Nightrise

BACK TO RENO

“How long have I been here?” Jamie asked.

“Two nights and two days,” Joe Feather replied.

“And where exactly are we?”

“We’re south of Boulder City. In the mountains. Nobody’s going to find us here.”

Jamie made a quick calculation. His time unconscious in this world seemed to equate with his time fighting and surviving in the other. He watched as Joe poked a stick into the campfire, making the sparks leap up. The sun was setting and soon the evening would grow cool, but the fire was really there to boil water, to cook their meal and to provide them with a little light once the night came. There was no sign of Daniel. He was asleep in the tepee.

“There are things I need to ask you,” Jamie said.

“Are you well enough to talk?”

Jamie moved his shoulder blade. The moment he had returned to his own world, the wound had come back. He could feel where the bullet had hit him. He would probably feel it for years to come. But it wasn’t hurting too much now.

“We had to cut you open,” Joe said. “We took the bullet out and dressed the wound with willow bark.” Jamie looked puzzled. “It’s traditional. But it also makes sense. Willow bark contains salicylic acid – it’s a natural painkiller.”

“Who did it, Joe?”

“Me and a friend.”

Jamie nodded. “Well, thanks…” He certainly wasn’t going to complain. He’d seen much worse injuries in the last two days.

“Here…” Joe lifted a kettle from the fire and poured boiling water into two tin mugs. Whoever had driven them here had left them with plenty of supplies. Joe had made a rose-coloured tea that tasted slightly bitter. “Meg gel tea,” he explained. “It purifies your blood. Maybe it’ll push some of the toxins out of the wound.”

“Thank you.” Jamie took the steaming liquid but he didn’t drink. “Are you sure we’re safe?”

“Yes. The authorities won’t be looking for you here and if they are they won’t find us. My people are Washoe. We know how to hide.”

“You’re Washoe too.”

“Yes. Like you and your brother.”

“You knew about the Five.” Jamie remembered what Joe had said when he came to the isolation cell. “Do you know about the Old Ones?”

Joe fell silent for a moment. “That is not what we call them,” he said. “Each tribe has a different name for them. The Navajo call them the Anasazi. That means ancient enemy. We speak of them as the people eaters. They are the same.”

“How did you know who I was?”

“I had been waiting for you.” Joe sipped his tea, inviting Jamie to do the same. “How do I begin to tell you everything you want to know?” he said. “Perhaps I should ask you how much you know about the Washoe – and about other Native Americans.”

“I don’t know very much,” Jamie admitted. “We talked about Indians at school. About what happened to them.”

“Then you must begin by understanding that my people were destroyed,” Joe said. He spoke the words as a matter of fact and without rancour. “The Washoe was a mountain tribe and we learned how to hide. But even so there are only a few hundred of us left today and we have almost nothing. Of course we were not alone. All the native people in America suffered the same way. The white people took our past from us and we grew up with little hope of a future. Many of our parents turned to alcohol to try to forget what had been done to us. Many of our young people have turned to drugs for the same reason.

“But there are some of us who walk two worlds. We work in modern America – in the hotels or casinos or, like me, in the prisons. But we have not forgotten our history. And we still tell the story of a great battle that took place at the beginning of time and of two heroes – twins – who helped to win it.”

“Flint and Sapling.”

“Those are not the names we use. Those names are Iroquois, I think. But it doesn’t matter. There was a time when all the tribes were one tribe. And anyway, the stories have never been written down. They change with the passing of time.

“But even today we still tell stories of twin heroes. The Apache, the Kiowa, the Navajo and many others. The twins are always boys of your age. In many of the stories, Flint is evil. He causes the death of his brother, Sapling.”

“He wasn’t evil,” Jamie said. “Sapling wanted to die.”

“We were always told that the twin heroes would return at a time of great need and that we should watch out for them. There was one way we would be able to recognize them.” Joe reached out and touched his own shoulder. “They would carry a mark. Here…”

“A tattoo…”

“You call it that, but it was not something injected into you. I saw that at once. It is something you were born with.”

