Necropolis: City of the Dead
Encyclopedia
Necropolis is a fantasy novel by British writer Anthony Horowitz
. It is the fourth novel in his Power of Five series. The book is set in London
, Peru
, Miami, Ukraine
, Macau
and Hong Kong
. The book was released in the United Kingdom
and Australia
on 30 October 2008. It is a rewrite of the corresponding Day of the Dragon, released 1989 in Horowitz's Pentagram series. A marked difference between original is evidenced by a lead character, Will, being replaced with a female counterpart, Scarlett. According to Horowitz, this change resulted a complete rewrite of the original. Before Christmas 2008, the book had sold 190,000 copies worldwide.
, who leads her to the door with the pentagram
etched into it. There, she is transported to the Ukraine
, inside a monastery
where she is captured by monks who worship the Old Ones. She is taken to the leader of the monastery, Father Gregory, who tells Scarlett of the Gatekeepers and the Old Ones. He and his followers built the monastery around the door in order to catch any of the Five for the Old Ones should they come through. Scarlett is taken to a cell, and that night she has a dream about a dragon
and a strange neon sign
that says "SIGNAL ONE". Later, she escapes by attacking the monks and returning through the door. She returns to St Meredith's, but her eighteen-hour long disappearance has sparked a media storm.
In Peru
, at Professor Chambers' hacienda
, Matt finds out who Scarlett is through the media storm and decides that he should go back to London
with the rest of the Five and his friend Richard Cole. However, later that night, a man named Ramon brings the diary
belonging to St Joseph of Cordoba, claiming that he feels remorse for helping Diego Salamanda decode the diary. The diary contains the locations of twenty-five doors around the world that serve as portals to other doors. After studying the diary using his skills of reading old maps he learnt at university, Richard says that there are doors in Tuscany
, Lake Tahoe
, Cuzco, London
, Ukraine
, Cairo
, Istanbul
, Delhi
, Mecca
, Buenos Aires
, the Australia
n outback, Antarctica and Hong Kong
. Scott Tyler confirms Ramon's truthfulness by reading his mind, but the hacienda
is then attacked and set on fire by strange zombies who kill Ramon with a fence post. Although their Inca allies arrive and finish off the zombies, Professor Chambers is mortally wounded and dies. Matt decides that the Five should split up so that the Old Ones cannot capture them all in one shot, and he, Jamie and Richard go to find Scarlett while Pedro and Scott go to the hidden Inca city of Vilcabamba to stay.
In London, Scarlett is trying to get back to her normal life, but can't when she notices strange men following her. She receives a strange phone call from her friend Aidan, who persuades her to go to Happy Garden, a Chinese restaurant, for a Chinese
man wants to see her. However, the restaurant is destroyed by a bomb. She unwillingly goes to Hong Kong
for her father, who works for Nightrise
.
Matt, Richard and Jamie arrive in London and nearly cross paths with Scarlett, but are held up by an accident orchestrated by the shape changers working for the Old Ones. They go to the Nexus headquarters where Matt realises Ramon's arrival at the hacienda
was a trap
laid by the Old Ones to stop them from getting to England before Scarlett left for China
. Matt theorises that Ramon was hypnotized to give the diary back to the group to create the idea of using one of the doors to get to Hong Kong. There would be agents waiting to immediately capture them once they emerged through the Hong Kong door, so they decide to fly to Macau
to seek help from one of the Nexus' contacts before taking a boat into Hong Kong.
Meanwhile, Scarlett arrives in Hong Kong, being looked after by a Mrs Cheng, who claims her father is away on urgent business. Scarlett meets the sinister Chairman of Nightrise
at The Nail, Nightrise's Hong Kong headquarters, who gives her an ornate jade
necklace
, which is in fact a tracking device. Whilst in Hong Kong, strange and ominous things start happening around her. A person trying to give her a letter disappears in a swarming crowd, and the people that she meets stare at her intently. Mrs Cheng and Karl, the chauffeur, seem robotic and lifeless, and the smog
surrounding Hong Kong is thickening. Scarlett follows a trail of clues telling her to go to The Peak
and over there, two agents kill Mrs Cheng, who is revealed to be a shape-changer who is one of the Old Ones in human form. Scarlett is then taken to Lohan Shang-tung, whose agents have just helped her escape the Old Ones, and when the building is attacked by Old Ones and Police, they help her to escape again. She is then disguised as a boy, and pretends to be the son of a couple who are boarding a ship departing Hong Kong to Macau, where she will meet with the other Gatekeepers. However, her father, Paul Adams, stationed at the jetty, finds her and hands her over to the chairman, who recaptures her believing that it will help her, and keeps her at Victoria Prison
. A dream call by Scarlett wakes a dragon (a metaphor for a typhoon), which starts to move towards Hong Kong.
