And he was going to be thinking about Xena in spite of the fact that he wasn’t attracted to her. Or to any of the girls. He was sixteen now, so any offer was going to make him obsess for a while. Knowing that it was just his hormones making him feel this way didn’t make the feelings go away. Might as well enjoy the feeling. As long as he didn’t do anything about it.

That night Danny went to DC and Stone agreed to let him put the tail of the emergency gate in his attic. “But no gun,” said Stone.

“What if someone’s coming after them?” asked Danny.

“Be creative,” said Stone.

What Danny came up with was a stack of pennies with gates on both sides. As long as you handled them by the edge, you didn’t go anywhere. But if you touched heads or tails, you found yourself someplace interesting and public. Just inside the gate of the White House. The middle of the Capitol rotunda. Lincoln’s lap. On the nose of the giant in the Awakening statue. If one of his friends was getting chased through the gates, they come to Stone’s attic closet, grab a penny, and throw it at whoever comes through the gate after them.

“Weaponized money,” said Stone. “But if one of your friends comes through just for fun, I get to throw a penny at them.”

“They’re nice,” said Danny. “I don’t want them getting treated badly just because they’re drowthers.”

“You know me better than that,” said Stone. “I’ll treat them badly because they’re teenagers.”

When Veevee and Hermia heard about the portable gates, they both demanded some of their own. Veevee had a charm bracelet, which she loaded up with rings, each one a gate leading to a useful place—her condo, the Silvermans’ farm, Danny’s house, Danny’s school, Stone’s bedroom. “I’m his wife, I don’t have to use the attic,” she said.

“What if somebody steals the bracelet?” said Danny. “I suppose if Hermia locks them for you and you only open them when you—”

“While you were playing with your little friends,” said Hermia, “we were working.”

“We can’t make gates,” said Veevee, “but now I can lock them and Hermia can unlock them. We both have lock and key now.”

“We’re working on moving gates,” said Hermia. “I think I moved one. Just the tail.”

“But she can’t do it again,” said Veevee.

“So then it doesn’t have to be a ring,” said Danny. “I can attach a gate to anything, and it only works when you want it to.”

Hermia handed him a euro. “Put a dozen or so gates on this,” she said. “I’ll only open the ones I need, when I need them.”