“What does it mean?”

“Indian symbols have many meanings. But the spiral is a symbol of human life. Every human being has a spiral on their body – look at your fingerprints or the hair on the crown of your head – and to us these parts have always been sacred. A spiral is circular and never ends, so it can also mean immortality. As for the line, dividing it in two, that could signify many things. Night and day. Good and evil…”

“Twins.”

“Yes. I saw the mark when you were in the shower and guessed at once who you must be. But you confused me. You lied to me. You said you had no brother.”

“I couldn’t tell you. I couldn’t tell anyone.”

Joe nodded. “If I had known, I might have acted sooner. Even so, I made contact with my friends. That was not easy. I had to contact them by satellite phone and all the calls at Silent Creek were monitored. But I made them understand and they agreed to gather. Then Max Koring found out who you were. He told me your real name and said that you had a twin. That was when I knew you were in great danger.”

“So you raided the prison.”

“Yes.”

“Where are your friends now? I never even got a chance to thank them.”

“They don’t need your thanks. They were honoured to be able to help you. Most of them have now returned to their homes. A couple of them were wounded. None of them were killed.”

There was a movement and Daniel appeared, crawling bleary-eyed out of the tepee. He had nodded off during the afternoon but now he blinked and smiled, pleased to see Jamie. “You’re awake!” he said.

“Danny… I need to talk to you.” Jamie struggled to raise himself up. It hurt his back but eventually he managed to position himself, sitting cross-legged in front of the fire. Both of them were still wearing their prison trousers but someone had supplied them with new T-shirts. Danny’s shirt was advertising engine oil.

“I thought they’d killed you,” Danny said. “This old woman came – and I mean really old. She spent ages looking after you. They wouldn’t let me watch. I don’t know what she did but this morning she packed up her horse and left. I figured you were dead.” He shrugged. “I’m glad you’re not.”

Joe got to his feet. “I’ll leave you two together,” he said. “I must prepare the meal.” He disappeared behind the tepee.

Jamie looked around him. They were in a sort of cleft in the mountains, surrounded on all sides. Unless a helicopter flew directly overhead there was no chance of their being seen – and, as Joe had said, why would anyone be looking for them here? He examined the tepee where Daniel had been sleeping. It looked like the genuine article, made out of animal skin with a simple pattern of interlocking lines around the base. The sun was low in the sky, making the mountains glow a deep red. Nothing moved apart from the fingers of flame, licking at the dead wood and the trickle of smoke, folding in on itself as it climbed up.

He glanced at Daniel. “How are you?”

“I’m good.” Daniel sighed. “But I’d like to go home now.

Joe has a cell phone but there’s no reception here. I haven’t even been able to phone my mum.”

“Can you tell me about Silent Creek?” Jamie asked. He paused. “Can you tell me about Scott?”

“There’s not much to tell.” Daniel sat down on the other side of the camp fire. “They grabbed me when I was on my way home from school and they took me there. There were sixteen of us in the Block. I was the youngest. There were four girls. The rest were boys.” He thought for a moment. “The first month was the worst. They did these experiments. They had this idea that I had some sort of power. That was what they were interested in. They were looking for kids with powers.”

“You saw into the future.”

“Did my mum tell you that?”

Jamie nodded.

“It only ever happened a couple of times and it wasn’t like seeing the future. It was more like having a bad feeling. There was a bus that crashed and I sort of knew it was going to happen. Maybe that’s how they found out about me, because it got into the newspapers. Anyway, they tried to make me do it again and when I couldn’t, they hurt me. They had a special room. They said that was the only place in Silent Creek where my power would work, but it didn’t make any difference because there was nothing I could do and after a bit they lost interest in me.”

That at least explained one thing that Jamie hadn’t understood – why he had been unable to force Max Koring to do what he wanted. He had thought his power had failed. But it was the position of the prison that was to blame. A natural phenomenon – perhaps some sort of natural magnetism – had neutralized him. Nightrise had left nothing to chance.

