So what Pat should have seen, expected to see as she looked at the two boys from Westil, was that Eluik’s ba was inside Enopp’s body, riding him like a heartbeast.

But this was not the situation at all. Eluik was not a manmage, half dwelling inside his younger brother. Instead, it was Enopp whose ka, whose very self, had left his own body and now dwelt inside his older brother. Until now, Danny had completely misunderstood who was riding whom. Eluik was silent because he had as little access to his own body as Danny had had when Set was controlling him. And Enopp knew what his brother wanted to say because he was inside him, intercepting all his attempts to speak with his own voice.

Meanwhile, Enopp was able to use his own body freely, because even though only his ba—the thousands of prets that proved him to be, in all likelihood, a potential gatemage—was inside his body, there was no rival trying to control it. It was his own body that he rode like a heartbeast, using his outself to control it.

Danny looked at Pat searchingly. “Do you see?”

“The opposite of what you thought,” said Pat.

“Say no more than that,” said Danny. “Nothing more can be said aloud.”

For a moment, Pat wondered why Danny didn’t trust the Silvermans. Or did he think that naming the situation for what it was might damage the boys further?

Then she realized that there was a seventh person present—Set himself, dwelling silently inside Danny North. At the moment, Danny seemed to have him under control, but there was no assurance of that continuing. It was quite possible that Set would realize that Enopp’s body had no ka dwelling in it, and he would take it. Or perhaps the very process of helping Enopp bring his ka back into his own body would teach Set how to take full possession of a body—and he might use that understanding to take control of Danny again, only this time deeply and irrevocably.

Whatever could be done to restore Eluik and Enopp had to be done without Danny, and therefore Set, present.

“I have no idea if I can do it,” said Pat.

“We only learned how to do the things we can do now by experiencing it,” said Danny. “Maybe Enopp and Eluik can learn the same way.”

And there was the warning, almost explicitly stated: They could not afford to let Set see, or he, too, would learn.

“Leave, then,” said Pat. “And I’ll do my best.”

“That’ll be good enough,” said Danny.

“You don’t know that,” said Pat, mildly amused.

“If it’s all we can do, it’s good enough,” said Danny. “We can’t do more than is within our power.” He went to Leslie Silverman and kissed her cheek. “I’m sorry for all the trouble I caused you.”