The Knife of Never Letting Go

know.

“TODD HEWITT!” we hear again, faint over the roar of the water but loud as the whole entire universe.

“There’s nowhere to hide,” Viola says, looking around us and down. “Not till we get to the bottom.”

I’m looking round, too. The hillsides are too steep, the road too open, the areas between the road’s double- backs too shallow with shrubs.

Nowhere to hide.

“TODD HEWITT!”

Viola points up. “We could get up to those trees on top of the hill.”

But it’s so steep, I can already hear the hope failing in her voice.

And I spin round, looking still–

And then I see.

A little faint trail, skinny as anything, hardly even there, leading away from the first turn of the road and towards the falls. It disappears after a few metres but I follow it to where it might have gone.

Right to the cliffside.

Right down sharp to a place almost below the falls.

Right to a ledge that’s almost hidden.

A ledge underneath the waterfall itself.

I take a few steps outta the scrub and back onto the road. The little trail disappears.

So does the ledge.

“What is it?” Viola asks.

I go back into the scrub again.

“There,” I say, pointing. “Can you see it?”

She squints where I’m pointing. The fall is casting a little shadow on the ledge, darkening where the little trail ends.

“You can see it from here,” I say, “but you can’t see it from the road.” I look at her. “We’ll hide.”

“He’ll hear you,” she says. “He’ll come after us.”

“Not over this roar, not if I don’t shout in my Noise.”

Her forehead creases and she looks down at the road to Haven and up to where Aaron’s gotta be coming any second.

“We’re so close,” she says.

I take her arm and start pulling on it. “Come on. Just till he passes. Just till dark. With luck he’ll think we doubled back into the trees above.”

“If he finds us, we’re trapped.”

“And if we run for the city, he shoots us.” I look in her eyes. “It’s a chance. It gives us a chance.”

“Todd—”

“Come with me,” I say, looking right into her as hard as I can, pouring out as much hope as I can muster. Oh never leave me. “I promise I’ll get you to Haven tonight.” I squeeze her arm. Oh don’t deceive me. “I promise you.” She looks right back at me, listening to it all, and then gives a single, sharp nod and we run to the little trail and down to where it ends and jump over the scrub to where it should continue and—“TODD HEWITT!”

He’s almost to the falls–

And we scrabble down a steep embankment next to the edge of the water, the steepness of the hill rearing above us–

And slide down and over to the edge of the cliff–

The falls straight ahead–

And I get to the edge and I suddenly have to lean back into Viola cuz the drop goes straight down–

She grabs onto my shirt and holds me up–

And the water is smashing down right in front of us to the rocks below–

And the ledge leading under it all is just there–

Needing a jump over emptiness to get to it–

“I didn’t see this part,” I say, Viola grabbing at my waist to keep us from tumbling over.

“TODD HEWITT!”

He’s close, he’s so close–

“Now or never, Todd,” she says in my ear–

And she lets go of me–

And I jump across–

And I’m in the air–

And the edge of the falls is shooting over my head–

And I land–

And I turn–

And she’s jumping after me–

And I grab her and we fall backwards onto the ledge together–

And we lay there breathing–

And listening–

And all we hear for a second is the roar of the water over us now–

And then, faint, against it all–

“TODD HEWITT!”

And he suddenly sounds miles away.

And Viola’s on top of me and I’m breathing heavy into her face and she’s breathing heavy into mine.

And we’re looking in each other’s eyes.

And it’s too loud to hear my Noise.

After a second, she puts her hands on either side of me and pushes herself away. She looks up as she does and her eyes go wide.

I can just hear her say, “Wow.”

I roll away and look up.

Wow.

The ledge is more than just a little ledge. It carries on till it’s back, way back under the waterfall. We’re standing at the beginning of a tunnel with one wall made of rock and another made of pure falling water, roaring past white and clean and so fast it looks almost solid.

“Come on,” I say and head on down the ledge, my shoes slipping and sliding under me. It’s rocky and wet and slimy and we lean as close as we can to the rock side, away from the thundering water.

The noise is just tremendous. All-consuming, like a real thing you could taste and touch.

So loud, Noise is obliterated.

So loud, it’s the quietest I’ve ever felt.

We scramble on down the ledge, under the falls, making our way over rocky bumps and little pools with green goop growing in them. There are roots, too, hanging down from the rocks above, belonging to who knows what kinda plant.

“Do these look like steps to you?” Viola shouts, her voice small in the roar.

“TODD HEWITT!!” we hear from what sounds like a million miles away.

“Is he finding us?” Viola asks.

“I don’t know,” I say. “I don’t think so.”

The cliff face isn’t even and the ledge curves round it as it stretches forward. We’re both soaking wet and the water is cold and it’s not easy grabbing onto the roots to keep our balance.

Then the ledge suddenly drops down and widens out, carved steps becoming more obvious. It’s almost a stairway down.

Someone’s been here before.

We descend, the water thundering inches away from us.

We get to the bottom.