Part 34 (2/2)
”Why did you decide to cure my acne and heal over Sin's piercings?” demanded Pat.
”You and Sin seem to think I care about you way more than I actually do.”
”Then why do you keep sitting down at the same table as us during lunch? And bringing those dweebs Hal and Wheeler with you? Are you trying to destroy our reputation?”
”Just studying Laurette's cleavage,” said Danny. ”She's still averaging two, but I keep hoping for changes.”
Pat called him a name and walked away. But she couldn't fool Danny. He had seen the smile playing around the corners of her mouth. She liked her new face. She liked him. him. And pretty soon she'd work up the courage to admit it to Laurette and Sin and Xena. And pretty soon she'd work up the courage to admit it to Laurette and Sin and Xena.
Danny enjoyed doing things for people. Especially for his friends.
Unfortunately, Danny also enjoyed toying with people who weren't his friends. Especially jerks who were begging to get pranked.
But Danny didn't want to be the typical gatemage, playing nasty tricks on people and laughing at them without compa.s.sion. If there was anything he had learned from the Silvermans, it was that you should use your magery to make the world a better place. And he already learned for himself that you don't walk away from somebody else's need, not if there's something you can do about it. Even Coach Lieder didn't deserve to be abused; whenever he left Danny and Hal alone, Danny left him him alone. alone.
One night, when Danny was having dinner with Veevee at her favorite little Italian spot in Naples, he asked her, ”If this whole theory about gatemages serving s.p.a.cetime is true, then if I don't don't play vicious pranks on people, does that make my power to influence s.p.a.cetime weaken or go away?” play vicious pranks on people, does that make my power to influence s.p.a.cetime weaken or go away?”
”I have no idea,” said Veevee.
”Okay,” said Danny. ”Just wondering.”
”Danny, you're a natural smart aleck. You can't help it. It just doesn't stop. And the worst thing is, when you want to, you get away with it. That's That's how you prank s.p.a.cetime itself-you don't ever have to suffer the consequences of your pranks.” how you prank s.p.a.cetime itself-you don't ever have to suffer the consequences of your pranks.”
Danny didn't really set out to prove her wrong about consequences. It just happened.
On Danny's sixteenth birthday, he went to school as usual. It was a Tuesday. Over the P.A. system in the morning, Danny's birthday was read out by somebody from student government. It was cool how many people commented on his birthday as they pa.s.sed him in the hall between cla.s.ses. And at lunch, Laurette and Sin and their friends got him outside at lunch to sing him a deliberately off-key version of ”Happy Birthday” that replaced the word ”to” with another word that started with F F.
”Is that, like, my present?” asked Danny.
”Somebody had to say it to you,” said Sin, ”or it wouldn't really be your birthday.” She had gotten two new piercings on one ear, and one of them was already infected. A slow learner, Danny figured. Not his job.
”Well, thanks,” said Danny.
Coach Lieder had also noticed the announcement. ”Sixteen years old, right, Stone?”
”Yes sir,” said Danny.
”Well, I have a present for you.” He pointed to the thick rope dangling from the ceiling near one wall of the gym, with a bunch of mats under it. It hadn't been hanging there yesterday.
”We're having a hanging,” said Danny. ”Cool.”
”Climb it,” said Lieder.
”I don't know how to climb a rope,” said Danny.
”Your other teachers tell me you're a quick learner.”
”But, see, they they make an effort to teach me,” said Danny. make an effort to teach me,” said Danny.
”Put your hands on the rope and pull yourself up,” said Lieder. ”Then grip the rope with your legs so you don't slide down, while you reach up to raise yourself to the next level. There, I've taught you. You have a new skill. It's my present to you, Birthday Boy.”
It took three tries, but Danny made it to the top without using a single gate. His legs and hands were raw. And getting down without rope burns was nearly impossible. But Danny made it a point not to show any reaction to the pain-though he also refrained from using a gate to heal himself. He wanted the other kids to see that even though his skin was red and raw, he showed no sign of minding the pain.
It clearly rattled Lieder that Danny made it up the rope and didn't complain about the discomfort. So he started in on his favorite victim. Hal was tall, but he was skinny. There wasn't an ounce of muscle on his body. His arms looked like Amish buggy whips. His leg muscles looked like he went home to a concentration camp every night.
Hal couldn't lift himself up by his arms. Period. Not even a chin-up. Certainly not the first upward surge of a rope climb. And even when a couple of guys lifted him up off the ground as a ”boost,” he just slid down, yelling in pain the whole time.
”Get him up the rope,” Lieder ordered Danny.
”What do you want me to do?” asked Danny. ”Push him up?”
”I want to see him at the top of the rope,” said Lieder.
”Sorry, dude,” said Hal to Danny.
”Not your fault,” said Danny. Of course, Danny could could get Hal to the top of the rope whenever he wanted. But it might be a little too spectacular. As in, make-the-newspapers. get Hal to the top of the rope whenever he wanted. But it might be a little too spectacular. As in, make-the-newspapers.
Danny remembered what he used to do for himself, before he even knew he was a gatemage. Short little gates that he didn't even realize were were gates. gates.
Danny had vowed never to use gates to help himself win a contest. But to help a friend silence a tormentor? That was different.
Danny tried to figure out how to do it so it wasn't obvious, even if someone was watching. Maybe a spiral set of gates, so you couldn't see as easily that Hal's hand movements had nothing much to do with his rise up the rope.
Lieder was busy yelling at some other poor sap, and everybody was watching him. Danny grabbed onto the rope and then set it-and himself-to spinning. While he spun, he made a series of gates rising up the rope. He figured that if Hal was twisting on the rope while he climbed, it wouldn't be so obvious that what was happening was unnatural.
Then, as the rope started unwinding, Danny made another bunch of little gates spiraling back down from the ceiling.
Danny beckoned to Hal, who really was in pain from rope burns on his thighs and hands. ”Try it again,” he said softly. ”Keep your hands moving so it looks like you're really doing it.”
”What are you talking about?” asked Hal.
”Just grab onto the bottom of the rope and start spinning clockwise. You'll see.”
n.o.body was watching at the moment, which was a good thing. Because it didn't work at all the way Danny expected. Hal grabbed on, started spinning, and shot shot upward in a spiral. Only he didn't stop at the top. He just disappeared. upward in a spiral. Only he didn't stop at the top. He just disappeared.
About half a minute later, though, he reappeared spiraling down the rope. He fell on his b.u.t.t and then flipped over and crawled along the mats to get away from the rope. All his rope burns were gone.
”What happened?” Hal demanded hoa.r.s.ely.
”I don't know,” said Danny. ”What do you think think happened?” happened?”
”I start spinning, and suddenly it's like I'm a mile up, looking out over the whole Maury River Valley, I mean I can see the cars going into and out of the McDonald's drive-through in Lexington, I'm up so high. And I feel great. But I'm still spinning, see, and then all of a sudden I start to fall, only whatever it is catches me and sucks me down, still spinning. To here. I think I'm going to puke. Motion sickness. Fear of heights. You're a dangerous friend to have, man. What is it, some kind of drug? Cause if that was a hallucination, it seemed pretty d.a.m.n real.”
Danny had made gates that all led to points on the rope. None of them could have taken Hal past the ceiling. Danny hadn't made anything like the gate Hal was describing.
Hal reached for the bottom of the rope and handed it to Danny. ”You try,” he said. ”Show me how to do it right, if that was wrong.”
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