“They were searching for the Five,” Jamie muttered. It was suddenly obvious to him.

“They called it the Psi project,” Daniel went on. “The other kids were from all over America. It was the same for all of us. They did the tests. They hurt us. Then they left us alone. After that, we were just kept in prison, which sucked because we hadn’t done anything wrong. Billy was afraid they would kill us one day – if they didn’t need us any more.”

“Who was Billy?”

“He was my friend. I’m sorry we had to leave him behind. I hope he’s OK.”

“Tell me about Scott.”

“Scott was the last to arrive. That must have been a couple of weeks ago. He had the cell next to mine and I saw him before they began on him.” Daniel saw Jamie flinch. “I’m sorry…” he muttered.

“How badly did they hurt him?”

“Well, they took him away and I know they must have done a lot of bad things because after a few days he wouldn’t talk to me any more. He wouldn’t talk to anyone. The bald man was working on him… Mr Banes.” Daniel paused. “We knew Scott was important to them because this woman arrived. She was thin and scrawny with grey hair and a face like a sort of rotten fruit. We’d only ever seen her once before. Everyone was scared of her.”

“Do you know her name?”

Daniel shook his head. “She never said who she was.”

There was one more thing Jamie wanted to know, although he almost dreaded putting it into words. “What happened to Scott?” he asked. “What did they do with him?”

“I don’t know, Jamie. I’m sorry. One minute he was there, the next he was gone. Nobody knew where they took him.”

So that was it.

It was the same as Joe had told him. Jamie felt a wave of black despair but he forced it away. He wasn’t going to give in. He remembered everything that Matt had said. He had led an army and fought in a war… even if it had been in another world at another time. The strange thing was, there wasn’t a single part of him that believed it hadn’t happened, or that the whole experience had been some sort of fantasy, imagined while he lay unconscious. He knew it was real. And Joe recognized him for what he was. One of the Five. Whatever happened, he would find Scott – no matter how long it took.

“When can we leave?” Daniel asked.

The boy was eleven years old. He had been kidnapped in broad daylight, separated from his mother, kept prisoner for seven months. Jamie understood how he must be feeling.

Then Joe appeared, carrying a saucepan.

“When can we leave?” Jamie repeated the question.

“Where do you want to go?” Joe asked.

“We have to get back to Reno. Danny’s mother is waiting for him there.”

Joe considered. “Another twenty-four hours,” he said. “The nearest road is seven miles away and we’ll have to move at night. I have friends waiting for us. They’ll drive you wherever you want to go.”

“Can we really leave tomorrow?” Daniel said.

“If Jamie is ready.”

“Don’t worry, Danny,” Jamie said. He took a sip of the tea.

“I’ll be ready.”

They left the following evening, Jamie supporting himself on a staff that Joe had brought for him. He knew he wasn’t really ready for the journey. His shoulder and left arm were on fire and he was still weak from loss of blood. But he couldn’t keep Daniel waiting any longer. It was a perfect night with a full moon and perhaps a million stars guiding them on their way. They came slowly down the mountains, but once the ground had levelled out they made better progress. Joe knew exactly where they were going and never hesitated once. Jamie imagined that he had been born with these skills, something handed down instinctively from generations ago.

Soon he was exhausted and wishing he had waited longer before setting out. Every step seemed to take the pain and amplify it, sending it shuddering through his body. He found himself leaning on Daniel for support. But he refused to complain and although they stopped a couple of times for water, he never asked for a rest.

He didn’t actually see the road until they reached it. One moment his foot was on sand, the next it had come down on tarmac. He looked to the right and there it was, a straight line cutting into the far distance. There were no buildings anywhere around but a line of telegraph poles followed the road, the wires looping between them. Daniel let out an exclamation of delight. Telephone wires meant contact with his mother. It was all he wanted.

