Evil Star

had almost given up trying to hitchhike.
    She knew she had let Rex McKenna down. She hoped he wouldn't be angry with her.
    But now her luck had changed. She wiped the rain out of her eyes and ran forward to the passenger door. It was a big step up but she managed it, her handbag swinging from her arm. The driver was a man in his thirties. He had fair hair and a silly schoolboy smile. He was wearing overalls with the Shell logo on his chest.
    "Where are you going, love?" he asked.
    "North," Gwenda said.
    "A bit late to be out on your own."
    "Where are you heading?"
    "Sheffield."
    "Thanks for stopping." Gwenda closed the door. "I thought I was going to be there all night."
    "Well. . . put your seat belt on." The man smiled at her. "My name's Harry."
    "Mine's Gwenda."
    Gwenda did as she was told. But she made sure that the seat belt didn't restrict her movements. She had her hand-bag next to her with the ax handle sticking out of it. She'd decided she was going to use it as soon as they slowed down. It would be so easy to swing it into the Horowitz, Anthony - [Gatekeepers 02] - Evil Star side of Harry's head. She had never driven a petrol tanker before, but she was sure she would be able to manage it. Rex McKenna would help her.
    Over two thousand gallons of petrol might come in handy, too.

    Chapter 4 Fire Alarm
    Matt went back to school the next day with a sense of dread.
    None of the adults would blame him for what had hap-pened the day before, but the boys might have a different view. He had been there.
    He was weird. He was involved. It occurred to Matt that he had probably given them yet more rope to hang him with.
    And he was right. The moment he stepped onto the school bus, he knew that things — which had always been bad — were now set to get much worse. The bus was just about full, but somehow the one empty seat always hap-pened to be next to him. As he walked up the central aisle, the whispers began. Everyone was staring at him, then look-ing away when he tried to meet their eyes. As the doors hissed shut and the bus began to move, something hit him on the side of the head. It was only a rubber band fired from the back, but the message was clear. Matt was tempted to stop the bus, to get off and go home.
    He could get Richard to phone in and say he was sick. He resisted the idea. That would be giving in. Why should he let these stuck-up kids with their stupid prejudices win?
    The dining hall was closed for the day. Lunch would be served on temporary tables set up in the gym while electricians repaired the Horowitz, Anthony - [Gatekeepers 02] - Evil Star damage and tried to work out what had caused it. The rumor was that there had been some sort of massive short circuit in the system.
    It had caused a power surge and that was what had made the chandelier explode. As for Gavin Taylor (who had needed three stitches and had come to school with his right hand completely bandaged), it seemed that he had broken the glass he was holding himself. It was a perfectly natural reaction to the chaos that had been happening just above his head.
    That was what the boys at Forrest Hill were told. The head teacher, a gray-haired man called Mr. Simmons, even mentioned it at morning assembly in the chapel. The teach-ers, sitting in their pews at the very back, nodded wisely. But of course a school has its own knowledge, its own intel-ligence. Everyone understood that what had happened must have had something to do with Matt, even if nobody knew — or wanted to say — exactly what it was.
    They sang another hymn. Mr. Simmons was a religious man and liked to think that the rest of the school was, too. There were a few announcements. Then the doors were opened and everyone flooded out.
    "Hey, weirdo!" Gavin Taylor had been sitting just a few places away from Matt and stopped him on the other side of the door. His blond hair was cleaner than usual. It occurred to Matt that they might have insisted on washing it when he was at the hospital.
    "What do you want?" Matt demanded.
    "I just want you to know that you might as well get out of this school. Why don't you go back to your friends in prison? Nobody wants you here."
    "I wasn't in prison," Matt said. "And it's none of your business Horowitz, Anthony - [Gatekeepers 02] - Evil Star anyway."
    "I saw your file." Matt could tell this was a bluff, but Gavin taunted him nonetheless. “You're weird and you're a crook and you shouldn't be here."
    A few other boys had stopped, sensing a