Wayne shook his head sadly. “Seems he’s really gone for good.”
Jo swallowed a small uprising of grief; she should’ve assumed it to be so. But everything suddenly seemed so hopeful, so possible. She pressed her eyes closed. He should’ve gotten a fresh start too, and it was her fault that he hadn’t.
“Eslar?” She turned to Samson, hoping her assumption wouldn’t come off as too forward. But really, it seemed obvious. “Is he with you?”
Samson looked down, presumably fidgeting with something in his hands judging from the shift of his shoulders. Finally, after several long seconds, he shook his head. “Not with me,” he said softly. “He’s busy.”
“You mean being a right pain in the ass,” Wayne muttered, folding his arms. “But yeah, doll, the elf is fine too.”
Her curiosity was more than a little peaked at what, exactly, Wayne and Samson’s reactions meant. Compounded with Takako’s silence, there was certainly a story there. But she’d put a pin in it for now; there were more pressing matters.
“Everyone, I have so much to tell you.”
“We’ve managed to deduce quite a bit,” Takako interrupted. “Wayne and I took the liberty of filling in Samson and Eslar on our side mission to destroy the Society.”
“We’ve been in this new Age of Magic for almost a year, dropped right into lives as though we’d been here all along,” Wayne explained. “Hell, I’ve got newspaper clippings hanging in here with dates before I even woke up.”
It seemed like her theory about the rebirth of the Age of Magic—of time picking up right where it had left off when the Society was formed—had not been far off.
A year. “Sorry to keep you all waiting.”
“It’s all right, Jo.” Samson was the one to speak. Out of them all, he was the strongest and always had been. “None of us are mad. Well, I’m not.”
“You freed us, after all,” Wayne said matter-of-factly, though his tone betrayed that he was, still, a little nonplussed by some of her choices leading up to the end of the Society. “Albeit a little violently and without any kind of warning and—”
“I think what Wayne is trying to say,” Takako interrupted, “is that we’re all glad to see you.”
“And I’m glad to see you all.” Jo swallowed hard, all the words threatening to choke her as they tried to rush out of her mouth at once. “But you’re not free.” She wished she could handle the moment with a bit more grace, relish in the joy they all felt for a little longer. But she couldn’t. As long as Pan and she existed, there was danger still lurking right around the corner—a power of oblivion that could threaten them all.
“What’re you talking about, doll?”
“Where’s Snow?” Jo asked the question she’d been building up bravery for from the moment she woke up. “Did he make it?”
“He did, but he clearly wants nothing to do with us.” Jo was surprised by the bitterness in Wayne’s tone.
“What do you mean?”
“He hasn’t sought out any of us,” Takako explained gently. “Though, we don’t even know if he knows we’re—”
“I run the largest company in his Kingdom. I think he knows I’m here,” Wayne snapped back.
“HisKingdom?” Jo repeated.
“Snow is the King of Aristonia,” Samson chimed in. “But. . .”
“But what?” She didn’t like his tone one bit.
“Pan is his chief advisor.” Takako was the one to break the news. “We assume that’s why he hasn’t been in contact. But it’s impossible for us to get to him to find out.”
Jo placed her hands against the desk, hanging her head. “She has him again,” she whispered. There was no other explanation in Jo’s mind. History was repeating itself—Snow weak after rebuilding a new world, Pan born anew and ready for action. But this time, Pan was doing as she said she would: She wasn’t making the same mistakes, allowing herself to be trapped. “And she’s trying to flush me out.” Jo cursed under her breath.
“What’re you talking about, doll?” Wayne looked down at her with concern. Jo suspected it wasn’t going to be the last time she saw the expression on his handsome face.
“The Society may be gone, but this is far from over. This world is in grave danger.” Jo looked each of her team members in the eye, one by one. “I’m going to need your help to save it and put an end to this war, once and for all.”
