Evil Star

and faded. Instead of shoes, he had a pair of sandals, made out of black rubber — the same as Pedro's.
    "They're made from tires," Sebastian told him.
    Matt felt his skin trying to shrink away from the clothes. He could imagine that several people had worn them before him. He noticed Pedro watching him with a halfsmile. "What's so funny?" he asked.

    Horowitz, Anthony - [Gatekeepers 02] - Evil Star Sebastian translated the question into Spanish, and Pedro answered.
    He spoke softly and only uttered a few words.
    "He says, now you know how a Peruvian boy feels," Sebastian replied. "But you are still too tall. You must learn to walk in a crouch. Make sure you are never higher than he is. And from now on, you will not be Matt. You will be Matteo. Do you understand?"
    "Matteo!" Pedro repeated the word. He seemed amused by Matt's transformation.
    But Sebastian was completely serious. “You have to leave Lima," he said. "If you take my advice, you will go south to Ayacucho. I have many friends in the city who will look after you. Perhaps the police won't look for you there."
    "I still want to go to lea," Matt insisted.
    “You are stubborn and you are stupid — but you care about your friend and that, I suppose, does you credit," Sebastian spat. "Very well. You can stop in lea if you think it will do any good. The first bus leaves tomorrow morning at six o'clock. It is almost certain that the police will be watch-ing the bus station, so we will have to think about that."
    "I just want to find Richard and go home," Matt said.
    "That would be the best thing for all of us. It is a pity that you came in the first place."
    Matt nodded. Suddenly he felt awkward. From the moment he had met Sebastian, he had sensed a sort of hos-tility between them —
    without knowing why it was there. "Can I ask you something?" he said.
    "What?"

    Horowitz, Anthony - [Gatekeepers 02] - Evil Star
    “You obviously don't like me very much. So why are you helping me?"
    “You're wrong. It's not true that I don't like you very much. I don't like you at all. The police are crawling through the shantytowns, thanks to you. They are asking questions, making arrests. Everything is going to be diffi-cult until they find you."
    "So why don't you just hand me over? It's obviously what you want to do."
    "It is exactly what I want to do. But it was Pedro who dissuaded me.
    He tells me that you are somehow impor-tant. He says that we have to help you because you are on our side."
    "How does he know that? He doesn't know anything about me."
    "I know," Sebastian said. "It's very strange. Normally, he would have taken your watch and your money and any-thing else that was of any value, and then he would have left you where he found you.
    He wouldn't have risked get-ting into trouble with the police. And he wouldn't have brought you here."
    "So why did he?"
    "Pedro can't understand it. And nor can I. But he tells me . . . he's seen you before." Sebastian shook his head. "He says he's seen you in his dreams."

    Chapter 10 Dream Talk
    There were eight people sleeping on the floor of Sebastian's house.

    Horowitz, Anthony - [Gatekeepers 02] - Evil Star The youngest of them was only five, the oldest about seventeen.
    They had arrived one at a time as the light began to fade, some carrying shoeshine boxes, some with buckets and sponges, one with a basket of brightly colored finger puppets. Sebastian must have already told them about Matt, since none of them seemed surprised to find him there. Nobody tried to talk to him. They ate dinner —
    more beans and stew — then spent the rest of the evening playing a game that involved cups and little wooden dice. The room was lit by fat white candles that Matt suspected had been stolen from a church.
    He watched them for an hour, listen-ing to the rattle of the dice in the cups as they were shaken and then tipped onto the floor. Pedro was playing with the others. He glanced at Matt once or twice, and for the first time Matt could see a sort of curiosity in his eyes.
    "He's seen you before . . . in his dreams. "
    Sebastian's words echoed in his head. Matt examined the Peruvian boy as he concentrated on his game, furiously rattling his dice, throwing them down and shielding them with both hands, his eyes fixed on the other players. Matt now knew who he was. How many times had the two of them sat together in the reed boat with the wild cat's head for its prow? He was annoyed with himself for not realizing it sooner.
    He