Evil Star

believe him. I thought he was just a kid with an overac-tive imagination. So much has happened since then. And now this ..."
    There was a commotion outside in the garden. While the two of them had been speaking, a car had drawn up and the driver was unhappy about something. He was shouting and one of the gardeners Horowitz, Anthony - [Gatekeepers 02] - Evil Star was trying to calm him down. Professor Chambers went over to the window and looked out. The car was a taxi. The driver was demanding payment. She frowned.
    "It's Pedro," she said.
    The two of them hurried out of the room, reaching the stairs just as Pedro came in through the front door, support-ing himself on crutches. He was still wearing hospital pajamas. There was a brand-new plaster cast on his left foot.
    "Que tu estas haciendo aqui?" Professor Chambers exclaimed. She spoke fluent Spanish. "What are you doing here? I was coming for you this afternoon. . . ."
    "Donde esta Matteo?" Pedro demanded.
    It seemed to Richard that Pedro, too, had been changed by whatever had taken place in the desert. The boy had always been quiet; he had no choice when so much of the conversation had been in English.
    But he had also seemed detached, somehow on the edge of events.
    Now, for the first time, he was in command. He knew exactly what he was doing. He had marched out of the hospital and into a taxi. He had persuaded the driver to bring him here. He knew what he wanted, and he wasn't going to let anyone stand in his way.
    Professor Chambers must have sensed this, too. "Matt esta aqui,"
    she said, pointing at the stairs. Then, realizing that Pedro would never make it on his own, she held out an arm. Pedro gathered up his crutches, and the two of them began to climb up awkwardly together. As he went, Pedro turned and glanced briefly at Richard, and in that moment Richard felt a sense of relief that he couldn't begin to understand. Suddenly, he was sure that Matt was going to be all right.

    Horowitz, Anthony - [Gatekeepers 02] - Evil Star Pedro rested briefly against the door of Matt's room. He took everything in very quickly. Professor Chambers wanted to go in with him but Pedro shook his head, then muttered a single word in English, "Alone."
    Chambers hesitated. But there was no point arguing. She watched as Pedro dragged himself into the room. The door closed behind him.

    • • •
    Pedro didn't move.
    He still wasn't sure what had brought him here, and now that he had arrived, he didn't know what he was meant to do. The English boy looked dead. No. That wasn't quite true. His chest was moving, and Pedro could hear the rasp of his breath behind the oxygen mask.
    Aside from the last day and a half, Pedro had never been in a hospital in his life and the sight of the medical equipment unnerved him: the metal cylinder pumping out its carefully measured quantities of air, the liquid dripping down the plastic tube into Matt's arm.
    He knew that he had to be here. The two of them had spoken, of course. Pedro asleep in the hospital. Matt uncon-scious here. They had met one last time, and Matt had urged him to come.
    "I need you, Pedro. "
    But why? What could he possibly do?
    Pedro limped over to the bed and sat down on the edge, letting his crutches slide gently onto the floor. Now he was leaning over Matt, who was spread out beneath him, under-neath the white sheet. The oxygen hissed. The plastic mask briefly misted. Otherwise Horowitz, Anthony - [Gatekeepers 02] - Evil Star everything was silent and still.
    Pedro reached out.
    He knew. It was as if someone had given him a book of his entire life and he was reading it and understanding it for the first time. He had once told Matt that he had no special powers .. . but he knew it wasn't true. After the flood, when his parents and entire family had been killed, he had been aware of something inside him. A new strength. And over the years it had grown.
    He was a healer.
    Living in Poison Town, there were so many diseases. People were getting ill and dying all the time. But not those who lived close to him. They were never sick, and Sebastian had often remarked upon it. He had said as much when Matt was there.
    "There is no illness in this house or in this street. Nobody
    understands why. ..."
    And he had been aware of it again when Matt had been brutally beaten up by the policemen at the hotel in Lima. After just one day together, all of Matt's bruises had gone. The cracked ribs had somehow healed themselves. Pedro hadn't