They had walked down the road for about a hundred yards when Jamie saw headlights moving towards them. He was immediately nervous but then he glanced at Joe, who nodded slowly. This was what he had been expecting. A few moments later, a beaten-up minibus pulled out with an Indian driver behind the wheel. Jamie wasn’t sure how he had found them. Had he been patrolling the road every night, waiting for them to show up? But that didn’t matter now. He was just grateful to get off his feet, glad to be finally on his way.

Joe spoke a few words with the driver and they all climbed in. At once they set off. Daniel must have been more tired than he thought because he fell asleep almost immediately. Jamie sat, slumped against the window, watching the landscape – dark and empty – flash by.

An hour later they stopped on the edge of a small town. Jamie saw electric lights in the distance and the bulky shadows of houses. He had no idea where they were.

“I leave you here,” Joe announced.

“Thank you.” Jamie wasn’t sure what to say. “What will happen to you now, Joe?” he asked. “The police will be looking for you. And you haven’t got a job.”

“My people will look after me. You don’t need to worry. And if you need us again, we will come.”

Jamie knew that was true. He had no way of contacting them but somehow they would look out for him. If the need arose, they would be there. Joe leant over and the two of them shook hands. Then the Indian climbed out of the minibus and the three of them set off, leaving him standing alone.

After that, Jamie slept.

The next time he opened his eyes, he knew at once where he was: right back where it had all started, in the city of Reno. The familiar landmarks were all around him. The Hilton Hotel in the distance. The great black glass block of the City Hall, towering over the city centre. The casinos and the pawn shops. The rushing water of the Truckee River. In a way it was the last place he had wanted to be, but he and Alicia had agreed that it made sense. She wanted to be close to him while he was in Nevada – but not too close. Alicia could rent a place in Reno and be just a few hours away from the prison. She had decided she would wait for him here.

“Where do I take you?” the driver asked. Jamie knew nothing about him – not even his name.

“There’s a place called Paso Tiempo,” Jamie said. “It’s near the airport.”

Paso Tiempo was a mobile home park just round the corner from the motel where Alicia had stayed the last time she was in Reno. It was a long strip of road with houses that were little more than boxes on wheels parked alongside each other in a neat row. They slowed down and stopped outside one of the homes: number twenty-three. It was the prettiest one in the park, surrounded by flowers. Alicia had rented it for a month.

The minibus stopped. Jamie nudged Daniel. “Wake up,” he muttered. And at that moment the door of the trailer opened and there was Alicia, standing on the top step. She must have heard them arrive. Perhaps she opened the door whenever any car pulled up. Daniel saw her and was wide awake instantly, his entire face filled with an expression of joy. He scrambled past Jamie, almost falling out of the minibus, and ran to her. Then the two of them were in each other’s arms, not wanting to separate ever again.

Jamie got out more slowly. He was in a lot of pain. He could barely move his neck or his right arm and he was limping. At that moment he felt many things. He was glad he had brought Daniel back. Of course he was happy for the two of them. But, looking at them, he was also aware of something else: a deep sadness that cut into him even more than the wound in his back. He had no mother. Nobody had ever held him like that and nobody ever would. He was ashamed of himself. It was wrong of him. But he knew that he had come to the end of a road. Alicia and Daniel had each other. There was nothing more they could do for him.

Alicia looked up and saw him.

“Jamie,” she said. “You brought him back.”

Jamie nodded.

“How can I thank you? How can I ever thank you enough?” Then she realized. “What about Scott?”

“Scott wasn’t there.”

She heard the heavy words and went over to him, taking Daniel with her. For a moment the two of them faced each other and she reached out, wanting to draw him into her embrace. But he stepped back. “You’re hurt,” she said.

“I’ll be all right.” Jamie looked past her. “Do you mind if I go in? I need to lie down.”

“Of course. You must tell me…” She stopped herself. “I’m so sorry

… about Scott.”

But Jamie had already walked past her. Somehow he dragged himself up the steps and went into the trailer. It was cool and clean with a little kitchen and a sofa and a table. He sat down. The mother and her son remained on their own, outside.