Read The Gate Thief (Mither Mages) for Free Online Page A

going to fall in and get lost.”
    “Let’s stick to the plan,” said Laurette.
    “It’s not my plan,” said Danny.
    “You’re not going to dodge this one,” said Sin.
    “You still haven’t told me what you’re intervening about,” said Danny. “Maybe I’ll agree with you and we can move on to the party portion of the evening.”
    “We want you to stop hiding who you are,” said Hal.
    Danny turned to him. “I’m President Obama’s love child with a Chicago waitress. I’m actually black, but I act super-white and it fools everybody.”
    “We know you have powers,” said Sin.
    “You’re a fairy,” said Xena. “The Tolkien kind.”
    “‘Elf’ is a better word,” said Pat.
    “No, it’s definitely ‘fairy,’” said Xena, “because it’s more fun to say.”
    “I’m not an elf and I’m not a fairy,” said Danny. “These days I’m on the track team. I’m going to get a letter and be an athlete and then I’ll be too cool to hang out with you.”
    “We know you healed us,” said Pat. “My complexion has cleared up totally, and Sin’s infected piercings got uninfected.”
    “You didn’t do anything for my weight problem,” said Xena, “which wasn’t very nice.”
    “Maybe he likes you the way you are,” said Wheeler.
    “I’m trying to think how I did this magical stuff,” said Danny.
    “It all started happening after you got here, that’s point A,” said Xena.
    “Post hoc ergo propter hoc,” said Danny.
    “He’s talking Logic,” said Hal. “I wish Ms. Schrader hadn’t done that unit on fallacies.”
    “Point B,” said Xena, “is the tripping place.”
    “So I heal people and I make them clumsy,” said Danny. “Sounds like a contradiction.”
    “And there’s that flying thing with the rope climb,” said Hal. “You’re the one who set it up. You told me to move my hands as if I was climbing. That means you thought I’d somehow get up there without actually climbing.”
    “Is that how you remember it?” asked Danny.
    “Notice how he’s not actually denying it,” said Hal.
    “I would deny it if I knew what you were accusing me of.” Danny realized once again that it’s always a mistake to equivocate. If you’re going to lie then just lie. Don’t try to make it technically true or almost true or truish.
    “I didn’t think we should call it an intervention,” said Hal. “I thought we should call it an ultimatum.” He seemed really angry.
    “Admit to this crazy stuff you’re accusing me of, or else,” said Danny.
    “That’s what an ultimatum is, all right,” said Hal.
    “What’s the ‘else’?” asked Danny.
    “Or else you’re not really our friend.”
    Danny knew they were right, but also they were wrong. They couldn’t possibly understand what telling them would mean. It’s one thing to think your friend has some connection with mysterious stuff. But if they found out what he was, they either wouldn’t believe him or they’d pressure him to demonstrate it, and he wasn’t going to make any more damn gates at Parry McCluer.
    “If you were really my friends,” said Danny, “you wouldn’t decide what the answer is and then threaten to ostracize me if I don’t tell you that you’re right.”
    “Then what’s the answer?” asked Sin. “We’re not going to tell anybody.”
    “Let’s say I admit I’m some kind of fairy. You promise not to tell. But since you already think you know it, and you also promise not to tell, then how would my telling you change anything?”
    “You don’t trust us,” said Wheeler.
    “What if I’m some kind of magical guy. Have I done anything evil with it? Hurt anybody?”
    “I think Coach Bleeder landed on his ass a couple of times because of you,” said Hal.
    “Did it ever occur to you that if I had these powers, maybe I was keeping secrets from you for your own good?”
    “There are some things that humankind is not meant to know,” intoned Laurette.
    “‘If I tell you, I have to kill