Evil Star (29 page)

It would explain why they had to be drawn in the first place."

"And you think the lines will align with the stars two nights from now?" Richard asked.

"I was never able to test my theory before now because I never had an observation platform. Don't forget that this desert covers five hundred square kilometers! I had to know exactly where to stand to see the stars in their right position."

"And now you do."

"Yes. ..."

Horowitz, Anthony - [Gatekeepers 02] - Evil Star Suddenly, Pedro sprang to his feet.

"Pedro?" The professor examined him.
"Cual es él?"

"Esta. . .
" Pedro began.

Matt stood up, too. "I heard it just a moment ago," he said.

The stove was still burning, the little gas jet throwing a blue glow across the ground. The Jeep stood where it had been parked. The night had grown cool and now there was a faint touch of breeze in the air. Matt looked up at the sky, at the millions of glistening stars.

For a moment, he thought he saw two tiny green lights. He shook his head. There was no such thing as a green star.

“You're imagining things," Richard said. "There's noth-ing out here."

Unwillingly, Pedro and Matt sat down again. They couldn't leave until they had covered their tracks, and they weren't ready to begin work again yet.

"The platform marks the exact position where you have to stand to see the alignment of the stars," the professor con-tinued. "That's what it said in the verse you showed me. 'Before the place of Qolqa, there will the light be seen ...'"

'"The light that is the end of all light.'" Matt finished the poem.

Professor Chambers nodded gravely. "There you have it again. This is the place. And we also know the time. Two days from now. Inti Raymi."

"That's when the gate opens."

"Except we don't know where the gate is," Richard cut in. "There are no stone circles in the desert."

"What makes you think it has to be a stone circle?"

Horowitz, Anthony - [Gatekeepers 02] - Evil Star Atoc was the first to see them. Suddenly he cried out and pointed.

And there they were — two green lights, burning in the air, high above them but already moving downward. Matt stared into the darkness. There was some-thing large and bulky behind the lights.

He could make out wings.

There was a ghastly shriek. Matt dived onto his stomach as an enormous bird plummeted toward him, steel-like claws reaching out for his eyes. He felt a searing pain in his shoulder, heard the cloth of his shirt tear as the claws ripped through. Then it had wheeled away, and the desert was silent once again but for the beating of its wings in the night air.

Matt rolled over and got dizzily to his feet.

" Cual era el? "
Pedro demandedv

"It was a condor," Chambers said. "But it's impossible. There are no condors in this part of Peru."

Once again, Matt remembered what the
amauta
had said in the lost city.

"The birds fly where they should not fly. "

Condors. In the Nazca desert. At night.

"It's coming back!" Richard shouted.

There was a second scream and a thudding in the air. All of them fell back as the monstrous bird rushed into them, its green eyes blazing. The bird was black and gray with a thick white collar of feathers around its neck. It was huge, the rest of its plumage hanging off its body like a ragged cloak. Its beak curved out of its head like a dagger. Its claws were stretched out and the points were knife-sharp.

For a moment it was between them and they felt the air beat against Horowitz, Anthony - [Gatekeepers 02] - Evil Star their faces. There was a smell of rot-ting meat. Then it swooped up, disappearing into the darkness.

Richard snatched up the stove as if it were a weapon, although he knew that the tiny flame would do no good. "Get into the Jeep!" he shouted. "We have to move —"

"Watch out!" Matt warned.

A second bird had dived down, aiming for Richard. The journalist dropped to one knee and its claws missed his head by centimeters.

Its huge wings beat at the air, mak-ing the flame dance. Like the other bird, it stank of death and decay.

"The Jeep!" Richard shouted a second time.

A third condor swooped out of the sky. Then a fourth and a fifth.

Suddenly the entire sky seemed to be filled with shrieking, savage creatures. Atoc shouted. One of the condors had landed on his shoulder. As Matt stared in hor-ror, it twisted round and began to attack Atoc's neck, ripping out skin and flesh with its beak. Atoc tried to beat it off but it refused to let go. Blood was pouring from his neck and down his shirt. Then Matt ran forward. He picked up a spade and with all his strength he swung it, slamming the metal end into the bird, barely centimeters away from Atoc's head. He felt the jolt as the spade came into contact with flesh and bone. The bird was smashed to the ground, its own neck broken. But still it wouldn't die.