Matt, Jamie and Richard had arrive in Macau
where they meet Han Shang-tung, who reveals himself as "The Master of the Mountain", the leader of the White Lotus Society
, a Triad based in Macau
and Hong Kong
. Shang-tung explains that Scarlett has been taken prisoner by the Old Ones who plan to turn Hong Kong into a necropolis
, a city of the dead, by using poisonous gases mixed with the pollution
from mainland China
that will suffocate and kill the residents there. Shang-Tung believes Scarlett is a reincarnate of a goddess
and has had his people watch over her all her life. He agrees to help them after affirming that Matt and Jamie are indeed part of the Five with a test: climbing a sword ladder.
Later that night Richard, Matt and Jamie travel by boat to Hong Kong and come under attack by the Hong Kong police (under the control of the Old Ones) after they are betrayed by the captain. In the struggle, Matt loses Richard and Jamie, arriving in Hong Kong alone. He sees people dying in the street because of the pollution, and recognizes several of the Old Ones' servants. Matt makes his way to Wisdom Court, where Scarlett's father now resides. Once there Matt lets himself be captured by the Chairman after being betrayed by a despondent Paul Adams, attempting to barter him for Scarlett. However, Adams is killed and Matt is taken to the same cell as Scarlett in Victoria Prison where they share their experiences. Matt reveals that his being captured was in fact a plan he had made with her father. He knew that the only way to get near her was to be caught, so he had contacted Lohan and his men earlier, telling them of his plan, and then Scarlett's father had agreed to call Nightrise in order to turn in Matt, even at expense of his own life. Matt also explained that he knew the Old Ones would think it was amusing to see two of the Five briefly imprisoned in the same room, before they were imprisoned in different rooms in different sides of the world. Because their powers are strengthened when together they begin to think of escaping.
The meaning of "Signal One" is then explained. It is part of the Hong Kong Observatory
warning system on the intensity of typhoons. To the Chinese, typhoons are also known as the dragon
's breath, explaining the dragon Scarlett had been dreaming of in the Gatekeeper's dream world. She has the ability not just to predict, but to control weather
conditions. It is also revealed that Scarlett knew of the typhoon and the power it would bring.
Richard and Jamie find Lohan and he bands together his men to rescue Scarlett and Matt under cover of the rising storm
Scarlett has made and take the prison, where he followed Matt to when he was being captured. The impending storm is creeping higher up the scale. Jamie knows that Scott will be able to feel the danger Jamie is in, and that he will try and use the door that leads to the Tai Shan Temple, which will undoubtedly be guarded. The group, along with Scarlett, who diverts the storm from them while it destroys everything around them, run to the temple to kill the guards protecting it before Scott arrives, which would result in his death or capture.
At The Nightrise headquarters, a wooden sampan
picked up by the typhoon smashes into the Chairman's office and kills the Chairman. Meanwhile, Lohan's men kill all but one of the Old Ones' agents, who is wounded but hides. Scott and Pedro travel through the door and the last Old One agent aims at Jamie, but Scott pushes him out of the way and the bullet hits Scarlett in the head, rendering her unconscious. Without Scarlett to hold the typhoon back, it unleashes its full strength on them and disintegrates the temple. Jamie and Scott, Richard and Scarlett, Pedro, and Matt and Lohan dash through the door moments before the temple is destroyed, escaping the typhoon. Then the storm finally abates, revealing Hong Kong
completely destroyed (although all the pollution was swept away). All of the Five are separated all over the world with their partners, due to having no preassumed destination decided between all of them, also it is said that since the door collapsed as they were going through it, one final trick was played on them. Meanwhile, Chaos, the King of the Old Ones, prepares to commence the war to conquer the planet and wipe out humanity.
Anthony Horowitz
Anthony Craig Horowitz is an English novelist and screenwriter. He has written many children's novels, including The Power of Five, Alex Rider and The Diamond Brothers series and has written over fifty books. He has also written extensively for television, adapting many of Agatha Christie's...
