“I’m not all that strong,” said Pat.
“You can’t see your own pret,” said Danny. “You’re strong enough. But different from me. Strong in a different way. So are the others. If we all invite Sutahites to join us, and if Thoth allows bonds to form, then they become part of the ba of a Mithermage, and we get stronger. For all I know, that’s exactly what happens when a mage passes through a Great Gate—maybe as we leap from one spot in the universe to another, we pass through the unorganized place where prets come from. Maybe prets attach themselves to our ba as we go.”
“And maybe not.”
“Somehow we get stronger,” said Danny. “But I don’t think we can invite them to join us so we can gather more power. I think we have to offer them a place. A promise that we’ll use them wisely and well. Remember how Bexoi’s body rejected her? The prets of her body hated what she had used them to do.”
“And when Enopp’s ka left Eluik, and Enopp was going to leave his body behind and die,” said Pat, “Eluik’s body called to him. Not with a voice or anything, but it was a call. A hunger. An invitation. That’s what you want us to do. Give that invitation to the Sutahites.”
“And maybe none of them come,” said Danny. “Or they want to, but the bond can’t form. Or maybe it can form, but only five or six out of all these billions actually do it.”
“We’d be no worse off than we are,” said Pat.
“Maybe they come and maybe they bond, only they’re not completely reliable. Maybe they still want to subvert the organized universe,” said Danny. “Maybe they really are as evil as Set.”
“If that’s what they want, I’ll bet that Thoth won’t let them bond to us. Because they wouldn’t actually mean it, and Thoth would know.”
“We’re putting a lot of trust in Thoth, considering he didn’t actually tell us to do this.”
“We’ve got to do something,” said Pat. “And this is better than taking Set inside yourself and then relocating to the center of the sun.”
“Prets can’t be destroyed by fusion and they can’t be trapped by gravity. I’d die, but my pret would return to Duat. And Set is already nothing but a naked pret. So he’d just relocate back to Earth. Nothing accomplished.”
“Even if we can gather up all the Sutahites,” said Pat, “there’s no chance Set would join with somebody else in a subservient role.”
“Which is why I’m not inviting Hermia,” said Danny.
“She’ll see that we’ve gathered,” said Pat, “and she’ll show up.”
“I’ll deal with that when it happens,” said Danny.
“Or I should say, Set will see that we’ve gathered, and he’ll show up, wearing Hermia.”
“Let’s get this started and see what happens.”
“You mean now? This second?”
“What will we gain by delaying?” Even as he spoke, Danny had already begun. He knew where all the others were, the ones who had become aware of the prets. He didn’t use words, he just … wanted them to come to him. Invited them.
It’ll be like this with the Sutahites, he thought. And as they each winked into existence around the bench by the shingle oak, he showed them what he meant to do. As I invited you, you can invite the Sutahites. Only not just to come near you. To come into you. To become part of you. To become part of your outself. Instruments of your will. A permanent place, as part of the power of a mage.
“Let them see what kinds of magery you do, if you know,” said Danny. “Let them see what they’d be a part of.”
Loki was the last to arrive. “You already have them,” he said. “Why are you weakening your hold on them?”
“I don’t have them,” said Danny. “They don’t have anything, and nothing has them. Unless they come to us. Look at how bright and powerful you are, Loki. See how they long to be part of you.”
Then Danny realized that as he freed the Sutahites to make their choice, he was also freeing his own ba. It only existed in Loki’s hearthoard, because he had given his gates to Loki. But now some of them chose to be, not on loan to Loki, but truly part of him. Truly his.
Danny felt a stab of regret, but then he remembered what he had learned on Duat. These prets came with me freely. Not as slaves, but because they wanted to share my life forever. The prets of the ba are the highest and strongest, only just short of being human. Now I’m setting these prets free, and some of them have come to love and admire Loki. Of course they choose to stay.
