The Lost Gate

The Lost Gate is the first novel in Orson Scott Card’s Mither Mages trilogy, followed by The Gate Thief and Gatefather. The story centers on Danny North, who grows up in a sprawling, isolated house in the mountains of western Virginia, surrounded by dozens of cousins, aunts, and uncles, all ruled by his father. His family is magical: his cousins learn to create beings that outsiders call fairies, ghosts, golems, trolls, and werewolves. Danny, however, worries he will never develop a talent or form an “outself.” The house holds many secrets, including a small library of books written in a language the children must learn fluently. The family’s magic must never be performed where outsiders can see, but some secrets are kept from Danny himself—secrets that will eventually bring disaster.

As the oldest family member without visible powers, Danny is forced to teach and babysit younger, more powerful cousins. One day, he wraps their “clants”—creatures they create by channeling their wills—in a sack and ties it in a tree to make them focus. His family is outraged, but his favorite aunt later tells him to retrieve the girls. While climbing the tree a second time, he accidentally creates a magical gate that teleports him a short distance upward and heals his bruises. This forbidden power—gatemagery—surprises him. He frees the girls and pretends not to know about his ability, aware he is now hunted.

When Danny is fourteen, the Argyros family (the Greeks) inspects the Norths, bringing a girl named Yllka, about a year younger than Danny. While spying on the adults, Yllka reveals him as a gatemage—specifically a Gatefather, the most powerful kind—while she is only a Finder who can sense gates. Danny escapes and meets his cousin Ned, a relative who admits the family suspected Danny’s skill but promises not to try hard to track him, warning that if Ned finds him, he must capture him.

Danny goes to a Walmart, steals decent clothes under a detective’s observation, then teams up with Eric, a teenage beggar and burglar. They beg and hitchhike to Washington, DC, where they find a house belonging to Stone (a meadowfriend who grows Westil flowers), Ced (a windmage), and Ced’s non-mage wife Lana. Stone’s flowers unconsciously attract mages, and he evaluates them for the family of gatemages.