. It is the fourth novel in his Power of Five series. The book is set in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
, Miami, Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
, Macau
Macau
Macau , also spelled Macao , is, along with Hong Kong, one of the two special administrative regions of the People's Republic of China...
and Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
. The book was released in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
and Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
on 30 October 2008. It is a rewrite of the corresponding Day of the Dragon, released 1989 in Horowitz's Pentagram series. A marked difference between original is evidenced by a lead character, Will, being replaced with a female counterpart, Scarlett. According to Horowitz, this change resulted a complete rewrite of the original. Before Christmas 2008, the book had sold 190,000 copies worldwide.
Plot introduction
Before the story begins there is a dossier by the Nightrise Corporation detailing the Five and their hunt for Scarlett Adams. It also mentions that due to the torture of Scott Tyler when he was imprisoned by the Nightrise Corporation it may be possible to turn him against his friends. It is signed in an unknown language: Ia sakkath. Iak sakkakh. Ia sha xul. (Meaning: I call forth the Plumed Serpent of the Deep, Keeper of the Gate!)Plot summary
Scarlett Adams' school tutor group is taken on a trip to St Meredith's Church where she sees a vision of Matthew FreemanMatthew Freeman
Matthew J. Freeman is the main protagonist of Anthony Horowitz's The Power of Five novels, Raven's Gate, Evil Star and one of the protagonists in Necropolis, although not the main protagonist. He also briefly appeared in the third book of the series, Nightrise. He was born in London, England, to...
, who leads her to the door with the pentagram
Pentagram
A pentagram is the shape of a five-pointed star drawn with five straight strokes...
etched into it. There, she is transported to the Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
, inside a monastery
Monastery
Monastery denotes the building, or complex of buildings, that houses a room reserved for prayer as well as the domestic quarters and workplace of monastics, whether monks or nuns, and whether living in community or alone .Monasteries may vary greatly in size – a small dwelling accommodating only...
where she is captured by monks who worship the Old Ones. She is taken to the leader of the monastery, Father Gregory, who tells Scarlett of the Gatekeepers and the Old Ones. He and his followers built the monastery around the door in order to catch any of the Five for the Old Ones should they come through. Scarlett is taken to a cell, and that night she has a dream about a dragon
Dragon
A dragon is a legendary creature, typically with serpentine or reptilian traits, that feature in the myths of many cultures. There are two distinct cultural traditions of dragons: the European dragon, derived from European folk traditions and ultimately related to Greek and Middle Eastern...
and a strange neon sign
Neon sign
Neon signs are made using electrified, luminous tube lights that contain rarefied neon or other gases. They are the most common use for neon lighting, which was first demonstrated in a modern form in December, 1910 by Georges Claude at the Paris Motor Show. While they are used worldwide, neon signs...
that says "SIGNAL ONE". Later, she escapes by attacking the monks and returning through the door. She returns to St Meredith's, but her eighteen-hour long disappearance has sparked a media storm.
In Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
, at Professor Chambers' hacienda
Hacienda
Hacienda is a Spanish word for an estate. Some haciendas were plantations, mines, or even business factories. Many haciendas combined these productive activities...
, Matt finds out who Scarlett is through the media storm and decides that he should go back to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
with the rest of the Five and his friend Richard Cole. However, later that night, a man named Ramon brings the diary
Diary
A diary is a record with discrete entries arranged by date reporting on what has happened over the course of a day or other period. A personal diary may include a person's experiences, and/or thoughts or feelings, including comment on current events outside the writer's direct experience. Someone...
belonging to St Joseph of Cordoba, claiming that he feels remorse for helping Diego Salamanda decode the diary. The diary contains the locations of twenty-five doors around the world that serve as portals to other doors. After studying the diary using his skills of reading old maps he learnt at university, Richard says that there are doors in Tuscany
Tuscany
Tuscany is a region in Italy. It has an area of about 23,000 square kilometres and a population of about 3.75 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence ....
, Lake Tahoe
Lake Tahoe
Lake Tahoe is a large freshwater lake in the Sierra Nevada of the United States. At a surface elevation of , it is located along the border between California and Nevada, west of Carson City. Lake Tahoe is the largest alpine lake in North America. Its depth is , making it the USA's second-deepest...
, Cuzco, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
, Cairo
Cairo
Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...
, Istanbul
Istanbul
Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
, Delhi
Delhi
Delhi , officially National Capital Territory of Delhi , is the largest metropolis by area and the second-largest by population in India, next to Mumbai. It is the eighth largest metropolis in the world by population with 16,753,265 inhabitants in the Territory at the 2011 Census...
, Mecca
Mecca
Mecca is a city in the Hijaz and the capital of Makkah province in Saudi Arabia. The city is located inland from Jeddah in a narrow valley at a height of above sea level...
, Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
, the Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n outback, Antarctica and Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
. Scott Tyler confirms Ramon's truthfulness by reading his mind, but the hacienda
Hacienda
Hacienda is a Spanish word for an estate. Some haciendas were plantations, mines, or even business factories. Many haciendas combined these productive activities...
is then attacked and set on fire by strange zombies who kill Ramon with a fence post. Although their Inca allies arrive and finish off the zombies, Professor Chambers is mortally wounded and dies. Matt decides that the Five should split up so that the Old Ones cannot capture them all in one shot, and he, Jamie and Richard go to find Scarlett while Pedro and Scott go to the hidden Inca city of Vilcabamba to stay.
In London, Scarlett is trying to get back to her normal life, but can't when she notices strange men following her. She receives a strange phone call from her friend Aidan, who persuades her to go to Happy Garden, a Chinese restaurant, for a Chinese
Chinese people
The term Chinese people may refer to any of the following:*People with Han Chinese ethnicity ....
man wants to see her. However, the restaurant is destroyed by a bomb. She unwillingly goes to Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
for her father, who works for Nightrise
Nightrise
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 2006, and followed by Necropolis, which was released on October 30, 2008...
.
Matt, Richard and Jamie arrive in London and nearly cross paths with Scarlett, but are held up by an accident orchestrated by the shape changers working for the Old Ones. They go to the Nexus headquarters where Matt realises Ramon's arrival at the hacienda
Hacienda
Hacienda is a Spanish word for an estate. Some haciendas were plantations, mines, or even business factories. Many haciendas combined these productive activities...
was a trap
Trap (tactic)
A trap is a device intended to catch an intruder or prey. "Trap" may also refer to the tactic of catching or harming an adversary. Conversely it may also mean a hindrance for change, being caught in a trap.-Device:*Animal trapping*Bird trapping...
laid by the Old Ones to stop them from getting to England before Scarlett left for China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
. Matt theorises that Ramon was hypnotized to give the diary back to the group to create the idea of using one of the doors to get to Hong Kong. There would be agents waiting to immediately capture them once they emerged through the Hong Kong door, so they decide to fly to Macau
Macau
Macau , also spelled Macao , is, along with Hong Kong, one of the two special administrative regions of the People's Republic of China...
to seek help from one of the Nexus' contacts before taking a boat into Hong Kong.
Meanwhile, Scarlett arrives in Hong Kong, being looked after by a Mrs Cheng, who claims her father is away on urgent business. Scarlett meets the sinister Chairman of Nightrise
Nightrise
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 2006, and followed by Necropolis, which was released on October 30, 2008...
at The Nail, Nightrise's Hong Kong headquarters, who gives her an ornate jade
Jade
Jade is an ornamental stone.The term jade is applied to two different metamorphic rocks that are made up of different silicate minerals:...
necklace
Necklace
A necklace is an article of jewellery which is worn around the neck. Necklaces are frequently formed from a metal jewellery chain. Others are woven or manufactured from cloth using string or twine....
, which is in fact a tracking device. Whilst in Hong Kong, strange and ominous things start happening around her. A person trying to give her a letter disappears in a swarming crowd, and the people that she meets stare at her intently. Mrs Cheng and Karl, the chauffeur, seem robotic and lifeless, and the smog
Smog
Smog is a type of air pollution; the word "smog" is a portmanteau of smoke and fog. Modern smog is a type of air pollution derived from vehicular emission from internal combustion engines and industrial fumes that react in the atmosphere with sunlight to form secondary pollutants that also combine...
surrounding Hong Kong is thickening. Scarlett follows a trail of clues telling her to go to The Peak
Victoria Peak
Victoria Peak is a mountain in Hong Kong. It is also known as Mount Austin, and locally as The Peak. The mountain is located in the western half of Hong Kong Island...
and over there, two agents kill Mrs Cheng, who is revealed to be a shape-changer who is one of the Old Ones in human form. Scarlett is then taken to Lohan Shang-tung, whose agents have just helped her escape the Old Ones, and when the building is attacked by Old Ones and Police, they help her to escape again. She is then disguised as a boy, and pretends to be the son of a couple who are boarding a ship departing Hong Kong to Macau, where she will meet with the other Gatekeepers. However, her father, Paul Adams, stationed at the jetty, finds her and hands her over to the chairman, who recaptures her believing that it will help her, and keeps her at Victoria Prison
Victoria Prison
Victoria Prison , or Victoria Gaol was Hong Kong's first prison. A testimony to the evolution of Hong Kong's correctional services, it had been the centre of the local prison system until it ceased operation in December 2005....
