The Perilous Sea (The Elemental Trilogy #2)

Titus briefly described his mother’s vision, and then the fulfillment of that vision at Sutherland’s uncle’s house.

An almost beatific light came over Kashkari’s face. “Finally! I have been wondering for years the exact purpose for which I am protecting Wintervale. We should take Wintervale and go. Right now.”

“You can do it,” said Titus, “but I cannot, unfortunately. I must give an account of my whereabouts every twenty-four hours. If I am missing for seventy-two hours then another warm body must be put on the throne. So I cannot leave until absolutely the last minute.”

“Neither can I,” said Mrs. Hancock, “without my overseers immediately knowing something is wrong.”

“But I have been telling the boys that I am leaving for America,” said Iolanthe. “No one would be that surprised by my departure. So if you need me to, I can take Wintervale to a safe house.”

“I have a spare carpet you can use, if you don’t want to travel by nonmage means,” offered Kashkari. “It can carry four hundred pounds, cruise at one hundred twenty miles an hour, and go five hundred miles without touching ground.”

“Wait a minute,” said Mrs. Hancock. “Why is Wintervale not involved in any of our discussions?”

Kashkari glanced at Titus. “I’m not sure what the prince’s reason is, but I’ll tell you mine. Three weeks after we met, Wintervale showed me a trick. He cupped his palms together and when he opened them, there was a tiny flame suspended in midair. I wasn’t the only one he showed the trick to—I’m sure half of the boys on this floor have seen it, at least everyone who plays cricket, that is.

“I had a bit of a crisis after that. I came eight thousand miles, leaving my family behind, to keep this boy safe? This boy who couldn’t stop showing off to nonmages, because he needed approval and admiration that badly.

“Don’t mistake me. I like Wintervale a great deal, but I don’t think he has changed that much in all the years I’ve known him and I don’t dare trust him with secrets that ought to remain secrets.”

“So you plan to just grab Wintervale at the last possible second, without telling him anything ahead of time?” asked Mrs. Hancock, looking doubtful.

“His mother is here, but she does not want him to know that she is here,” said Titus. “We should all exercise similar caution.”

And his was the last word on the subject.



After Mrs. Hancock and Kashkari left, Titus took Iolanthe into his arms.

She held him tightly. “Scared?”

“Petrified.”

“Me, too,” she admitted.

The revelations of the evening were a mad swirl in her head. She wanted to go to bed and forget for a while, but she was afraid that if she were to actually fall asleep, then she would be caught flatfooted if something were to happen in the middle of the night.

“And to think that Mrs. Hancock is the one responsible for your being educated outside the Domain, at this nonmage school,” she went on. “It’s true what they say, the threads of Fortune weave mysteriously.”

“You were right about me—that my life was never going to be anything but thoroughly enmeshed with the Bane’s.” He exhaled. “But what if we fail?”

“We most likely will. You know this. As do I—and all the other mages who have ever taken up wands against Atlantis.” She kissed him on his cheek. “So forget that and let’s concentrate on what we need to do.”

He nodded slowly. “You are right—again.”

She put a kettle in the grate. They were not going to sleep much this night, so they might as well have some tea. “Last time Atlantis put a no-vaulting zone on the school. They could very well do the same thing again—and this time we wouldn’t have Wintervale’s wardrobe for a portal.”

“But we do have a number of carpets—Kashkari has two and I have one, which together should be sufficient to ferry all of us. I have the Crucible, which can act as a portal in emergencies. Not to mention you have a quasi-vaulter.”

“Give the vertices of the quasi-vaulter to Wintervale.” They would need three days on his person before they could work on him. “He will be the most difficult to move for all of us—much better if he can use the quasi-vaulter.”

He opened her cabinet and took out her tin of tea leaves. “I will do that. I am sure I can think of something to tell him without giving away everything.”

Again this lack of confidence in Wintervale. “Is it possible your judgment is clouded by having known Wintervale for so long? I feel he has been far more sober and far less indiscreet after the maelstrom.”