The Power of Five Oblivion (34 page)

They embraced warmly.

“I thought I was never going to see you again,” Jamie said. He looked past Matt at the vast construction. “What is this place?”

“It’s a library.”

“Scar told me about the library when I travelled back in time. And there’s supposed to be some sort of woman who lives here too.”

“I haven’t seen her.” Matt smiled, grateful for this moment. “Where are you, Jamie?” he asked. “In the real world?”

He knew the answer. He knew all the answers. But if he stopped talking, he thought he might break down. He had to hold it together for all their sakes.

“I’m back in England. I was in a village but it was attacked and now I’m on a canal boat heading for London. There’s that church you told me about. St Meredith’s. I reckoned if I could find the door, I could somehow get to join you.”

“You know that London has been destroyed.”

“London and pretty much the whole world, from what I can gather. Nothing is the same any more. Somehow I managed to lose ten years.”

“We all lost ten years. If we’d just spent a few more seconds in Hong Kong…”

“It wasn’t your fault, Matt. You had to get us out of there and you did. It’s just bad luck we ended up all split apart…”

“Matt! Jamie!”

Scarlett had appeared, quickly climbing the hill towards them, with Pedro just behind her. She was dressed in exactly the same clothes she had been wearing when she had entered the Tai Shan Temple, but Matt could see that she had been hurt. She was thinner and she had a slightly pinched look in her eyes; the memory of recent pain. Pedro too was different. Although he did his best to smile, and he was evidently glad to see Matt again, he was hiding something and he couldn’t disguise it. One of his hands was wrapped in a bandage.

His finger was broken. Matt knew about that too.

Matt went over to them.

Scarlett kissed him on the side of his cheek. At that moment she was close to him and looked deep into his eyes. She pulled away. “What is it, Matt?” she asked. “What’s happened?”

“Nothing,” Matt lied. He had already decided not to tell any of them about the book. “I’m really glad to see you.”

“I’ve really missed you.”

It helped to keep talking. Say anything. Ask questions
.

“Where are you?”

“I’m in Egypt, on the way to Dubai. I’m with your friend, Richard. He’s going to be so relieved that I’ve seen you. He asks me about the dreamworld every morning. What do you want me to say to him?”

“Just tell him I’m glad he’s OK. And say I’m glad he’s got you to look after him.”

“Actually, I think it’s the other way round.”

“Scott!” Jamie had seen his brother walking towards them and ran forward to greet him.

But even as Scott appeared at the bottom of the hill, Matt could see that he was lingering. He had probably thought twice before responding to the sound of the bell and had only come because he had to, because if he wasn’t there, Pedro would tell them what had happened. He was still reluctant to join the group. Matt glanced at Pedro and saw him turn away, deliberately avoiding having to look Scott in the eye. Matt tried to force what he had read out of his thoughts. He wasn’t the only one with problems. This adventure was going to hurt them all.

Pedro was his friend. Without him, Matt would never have survived Peru. He rested a hand briefly on his shoulder. “Hello, Pedro.”

“I am happy to see you, Matteo.”

“I’m glad to see you too.” He went on quickly, keeping his voice low. “Don’t worry about Scott. I know what’s happened and it’s going to be all right. Don’t say anything to the others.”

“But Scott—”

“I know. But everything’s happening the way it’s meant to. What matters is that we’re together again. The Five. It’s all going to work out.”

They talked for a few more minutes. Scarlett was amazed to learn that Lohan was now with Matt. She quickly described the civil war in Egypt and the death of Tarik, killed by his own bomb. She still couldn’t believe what Richard had done.

“He only did it because there was no other choice,” Matt said. “That’s the way he is. He says he doesn’t want to be part of this but he’ll do anything to protect you.”

Then Jamie described his time in the village in England, his escape on the canal boat. “I guess I’m still there right now,” he said. “With Holly and this guy – the Traveller. It’ll take us about a week to get to London and we’re just going to have to hope that St Meredith’s is still there.”

They were all so glad to see each other that they didn’t notice that Scott hadn’t bothered to tell anything of his story. He was almost silent, making sure he kept his distance from Pedro. They hadn’t spoken a word to each other.

