Necropolis

much longer. Which they will be. An unpleasant death. We are safe, of course, inside The Nail. The air is filtered. We just have to be careful not to spend too long in the street."
    Father Gregory pressed his fingers together. His sty had gotten much worse. The eyeball was jammed, no longer able to move. Only his good eye watched the chairman. "I have to say, I'm disappointed," he said. "I was looking forward to meeting — to actually seeing — the Old Ones."
    "The Old Ones have left Hong Kong. They have a great deal of work to do, preparing for a war that will be starting very soon. As soon as they heard that Matthew Freeman had been taken, they went."
    "I don't understand why they don't show themselves to the world," Father Gregory said. 'You have two of the Gatekeepers. So surely nothing can stop them…"
    "It's not the way they work. If the Old Ones told the world that they existed, people would unite against them. That would defeat the point. By keeping themselves hidden, they can let humanity tear itself apart.
    That is what they enjoy."
    There was a moment's silence. Father Gregory licked his lips, and something ugly came into his eyes. "I want to see the girl," he said. "I still can't believe that she managed to break free when I had her. I had plans…"
    'Yes, that was most unfortunate," the chairman agreed. "Well, right now they are together. The boy came all this way to find her, so I thought it would be amusing to let them spend one day in each other's company."
    "Is that safe?"
    "The two of them are locked up very securely, and nobody knows where they are. The boy has certain abilities that make him dangerous. But as for the girl…"
    "What is her power?"
    "It seems that she drew the short straw. I'm afraid Scarlett Adams is not quite the superhero one might have imagined." The chairman smiled. "She has the ability to predict the weather. That's all. She can tell if it's going to rain or if the sun is going to shine. As she will never see either of these things again, it will not do her very much good. We are sending her away tonight. To another country."
    'You can't kill her, of course."
    "It's vital that both children are kept alive. In pain, but alive. We are going to bury them in separate rooms, many thousands of miles apart. They will be given limited amounts of food and water, but no human contact. The Old Ones have asked me to blind Matt Freeman, and that will be done just before Scarlett leaves. We want her to take the horror of it with her. In the end, she will probably go mad. It will be one of the last memories that she has."
    "Excellent. I'd like to be there when it happens."
    "That may not be possible."
    Father Gregory was disappointed. But he continued anyway. "What about the other boy?" he asked.
    "Jamie Tyler?" The chairman was still standing at the window. "He is somewhere here in Hong Kong.
    We haven't yet been able to find him."
    "Have you looked for him?"
    The chairman blinked slowly. Far below, two Star Ferries were crossing each other's paths, fighting the storm as they made their way across the harbor. Where had the storm come from? It seemed to be getting stronger. He was surprised the ferries were still operating and looked forward to the time when they finally stopped. It had always annoyed him, watching them go back and forth.
    A boat will be the death of you. And it will happen in Hong Kong.
    A prophecy that had been made by a fortune-teller. Well, soon there would be no more boats. There would be no more Hong Kong.
    "Jamie Tyler can't leave the city," he said. "Unless, of course, he dies in the street and gets thrown into the sea. Either way, he is of no concern to us."
    There was another silence.
    "But now, my dear Father Gregory," the chairman said. "It is time for you to go."
    "I am a little tired," Father Gregory admitted.

    "It has been a pleasure meeting you. But — please — let me show you out…"
    There was a handle on the edge of one of the windows, and the chairman seized hold of it and pulled.
    The entire window slid aside and the wind rushed in, the mist swirling round and round. Papers fluttered off the desk. The stench of the pollution filled the room.
    Father Gregory stared. "I don't understand —" he began.
    "It's perfectly simple," the chairman said. "You said it yourself. You let the girl escape. You let her slip through your hands. You don't really think that the Old Ones would let that go unpunished?"
    "But… I found her!" Father Gregory was staring