Evil Star

bring the helicopter down in some sort of controlled landing. At the last moment, he shouted out something but he had spoken in his own language —
    Matt would never find out what he meant. The helicopter, traveling far too fast, slammed into the ground at an angle and began to topple over. Matt was thrown on top of Pedro. Then the rotors came into contact with the ground. There was a hideous screaming sound as metal stanchions were ripped apart and one of the blades shattered.
    Matt wasn't quite sure what happened next. The air was full of spinning pieces of metal and one of them must have hit the cockpit, because the glass disin-tegrated. He could smell burning. Sparks were leaping out of the control panel and there was a brilliant light, just above his head, flashing on and off. He thought he was fall-ing forward. It was as if the helicopter were somersaulting. But then it lurched back again. There was a crash as the tail hit the ground. At last everything was still.
    Matt looked around him and saw nothing. They were surrounded by dust; it hung over them like a shroud. Part of the cockpit had buried itself in the desert floor. The helicopter was lying on its side. He couldn't move! For a few, horrible seconds, he thought he was paralyzed. Then he realized it was the seat belt, pinning him down.
    Slowly, he forced his hand down and released it. He could smell petrol, and somewhere in the back of his mind he had to fight back a murmur of pure terror. The helicopter was about to blow up. He and Pedro were going to be burned alive.
    "Pedro . . . ?" he called out, suddenly wondering if the other boy was
    still alive.

    Horowitz, Anthony - [Gatekeepers 02] - Evil Star
    "Matt. . ."
    Pedro dragged himself from underneath Matt and wriggled out of the cockpit, onto the desert floor. Matt fol-lowed him.
    His entire body was in pain. He knew that he must have suffered whiplash injuries to his neck and spine. It was a miracle he could still move. He pushed with his feet and felt the cool earth underneath him. The rotors, mangled and broken, hung over him. The tail of the helicopter had been snapped in half.
    He dragged himself over to Pedro. "We need to move away," he said. He sniffed the air. "The helicopter could still blow up. The fuel..."
    "Atoc .. . ?" Pedro asked.
    Atoc was slumped in the front seat, and Matt saw at once that he was dead. The Inca had fought hard to save the two boys, but he hadn't been able to save himself. Look-ing at him, Matt felt a great wave of sadness descend on him. First there had been Micos, killed at the hacienda at lea. And now Atoc. Two brothers, both in their twenties and both of them dead. Why? Did they really believe that Matt and Pedro were so important that it was worth giving up their lives to help them? Matt felt his eyes watering — but at the same time, with the sadness came a sense of anger and hatred for Salamanda, for Fabian, for Rodriguez and all the other adults with their greed and their ambi-tion . . . their desire to change the world.
    They were the ones who had drawn him into this. Why couldn't they have just lived their lives and left him alone?
    Pedro glanced at him questioningly. The look in his eyes was obvious. What now ?
    "We find Salamanda," Matt said. "We stop him."

    Horowitz, Anthony - [Gatekeepers 02] - Evil Star But Pedro wasn't going anywhere. Matt looked down and saw the horrid truth. Pedro hadn't complained and he hadn't shown any sign of pain, but his leg was stretched out and his ankle was obviously broken. The foot was turned at a dreadful angle and there was already a massive swelling that went halfway up his leg.
    For a long minute, Matt didn't say anything.
    One boy will stand against the Old Ones and alone he will fall.
    The words of the amauta seemed to whisper back to him in the midnight breeze. So this was how it was meant to happen. It had all been neatly arranged. A helicopter crash. Atoc killed. Pedro too injured to move. Matt on his own. Just as predicted.
    Matt smiled grimly. "Adios, " he said.
    "No. Matteo . . ."
    "I have to go." Matt stood up. The wreckage of the heli-copter had begun to cool down. There wasn't going to be a fire or an explosion.
    He could leave Pedro here. "Richard and the others will be on their way," he said. “You won't have to wait too long."
    He didn't know how much Pedro understood. It didn't matter anymore.
    He turned and walked away.
    He felt nothing. He might have done some damage to his neck and his back, but