. A dream call by Scarlett wakes a dragon (a metaphor for a typhoon), which starts to move towards Hong Kong.
Matt, Jamie and Richard had arrive in Macau
Macau
Macau , also spelled Macao , is, along with Hong Kong, one of the two special administrative regions of the People's Republic of China...
where they meet Han Shang-tung, who reveals himself as "The Master of the Mountain", the leader of the White Lotus Society
White Lotus Society
The White Lotus Society primarily refers to White Lotus, originally a Buddhist sect, later a secret society.Fictional organizations very loosely based on the historical organization include:...
, a Triad based in Macau
Macau
Macau , also spelled Macao , is, along with Hong Kong, one of the two special administrative regions of the People's Republic of China...
and Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
. Shang-tung explains that Scarlett has been taken prisoner by the Old Ones who plan to turn Hong Kong into a necropolis
Necropolis
A necropolis is a large cemetery or burial ground, usually including structural tombs. The word comes from the Greek νεκρόπολις - nekropolis, literally meaning "city of the dead"...
, a city of the dead, by using poisonous gases mixed with the pollution
Pollution
Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into a natural environment that causes instability, disorder, harm or discomfort to the ecosystem i.e. physical systems or living organisms. Pollution can take the form of chemical substances or energy, such as noise, heat or light...
from mainland China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
that will suffocate and kill the residents there. Shang-Tung believes Scarlett is a reincarnate of a goddess
Goddess
A goddess is a female deity. In some cultures goddesses are associated with Earth, motherhood, love, and the household. In other cultures, goddesses also rule over war, death, and destruction as well as healing....
and has had his people watch over her all her life. He agrees to help them after affirming that Matt and Jamie are indeed part of the Five with a test: climbing a sword ladder.
Later that night Richard, Matt and Jamie travel by boat to Hong Kong and come under attack by the Hong Kong police (under the control of the Old Ones) after they are betrayed by the captain. In the struggle, Matt loses Richard and Jamie, arriving in Hong Kong alone. He sees people dying in the street because of the pollution, and recognizes several of the Old Ones' servants. Matt makes his way to Wisdom Court, where Scarlett's father now resides. Once there Matt lets himself be captured by the Chairman after being betrayed by a despondent Paul Adams, attempting to barter him for Scarlett. However, Adams is killed and Matt is taken to the same cell as Scarlett in Victoria Prison where they share their experiences. Matt reveals that his being captured was in fact a plan he had made with her father. He knew that the only way to get near her was to be caught, so he had contacted Lohan and his men earlier, telling them of his plan, and then Scarlett's father had agreed to call Nightrise in order to turn in Matt, even at expense of his own life. Matt also explained that he knew the Old Ones would think it was amusing to see two of the Five briefly imprisoned in the same room, before they were imprisoned in different rooms in different sides of the world. Because their powers are strengthened when together they begin to think of escaping.
The meaning of "Signal One" is then explained. It is part of the Hong Kong Observatory
Hong Kong Observatory
Hong Kong Observatory is a department of the Hong Kong government. The Observatory forecasts weather and issues warnings on weather-related hazards...
warning system on the intensity of typhoons. To the Chinese, typhoons are also known as the dragon
Dragon
A dragon is a legendary creature, typically with serpentine or reptilian traits, that feature in the myths of many cultures. There are two distinct cultural traditions of dragons: the European dragon, derived from European folk traditions and ultimately related to Greek and Middle Eastern...
's breath, explaining the dragon Scarlett had been dreaming of in the Gatekeeper's dream world. She has the ability not just to predict, but to control weather
Weather
Weather is the state of the atmosphere, to the degree that it is hot or cold, wet or dry, calm or stormy, clear or cloudy. Most weather phenomena occur in the troposphere, just below the stratosphere. Weather refers, generally, to day-to-day temperature and precipitation activity, whereas climate...
conditions. It is also revealed that Scarlett knew of the typhoon and the power it would bring.
Richard and Jamie find Lohan and he bands together his men to rescue Scarlett and Matt under cover of the rising storm
Storm
A storm is any disturbed state of an astronomical body's atmosphere, especially affecting its surface, and strongly implying severe weather...
Scarlett has made and take the prison, where he followed Matt to when he was being captured. The impending storm is creeping higher up the scale. Jamie knows that Scott will be able to feel the danger Jamie is in, and that he will try and use the door that leads to the Tai Shan Temple, which will undoubtedly be guarded. The group, along with Scarlett, who diverts the storm from them while it destroys everything around them, run to the temple to kill the guards protecting it before Scott arrives, which would result in his death or capture.