It thrashed around, its wings beating uselessly. Its beak was sticky with Atoc's blood.

"Matteo!"

It was Pedro who had cried out. Another bird had landed on his back, its claws acting like grappling irons. It was pecking at his skull, over and over again, its beak disap-pearing into his hair. To Horowitz, Anthony - [Gatekeepers 02] - Evil Star Matt it seemed as if the boy and the bird had become one. All he could see was Pedro flail-ing with his hands, with two gigantic wings spreading out of his back.

Richard saved him. With one hand, he ripped the bird off Pedro's shoulders, then shoved the stove into the con-dor with his other. The blue flame touched the feathers, and the bird seemed to explode as the fire took it instantly. It screamed again and again. Then it collapsed to the sand, kicked its legs feebly, and lay still.

The stove had gone out.

"Are you all right?" Richard shouted.

"Yes!" Pedro touched the back of his head. When his hand came away, there was blood on his fingers.

"We have to get to the Jeep...."

Professor Chambers was already there. So far she hadn't been touched. She fumbled the keys out of her pocket and threw herself into the driver's seat. Even as she reached out to close the door, another condor swooped down, aiming for her hand. She slammed the door in its face, pushed the keys into the ignition, and turned the engine on.

Richard, Pedro, and Matt all had spades now. Together they made for the Jeep, swinging at the air, keeping close as a group. Matt was supporting Atoc, who seemed dazed, his hand clamped to the wound on his neck. Blood was trickling between his fingers. There was a roar from the engine and the Jeep charged toward them and stopped.

Matt helped Atoc into the front seat. He saw Richard lash out with his spade. There was a screech, and a body thumped onto the ground.

Somehow, the three of them managed to get into the back.

Horowitz, Anthony - [Gatekeepers 02] - Evil Star

"This is impossible!" Chambers cried.

"Just get us out of here!" Richard yelled back. "We can talk about it later."

Chambers slammed her foot onto the accelerator and the Jeep's wheels spun. For a horrible moment, Matt thought they were stuck.

But then the tires found a grip and they were propelled forward, heading toward the highway.

But it wasn't over yet.

Even as Matt slumped gratefully back, something ham-mered into the roof of the Jeep. The next thing he knew, there was a ripping sound, and the head of a condor burst down into the car. At the same time, two more condors swung into the sides, holding on with their claws and tear-ing through the soft material with their beaks. The Jeep zigzagged. Matt and Pedro were thrown left and right. It seemed that Chambers had lost control. But she had seen what was happening. She was deliberately wrenching the wheel, trying to throw the birds off.

Richard punched upward. His fist caught one of the condors in the stomach and at once it was gone, whipped away into the night. Matt felt a sharp pain and cried out. Another condor had managed to get halfway in. It was peck-ing at his face and had drawn blood on his cheek. An inch higher and to the left and it would have taken out his eye.

"They're breaking in!" he shouted.

"Can you go any faster?" Richard demanded.

"Not on this surface! I'm going as fast as I can!"

"We're not going to make it!" Richard looked up. The roof had been Horowitz, Anthony - [Gatekeepers 02] - Evil Star torn through in several places. There were still condors attached to the Jeep. He could see them through the gaps. He heard another hideous, unearthly screech, and what was left of the roof disintegrated as yet another condor burst through. It was inside the Jeep, a stinking, flapping ball of bone, feather, and claw. It lunged at Matt.

There was an explosion, so loud it was deafening. On the backseat, Pedro jerked back in shock. Matt felt his ears ringing.

It was Atoc. He had one hand clasped over the wound on his neck but in the other he was holding a gun. He had never even mentioned that he had it. Now, when it was almost too late, he had used it, firing at point-blank range into the bird's body. The bullet tore through it. The con-dor's beak snapped open, impossibly wide. The light in its eyes went out. Atoc fired five more times, aiming at differ-ent points of the roof. The other condors fell away.

