2 (3 page)

“Are you sure? It’s just there’s not much down there—no one lives there, not full-time, just a bunch of scientists at research stations. It’s not really the kind of place you’d just be passing through.”

“This Dreamer
is
just passing through, actually. I know he is,” Sam said. “It’s someone we already know.”

“Huh?”

“The next Dreamer is Alex.”

“Wow,” Eva said, stunned. “That’s—that’s awesome! I mean, I guess we should have known. What with me being the one before.”

“I’m not sure it
is
awesome …” Sam interrupted. He stared at the second hand on his watch, ticking away. “The dream was all mixed up. I only caught flashes but I know we were arguing and somehow Solaris was there, but I couldn’t see him. It was so strange. Not like any of the other last 13 dreams I’ve had. I honestly don’t know if Alex will trust me or not.”

Jabari looked up from the screen, now paying closer attention to what Sam was saying.

“Of course he does,” Eva said. “Why wouldn’t he?”

“I’m not sure. But in my dream, we were working against each other.”

“But—how?
Why?
”

“Because,” Sam said, looking at his friend. “I think Alex has sided with Hans.”

An hour later, they all left the hotel, sneaking out through a rear fire exit and hurrying across the deserted parking lot.

The pre-dawn air was warm and planes roared overhead, taking off from runways nearby. Sam and Eva had their backpacks slung over their shoulders, and they followed close behind Jabari, who was striding across the street and flagging down a taxi.

“So instead of being picked up in the morning as planned,” Eva said, “we’re going to get on a plane ourselves and meet Lora on the way to Antarctica?”

Jabari nodded. “Yes,” he said. “We are booked on the first flight south. We will be leaving in just over an hour from now.”

“But shouldn’t we regroup?” Eva said, looking at Jabari. “Wait for reinforcements if Stella is after us? Arrive in Antarctica with a whole army?”

“When we land in Hobart, we will be meeting Lora, and whichever Guardians did not go to Chernobyl,” Jabari said wearily. “It’s not much of an army, I’m afraid, but we don’t have any other choice.”

“But if they are coming from the other side of the world, we’ll be waiting too long—Stella will find us before Lora does,” Sam said, concerned.

“Lora is travelling on the Enterprise jet—she will arrive not long after us. We head to Alex together.”

“Thing is,” Sam said, still frowning, “it still might be too late. I didn’t see Alex with his Gear in my dream, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t dream of it. Even if we have the same dream, the Dreamers sometimes see details I don’t and vice versa. If Alex now thinks of me as an enemy, like we were in the dream, and tells Hans about it, then the Gear will be lost to us.”

“If we have any hope of convincing Alex of the truth, we have to get to him as soon as possible,” Jabari said.

Sam nodded.

“Sam,” Eva said quietly, looking out at the twinkling lights of the airport from the taxi, “we know that somehow Solaris has been spying on your dreams …”

Sam nodded as he stared out the window. “I know,” he said. “Another reason we have to get to Alex as fast as we can. Besides, the clock is ticking. We don’t have many days left to fulfill the prophecy.”

ALEX

“Argh!” Alex screamed as he woke, panicking, not knowing where he was. His hand reached out, fumbling to find the flashlight by his side.

Oh—that’s right, now I remember. I’m lost, in a cave, in Antarctica, with hardly any food
.

Great
.

Alex sat up and ate the last of his energy bars. He was huddled inside the snow cave, with nothing but the food and drink still left in his backpack. Tucked into a pocket of his snowsuit was his emergency GPS transponder.

My dream of Sam … he wanted a Gear. But I didn’t see, I don’t remember finding it
.

What if he doesn’t believe me in real life, like in the dream?

Alex turned the thought over anxiously in his head. He knew that his mother, Phoebe, understood what he was doing here in Antarctica with Hans. But what if, after everything that he’d been through on the long voyage here, the others didn’t really believe his motives? The thought had never even occurred to Alex before.

They wouldn’t really think I would join one of our enemies … would they?

Alex had a suspicion there was something else in the dream, something about Sam, or maybe Solaris. He shook his head to clear his thoughts. Whatever it was, there was a mental block there now.

He stood up and used his flashlight to inspect the scene once more. Water dripped from the ceiling and he constantly had to wipe his face free from condensation. It wasn’t that cold. In fact, the thermal pool outside the cave made it slightly warm. Steam rose in the frozen air, carried into the cave and condensed inside, forming a natural steam chamber that, at the far end, was so warm he’d stripped down to his thermals in the night and slept on his snowsuit like a mattress. Every now and then there’d be a loud plop as the steam collected on the ceiling and dripped into the centre of the pool.

The hypnotic sound of the rhythmic dripping calmed Alex slightly, and it was only then that he realized the real significance of his dream.

But maybe it’s true. I am one of the last 13
.

His mouth fell open in amazement as he tried to process the impossibility of the situation.

Think, Alex! C’mon, you have to get out of this. Everyone is depending on you. If you fail, they will believe the dream—they will believe you’re a traitor
.

And what about the prophecy? I have to survive—the fate of the world depends on it!

Alex paced in the cave, gathering his thoughts. His eyes strayed to rock under his feet.

Even the floor isn’t just snow and ice
.

