Necropolis

COUNCIL OF WAR

Matt woke up with the smell of burnt wood in his nostrils and the taste of it in his mouth. He had slept for about six hours but he might as well not have bothered. Even before he got out of bed, he knew that he was as tired as he had been when he got into it shortly after two o’clock the night before.

He’d had to share with Pedro. His own room had been destroyed by the fire, along with everything inside it – and it was only as he opened his eyes the following morning that he realized exactly what that meant. He no longer had a passport. He wasn’t going to be travelling anywhere today, certainly not on a commercial flight – and that must have been just what the attack had set out to achieve. The Old Ones didn’t want him arriving in London. They didn’t want him anywhere near Scarlett Adams. And although there were policemen and private detectives looking out for her, she was completely isolated. One in England. Four in Peru. It certainly didn’t add up to the Five.

Pedro was sitting, cross-legged on his bed, wearing only a pair of shorts. There was a plaster on the side of his head. Matt guessed that he had been awake for a while. Pedro was always the first to get up, but then, of course, in his old life he would have been begging on the streets of Lima, waiting for the commuter traffic long before dawn. The two boys had been lying next to each other in twin beds.

“So what do we do now?” Pedro asked.

“I don’t know, Pedro.” Matt got out of bed and pulled on a fresh T-shirt. “We’ll have to meet and decide.”

“Will we still go to England?”

“Yes.”

Pedro hadn’t spoken very much about the journey and Matt suspected that he was finding it difficult to get his head around it. He had never been out of Peru in his life. Even the notion of getting on a plane was completely alien to him. He had only flown once and that had been in a helicopter which had crashed. The thought of spending fifteen hours in the air and landing in a completely different world unnerved him.

“I am sad that the professor is dead,” he said. “She was very kind.”

“I know.” Matt wondered if he could have saved her. Was her death his fault? It seemed to him now that she had been doomed from the moment they had arrived, although he knew she would never have seen it that way. Even so… It had been two days since they had received the fax with the news about Scar. He wished now that they had all left at once.

There were now just five of them remaining: Matt, Pedro, Scott, Jamie and Richard. They met outside, sitting at a wooden table in the shade of a silk-cotton tree – a kapok, as it was also known. Professor Chambers had liked taking the boys around her garden, showing them all the different plants and talking about them. This one had somehow found its way out of the rainforest, she had said, and she couldn’t understand how it was growing here at all. The table had been set up in the shade, the umbrella-shaped canopy and creamy white flowers of the kapok shielding them from the sun.

They might have been safer in the house but they could hardly bear to look at it, the ruin that it had become. Somehow, it didn’t seem likely that the Old Ones would return… not in the daylight. And anyway, the Incas were somewhere close. There was no danger of a second attack. Richard had brought out a tray of iced lemonade and a plate of empanadas, the little cheese pastries that they had often devoured. But nobody was hungry. They were exhausted and unhappy. Nobody knew what they were supposed to do.

One thing was sure. They couldn’t stay here much longer. The house still had water and electricity and they might even be able to repair the roof. But there was no alarm system. The Incas couldn’t protect them indefinitely. And – more to the point – none of them wanted to be here. The moment Professor Chambers had been taken from the hacienda, all of its life seemed to have gone with her.

“OK…” It was Richard who was the first to speak and Matt was grateful to him for breaking the silence, for taking control. He was wearing a clean polo shirt and jeans, but he looked completely worn out, as if he hadn’t slept at all.

“This is a council of war,” he said. “Because it looks as if the war has finally arrived. We have to talk about last night. We have to deal with it and put it behind us. And I might as well start by saying that it was mainly my fault.” He held up a hand before anyone could interrupt him. “When Ramon came to the house, I turned off the security system. But I never put it back on again. Not the radar, anyway. Maybe that was the idea. Maybe that was why he was sent to us. A diversion…”

“It was my fault too,” Scott cut in. “Matt wanted me to look into his mind and I did. But somehow he managed to fool me. I thought he was telling the truth.”

“Maybe he was telling the truth,” Matt said. “He brought us the diary… and do you really think he would have just sat there and allowed himself to be killed? Maybe they followed him from Lima. The whole point of last night could have been simply that they wanted the diary back.”