Then, in a rush, all the rest of them streamed back to Danny. To his hearthoard. He hadn’t taken them back from Loki. He had only given them their freedom, and they respected and affirmed their bond to Danny. They came home.
But these were the prets that had already been attuned to Danny all his life. Of course they understood his invitation and of course most of them heeded it. What were the Sutahites seeing? What sense could they make of his invitation?
He felt the first one after only a few minutes. But those minutes were long, and it was only one.
Then another. And one of the Sutahites went to Loki. And three to Pat. And five to Veevee. And ten to Anonoei and a hundred to Enopp and ten thousand to Eluik and a million to Loki this time and now ten million to Pat and billions to Danny North. He felt them gathering in his hearthoard, settling among the prets that had served him, had been a part of him since birth. Perhaps learning their work, understanding their lives by sharing memory with Danny’s longtime prets.
All the Sutahites were gone. Yet none were loose in the world, and none had returned to Set. They had all been incorporated into someone’s outself. And every one of the Mithermages gathered at the shingle oak was now far more powerful than if they had passed through ten Great Gates.
Is the bond real? Danny had no way of knowing, except to see what would happen.
He made a gate. Veevee opened it. Closed it. Moved it. Locked and unlocked it.
Then Veevee made a gate. For the first time in her life, she was a full-fledged Pathsister, at least, if not a Gatemother. She could make gates and make them public and they would persist in time and space. She wept.
Danny felt a momentary pang at not having included the Silvermans in this, or Stone. But then he thought of his parents and aunts and uncles, and imagined what this vast increase in power would have changed them into, and he was content that it was only this group.
“So now you have to decide how you’re going to use this new part of yourself,” said Danny aloud. “Because it matters to the prets how you use them. Let it be a joy to them, to be part of your life and all your actions. Not a burden or a shame.”
“Thanks for saying that,” said Loki. “I’ve now changed completely from bad to good.”
“Don’t be such a brat,” said Anonoei. “You’ve always been good.”
“I had odd ways of showing it,” said Loki.
“Time for self-analysis later,” said Danny. “All of you should go back where you were, please. Because Hermia’s coming.”
“How do you know?” asked Pat.
“Because I’ve been sending her away the instant she appeared.”
“How long has that been going on?” asked Loki.
“Since I first started calling you to come to me,” said Danny. “But now it’s time to see what Set has to say.”
“Then let us stay,” said Pat.
“And give him more options of people to jump into?” asked Danny.
“We’re so much stronger now,” said Enopp.
“Stronger than Set?” asked Danny.
Enopp shrugged.
“Are you stronger than me?” asked Danny. “Because he was stronger than me. And stronger than Hermia. Please go, all of you.”
“But Hermia can follow any of us.”
“Set won’t follow anyone but me,” said Danny, “because I have nine-tenths of his kingdom inside me now, as part of myself. I’m not going to give it back. Nor are you going to give back your share. Go, please.”
They all left, except Pat and
Loki.
“So you think you’re immune?” asked Danny.
“No,” said Pat. “I just don’t mind dying, if I might help you somehow.”
“I do mind dying,” said Loki, “but if I don’t watch, I’m not sure I’ll know what actually happened.”
21
Hermia appeared in front of the bench almost at once. She glanced from Danny to Pat and smiled. “How judicial. The judges sit on the bench.”
Danny didn’t bother answering, and Pat was already skilled in saying less than she was thinking.
“I’m not causing any harm, you notice,” said Hermia. “Having Set inside me hasn’t changed my character at all.”
Pat laughed a little.
“Set, we’re not interested in hearing your lies,” said Danny. “I brought you here to talk to Hermia.”
“It’s really just a means of transportation. Like owning a new car.” Hermia sniffed. “Still has the new-car smell.”
“Hermia’s not struggling,” said Pat. “Maybe this really is her talking.”
“It isn’t,” said Danny. “Because I can hear her inward screaming.”
“Then maybe Set sounds so much like her because he’s found a compatible host,” said Pat.
