The Perilous Sea (The Elemental Trilogy #2)

They gaped at each other in horror. That was exactly what had happened to Wintervale.

And then, in a panic, Titus had forced a king’s ransom of panacea down Wintervale’s gullet. The only goal of panacea was the stabilization of the entire system. It stopped the exorcism and it stopped any other battle Wintervale’s body might have been pitching to rid itself of—of whatever had taken possession of him.

Titus remembered the nautical distress signal he received, alerting him to Wintervale’s presence. He also remembered what Fairfax had said to him: Had I been Lady Wintervale, I would have disabled the distress signal on the lifeboat. That was probably what allowed Atlantis to track him down.

What if the distress signal had been deliberately enabled, to make sure that Titus saw everything?

They had already deduced that the Bane was capable of “driving” other bodies that looked like his. Who was to say he could not take command of one that did not resemble his original self?

“The mental instability the Kno-it-all gauge detected in Wintervale,” he heard himself say, his voice almost flat. “What if it was exactly right?”

“And Wintervale’s inability to walk unassisted—that must be because he looks nothing like the one driving his body,” said Fairfax. “There is a reason that until now the Bane only used similar-looking bodies—the mind probably can’t trick itself enough into fully controlling everything if the face looks that different.”

“And the guards outside Mrs. Dawlish’s house—they were not there at the beginning of the Half. They only came after Wintervale’s maelstrom.”

They had not been posted to watch Titus, as he had assumed, but most likely to ensure someone else’s safety.

Fairfax pulled on her collar, as if it had become too tight. “I always did think it was miraculous that Atlantis let you return to school this Half. I wouldn’t have.”

Icarus Khalkedon had been correct. After the great comet had come and gone, the Bane had indeed walked into Mrs. Dawlish’s house, and he had done so in Wintervale’s body. And West had disappeared because he unfortunately resembled the Bane—and the Bane could always use yet another spare.

“What I still don’t understand is what it is all for,” Fairfax continued. “What is the Bane trying to accomplish by doing all this?”

Titus gripped her. “It is all for you, do you not see? He had failed to find you earlier, so all this trickery is to get into my mind, because if he could do that, all my secrets would be open to him. After what happened last time, there was no way he could put me under Inquisition again without first provoking a war—nor does he have anywhere near as powerful a mind mage at his disposal these days, after I killed the Inquisitor. And run-of-the-mill memory or mind-control spells do not work on me because the heirs of the House of Elberon are protected from birth against such shenanigans. His only way into my mind was via contact-requisite means.”

She shook. “That’s why he always wanted you to support him when he walked places. And that’s why he attacked Kashkari with the book and the roof tiles, because Kashkari hindered his efforts at trying to accumulate enough hours of direct contact with you.”

“But he does not have those hours yet. So I am still safe. And you are still safe. And—”

The door burst open. Titus nearly blasted a hole through the house before he realized it was only Kashkari.

“I know who you are,” said Kashkari, to Fairfax.

She reeled, but recovered fast. “I already told you who I am. I am the prince’s bodyguard.”

Kashkari closed the door. “You are the girl who brought down lightning.”

Titus stepped in front her, wand drawn. “If you—”

“Of course not. I was just in a state of shock and I had to confirm it.”

“Did you just guess all of a sudden?” Titus demanded sharply. “And where is Wintervale? Is he here?”

“No, he is still milling about outside the chapel—Mrs. Hancock is watching over him. And I guessed because Roberts was passing around photographs taken several weeks ago.”

“Who is Roberts and what photographs?” Titus demanded.

“Cricketer. Never made the eleven. Wanted to counterfeit photographic evidence for posterity that he was part of the school team. I was included in some of the photographs on the periphery and next to me was someone with”—Kashkari looked about the room and grabbed Fairfax’s picture, the one that did not look anything like her—“this face. I didn’t understand what I was seeing at first. I remember it was Fairfax sitting next to me that day. There was no reason for him to look so different—until I remembered the photograph in his room.

“Then I remembered that Atlantis has trouble finding the girl who brought down lightning because her image cannot be painted or otherwise captured. And that was also when I remembered that the day Fairfax first arrived at this school was the day the girl manifested her powers.”

Fairfax gasped.