Evil Star

done anything. He hadn't needed to. Just being there was enough.
    Gently, Pedro placed a hand on Matt's chest. At last he was fully aware of his power. Now he was going to use it.
    But would it work? Had he left it too late?
    Pedro closed his eyes and let the energy flow.

    ************************************
    A week later.

    Horowitz, Anthony - [Gatekeepers 02] - Evil Star The sun was beginning to set over the town of Nazca, and the air was heavy and warm. Professor Chambers came out of the house, carrying a jug of iced lime juice and four glasses. She had lit a barbecue and the flames were leaping up, filling the garden with smoke and the smell of charcoal.
    Richard, Matt, and Pedro were waiting for her, sitting around the table in wicker chairs. Pedro's crutches were lying on the grass. He would need them for a couple more weeks, though his ankle was already on the mend. But it v 'as Matt's recovery that had been all the more remarkable. He had woken up just a few hours after Pedro's return. A day later he had been eating and drinking. And now, here he was, sitting as if nothing had happened.
    Richard found it impossible to believe, even though Professor Chambers had tried to explain it to him. "Thaumaturgy," she had said, as if it had been something she had been expecting all along.
    "What's that?"
    "Faith healing. Of course, in this day and age, few peo-ple believe in it anymore. But ancient civilizations relied on it. The Incas, for example. They used it all the time. Thaumaturgy is the ability to treat sickness using some sort of inner, psychic ability."

    "And Pedro . . . ?"
    "Well, the Incas seemed to think he was one of their own. So I suppose it's no surprise he has the ability." She shook her head.
    "What does it matter how it happened?" she exclaimed. "He saved Matt's life. That's all we need to know."
    Now Richard watched as Professor Chambers put down the tray and went over to the barbecue. The coals had begun to glow. She spread Horowitz, Anthony - [Gatekeepers 02] - Evil Star four steaks over the grill and went back to the table.
    Nobody spoke while the meat cooked. In the days that had passed since Matt's recovery, they had all gotten used to his long silences.
    Matt still hadn't told them what had happened at the place of Qolqa, and they knew not to ask. Everything would be said in its own time.
    Sometimes, still, Richard worried about him. Matt wasn't quite his old self. The pain had changed him, and now and then Richard could see it; the evidence was in his eyes.
    Matt was reading a newspaper. It was several days out of date, but Susan Ashwood had sent it to them from England with an article highlighted on page five.

    CHURCH DISPUTES DISAPPEARING
    BOY
    Was it a miracle, as some are suggesting, or is there a rational explanation for the
    disappearing boy of San Galgano, as he has
    come to be known in the ancient Tuscan
    city of Lucca?
    The facts are these. San Galgano is an
    ancient abbey just outside Lucca, dating
    back to the twelfth century. It is occupied
    by a devout order of Cistercian monks who
    are unused to the glare of modern pub-
    licity. But earlier this week, in the cloisters, one of these monks encountered a young
    boy who spoke to him in English. The boy
    picked a flower and then walked through a

    Horowitz, Anthony - [Gatekeepers 02] - Evil Star door and disappeared.
    The story may seem ordinary enough until
    you examine the facts. First of all, the
    abbey is not open to the public, and it
    would be impossible to enter without being
    noticed. But more bizarre is the door which
    the boy used to enter the cloister. This door is not only kept locked — it was actually
    bricked up a hundred years ago by the abbot.
    It seems also that the door has a curse
    attached to it. According to local legend, the appearance of the boy signals nothing less
    than the beginning of the Last Judgment!
    However, a church spokesman, speaking at
    the Vatican today, insisted that this was
    more likely to be simply the case of a
    tourist who had lost his way. . ..

    As the professor sat down, Matt folded the paper away. He knew that he was the boy the monk had seen. He had gone through a door in London and it now seemed that he had come out of one in Lucca, somewhere in Italy. William Morton, the antique dealer who had briefly owned the diary, must have learned about the passageway.
    That much was clear to him. He had tested Matt by making him walk through the door at St. Meredith's. By returning with a