The Power of Five (also known as The Gatekeepers in the US) is a series of fantasy and suspense novels, writtenby British author Anthony Horowitz. As of 2012, all the novels have been completed (although Anthony Horowitz stated on Twitter that he was having to rewrite Book Five, Oblivion, due to a suggestion from his agent).
The fifth novel, Oblivion, will be out sometime around September 2012. He also stated that he has been researching global warming for the last book in the Power of Five series. The series is published in the UK by Walker Books Ltd and in the US by Scholastic Press. The novels deal heavily in the occult and examples of things such as human sacrifice and blood rituals are major plot elements, such as in the first book, where the protagonist, Matt, is hunted by a Satanic cult who want to conduct a blood sacrifice on him to blast open a portal using a combination of nuclear physics and black magic, to unlock another dimension which is holding a group of ancient evil demons captive.
Plot Overview[]
The series focuses on five children: Matt Freeman, Pedro, Scott Tyler, Jamie Tyler, and Scarlett Adams, a group of fourteen-year-old children (all five children turn fifteen in Necropolis) who are destined to defeat mystical entities known only as "the Old Ones" who ruled for a long period of time ten thousand years ago. Matt is the appointed leader. The Gatekeepers won in the past through allowing Sapling, the third Gatekeeper, to sacrifice himself, and upon Sapling's death, his future incarnation, Jamie Tyler, was sent into the past to reunite all the Gatekeepers and repair their strength to defeat the Old Ones. The Gatekeepers also won because the Old Ones do not understand Scarlett Adams' powers. In the present day the Gatekeepers have been reincarnated as modern day teenagers because the Old Ones are about to escape the world they were sent to and rule over humanity a second time. The books focus on the modern day children trying to defeat the Old Ones again.
The Five[]
Matthew FreemanEdit
Matt is the leader of the Five and has seemingly been appointed as such by an unknown power (possibly the Librarian). Like the other Gatekeepers, Matt lost his parents very early on in life; in his case, they died in a car crash on their way to a wedding, something he feels he is responsible, which leads him to become reclusive, although he can be communicative when it's needed. Matt dropped out from school and became a juvenile delinquent, and was arrested after breaking into a warehouse in Ipswich, when one of his friends stabbed a guard and ran away. Being too young for prison, Matt was sent to a detention centre where he was eventually put onto the Liberty and Education Achieved through Fostering Project, in which he was sent to live with a woman named Jayne Deverill, who is part of a witch coven that attempts to free a group of demons called the Old Ones. Matt foils their plans with the help of a journalist named Richard Cole, who becomes a father-figure to him.
He travels with Richard to Nazca, Peru, that is a gigantic gate which the Old Ones will break through. Matt fails to stop their release and the King of the Old Ones knocks him unconscious and flees to the Antarctic after being injured by Matt releasing a blast of kinetic energy. Matt remains in Nazca with Richard and Joanna Chambers, a local white professor, and meets Pedro, a Peruvian slum boy who turns out to be the second of the Five, and later the next two: Jamie and Scott Tyler, two (assumed) Native American twins. At this time Matt has decided he just wants the demons defeated so he can return to school and live a normal life once more, as he is constantly tired of being different. Matt engineers a trip to Hong Kong, but he decides not to use the portals built for the Five, as he fears the Old Ones might use them to capture them. Matt is successful at finding Scarlett, the fifth of the Five, completing the group, but an agent of the Nightrise Corporation shoots Scarlett in the head, fatally wounding her. Matt is horrified at this and saves Scarlett from hitting the ground, then all the Five plunge through the portal, but as they had no destination in mind while doing it, they become scattered across the planet, unable to present an united front against the Old Ones. PedroEdit
Pedro is one of the last descendants of the Inca people who once ruled Peru. He used to live in the Peruvian highlands, near the river Chillon, until it exploded and drowned his whole village. However, someone saved Pedro for an unknown reason. Just like Matt, Pedro blames himself for having survived while his family died. Pedro got together with several flood survivors from his hometown travelled to Lima with them, but while the rest of survivors got jobs, Pedro became a beggar. Matt recognized him as one of the Five after Pedro saved him from being beaten up by corrupt policemen, and they became as close as brothers. Pedro can only speak Spanish and Matt knows only English but in their dreams they speak the same language and can communicate without difficulty.
