“Helives.”
Jo let out the breath she’d been holding, the one that couldn’t be expelled with the word “dead.”
“Your wish saw to that,” Snow continued. “But wishing takes power, an immense amount, depending on what isasked.”
“And the power came from my life?” She was dead, then. It was the only explanation on so manylevels.
“In a fashion,” Snow conceded. “When a wish is made, something of equal value must be given. Every choice you make divides reality. If you say yes to a decision, there is a world in which you saidno.”
Jo remembered reading something about parallel dimensions and alternate realities in quantum mechanics when she’d fallen into a binge-watch of one of Yuusuke’s favorite pop scienceshows.
“To grant a wish, I must utilize the very essence of that possibility. I harvest the energy that exists in each alternate world by destroying it. Then, I take the energy released from that destruction and turn it into the magic that will be used to help see the wish in a singlereality.”
“So, a life for a life, in my case?” Jo struggled to understand exactly what the “destruction of worlds” meant. “You killed a world in which I existed to stop Yuusuke fromdying?”
“Somewhat. . . You are a unique case. Like the other members in the Society, you are one of the rare few who come from a long lineage of ancient, now latent, magic.” Snow ran a fingertip at the edge of his hair as he spoke, pulling it just far enough away from his eye to see. But the movement didn’t register to Jo; she was more focused on the memory of her grandmother, of her mother, and the craft of mysticism that had died when the latter left her small town inChihuahua.
“Magic is real?” It was like twelve-year-old Jo had finally got what she wanted. But the fact didn’t make nineteen-year-old Jo nearly as excited as it should. Her whole body was laden with some invisible force that grew heavier by themoment.
“It both is, and is not.” Snow nodded. “Long ago, the world was in an Age of Magic. Wishes spliced humanity time and again, driving the world as you know it away from that era, rewriting history, destroying worlds and possibilities, and rebuilding reality in each wish. Those whose magical lineage was strong enough to remain intact throughout the splices are very few now, and the power is so far removed that it’s nearly unrecognizable without the individual being a member of theSociety.”
“So, let me get this straight.” Jo stopped, putting her hands on her hips. “You’re telling me I’m the descendant of some ancient witch, and you awoke magic passed on in me by forcibly drafting me into your Society, which floats between alternatedimensions?”
He paused as well, a look of focus overcoming his features. “Simply put, I suppose that encompasses the rough idea of it. Though we do not float, and there’s only ever one time. . . What it looks like merely changes due towishes.”
“I didn’t ask for that.” She stood her ground, even if there was little use in pointing out the fact now. As Ranger agents and office workers floated around her, oblivious to her presence, it was obvious that what was done, wasdone.
“You asked for your family to be safe, for your friend to be alive. Those were theterms.”
“Don’t bring my family into this,” shechastised.
“You don’t want magic, then?” He arched his eyebrows. Jo instantly hated the way she felt under his gaze, like he could see right through her to the very curious, very excited girl squealing over the mere idea of being some kind of ancientwitch.
“That’s irrelevant,” Jo insisted. Just because the idea of magic was sparking some curiosity in her—enough to give her a bit of fire to fuel her through the exhaustion that was trying to smother her—that didn’t excuse his actions. “There’s something called consent, and it’snecessary.”
“I believe your words were: ‘Take me, I’myours.’”
Shehadsaid that. “I didn’t know what I was agreeingto!”
“Would you rather live with magic, or have died? Or would you rather your friend died?” he snapped, frustration creeping to thesurface.
Her own front wore thin and Jo finally averted her gaze, her hands falling limply to her sides. She wanted to keep up her righteous anger, but she just felt exhausted. It was downright disorienting being a specter in a world she was so clearly—despite all logic—no longer a part of. “Is that supposed to excuse being forced into thisagreement?”
“It doesn’t much matter if you think it does or doesn't.” There was the Snow that Wayne had warned her of—a colder, calculating, more calloused man. “There’s no revoking wishes and no leaving the Society. Furthermore, the reality in which you existed is goneforever.”
“What if someone wishes me back?” She just couldn’t leave something be. She had to try to pick itapart.
Snow seemed to legitimately think about the idea for a moment. “No one knows who you are to wish you back. Josephina Espinosa was never born. She never ‘adjusted’ the local ATM at age eleven to dispense at will for her friends. She never argued with her mother about what college to attend, knowing she’d never go because she was already embroiled in organized crime. She never kissed her best friend only to havehim—”
“Stop.” Her toes were suddenly the most fascinating thing she’d ever seen. “I get it.” Something about having her life boiled down in Snow’s warm voice and icy manner made it all the harder to bear. It was hard to believe what was happening, but Jo couldn’t deny the evidence right in front of her eyes. “So, if all that never happened, if that Jo never existed. . . What do I donow?”
“You help the Society grant wishes with yourmagic.”
“I thought you had the whole wish granting business on lock?” Jo shoved her hands in her pockets as she finally gave in and let him lead again. Moving was an outlet to the frustrations she was barely keeping contained at the idea of being unwillingly selected for a team—not to mention a team that existed outsidetime.
“I can only grant wishes once the world is close enough to seeing the wish happen naturally. Otherwise, I risk tearing the very fabric of reality.” Snow paused, clearly reflecting on the convolution of the statement. “Think of it this way: If the world is at state A, and a wisher wants to see it at state C, I need the Society to help move the world to a B state before a wish can begranted.”
“So,” Jo started, trying to logic through what he was saying in a framework she understood. “If someone hates the prime minister and wants to see them assassinated, they make awish.”
