Necropolis

The Gatekeepers 4
    Necropolis
    Anthony Horowitz
    Prologue
    NIGHTRISE CORPORATION
    STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL
    Memorandum from the Chairman's Office: October 15
    We are about to take power.
    Four months ago, on June 25, the gate built into the Nazca Desert opened and the Old Ones finally returned to the world that once they ruled. They are with us now, waiting for the command to reveal themselves and to begin a war that, this time, they cannot lose.
    Why has that command not been given?
    The triumph of Nazca was tainted by the presence of two children, teenaged boys. One has already become familiar to us…indeed, we have been watching him for much of his life. His name, or the name by which he is now known, is Matthew Freeman. He is fifteen and English. The other was a Peruvian street urchin who calls himself Pedro and grew up in the slums of Lima. Between them, they were responsible for the death of our friend and colleague Diego Salamanda. Incredibly, too, they wounded the King of the Old Ones even at the moment of his victory.
    These are not ordinary children. They are two of the so-called Gatekeepers who were part of the great battle, vüi more than ten thousand years ago, when the Old Ones were defeated and banished. It is absolutely crucial this time, if our plans are to succeed and a new world is to be created, that we understand the nature of the Five.
    . Ten thousand years ago, five children led the last survivors of humanity against the Old Ones. The battle took place in Great Britain, but at a time when the country was not yet an island, before the ice sheets had melted in the north.
    . By cunning, by a trick, the children won, and the Old Ones were banished. Two gates were constructed to keep them out: one in Yorkshire, in the north of England, the other in Peru. One gate held. The other we managed to smash.
    . The Five existed then. The Five are here now. It is as if they have been reborn on the other side of time…but it is not quite as simple as that. They are the same children, somehow living in two different ages.
    . Kill one of the children now and he or she will be "replaced" by one of the children from the past. This is the single, crucial fact that makes them so dangerous an enemy. Killing them is almost no use at all. If we want to control them, they have to be taken alive.
    . Alone, these children are weak and can be beaten. Their powers are unpredictable and not fully in their control. But when they come together, they become stronger. This is the great danger for us. If all five of them join forces at any time, anywhere in the world, they may be able to create a third gate, and everything we have worked for will be lost.
    ix
    The fifth of the Five
    So far only four of the children have been identified. The English boy and the Peruvian boy have now been joined by twin American brothers, Scott and Jamie Tyler, who were revealed to us by our Psi project. At the time, they were working in a theatre in Nevada.
    Note that Scott Tyler was thoroughly programmed whilst held captive by our agents in Nevada.
    Although he was subsequently reunited with his twin brother, it is still possible that he can be turned against his friends. A psychological report (appendix 1) is attached.

    ***
    We know very little about the fifth of the Five. She is a girl. Like the others, she will be fifteen years old. We expect her to be of Chinese heritage, quite probably still living in the East. In the old world, her name was Scar. It is certain that the other four will be searching for her, and we have to face the fact that they may succeed.
    We must therefore find her first.
    We have agents in every country searching for her. Many politicians and police forces are now working actively for us. The Psi project continues throughout Europe and Asia, and we are still investigating teenagers with possible psychic/paranormal abilities. There is every chance that the girl will reveal herself to us. It is likely that she still has no idea who and what she really is.

    Once we have the girl in our hands, we can use her to draw the rest of the Gatekeepers into a trap. One at a time, we will bring them to the Necropolis. And once we x have all five of them, we can hold them separately, imprison them, torture them, and keep them alive until the end of time.
    Everything is now set. The Gatekeepers have no idea how strong we are, how far we have advanced.
    Our eyes are everywhere, all around the world, and very soon the battle will