Nightrise
 | |
| Author | Anthony Horowitz |
|---|---|
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Series | The Power of Five |
| Genre | Fantasy novel |
| Publisher | Walter Books Ltd |
Publication date | April 2 2007 (UK) |
| Media type | Print (Paperback) |
| Pages | 392 pp |
| ISBN | ISBN 1-84428-621-5 (Paperback edition) Parameter error in {{ISBNT}}: invalid character |
| Preceded by | Evil Star |
| Followed by | Necropolis (forthcoming) |
Nightrise is the third book in The Power of Five series, written by Anthony Horowitz. It was published and released in the UK on April 2, 2007 by Walker Books Ltd. It is preceded by Evil Star, released in 2005, and followed by Necropolis (2008 novel) due to be released in October 2008[1].
Plot summary
This story begins with two men, Colton Banes and Kyle Hovey, waiting outside a tacky theatre in Reno, Nevada. Who they are waiting for soon becomes clear when one man says 'that was them' to the other. They are talking about Jamie and Scott Tyler, who are part of a magic show in the theatre. Their performance shows that they are undoubtably telepathic and able to read each others minds. During the act, Jamie asks for the man in the cars' business card for part of the act and he telepathically tells his brother what it says. 'Nightrise Corporation.'
It soon becomes clear that Scott and Jamie are unwillingly part of the magic show, as their foster parent threatens to hurt them if they don't take part, they reluctantly have to. The foster parent, Don White, sells off the twins to the men from Nightrise, but when the men come to kidnap the twins, a dog alerts them and gives the twins time to escape. The men chase them and they are both hit by tranquilizer darts, however a woman helps Jamie escape while Scott is captured. After the chase, the men confront Don White about the dog and shoot him, along with his wife.
Jamie dreams of an island (the same as the dream world in the other two books) where a tall man warns him that "he's going to kill him". Jamie tries to question who the two people are, but only manages to find out that one of them is Scott. He then awakens at the women's house, who introduces herself as Alicia, and tells him how her son was kidnapped after displaying powers of seeing into the future, and after researching she realised many children who have displayed powers had been kidnapped, and all of her research ends up with Nightrise Corporation. She takes Jamie to his foster parents' house to find they have been killed, and he is being charged with the murder. The house is raided by policemen, and a policeman finds Jamie and Alicia when Jamie says 'There is no one here. This is an empty room.' The policeman retreats and another part of Jamie's powers are revealed. Jamie then tells Alicia his story, about how he and his twin were found in a box near the Lake Tahoe, both with identical tattoos, a circle with a line going through it.
Meanwhile, in Hong Kong, where Nightrise houses their headquarters, a meeting is taking place. Simms, an agent in New York, explains that John Trelawny, the potential next U.S. President, seems to be getting more support than Baker, a rival, and he suggests assassination as a solution. Next, Susan Mortlake reports on the half-successful kidnapping of Jamie and Scott, and the Chairman asks her to make redundancies. She then asks Banes to kill Hovey, his partner.
Alicia and Jamie go to Los Angeles to escape from the policemen, where they stay at Alicia's sister's place. He then tells her of his previous foster parents, the weird and inexplicable "accidents" associated with them (like when a bully named Ray Cavalli was told by Scott to "get lost" and Cavalli was found two days later in the desert), and how Scott accidentally made a foster parent kill himself (nicknamed by them "The Accident"). After that, he and Scott refused to read or control anyone's minds but each others, so as to prevent them from acting on impulse and hurting someone else.
They find a lead to one of the men that kidnapped Scott, Colton Banes, and Alicia persuades Jamie to read his mind to find out where Scott is. Jamie enters Colton Banes' office just as Alicia asks him over the phone 'Where is Scott Tyler?' Unwillingly, Corton immediately thinks of where he is, and this leads Jamie, with his powers, to know as well. Scott is hurt, and in a place named Silent Creek, a juvenile centre. After a narrow escape from the building, Jamie reunites with Alicia. Banes attempts to bargain with Alicia to exchange her son for Jamie, but she refuses.
Alicia decides to seek help from the probable next president of America, John Trelwany, who is her boss, and manages to convince him about Jamie's powers and to help him get into Silent Creek. Although Trelwany is initially skeptical, Jamie clears his doubts by accurately guessing the contents of a certain box (which in fact holds nothing). Trelawny has in fact researched much about Nightrise, and is convinced that it is behind many crimes, but they are overlooked because of the profit it generates.
Jamie is given a false identity and crime and is put into the juvenile centre to find his brother and Alicia's son. He himself is almost found out when the intake officer, Joe Feather (proven to be an ally later on), looks at his tattoo while he is showering and questions if he has a brother. One night, when he demands Max Koring, a supervisor, take him to his brother, he realises that his powers do not work in the prison, because of some magnetic field that neutralises special powers. Koring, outraged, puts him in solitary confinement for his rudeness and secretly calls Colton Banes to tell him he has found a gatekeeper. Banes asks him to turn off the air-conditioning until he arrives.