Huge sections of the stone were covered with intricate carvings, far grander and more detailed than any Roman or Greek mosaic he’d seen in his history books at school. As he shone his flashlight over a wider arc on the floor, Alex could see delicate depictions of starry skies that were criss-crossed with lines of the zodiac. Below them was extravagant scenery of people, animals and a landscape filled with palm trees.

Alex looked closer at the impressive mosaic sky, counting in his head.

This shows the thirteen zodiacs signs that Ahmed told me about
.

He traced the constellations with his fingers.

There!

Ophiuchus … we meet again
.

But the most intriguing—and incredible—part of the scene before him were the structures that dotted the huge image etched into the stone floor. These structures, with tiny figures of people congregated around them, were unmistakable.

Pyramids
.

“I gotta get to the others, tell them about this.”

Alex dressed, pulling on his heavy snow boots and snowsuit.

Maybe if I reach
higher ground, get out of this valley and climb one of the mountains, I can set off the GPS transponder. Then I just gotta hope the signal gets picked up
.

Piece of cake
.

“Oh man, imagine some cake right now
.”
Alex’s stomach rumbled at the thought.

OK, that seems like a good plan to start with
.

It felt good to have a plan—the thought of doing something took his mind off his hunger and the fact that he was stuck on the most hostile continent on the planet.

Alex inspected the entire cave, looking over every detail of the engraving, every tiny etching, being careful not to miss anything that might be connected to the last 13 or the race. As he was searching in the silence, several thoughts kept looping in his mind, refusing to leave him alone.

I’m one of the last 13
.

Where’s my Gear?

Why didn’t Sam believe me?

SAM

“Hey …” Eva said from her window seat, nudging Sam who sat between her and Jabari. “Look. We’re almost there.”

“Great,” Sam said, looking out at the view of the Tasmanian landscape below. During the hour flight to Hobart, he kept quiet with his own thoughts. The morning outside looked grey.

“I saw you napping before,” Sam said to her.

“I was just closing my eyes,” Eva replied.

“You were snoring.”

“Fine, I slept a tiny bit.”

“Did you dream?” Sam asked.

“Yeah,” Eva said, a slight smile on her face as she reminisced. “An old dream though, of my family. Christmas, actually.”

Sam smiled. “I love those dreams.”

“Yeah,” Eva said. “Me too.”

“Ever wish this never happened?” Sam asked. “That our dreams were good or bad, nothing more?”

Eva nodded.

“Me too,” Sam said.

Sam looked past Eva out the window, and soon felt the plane bank slightly, dropping speed and then touching down bumpily on the tarmac. The aircraft taxied to the passenger terminal. He got up and followed Jabari and Eva out.

As he walked through the small airport, he felt a strange feeling brewing in the pit of his stomach. He knew that this time it was not just about a race to the next Dreamer, or the next Gear.

It’s a battle to survive … and maybe, worse of all, a battle for Alex
.

And in the loneliest place on earth
.

As they waited for Lora to arrive, Sam and Eva talked in hushed tones about the race, the others back in London and what might happen next. Jabari sat nearby, constantly scouring the terminal with alert eyes.

The man never rests
.

“Well, I know the prophecy said—” Sam was saying.

“Lora!” Eva interrupted, jumping up and running across the terminal, threading through passengers to find Lora who walked quickly toward them. She gave her a hug.

Lora came up to Sam and Jabari, greeting them and introducing the two tall Guardians with her.

They all went over to a café that had just opened up for breakfast.

“Bad news. Jedi has tracked Stella’s movements,” Lora said to them. “She was just seen at Melbourne airport.”

“Where’s she headed?” Jabari asked.

“We’ll know soon, I’ve got a Guardian watching them,” Lora replied. “You guys were very lucky to escape at the hotel.”

“Jabari got us out,” Sam said.

“It was nothing,” Jabari said, smirking. “Almost too easy.”

Lora returned a small smile, but still looked worried.

Eva showed Lora the tiny Gear from Australia that she still wore inconspicuously around her neck.

“Well done, all of you,” Lora said, smiling wider this time as she admired the twin brass discs that caught the light as Eva held them up. “We’re getting so near to the end now.”

“Yeah, and it was another close call,” Sam said.

“You guys did good, Sam,” Lora said. “You survived.”

Everyone was silent at the table, clearly thinking about the horrific ambush in Chernobyl that Lora had only just escaped herself.

“I will check the arrangements for our transport south,” Jabari said, breaking the uncomfortable silence and excusing himself from the group.

“How are the others?” Sam asked Lora.

“OK,” Lora said. “After Tobias, and the events at Solaris’ hideout and Chernobyl … they’re as good as they can be, I guess. No one thought this would be easy.”

Sam nodded. Then he saw Lora and Eva smile.

“What?” he said. “What is it?”

Sam sensed a presence behind him, but before he could turn around, hands covered his eyes.

“Guess who?”

“Ha!” Sam said, recognizing the Italian accent. “Gabriella!”

“No!”

“Huh?” Sam turned. Gabriella was there, but it was Arianna who had her hands over Sam’s eyes. “What are you guys doing here?”

“With our reduced manpower, we brought Arianna and Gabriella to help out with our task ahead,” Lora explained. “Strictly no field work though—”

She looked at Gabriella and Arianna meaningfully, and Sam wondered if this had been a point of debate on the flight here.

“We’ll be the communications experts,” Arianna said to Sam.