Pat paused a moment, perhaps to make a point of the fact that she wasn’t going to answer Hermia’s questions. “I think you were going to explain why you moved the Wild Gate and wrecked Danny’s plan,” said Pat.

“I didn’t believe in Danny’s ‘plan’ because it was never going to work.”

“Not with you subverting it,” said Pat.

“But I wasn’t going to subvert it,” said Hermia. “I was going to let it fail under the pressure of all its inherent errors.”

“I’m not here so you can critique Danny’s plan. It failed because of what you chose to do.”

“And here’s why. My clever Family put together a list of Danny’s friends. You, the three stupid girls, and Hal and Wheeler.”

“The other girls aren’t stupid.”

“Compared to you they are,” said Hermia. “Compared to me, of course, you’re all stupid except maybe Hal. But the point is that Danny cared about all of you. And the Family was perfectly willing to spend you, all at once or one at a time, in order to get Danny to give them exclusive use of a Great Gate.”

“So we were hostages even though your Family didn’t have any of us in custody.”

“Silly child,” said Hermia. “Families don’t have to have you in custody. They only have to know where you are and how to get to you. Which of you would have been able to stand against a single dogsbody, let alone a mage with real power.”

“Nobody had real power till the Great Gate.”

“Compared to you and your friends, they all had power.”

“But we could get away.”

“Not quickly enough,” said Hermia. “They knew about your amulets.”

“Because you told them.”

“Because you all fingered them while delivering your messages. And I had one, too, remember. Do you think the Families can’t figure out obvious things? They may have had old-fashioned, out-of-date powers, but their brains are the latest model Homo sapiens, and when it comes to the use of coercive power against drowthers, you have no idea how skilled they are. The Iliad didn’t begin to plumb the depths of what they could and would do.”

“So you moved the Wild Gate in order to save me and my friends.” Pat sounded skeptical.

“I don’t give a rat’s ass about you or your friends. But Danny’s friends, now—I knew they were his hobby and you were the momentary love of his life.”

“Momentary. Cute.”