And still no one guessed that she had any but the feeble beastmagery of small seed-gathering birds, or that Oath, with his tiny waggling arms, was really the son of two great mages-both of them far more powerful and skilled than the seamage Prayard who thought he was the father.

To Wad, these changes were all to the good. He understood well enough that with Bexoi in the King's chamber every night, their trysts would be few-but now and then she used a gate he had made for her and joined him in one of the many secret rooms he knew of in Na.s.sa.s.sa. For months they only talked; Wad asked for no intimacy with her body, and she offered none.

And then, during one such encounter, when the boy that she called Oath and Wad called Trick was ten months old, she took him to her body pa.s.sionately. When he was spent, lying beside her on the pile of their clothing on the floor, she told him she was pregnant again.

"So soon?" said Wad. "I thought that when you nursed a baby-"

"Who knows what happened when you healed me there on Oath's birthbed? My body was made ready for Prayard's seed. I waited until I was pregnant with his body before I slept with you again. This new baby will truly be his. That is a kind of faithfulness to my husband, isn't it?"

Wad heard those words and smiled, but his smile was a lie. The Queen had long wanted Prayard's son. By having Wad's, she had finally won the attention, then the affection of her husband, and now had his baby in her womb. What did that mean for the future of little Prince Oath?

Now, when he fed his prisoners, Wad began to see that they had not been the only threats to Trick's inheritance-or, indeed, to his survival. Bexoi was a strong woman, he knew. She would do whatever she thought was necessary to achieve her ends. She had confided in Wad more than once that her nephew Frostinch was the greatest danger to Iceway, and that sooner or later it would come to war between them.

But Wad had finally come to see that she meant this in the fullest sense-that Frostinch would be Jarl of Gray, and that Bexoi would be, one way or another, the ruler of Iceway when that war came. Wad had given her a baby who was named the heir; Prayard had given her the position of the mother of the heir. Now another baby was coming, so Oath was no longer so essential to her plans.

Wad had seen enough now of the machinations of the court to know that Bexoi would never be content until she ruled as regent for a beloved baby king. The question was: Which baby would it be? Bexoi would have to choose between them.

Wad had only one p.a.w.n in this game.

Or three, if you added in the two elder sons of King Prayard, who brought with them a rival regent, Anonoei. This woman of Iceway had once had many friends and perhaps still had them, if she were to emerge from her hiding place.

Now Wad understood why he had been so reluctant to kill his prisoners when Bexoi insisted. He had known from the start that he could not trust Bexoi any more than Prayard could. He simply hadn't known that he knew it.

Wad, as their warden, began to give the prisoners food from the King's own table, pilfered gatewise from the tables and sent to Anonoei and Eluik and Enopp in fine bowls and basins. For Anonoei there was wine as well as water, and, for the boys, sweets as well as bread and cheese and meat.

He did not expect them to learn to love the jailer that they never saw. In part he gave this better food to them, and washed up the pans of their s.h.i.t and p.i.s.s, as penance for his crime of keeping innocent children as solitary prisoners in a terrifying place. But there was something else that he only now and then allowed himself to know-they were the answer to a question: Who will stand against Queen Bexoi, should there come a time when it were better if she fell? It was a question only he was asking, and so for now he kept the answer to himself.

17.

BIRTHDAY P PRESENT.

In the middle of the summer of 2010, Leslie and Marion sat Danny down in the living room with so much ceremony that Danny thought they were going to announce that they were fed up with his commuting from Yellow Springs to Naples and he was going to have to move out. Which he definitely did not want to do, since he delighted in Veevee, but only in small doses, while Leslie and Marion were the closest things to parents he had ever known.

"As you know," said Marion, "your sixteenth birthday is approaching."

"It's July thirtieth," said Danny. "My birthday is September fourteenth. It's approaching in the sense that Christmas is approaching."

"Some preparation is needed," said Leslie.

"Preparation for what?" asked Danny.

"Your driver's license," said Marion.

"We have to enroll you in driver's education right now," said Leslie.

"Because we've decided that your birthday present will be a car," said Marion.

"You're a very responsible young man," said Leslie. "You work hard at everything you do. You're careful and skillful. We think you'll be an excellent driver."

