The original plan was the best thing they had, even if it was still mostly evolving as they went along, and it was the least she could do to try and keep it playing out. She’d gotten inside, she’d found Snow; now all that was left was finding the bow and sending out a signal.
She just hoped that total destruction of Pan’s precious castle would be enough to get their attention.
Chapter 30
Time To Destroy Something
Snow’s words replayed in her head as Jo paced the tiny box that was her room.
Pan kept her treasures in a vault, a room, a safe place at the center of it all.
Those thoughts layered atop the memory of her visit to Pan’s room in the Society—the only time Jo had achieved an in-depth look into the workings of the magical fortresses Pan surrounded herself with. But there was something more, adding a depth to her understanding that even Jo didn’t want to consider too closely.
It was a quiet reassurance nearly purring in the back of her mind that she knew what Pan had done because they were one being; they were born of one mind and had never deviated too far from each other’s thoughts.
Jo stopped her pacing. She closed her eyes, mentally summoning the central courtyard she’d seen earlier—the one void of decor and function.The room was an illusion, Jo decided,one of many. It was a house of mirrors, reflecting outward distorted images to keep people from finding what was truly within. But something about that room seemed significant to her. Something about that room in particular was central to everything else.
“They call me a demigod.” Jo looked at her hand, balling it into a fist. “I should see if it really holds true.”
She had come here for one purpose: to end it. No amount of fanfare or distraction was going to change that. Resolved, Jo turned to the door. Magic churned within her, faster and faster until it felt like she was at the eye of a storm that would be unleashed on the whole building. She would start as usual—by dismantling and cracking at the seams. But Jo was prepared to unleash a hellfire of wanton destruction, caring not for how things were decimated so long as theywere.
Jo gripped the door, ready for a lock, ready for it to resist her.
But it did not.
It swung open soundlessly, miraculously revealing the same hallway she’d seen before. Jo stared at it, somewhat angry that Pan couldn’t even let her have a dramatic start to the end.
Jo shrugged the idea away, running down the hall. The less she had to destroy—for now—the better. The longer Pan could be ignorant to Jo’s movements (assuming she didn’t already know them), the longer Jo would have to locate the bow. But first, she had to get to Snow.
Jo skidded to a halt at the end of the hall, a dead end creeping up out of nowhere. Like she’d done with the marionette earlier, Jo turned in place to reveal a new stretch of hallway. She sprinted between the orbs, pushed through the door at the end, and was met with the first sitting room she’d seen upon entering.
“I choose . . . you.” Jo pointed to the door opposite, pushing through it and into another hall.
She repeated the process two more times.
On her fourth try, Jo came to a stop at the end of the hall with the dead end. But this time, she didn’t turn around. Jo stared at the wall in front of her, forcing herself to think of what Pan would do. She was certifiably insane, but she could calculate a long game better than a chess protégé.
Pan knew Jo would come for Snow, for the bow, and to end things once and for all. Pan knew she would ultimately escape her room—the unlocked door was practically an invitation. Which also meant Pan knew that Jo would fall prey to her maze and reach this point of frustration.
She knows I’ll break something, Jo thought to herself, not daring to say the words aloud. If Jo had been herself from a year ago—headstrong and hot-headed—she would’ve walked right into Pan’s trap and destroyed the wall before her. And why not? It was barring her path. All the doors in the room were unlocked—there was no need for her to break them.
Jo’s eyes dropped. In truth, Pan might think Jo would do any number of things. But destroying the floor from underneath her feet? Jo didn’t think that would be among them.
Pushing her magic downward and into the floor, Jo felt the fractures increasing just before the large, satisfyingcrackthat sent rubble and magic scattering.
Biting back a scream as she fell, Jo braced herself for impact—braced to bounce back the moment her body would be destroyed. Her magic worked in the same fashion as it had before and Jo landed hard, feeling the bones in her shins shatter and using the momentum of it to send her sprinting forward—her body as good as new in the process.
This hall felt different than the one above her. She’d landed in another one of Pan’s mazes, but one a little closer to the castle’s center. Here, the chaos seemed to writhe and struggle to keep its foothold. It was almost as if an invisible comb was trying to pull out the tangles and yank it into order.
Snow was here.
Using his magic like a homing beacon, Jo broke through the walls and windows and doors that would hold her back. But that wasn’t all Pan would throw her way, apparently. One of the shadow creatures she’d faced before at High Luana stood at the ready, blocking her path ahead. Jo remembered what Eslar had said—these were elves who had sold themselves to the dark arts. This wasn’t like the first man who’d been a civilian tainted by Pan’s magic. This man stood here by choice.
She didn’t even waste her breath offering to spare its life.
Jo launched in for the offensive, throwing out a wave of magic. The creature’s shield unraveled, then promptly bounced back together—it seemed Pan had made some modifications. Startled, Jo was almost caught flat-footed as the thing charged.
Dodging to the side, Jo stomped her foot down as she caught her balance. It sent a shockwave of magic into the floor that crumbled the stone beneath the man’s feet. He barely had time to look at her before he was falling and Jo didn’t waste her time looking to see where he landed.