Jamie is almost baked to death in solitary confinment when Feather comes in, who is actually helping him. Feather examined him earlier and knew about his mysterious tattoo. He explains to Jamie that Jamie and Scott are two of the five, but Scott has already left Silent Creek (in an earlier chapter a woman comes to visit Scott, and tries persuades him to join her to serve the Old Ones. We do not know if he refused or agreed.) He also informs him of the Psi Project, where children with special powers are kidnapped by Nightrise to see if they are any of the Five. Feather and Jamie work out a convincing plan to save Daniel and break out, whilst at the same time Colton and Koring are on their way to Silent Creek. Feather is part of a tribe, who he has called to help them break out. A fight goes on between them and Banes and Koring, resulting in Jamie being shot in the shoulder and Banes killed.
Feather manages to break out with Daniel and Jamie, but Jamie dies, and a shaman is called on who uses ancient magic of the eagle (the strongest type of magic, able to cross the boundaries between life and death) to bring him back. During this however, Jamie is transported back to the first gatekeepers thousands of years ago, where we first meet Scar, a part Chinese girl who is one of the five. It becomes clear that the first five gatekeepers are the exact same as the gatekeepers in the present, just with different names. Jamie is known as 'Sapling' and Scott is 'Flint.' In the past 'Pedro' is known as 'Inti.' However Matt and Scar have the same names, although it is hinted that Matt does have another name, he prefers to use Matt.
Matt is obviously the leader, and most knowledgable of the five. He tells Jamie that he sent Sapling to his death on purpose, as the King of the Old ones would then think he had won, because the circle of the Five would have broken. However, if one of the gatekeepers died, another from the future/past would take his place, hence why Jamie was there. Jamie then participates in the battle against the Old ones, in which the Old Ones were defeated, having mistakenly thought that only three of the Five could come together. At the place where the Five congregate, a gate is formed to where the Old Ones were banished to, and would be called Raven's Gate by future generations. Matt explains that many things happening now will affect the future battle against the Old Ones, e.g. There is a river near the battlefield, which will be used by the future Matt to escape from Omega One ten thousand years later. Matt tells him the place he goes to in dreams sends him messages of what was to come, and would help him find the other gatekeepers. Jamie then sees an eagle which Matt explains is there to take him back.
Jamie wakes up in the present and with Feather and Daniel travels back to Reno to reunite Daniel with Alicia. When he is asleep that night, he is spoken to again by the grey man, telling him 'he's going to kill him.' He finally realised what it means, originally mistaking that Scott was the one going to be killed, but he realises that Scott is the person going to kill John Trelawny, the probable future president for America who had helped Jamie and Alicia. Throughout the book, Nightrise has always wanted the other candidate to become president, who will support the return of the Old Ones. When it became obvious that Trelawny would win the election, the old woman, Susan Mortlake, the Nightrise Los Angeles Executive, who visited Scott earlier and another member of Nightrise, Simms, the New York Executive, had agreed to have the senator assassinated. It becomes apparent that this will take place during Trelawneys birthday parade in his home town of Auburn. However Simm's earlier plan to have the Senator hurt badly in the polls by creating scandals has failed. So the Chairman of Nightrise (a mysterious old man who resides in his Tokyo office) has Simms killed.
Alicia, Danny and Jamie hurry to Auburn to stop the assassination. Jamie sees Scott with Mortlake in the crowd, and he tries to send a telepathic message to him. When this doesn't work and the bodyguard, Warren Cornfeld, begins to act strangely, Jamie realises Scott has already sent an order for him to shoot Trelawny. Jamie tries to stop Scott, but his mind has been damaged almost beyond repair by Susan Mortlake, and he does not respond to Jamie's telepathic message.At the last second Jamie commands Cornfeld to not shoot the senator but it is too late to stop the bullet from coming out. Jamie thus commands him to aim it at Susan Mortlake, and she is shot, and in chaos Jamie takes Scott and escapes with Alicia and Danny. They attempt to reach the local airport, but a road block set up by the police forces them to take another route. Policemen immediately come after them and Jamie and Scott are forced to use a hidden doorway in Lake Tahoe (of which there are 25 across the world, leading to other places thousands of miles away) to escape. They emerge somewhere in South America, where they are travelling to Nazca to meet Matt and Pedro, and almost complete the Circle.
Meanwhile, Scarlett Adams (Scar) - the last of the Five - is taking an airplane to Hong Kong to meet her father, who works for Nightrise. In the boarding area, it is revealed that Charles Baker has won the election by a narrow vote of 52%, but is accused of fraud as three of the main voting-machine companies have strong links with Nightrise, who strongly backed him during the election period.
Baker denies the charges, but as he speaks, his eyes are unfocused, implying that he is controlled by the Old Ones. Scar's father might have sent her to Hong Kong to capture her for Nightrise or to hide her from Nightrise. The book ends with Scar leaving on a plane for Hong Kong
Places Mentioned
Scar's Power
Scar's power is hinted to be the power to control the weather. When Scar sees Inti arrive at the battlefield, the weather changes to hide his arrival, "as if one of them was controlling it." Also, the day Scar leaves her school unhappily, it rains.
Pentagram
The Power Of Five series is based on ideas from a series written by Anthony Horowitz in 1983-1989, Pentagram. Pentagram was meant to have five books, but only four were ever published. The third was The Silver Citadel.