"I think my word was 'adequate,'" corrected Marion.

"It won't be a new new car," said Leslie. "Insurance is expensive for sixteen-year-old young men." car," said Leslie. "Insurance is expensive for sixteen-year-old young men."

"Again, my word would be 'boys,'" said Marion.

Danny was touched. He could imagine such a scene playing out in any normal drowther home. It made him feel like... an American. An Ohioan. A human being.

"You are so wonderful," said Danny. "I wish I had grown up in your house."

"You still are growing up," said Marion. "And in our house."

"Mostly," said Leslie.

"But the thing I can't figure out is... why would I want a car?"

They looked at him, nonplussed.

"I even go grocery shopping by gate," said Danny.

"We didn't appreciate the shopping cart in the kitchen," said Marion.

"Now, it was just the once," said Leslie. "And he took it back himself."

"I always pay for everything," said Danny. "I haven't stolen anything since I've lived here with you."

"What about in Florida?" asked Leslie. "I suppose the rules are different there."

"I made gates for Veevee to her favorite stores and malls, yes," said Danny, "but always to a spot outside, so she still has to pay. More to the point, I I always pay. Even to go into the movies. I want to live by drowther rules. I'm doing it better than a lot of drowthers." always pay. Even to go into the movies. I want to live by drowther rules. I'm doing it better than a lot of drowthers."

"By drowther rules," said Marion, "you need a car."

Danny put his hands in shrugging position. "Why? I already have better transportation than the President."

"In a word," said Marion, "dating."

"You can't very well gate a girl to the movies, Danny," said Leslie, "and very few of them will be impressed if they always have to walk."

"Or maybe you expect the girl to drive," said Marion. "They are not impressed by this."

"I think you're overlooking the biggest point here," said Danny. "I don't need a car car so I can date. I need a so I can date. I need a girl. girl."

Marion and Leslie looked at each other, and Marion coughed. "Uh, Danny, in, uh, drowther culture, in this this country, anyway, teenagers of opposite s.e.x are generally expected to find each other without adult interference." country, anyway, teenagers of opposite s.e.x are generally expected to find each other without adult interference."

"And you know where they do that?" asked Danny. "At high school."

Again Marion and Leslie looked at each other, then back at Danny. "Are you saying you want to go to high school?" asked Marion.

"You've already taken the PSAT and the SAT and the ACT," said Leslie. "Your self-education has been superb, and your scores prove it. You'll be able to get into any college in the world."

"You two are wonderful teachers," said Danny.

Marion gave a hoot of laughter. "Danny, the most we've ever done is brought you a textbook now and then."

"And listen at the dinner table when you go on about Mongolian history or the uses of differential calculus or the principles of calculating vertical load versus horizontal flexion or whatever it was in bridge building," said Leslie.

"And how many parents would do that?" said Danny. "I don't want to go to high school for the cla.s.ses, I want to go to high school because that's where they keep the girls. And the friends. friends. You two and Veevee are my only friends in the world, and no offense here, but you're all old enough to be my parents." You two and Veevee are my only friends in the world, and no offense here, but you're all old enough to be my parents."

"It's not safe for you to spend a lot of time with drowthers," said Marion. "You could do or say something-"

Leslie interrupted. "They could ask something you couldn't answer-"

"If any of the Families was alerted to what you are...," said Marion.

"I have to be able to function in drowther society," said Danny. "Drowthers go to high school. They talk about music and movies. I don't know what movies and music they talk about, except what I see discussed online. It's not the same."

"You don't like like any of that music," said Leslie. "You always switch away from hippity-hop or whatever it's called." any of that music," said Leslie. "You always switch away from hippity-hop or whatever it's called."

"Hippy-hop," corrected Marion.

"Hip-hop," said Danny, rolling his eyes.

"Aha!" said Leslie. "See? You already already know about that kind of thing." know about that kind of thing."

"If you have friends, they might come over," said Marion. "Unannounced. You'd have to stop using any of your gates around the farm."

"I only have a few gates here," said Danny. "You wouldn't let me."

"The parents of the girls you date would want to meet your your parents," said Leslie. "All you have is us. How do you explain that?" parents," said Leslie. "All you have is us. How do you explain that?"