Strangely, Pedro is physically identical to Manco Capac, the son of the Sun and one of the first founders of Incan society, according to Incan mythology. Pedro has the power of healing as his special power which he heals Matt with at the end of Evil star. Thus he will be vital in the reordering of the world after the final battle has been fought and the Old Ones have been conquered. Scott and Jamie TylerEdit
Native-American twins Jamie and Scott Tyler are two of the Five Gatekeepers, and are the main protagonists in the third book in the series, Nightrise. At the beginning of the novel, Jamie and Scott are working in a dingy theatre in Reno, Nevada, USA, under the whim of their "Uncle Don" who is not really their uncle, but Jamie and Scott are forced to call him that. After a performance Scott is kidnapped and both physically and mentally tortured by the sinister Nightrise Corporation at a privately owned juvenile prison called Silent Creek, in the outskirts of Nevada. Jamie is rescued by his tribe of Native Americans and creates a plan to save Scott. Along the way he winds up dead and ends up in the past, ten thousand years before his time, and takes place in the first battle against the Old Ones. Sapling, Jamie's former self, was killed by the Old Ones, hence he was 'replaced' by Jamie. At the end of the novel Jamie and Scott are united with Matt and Pedro.
Jamie and Scott's power is telepathy and they have the power to control other people and make them abide by the instructions given by one of them. this is shown when Scott (controlled by Nightrise) controls a Secret Service Agent Warren Cornfield to shoot Senator Trelawny. However Jamie changes his mind just in time and makes him shoot the one who tortured Scott, Susan Mortlake. As well as being able to read each other's thoughts automatically. Jamie has shown that he doesn't like using his powers. The twins are described as being very skinny (to the point of being malnourished) with long black hair and dark eyes. Both twins have had their hair cut by the end of Nightrise.
Their past incarnations are Sapling (Jamie) and Flint (Scott). Matt had stated that Scott's past incarnation name, Flint. In Washoe history Flint was evil and had killed his brother. He was angry when Matt split him and Jamie apart in Necropolis, because the twins had never been so far apart. Matt stated that he thought Scott could not be trusted yet. Jamie and Scott are both fourteen years old in Nightrise, but are fifteen in Necropolis. In Necropolis, it shows that Jamie is now more in charge of the two, as Scott is very withdrawn and quiet. Scott also shuts down when in stress. The reason was that he was thoroughly programmed while held captive by the Nightrise agents in Nevada, USA. Nightrise said that it was possible to turn Scott against his friends. The twins went through the doorway together in the Tai Shan Temple in Hong Kong although Jamie ended up in Lincolnshire in England while Scott may have ended up in North America in Lake Tahoe. They can communicate with each other and the other members of the Five in a dream world (in Necropolis). Scarlett AdamsEdit
Scarlett is the fifth of the Five and is the main protagonist in the fourth book Necropolis. She had a friend called Aidan. She appears to be Eurasian, or completely Asian, but adopted by Europeans. She lived in Dulwich. She was adopted, but her new parents divorced. They were Vanessa, who ran a holiday company that put together packages in China and Far East, and Paul Adams, who specialized in international business law. Her mother was described as tall, blonde and elegant while her father was described as having the looks of a lawyer with greying hair, a round face and glasses. She bears a strong resemblance, and is described by some, as Lin Mo, the Chinese goddess of the sea. Scarlett's father Paul works for the Nightrise Corporation, at the end of Nightrise she leaves on a flight to Hong Kong.
Scarlett's power is weather control. Scarlett's power was at first thought to be predicting the weather but was proven that she could also control it when she summoned a typhoon to escape after she was captured. This is also noted in Nightrise as Scar summons a rainstorm to mask Inti's arrival at the first battle against the old ones. Scarlett was described as being small, slim, and looking partly asian. She also had long black hair, strange hazel-green eyes and had the soft brown skin of a girl born in China, or another part of Central Asia. While her parents are out working, Scarlett is taken care of by a woman, Mrs Christina Murdoch. She is short, dark-haired and seemed to have no sense of humour at all. Scarlett and Mrs Murdoch had agreed silently that they were never going to be friends although they got on well enough.
Scarlett is known to act before she thinks, like when she pushed a teacher (who couldn't swim) fully clothed into the school's swimming pool. Scarlett is shown as brave throughout Necropolis. Her past incarnation, who appeared before Scarlett in Nightrise, is known as Scar.
At the end of Necropolis, Scarlett is shot by a Nightrise agent. She is then paired with Richard Cole when they go through the door. What happened next and if Scarlett recovers or survives is unknown. If she does die she will have to be replaced by Scar. She can communicate with the others when she's asleep in a strange dreamworld.