“But in Westil, you never did that?”

“I wanted to end the warfare between Families,” said Wad. “So, as the most powerful gatemage in the world, I created Great Gates in a dozen different places. I made sure that no Family would have an advantage over any other because of superior access to the other world. And it worked. Except that then all the Families exploited the drowthers, practically enslaved them. All the worst mages from Westil came to Mittlegard because it was a bigger, richer place, and there were more drowthers to use and control. So yes, even before I realized that Set could pass through a gate, I realized that it was a mistake to let the Families have easy access to Great Gates. Because they do things like … you know…”

“What Gerd and I are doing,” said Hermia.

“Well, you are a fine example of the Families at their worst.”

Her response surprised him. She looked stricken. Tears came into her eyes. Wad had thought she was heartless, calculating. But apparently this, out of all the rude things he’d said to her, was the one that hurt her feelings.

Or else she was faking the emotional response in order to trick him.

“I don’t want to make things worse for the drowthers,” said Hermia. “I don’t want to make things worse for anybody.”

“Then take your helicopters back to Mittlegard,” said Wad.

“No,” said Hermia.

“Why not?”

“You want to keep Set and the Sutahites out of Westil,” said Hermia. “I want to get the really dangerous mages out of Mittlegard.”

And with those words she disappeared. Because there was no gate, Wad couldn’t tell where she had gone. But wherever it was, she’d be causing more and more trouble, for him and everyone else.

So if he couldn’t steal her gates, Wad had to try to think of a way to kill a gatemage.

Chapter 17

17

Danny wasn’t surprised when it turned out that Wheeler hadn’t even asked his parents for a little money. “I couldn’t tell them I was going to Busch Gardens,” he said. “They would have had so many questions!”

“Like what?” asked Hal, disgusted.

“Like how am I going to get there!”

“‘I’m going with my friends,’” suggested Laurette. “‘Danny North’s aunt is taking him and he invited all of us to go along.’”

Hal joined in. “‘Danny North is a gatemage and he’s going to magically transport us to Williamsburg.’”

“‘But he won’t take us through the damn gates,’” said Wheeler. “Sure, I could have told them that.”

“I told you from the start that I wasn’t going to get us in illegally,” said Danny.

“There’s no law against magically entering an amusement park. Why do they call it the Magic Kingdom?”

“That’s Disneyland,” Sin said with disgust. “And there are laws against it.”