise. Lee is comin with us and I don't want to risk them-

But I didn't have to finish tellin her the rest. She already knew.

"Are you kidding me? I'm not spending the night away from my husband and my children because of this. They're all terrified and so am I!" This wuz a woman named Val, who'd just been involved in one of the house fires. Her hair was fried and black smudges were across her cheeks and her clothes were singed and her hands were still glowin from the Noise she created with her husband while Viola tried to calm her down. Her three little kids were all standin around her, starin at her glowin fingertips, interest and concern written all over their faces. Good thing they were standin right there. If not, I would have had some choice words for her, for actin so difficult.

But I guess I cudn't blame her for bein scared, either.

Good thing Viola was better at handlin that kinda thing.

"I know you don't want to, trust me, I do." Viola reassured her, a hand on the woman's trembling shoulders. "But it isn't safe for you, or your children right now, when you're in this state. I promise you that I can show you how to manage it but not when so many-"

"Where is my husband?" She asked, her words less rigid, now.

"He's at the house of healing. With the other two men who got hurt." Viola told her. "He'll be okay there, Mistress Lawson is taking really good care of him-"

"I mean I could hear and feel and see EVERYTHING." Hellie, another woman, wuz explainin really loudly to Ben, flailing her arms as if that's wut Noise looked like. "All I did was tell him a joke… and then the whole house BLEW UP-"

"I don't know what happened." I heard the other woman, Iris, say quietly to Hildy, who wuz holdin her in her arms, letting her cry on her shoulder. "All we were doing was laying in bed, having a discussion about maybe having a kid, and then it got really warm, and our hands, our hands started to…" Iris looked down at her hands, tremblin just as much as her words, and I had to look away. Not cuz she was so upset, but cuz of wut Hildy told her next-

"It's going to be okay. I promise." She whispered.

But I didn't kno if we cud go around sayin that, just yet.

"Where are we supposed to go in the meantime?" Val asked Viola, anger and fear and worry all wrapped up in her tone at once.

"My house." She was already sayin, not even askin me about it first, but I knew it was the only choice. "I… me and Todd have plenty of room for you. And your children."

When I glance at the woman and she don't look too convinced, and I start to tell her, "You wanna ruddy blow yer house up, again!" But I kno that ain't the right thing to do and hold my tongue. She wuz scared, ain't never had Nosie before, worried about her family. All things I'd felt before.

So I kept quiet and just let Viola handle it.

"That's… kind of you." She finally said to Viola. "But you do see how we can't be a part forever? We have a family, Viola, and I don't want-"

"It's only temporary." Viola said, and then, she looked over at me, her eyes askin me to agree, for me to also tell this woman that it wud be okay, as if hearin it from more people wud make her feel better. But the truth is-

I kinda need to be reminded of that, too.

When the women finally calmed down, Viola and Hildy and Bradley walked them back to our house, while Lee and Ben and I stayed back to keep cleanin up. All their homes were completely burned down, but while we picked thru the ashes and the Lee and Ben talked about getting a team together to re-build I couldn't stop thinkin about all the things that cud go wrong. I knew that Viola cud teach women how to use their Noise but how wuz she gonna handle so many at once? And how long wuz it gonna take? And where were they all gonna go, when our house wuz too full of em? And wut if some people didn't want to listen? Didn't want to separate and kept creatin explosion after explosion –

"Todd? Did you hear me?" Lee asked, walking up beside me.

"No, er, sorry." I said, distracted. "Wut is it?"

"I said… that Steff and I haven't created any kind of explosions yet. So it must not be that serious." Lee laughed at his own joke and I couldn't even believe he'd said it, at a time like this. I think it was a combination of my own worry and exhaustion that made me laugh at it, just a little.

But it wasn't funny anymore when we heard someone's voice behind us.

That's because the two of you don't share a special connection with the Land.

It was the elder Spackle-

Standing right behind us-

With Mona standin beside her, scribblin in that notebook-

And disappointed look written all over her face.

I see that more of your community has Noise now. Is that right? She asked me. Lee swallowed nervously and Ben walked up to us. His Noise wuz braver than mine.

Just a few. Ben said. We're handling it, though. The women are safe and the men are recovering-

I'm sure they are. The elder Spackle said. But it looks to me as if your community is up in flames. I think that I've said this to you before but you're all in great danger if you continue to-

Like we said before. Ben interrupted her. It is all under control. If you'd like to help recover what we've lost we'd be more than happy to have your help. But for any other reason-

I've only come to give you my warning. As I did before.

She turned, began to walk away, and the three of us watched her – but I knew she hadn't gone too far. So when we were done cleanin up, and the night was just barely turnin into mornin, I snuck away to the edge of the forest, where I knew Mona and the elder Spackle were still waitin, watchin us. They both smiled when I came back, holdin up my ma's journal.

Me and Viola and the rest of our community ain't no threat to the Spackle for havin Noise. Just like my Ma wasn't. I said, shakin the journal. Me and Viola kno that Noise between men and women ain't no threat if it's trained properly. So yer both need to stop yer investigation, or whatever yer doin, and let us live in peace.

The elder Spackle narrowed her eye, and then Mona stopped writin, looked up at me as if what the elder Spackle was about to say would be the best, or maybe the worst, thing I wuz ever gonna hear.

You will not believe me when I say that Noise between men and women is dangerous. The elder Spackle started, and I could feel my heart hammerin' against my chest. And I'm not in the business of trying to get you to listen to me. But just remember, Todd, that you lost your parents due to this kind of carelessness. And if you and Viola are not careful – your entire community will be next.

But I'd read the Noise of too many liars to believe wut she was sayin was true-

The elder Spackle wasn't sayin this to caution us, one neighbor to another-

But instead, it was a warning-

A threat-

A declaration of war-

That if we didn't stop usin' our Noise together-

They'd be comin' for our community, themselves.

Author's Note: This was a fun chapter to write! I'm not sure what compelled me to type it out at five o'clock in the morning, but hey, whatever it takes! I think I've been a bit intimidated by my own story, feeling obligated to crank out 5,000+ word chapters, but I think I'm going to stop holding myself to that, especially if it means I'll get chapters out sooner.

I've mostly been compulsively reading novels and writing my own stuff in my free time, but this story shall continue! I didn't originally have any plans to get this far into the women's Noise, but I think it'll be fun. Let me know if anything is confusing/awkward, or if you think there's something I should add that'll make the story better. It's all just for fun here but I want it to be as interesting as possible for y'all

Oh, and I must mention what we are all thinking… WHERE IS THE MOVIE TRAILER. I understand things are tricky with the movie industry right now, but at the same time, I'm impatiently tapping my foot at Lionsgate for this supppppper long wait…

Please be safe and happy and kind to each other, out there!