Part 40 (1/2)

The ground trembled under them.

”Gyis.h.!.+” cried Baba. ”Don't!”

Now Danny saw Gyish standing near the Family's truck. Gyish was paying no attention to Baba. A crevice opened in the ground at Danny's feet.

Danny simply gated to one side.

A new crevice opened.

”Oh, for pete's sake,” said Marion.

A gash opened in the earth under Gyish and the old man dropped down into it. So did the truck.

Mama screamed.

”Marion, what have you done!” cried Leslie.

”Don't worry,” said Danny. ”I gated the old man away and sent him home to the compound as soon as he fell in.”

”You didn't have to,” said Marion. ”I wasn't going to kill him.”

Leslie strode toward Baba and Mama and Thor. ”Yes, he made a Great Gate. Yes, the Gate Thief tried to take him. But Danny is the greatest Gatefather who ever lived. Get it? He fought the Gate Thief and he won!”

”Oh, Danny!” cried Mama. ”It's what we hoped for you!”

”This is why we kept you alive,” said Baba. ”So you could make a Great Gate for us.”

”How kind of you,” said Danny.

”Now let us through,” said Baba. ”Let us go through the gate.”

”It doesn't exist right now,” said Hermia.

”But you can make it again,” said Mama. The greed in her eyes was more than a little scary.

”If I decide to,” said Danny. ”But one thing is certain, Mama, Baba, Thor. No one from the North Family will ever use it.”

If he had stabbed a knife into his father's heart, he could not have looked more stunned. ”You're my son!” Baba cried. ”We made you for this!”

”How many gatemages before me did the Families murder?” said Danny. ”Thank you for not killing me. Thank you for not murdering your own son. What a sacrifice. I have better parents now. If you come anywhere near us, I'll gate you to the Moon. Do you understand me?”

Thor was about to say something, but before he could get any words out, Danny gated them all back to the Family compound.

”So how do you really feel?” asked Stone.

”Give me credit here,” said Danny. ”I didn't kill them.”

”Should I bring the truck back up to the surface?” asked Marion. ”It isn't damaged much.”

”Crush it,” said Danny. ”They can buy another, and think of me whenever they use it.”

”Can we visit my Family next?” asked Hermia.

”All in good time,” said Stone. ”What you just did was probably a mistake. It's their worst fears realized-it gives them all the more incentive to kill you. You'll be able to remake the Great Gate and send only your friends-their enemies-through it. It'll be the destruction of their Family.”

”I suppose you're right,” said Danny.

”We can work it out,” said Marion. ”Negotiate. No more killing of gatemages. They turn gatemages over to us as soon as they're identified. And when we make a Great Gate again, each Family can send one member through and right back again. If we promise to share equally, maybe we can keep a war from breaking out.”

”And gates for everybody,” said Stone. ”Leading from Family to Family. Public gates that can't be closed, so everybody can check on everybody else without buying an airplane ticket.”

Danny laughed.

”What's funny?” said Veevee. ”I wet myself a little when he opened up that crack in the ground.”

”I just-we had no plan for this,” said Danny. ”For complete, total success.”

”It isn't total,” said Hermia. ”The Gate Thief-Loki-he's still there, and he knows a lot more than any of us. The Families can't be trusted even if they make the most solemn promises. We're safer than we were, but only barely.”

”You really are a pessimist, aren't you?” said Stone.

”Danny won,” said Hermia. ”But only by taking Loki by surprise. Now it's time for us all to knuckle down and study study this. So when Danny faces him again, he'll have a better idea of what he's doing. Did Loki have anything left, Danny, or did you take it all?” this. So when Danny faces him again, he'll have a better idea of what he's doing. Did Loki have anything left, Danny, or did you take it all?”

”He has six gates left,” said Danny. ”Or at least that's all I sensed before I cut him off.”

”Maybe enough to make a Great Gate of his own,” said Hermia, ”and if pa.s.sing through a Great Gate increases a Gatefather's outself, he might be able to come here and get us.”

”Maybe,” said Danny. ”But if you could hear the hunger of his outself-he's all about eating Great Gates, not making them.”

”We need to bring together everything we know. I've had access to five Family books on gatemagery. Veevee's been studying what's available in the public record her whole life. Danny's actually faced the enemy. I think we can put it all together and try to make sense of it.”

”Not tonight,” said Leslie. She was stroking the head of the bird that Zog had tried to use to kill Danny.

”I don't know if I faced the enemy,” said Danny. ”I mean, yes, it was the Gate Thief. But he was terrified of something. Of Bel, whoever that is. The G.o.d of Carthage, but... we need to find out more about that. Before we start undoing Loki's work, we need to understand it. How do we know we aren't going to unleash on the world the very disaster he tried so hard to prevent?”

”Another day,” said Leslie. ”It's late, we're tired. Danny, are you coming home with us?”

”Or me?” said Veevee. ”I don't care which, but Leslie's right. We all need to sleep.”