“I can’t,” said Anonoei. “I’m the queen here now.”

“So what?” said Enopp. “If you went back to Mittlegard, it’s not like they could send bloodhounds to track you down and bring you back.”

“Are you sure you want me like this?” Anonoei gestured to include Bexoi’s face and body.

“Oh, definitely,” said Enopp. “Women in America pay a fortune to get a face and body like that.”

“So you think I’m prettier in this body than I was in mine?”

“It’s a trap,” said Eluik to Enopp. “Don’t answer.”

“We want you with us, Mother,” said Enopp. “I’m not done growing up yet.”

“I am,” said Eluik. “Childhood was brutal. I’m glad it’s over.”

Anonoei had to laugh. “Perhaps it is. Go back and wait for me. When I can, I’ll come to you.”

Jib gave a cough, and Anonoei looked down to see if the baby was throwing up or simply hungry. When she looked up again a moment later, the boys were gone.

Were those the only choices? Either kill the person possessed by Set in a way that wouldn’t allow him to escape, or simply accept that Set could not be stopped?

And there was no way that wouldn’t allow Set a chance to jump to someone else’s body. Especially not now, when he had had multiple chances to see this new kind of travel in action.

Why do I care? Anonoei asked herself. Set has nothing to do with me. My monster was Bexoi and she’s gone. I’m now married to a man I love. I still have both my sons, and a decent hope of being able to spend time with them once all these struggles are over. I’m in the midst of my own happy ending, even if it is a little complicated. Let the gatemages sort out the messes they made. I’m busy cleaning up my own messes, thanks.

Yet even as she reached this conclusion, she despised herself for thinking that way. I owe everything to Danny North, she admitted. And what if I, having pushed one person out of her own body, am the only one who can push Set out of Hermia’s meat puppet?

We’ll see. No need for panic yet.

Chapter 20

20

Danny sat on the bench that the Diamonds had placed near a shingle oak—a species that Colonel Diamond explained “has such small acorns most people don’t realize it’s an oak at all. We’ve got the only two known examples in this part of Kentucky.”

They named almost every spot on the whole farm by the tree or trees that mattered to them. Their favorite was a chinkapin oak that dominated one hillside, but here on the shingle oak bench he and Pat had a good chance of not being interrupted.