The Gate Thief

19

This is high school, Danny reminded himself. This is what you wanted.

Supposedly he was helping Laurette study for a precalculus test that was coming up. Danny thought of calculus as a game-sometimes tedious, but usually enjoyable. To Laurette, however, it was a perpetual mystery. Danny explained in words that he knew were clear. He demonstrated over and over.

Laurette concentrated hard, echoing his words, even tracing the operations he performed, yet she still didn’t really understand it. Once she got an answer right but instead of being thrilled or relieved, she almost wept in frustration. “I don’t know what I did,” she said.

“You did the operation and entered all the right numbers in the calculator and I didn’t do any of it. You got it right.”

“But why did I get it right? I thought I did all those things with all the other problems that I screwed up!”

“Laurette, are you planning any kind of career that’s going to need math?”

“I just don’t like being stupid,” she said, and then she did weep.

“You’re not stupid,” he said. “You’re just not interested in math.” He put his arm across her shoulders.

She melted into him, weeping onto his shirt. “I’m interested in A’s,” she said. “That’s always been enough before.”

And then he realized that instead of just clinging to him, she was stroking his chest.

And that’s when he decided that he hated high school. Nothing was ever what it seemed to be. Laurette seemed genuinely frustrated by her math class. And yet here she was, turning it into something romantic. So how much of her crying was real? How could he know?

They’re all manmages, girls are. Every damn one of them.

Not Pat. Give her credit-she played no games.

But she also didn’t need any help with her homework.

Danny took Laurette’s hands in a brotherly way and set them on the table. “You just need to do it again. On the next problem. I’ll watch. Do the steps. You can get it right every time, Laurette. Just concentrate on the operations, not the numbers you’re plugging in.”

“I know you like Pat,” said Laurette. “But I just don’t see why.”

“Fortunately,” said Danny, “you don’t have to.”

He got up from the table and headed for the refrigerator. “Is there anything off limits in the fridge?”

“Everything in the fridge is off limits,” said Laurette. “My mom micro-menus. She calculates the family diet down to the microgram.”

“So doubtful,” said Danny. “You don’t own a scale that reports micrograms.”

“You can eat anything from the cookie jar,” said Laurette.

“But your mother’s vegan wheatless cookies are inedible,” said Danny. “None of you has a gluten allergy.”

“She read somewhere that wheat is bad. It’s just a phase, she’s probably already sneaking bread herself on the sly. Then she’ll feel guilty, confess to us all, and we’ll get bread again, too.”

“It’s amazing that your whole family doesn’t look like concentration camp victims.”

“We all cheat,” said Laurette. “Though in my case, it’s not for flavor or even hunger. It’s all about keeping the cleavage.”

“Yes, well,” said Danny.

“You never look anymore.”

“Don’t have to keep reading a book I’ve already memorized. Wasn’t Sin coming over, too?”

“No,” said Laurette.

“She said she was.”

“It’s my turn tonight,” said Laurette.

“I hate high school,” said Danny.

“I don’t want to have sex with you,” said Laurette. “I just want you to be interested in it. I know you’re not gay, because of what Pat said.”

Danny’s heart sank a little. “What did Pat say?”

“I asked her, ‘What was it like to kiss him?’ And she said, ‘I wonder whether we’re really going to Grandma’s for Thanksgiving or if my parents are going to call it off again this year.’”

“Oh,” said Danny.

“And then I said, ‘So you slept with him, is that it?’ And she said, ‘My parents always have these big plans but then they don’t do any of the jobs you have to do to make the plans come off.’”

“Her parents are very frustrating to her,” said Danny. “But I think if procrastination bordering on laziness is the worst thing wrong with your parents, you’re doing pretty well.”

“I don’t actually care about Pat’s parents, Danny,” said Laurette. “Boys are supposed to be constant horndogs. And mythological gods are supposed to be even worse.”

“Some of them are,” said Danny. “Maybe most of them.”

“Maybe you are, too, if you find girls you think are attractive.” She was crying again.

“What is this?” asked Danny. “We’re friends. You’re attractive. And funny and nice and I like you fine.”

“But you don’t want me.”

“Is that the only measure of … anything?” asked Danny. “And you need to get your homework done so I’m leaving.”

“Please don’t,” said Laurette. “Please just … can’t you just kiss me and see if you like it?”

