“Danny was undoubtedly under the influence of Sutahites,” said Stone. “They can influence dreams. Make dreams that explain what’s happening to your body. So if somebody slipped Danny a drug, maybe he could be killed in his sleep. But you’re not thinking. We only need to kill Danny to save the world. The worlds. But if Danny is somehow keeping the Belmage from getting access to his gates, that means he’d be easy to kill, but we also don’t need to, because the Belmage isn’t dangerous.”

“So let’s stop talking about killing Danny, please,” said Pat.

“No,” said Stone. “Because if Danny’s keeping Set away from the gates, then Set is seriously angry. He’s not nice, you know. He didn’t get a reputation as Satan or the devil or whatever because he was generous and merciful.”

“You think he’s going to punish Danny?” asked Pat.

“How?” asked Hal. “He’s inside Danny’s body, too. Whatever happens to Danny, happens to him.”

“Until he leaves,” said Stone.

“So he could, like, make Danny cut his own throat,” said Wheeler, “and while he’s bleeding to death, the Belmage leaves and goes into somebody else’s body?”

“When Set leaves Danny,” said Stone, “he’s not going to be nice about it. He’s going to cause Danny maximum pain, if he’s angry at him. But you’re right about Set feeling whatever Danny’s body feels. So he’s likely to do something much worse than just killing Danny.”

“What’s worse than that?” asked Wheeler.

Stone made a sweeping gesture, indicating all of Danny’s friends.

“Oh, shit,” said Hal.

“Exactly my point,” said Stone.

“What?” said Xena. “What did you all get that I’m not getting?”

“Pretty much everything all the time,” said Hal. “Let’s say the Belmage wants to punish Danny. So he makes Danny murder one of us in a public place, lots of witnesses, and then jumps out of Danny’s body into somebody else’s and goes on his merry way.”

“They couldn’t arrest Danny,” said Wheeler. “He could gate away.”

“But the one of us that he killed would still be dead,” said Hal.

“It would probably be Pat,” said Stone. “And he’d probably make Danny do it with his bare hands. Danny would have an indelible memory of doing that murder. So yes, that’s a possibility. But he could also cause Danny to cut off a hand. I’m not sure passing through a gate can heal damage like that. Or make Danny a mass murderer, like shooting up a kindergarten. Or all of the above. Don’t underestimate the creativity and malice of pure evil.”

“So we should stay away from Danny?” asked Xena.

“I don’t know what you should do,” said Stone.

“Then why are we here?” asked Laurette.