“I was going north,” Pedro said. He was choosing his words carefully. Scott was listening and Pedro was concerned. He might repeat everything he heard here to Jonas Mortlake. He wondered why Matt had stopped him from warning the others. “There was a volcano eruption … in Naples. I still don’t know what happened. I was on a boat and then I was here.”

And that was what mattered most. They were finally together … even if these were only the dream versions of themselves. From now on, it would matter less that they were thousands of miles apart in the real world. All they had to do was fall asleep at the same time. They would meet each other again.

“We ought to get on with it,” Matt said. “Lohan is going to wake me up at any moment and we have a long drive ahead of us through the jungle in Brazil. What’s important is that the five of us know what we’re doing and how this is going to work out. Let me tell you straight off that it’s not going to be easy…”

Not easy. Not easy at all
.

“You probably guessed that much already. The Old Ones have stolen ten years from us and somehow they’ve stretched those years and made them much longer. The whole world has changed. But we’re still here – the Five – and we can still win. We were born for this time and we have to hold onto that, no matter what happens now or in the future. I always thought this sort of thing was meant to be fun … becoming a hero and saving the world. But it’s not going to be fun. Remember that. Maybe not all of us are going to live. But we don’t have any choice except to go on because that’s how it has been written.”

Written
.

“We need to get to Antarctica, to a place called Oblivion. Chaos is there, surrounded by his armies, in a fortress built out of ice and stone. He’s waiting for us and that’s where we have to go.”

“But why?” Scarlett said. “That doesn’t make any sense, Matt. All we have to do is meet. Isn’t that it? So we should go as far away from him as possible.”

“It has to be Oblivion, Scarlett. There are things you don’t know, things I can’t tell you.”

Alone among the Five, Pedro understood what he meant. Scott had left Naples with Jonas Mortlake and presumably he was now inside the fortress. That was why the other four had to travel there. It was the only place in the world where they could be together.

“And there are people there who need our help,” Matt went on quickly, before Scarlett could argue. “Word is leaking out. Somehow people have found out that there’s going to be a last battle and that it’s going to be fought in Antarctica. They’re already beginning to move south. They call themselves the World Army. But they don’t have any real understanding of what they’re up against. A lot of them are going to die for no reason – but without us, it’ll be much, much worse. Trust me, Scarlett. You’re needed.”

“But I told you. I’m in the middle of the desert. In Egypt.”

“There are still planes flying. You can persuade someone to take you.”

“What about the doors?” Jamie asked. “If they’re not working any more…”

“The doors will open again eventually. Somehow, you have to make it to St Meredith’s in London. You can trust the man who calls himself the Traveller. He’ll look after you. And, Pedro…” Matt turned to him and for a moment Pedro thought there was something strange in his eyes, something he didn’t quite understand. “You’re going to St Peter’s in Rome,” he continued. “There’s a door there that will take you to Antarctica. Giovanni will help you.”

“How do you know all this?” Pedro demanded. “How do you know about Giovanni?”

Matt shrugged and looked away. “I’ve been to the library,” he said.

“And what’s my part in this?” Scott asked. The others looked at him curiously. His voice was dull and hostile. He was sitting, cross-legged, on his own, slightly apart from the rest of the group. And he was dressed differently from them. He was wearing an expensive black shirt and jeans. His clothes were new.

“You and I can talk about that in a minute,” Matt said. He got to his feet. “The five of us are together again and that’s all that matters. We’re still alive. And I will make you a promise. The price may be high but we are going to win.”

He walked over to Scott. “Let’s go…”

“We’ve got nothing to say,” Scott muttered.

“That’s not true.”

“I’ve got nothing to say to you, Matt. I mean it.”

“Give me five minutes, Scott. That’s all I’m asking. After that, you never have to see me again.”

“Five minutes?”

“What difference does it make? You’re asleep anyway. When you wake up, we’ll be miles apart.”

“OK. Whatever you say.” Scott rose lazily to his feet. He was still ignoring Pedro. But he was also ignoring Jamie and that was much worse.

