Evil Star Read Free Page B

Richard sounded genuinely angry with himself. "I'm meant to be looking after you. . . ."
    Matt sat down at the table. "It's not your fault," he said. "It's mine."
    "Matt. . ." Richard began.
    "No. We might as well admit it. This isn't really work-ing, is it?"

    Horowitz, Anthony - [Gatekeepers 02] - Evil Star
    "That's not true."
    "It is true. You don't really want me here. The truth is, you don't even want to stay in York. I don't mind, Richard. If I were you, I wouldn't want to have someone like me hanging around, either."
    Richard looked at his watch. "We can't talk about this now," he said.
    "You're going to be late for school."
    "I don't want to go to school," Matt replied. "I've been thinking about it." He took a deep breath. "I want to go back to another family on the LEAF Project."
    Richard stared. "Are you crazy?"
    LEAF stood for Liberty and Education Achieved through Fostering.
    It was a government program that had been designed for delinquents, and Matt had been part of it when he and Richard had met.
    "I just think it would be easier," Matt said.
    "The last time you joined the LEAF Project, they sent you to a coven of witches. What do you think it'll be next time? Vampires, perhaps. Or maybe you'll end up with a family of cannibals."
    "Maybe I'll get an ordinary family that'll look after me."
    "I can look after you."
    “You can't even look after yourself!" Matt hadn't meant to say it, but the words had just slipped out. “You're work-ing in Leeds now," he went on. “You're always in the car. That's why there's never any food in the house. And you're worn out! You're only staying here because of me. It's not fair."
    It was true. Richard had lost his job at The Greater Mailing Gazette

    Horowitz, Anthony - [Gatekeepers 02] - Evil Star but after a few weeks he had managed to find work on another newspaper, The Gipton Echo, just outside Leeds. It wasn't much better. He was still writing about local busi-nesses. The day before, he'd reported about a new fish restaurant, a garbage disposal plant, and a geriatric hospi-tal that had been threatened with closure.
    Chips, tips, and hips, as he put it. Matt knew that Richard was working on a book about their adventures together — including the events that had led to the destruction of the nuclear power station known as Omega One and the disappearance of an entire Yorkshire village. But he hadn't been able to sell the story to the press. Why should publishers be any different?
    "I don't want to talk about this now," Richard said. "It's too early.
    Let's meet up later. I won't be in late — for once — and we can go out for dinner if you like. Or I can get takeout."
    “Yeah. All right. Whatever." Matt gathered up his books.
    He still doubted he could bring Richard anything more than trouble.

    • • •
    Forrest Hill was a private school in the middle of nowhere, halfway between York and Harrogate. And although Matt hadn't said as much, it was the main reason he had begun to think about leaving the north of England. He hated it there, and although the summer holidays weren't far away, he wasn't sure he could wait that long.
    From the outside, it was attractive enough. There was a quadrangle, an old courtyard with arches and outside stair-cases — and next to it a chapel complete with stained glass and gargoyles. Some parts of the school were three hundred years old and looked it, but in recent times the governors had managed to attract more money and had invested it in new buildings. There was a theater, a science Horowitz, Anthony - [Gatekeepers 02] - Evil Star department, and a barn-size library on two floors, as well as tennis courts, a swimming pool, and playing fields. Everything was situ-ated, as Forrest Hill's name suggested, in what was a basin in the countryside with the roads sloping steeply down from all directions.
    The first time Matt had seen it, he had thought he was being driven into a university campus. It was only when he saw the boys, aged thirteen