Danny acted even as he spoke. But no sooner did he move the mouth of the return gate directly in front of the outbound gate than the Wild Gate moved its tail away. Not far—the two Great Gates were so woven together, so inseparable, that it was only a few yards between the tail of the Wild Gate and the mouth of Danny’s return gate.

“It can’t get away from my gate either,” said Danny in relief. “As long as I keep mine anchored, it can’t go far.” Danny tethered the mouth of his own part of the Great Gate to the walls of the barn. It was like hobbling a horse. The Wild Gates could move the mouth of the combined gate, but only a few yards.

“This is our worst nightmare,” said Leslie. “A gate you can’t control, here in our barn. Do you understand what the Families will do now?”

“Whatever it takes to get to this gate,” said Hermia.

“They don’t know it’s gone wild,” said Veevee. “I don’t plan to tell them. Do you?”

“The gate is hungry,” said Danny. “It wants to be used. It’ll find a way.”

“Then let’s feed it,” said Hermia. “Negotiate with the Families, let them each send a couple of mages through, exactly as we planned all along. They don’t have to know that we can’t close the gate or move it or … anything. You gate them here, two at a time, and send them through—how will they know that you aren’t as much in control of the Great Gate as you are of the gates you make here on Mittlegard?”

“Or make another Great Gate, one you control completely,” said Veevee, “and starve this one to death.”

“I don’t know what to do,” said Danny. “Wad was right. I have to go talk to him. I have to ask him.”

“Terrible idea,” said Stone.

“If you do go back, make another Great Gate,” said Hermia. “Don’t ever step into this one again.”

“She’s right,” said Veevee. “This is an angry gate, isn’t that what Wad said?”

“Who’s Wad?” asked Marion.

“Loki,” said Danny.

“The Gate Thief,” said Hermia.

“He’s dangerous,” said Stone. “He makes me believe in the devil.”

“I’m screwing everything up,” said Danny.

Stone was sitting on the floor now. “What else did you expect?” he asked. “Nobody’s done this in fourteen centuries. And it’s not your fault that the Gate Thief had all these captives. It’s his fault, not yours. The only thing you did was not let him capture you.”

“That was my first mistake,” said Danny.

“No,” said Leslie. “Not a mistake.”

“We’ll figure this out,” said Marion. “We’ll find a way to get it all under control.”

“But first,” said Leslie, “we’re getting all my cows out of this barn.”

Amulets

7

AMULETS