Kate Bush's Arc

Chapter 4 of 21

Mr. Echo set the box on a flat stone at the bend and held out his hands for the jar. His needle jumped harder as Kate lowered the jar into his palms. He said they could not open it here. The pale woman had seen Kate's face. If they cracked the seal in open air, the quiet would come down the slope and eat whatever voice was inside before they heard a word. Kate crouched by the box. Her knees hurt. She asked how they could open it at all, then. Mr. Echo did not answer straight. He said sound needed a room to live in. A small room. Something noisy enough to hold the answer against the silence long enough for a person to catch it. A boy stepped out from behind Marrow's shoulder. Kate had not seen him climb up. His hair was pale and his sweater was torn at the elbow. He looked at the jar and then at Kate. He said, I know a place. A shed at the north pass. It has a tin roof. Rain on it sounds like a whole town shouting. Kate stared at him. Marrow said his name was Ollie and that he had been in the Fen with her brother. Kate's hand went tight on the jar. She asked where her brother was now. Ollie said, hurt. Hiding. He told me to find you. He said to open it inside noise, not outside it. They walked down together. The sky was low and wet by the time they reached the shed. Rain started as Ollie pushed the door. The tin roof answered at once, a hard steady drum. Mr. Echo set the jar on a crate. He looked at Kate. He said, your seal, your hand. Kate broke the wax with her thumbnail and pulled the lid. A voice came out under the rain. It was thin and cracked but it was her brother's. It said her name once. It said, I climbed for a girl who lost her body in the trees. Her name is Lily. I found her shoes. The pale woman took my voice for a while. I am at the north pass. Come by daylight. Bring salt. Then the voice stopped and the jar was only a jar. Kate held the empty glass against her chest and did not move for a long time. Ollie stood by the door with his hands in his pockets. He said, flat, he is alive the way I am alive. Kate looked at him and understood. The rain kept up on the tin. She had her brother's words and she knew where to go, and she knew now what he was. She put the jar in her coat and told Mr. Echo they were leaving for the north pass at first light.