“The question we’ve got to ask ourselves is – what are we going to do next?” Richard said. “It’s been more than forty-eight hours since Scarlett Adams appeared in the newspapers. The Nexus are still watching her but we can’t leave her on her own much longer. On the other hand…” He nodded at Matt. “Matt has lost his passport so he’s not flying anywhere.”

“We can use the door,” Jamie said. “The same one that Scott and me came through. All we have to do is get to the Temple of Coricancha in Cuzco. We walk in… we walk out in London. We don’t need a plane.”

It seemed obvious. It was exactly the reason why the doors had been built in the first place. But Richard shook his head. “We can’t use the doors,” he said. “Think about it, Jamie. Salamanda had the diary and he obviously studied it carefully. If the Old Ones are looking for us – and it seems pretty likely that they are – that’s exactly how they’ll expect us to travel.”

“Maybe they never saw the diary,” Pedro said. “It was in the office of Senor Salamanda. He could never have shown it to them.”

Richard was still unhappy. “It’s too much of a risk. Anyway, they know about the door in St Meredith’s. Scarlett went through it. That’s probably what started all this. They could be waiting for us there. I know it’s boring, but I reckon we’re much safer taking planes.”

“But Matt doesn’t have a passport,” Scott said.

“The Nexus can get us into America,” Richard replied. “I spoke to Nathalie Johnson this morning and she’s sending a private plane. It’s already on its way. And she’s been in touch with John Trelawney. The two of them have enough clout to get us through immigration. They can also get Matt a new passport. After all, they didn’t have any difficulty getting Pedro his. It’ll take a couple of days but we could be in England by Tuesday.”

Scott and Jamie had met Nathalie Johnson before they came to Peru. She was an American businesswoman who had made a fortune out of computers before she had been drawn into the Nexus. John Trelawney was the senator who had been fighting in the presidential election. The result was going to be announced in just one day and he was still the favourite to win. The two of them were powerful friends.

Jamie considered what Richard had said. “All right, then.” He shrugged. “Let’s go.”

“Not all of us,” Matt said.

There was a sudden silence around the table. All eyes were turned on him.

“I think we should separate,” he said.

“Are you crazy…?” Scott began.

“Why?”

“What do you mean, Matt?”

Everyone was talking at once. Matt wasn’t surprised. Even as he had decided what he was going to do, he had known that the rest of them would be against it. They were supposed to stick together. Finding each other, coming together… it was what their lives were all about. Five Gatekeepers. So far, against all the odds, four of them had managed to do exactly that. They were hours away from finding the fifth. It seemed completely mad to split up now.

“We’ve just got to be careful,” Matt explained. “Richard and I were talking about it last night, before we were attacked. If all four of us get onto one plane and the Old Ones somehow manage to get control of it, they’ll have us at their mercy. They’ll be able to do anything with us. All four of us at once.”

“So what are you saying?” Jamie asked.

“We can’t stay here,” Pedro added.

“I’m going to London with Richard,” Matt said. “We’ll meet the Nexus as soon as we can and we’ll meet Scarlett as soon as we know it’s safe.” He turned to Jamie. “I’d like you to come with us.”

Jamie opened his mouth but said nothing. He understood the implications of what Matt had just suggested.

“You’re leaving me behind,” Scott muttered. His voice was low and sullen.

“It’s just for a few days. A week, no longer.”

“Is this because I screwed up last night?”

“You didn’t screw up.” Matt had to choose his words carefully. In a way, Scott was right. He might not be to blame, but he still couldn’t be completely trusted. Matt looked at him, slumped back from the table with his hands in his pockets, and saw the cold anger in his face. And there was something else. A sort of cruelty. When Scott had lived ten thousand years ago, his name had been Flint and it suited him. Sitting in the garden, his eyes were as hard as stone.

“Scott and I don’t like being apart,” Jamie said.

“I know that and I’m sorry,” Matt said. “It’s true that we’re stronger together. That’s why I want to stay in pairs. Two and two. If anything goes wrong in London, I’ll need someone to back us up.”

“So why not take Pedro?”

“Because Pedro doesn’t know London. He’s never been to England.”

“Nor have I.”

Matt sighed. “Jamie… if you really don’t like the idea, I’ll go on my own. I don’t mind doing that. I just don’t think we should all go. That’s all. I’m trying to do what’s best for everyone.”