"Uncle Marion and Aunt Leslie," said Danny. "And wouldn't it be hilarious in a kind of terrifying way if some girl ever did have to face my real parents. Even supposing they didn't kill me and whomever I brought with me on sight, they'd despise her for being a drowther, and she'd despise them as uneducated country b.u.mpkins."

"So you see why high school just wouldn't work," said Leslie.

"He doesn't look persuaded," said Marion.

"I'm not proposing that I go to high school here," said Danny.

Again, Marion and Leslie traded looks. "But why not?" asked Leslie. "The high school is just through the fields and up the road."

Danny laughed.

Leslie took umbrage. "I don't see what's funny about what I said."

Marion undertook the explanation. "We just told him all the reasons why going to high school while living here wouldn't work out, and then you seemed hurt that he wasn't planning to go to high school here."

"There is no contradiction in what I said," Leslie retorted.

"It's okay," said Danny. "It has nothing to do with you. The kids at Yellow Springs High have seen me running past. I've been noticed and mentioned-I've seen them pointing and telling each other about me. Wondering why I'm not in school, I'm betting. Speculating on the reason. I can only guess what they say. The point is that I'm already kind of legendary at Yellow Springs High. There is zero chance I'd have a normal high school career there. It'll be bad enough that I'm coming in as a junior. A 'new kid.'"

"How do you know what they're saying?" said Leslie.

"Why are you arguing for him to go to high school here," asked Marion, "after telling him why you didn't think he should go?"

"I'm arguing for him not going away to some other place for high school," said Leslie, "because even though he's skinny as a rail, I can't imagine him getting any decent food in Florida."

"I don't want to go to high school in Florida, either," said Danny. "And I know what kids must be saying about me because I've been reading about high school kids and how they talk and think."

"'Young adult novels,'" said Leslie. It was her turn to roll her eyes. "When you've already read the cla.s.sics."

"It's research, Mom, Mom," said Danny, deliberately using a term she didn't like him to use, or at least said she didn't. "Isn't it kind of pathetic that the only way I can learn about the life of a drowther teenager is by reading Bruiser Bruiser and and Friend Is Not a Verb Friend Is Not a Verb and and Holes Holes?"

"I notice that you keep reading about teenagers with magical powers," said Marion.

"Not always," said Danny, "but if I ever go to high school I'll be be the kid with magical powers, won't I? So that's part of my research-how they cope." the kid with magical powers, won't I? So that's part of my research-how they cope."

"By hiding who they are and becoming social misfits and pariahs," said Leslie. "Is that what you plan to do?"

"Of course he plans to hide what he is," said Marion. "Or word will get out and the Families will find him and they'll zap him with lightning or have the earth swallow him up and crush him before he can gate away."

"You've been reading my novels," Danny said to Leslie. "You really are are my mom." my mom."

"Your mother is a great mage," said Leslie. "I don't deserve to receive the respect you owe to her."

"'Mom' isn't a term of respect," said Danny.

"You say that and I don't even know what you mean, mean," said Leslie. "Our kids always called me Mom and they respected me!"

"What he means," said Marion, "is that it's a term of affection."

"Love," said Danny. "It's a term for the woman in my life who loves me me enough to read the novels I'm reading just so she can try to figure out what they're teaching me." enough to read the novels I'm reading just so she can try to figure out what they're teaching me."

There was a silence in the room until Leslie asked, in a somewhat smaller voice, "Do you call her her Mom?" Mom?"

Danny laughed. "Veevee? Mom? Mom? Oh, right. She's a Oh, right. She's a colleague, colleague, Leslie. We Leslie. We work work together." together."

"I notice that when I brought her up, you stopped calling me Mom," said Leslie.

"Don't make him explain," said Marion. "You and I can have that that fight later. This is his birthday we're talking about, and I think what he's saying is that he wants to go to high school, but he doesn't want to do it here fight later. This is his birthday we're talking about, and I think what he's saying is that he wants to go to high school, but he doesn't want to do it here or or in Florida." in Florida."

"That's it," said Danny. "I want to go to Parry McCluer High School."

"I've never heard of perimacluing," said Leslie. "How do you perimaclue and why do they devote a whole high school to it?"