“So send us to Westil,” said Sin. “Maybe we’ll come back with superpowers.”

  “Yeah,” said Hal.

  “Cool,” said Wheeler.

  Danny’s concentration broke. He must have shown his impatience with himself.

  “Why don’t you hold it in your hand and really focus on it?” asked Xena.

  Laurette handed him the first stone. Danny took it, bent over it, stared at it, made a gate.

  He moved the stone a little to the left.

  The mouth of the gate moved with it.

  It was that simple. Just a little concentration, and he had an enchanted stone.

  “You look happy,” said Xena. “Does that mean you’re thinking of me naked?”

  “It means he attached a gate to the stone,” said Pat. “We all try not to think of you naked.”

  “So . . . what now?” asked Hal. “You give us each a stone to use if we need to make a quick getaway?”

  “A stone’s a lousy idea,” said Laurette.

  “Why?” asked Danny. He had thought it was a pretty good idea.

  “First,” said Laurette, “what if we drop our stone? How could we tell which one was ours, except by brushing our hand against it and taking off like Hal just did? And then we still don’t have the stone—but maybe whoever was chasing us finds it and follows us.”

  “Don’t drop the stone,” said Wheeler.

  “Right, like none of us ever drops anything,” said Pat.

  “Second,” said Laurette, “suppose somebody handcuffs us and searches us and finds a stone in our pockets or purses or whatever? How many people our age carry rocks around?”

  “OK,” said Danny, “Not a stone. I was just learning how to do it, and there are plenty of stones.”

  “A ring,” said Sin.

  “A nose ring,” said Xena. “Then every time you blow your nose, you’ll transport somewhere.”

  “Or you sniff and you get sent to the moon,” said Wheeler.

  “One ring to rule them all, one ring to find them,” intoned Hal. “One ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them.”

  “Are you saying we’re on Sauron’s side?” asked Wheeler, a little angry.

  “Sauron doesn’t have a side,” said Danny. “You forget, the Families are all the gods, all the fairies, all the elves and ghosts and werewolves and poltergeists and everything. Good and bad, the Families are on both sides of everything. There’s no good or evil with them. Just . . . whatever they feel like doing, and have the power to do it.”

  “That sounds like as good a definition of evil as I’ve ever heard,” said Pat.

  “Well, look what I just did,” said Danny. “I felt like attaching a gate to a stone, and when Xena suggested that I really focus on it, then I could do it. Was that evil?”

  Pat shrugged. “Depends on whether you throw the stone at some other high school’s quarterback and jump him ten yards back and drop him on his ass.”

  “That’s just a prank,” said Wheeler. “Can you do it?”

  “He wouldn’t need a stone,” said Hal. “He could just do it.”

  “And it would be evil,” said Pat. “Hurting somebody else just for the fun of it.”

  “So was it evil when I messed with Coach Lieder?” asked Danny.

  “A little bit maybe,” said Pat.

  “But mostly funny,” said Hal.

  “And he deserved it,” said Wheeler.

  Danny remembered the men he had terrified into submission out over the Atlantic, and then stashed in a jail. They were murderers, or meant to be. They deserved worse than he had done to them. But it didn’t make him feel all that great about the fact that he had the power to torture them like that. And that he had just done it, the moment he thought of it.

  “Something you already carry with you,” said Danny. “And I’ll try to put the gate on it in such a way that you don’t just accidentally pop through it. So don’t give me your wallet.”

  “Wheeler can give you the condom he always carries,” said Hal. “He’s never going to use that.”

  Wheeler glared at him. “They gave it to me in fifth grade. It’s like a rabbit’s foot, I’m not going to use it, it’s older than my dick by now.”

  “Ew,” said Laurette. “You made me think of your weenie.”

  “Said the girl with the constant cleavage,” said Wheeler.

  “Please,” said Danny. “Something you carry but you don’t touch, but you could get to it in an emergency.”

  Pat already had a tampon out of her purse.

  “Our turn to say ‘ew,’ ” said Hal.

  “Every girl carries them and nobody thinks anything about it,” said Pat.

  “I don’t,” said Sin.

  “I carry extras,” said Laurette, getting two tampons out of her purse.

  “Then I am using my condom,” said Wheeler, reaching into his pocket.

  “I don’t carry a purse,” said Sin. “What am I supposed to do, tuck it behind my ear?” She handed the tampon back to Laurette.

  “You don’t carry a spare just in case?” asked Laurette.

  “I’m never early and I’m not afraid of a little blood anyway,” said Sin.

  “Are you afraid of a little vomit?” asked Hal. “Because this is making me sick.”

