The Power of Five Oblivion

standing opposite Scott, not moving as the soldiers formed. There was very little time left. Once they had solidified, they would take him.
    “I’m sorry, Matt,” Scott said. “They told me what to do. I didn’t have any choice.”
    “You don’t have to blame yourself,” Matt said. “I knew you were going to betray me.”
    “You couldn’t have known.” Scott stared at Matt, suddenly angry. The soldiers were forming a circle around the two boys, arms and legs, swords and shields all defining themselves, being drawn out of the black haze. “If you knew, why did you come?”
    “I told you in the dreamworld. We all have a part to play. This is yours.”
    “To betray you?”
    “Yes.”
    The soldiers were ready. Matt wasn’t even trying to use his power. He simply stood there as they closed in.
    “It was never my role to save the world,” Matt said.
    “Then whose was it?”
    “Yours.”
    The nearest soldiers fell on Matt and on Richard, clubbing them down with shields that were as hard as steel. A kilometre away at sea, the commanders and marines watched helplessly through binoculars as the drama was played out, knowing there was nothing they could do.
    Matt was stretched out on the shingle, unconscious. Richard was next to him. The fly-soldiers picked them up by their feet and dragged them away, disappearing in the haze. Scott stood utterly still, watching them go. He felt sick. He had known what he was doing but he had never thought it would be as bad as this.
    “I knew you were going to betray me…”
    Matt had known but he had still come.
    The waves rolled in, breaking against the shoreline. Scott stood there for a long time, deep in thought. Then, finally, he sighed and, with heavy steps, set off back towards the fortress.

FIFTY-TWO
    The cell was like an animal’s lair, deep underground and with no window, no electric light. It would have been pitch-dark but for the strange blue glow that hung in the air. The floor was covered with straw. Three of the walls were natural rock. The fourth contained a solid metal plate, which must have been the door but which seemed to have been welded into place.
    Richard Cole had woken up here and had found himself alone. That was his first and his greatest fear. Scott had betrayed them after all and they had taken Matt. What were they doing with him? For the first time since this whole adventure had begun, Richard felt a sense of grief and hopelessness that threatened to tear him apart. He had flown all the way from Dubai, halfway round the world, to come to this evil place … and to what end? He had simply delivered Matt into the hands of the Old Ones. The two of them should never have gone to the meeting at Skua Bay. They should never have come to Antarctica at all.
    Slowly, his thoughts turned to his own situation. He hadn’t been killed yet. The fly-soldiers had taken him alive. Could it be that they needed him for something? Or was this to be his end? As far as he could tell, he had been here for about twelve hours and nobody had brought him food or water. Maybe he had been sealed in here. This was his tomb and he had simply been left here to die. When he had first opened his eyes, he had slammed the heels of his hands against the door, shouting for attention. He had soon given up. Even if anyone could hear him, they weren’t going to come. And he could hear nothing. He had to fight against the sudden panic; the knowledge that he had been buried alive.
    Why had Matt insisted on meeting Scott? It was obvious that this was going to happen. Lying on the straw, Richard felt a wave of fury that made him want to scream. How could Matt have been so stupid? How could he have been so stupid to let him have his way? Why hadn’t anyone – Cain, Lohan or Scarlett – done more to stop them? The questions were futile but they still tormented him. Once again he went over to the door and kicked out at it, shouting, making as much noise as he could.
    Nobody came.
    Richard forced himself to calm down. There was a danger he could lose his mind in here and then he would be no use to anybody. Perhaps that was what the Old Ones intended. But even now, even when everything had gone so wrong, he still had one tiny spark of hope. He had been aware of it the moment he had opened his eyes.
    They had searched him when they had brought him here. They had taken the gun that he had been carrying. But, as impossible as it seemed, they had overlooked the other weapon he had