Gatefather Read Free Page B

anybody seen Danny use a gate?”
    â€œLike, constantly,” said Xena.
    â€œThat’s just not true,” said Pat. “He hardly ever uses gates these days. He’s trying not to clutter up the world with gates, remember?”
    â€œI mean specifically since he took you through the Great Gate to Westil,” said Stone. “It’s been more than a month. In that time, has he ever?”
    They were silent.
    â€œThis is kind of impossible,” said Sin. “How can we remember what didn’t happen since a certain day?”
    â€œSince we went through a gate to another planet?” said Pat. “No, Stone, I haven’t seen him use a gate since then. Not even to come up to our place.”
    â€œPlace?” asked Stone.
    â€œWhere the emergency gate is,” said Wheeler.
    â€œAny of the rest of you seen him use a gate since then?” asked Stone.
    Nobody could remember it if he did.
    â€œThe reason I’m asking is, a Gatefather like Danny knows when people pass through his gates. He can feel it. So when you all gathered at your place and then all came here, he would know that.”
    Pat understood. “Why isn’t he here?”
    â€œExactly,” said Stone. “All his friends are having a meeting, using his gates to get there. A meeting with me. Shouldn’t he be curious? And if he’s curious, why not come find out what’s going on?”
    â€œSo you’re saying the Belmage is keeping him from coming?” asked Xena.
    â€œThe Belmage would be even more curious why we’re gathered here,” said Stone. “Hard to think why he wouldn’t come to see if we pose some kind of danger to him.”
    â€œSo it’s a good thing that Danny isn’t here?”
    â€œMaybe,” said Stone. “I mean, he might also just be busy or he might respect your privacy. All kinds of reasons. But it might also mean that somehow Danny is keeping the Belmage from getting access to his gates.”
    â€œI thought when the Belmage gets you, you’re, like, gotten ,” said Sin. “Possessed. Owned.”
    â€œExactly,” said Stone. “So if Danny found a way to keep the Belmage away from his gates—”
    â€œThen he’s beating the devil,” said Wheeler. “Cool.”
    â€œSemi-cool,” said Stone. “It’s excellent because otherwise, the Belmage could just whip up a new Great Gate and go to Westil and that’s it, he takes all his followers, the Sutahites, and Westil is lost. They won’t even know what hit them.”
    â€œAnd we do?” said Laurette.
    â€œThe human race at least knows what possession is ,” said Stone. “Or movies like The Exorcist would never have been made.”
    â€œSo does that work?” asked Wheeler. “Exorcism? Do we need to find a priest and—”
    â€œNo,” said Stone.
    â€œBut how do you know that?” asked Wheeler. “Maybe some exorcists actually know what they’re doing, like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, only with demons.”
    â€œShut up, Wheeler,” said Hal.
    â€œIf exorcism never works, then why are there exorcists?” asked Wheeler.
    â€œBleeding never worked and yet doctors carried leeches around for centuries,” said Hal. “And Stone knows.”
    â€œThank you,” said Stone. “Exorcism might work or it might not, against the lesser Belmages, the Sutahites. But we’re talking about the Belmage. Set himself. And there’s only one way to get him out of a person if he doesn’t want to go.”
    â€œSo whatever it is, let’s do it,” said Wheeler.
    â€œLet’s not,” said Pat.
    â€œIf Danny’s being controlled by this Belmage guy, I’m pretty sure he wants him gone,” said Wheeler.
    â€œWheeler,” said Sin, “get a brain. The only way to get rid of this Set guy is to kill the host.”
    â€œStone?” asked