Free Gatefather by Orson Scott Card

from Set, or maybe not. But if you come anywhere near him, and Set realizes what you are to Danny, then how can he hurt Danny the most?”
    â€œBy hurting me.”
    â€œYet I must be honest. Because what would give Danny the most joy? Seeing you again. And what would scare Danny most? Seeing you in the power of Set—because whatever Set might do to you, he would do using Danny’s body, so to Danny it would feel as if he were doing it.”
    â€œI get it, yes,” said Pat. “The worst, most terrible thing I can do is come anywhere near Danny North.”
    â€œAnd also the best and kindest thing. He misses us all, but if he doesn’t miss you most of all, then I don’t know my Danny.”
    â€œHow do you even know that? Danny and I only just realized it the day before the Belmage took him.”
    â€œDanny and you might not have known it,” said Veevee. “But all the rest of us knew it. We also know that it’s young love and unlikely to last forever or even till next year. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t real. No love is stronger than adolescent love—it’s overwhelming, all-consuming. It’s what inspires the most passionate, godawful poetry in the world. It’s what makes people get moony over the stupidest love songs and the worst movies. It’s real . He would die for you.”
    â€œI would die for him, too.”
    â€œI believe you would,” said Veevee. “But if you die, it won’t be for him. It’ll be used against him. It’ll make his imprisonment even more hellish.”
    â€œSo what am I supposed to do?” asked Pat, trying to keep her voice from rising into a whine.
    â€œGo to high school, if you can bear it, what with Danny North’s body running around like a fellow student. Or go on a long vacation. I’m not suggesting you run away from home—why torment your family?—but tell them you’re going, and I bet Stone will take you in. Or maybe Leslie and Marion. Or, now that you’re a real mage, maybe Danny’s real family would take you in. As his betrothed.”
    â€œI don’t want to be in their power,” said Pat.
    â€œSmart girl. I’m just saying you have options.”
    â€œBut Danny doesn’t,” said Pat.
    â€œNo, he doesn’t,” said Veevee. “We can pity him for that. But we can’t change it. I don’t see how he can get out of this without dying.”
    â€œDeath is so final,” said Pat.
    â€œMostly,” said Veevee.
    â€œWhat do you mean? Are there exceptions? Are you suddenly Christian? Do you think Lazarus came back from the dead?”
    â€œOh, that is likely enough. All those miracles Jesus performed—they mostly seem within easy reach of a Gatefather. And if Lazarus was only in some kind of low-metabolism coma when they buried him, a Gatefather could easily bring him back. But not from the dead .”
    â€œBecause gatemages can’t raise the dead.”
    â€œIf you’re really dead, then they’re just dragging a corpse through a gate. It does nothing.”
    â€œSo what did you mean about death being mostly final?”
    â€œWell, remember who we are. We Westilians. You’ve been hearing about us your whole life. There are stories. Katabasis.”
    Pat had heard the word in English class. “The descent into the underworld. Orpheus and Eurydice. Odysseus. Gilgamesh searching for Utnapishtim to find out how to bring Enkidu back from the dead.”
    â€œOh, you really are an educated girl. How could that happen in a podunk town like this?”
    â€œThere are books. There are good teachers.”
    â€œOsiris also dies and comes back.”
    â€œYes, well, he was cut into pieces, so that doesn’t seem likely,” said Pat.
    â€œAdonis dies and Aphrodite brings him back,” said Veevee. “That might be another gatemage thing. But then there’s Hermes, who rescues