She turned in place, looking to see Snow closing the Door, and could not contain a gasp. The circular room had no exits, so the industrial portal floated a finger’s width off the ground and in mid-air, connected to no other walls—as though it could not touch anything. The moment the Door was closed, it faded fromview.
Jo reached out, holding her hand, expecting the Door to be there, merely invisible. But there was nothing. There was no collection of magic, no firming up of the essence of the Door at herwill.
“It won’t work for you,” Snow said softly, as if trying not to startle her. The sudden sound breaking the silence startled her anyway, though, and Jo swiveled. “Nothere.”
“This place. . .” Jo struggled to form complete sentences. She’d thought she’d understood magic, felt magic, but everything paled in comparison to the atmosphere here. Like the low hum of a speaker, the world seemed to buzz with an energy that rattled Jo to her core. The Door was gone now. It usually disappeared, but this time it left only the skeleton of a window beyond where it had been. There was nothing but fog to be seen through its panes—so dense that it gave birth to a waking fear of what it might obscure. “What isit?”
“It’s the room where Idied.”
“What?” Her heart was in her throat at the mere mention of Snow’s death. Whatever weird things he made her insides do aside, he was still their leader and—as far as Jo could tell—a very important glue holding the Societytogether.
“It was here that the Society of Wishes wasborn.”
“Do you even know how to speak in a way that isn’t cryptic?” Jo tried to laugh, but like a spark to wet tinder, the sound didn’t catch. It was as hollow as the crumbling, circular room in which theystood.
Circular.
Jo took the room in once more—the vaulted ceiling, collapsed in over a quarter of the room, single tiles of obsidian glittering on the floor. Three windows were obscured by fog, glass hanging onto them like snaggle-teeth. She walked forward, toward thecenter.
There, at the center of the room, was a line—so thin it almost blended in with the cracks of the stone. The obsidian circle hid behind the shards of roof tile (what civilization in history used obsidian for roof tiles anyway?) and the patch of moss. She already knew what she would find but, using the toe of her shoe, Jo cleared away the debris and greenery to confirm that the circle of inlaid, shining, black stone wascomplete.
“A circle.” Jo looked back to the man with questioning eyes. A man who, despite his modern attire, looked like he truly fit in more here than he ever had at theSociety.
“The veryfirst.”
“What happened here?” She had so many questions, but they were sluggish to roll off her tongue. In some odd, impossible way, the place seemed almost. . .familiar?
“What happened here is no longer relevant. It’s what happens here now that’s important.” Snow started for the center of the room himself, but Jo did not stand and wait for him to meether.
She spurred her feet to motion, meeting him at the edge of the black circle. Her hands reached up, clutching the opening of his shirt. He was taller than her, likely physically stronger, and quite obviously magically superior. But Jo held on anyway. She held fast like her life depended onit.
“Don’t say that!” She gave him a small shake. “Don’t say that,” she said, softer. “What happened is relevant. What happened in the past is all we have now. We don’t exist anymore, right? So, the only things that really make us are our memories and ourmagic.”
Snow seemed startled, unsure even. He stared down at her with those steely eyes that suddenly felt as though they were seeing a new corner of her very essence. A place Jo hadn’t even known existed before thatmoment.
She swallowed hard, but she didn’t backdown.
“You don’t have to tell me the details of it. . . Not now, not ever, not if you don’t want to.” Jo eased back onto her heels, not remembering when she’d risen to her toes. “But don’t act like it’s notimportant.”
She felt the muscles of his chest tense under her knuckles. Snow’s hands rose, no doubt about to push her away. Jo uncurled her fingers. She had at least a little bit of dignity; she wasn’t going to force herself on someone who very clearly did not want hertouch.
His hands closed around hers, holding her there. With the wrapping of those long, elegant fingers, it felt as if he’d woven a spell across her whole body. Jo swallowedhard.
Would her heart ever catch a break around thisman?
“Very well,” Snow whispered. “I will, so do notdespair.”
Jo wanted to question if it really was that simple. Jo wanted to question why her despair mattered. Jo wanted to know everything about this man and how she measured against him. His height, compared to hers. Their closeness, barely touching along the entire lengths of their bodies. The electricity that began to fill in the void that something in her ached toclose.
“Now, I must begin.” Snow released her, as though he hadn’t felt the fever pitch he’d been working her toward with just his proximity. Jo’s knees felt like gelatin—likely for the best he’d let her go before they completely turned to jelly. “There is a wish to grant.” He looked back to her, gaze falling to her feet. “If you don’t mind stepping out of thecircle?”
“Oh, no. . .” Jo shuffled back until she met the wall. She leaned against it, arms folded, as if defending herself from whatever odd sensations he’d just begun to provoke inher.
Snow gave one nod, and one last, long look at her. Jo had never felt a man stare at her with such intent. It wasn’t like some creepy stalker, and wasn’t like Wayne’s eyes, seeing her body first when his own hungered. These were the eyes of someone who was taking in every detail, cataloging it, storing it for a memory that would be cherished. Jo recognized the stare, because she’d given it countless times to strings of code whizzing by on a command prompt. But she’d never aimed it at anotherperson.
She swallowed again, her throat still dry, and gave a nod of herown.
As if on her command, Snow looked forward. He reached into his pocket, producing what Jo fully expected to be a watch—it seemed the M.O. of the group. But instead, it was a small snuff box, no bigger than his palm. Jo squinted her eyes, trying to make out the details of the gold gilding and silver metalwork, but she couldn’t from hervantage.
