Had they done the same thing to Scott? That was what he didn’t understand. Why go to all the trouble of the kidnap, the dart guns, the double murder of Don and Marcie – just to bring him here to die? Nightrise was supposed to be looking for kids with paranormal powers. Scott, Jamie himself, Daniel McGuire and many others. But he still had no idea why they wanted them.
And then the door opened.
Jamie felt a cool breeze that danced on his skin. He was lying on his back, naked down to the waist, his trousers soaked and the crumpled ball of his T-shirt pressed against his head. His chest was rising and falling as his lungs fought desperately for air. Somehow he managed to turn his head and he saw a man standing there, silhouetted in the doorway. Jamie couldn’t make out who it was but then the man stepped inside and his heart sank as he recognized Joe Feather.
Feather stood where he was. He swore quietly to himself, then muttered, “What are they doing?”
He backed out again and Jamie was afraid that he was going to abandon him – but instead Feather found a switch and turned the air-conditioning back on. Almost at once the temperature in the cell began to fall. And then Jamie must have blacked out for a brief moment because suddenly Feather was there, kneeling down beside the bunk. He had a bottle of cold water.
“Drink this,” he said. “Not too much. It’ll make you sick…”
He held the bottle against Jamie’s lips and Jamie swallowed gratefully. He had never felt anything quite as wonderful as the sensation of cold water trickling down his throat.
For a while, neither of them spoke. As Jamie recovered his strength, he once again examined the man who had introduced him to Silent Creek. Joe Feather was perhaps older than he had first thought. It was difficult to be sure, as his face was so sunburned, so lived in. His eyes were very dark. He was looking at Jamie with a mixture of dismay and… something else. For the first time, Jamie wondered if this man might not be his enemy after all. They were both Native Americans. Didn’t that put them on the same side?
“Can you get up?” Feather asked. He glanced nervously at the door, making sure there was nobody outside. “We don’t have much time.”
“Why?” Jamie asked.
“You have to get out of here. They want to hurt you. But I have friends. I’ve called them. Very soon, they will come. They will help you escape.”
“Escape…?” This was all happening too fast. Jamie struggled to sit up. He took the bottle and drank some more water, then poured the rest of it over his head. It felt ice cold, trickling down his neck and over his shoulders, and revived him instantly. “What are you talking about?” Jamie demanded. “Why do you want to help me?”
“Later,” Feather replied. “We can’t talk now.”
“No.” Jamie shook his head. “I don’t know you. I don’t know what you want. Why should I trust you?”
The older man sighed in frustration. “I know you,” he said. “I know who you are.”
“Who am I?”
“You are one of the Five.”
It wasn’t the answer that Jamie had been expecting. It made no sense to him at all. He tried another approach. “When I came here, you asked me if I had a brother,” he said. “Have you seen him?”
“You said you had no brother but I knew you were lying to me. And last night, Mr Koring told me your real name. You have a twin.”
Jamie ran a hand through his hair, squeezing out more of the water. “That’s right,” he admitted. “My name is Jamie Tyler.”
Joe Feather nodded. “There was a Scott Tyler here. He was sent to the Block… on the other side of the wall. But I wasn’t here when he arrived. I didn’t see him.”
“You’re lying! You knew about the tattoo. He’s got the same tattoo in the same place. You must have seen it!”
“It was because of the tattoo that I knew who you were. There is much that I have to explain to you. But not now. Not here. I have friends who are already on their way here to help you. Tonight, when it is dark, you will leave-”
“I’m not leaving without Scott!”
Jamie had raised his voice and the Intake Officer turned anxiously towards the door, afraid that he might have been overheard. “Your brother was brought here a week ago,” he whispered, the words tumbling over each other. “I don’t go into the Block. I’m not allowed there. But sometimes I hear them talking and I know the names. He was here but he has gone again. They took him away.”
“When?”
“Just before you arrived.”
“Where? Where did they take him?”
Joe Feather cast his eyes down. “I don’t know. They wouldn’t tell me. All I can tell you is – he has gone.”
It was almost the worst news that Jamie could have heard. To have come so close! Scott had been here! If Jamie had arrived earlier, everything might have been different. But his brother had already gone. Nightrise could have taken him anywhere in the world. His search was about to begin all over again.
“If you want to find your brother, you must get out of this place,” Feather urged him. “You must do what I say. If you stay here, there is no hope.”
“Wait a minute…” Jamie tried to collect his thoughts. Everything was still happening too quickly. “Tell me about the Block,” he said. “That’s what you call the units on the other side of the wall, but what’s it for? How many kids are there locked up? What goes on over there?”
“Please.” Feather looked pained. But he could see that Jamie was determined. “Listen to me,” he whispered. “I’ve worked here only a few months. I don’t know what goes on. There are the boys in the main prison and there are the specials. There is something they call the Psi project. I don’t know what that means. And I don’t work in the Block. Sometimes I see things. I see names on lists. And I hear the other supervisors talking. But it was just a job for me until I saw you. Then I knew I had to act…”
“Why?”
“Because of the tattoo!” Feather couldn’t bear it any more. He went over to the door and looked out. But there was no one in the corridor. The other isolation cells were empty. The two of them were on their own. “I will tell you everything,” he promised. “But only when we are far from here.”
“All right.” Jamie could see there was no point arguing. And he had no desire to spend a minute more at Silent Creek, not if Scott had already gone. “But there is one thing,” he went on. “There’s a boy called Daniel McGuire.”
“McGuire…” Feather nodded. “Yes. I have seen that name.”
“He’s in the Block?”
“Yes.”
“He’s coming with me.” Feather opened his mouth to argue but Jamie didn’t give him time. “I’m only here because his mother helped me. I promised her. I can’t leave him behind.”
“But there is no way into the Block. There are cameras and guards…”
“You can help. You have to help me!”
The supervisor gritted his teeth, then nodded. “I’ll see what I can do. There is no more time to talk now. Mr Koring will arrive very soon. I will come for you when it gets dark. Then we will see.”
“I’m not going anywhere without Daniel.”
“I will do what I can.”
And then he was gone, leaving Jamie’s head spinning. He heard a faint click and realized that Feather had turned off the air-conditioning again. That made sense. If Max Koring looked in, he would have to see that Jamie was still suffering. The heat returned, an unwelcome blanket that completely smothered him. But he had a whole bottle of water inside him and the worst of the day was over. Jamie wished he had asked Feather the time, but he could only lie there, gazing at the rectangle of white glass, watching as the light softened and faded away. Eventually the evening came and then the night. The single light bulb, in a steel cage over the sink, flickered on automatically. Nobody had brought Jamie any food. Perhaps that was part of the punishment too… or a way of weakening him up for whatever was to come. He was beginning to get nervous. Had Joe Feather been discovered? Had he had second thoughts? He’d said he would come back when it was dark, and surely more than an hour had