“I’d like it just fine. I’d like it a lot. That’s why I’m not going to do it.”

“You can’t possibly be Christian,” said Laurette. “Why can’t you ever do something because it’s fun?”

“I do things for fun all the time,” said Danny. “But I don’t like hurting people.”

“Pat doesn’t own you! You’re not married.”

“Actually, I lied. I do like hurting people. I spent my whole childhood thinking up malicious pranks and playing them. Really nasty stuff. Involving poo and pain and bad smells and minor injuries. Plus a lot of humiliation. But that’s because I detested everyone in my family, and they detested me back. And my pranks were funny. There’s nothing funny about kissing you when I don’t mean it and when I know you’d talk about it and it would hurt Pat and it would also hurt Xena and Sin because I didn’t do anything with them.”

“What if I didn’t talk about it?” asked Laurette.

“I’m going now,” said Danny.

“You said that before, and yet you’re still here.” She got up from her chair and put her arms around him and leaned her head on his chest. “You really are physically fit, you know. Good health is so attractive.”

“Now you’re just being idiotic,” said Danny.

“And you’re still here,” said Laurette. She slid a hand down his back, under the waistband of his pants.

“All that’s down there is my butt,” said Danny. “You have one, too.”

She used her other hand to grab his wrist and plant his hand on her backside. “That’s a butt,” she said, “and you don’t have one. That’s what I’m looking for. To see what holds your pants up.”

This had gone far enough. Because it was working exactly as she intended and he just didn’t understand why she was doing this. It seemed like a game among the girls, but they also seemed to mean it.

He gated back three paces.

She burst into tears. “I’m that repulsive.”

“The opposite. You won’t leave me alone and you are not repulsive and I’m grimly determined not to be that guy.”

“What guy?”

“The guy who thinks he’s a god and impregnates women left and right.”

“I’m on the pill, if that’s what worries you. And I know you don’t have AIDS so you don’t have to use a condom.”

“I can’t believe you said that,” said Danny.

She was back in front of him, fiddling with his zipper.

“What happened to ‘No means no’?” he said, removing her hands from his jeans.

“That’s so eighties,” she said. “I wasn’t even born then. And it’s about girls saying no, anyway.”

But he had no snappy retort, because in that moment he felt something that could not be real.

He felt somebody using the Wild Gate.

He knew it was that gate because there were a dozen of his own gates woven into it in one direction, two dozen in the other, so the feeling of gate-use was that much stronger.

Hermia and Veevee used gates often and he knew what that felt like. It was part of the background noise of his life-though it was far more noticeable now, since he’d been through a Great Gate himself. This, though. This was someone he didn’t know. And then another person. And another.

“Excuse me,” said Danny. “Something’s happening. Nothing to do with you. Got to go.”

“What’s wrong? You look-”

But he didn’t get to hear how he looked. He had already gated to the Silvermans’ barn.

There was no one there.

There was also no Wild Gate. Someone had moved it. And he hadn’t even felt it.

No, he had felt it. That’s part of what drew his attention to the use of the gate. Someone moved it and then people started using it.

Someone? There were only two gatemages in the world, besides Danny. Unless it was the Westilian kid that Loki had dropped off with the Silvermans.

Danny gated to the house. The boys were sitting in the living room. The younger one was playing a videogame. The older one was staring into space. Both here, nothing changed.

“Danny,” said Leslie. She stood in the doorway that led to the hall. “What’s wrong?”

“Somebody’s using the gate.” He didn’t need to specify which one.

“No!” said Leslie. “Nobody’s come in here!”

“Somebody moved this end of the gate,” said Danny. “It’s not in the barn anymore.”

“Hermia,” said Leslie.

“I didn’t know she could do it,” said Danny. “But who else? Veevee?”

“What are you going to do?”

“She’s already sending people through. Her Family, no doubt. So much for my two-from-each-Family rule.”

“You realize that you have no time at all,” said Leslie. “Without the advantage of having been through a Great Gate when they haven’t, Marion and I aren’t such great shakes as mages. They’ll blow us away.”

“I suppose you’re right-they wouldn’t be doing it this way if they had peaceful intentions. I can’t believe she did this.”

“She thought she could get away from those Family ties, and she was wrong,” said Leslie. “You can talk to her about it later. Right now, what are you going to do?”

“I’ve got to get you and Dad and these boys somewhere safe.”

