Getting up from her seat, Jo made her way over to Takako’s window on the other side of the carriage. The woman quickly moved aside, giving her room to look. Jo squinted into the sunlight; sure enough, there was land on the horizon, quickly drawing closer.
The capital of Aristonia was near the southern tip of the land. Craggy bluffs reached upward from the ocean in the same color as the ancient blues of ice that one would find deep within a glacier. The landscape was coated in white: White snow on mountain peaks. White ice reaching out into that Arctic cobalt canvas.
The ice and water stretched tendril fingers into the mainland, as if reaching and trying to reclaim the land itself for the sea. They flew over capes and fjords, their shadow racing across land and sea below. Then, as if by the same magic that made its presence sustainable in such a harsh environment, civilization appeared.
“Do you think calling it Goddik was a little too on the nose?” Wayne murmured the name of the city under his breath.
“What?”
“Goddik. As in, god. Gods. Demigods. I don’t know, perhaps I’m reading into it.”
“Would it really surprise us?” Takako asked. “Given who probably came up with the name?”
Jo gave a noncommittal hum, her mind and focus now completely consumed by the spiky black castle that reached upward, as though it were made of frozen black fire. Pan was somewhere in there, waiting for them, waiting forher. But more importantly, so was Snow.
Her heart seemed to skip a beat, as if to say,I’ll be there soon.
The creature banked again, descending further. It seemed to know by instinct where it needed to go. Jo wondered if there was some sort of system that the elves had that only the beast could hear. Or did the beast have more sense than she had given it credit for, and this entire time it had carefully charted out their flightpath, fully understanding who it was carrying and where?
They were questions Jo would never get an answer to, for the Luanian customs elves seemed eager to wipe their hands of them the second they landed. She could ask Eslar, assuming he would tell her, but that would dedicate brainpower to something that wasn’t finding her way to Snow. It was as if landing in Aristonia had given her a devoted sense of tunnel vision, her heart and mind stretching along that rope of magic and longing with renewed vigor.
They had just cleared the customs building when the fliorth took to the skies once more, carriage still attached. Jo paused, watching as it quickly ascended into the heavens, turned, and headed back the way it came.
“It really is incredible,” she whispered.
“It is,” Eslar said, equally as soft. His voice was filled with longing and sorrow; mixed emotions were no doubt rampant in him at the sight of the last connection he had with his homeland leaving without him.
“How about that one?” Takako asked, pointing at the first hotel she saw.
“That’ll work.”
They checked in. Wayne paid for a room for him and Takako to share. Eslar paid for one on his own to share with Samson. The hotel clerk looked suspicious of his new patrons, but didn’t question. Even though it was the capital of a major nation, Jo couldn’t imagine people often made their way up here for pleasure. Especially not with Pan’s reputation casting a pall over the landscape.
If she had been the owner of the hotel, she would’ve been thrilled for a walk-in.
They all crammed into Wayne’s room. It was an extremely tight fit, but doable. This wasn’t exactly a trip meant for leisure, and the likelihood of anyone spending significant time in the room was slim. Once everyone was seated—on beds, the chair, and even the desk—Jo decided to speak. It seemed like they were all waiting for her to anyway.
“Well, if she lets me go, I’ll know where to find you all.”
“She’s not going to let you go,” Wayne muttered. Just once, it would be nice to hear him as the voice of optimism. But under the present circumstances, pragmatism was likely far more valuable.
“I know. Which means you all need to look for my sign, for when I have the bow.”
“What sort of a sign?” Takako asked.
The question had been in the back of Jo’s mind as they were flying in, and Jo was pleased with the solution she’d come up with. “There are flags flying on almost every tower of the Castle, so no matter where I am, I should be able to see at least one. I’ll go for the tallest one, break it clean off, shred the flag—something obviously unnatural. And if I can’t get the tallest, I’ll do one of the others.”
“Then what?” Wayne asked.
“Then you guys will have to find a way in.” Jo folded her arms over her chest. “I’m sorry I don’t have much more of a plan than that, but at the very least, after the Sapphire Bridge, I think it’s safe to say that I can break down any wards standing in your way.”
“And then we’ll find you in the castle,” Takako continued. “Get the bow—if you don’t have it already. And take out Pan.”
“What if you’re imprisoned?” Wayne asked. “Somewhere that you can’t see these flags?”
“Then I’ll break out. You know nothing can hold me back.”
“Nothing except for whatever another demigod can concoct. She’s done a good enough job of holding back Snow across time.”