“Hermia was wrong and she was arrogant and she was ignorant. Now the only way to set her free is to get Set to jump to someone else.”
“Is either of you volunteering?” said Hermia.
“Been there, done that,” said Danny.
Hermia turned to Pat and grinned. “I really like being female better.”
“You’ve never been anything at all,” said Pat.
“Hermia,” said Danny, “I know you can hear me, because when he ruled over me, I heard and saw everything.”
“Of course I can hear you,” said Hermia. “Just because you and Set didn’t get along doesn’t mean he and I can’t hit it off.”
“So I’m going to strike a bargain with you. Of course, you have no way to signal agreement in advance. You’ll simply do what I suggest, or not. I’m simply going to tell you. Duat is actually a good place. It’s a place of justice and mercy. It’s also a place without bodies, and I won’t lie to you. I missed my body when I was there. You miss hearing and speaking and seeing and touching and smelling. All the bodily functions are beautiful and precious as soon as you don’t have them. Yet it’s still better there than being a slave to Set.”
“You know that killing me will only cause him to jump to someone else,” said Hermia.
“As long as Set remains unconnected to a human body, then he hasn’t yet lived, and so he can’t die and return to Duat. I spent a couple of months with him in control of my body. I know exactly how boring it can be.”
“Set isn’t in the body of a boring teenage boy,” said Hermia. “He’s in me. He is not bored.”
“So bored,” said Danny. “Every person you’ve taken over, Set, is too much like all the ones before. You’ve committed all the crimes, you’ve achieved vast power and infinite fame and made millions of people miserable. What is there left for you to do in Hermia’s corpse?”
Suddenly Hermia was beside Pat, reaching toward her. Just as abruptly, Danny moved her back to where he wanted her. “You’ve murdered before, Set.”
“But never so efficiently. I really do come out of nowhere now,” said Hermia.
“Hermia, you made your choice,” said Danny. “I can’t save you now. But you can save yourself. Not the way you hope, though it will seem that way for a moment or two. The only way to save yourself now is to save everybody.”
“Oh, you think you have tricks up your sleeve, Danny,” said Hermia. “But I was inside you too long. I know you. You can’t surprise me.”
“You really did help me, Hermia,” said Danny. “Your help outweighs your betrayal, in my mind and heart. I think of you as my teacher and my friend. I’m truly sorry that I’ve lost you. If there’s anything you regret, in our friendship, I forgive you and I ask your forgiveness.”
“Oooh, now you’re scaring me,” said Hermia, chuckling.
Danny said no more words. He simply plunged his inself into Hermia’s body and began to guide Set’s ka into the flesh. Danny could feel Pat grow more alert beside him, and then her ka was with his, leading Set, pushing him.
Each deeper penetration of Set into Hermia’s body displaced Hermia’s own ka, and yes, there was the momentary flash of hope, as she misunderstood what Danny and Pat were doing. And then she understood.
“Hermia, I’ll tell you when,” murmured Danny.
Hermia shuddered. But Danny knew that it was Set shuddering, as, for the first time in his sojourn in Mittlegard, he was actually feeling something of what the body felt. Hearing with ears, breathing with lungs, seeing with eyes.
“Oh God,” Hermia’s voice murmured. “Oh, God, so much, all at once.”
And then it was complete. Set was attached to this body as if it were his own, and Hermia was almost separated from it.
Almost, but not quite. “It will still go with you,” said Danny, “even though it belongs to Set now, because whatever you’re attached to travels with you.”
Danny sensed the grim determination in Hermia now. And something else. Yes, he knew that aspect of the ka. Hermia was filled with love.
Then she was gone.
But Danny knew where she was. Danny was still with her, and Pat too, not possessing the body, but observing. They were at the bottom of the ocean—a few hundred miles out into the Atlantic. Instantly Hermia’s body was crushed by the pressure. Drowning was out of the question; her lungs couldn’t draw breath. Life functions stopped almost immediately.