  “Welcome to girlville,” said Pat. “But since you’re never going to have a girlfriend or a wife, it won’t matter if you’re squeamish.”

  “What if I’m rummaging in my purse for something else and I brush against it?” asked Xena, looking doubtfully at the tampon she was holding. “And should I unwrap it?”

  Danny took it out of her hand.

  “He’s touching one,” said Hal.

  “Girl cooties,” said Wheeler.

  Danny studied the thing. Squeezed it. Pushed his finger against the end. “Just give me a second,” he said.

  He made a really tiny gate completely inside the end of the tampon. He tossed the tampon around on his hand and nothing happened. But when he pushed his finger into the end, he jumped through the gate—this time only a few inches away. But it still made him lose his balance.

  “Oh, a three-inch gate,” said Pat. “That’ll show ’em. ‘Better be nice to me or I’ll move another three inches!’ ”

  “I’m just testing,” said Danny. “You have to push your finger into the end before the gate will work.”

  “What happens if you forget which one is the gate and you use it?” asked Hal.

  “I thought you didn’t like talking about messy girl stuff,” said Laurette.

  “I can’t help what pops into my head,” said Hal.

  “Please tell me you’re not picturing me using it,” said Pat.

  “Well now I am and thanks so much,” said Hal.

  “I don’t have anything that isn’t hard and shiny,” said Sin.

  “Your lip gloss,” said Pat.

  Sin pulled a tiny canister out of her pocket. “It’s hard and shiny,” she said.

  “The stuff inside is black and squishy,” said Pat.

  “I can put the gate down inside,” said Danny.

  “If you hide a gate in here I can’t use it and my lips will get pink,” said Sin.

  Laurette pulled a stub of black licorice out of her purse. “Here, it’s black. And it’s squishy.”

  Sin took the licorice and studied it. “What century was this made in?”

  “It’s old, it’s black, and it’s gross,” said Laurette. “Nobody will be surprised that you have it in your pocket. Or does your mother wash your jeans?”

  Sin gave a disdainful toss of her head. “Washing is so bourgeouis.”

  Ten minutes later, they all had something flexible with a tiny gatemouth inside it. Three tampons, a licorice stub, a condom package, and a lion-shaped eraser that Hal had in his pocket.

  “Why a lion?” asked Sin.

  Hal shrugged. “Got it as a prize at the dentist one time.”

  “And you carry it with you,” said Sin.

  “Lost a tooth, got a lion,” said Hal.

  “It’s Aslan,” said Wheeler.

  Hal looked really angry.

  “Stop it,” said Danny. “Have some loyalty, Wheeler.”

  “He told about my condom,” said Wheeler.

  “So if one of us pisses off another one of us, then suddenly we’re all about getting even?” asked Pat. “Oh, that’ll work.”

  “We don’t tell each other’s secrets,” said Laurette. “And we don’t make fun of each other.”

  “Does that mean I can’t mention your cleavage, ever?” asked Danny.

  “We don’t make fun of things that matter,” said Laurette. “Making fun of my cleavage is just another way of telling me that it’s working.”

  “I think that’s a good rule,” said Danny.

  “We all make fun of how Laurette shows her boobs?” asked Xena.

  “We don’t make each other feel bad,” said Danny. “We don’t tell each other’s secrets to outsiders.”

  The others agreed.

  “All of your gates,” said Danny, “they’ll take you here. But there’s a chance one of the Families will find out about this place, so when you get here, if it’s an emergency, just reach out to this tree.” Danny showed them the one. “And here under this branch, there’ll be another gate. Can you all reach it?”

  They all proved that they could, even Xena, whose arms weren’t all that long.

  “Where will that gate take us?” asked Pat.

  “Someplace far away. Someplace where I’ll put a stash of money and a weapon. You’ll never have to use it, but it’ll be there, in case somebody’s following you through the gate.”

  “So you don’t have any idea yet where it’ll go,” said Pat.

  “I’m thinking Disney World,” said Danny.

  “A weapon in the Magic Kingdom?” asked Sin. “That’s just wrong.”

  “I’ll find someplace safe, where I can stash a weapon and nobody will find it,” said Danny. “For now, though, I’ll make it lead to a place in DC. And then I’ll make another gate there and show you all where it is, so you can get back to Buena Vista but in a different place.”

  “So we can try it out? It’ll just be sitting there and if we want to go to DC we can use it?” asked Wheeler.

  Everybody looked at him. “Once,” said Danny. “You can try it once, to show that you know how to use it. But if you do it any other time, somebody might see you and then they’d know. It only works as an emergency escape if nobody knows, and that means you never use it. If you want to go to DC I’ll send you there.”