Scarlett watched the two of them walk away. She turned to Pedro. “What’s going on?” she asked. “You were with Scott in Italy. What happened?”

“Nothing happened,” Pedro replied, miserably.

“No? So how come you look half-starved, you’re in rags and you’ve got a broken finger, while Scott looks like he’s just walked out of a fashion show?”

“Pedro…?” Jamie pleaded with him to say more.

“I can’t tell you!” Pedro sprang to his feet and walked off in the opposite direction, kicking up grey dust. He quickly disappeared down the side of the hill.

Jamie and Scarlett were left alone. “The five of us together again?” Jamie muttered, echoing what Matt had just said. “It doesn’t feel that way.”

Matt and Scott were still together in the empty grey landscape. Matt was doing most of the talking, trying to make Scott understand something. Scott was shaking his head. Matt stopped him, then spoke quickly and urgently. He seemed to have regained his confidence.

He knows something we don’t, Jamie thought.

Scott muttered something. He was trying to back away but Matt was staying close to him, refusing to let him leave.

Scarlett wished she could hear what they were saying. She didn’t know if Matt had persuaded Scott to see his point of view and wondered if she could help. She thought of going over to them but then she saw a man walking towards her. He was still dressed in a white shirt but, from the front, she could see that there was a pattern of some sort on his waistcoat. He was an Arab. She saw that too. The two black discs covering his eyes glimmered in the fluorescent light.

“Five,” he said.

Always the same word. Nothing else and no explanation… “Matt!” she called out.

But Matt was far away, still talking to Scott. At the same time, she heard the sound of an engine revving and somebody shouting at her. There was blood on her hands. She jolted forward as the car she was in hit a pothole.

She was in the desert, in the front of a Land Cruiser. Rémy, the Frenchman, was slumped in the back.

Egypt was behind them. Dubai was eighty kilometres ahead.

WHEEL OF FORTUNE

TWENTY-SIX

Albert Rémy was dead. The Frenchman, who had been part of the Nexus in London and who had waited ten years for them in Egypt, hadn’t made it through the night. Richard wasn’t surprised. For three days, Rémy had been in constant pain, every jolt and every bump on the deserted main road causing him to cry out, a bubble of blood appearing on his lips. A bullet had entered his chest just under his left arm and Richard suspected it had punctured his lung. His breathing had been horrible, a constant rattling that competed with the engine of the car, and both Richard and Scarlett had known the moment he had slipped away. That had happened during the fourth night but they had kept going, afraid to stop in the dark.

Then the sun rose, the road was empty with nothing but desert all around – as it had been almost always during the long, sweltering journey that had taken them out of Egypt across the Suez Canal bridge and through no fewer than three countries, including the full length of Saudi Arabia. Richard had driven the entire distance, his eyes glazed, his hands grimly clutching the steering wheel. For her part, Scarlett had talked to him almost incessantly, not because she had anything to say but because she knew she had to help keep him awake. There had been almost nothing to look at, nothing to separate one dreary mile from the next. Even the sight of a burnt-out bus or armoured vehicle became a landmark, something to break the monotony. As they continued south, they had passed a few scattered villages, electricity pylons, abandoned frontier posts with twisting barbed wire and ragged flags … but not a single sign of human life. The sand was still blowing and it might have disguised the truth. Perhaps people had heard them as they drove around Eilat in Israel or Aqaba in Jordan and had run to intercept them. If so, they had been too late. Richard had kept his foot down. The car hurtled on.

The sky was grey, the sand a dirty orange as they dragged Rémy out and laid him on the ground. Richard climbed onto the Land Cruiser and pulled a spade from the various supplies and pieces of equipment that were strapped to the roof. Scarlett realized that he was going to dig a grave and felt guilty because, if she’d had her way, she wouldn’t have bothered. Rémy was dead. What difference would it make to him?

“Richard, let me do it,” she said.

Richard shook his head. “No. I’m fine. In fact I need the exercise. I’ve lost count of how many hours I’ve been cooped up in that thing.”

“We’re only about an hour from Dubai.”

“I know. If he’d waited just a little longer we might have got him to a hospital.”