The Power of Five Oblivion

Ones know about St Meredith’s and they have it surrounded.”
    “Is the door working?”
    “Not yet. All the doors are locked.”
    “Then what’s the point of going there?”
    “They’ll open … in time. And that’s why I had to see you. You have to know the right moment to get into the church and break through. You can’t delay. You must do it at exactly the right time.”
    “How will I know?”
    Matthew smiled but there wasn’t a shred of happiness in his face. Jamie had never seen him so old, so defeated. “You’ll know. There’ll be a sign. When you see it, go for it, and if everything works out like I hope, you’ll reach Antarctica.”
    “Will you be there?” he asked. “Will Scott?”
    “Jamie, I can’t answer your questions. All I can tell you is that it will happen the way it’s meant to happen.”
    “But I have a right to know!” Jamie felt something rising in him. He wasn’t sure if it was anger or sadness. “What’s wrong with Scott? The last time we met, he hardly talked to me. And those clothes he was wearing…” Jamie broke off. “And what about you, Matt? How do you know so much about everything all of a sudden? What’s happened to you?”
    Matt smiled. “I’ve been to the library.” He paused again. “This is the last time we’ll talk before the end,” he said. “I’ll think of you on the Lady Jane . And in London. Just remember – wait for the sign. Don’t try anything until then. And when you see it … don’t hang around!”
    “Hold on, Matt…”
    But then Jamie opened his eyes and found himself back on the boat. Holly was asleep on the bunk opposite him and they were still chugging slowly down the river. Matt had gone and another day had begun.

THIRTY-SIX
    I felt terrible about George’s death. I was sick and miserable and at the same time guilty because even though so many other people had died, he was the only one I really cared about. I had actually seen Tom Connor and Mr Christopher and Reverend Johnstone killed and I knew that nobody was going to be left alive, not even Rita and John, who had been like parents to me and who had looked after me since I was small. Maybe there was just too much grief for me to cope with.
    I wasn’t much good for anything when we tumbled aboard the Lady Jane and set off down the river. This was the first time that I had been on anything with an engine since I was about six. For that matter, I had never seen a helicopter before either. Both these things should have been a source of wonderment for me, but all I could think about was … well, nothing. I didn’t really have any thoughts. If my life were a strip of ribbon, it was as if someone had just cut off the entire length right up to where I was now, so that looking back there was nothing and I couldn’t imagine anything very much ahead either. Part of me wished that I had died in the village. It would have been easier.
    I wanted to hate Jamie. After all, it was his appearance that had brought the Old Ones to us. But I couldn’t do it. If anyone was to blame, it was Miss Keyland for going against the wishes of the Assembly and making the telephone call in the forest. At the same time, I wondered if we hadn’t been kidding ourselves all along. We hadn’t been living in the village. We’d been surviving – and it couldn’t really have gone on much longer. Rita had practically said as much when we parted company. The crops had been failing, the water supply dwindling. Whichever way you looked at it, we had been running out of time. I didn’t think it then but maybe in some way the arrival of the police, the sudden end, had been a mercy.
    I don’t remember very much about the race to the river, scrambling down the bank in the darkness, somehow finding the boat and clambering on board. I was probably in shock. I think Jamie untied the ropes, or maybe it was me, but the next thing we were pulling away with the engine under my feet and a sense of total disbelief. How had the Traveller kept the boat in working condition without anyone finding out? Where had he got the fuel? I was standing there in the pitch-darkness when he asked me to take the tiller so that he could go inside and talk to Jamie, and I nearly fell overboard. How could I possibly steer a huge boat like the Lady Jane when I had never been on or in the river, not so much as to get my feet wet? I wanted to refuse but he didn’t give me a chance and suddenly I found myself standing there, my eyes