“‘Your effort to aid the rebellion on the Aristonian Empire has not gone unnoticed. In offering your assistance, you have aligned High Luana with a known terrorist to our kingdom and have therefore administered a declaration of war. As such, the Kingdom of High Luana and all surrounding Elvish Kingdoms will be condemned to Chaos.’”
Jo could pretty much hear the King saying “I told you so,” but she didn’t let the thought fester, too distracted by the following line.
“‘That being said, all may be forgiven on the grounds of one, simple request. An invitation of sorts.’” Jo had no problem hearing Pan’s voice suddenly peek through in the letter, her sing-song cadence sardonic and twisted, even in writing. “‘My dear, dear Destruction. If you wish to prevent this Chaos from befalling our dear friend and his people, then join me for an evening in Aristonia’s Grand Castle.’” Jo’s stomach soured at the thought, churning like curdled milk. Pan demanded their attention even from thousands of miles away.
Not that she had ever truly escaped Pan, Jo realized. With a single letter, Jo could feel their connection grow—Pan’s magic was laced in the curved script like perfume soaked into the parchment. Unlike the rope pulling taut between her and Snow, this one she wished desperately to loosen. Ever since they had been first split from Oblivion, all those years ago, Jo had never been more than a half-step ahead of Pan.
“‘A single evening is all I ask of you, Josephina Espinosa,’” Pan’s final words declared, though it was obvious there was still much written between the lines. “‘RSVP to my invitation and High Luana is safe, even protected by Aristonia should a future war arise.’” Jo didn’t like the threat there, but nothing could be done to ameliorate it.
Finally, after it felt as though Jo’s voice had gone raw from reading—though in reality it had been no more than a page of script—she brought the deranged announcement to a close.
“‘My final demand is that you come alone,’” Pan had written, and though Jo had expected it, the implication still left her choking out the last word, requiring her to swallow once before continuing. “‘Between the two of us, I’m sure we can work something out. Until then, my darling. Yours truly, Pan. Grand Advisor to the King.’”
Chapter 22
No Other Options
“This is obviously a trap, right?” Wayne said what they were all thinking.
“Obviously,” Eslar said, holding the letter. He’d stepped forward to take it from Jo after she’d finished reading it aloud. Now he inspected it as if some hidden meaning might be secreted away in the parchment itself.
They were all quiet, simply staring at the unassuming note, as if willing the words written on it to change. Well, all of them except for Samson. He was busy bustling about the workshop, trying to right things that had been toppled or tipped. It was a fruitless effort; no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t seem to get things just how he wanted them. It was as if the crafter couldfeelthe invisible hands of the people who had ransacked his lab. But it gave the man something to do to keep his mind off his anxiety, so they let him bustle to his heart’s content.
“So we’re not actually considering just going back on her terms, right?” Wayne asked. When no one responded he repeated, “Team, we’re not actually considering it,right?”
“What choice do we have?” If no one else was going to say it, then Jo would. “She has us between a rock and a hard place on this one. As Samson said, it’s not like we can make another bow and we gave King Silvus our word Luana wouldn’t get wrapped into this.”
“But we also know that she isn’t going to go after you, that shecan’tgo after you while you’re here. We have time and we still have the arrow—which maybe she doesn’t know about yet. We still have the upper hand.”
“He’s not completely wrong.” Takako almost grimaced as she said the words, as if the mere idea of agreeing with Wayne brought her some amount of physical pain. Jo stifled a laugh at the sight; this was certainly not a time for laughter. “We know she isn’t going to make the first move.”
“Or she already has,” Eslar added. “And she will make good on her threats to Luana.”
“Either way. . .” Takako motioned to the letter, unflinching at the mention of war. “She’s at a stalemate when it comes to Jo. As long as we have the arrow we’re a threat, and the bow is useless to her. Furthermore, as we already established, it’s not in her best interest kill Jo. We can bide our time. We can think of a new plan.”
Jo placed her hands on her hips, looking at the letter as though it were about to come to life and turn into something that she could actually fight. But there was no monster here for her to do battle with—only words scribbled down on a piece of paper by a madwoman. There would be no simple way out of this scenario.
“I can’t imagine the elves will let us stay much longer after this.” As if sensing the entirety of Jo’s attention weighted on his hand, Eslar shoved the letter into an inner pocket of his robes.
“Rightfully so,” he muttered. Jo didn’t voice a disagreement.
“We could go to my home,” Takako offered without hesitation. “My family would take us in. It’s not much, but it’s in the mountains and fairly off the radar. At the very least, it would give us a place to regroup without threatening Luana.”
It was a good offer, but it only delayed the inevitable. “No,” Jo said before anyone else could get an idea. “We’re going back to Aristonia.”
“What?” Everyone seemed to say all at once.
“Dollface, did you miss the part about this being a trap?” Wayne asked.
“I have no doubt it’s a trap. But I also have no doubt that we have no other real options.” Jo shook her head and every other possibility vanished, unviable. “If we go and hide somewhere else, she’ll just find us again and wreak havoc there. I wouldn’t be surprised if every time she’ll find us faster and the devastation will get worse.” Jo looked to Takako. “I’m not going to bring that on your family.” And then to Eslar. “I’m not going to bring that on anyone’s family. And you all know that’s what she would do.
“Plus, it’s not like we’ll be able to make another bow. We’ll just be delaying the inevitable.”
Luckily, no one objected. Which was a relief; Jo didn’t have to bring up how Snow had told her of the chaos Pan had reaped during the Age of Gods in an attempt to find her.
“So, then, you’re offering yourself up to her on a silver platter? After being on the run for weeks, you’re giving her just what she wants, just how she wants it?” Wayne threw his arms in the air. “Then what was the point?”
“The point is what it’s always been,” Jo said sharply. “And the plan is as it’s always been—for me to join with her and then for Takako to kill Oblivion. We’re just changing the how and when a little bit.” Her mind tried to account for all the variables at once. Jo was certain she came up short, but they had time (even if it was precious little now) to revise. She could count on Takako to smooth over the kinks.
