moral values on Danny. Heâs trying to overcome it, but he was raised in one of the Families, and to them, stealing from drowthers isnât really stealing. Itâs like snacking.â
âAh,â said Xena. Snacking she understood.
âSo Dannyâs living in hell right now,â said Hal, âand we canât do anything at all to help him. We just have to pretend that everythingâs normal? Doesnât sound very loyal to me.â
âJust until I can talk it over with the others,â said Stone.
âWhat others?â demanded Pat.
âThe others,â said Stone. âMarion and Leslie. Veevee.â
Pat waited.
âOh, I see,â said Stone. âNo, not Hermia. That treacherous little ⦠not her. And not Dannyâs family. The last thing we want anyone to know is that Dannyâs under somebody elseâs control. Half the Families would try to kill him, and the other half would try to bargain with the Belgod to get some kind of advantage.â
âEven Dannyâs own family?â asked Laurette mournfully.
âItâs about power,â said Stone. âMost people respond to power by trying to control it, to get the use of it. And if they canât own it, then they try to destroy it.â
âThe more you say about how bad the Families are,â said Hal, âthe more they sound like normal humans.â
Stone chuckled at that, but didnât dispute the point. âI take it you can use your own amulets to get back home?â
âTo our meeting place, anyway,â said Hal.
âThen you should get back there before your families miss you. And just in case it occurs to one of you to try to save Danny by inviting the Belmage to jump into you, donât even try. Because he wouldnât come into you himself, heâd just have one of his followers take you over.â
âBut we could resist one of those ,â said Wheeler.
âDanny could,â said Stone.
âAnd you think weâre all weak?â asked Wheeler.
âPlease donât take this as a challenge,â said Stone. âBeing possessed by the devil isnât a recreational drug. Itâs losing everything .â
âItâs like being murdered,â said Hal, âonly you have to stay and watch.â
âExactly,â said Stone. âAnd yes, kid,â he said to Wheeler. âI think youâre weak. Because you are weak. Danny seems to be fighting this thingâand even he is barely holding on. Thereâs not a chance in hell that any of you are even close to being as strong as Danny is. Get it?â
âGot it,â said Wheeler.
âGo,â said Stone.
âYouâre supposed to say âGood,ââ said Wheeler.
âThis isnât The Court Jester ,â said Stone. âGo.â
They all took out their amulets and gated away. Except Pat.
âPlease tell me what you find out,â she said to Stone. âPlease donât cut us out of this just because weâre drowthers.â
âGive me your phone number,â said Stone. âDanny can sense whenever you come here like this, but he canât tell if I text you or call.â
She wrote it down.
âBut youâre the only one Iâm telling,â said Stone.
âYou can trust Hal to keep his mouth shut,â said Pat.
âThink a little harder,â said Stone.
She did.
âOh,â she said. âIâm not a drowther.â
âGoodbye, windmage,â said Stone. âThank you for telling me. I think youâve done everything right.â
âWe donât even know what ârightâ is,â said Pat.
âBut you didnât keep it to yourself in order to avoid being embarrassed if you were wrong,â said Stone. âYou didnât try to fix it or talk to Danny about it directly. A lot of really wrong things that you didnât do.â
âYeah, I guess