The Power of Five Oblivion

there was actually a crack, a tiny fissure just wide enough for two people to squeeze through. It had been hidden from the sea because of a fold in the rock, but once they had walked to the very top of the beach, they were able to see into it. There was a path snaking into the distance and the footprints the fly-soldiers had made were still visible in the snow. The walls rose up on either side, so close that they seemed to touch, blocking out the light and any sign of the sky. It was not so much a pathway as a tunnel. They had no idea how far it went but there was no reason why it shouldn’t open out in the fortress itself.
    “There’ll be guards,” Lohan whispered.
    “I can deal with that,” Scarlett said.
    They continued forward, leaving the beach and the Zodiac behind. The thick layer of snow absorbed the sound of their feet and they didn’t speak a word to each other. Both of them were fairly certain that they were going to die. In a way, with millions of tonnes of stone pressing down on them, they felt they were already dead.
    Shape-changers had been positioned on rocky ledges above them, standing watch over the passageway just as Lohan had warned. It was a miserable posting. They were out on their own, in the freezing cold. They carried rusting spears in their human hands and looked about them with pig, snake and falcon eyes.
    But even as they stood there, a strange fog sprang up, filling the crevice beneath them. The fog helped to muffle any sound. And so they saw and heard nothing, quite unaware of the two figures creeping past, following the twisty path far below.

FIFTY-THREE
    LONDON
    Jamie Tyler woke up very suddenly, with the knowledge – even before he opened his eyes – that something terrible had happened.
    Matt had said he would send him a signal and it had come, as he had expected, from the dreamworld. But the strange thing was that, this time, Jamie had no memory of being there. For once there had been no library or hill, no island or sea. Indeed, he couldn’t even remember seeing Matt and had no idea exactly what he had said. But as he opened his eyes and took in his surroundings, the echo of Matt’s voice was still there and Jamie knew that he had to move at once, that there couldn’t be a minute’s delay.
    Quickly, he threw back the covers and got to his feet. He had no need to dress – he slept in his clothes. Holly was stretched out on the mattress on the other side of the room with its striped wallpaper, carpet and fireplace. Her hair, tangled and dirty, was sprawled over the pillow. He shook her awake and left the room, searching for the Traveller and his brother, who slept next door. In fact, they were already out of bed. Jamie wasn’t surprised. The two of them got up well before sunrise every day.
    “What is it?” Will Fletcher asked. He had seen the look on Jamie’s face and knew at once that something had changed.
    “We have to go,” Jamie said.
    “You’ve seen Matt?”
    “No. But I heard him.” He tried to explain what had happened. “He didn’t say anything but I think he’s been hurt and he wants me to come. That’s all I can tell you. We have to move right away.”
    Graham and Will exchanged a glance but they didn’t argue. They had served the Nexus for almost ten years and the Nexus existed only to help the Gatekeepers. The Traveller might have been in charge when they were in the village and on board the Lady Jane , but it was inconceivable that he would question anything Jamie said here in London. By the time Holly appeared in the doorway, rubbing her eyes, he was already moving past her, on his way downstairs.
    “I’ll tell the others,” he said. “We’ll be ready in less than a minute.”
    “What’s happening?” Holly asked.
    “We’re leaving.”
    Jamie was aware that his heart was beating more rapidly than usual and that he had left sleep far behind him. He had arrived at the end. If they could fight their way into St Meredith’s, if the door finally worked, he might be in Antarctica in just a few minutes’ time. He would see Scott again. And the others: Matt, Scarlett, Pedro. To be together to finally confront the Old Ones and finish them once and for all … it was what he wanted above all else.
    They couldn’t leave it any longer anyway. Only the evening before, Simon – one of the men who had come with them from the survival pod – had been taking readings with the complicated equipment that had been waiting for them in the house,