Too late Set realized the trap. They had bonded him to the body, making it his own. He had consented to it, and the flood of sensations had confused and distracted him. Too late, he tried to pull away from Hermia’s body, the way that Enopp had withdrawn his ka from Eluik. But by then he was too deeply connected to jump free as easily as he always had before. For a few seconds, Set had actually been alive in that body, and now it was crushed and he was dead. He had no power to jump to another body. There was only one destination he could leap to.
Hermia, too, was dead, but her ka had already been withdrawing from her body as Danny and Pat guided Set in displacing her. The choice Danny had offered her was to lose herself in order to save the world from any further interference by the monster she had so recently invited to dwell within her. Now she knew that she was not strong enough to master him. Nor could she have tricked him; that was Danny’s and Pat’s work. The only choice she had was to allow the death of her own body, after first surrendering it to Set. She had lost all, yet had one more act she could perform to change the world, and she did it. Instead of transporting her crushed body to a place with normal atmospheric pressure, thereby healing it, she let go of her body.
She had a choice that was not under Set’s influence or control, and now she had chosen. She let her body die, and, with it, Set.
Danny had known no death but Pat’s, and when she went to Duat, only he accompanied her. But Danny was not surprised that Duat sent a pret to greet Hermia. Not Thoth, the one they had thought of as This One. Yet the one who met her and traveled with her, he seemed to Danny to have the same kind of vividness and brightness that This One had possessed. Hermia responded as if she knew him at once, and for all Danny knew, they had known each other from some time before her birth. But now she was gone.
And so was Set. He, too, was accompanied on his journey by a bright pret, a ka sent from Duat. Yet it was clear that Set shrank from the one who greeted him. It seemed more like a prisoner being guarded than an honored traveler being welcomed home.
However they traveled, and whoever their companions were, Danny knew that the voyage would take only moments, and from Duat there would be no return. After all these thousands of years, Set was finally dead.
Danny could feel it inside himself, not because Set had been there, but because the Sutahites who had chosen him felt th
eir last connection with Set dissolve. He was gone from Mittlegard, and now Danny’s Sutahites were Sutahites no longer. They were part of Danny, completely in his ba. They were him.
Pat sighed. “Oh, Danny,” she whispered. “Who would have thought that the only way to end his life was to begin it.”
“Now that it worked,” said Danny, “it feels obvious.”
“They’re truly mine now,” said Pat. “The prets that chose me.”
“You chose them back,” said Danny. “Till death do you part.”
Danny called the others, and they came, and they touched each other or held each other or, in the case of Anonoei and her sons, clung and wept together.
“Now it’s official,” said Loki. “I’m the worst human being alive.”
“Maybe,” said Danny North. “But I doubt it. You haven’t met Grandpa Gyish or Uncle Zog.”
“Should we tell Hermia’s family?” asked Pat. “She died well.”
“They won’t understand what she did,” said Loki.
“But they’ll know we honor her for it,” said Pat. “That’s something. And if anyone in her Family loved her, they’ll want to know.”
So Danny took Pat by the hand, and led her off to tell the Greeks.
22
The world should have changed. There should have been headlines, like, “People aren’t thinking of doing so many rotten things.” “Chances of another Hitler dropped by 40 percent.” “Fewer traffic accidents caused by driver aggressiveness and road rage.”
It was kind of a disappointment. “We went to a lot of trouble to save the world, and it doesn’t feel saved,” said Pat one day.
“Hermia died for it,” said Danny.
“Hermia put herself in that situation all on her own,” said Pat. “I don’t miss her.”
Danny already knew better than to suggest that some of Pat’s hostility toward Hermia, even after her death, was misplaced jealousy. He could imagine her saying, “Oh, if not Hermia, then who is it I should be jealous of?” It was one of the problems with sharing his life with a really smart person. She had at least as many quick, devastating comebacks as he did.
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