“I mean specifically since he took you through the Great Gate to Westil,” said Stone. “It’s been more than a month. In that time, has he ever?”

They were silent.

“This is kind of impossible,” said Sin. “How can we remember what didn’t happen since a certain day?”

“Since we went through a gate to another planet?” said Pat. “No, Stone, I haven’t seen him use a gate since then. Not even to come up to our place.”

“Place?” asked Stone.

“Where the emergency gate is,” said Wheeler.

“Any of the rest of you seen him use a gate since then?” asked Stone.

Nobody could remember it if he did.

“The reason I’m asking is, a Gatefather like Danny knows when people pass through his gates. He can feel it. So when you all gathered at your place and then all came here, he would know that.”

Pat understood. “Why isn’t he here?”

“Exactly,” said Stone. “All his friends are having a meeting, using his gates to get there. A meeting with me. Shouldn’t he be curious? And if he’s curious, why not come find out what’s going on?”

“So you’re saying the Belmage is keeping him from coming?” asked Xena.

“The Belmage would be even more curious why we’re gathered here,” said Stone. “Hard to think why he wouldn’t come to see if we pose some kind of danger to him.”

“So it’s a good thing that Danny isn’t here?”

“Maybe,” said Stone. “I mean, he might also just be busy or he might respect your privacy. All kinds of reasons. But it might also mean that somehow Danny is keeping the Belmage from getting access to his gates.”

“I thought when the Belmage gets you, you’re, like, gotten,” said Sin. “Possessed. Owned.”

“Exactly,” said Stone. “So if Danny found a way to keep the Belmage away from his gates—”

“Then he’s beating the devil,” said Wheeler. “Cool.”

“Semi-cool,” said Stone. “It’s excellent because otherwise, the Belmage could just whip up a new Great Gate and go to Westil and that’s it, he takes all his followers, the Sutahites, and Westil is lost. They won’t even know what hit them.”

“And we do?” said Laurette.

“The human race at least knows what possession is,” said Stone. “Or movies like The Exorcist would never have been made.”

“So does that work?” asked Wheeler. “Exorcism? Do we need to find a priest and—”

“No,” said Stone.

“But how do you know that?” asked Wheeler. “Maybe some exorcists actually know what they’re doing, like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, only with demons.”

“Shut up, Wheeler,” said Hal.

“If exorcism never works, then why are there exorcists?” asked Wheeler.

“Bleeding never worked and yet doctors carried leeches around for centuries,” said Hal. “And Stone knows.”

“Thank you,” said Stone. “Exorcism might work or it might not, against the lesser Belmages, the Sutahites. But we’re talking about the Belmage. Set himself. And there’s only one way to get him out of a person if he doesn’t want to go.”