Hermia closed her eyes. A long time. And then she was back near the door.

“Very good,” said Pat, feeling pleased at Hermia’s achievement and frightened by it. What would Danny say?

“But that’s inside the room,” said Hermia. “And I don’t know where Danny is, so I really don’t love him as much as you.”

“That’s not about love,” said Pat. “That’s about going to Duat together. That’s about dying and having him surround me. I lost my body, but I still had Danny North.”

“Ah,” said Hermia. “So the connection I feel to you isn’t at all the same. But look, I can choose what position to be in, relative to you.…”

Hermia appeared in rapid succession in places all around the room.

And then she was entirely gone.

No. She was out on the balcony, and now she walked back inside the condo. “Veevee would know how to do this, too,” said Hermia, “if she could just pay attention.”

“But it’s still quite limited,” said Pat.

“Oh, I know. But don’t you see how useful this is? Each time I move, I’m healed. Just like passing through a gate. I think what happens is that all the prets that make up my body—am I getting that right?—they jump right along with me and reassemble. Only they reassemble according to the right plan, and not whatever accidental injuries or weaknesses I might have developed along the way. Do you think I’m right?”

Pat didn’t have to answer. Hermia just went right on.

“So now I’m not helpless. If I had come home to that shotgun blast that Danny took, I could gate away instantly, by reflex. Even if I stayed in the same hotel room, I’d be completely healed. They shoot me again, I just move again. Unkillable. Uncatchable.”

Pat couldn’t help but laugh. “I think at some point they’d run crying out of the room.”

“Men who depend on guns don’t know what to do with people who aren’t afraid of them,” said Hermia. “People who won’t die when they’re shot.”

“So this is useful,” said Pat.

“The real question is, if I can anchor on you, a person who barely knows me and definitely doesn’t like me, can I perhaps find another ka? Someone I know well? Let me ask you—you know where Danny is right now, yes? Is it far?”