Leslie nodded, and there were tears on her cheeks. “I’ll get Marion in from the quarry.”

“No,” said Danny. “I will.” He walked to the boys on the couch and peeled the headphones off Enopp’s head. “Take my hand,” he said.

Enopp did, then took Eluik’s hand. Danny reached for Leslie, and as soon as they gripped each other he gated them all to the pit at the north end of the farm where Marion quarried simple granite from the bedrock. The pit wasn’t deep. He quarried by sending his outself deep and drawing up the stone, floating it to the surface. The pit was just so the neighbors and passing cars couldn’t see the stones rise through the soil without the aid of human hands.

Marion grasped the situation as soon as Danny said, “Hermia moved the gate and she’s using it.”

He gated them to Veevee’s condo. Veevee wasn’t there.

“She’s at the beach,” said Danny. “I’ll be right back.” And in a moment he was. Veevee was dripping and furious. “I can’t believe that little Greek bitch would betray us all like that.”

“Family,” said Leslie.

“That doesn’t excuse being a traitorous bitch,” said Veevee.

“But it explains it,” said Marion. “Besides which, I think the way they see it is, she’s finally stopped being a traitorous bitch and now she’s a loyal Family member again.”

“Or they held her dog hostage,” said Leslie.

“What’s happening?” asked Enopp.

“Join hands and at the next place, they’ll explain it to you,” said Danny.

He took them to DC, to Stone’s house. “Hermia’s been sending people through the Wild Gate. Turns out that passing to Westil and back gave her the power to move other people’s gates. Specifically, the Mittlegard end of the Wild Gate.”

“And you didn’t stop her?”

“I didn’t know what I was feeling until she was already sending people through,” said Danny. “I didn’t know you could move a Great Gate.”

Stone bowed his head. “Have you gathered up all the gates she knows about?”

“All of hers. All the ones that connect our houses. That was practically a reflex. Like clenching your sphincter muscles when you’re scared,” said Danny.

“What an ill-raised child you are, Danny,” said Leslie. “We don’t talk about sphincter muscles in front of impressionable children.”

“They’re going to attack all the other Families,” said Danny. “Mine first, I’m sure. But at this point, the only thing I can do is make a Great Gate and send everybody through. Or the Illyrians will kill everybody else and rule the world. Am I not right?”

“Oh, if history teaches us anything,” said Stone, “it’s that gods with a sudden increase in power instantly remember how much they hate their enemies.”

“We’re all so good at grudges,” said Leslie.

“What are you going to do to Hermia?” asked Marion.

“Nothing yet,” said Danny. “Unless she forces me. Where do you want to go?”

“Hermia doesn’t know about my place in Maine,” said Stone.

“Neither did I,” said Veevee.

Stone ignored her. “There isn’t even running water, but it’s between two very cold lakes, clean water, plenty of firewood, and an outhouse. These boys aren’t used to indoor plumbing anyway, am I right?”

“I am,” said Veevee.

Leslie smiled sweetly. “Does a mage poop in the woods? I think so.”

“Any mages in residence here?” asked Danny.

“I’ll call them,” said Stone.

There were three, all women, one in her fifties and a pair of twenty-year-old twins. No time for introductions. Danny made a public gate, made it open and obvious, and they all passed through. Danny didn’t go with them-they’d all get acquainted at the lake and Danny would join them later. He took back the gate and then headed for the North Family compound.

He arrived in Mook’s and Lummy’s kitchen. They weren’t there.

He found them on the front porch. “Bring everybody,” he said.

“What is it?” said Aunt Lummy, looking scared.

“The Greeks got into a Great Gate that I thought was safe. They’re passing through it now and you know they’ll come here first.”

Uncle Mook was already running to the old house.

“I’m taking us all to a safe place,” said Danny.

“How long do you think we can hide from them?” asked Lummy.

“Long enough for me to make a Great Gate and pass you all through it.”

She burst into tears and embraced him. “I knew you’d forgive us.”

“You and Uncle Mook never did anything that needed forgiving,” said Danny. “And I haven’t forgiven anybody. I’m just not going to let the Greeks rule the world.”

“It was that Greek girl, wasn’t it?” asked Aunt Lummy. “You can’t trust a Greek. Homer said so and he was right.”

“It was Laocoon who said it. Homer was just quoting him,” said Danny.

“Actually, what Laocoon said wasn’t printable. Homer cleaned it up for him,” said Lummy.

