“I hope not,” said the other man. “He makes a terrible houseguest.”

Stone took Pat firmly by the hand and led her out of the kitchen and up the stairs. He bounded upward with surprising speed and agility, for someone who looked to be middle-aged. But then, he had passed through a Great Gate too. He was in perfect health.

After the third-floor landing, he spoke to her softly. “What kind of mage are you?” he asked.

“Mage?” she replied.

“Whatever you’ve got,” said Stone, “it’s strong. Scary strong. I thought Danny’s friends were all drowthers.”

“That’s why he passed us through the gate in Maine ahead of everyone else,” said Pat. “Nobody knows about me.”

“I’ll keep your secret.” Then he hesitated a moment. “Wind, I’m betting.”

“You win,” said Pat.

“How many of you are coming? Anyone in pursuit?”

“All of us,” said Pat, “and no.”

“Why are you here, then?” asked Stone. “If this is just a field trip to the nation’s capital, I’m not in favor of it. There are buses and trains.”

“There’s something wrong with Danny, and I want you to hear about it along with the others.”

Stone didn’t ask any more questions. Most adults would have demanded that she tell more, right then. But he actually heard her request that he hear her story along with the others. He respected her decision and complied with her plan, undoubting. What other adult did that?

They were all sitting on the cot or the rickety old chairs, except Sin, who sat on the floor. “Hello, Mr. Stone,” said Laurette.

“Not ‘mister,’” said Stone. “Just ‘Stone.’”

“My mother would kill me,” said Laurette. “I was raised with manners.”

“An admirable skill, manners,” said Stone. He gently pushed Wheeler off the firmest chair and sat on it himself. So his respect for teenagers didn’t extend to everybody. Maybe it only extended to fellow mages.

Wheeler didn’t protest. He just sat on the floor and gathered his legs and arms into a position that Pat knew would leave him aching in only a few minutes.

But it was her meeting, and it was time to start. “Danny’s changed,” said Pat. “And it’s enough of a change that I’m afraid he might already have been possessed by Set. By the Belgod.”

Everyone became attentive.

“It’s going to sound stupid and vain,” said Pat, “but I think it’s important.”

“Instead of discussing the merits of ‘it,’” said Stone, “please just tell us, straight out, what ‘it’ is.”

Pat realized that Stone was right, she was talking around her observation because there was so much potential for embarrassment. But embarrassment didn’t matter if Danny was in danger. “Every one of us girls made a play for Danny,” she said, though she loathed comparing what she had done with the way the others had flirted and teased. “And he turned us all down.”