Matt, later that night wakes to see a light where the Omega One is supposed to be. He decides to investigate, only to find a weird ceramony going on. He recognizes everyone there, they're all the citizens of Lesser Malling. He gets caught and the people sends decayed hellhounds to find him, dead or alive. While he's being attacked, he steps into a bog and starts to sink. Luckily he is saved by a person that is actually Richard Cole, Richard was driving by when he saw Matt. Richard pulls him out. After that incident, Richard believes his story, and says he'll help him and they both become friends. Since Matt suspects that there is something odd about Omega One, they meet with the previous owner, a powerful upper-class businessman named Sir Michael without success. Matt then geos to visit Elizabeth ashwood, only to find that she died a year ago, but they meet her daughter, Susan Ashwood, a member of the Nexus, a secret organization of 12 people from all over the world. She advices them to go meet a person named Sanjay Dravid, the same one who he was talking to on the instant messaging. Therefore, Matt and Richard then go to meet Dravid, a member of the Nexus who tells Matt about the Old Ones, dark creatures who survived on human misery, and once sought to rule the world, but were banished to another dimension by five children with magical powers. The Five, or the Gatekeepers as they are also known, then built an enchanted barrier named Raven's Gate to hold the evil creatures at bay, but some medieval peasants came to believe that Raven's gate was evil, tore down the stones that composed it, although the actual gate remained. According to Dravid, Mrs.Deverill and the villagers of Lesser malling are part of a worldwide society of witches who seek the return of the Old Ones. Dravid tells Matt that he is a reincarnation of One of the Five and has inherited their powers while Mrs Deverill and the citizens of Lesser Malling, who are all desendants of witches and warlocks want to sacrifice him on the night of Roodmas, the Black Mass and by effect release the Old Ones. Richard doesn't believes Dravid and he and Matt take their leave. However as they are making their way toward the exit they are attacked by dinosaur skeletons brought to life by Ms Deveril. Dravid is mauled to death, Richard is apparently killed and Matt is kidnapped by Mrs. Deverill and her hideous assistant, Noah. Matt awakes in Hive Hall, locked into a small room.
To escape the room, Matt slowly removes the floorboards in his room with a make-shift chisel made by releasing one of the legs of the bed and flatting one end, and covers them with his rug. When Noah enters the room to take Matt to Ms Deveril, he falls for Matt's trap and falls into the shed below, while accidentally the chisle goes through him, ending fatally. Matt uses this opportunity to run. He runs as far as he can, but eventually has to stop due to exhaustion. Taking a chance, he stops a passing car and asks for a lift. But unfortunately for Matt, he has climbed into the car of Sir Michael, who we then find out is the leader of the people trying to resummon the Old Ones. Sir Michael takes Matt to Omega one.
Once inside Omega One's inner sanctum, Matt sees Richard tied up and celebrates his friends life. But his celebration is short-lived as he is tied down to a stone slab in the middle of a circle of runes. The runes protect everyone inside from the upcoming nuclear explosion. Just as Sir Michael is about to sacrifice matt to the Old Ones, Matt remembers that whenever he smells burning, he has gains special powers for a limited time. In his mind, Matt goes back to the day his parents were killed and smells the toast that his mother burnt. This smell gives Matt the power to stop the knife from completely entering his heart and to break his and Richard's bonds. Using everyone's sudden surprise to their advantage, the pair escape only to be pursued by Ms Deverill.
Matt's special powers have run out by the time he comes to fighting with Ms Deverill, so he gradually loses the fight. Richard comes to his rescue and pushes her into an acid bath, killing her horribly. They escape Omega One by jumping into an underground river beneath the building. Unfortunately Michael had managed to prick Matt's skin, shedding a single drop of blood - just enough to open the gates which only allows one of the greatest of the old Ones to escape. Upon being released, the Old One kills Sir Michael but the pressure inside Omega One causes the building to explode, unleashing a nuclear explosion. However the void that is left when the gate was opened has to be filled, and this causes the void to draw in all the radioactive material, together with the Old Ones and the citizens. The break is sealed and the Old Ones are once again banished to the other world.
In the result, Matt continues to live with Richard before getting a visit from Fabian, another member of the Nexus, who has come to talk to him about a second gate in Peru. Richard tells Fabian, Matt doesn't have to do anything he does not want to, but Matt knows his fate.
The story continues in Evil Star, the second book in The Power Of Five.
Opinion – I liked the book very much; very different to the ones I usually read. It’s really creative, imaginative, very detailed and full of suspense. I would recommend it to anyone who likes reading.
Description of characters:
Matt: Matt is a very unusual 14 year old boy who comes to know about his powers. His parents died when he was quite young so he started living with his half-aunt Gwenda and her husband. They got hold of his parents money and spent it on holidays etc. When the money ran out, they turned horrible to Matt and they always had arguments and fights. Gwenda’s husband always blamed Matt for everything and said everything would be find if he hadn’t been living with them. Matt didn’t have friends in his school; only a 17-year-old guy who blamed Matt for killing the guard. Matt was very clever and teachers tried hard to help him but gave up when he started skipping lessons.
Sanjay Dravid: He was born in Madras in India. He had an international reputation and he had become a world expert on anthropology, ethnology, prehistory, and a dozen other related areas. He had written books and presented television programmes. He was a member of Nexus; the secret organization so he knew all about the Raven’s Gate but eventually gets killed in the story. He was in his late forties, as Matt thought. He had black hair neatly brushed and had dark eyes.
Richard Cole: He was in his twenties. Usually wore shirt and faded jeans. He had a serious, intelligent face. His hair was short, blond and scruffy. He was a journalist in Greater Malling but wrote about Lesser Malling but didn’t get much work since hardly anything happened there. He worked with two other girls; each had their own territories. He studied at York University for three years and thought he’d get on to the Mail or Express but there were no job around. He couldn’t afford to live in London so came back to York.
About author:
Anthony Horowitz (born 5 April 1956) is an and . He has written many children's novels, including the , and series and has written over fifty books. He has also written extensively for television, adapting many of Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot novels for . He is the creator and writer of the series .
