Nightrise

"I've only been alive for about fiffteen years," she said. "And this war has continued for more than fifty. So that's why I say that, for me, there's never been a beginning. I wasn't even in this country. I was far away, on the other side of the world, and when I was about nine years old, the village where I was living was burned down. All the old people were killed. The children were sent to the mines."
    "Wait a minute." Jamie was already lost. "This world you live in…is this my world? What year is it? I don't even know where I am!"
    "And I don't know where you've come from, so I can't help you. You're just going to have to listen to my story. And if you keep interrupting, we're not going to get anywhere."
    Jamie sighed. "Go on."
    "We were digging for precious stones. There were thousands of us…working deep underground. They used the children to burrow into the smaller tunnels. It was terrifying. There were cave-ins. We were always wondering when we were going to be buried alive."
    "Who made you do it? Who were you working for?"
    "We were working for the ruling classes. The overlords and the advisors. And behind them, of course, the Old Ones."
    "Who are they?" Jamie remembered the old man, talking to him before he had turned into a scorpion. He had asked if Jamie served the Old Ones.
    "They're the enemy," Scar replied simply. "Matt says that they are the first and the greatest evil, that they were born the day the world began. They want to destroy us.
    That's the only reason they exist. But they want to do it slowly, one step at a time. You see, they feed on human misery. It's what nourishes them. In the end, they'll kill all of us, but they'll make it last as long as they can."
    "Where did they come from?" Jamie asked.
    "I don't know," Scar replied. 'You'll have to ask Matt."
    Erin had fallen asleep, leaning against his brother. His long, fair hair had fallen across his face, and his metal hand was stretched out in front of him, the fingers curled and pointing up. Corian was lying still, careful not to wake him up, listening to Scar tell her tale.
    "I suppose it must have been about a year ago," she went on. "I don't know because time doesn't really mean very much anymore. When you're a slave, being beaten and forced to work in the darkness, every day is the same. Anyway, about a year ago I found out that I was different. I was told that I was one of the Five."
    "Matt told you?"
    Scarlet nodded. 'Yes. Well, he came to me in a dream. Or maybe I went to him. It's very difficult to explain. But you say you've had dreams too. You must know what I'm talking about."
    "I think so." Jamie thought back. "There's a sea with black water. And the stars are shining but it's not exactly night…"
    "There's an island."
    'Yes." Jamie was excited. She knew what he was talking about. "And two boys in a straw boat."
    "Matt and Inti." She looked at him curiously. "Have you been to the library?"
    The question was so unexpected that Jamie was taken aback. "What library?" he asked.
    "In the dream world."
    "No. I never saw any buildings."
    "Forget it." Scar had lost her train of thought. She gazed into the fire as if she might find it there, then went on. "Anyway, that's how I first met Matt. He came to me in a dream and he explained everything to me. There were five of us in different countries. He was here. I was where I was. Sapling and Flint were on the other side of the world, and Inti…I don't know where he came from, and neither, for that matter, does he. But the point was, we'd all been chosen. We all had these powers and if we could just find one another and come together, we'd have the strength to beat the Old Ones and give the world a new start."
    It hadn't occurred to Jamie that he might still have his power, that it might have returned to him after the shock at Silent Creek. Could he use it now? Could he reach out to Scott? He decided not to try. In this world, Scott was someone named Flint. He didn't want to reach him yet. He was afraid of what he might find.
    "There were still people fighting," Scar went on. "People like Finn and Erin and Corian and all the others. There were resistance groups. But they needed us. It's funny, isn't it, but it's like Finn said: They were all adults but they needed five children if they were going to survive. And we needed one another.
    So we set out to find one another. And that's how we got here."
    "You're not making any sense!" Finn taunted her.

    "I'm doing the best I can!" she