The Power of Five Oblivion

brown eyes of a ten-year-old. His black hair had been cut short with a fringe that went in a straight line from ear to ear. It was the sort of haircut you’d get in a primary school. Even before they’d been put on starvation rations, Pedro had been incredibly thin. Stick Insect. That was the name Scott had given him and he’d even used it from time to time.
    “So tell me what you think, Stick Insect…?”
    It amused Scott that Pedro didn’t know what it meant. He probably thought it was a term of friendship.
    Scott still found it hard to believe that they had been thrown together after Hong Kong, as if by an unlucky toss of the dice. Why couldn’t it have been Scarlett or even Matt? Why not his own brother? He wouldn’t have minded if he’d ended up on his own. Anything would have been better than this.
    He knew, of course, what had happened in those last few seconds in the temple. They had all rushed through the door without thinking, without knowing where they were going. So instead of taking them somewhere safe, it had scattered them like seed in the wind. That was down to Matt. Matt had given them the order to get out of there before the storm killed them all, and maybe he’d been right about that but he hadn’t thought it through. Just a few seconds … that was all it would have taken. He could have directed them back to Cuzco or to London or to anywhere they could all be together. But he’d been scared and he’d just run. Perhaps he wasn’t quite the leader he thought he was.
    And, for that matter, going to Hong Kong had almost certainly been a mistake in the first place. Chasing after Scarlett had meant walking into the most obvious of traps, something Scott had pointed out from the start … not that anyone had listened. And Matt had even gone so far as to separate him and Jamie. How could he have done that?
    Now that he thought about it, Scott disliked Matt even more than he disliked Pedro.
    Scott and Matt had never got on, not from the moment that he and Jamie had arrived in Cuzco, Peru, at the end of a long journey that had nearly killed them both. Scott had already been captured once. He had been held prisoner and tortured by a woman, Susan Mortlake. (Scott couldn’t think of her without seeing her … the long, thin neck, the glasses, the piggy eyes.) She had wanted him to use his powers to help her kill a United States senator, using his powers, and in the end he had agreed. Anything to stop the pain. Was that so wrong?
    At the same time, Jamie had been busy. He had broken out of a juvenile detention centre in Nevada, travelled in time, fought in the first battle against the Old Ones and ended up on the winning side. All their lives, Scott had looked after Jamie, acting as the older brother, even though they were actually twins. But from the moment Matt had come onto the radar, he had somehow been demoted. Jamie was the hero. Scott was the loser, someone you couldn’t trust. The worst moment had come when Matt had decided to take Jamie with him to London, leaving Scott behind.
    No. Even worse than that … Jamie had agreed without putting up any sort of argument. After everything they had been through together, Jamie had simply turned round and betrayed him.
    All these jumbled thoughts ran through Scott’s mind as he lay there in the cell, cold and filthy in clothes he hadn’t changed in weeks, remembering how he had got here and wondering what would happen next.
    He and Pedro had come through the door from Hong Kong. He could see it still, the walls crashing down, the wind howling in. They had emerged into the cloister of some sort of church, which looked old and run-down. The sky was a dirty grey and smelled of ashes. Had there been a gigantic fire nearby? How he wished now that they had gone back the way they had come, but five seconds of curiosity had been the undoing of them. He had been about to say something to Pedro. Maybe this isn’t a good idea. Maybe we should try and find the others . But the words never left his mouth. Suddenly there were men running towards them from all sides, figures in black uniforms with weapons in their hands and more weapons dangling from their belts. He heard shouting. Then something hit him on the side of the face and the world turned upside down as he crashed to the ground. He tried to get up but a foot slammed into the small of his back. His hands were seized and tied behind him.
    There was nothing he could do as he was lifted up and carried