“They wanted to be part of the Great Gate,” said Danny. “Are you here to do battle with me again?”

“He wants to come through the gate,” said Veevee.

“He’s here to kill you,” said Hermia.

“You know nothing,” said the Gate Thief. “Someone has to teach you.”

“Lock the gate behind us, Hermia,” said Danny.

“Do we have to go so quickly?” asked Veevee. “This is Westil, and the sun is so bright I can hardly claim to have seen it.”

“I don’t want him to follow us,” said Danny.

“You’ll be back here soon enough,” said the Gate Thief. “Begging me to teach you how to undo this terrible thing you’ve done.”

“Why did you eat all the gates?” demanded Danny, his curiosity overpowering his good sense, making him stay long enough to ask.

“You know why,” said the Gate Thief. “My captive gates have told you.”

“They say the name of Bel.”

“Bel, the gatemage from the other world,” said the Gate Thief. “The world of soul stealers. The world of manmages. Fool.”

“Let’s go,” said Hermia. “Who knows what he’s plotting to do while he keeps us talking?”

Meanwhile, Stone knelt in the grass, his hands splayed out, digging into the soil. “It’s so alive,” he whispered.

“It’s you that’s alive,” said the Gate Thief. “Coming through the Great Gate has made you strong. All of you too strong. You have nothing to fear from me.”

“That’s what he wants us to believe,” said Hermia.

“Gatemages are such liars,” said Veevee—rather proudly, Danny thought.

“What do I call you?” asked Danny. “Loki?”

“Wad,” said the Gate Thief. “It’s my name since I came out of the tree.”

Danny had no idea what that meant. “I’m not giving you back your gates,” said Danny.

“I don’t need them,” said Wad.

“Do you know what happened to Ced?” asked Stone. “He came through the earlier gate and he stayed.”

“A windmage,” said Wad. “I know where he is.”

“Is he safe?” asked Stone.

Wad laughed. “Is Westil safe, with him here? The most powerful mage in the world now—the winds that he blows!”

“Is he causing harm?” asked Veevee.

“He doesn’t know how not to cause harm,” said Wad. “Any more than you do. And there’s no one to balance him, no one to teach him. That’s what you’re doing here. Setting monsters loose in the world.”

“Becoming monsters ourselves, by that reckoning,” said Danny.

“We’re all monsters,” said Wad.

“Let’s go back,” said Hermia.

Danny could see him clearly now, standing between two stones, leaning on neither. A slight man—like Danny, he was neither tall nor short, neither strong-looking nor weak. And his face was neither young nor old, but ageless, with eyes like deep water, gray as the belly of a thundercloud, looking into Danny with such sadness, such anger, such understanding.