Chaos Walking

by Patrick Ness

  Or here, too, here I am, looking down from a hilltop as a huge ship, bigger than a whole town, flies overhead and comes in for a landing–

  And at the same time I’m having a memory of being next to a creek bed and there’s a baby Spackle playing and there are men coming outta the woods and they’re dragging the mother off and the baby is crying and the men come back and pick him up and load him on a cart with other babies and I know this is a memory that ain’t mine and that the baby is, the baby Spackle is–

  And sometimes it’s just dark–

  –sometimes there’s nothing but voices I can’t quite hear, voices just beyond reach and I’m alone in the darkness and it feels like I’ve been here for a long, long time and I–

  I can’t remember my name sometimes–

  Are you there?

  Viola?

  And I don’t remember who Viola is–

  Only that I need to find her–

  That she’s the only one who’ll save me–

  She’s the only one who can–

  Viola?

  Viola?

  “. . . my son, my beautiful son . . .”

  And there!

  Like that!

  Sometimes there it is in the middle of the darkness, in the middle of the memories, in the middle of wherever I am, doing whatever I’m doing, sometimes even in the middle of the million voices that create the ground I walk on–

  Sometimes I hear–

  “. . . I wish yer pa were here to see you, Todd . . .”

  Todd–

  Todd–

  That’s me–

  (I think–)

  (Yes–)

  And that voice, that voice saying those words–

  “. . . say ‘ain’t’ all you like, Todd, I promise not to correct you . . .”

  Is that Viola’s voice?

  Is it?

  (Is it you?)

  Because I’m hearing it more often lately, more often as the days pass, as I’m flying thru these memories and spaces and darknesses–

  I’m hearing it more often among all the other millions–

  “. . . Yer calling for me, and I will answer . . .”

  I will answer–

  Todd will answer–

  Viola?

  Are you calling for me?

  Keep calling for me–

  Keep doing it, keep coming to save me–

  Cuz every day yer closer–

  I can almost hear you–

  I can almost–

  Is that you?

  Is that us?

  Is that what we did?

  Viola?

  Keep calling for me–

  And I’ll keep searching for you–

  And I’ll find you–

  You bet yer life on it–

  I’ll find you–

  Keep calling for me, Viola–

  Cuz here I come.

  PATRICK NESS is the author of the Chaos Walking trilogy, which includes The Knife of Never Letting Go, winner of the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize; The Ask and the Answer, winner of the Costa Children’s Book Award; and Monsters of Men, winner of the Carnegie Medal. He is also the author of the highly-acclaimed novel A Monster Calls, and he is a literary critic for the Guardian. He says, “Even in a society where we’re constantly being told to ‘be ourselves,’ the pressure to conform is terrible, especially for the young. If the Chaos Walking trilogy is about anything, it’s about identity, finding out who you are. How do you stay an individual when the pressure to conform, to change who you are, is actually life-threatening?” Born in Virginia, Patrick Ness lives in London.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either

  products of the author’s imagination or, if real, are used fictitiously.

  The novels in this collection were previously published individually by Candlewick Press.

  Cover image copyright © 2011 by CGTextures

  The Knife of Never Letting Go copyright © 2008 by Patrick Ness

  The Ask and the Answer copyright © 2009 by Patrick Ness

  Monsters of Men copyright © 2010 by Patrick Ness

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, transmitted,

  or stored in an information retrieval system in any form or by any means,

  graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, taping, and

  recording, without prior written permission from the publisher.

  First electronic edition in this format 2011

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  is available for the hardcover editions.

  The Knife of Never Letting Go: Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 2007052334

  ISBN 978-0-7636-3931-0 (hardcover)

  ISBN 978-0-7636-4576-2 (paperback)

  ISBN 978-0-7636-5216-6 (electronic)

  The Ask and the Answer: Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 2009007329

  ISBN 978-0-7636-4490-1 (hardcover)

  ISBN 978-0-7636-4837-4 (paperback)

  ISBN 978-0-7636-5217-3 (electronic)

  Monsters of Men: Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 2009049727 ISBN 978-0-7636-4751-3 (hardcover)

  ISBN 978-0-7636-5665-2 (paperback)

  ISBN 978-0-7636-5211-1 (electronic)

  ISBN 978-0-7636-6170-0 (electronic collection)

  "Idioteque" by Thomas Edward Yorke, Philip James Selway, Edward John O'Brien,

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  and Warner/Chappell Music Publishing Ltd (PRS). All rights reserved.

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