And then the Jeep hit the highway. Matt felt the tires bump onto the asphalt, and a moment later they had picked up speed. He looked back. A few condors were still circling but they were already far behind.

"I. .. sorry," Atoc said. "I leave gun in Jeep."

"Are you okay?" Richard asked.

Atoc nodded. "Not hurt too bad."

"I have bandages at the house," Chambers said.

The Jeep tore down the Pan-American Highway, leaving a cloud of dust in its wake. The last condors watched it dis-appear, then wheeled back into the darkness from which they'd come.

Horowitz, Anthony - [Gatekeepers 02] - Evil Star

Chapter 18 Evil Star

"I'm wrong," Professor Chambers said. "I don't understand it. But I've checked and double-checked."

"What do you mean?" Richard asked.

"The stars! That's what I mean. I was sure I was right. But I've looked at them and they simply don't add up."

It was eleven o'clock the following morning. Matt, Pedro, and Richard had eaten a late breakfast, which the professor had brought to them in the garden. All three of them felt a little guilty, knowing that she had worked all night — but she didn't seem even slightly tired. Atoc was in his room, resting. A local doctor had stitched up the wound in his neck and given him tetanus and penicillin shots. He was still in pain but he was going to be all right. Pedro had been luckier. The skull is the toughest part of the human body and it had protected him from the condor's attack. He was missing a few bits of hair and he, too, had been given an anti-tetanus jab, but he was otherwise fine.

Matt had spoken to him the night before, while they slept.

"Where did they come from?" Pedro asked. "The condors ..."

"From the Old Ones," Matt replied. "They must have been guardians. They were protecting the place of Qolqa. I knew there was something wrong, something evil the moment we arrived."

"It was cold."

“Yes. When something bad's about to happen, I always feel cold."

Horowitz, Anthony - [Gatekeepers 02] - Evil Star

"Me, too."

The mainland was getting nearer. Very soon they would arrive.

"The old man in Vilcabamba ... he said that one of us was going to get killed," Pedro muttered.

"He said one of us
might."

"Which one?"

"I don't know."

"He also said that whichever one of us it was, he'd be on his own.

But I'm not going to let that happen. I'm going to stick with you."

Matt sighed. "I wish it was as easy as that. But it feels like everything's already been decided."

"No, Matteo. Nobody makes decisions for me. You and me . . .we're the ones in charge."

Now Matt was dragged back to reality as Professor Chambers produced a sheaf of computer printouts and laid them on the breakfast table. It seemed strange to be in a beautiful garden on this warm summer's day. The birds were singing. A gardener was mowing the lawn. And here they were talking about the end of the world.

"I've made my calculations based on the position of the platform and the position of the stars on Inti Raymi," Professor Chambers went on. "Remember what I told you? My idea . . . ?"

“You told us they'd line: up," Richard said.

"I told you it would happen once every twenty-six thousand years.

And the extraordinary thing is that it does
happen, very, very nearly... tomorrow night. It's quite incredible. It's what I've been Horowitz, Anthony - [Gatekeepers 02] - Evil Star saying for thirty years. But there's one star missing. I've gone over it a dozen times, but there's no mistake. One star won't be there."

"Which star?" Matt asked.

"Cygnus. It's actually made up of seven stars and it's also known as the Northern Cross. It's seventy thousand times brighter than the sun, and it's so far away that when you look at it, you're actually seeing it as it was in the time of Christ.

"If you were standing on the platform at the place of Qolqa tomorrow, you'd look for it between the two moun-tain ranges. All the other stars would be in the right place. But Cygnus wouldn't be anywhere to be seen. It would be about thirty degrees off course, hidden behind the moon."

"So that's the end of it," Richard exclaimed. "Salamanda stole the diary and tried to kill Matt for nothing. It doesn't matter how rich or powerful he is. There's nothing he can do. He can't move a star."

'"There are too many stars,'" Matt said.

"What?"

"It's what the old man said. 'The birds fly in the wrong places and there are too many stars in the night sky.' That was how he knew the gate was going to open."

"Well, he wasn't wrong with the first part," Richard agreed.

"But why did he say there were too many? Professor Chambers says there's one star too few!"