The bell was ringing. It was never rung except when there was war. Danny took Lummy’s hand and gated to the gathering place.

“You!” shouted Great-uncle Zog, looking furious.

Danny gated him to the kitchen of the big house. “I don’t have time for any shit,” he said. “I was betrayed and the Greeks are going to Westil and back right now.”

All the adults knew what that meant, and they kept the children silent.

“I’m gating you to a place where I can make a Great Gate. But I’m telling you right now. I’m letting everybody use it. Not just the North Family. Anybody has a problem with that, then that’s a person who isn’t going through. Is that clear?”

“What do you mean by ‘everybody’?” asked Auntie Uck. “I’m not disagreeing, I just want to know.”

“Everybody who isn’t Greek,” said Danny. “Families and Orphans. And there’s a truce at the new Great Gate. Do you understand me? A total truce. As soon as I make the gate, Hermia will know where it is and they’ll head for it.”

“Then as soon as we get through it, we’ll head for them,” said Grandpa Gyish. He actually looked happy. Thrilled, even. Also evil. Definitely he looked evil. Danny remembered why he hated some of these people.

“You’ve never been through a Great Gate,” said Danny. “It takes time to figure out what you can do. So no, I’m not sending you off to war. I’m going to gate off anyone who approaches. I can do it. When they see that everybody else has gone through a Great Gate, too, and they have no advantage, then I think we can work out a truce.”

“Don’t be absurd,” said Uncle Poot. “You weren’t here for the last war. There’ll be no truce.”

“I don’t expect it to hold,” said Danny. “Where’s my father?”

Thor answered. “In town. Your mother and your brother and sister, too.”

“A family outing,” said Danny. “How sweet. I’ll come back for them. The place we’re going to belongs to a good friend of mine. My friend, do you understand me? Everyone there is my friend, but it’s Stone’s house and in that place he rules.”

At that moment Zog rejoined the group, even angrier than before. “You filthy little drekka, I’m not going to-”

This time Danny gated him to the parking lot of the Lexington Walmart.

“He’s horrible, Danny,” said Aunt Lummy, “but you can’t leave him out. They’ll kill him. They hate him most of all.”

“I’m not going to leave him out,” said Danny. “I just don’t have time to deal with his assholery. I’ll gate him through and you all can tame him.” Danny made a public gate, a big one. “Before you step through this gate,” he said to everybody, “you look me in the eye and tell me that you’ll obey Stone and harm no one.”

“That’ll take too much time,” said Uncle Mook.

“Look me in the eye and say yes,” said Danny. “Because if you don’t keep your word, I will be ruthless. Do you understand me?”

They all said yes as they passed through the gate.

Danny followed, and took back the gate behind him.

Stone’s cabin was too small for everyone to sleep there, and it was bitterly cold on this November night, but it wouldn’t matter. They wouldn’t be there long. Danny ignored everybody’s questions and headed for the narrow isthmus between two jewel-like lakes.

No rope this time. He began turning around and around. Immediately he spun out gates-his own gates, not the ones Loki had given him, and definitely not the captive gates. He took his time and wove it strong and true.

By himself, Danny would have had no idea how to build it so it wouldn’t lead to the same circle of stones on Westil where his previous two Great Gates had led. But Loki had known many good places on Westil for a Great Gate to lead, ancient places, secret places that only Loki knew.

So at Danny’s urging, the gates that Loki had given him used their kinetic memory to guide him as he threw the thick-woven gates upward.

He felt the approval of Loki’s outself: a ten-thousand-year gate, they told him. Danny wasn’t sure he was thrilled to know that the gate would outlast him by hundreds of lifetimes, but … it meant that it was well-made, and it would do the job.

Then he wove another gate, just as strong, leading back to a spot on the other side of the cabin. “Stone,” said Danny. “You and Veevee first.”

“We’ve already been through a Great Gate,” said Veevee.

“Not this one,” said Danny. “So go and come back again. Veevee can show you the return entrance. And Veevee, I need you there to shepherd everybody through-and so you can lock the gate if somebody on Westil tries to interfere or use the thing. And if Loki shows up, explain it to him. Though maybe he knows. Maybe he knows whatever his gates know.”

Danny could feel that the Greeks had stopped going through the Wild Gate. “They’re done,” he said. “That means they’re coming. Hermia knows where this gate is. She may try to interfere. I have to concentrate on watching for her and protecting this place. So when you get back, Stone, you’re in charge of this end.”