  Wheeler laughed nervously. “This is really, like, serious and all.”

  “I thought you already understood that,” said Danny. “If you stay friends with me, if you help me, you’re going to be in real danger. And you’ll need a real escape route. But if you want to beg off, then do it now. Let’s not go any farther. I can leave this school any time. Without me here, you’re safe. You haven’t been seen doing anything yet.”

  “No,” said Xena.

  “We’ll be good,” said Hal.

  Only Wheeler said nothing.

  They all waited.

  “I feel like I’ve already totally screwed up and you won’t ever trust me no matter what I say,” said Wheeler miserably.

  “I’ll trust you until you do something that shows me I shouldn’t,” said Danny.

  “But I’m an idiot,” said Wheeler.

  “I told you he knew it,” said Sin to Pat.

  “I mean, I forget stuff. I blab stuff without thinking.”

  “Well, don’t,” said Danny. “That’s all.”

  Wheeler nodded miserably. Then he suddenly disappeared and there he was over by the tree. He put his finger up where the next gate was going to be.

  “Wheeler,” said Danny. “You can’t get away from me that way. Every gate I make is a part of me. I know where they go, and I know when people go through them. I also haven’t put a gate in that tree yet.”

  “I just wanted to see if you had taken away my gate,” said Wheeler.

  “If I ever do,” said Danny, “I’ll tell you. Or I’ll take away the condom.” At the thought, he made a small gate that swallowed the condom even though it was in Wheeler’s hand. He made it plop onto the ground in the middle of the group.

  “Wow,” said Wheeler. “You can take it right out of my hand?”

  “No, I did that,” said Xena.

  “Really?” asked Wheeler.

  “He really is an idiot,” said Pat.

  “Wheeler, I trust you,” said Danny. “Now trust me, too.” But in his heart, Danny knew that he would never really trust Wheeler. Would never send him out to deliver a message or run an errand more serious than buying sodas or picking up pizzas. Because his first instinct had been to use his gate carelessly. To test Danny. He doesn’t know how to keep a promise.

  They’re all young. Maybe none of them do.

  But he was in high school. These were the friends he had.

  And it was cool that he could attach a gate to an object. I’ve made enchanted amulets, even if they are just tampons and napkins and a condom and a little-kid’s eraser. No magic writing on them, nothing but a tiny gate embedded in them. It made him feel clever and powerful.

  And there was Xena’s hand on his arm again. He liked it there. He didn’t pull his arm away.

  Then he remembered that he didn’t actually feel any attraction to Xena.

  That was before she was attracted to him. Now she was very attractive.

  I’m such a teenager myself, thought Danny. He remembered Lana, Ced’s wife back in DC. How she made him feel. Xena was much nicer than Lana, and a lot less crazier. What if Danny had a girlfriend for a while? Not somebody who would seduce him and mock him for succumbing. Not a succubus. An actual girlfriend.

  Then he remembered the stories of Zeus raping women all over the Aegean. And Hermes—how many women did the old myths have Hermes seducing? There was no lock on a bedroom door that could keep him out.

  Xena’s basically saying I can have her if I want. I could go into her bedroom tonight and sleep with her and her parents would never see me come in or go out. And she’d let me. She’d think it was cool.

  Until we’d done it. Then she’d think we were together. And we would be. What if she got pregnant? What if she thought it made her cooler than the other girls and it caused a rift in the group?

  Keep your pants zipped and your brain out of Xena’s bedroom, Danny told himself.

  She leaned her head on his shoulder.

  Danny turned his body to face Xena. She put a hand on his chest. He took the hand and held it between his. “We’re friends, Xena. And fellow soldiers in a war. Let’s see what happens when the war is over.”

  Xena tossed her hand and stepped to Pat. “I told you he was gay.” Then she laughed as if it had been a joke. Which it was. Mostly. Maybe.

  I have no business trying to lead a group of any kind. I should take back all these gates and leave right now and never come back. Everybody will be better off it I do that.

  Everybody but me.

  He’d been lonely his whole life. This was the first time he had friends. And he couldn’t give them up. He didn’t want to give them up, and he could do whatever he wanted, and so he was going to stay here with them. Because they thought he was cool. They liked that he was powerful. They weren’t trying to kill him. And they liked him before they knew he could do this thing with gates.

  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.”

  Her list of destinations was longer than Veevee’s, but she had to stay a jump ahead of her Family. Danny attached two dozen gates to the coin. At first he tried to arrange them in some orderly way, but Hermia just laughed. “Danny, I can see them all, I can tell them apart, I know where they go, and I can keep them all locked except the one I want to use. Go ahead and pile them on in a jumble.”