Nightrise

The Gatekeepers 3
    Nightrise
    Anthony Horowitz
    The Story So Far…
    In
    Evil Star, the second book of The Gatekeepers, Matt and Pedro failed to close the second gate that they had found in the Nazca Desert, allowing the Old Ones — ancient forces of evil — finally to enter the world.
    Although he lost this battle, Matt learned that his only hope was to find the three other Gatekeepers: two boys and a girl. By coming together, they would finally have the strength to defeat the Old Ones and save the world from chaos and destruction.
    Nightrise, the third book of The Gatekeepers, begins in June, a few weeks before the end of Evil Star.
    Even though the Old Ones have yet to be unleashed, their servants are already searching for the Five, determined to keep them apart.
    There are three worlds in this book: The world now. The world as it was before the Dark Ages, approximately ten thousand years ago. And a strange dream world that connects the two.
    ONE
    The Circus of the Mind
    The two men in the black limousine had already circled the theatre once. Now they pulled in on the other side of the road, opposite the main door. Outside, the temperature was well into the eighties. But they had turned the air-conditioning on full blast and the car was like a refrigerator. They sat in silence.
    The two of them had worked together for many years and despised each other. They had nothing left to say.
    The theatre was at the northern end of Reno, Nevada. It was a square, red-brick building with a single door and no windows. It could have been a bank or possibly a chapel but for the neon sign over the front door. It was supposed to read the reno playhouse
    , but half the letters had fused so that as the two men watched it from where they were parked in Virginia Street, just two words flashed at them through the fading light: here lose.
    It wasn't exactly the most attractive invitation in a city that was dedicated to gambling, where every other building seemed to be a casino and where the hotels, the bars, even the launderettes, were stuffed with slot machines. Despite its name, the Reno Playhouse hadn't actually put on a play from the day it had been built. Instead, it provided a temporary home to a long line of second-rate performers: singers and dancers, conjurors and comedians who had all been famous, briefly, a very long time ago but who had never really been heard of since. These were the sort of people who performed night after night, trying to entertain audiences who were only thinking of the money they had come to win or, worse, the money they had already lost.
    The next performance was due to begin in an hour's time. The two men had already bought their tickets
    — but there was something they wanted to see before they went in. They only had to wait a few minutes until they were rewarded. The man in the driver's seat suddenly stiffened.
    "Here they are," he said.
    Two boys had just gotten off a bus. They were walking down the pavement, dressed casually in baggy jeans and T-shirts, one of them carrying a backpack. It was obvious immediately that they were twins, about fourteen years old. They were both very slim — in fact, they looked malnourished. Their hair was black and dead straight, hanging down to the neck, and both had dark brown eyes. One was a couple of inches taller and a few pounds heavier than the other. He said something and the other boy laughed.
    Then they turned the corner and a moment later were gone.
    "That was them?" the passenger asked.
    "That was them," the driver confirmed.
    The first man shrugged. "They don't look that special to me."
    "That's what you always say, Mr. Hovey. But you never know. Maybe these kids will be the ones…"
    "Let's get a drink."
    The men had an hour to kill; luckily, there were plenty of bars in Reno, and they might throw a few coins into a machine too. It had been a long day. The driver glanced one last time at the theatre and nodded. He had a good feeling. This time they were going to find what they were looking for.

    He shoved the car into gear and they moved off.

    ***
    The show that was currently at the Reno Playhouse — it had been there for the past six months —was called
    The Circus of the Mind.
    There was a glass panel next to the front door and behind it a black-and-white poster showing the eyes and forehead of what might have been a hypnotist or a magician. His hands, disembodied, floated above him, the fingers pointing toward the viewer. It read:
    DON WHITE