With that, Danny went off by himself, into the cabin, up into the loft.

The two Westilian boys went up the ladder after him. “You can watch,” said Danny. “But do not speak to me.” Not that the older boy needed the warning. And if the younger boy was really a gatemage, maybe he’d be able to follow what Danny was doing.

Danny looked for Hermia, though not with his eyes. She was easy to find. She only had a few divisions of her outself, her ba, but since her passage through the Wild Gate she glowed so brightly that she could not escape his notice.

She was trying to lock the Wild Gate.

Fool, thought Danny. The time to lock it was before you sent your entire Family through it.

Danny began unweaving his own gates from the Wild Gate. He knew what would happen-the former captives would remain, and he would no longer be able to feel when people passed through it.

But it would be a far weaker Great Gate without his ba woven through it. And the return gate was entirely his. That one he simply took back. There was no return now, if anyone used the Wild Gate. Hermia would know what he was doing. Let her watch.

He had thought of doing this while they were still passing through the Wild Gate. But he didn’t know what half-unweaving the outbound gate would do to anyone using it at the time. Danny wasn’t prepared to do murder, and for all he knew, that’s what it would be.

As for the return gate, yes, he could have closed that at any time. Removed it and brought it back. But that would have left Illyrian mages on Westil, stranded and angry-and far more powerful than any mages on Westil. It would be irresponsible to send such an affliction to the other world. Better to let them all come back here and then weaken the outbound gate and close off the return permanently.

Hermia was angry, no doubt. Poor dear. What did you think would happen? Did you think I’d be understanding? That I’d do nothing?

Yes, angry indeed. For now he felt her trying to take hold of the end of the outbound gate that the Norths were all passing through.

Danny didn’t even bother fighting her. He could have overpowered her easily. But then he would have had to do it again and again, whenever she felt like making another try.

So he took her gates.

As a Lockfriend, she had only three divisions of her outself. But she had to send them out in order to manipulate his gate. Without passing through a Great Gate, she would never have had power to reach this far. But now two of her three gates were here, trying to move his Great Gate.

Danny ate them.

Then he followed them back to her gatehoard and ate the last one, too. All three now, everything she had, was inside his hearthoard. He could feel their terror. But no anger. Hermia was not angry. She was afraid, but she knew she deserved this. She knew that he could easily kill her, gate her to the bottom of the ocean and have done with her. Her treachery deserved no less. It had been the opening salvo in a war she could not win.

But he wouldn’t kill her. She must have known that about him, though clearly he did not know her at all. However, she would understand that rendering her blind and crippled to gates was actually a mild punishment, compared to the rules of war. Now he would not have to stay awake, waiting for her next move.

Indeed, this attempt to move his new Great Gate might have been intended as an offering. She must have known he would detect the attempt and block it. She was giving him the chance to punish her in this lesser way. Still terrible, but there was always the chance he might give her gates back to her.

The chance, perhaps. But he could not think what she might say or do to win back his trust.

There were nowhere near as many Norths as there were Illyrians. They were already done, and all the Orphans, too.

“I want you to go through the Great Gate, too,” said Danny. “And come right back. This is a better gate. It will make you stronger than you are. Will you do that?”

“Yes,” said Enopp. “Who was it that you ate up?”

“A friend who betrayed me,” said Danny.

“But you didn’t gate her anywhere,” said Enopp. “Wad gates people places. He kept me in prison for more than a year.”

“I’m not … Wad,” said Danny. “I’m a different man and I use my magery a different way.”

“Are you a weakling?” asked Enopp. “Eluik thinks you are weak, to be afraid to hurt people.”

“When someone is dead I can’t bring them back,” said Danny. “And if I hurt them too terribly, I can never win their trust.”

“Weak,” said Enopp. “That’s what Eluik says.”

“When he takes back his own body and speaks for himself I’ll take notice of what he says,” said Danny. “Meanwhile, are you willing to go through the gate and come back?”

“Yes,” said Enopp.

And Eluik nodded.

Danny gated them down to the isthmus where the outbound gate was. Stone would send them through.

Then Danny gated himself to Lexington and found Zog. He was still full of rage, but he spoke politely. Fawningly. “The Lord Danny has subdued this vile old bird,” said Zog. “I know who holds the power here.”

