So he gated into the house.
He appeared in the middle of the room. They stared at him in fear.
“It’s true,” whispered Laurette.
“Cool,” said Wheeler.
Danny turned to Wheeler. “This isn’t a comic book, Wheeler. It doesn’t go from panel to panel until the good guys win. In the real world, good guys lose all the time. What wins is power. I have a lot of it, but I don’t have enough to protect you all the time. I advise you to get the hell away from me and pretend you never met me. With any luck, none of the Families will notice you and you’ll be as safe as anyone.”
“How safe is that?” asked Pat.
“If I create a Great Gate and the Families send people through, so they become gods again instead of elves and wizards, the way they are now, then you won’t have a choice anymore. You’ll stay out of their way, and if they notice you, you’ll do what you’re told or you’ll die. Our Families aren’t nice people. They call you drowthers. They think of you the way you think of cars. Useful when you need them, but fun to crash into each other and watch them blow up and burn.”
They were looking sick and scared. So Danny was communicating.
“Do you see why I tried not to tell you?” said Danny.
“I think you’re just trying to scare us,” said Xena defiantly.
“Is it working?” asked Danny.
“Yes,” said Laurette.
“Good,” said Danny. “I came here in hopes of having a normal life. Two years of high school. But then I got stupid and did that thing with the rope climb and Hermia saw it and told me that it was a Great Gate. I finally got the knowledge to do some really powerful stuff.”
“But it sounds terrible,” said Sin. “Why would you let them through?”
“Here’s how it’ll work,” said Danny. “Either I’ll work out a way to give all the Families equal access to a Great Gate, or one of the Families will kidnap somebody I care about and kill them if I don’t give them exclusive use of a Great Gate.”
“Who would they kidnap?” asked Hal.
“Hermia. The woman who pretends to be my aunt. Or maybe you, Hal. It depends on how much they’ve observed already.”
“And if they kidnapped Hal,” said Laurette, “what would you do?”
“He’d let them kill Hal,” said Hermia. “He’d let them kill me. Because if he lets one Family have a Great Gate, and not the others, then that means that the most violent and evil Family will rule the world. But if they all have a share of the Gate, then maybe, just maybe, they’ll balance each other out. Maybe they’ll avoid a war. Maybe you drowthers won’t all end up as collateral damage.”
“Is she right?” Hal asked Danny.
“I hope so,” said Danny. “But if it came down to it, I don’t know if I could do it. Let them kill you or her or anybody. Up to now, the only life I was risking was my own. But once I made a Great Gate, everything changed. Now the whole world is at risk.”
“But you can do things,” said Hal. “Like, if you’d been around for 9/11, you could have made those planes-”
“No, I couldn’t have done a thing,” said Danny. “Because I would have found out about it when everybody else did, by watching television. I’ve got a couple of talents, but I’m not really a god. Not like you’re thinking-a god that knows everything and can do anything he wants. I can do a few specific things, and I don’t know very much at all.”
“Then what good is it?” asked Pat.
“Not much,” said Danny. “All I can do is try to keep the damage to a minimum.”
“So what’s your choice?” said Hermia. “My Family’s on the way here right now, you can count on that. If you’re going to choose not to stand with Danny, then he’s got to get you away from here before they come. Go get in your cars and drive away and forget you ever knew Danny. Don’t do anything to tip off the Families that you’re his friends, or you’ll end up as hostages. Get it?”
“Shit,” said Sin. “That’s just-that’s terrible.”
“Exactly,” said Hermia.
“Why did you make a Great Gate, man?” asked Hal.
“Because I’m a servant of spacetime,” said Danny. “Because it’s what I was born for. Because I faced a powerful enemy and beat him. Because I’m stupid.”
“There’s a feeble chance,” said Hermia, “that it will be better. For instance, Danny’s father and mother, if they went through a Great Gate, maybe they’d come back and use their power to destroy all the nuclear weapons in the world.”
“Could they do that?” asked Hal.
“The question is, would they,” said Hermia. “The Families don’t have a history of trying to make life better for the drowthers.”
“Drowthers-that’s us?” asked Xena.
“It sounds like the N word,” said Pat.
“It’s exactly like the N word, the way most people in the Families use it,” said Danny. “But some of us want to use our power to protect you.”
“Don’t let them through the Gate, man,” said Hal.
“I told you how they’ll make him do it,” said Hermia.
“Then kill yourself first,” said Hal. “That’s what I’d do.”
The words hung in the air.
“Maybe you would,” said Danny. “But I’m not that kind of hero. I’m not any kind of hero.”
“‘With great power comes great responsibility,’” intoned Wheeler.
“If only,” said Danny. “In the real world, with great power comes great suffering-by the people who don’t have the power.”
“I wasn’t kidding,” said Hal. “You shouldn’t exist. If you didn’t exist, things would keep on going the way they have been since 632 or whenever.”
“Spacetime would only create another like me,” said Danny. “And maybe the next guy would be even worse than me.”
“He did use his power to help us,” said Laurette.
“You were knocking Coach Bleeder on his ass,” said Hal.
“Yes,” said Danny. “And making him drop his watch.”
“To protect me?” asked Hal.
“And because it was funny,” said Danny.
“It was funny,” said Hal.
“Are you going to destroy the world, Danny?” asked Sin.
“I hope not,” said Danny. “Here’s what I hope. I hope that the Families will unite to use their power to stop all wars, to stop all the terrorists, to put an end to all the shit.”
“Did they ever do that before, back before the gates were closed?” asked Hal.
“No,” said Danny.
“Why would it be any different now?” said Hal.
“Because Danny’s here,” said Hermia. “If one of the Family starts acting like Stalin or Pol Pot or Idi Amin, Danny has the power to gate him to the bottom of the Atlantic, and they know it. They’ve got no way to stop him. As long as Danny’s alive, he has a chance to keep it all under control.”
“So you’re going to be, like, the god of all gods,” said Hal.
Danny sat down. “Yeah,” he said.
“Plus graduate from high school on schedule,” said Hal.
“Maybe I’m not going to be able to pull that off,” said Danny.
“Why did you ever think you could?” asked Pat.
“Because I didn’t know I could make a Great Gate when I came here,” said Danny. “I didn’t know anything. I just wanted to be normal.”
Hal made a weighing motion with his hands. “Normal, or supreme god. Supreme god, or normal. So hard to decide.” Then Hal reached out his hand to Danny. Offering a handshake.
“I’m in,” said Hal.
“In what?”
“In the same shit soup as you,” said Hal. “I’m your messenger. Or servant. Or whatever you need. I think you’re a good guy. I think if anybody’s going to have this kind of power, I’d rather it be you than anybody else I can think of, except maybe Winston Churchill, and he’s dead.”
Danny solemnly took his hand.
“So Hal gets to be your right-hand man,” said Wheeler. “Just because he was willing to talk to you when you came to Parry McCluer High.”
“Because he’s my friend,” said Danny, “and he volunteered.”
“Well I volunteer too,” said Wheeler.
And in a few moments, they had all agreed.