Wheeler.
âNot the host of this partyâwhich doesnât even have refreshments,â said Xena. âThe host body where the Belmage is living.â
âWeâre not killing Danny,â said Laurette.
âDanny told us more than once,â said Stone, âthat if he was ever possessed, we should kill him without a qualm, if thatâs what it took to stop Set from using a Great Gate.â
âNever,â said Hal.
âSo youâd leave him a slave forever?â asked Laurette.
âItâs about saving the world,â said Pat.
âI thought you said you loved him,â said Xena.
â If it was necessary,â said Stone, âthen we couldnât do it anyway. Gatemages are hard to kill, and Gatefathers are the hardest. They donât stay put long enough to die.â
âIn his sleep?â asked Hal. âI mean, if Nicki could get his clothes off withoutââ
âDanny was undoubtedly under the influence of Sutahites,â said Stone. âThey can influence dreams. Make dreams that explain whatâs happening to your body. So if somebody slipped Danny a drug, maybe he could be killed in his sleep. But youâre not thinking. We only need to kill Danny to save the world. The worlds . But if Danny is somehow keeping the Belmage from getting access to his gates, that means heâd be easy to kill, but we also donât need to, because the Belmage isnât dangerous.â
âSo letâs stop talking about killing Danny, please,â said Pat.
âNo,â said Stone. âBecause if Dannyâs keeping Set away from the gates, then Set is seriously angry. Heâs not nice, you know. He didnât get a reputation as Satan or the devil or whatever because he was generous and merciful.â
âYou think heâs going to punish Danny?â asked Pat.
âHow?â asked Hal. âHeâs inside Dannyâs body, too. Whatever happens to Danny, happens to him.â
âUntil he leaves,â said Stone.
âSo he could, like, make Danny cut his own throat,â said Wheeler, âand while heâs bleeding to death, the Belmage leaves and goes into somebody elseâs body?â
âWhen Set leaves Danny,â said Stone, âheâs not going to be nice about it. Heâs going to cause Danny maximum pain, if heâs angry at him. But youâre right about Set feeling whatever Dannyâs body feels. So heâs likely to do something much worse than just killing Danny.â
âWhatâs worse than that?â asked Wheeler.
Stone made a sweeping gesture, indicating all of Dannyâs friends.
âOh, shit,â said Hal.
âExactly my point,â said Stone.
âWhat?â said Xena. âWhat did you all get that Iâm not getting?â
âPretty much everything all the time,â said Hal. âLetâs say the Belmage wants to punish Danny. So he makes Danny murder one of us in a public place, lots of witnesses, and then jumps out of Dannyâs body into somebody elseâs and goes on his merry way.â
âThey couldnât arrest Danny,â said Wheeler. âHe could gate away.â
âBut the one of us that he killed would still be dead,â said Hal.
âIt would probably be Pat,â said Stone. âAnd heâd probably make Danny do it with his bare hands. Danny would have an indelible memory of doing that murder. So yes, thatâs a possibility. But he could also cause Danny to cut off a hand. Iâm not sure passing through a gate can heal damage like that. Or make Danny a mass murderer, like shooting up a kindergarten. Or all of the above. Donât underestimate the creativity and malice of pure evil.â
âSo we should stay away from Danny?â asked Xena.
âI donât know what you should do,â said Stone.
âThen why are we here?â asked Laurette.
âI didnât invite