“Set is listening to everything? Watching everything?” asked Hermia. “Aren’t you afraid he’s learning it all? If he ever figures out how to gate between worlds without actually using any gates, then all these elaborate precautions you and the Gate Thief took are pretty worthless, aren’t they?”

“He can’t do any of it,” said Danny. “Because he’s incapable of rooting into a living body.”

“You’re sure?” asked Hermia.

Pat murmured, “Idiot.”

“I wouldn’t have done the things I’ve been doing if I weren’t sure,” said Danny.

“What happened on Duat?” said Hermia.

“We were dead, and now we’re not,” said Pat.

“None of it happened in language,” said Danny. “Or with the normal human senses. It all keeps fading in and out, like a half-remembered dream. But parts of it are clear. And then other parts are clear. But I can’t put it all together into a coherent report. ‘How I Spent My Vacation in Hades.’”

“‘Captain Stormcloud’s Trip to Heaven,’” offered Veevee. “Mark Twain.”

“If you’ve got Set as a captive inside you,” said Hermia, “then you’ve already won the big war. What’s left for you to do?”

“I won’t live forever,” said Danny.

“Get Loki to teach you how to live for a thousand years inside a tree,” said Veevee.

“You think I haven’t thought of that?” asked Danny. “But as Loki proved, even a thousand years isn’t all that long. And during that time, Set got smarter and more powerful.”

“Oh, don’t flatter him,” said Veevee. “You know that when you talk that way, he just preens.”

“I have no idea what he thinks or feels. If anything,” said Danny. “Even when he was controlling my body, he didn’t actually feel what I felt.”

“So what’s in it for him?” asked Pat. “Why does he do it?”

“He’s in it for the power,” said Danny. “The control. The puppeteer doesn’t feel what the puppets feel. Nor does he care. He just likes to make them dance.”

“So if he ever gets loose again…” said Pat.

“I don’t know how he could do anything worse than the kinds of things he already did.” Danny shuddered. “And while he’s here, the Sutahites are still out there, doing whatever they do.”

“I keep telling Danny that there’s no reason to rush out and do anything,” said Veevee. “Just let things play out and see what happens. Maybe it will become obvious when Danny needs to intervene.”

“Sitting on this balcony is already a decision to do exactly that,” said Hermia.

“We brought you here,” said Pat. “So we aren’t just sitting around.”

“No, you merely added another sitter,” said Hermia. “And I was already doing that on Arkoi.”

“Danny can send you back,” offered Pat.