At The Nightrise headquarters, a wooden sampan
Sampan
A sampan is a relatively flat bottomed Chinese wooden boat from long. Some sampans include a small shelter on board, and may be used as a permanent habitation on inland waters. Sampans are generally used for transportation in coastal areas or rivers, and are often used as traditional fishing boats...
picked up by the typhoon smashes into the Chairman's office and kills the Chairman. Meanwhile, Lohan's men kill all but one of the Old Ones' agents, who is wounded but hides. Scott and Pedro travel through the door and the last Old One agent aims at Jamie, but Scott pushes him out of the way and the bullet hits Scarlett in the head, rendering her unconscious. Without Scarlett to hold the typhoon back, it unleashes its full strength on them and disintegrates the temple. Jamie and Scott, Richard and Scarlett, Pedro, and Matt and Lohan dash through the door moments before the temple is destroyed, escaping the typhoon. Then the storm finally abates, revealing Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
completely destroyed (although all the pollution was swept away). All of the Five are separated all over the world with their partners, due to having no preassumed destination decided between all of them, also it is said that since the door collapsed as they were going through it, one final trick was played on them. Meanwhile, Chaos, the King of the Old Ones, prepares to commence the war to conquer the planet and wipe out humanity.
Continuity
- Necropolis signifies a change in the structure of the narrative of The Power of FiveThe Power of FiveThe Power of Five is a series of fantasy and suspense novels, written by British author Anthony Horowitz. Four installments have been published to date but another one is to be released...
series, with two character's tales being told side by side. It also sees the Gatekeepers actively seeking each other for the first time.
- All five children have turned fifteen between Nightrise and Necropolis but, although Matt mentions his own birthday occurred while he was in NazcaNazcaNazca is a system of valleys on the southern coast of Peru, and the name of the region's largest existing town in the Nazca Province. It is also the name applied to the Nazca culture that flourished in the area between 300 BC and AD 800...
, it is not explicitly mentioned if the Five were born on the same day.
- The final chapter of NightriseNightriseNightrise 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 2006, and followed by Necropolis, which was released on October 30, 2008...
, which introduced modern day Scarlett, is significantly revised in this novel, Scarlett's disappearance having occurred beforehand.
- Pedro, who could not speak a word of English previously in the series, has apparently learned a sufficient amount of the language for communication purposes in the four months since the events of Evil StarEvil Star (novel)Evil Star is the second book in The Power of Five series by British author Anthony Horowitz. It was published and released in the UK on April 1, 2006 by Walker Books Ltd and in the United States on June 1, 2006 by Scholastic Press under the adjusted series title, The Gatekeepers...
. Again, this is not explicitly referred to in the narrative.
- In Raven's GateRaven's GateRaven's Gate is the first book in The Power of Five series, written by Anthony Horowitz. It was published and released in the UK on 1 August 2005, by Walker Books Ltd and in the United States by Scholastic Press under the adjusted series title The Gatekeepers...
, Matt claimed he never smoked when Claire Deverill came over for dinner. However, in Necropolis, when he introduces himself in his diary, he claims that he had smoked with Kelvin Johnson but withdrew after his arrest. Of course, Matt hated and feared Deverill, and so may simply have lied to her. It is unlikely he would have felt any compunction about doing so.
The Day of the Dragon
Necropolis is a re-write of the 1989 novel The Day of the Dragon, part of the unfinished Pentagram series. The main differences are seen through extended introductions in both Matt and Scarlett's strands of narrative and the ending, which originally saw two Gatekeepers, the equivalents of Matt and Scarlett, escaping without being scattered across the world, and without one of them being shot. The original character of Will has been replaced by Scarlett, Horowitz's first female hero. Matt and Jamie travel under the names Martin Hopkins and Nicholas Helsey respectively, their names from the Pentagram series. Richard Cole does not use the false name Abram Stitchkins.Trivia
- In the first book, Raven's GateRaven's GateRaven's Gate is the first book in The Power of Five series, written by Anthony Horowitz. It was published and released in the UK on 1 August 2005, by Walker Books Ltd and in the United States by Scholastic Press under the adjusted series title The Gatekeepers...
, when Matt visits Nexus, the member Dravid has been replaced, so there are twelve members again. However, in Necropolis, neither he or Fabian has been replaced and there are only ten members.