Evil Star Read Free Page A

the water. A bird of some sort. Its shape rippled, distorted by the waves, and he was unable to make out what it was. It seemed to have enormous wings, white feathers, and a long, snakelike neck. A swan! Apart from the three boys and the girl, it was the only living thing that Matt had seen in this nightmare world. He looked up, expecting it to skim overhead on its way inland.
    The swan was huge, the size of a plane. Matt screamed out a warning. The creature was hideous, its eyes blazing yellow, its claws reaching down to grab hold of the water, pulling it up like a curtain behind it. At that moment, its bright orange beak opened and it let out an earsplitting cry. There was an answering crash of thunder, and Matt was beaten to his knees as it flew overhead, wind pounding at him, the sound of its shriek exploding in his ears. The curtain of Horowitz, Anthony - [Gatekeepers 02] - Evil Star water fell, a tidal wave that smothered the tower, the shore, the entire sea. As Matt felt it crash down on him, he opened his mouth to scream . . .
    . . . and woke up, gasping for breath, in bed, in his little attic room with the first light of dawn seeping in through the open window.
    Matt did what he always did when his day began like this. First he checked the time on the clock next to his bed: half past six. Then he looked around, reassuring himself that he was in his bedroom, on the third floor of the flat in York where he had been living for the past five weeks. One by one, he ticked the items off. There were his school books, piled up on the desk. His uniform was hung over the back of a chair. His eyes traveled over the posters on the wall: a couple of Arsenal players and a film poster from War of the Worlds.
    His PlayStation was on the floor in the corner. The room was a mess. But it was his room. It was exactly how it should be.
    Everything was all right. He was back.
    He lay in bed for the next thirty minutes, half awake and half asleep, listening to the early morning traffic that started with the milk truck wheezing past the front door and gradually built up with delivery vans and buses setting out on the school run. At seven o'clock, he heard Richard's alarm go off in the room downstairs. Richard Cole was the journalist who owned the flat. Matt heard him get out of bed and pad into the bathroom. There was a hiss of water as the shower came on. It told Matt that it was time he started getting ready, too.
    He threw back the covers and got out of bed.
    For a moment, he caught sight of himself in the full-length mirror that stood in the corner of the room. A fourteen-year-old boy wearing a gray T-shirt and boxers. Black hair. He had always cut it short, but recently he had allowed it to grow and it was untidy, with Horowitz, Anthony - [Gatekeepers 02] - Evil Star no part. Blue eyes. Matt was in good shape, with square shoulders and well-defined muscles. He was growing fast. Richard had been careful to buy him school clothes that were one size up, but as he reached out and pulled on his pants, Matt reflected that it wouldn't be long before they would be too small.
    Half an hour later, dressed for school and carrying a bagload of books, he came into the kitchen. Richard was already there, stacking up the dishes that had been left out the night before. He looked as if he hadn't had any sleep at all. His clothes were crumpled and although he'd been in the shower, he hadn't shaved. His fair hair was still wet and his eyes were half closed.
    "What do you want for breakfast?" he asked.
    "What is there?"
    Richard swallowed a yawn. "Well, there's no bread and no eggs." He opened a cupboard and looked inside. "We've got some cornflakes but that's not much use."
    "Don't we have any milk?"
    Richard took a carton of milk out of the fridge, sniffed it, and dumped it in the sink. "It's off," he announced. He held up his hands in a gesture of apology. "I know. I know. I said I'd get some. But I forgot."
    "It doesn't matter."
    "Of course it matters."