“Yes—one is as useless as the other,” said Anonoei. “You saw and you learned because it was being done to you. Inside your own bodies. But Wad watched Danny North liberate me, he saw as much as Hermia ever did, and he learned nothing. He still needs to make gates in order to go anywhere.”

“Or that’s what he lets you think,” said Eluik.

“You two and I were able to learn much, because we had to cooperate for Danny or Pat to set us free. And Pat and Danny learned what they learned because they were dead, an option that I don’t think is available to us, because I don’t think Hell will let us come back again.”

“They call it Duat,” said Enopp.

“And I call it Hell,” said Anonoei, “because that’s what it would be for us.”

“You don’t think we should do anything,” said Eluik.

“I think you should return to Mittlegard and never come back here. Just because you can do a thing doesn’t mean it’s wise to do it.”

“Maybe between the two of us,” said Enopp, “we could control Set.”

“Get that stupid thought out of your head,” said Anonoei. “Hermia had ten times the experience and training that you’ve had, and is she free?”

“We don’t know,” said Eluik. “Because we don’t know to what degree she consents to the things Set is making her do.”

The boy was subtle beyond his years, Anonoei was pleased to see. He must get that from me, she thought. I’ve never seen much subtlety in Prayard. Though that may mean that he’s so subtle I never detected it.

“If she has become Set’s willing partner,” said Anonoei, “that’s all the more reason he won’t come out of her to dwell in you. And which of you would he choose, do you think? The one who spent years being inhabited by another boy’s inself?”

“Seems likely,” said Eluik.

“Or the one evil and stupid enough to do it?” asked Enopp.

“Neither evil nor stupid,” said Anonoei. “Naive and inexperienced, that’s what you were, Enopp, and you had no idea what was actually going on.”

“I could sense all of Eluik’s thoughts. I believed that meant he was inside me.”

“Go back to that farmhouse in … Ohio, was it?”

“Kentucky, now,” said Enopp. “It’s another state.”

“We’re not supposed to say it aloud,” said Eluik.

“Mother already knows,” said Enopp.

“We’re never to call her ‘mother,’” said Eluik.

“Nobody can hear me but Mother and you,” said Enopp.

“As far as you know,” said Eluik. “Are you sure you can always tell when a gatemage is listening in?”

This had gone on long enough. “Boys, I miss you terribly and I’m glad to see you’re well. But you must go home.”

“It won’t be home till you’re there,” said Eluik.