“There is to be no violence at the place where I’ve made the Great Gate,” said Danny coldly. “My friend Stone owns the house. You will obey him while you’re there, or I’ll make you pay.”

“I understand the Lord Danny’s mercy.”

“I am Loki to you,” said Danny.

Zog looked stricken. “You would use that vile name?”

“I have met the Loki who took the gates. He acted with wisdom and courage, and I share his purpose. It’s a far higher purpose and far more terrible war than any you have ever fought.”

“What do you know of war?” asked Zog contemptuously.

“I know that you lost every one you fought in,” said Danny. “I know that by obeying me and treating me with respect, you will earn the right to have your powers greatly increased. You’ve already had all your body’s pains and weaknesses healed, haven’t you?”

Zog nodded.

“That was a gift I gave you, even as I gated you away so you didn’t waste my time with your petty hatred.”

“The Lord Loki is generous.” He said “Loki” as if he were spitting out a cockroach.

Danny gated him to Maine.

He found his parents in the upstairs room of a sandwich restaurant in a fine old house. With them were their children from their first marriages-Father’s son Pipo, nine years older than Danny, and Mother’s daughter Leonora, who had just turned twenty. Pipo’s mother and Leonora’s father had both been killed in the last war, but it wouldn’t have made any difference. Once it was decided to let Father and Mother mate in order to try to make Danny, the old marriages wouldn’t have mattered. Families made their decisions, and people obeyed. Even the heads of the Families obeyed.

Mother looked happy to see him. It was her first response and it touched him a little. Father, however, knew that he would not be there if there were not something terribly wrong, so his response was dread. Dread, but not fear of Danny himself. They knew him well enough not to fear that he was there to attack them.

As for Pipo and Leonora, they had never been awful to him, but they had also never protected or helped him in any way. They were nothing to him, and he was nothing to them. But that meant they had a better relationship than the one Danny had with most of the Family.

Danny sat beside them and crisply told them what they needed to know. “I’ll pay the bill,” he said, and then gated them to Maine.

When the waiter came back, Danny asked for the check. There was no reason for a drowther waiter to have a bad night just because the gods were starting a war.

With the bill paid, and a good tip given, Danny went outside, stepped into the gap between two buildings, and gated himself away.

Family by Family, he spent that night going through the world, gating everyone to Maine, leaving them for Stone and Veevee to guide them through the gates, and then going on to the next Family.

The land around the cabin was getting crowded and people were cold, though a couple of fire mages had warmed the house, and windmages were keeping the air still. At one point Father tried to talk to him. Danny interrupted him. “Stone keeps a pickup truck on the other side of the lake,” he said. “Now that you’ve been to Westil, see what you and Mother can do with the machinery and electronics. With all the Families fairly evenly balanced, and the Norths outnumbered, the only possible advantage is your abilities with machines. Drowther machinery. Who knows how you might be able to use it now?”

Father nodded. “Does this mean you’re with us now?” he asked.

“No,” said Danny. “But if you have any brains, you’ll forget about this Loki and set out trying to create an alliance with the Orphan mages. There aren’t enough Norths to fight this war, and they, too, will have to survive in a world dominated once again by powerful gods.”

“That’s wise counsel,” said Father.

“No, Father,” said Danny. “It’s a demand. I’m going out now to find all the Orphans I can and bring them back. Stone has to go with me because I don’t know who and where they are. So I’m setting you to greet them and send them through the Great Gate. Thor can prepare defenses, if they come against us after all. I’m beginning to think Hermia didn’t tell them where I made this gate, but I might be wrong. Use this opportunity to treat them decently and as equals. That means keep Zog and Gyish away from them.”

Father nodded. “Your plan is a good one. I see that it’s our best chance to survive the coming war. I will bring all the Orphans into our Family and-”

“No,” said Danny. “They are not to be adopted. They are not to be put under your authority. You’re going to have to do something much harder. Treat them as allies. As equals. Let them agree to accept North leadership in battle, but not North hegemony. Is that clear? They remain independent.”

“I didn’t mean to rule over them,” Father protested. “I just-I assumed they would want-”

“Assume nothing,” said Danny. “Treat them as equals. Now I have work to do.”

“Will you ever stop hating us?” asked Father.

“At this moment, I hate nobody except one, and he’s not a North.”

“Who is it? That Greek girl?”

