The Perilous Sea (The Elemental Trilogy #2)

Everyone else shook their heads. Iolanthe remembered that Kashkari had the book with him the day Wintervale had spun the maelstrom.

“It’s about this scientist who assembled a monster from spare human parts,” Kashkari continued.

Iolanthe felt as if a cog in her brain suddenly engaged. “West is going to be cannibalized for parts?”

Titus stared at her. “You think ‘spares’ refers to West?”

“It makes sense, doesn’t it? If you wanted spares, wouldn’t you want spares that looked like you, instead of someone el . . .” She was struck by wonder and horror alike and had to grip the edge of the mantel before she could speak again. “Spares. Spares. Fortune shield me—do you think this is how he—how he—”

Titus looked equally overwhelmed. “Yes, it must be.”

“Must be what?” asked Mrs. Hancock, her tone barely above a whisper.

“This must be how he resurrects.”

Kashkari fell into a chair. “We have heard rumors, but I had never believed them.”

“I have never even heard such rumors,” Mrs. Hancock said dazedly. “Why have I never heard such rumors?”

“I imagine the Bane did his best to make sure his own people never heard of the rumors—anything remotely connected to sacrificial magic would undermine the legitimacy of his rule.”

Iolanthe found her voice again. “That’s why West was taken away. Not to cannibalize for parts, but to use as a whole.” She turned to Titus. “You remember what they said at the Citadel when the Bane resurrected last summer? They said he returned looking younger and more robust than before.”

“Because he came back in a different, but similar-looking body,” Titus concurred. “And that was how, even though they had blown out his brains in the Caucasus, he was still able to come back the next day, looking no worse for wear.”

“Taking over another body entirely—it is a frightful power. Have you ever heard of another instance of it?” asked Mrs. Hancock, her voice weak.

Kashkari shook his head. “Only in stories.”

“So it is not the first time West walked into Mrs. Dawlish’s that we should worry about. It is the next time,” said Iolanthe.

“What do you mean?” asked Mrs. Hancock.

“Next time we see him, it might very well be the Bane using West’s body.”

Silence fell.

“I wonder how long it takes the Bane to ready a body for use,” murmured Kashkari.

“Something like that has to be contact requisite,” said Iolanthe. “Seventy-two hours, at least.”

“Let us assume the worst,” said Titus. “Let us assume that he will be back tomorrow.”

Mrs. Hancock made a sound like the whimper of a wounded animal. “What can we do? Do we attack him directly?”

Titus shook his head. “No use. We all know now that the Bane cannot be killed except in his own lair, where his original body is kept. Unless what I know of sacrificial magic is completely wrong, when he sacrifices another mage, the Bane must also sacrifice something of himself. That is why he always wants the most powerful elemental mage available—since he must sacrifice a part of himself no matter what, he would want to get as much out of each sacrifice as possible. And I would guess that what he gets from the sacrifice of a truly phenomenal elemental mage must be orders of magnitude greater than what he could achieve with a more ordinary one.”

“How does the Bane know that for certain?” asked Kashkari. “My uncle was killed before the Bane could get to him. The girl who brought down lightning is still eluding his grasp, as far as anyone knows. Before them, there hadn’t been any great elemental mages in centuries.”

“There was one within the Bane’s lifetime—there must have been, and in Atlantis itself, no less,” Iolanthe said. “I recently came across an old travelogue. Some travelers en route to Atlantis, back when anyone could visit the realm, had described the great maelstrom of Atlantis, which had just come into being not long before. That is stupendous elemental magic, to create a whirlpool that still exists almost two centuries later. But I have never heard of such a mage. Anyone wants to bet that perhaps this poor elemental mage would have been the first the Bane sacrificed?”

“And perhaps when he had done so, he needed no more sacrifices for a long time, because it had been such a powerful sacrifice,” said Kashkari. “And then, when the effect finally began to wane . . .”

Titus nodded. “In any case, the Bane is here because he desperately needs the next great elemental mage—there are only so many body parts he can give up before there is nothing left of him. It is our task to make sure that he never nabs that elemental mage.”

“But we don’t even know where the lightning girl is.”

“Not the lightning girl,” said Titus. “Wintervale.”

“What?” cried Kashkari and Mrs. Hancock in unison.