Orson Card - The Gate Thief

“Meaning, can you trust me? Yes and no. You can trust me to keep my word. But they have some kind of tracking device imbedded in me, so wherever I go, they know where I am.”

Danny thought about that a moment. “So they’ve seen you jump.”

“Yes.”

“By jumping from Veevee’s place to here, they know where that gate is.”

“Yes.”

“Everywhere you go, you show them the gates.”

“Yes,” said Hermia. “But I told you as soon as I knew, didn’t I? What was I supposed to do, seal myself in a coffin like a vampire and never go anywhere again?”

“So they know where I am right now.”

“They know I came to these exact map coordinates,” said Hermia. “They don’t know that you happen to be in this place, but yes, they probably will, very soon.”

“Shit,” said Danny. She really didn’t have much choice, if her own family had decided to track her.

“We have to make contact with all the Families eventually,” said Hermia. “Including my Family. If you intend to make a Great Gate and share it.”

Three cars pulled up out front, one of them actually screeching on the pavement.

“How long have you been waiting here? Does your Family just hover over you in choppers or balloons or something?”

Hermia peeked out the threadbare front curtain. “No, and it isn’t your Family, either.”

Danny joined her at the window. His friends were getting out of three cars.

“Damn,” he said.

“Make a clean getaway,” said Hermia. “Or gate them somewhere.”

“I never told them I live here,” said Danny.

Hermia flung open the door. Danny said “No!” the moment he realized she was doing it, but by then it was already done.

“He’s here, isn’t he!” It was Laurette’s voice.

“We drove three different routes and he wasn’t running on any of them,” said Sin triumphantly.

“And there’s no way he’s fast enough to already be here,” said Pat, “not on foot, not even running.”

Now they were at the door, piling in. But Danny wasn’t there.

Instead, he was behind the house, out of sight, watching the living room through a peephole-a tiny gate right in front of one of his eyes, so when he closed the other, he could see what was happening in his living room-and he could hear pretty clearly, too.

“Whom are you looking for?” asked Hermia.

“So he’s got a girlfriend,” said Xena, sounding pretty put out about it.

“Danny North,” said Wheeler. “He lives here.”

“How interesting,” said Hermia. “Who are you?”

“His friends,” said Laurette.

“Sounds more like you’re stalking him,” said Hermia.

“You still haven’t told us who you are,” said Xena.

“I actually am his friend,” said Hermia.

“You sound British,” said Xena.

“Cute British accent,” said Pat disgustedly. “Boys are so predictable.”

“But she has little boobs,” said Laurette.

“You’re still the fairest in the land, Laurette,” said Sin.

“How did he get here so fast?” Hal insisted.

Listening outside, Danny thought: Hal is able to stay focused. Hal is something. Which is probably why Coach Bleeder zeroed in on him, tormented him. Because he has the potential to accomplish far more with his life than Bleeder ever has. No wonder the coach had to take Hal down a peg every chance he got.

“He’s a gatemage,” said Hermia.

With a thrill of fear, Danny thought: Hermia was telling me to gate them away. Now she’s spilling it to them.

Nobody was asking what a gatemage is.

“He opens up holes in spacetime,” said Hermia. “He links one place with another, regardless of distance. He makes them adjacent.”

“Do you think you’ve actually explained something?” asked Pat.

“I’ve explained it like gravity,” said Hermia. “I described the results. I have no idea of the process. That’s all that Newton ever did.”

“And Danny can do this,” said Hal. “Connect things with each other.”

“He may be the greatest Gatefather that ever lived,” said Hermia. “But so far, he’s mostly used his power to create little gates at your high school.”

“What do gates have to do with his healing people?” said Pat.

“Danny doesn’t heal anybody, but the gates do,” said Hermia. “If you pass through a gate alive, your body arrives in optimal condition.”

“No zits,” said Pat.

“No piercings,” said Sin.

“So why did he lie about it and pretend he wasn’t doing it?” asked Xena. “It’s way cool.”

“Because it’s too way cool,” said Hermia. “There are a lot of people who want him dead. By making gates at your school, he ran the risk of being discovered. That business with the rope climb? The worst thing happened. His family showed up and tried to kill him.”

Silence.

Then, in a smaller voice, Laurette said, “His own family?”

“I thought his parents were dead,” said Hal.

“A lie,” said Hermia. “His parents are actually very powerful mages. To their credit, they didn’t try to kill him. It was his grandfather and uncle who attempted his assassination.”

“Sick,” said Wheeler.

“There’s a lot of history that you don’t know,” said Hermia. “And most of it is unbelievable to people like you.”

“What do you mean, ‘people like us’?” asked Pat.

“Normal people,” said Hermia.

Wheeler laughed. “Did you hear that? She called us normal.”

“Let me help you understand this,” said Hermia. “Danny’s father is named Odin. He was born with the name Alf, but when he became head of the North family, he took the name Odin.”

“Wow,” said Wheeler. “You’re talking, like, a god.”

“I’m telling you that the gods of mythology are real people. Only each name has been recycled again and again. We’re not immortal. But the names are.”

“So who is Danny?” asked Hal. “Is he a god?”

“If his family stops trying to kill him and accepts him for who he is, then the name he would be given is Loki.”

“Thor’s nasty brother in The Avengers ,” said Wheeler.

“There’s no magic hammer,” said Hermia. “But yes. There’s a Thor in the family, but he doesn’t amount to much. None of them do.” And then she explained how the Great Gates work. Danny sat outside, listening. Hermia was good at explanations. Why shouldn’t she be? Gatemages had the gift of language.

It terrified him to hear her telling his friends. But he also knew that this is what he had wanted to do. This is why he didn’t gate away from them. This is why he hadn’t left Parry McCluer High School. This is why he had carelessly let them realize his power, as he returned home far faster than his feet could have carried him. He wanted them to know; he wanted to be honest with them. But he couldn’t bring himself to answer their questions. Hermia was doing it for him.

When she finished her explanation, she said, “Now I’ve told you the answers to your questions. Do you believe me?”

“Yes,” said Pat and Wheeler and Sin and Hal.

“Why?” asked Hermia.

“Because I rode the rope,” said Hal.

“Because he cured my piercings,” said Sin.

“My face,” said Pat.

“Because it’s so cool,” said Wheeler.

“And the rest of you?”

“It’s pretty hard to swallow,” said Laurette. “How do you know all this stuff? I never heard of you.”

“I’m a gatemage too,” said Hermia. “A lesser one. I can’t make gates, but I can see them and I can lock them. And I can help Danny. But now you all have a choice to make.”

They waited.

“Are you with him or not?” asked Hermia. “That’s why he was afraid to tell you, because once he did, you’d have to make the choice.”