“It’s the Dragon. Set. You haven’t heard of him.”

Father looked blank.

“That’s the war that matters. This thing among you gods-it will be terrible and I’m afraid of how you’ll make the drowthers suffer with all your arrogance. But I have to find Set and figure out a way to keep both worlds safe from him, and even Loki doesn’t know how to do that.”

“Zog said that we have to call you Loki now,” said Father.

“No, Zog has to call me Loki. I’m Danny North to everyone else. ‘Loki’ still means the Gate Thief, though he uses another name on Westil.”

“I thought the Gate Thief was the enemy of all gatemages.”

“We all thought that, but it isn’t true. The Gate Thief has kept Westil safe for centuries, and by closing all the gates he has sharply limited the power of Set here in Mittlegard. But now there are Great Gates again, and the danger is terrible, and all of your magery is useless against him. Now get to work, please, Odin, and send Stone to me. I wish you well with your war.”

Father went away.

Stone joined him and together they spent the entire day going to every Orphan that Stone knew, or knew about. A dozen or so refused to go with them. Two score of them agreed to go to Westil and back, but insisted that they would then go home and fend for themselves. The rest, though, agreed to try, at least, to work with the Norths, to train with them, to cooperate if it really came to war with the Greeks.

None of the other Families even considered allying with the Norths. But they all kept the truce while they were at Stone’s cabin; then Danny gated them all back to their homelands to prepare for war. They knew that war would come. And by the time he had met them all, Danny had lost all hope that it might be avoided. They would all bide their time while they mastered their greatly increased powers. But the espionage would start at once, and the collisions would follow, sooner rather than later. They would escalate into combat. People would die.

When Danny and Stone returned to the cabin, it was late afternoon. The day had warmed up a little. Danny saw that Father was making an effort-he and Mother were talking with several of the Orphans, and others were paired up with Norths, practicing magery in some rather spectacular ways. The waters of one lake were churning. Large stones were falling from a nearby cliff, then stopping and sliding back up to resume their place. There were whirlwinds underfoot. But everyone was being careful and polite. Zog and Gyish were nowhere to be seen.

Danny found Thor. “How many of your informants are Mithermages?” asked Danny.

“All the ones who are mages, you’ve already brought here. The others are drowthers.”

“Is there any chance of the Family surviving this war?” asked Danny.

“Oh, a very good one,” said Thor. “If we have the greatest Gatefather in history fighting beside us.”

“Don’t count on it,” said Danny.

“Well, then, our chances aren’t so good,” said Thor.

“See what Father and Mother can do with the machinery of war,” said Danny.

Thor seemed puzzled.

“Tanks and fighter planes, Thor,” said Danny. “I don’t think any other mages know how to deal with them. What Father can do with machines, what Mother can do with electricity-that’s where you put your money, Thor. The Norths get there first, and if you play it right, the others won’t have any hope of catching up.”

Thor grinned. “You care about us after all,” he said.

“You’re my damn family,” said Danny. “Even if you never made me glad of it for a moment.” Danny turned away.

“What will you be doing, Danny?”

“I’m creating a public gate to take you back to the farm. But it’s a one-way gate. Once you leave here, you aren’t coming back, at least not by gate. There will be no gates leading to this Great Gate. But for anyone who tries to come here without my permission, there’ll be plenty of gates. They just won’t go to desirable places. Understand?”

“Danny, do you know what war means?” asked Thor. “Do you understand that someday you’re going to have to kill somebody?”

“I’ve had a man killed before,” said Danny, “and I’ve seen death.”

“When?” asked Thor.

“I’ve had a busy time since I ran away from home.” He paused. “Here’s the gate back to the compound. Get people back there before they eat up everything Stone has.”

Then Danny went back to Buena Vista. He had missed a whole day of school. He was exhausted. But he had to make sure that Hermia, who knew all his friends, was not arranging some kind of mischief. The Mithermages could take care of themselves, now that they had passed through a Great Gate. But Danny’s friends would be easy targets for his enemies. So far they were safe-he had checked on them several times through the night and day just passed.

Now, though, Danny had to sleep. He would be safer if he slept here at the cabin, and the Great Gate would be better protected. But if Danny was in Buena Vista, alone, then any attack would probably come against him personally. That’s what he wanted. He could take care of himself. He wasn’t going to let anything happen to Pat. Or any of them.