The Gate Thief (Mither Mages) (36 page)

“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.