“And since when did you get to tell everyone what they should do?” Scott demanded. “I thought we were meant to be equal. Who put you in charge?”

There was another long pause. Richard opened his mouth as if to say something, then changed his mind. The day was getting warmer as the sun climbed over the mountains, but the atmosphere right then was anything but. Matt looked across the lawn to the track that led back to the town of Nazca. He had been there a couple of days ago, kicking a football, waiting for Professor Chambers to get back from the shops. Now she was dead, her house was in ruins and the four of them were at each other’s throats. How could things have gone wrong so quickly?

“Scott, I don’t think…” Jamie began.

“Are you on his side?” Scott directed his anger at his brother.

“We’re all on the same side,” Matt cut in. “And if we turn against each other, we might as well give up.”

“You’ve never been on my side, Matt. You’ve never trusted me, not from the day I arrived here. Well, you go without me. You can all go without me. I don’t care.”

Scott got up angrily, knocking his chair over behind him. He didn’t even notice. He walked away in the direction of the house and disappeared through the front door. Nobody spoke. Then Jamie stood up. “I’m sorry, Matt,” he said. “I’ll go and talk to him. He’ll be all right.”

Jamie followed his brother. That just left Richard, Pedro and Matt. Richard poured out a glass of the lemonade. He offered it to Matt who shook his head. Richard drank it himself.

“Where do you want me to go?” Pedro asked. “I do not think it is good for us to stay here.”

Matt sighed. “I thought you’d go back to Vilcabamba with Tiso and the other Incas,” he said. “I was hoping you could spend a bit more time with Scott…” Pedro understood. Scott still needed help after his experiences as a prisoner of Nightrise.

“I do what I can,” he said. “But Scott has a lot of pain. There are things happening here…” He tapped the side of his head. “I do not understand.”

“You were nearly killed last night. He didn’t help you.”

“Yes. But he and Jamie are very close. Twins. Maybe it is not such a great idea to split them up.”

There didn’t seem anything more to say. Pedro collected the jug and the glasses and carried them in. Richard and Matt were left on their own.

“That went well,” Matt said, gloomily.

Richard finished his lemonade and set the glass down. “Don’t be too hard on yourself,” he said. “We’re all feeling bad about last night, the death of Joanna. Jamie will talk to Scott. He knows you’re doing the best you can. They’ll work it out.”

“I hope so.”

“In just a week, you’ll be in Vilcabamba. All of you. You’ve got the diary now. And despite what happened last night, you all came out of it OK. None of you was badly hurt. I’m sure you’ve made the right decision, Matt. It’s all going to work out.”

But Matt wasn’t so sure. He twisted round and looked at the house, at the scorched wood, what was left of the roof, and suddenly he was aware that something was wrong, that it didn’t quite add up.

If Ramon had been able to find them so easily, why had it taken the Old Ones so long? And if they had wanted the diary back so badly, why hadn’t they sent a larger force? Matt had seen the sort of creatures the Old Ones had at their disposal. They had crawled out of the floor of the Nazca Desert… the armed soldiers, the giant animals, the hoards of shape-changers. But they hadn’t been there last night.

Was he making the right decision, splitting them up? Or was this what he was meant to do? Was he reacting to decisions that had already been made?

Later that afternoon, two cars came to the house. One would take Pedro and Scott to Arequipa, the famous “White City” in the south of Peru. They would have to stay there overnight before flying to Cuzco. Because of the thin air high up in the Andes, planes were only able to take off and land in the morning. Two of the Incas would go with them and then escort them up through the cloud forest to Vilcabamba.

Jamie, Richard and Matt had a shorter drive to Nazca airport where a private plane was already waiting to fly them up to Miami. They would wait in Miami until Matt’s new passport arrived and then they would cross the Atlantic to England. If things went well, they would only be apart for a few days.

Matt took one last look at the professor’s house. The town children would probably raid it in the next few days, stripping it of anything of value. He had been there for a long time. He had almost begun to think of it as his home but now it was nothing. Burned out. Broken. Empty.

Richard loaded their bags into the boot.

“Vilcabamba,” Matt said.

“Vilcabamba,” Pedro agreed.

The two of them shook hands. Scott and Jamie said nothing – but Matt knew that they were communicating even so.

It was all over very quickly. The four boys climbed into their different cars and went their separate ways.