Free Infinite by Jodi Meadows Page B

over the temple books and translations of symbols, hoping for a breakthrough. But if there was anything about how to stop Janan, I hadn’t seen it yet.
    “We need to consider moving on,” Whit said one afternoon. “Every day we stay here is another day Deborl might find us.”
    “Especially since we’ll have to walk.” Sam flipped through his SED, checking for earthquakes and eruptions around Range. From beside him, I could see several red dots on the screen, but none of them were very large.
    “And carry all our things.” Stef looked up from reading through Menehem’s notes on building his machine.
    “We’re waiting for the sylph.” I turned a page in the temple book and scribbled out a few more possible translations. “And Cris.”
    Whit cocked his head at me. “Wait, how will Cris be here? He died during the riot on market day.”
    I groaned and dropped my face into my hands. “Stef. Your turn.”
    She sighed. “You promise if we tell him enough, he’ll start to remember?”
    I nodded, face still buried in my hands. “It worked on Sam. The magic will crack and fade, but it takes time.”
    “I’m sitting right here,” Whit muttered darkly.
    “Cris is a sylph now.” Stef headed for the kitchen area, an empty coffee mug in hand. “When Deborl trapped Cris, Ana, and me inside the temple, Cris sacrificed himself in order to free us.”
    “You were inside the temple?” Whit asked.
    I slammed the temple book shut and grabbed my notebook. “This is what Cris told me: five thousand years ago, Janan was your leader. The leader of all the humans, as far as I can tell. He was just a man, nothing more. But he craved immortality, so he gathered a group of warriors and went hunting for the secrets of eternal life. Something big happened. I don’t know what. I’m studying the books, trying to understand. Then Janan and his warriors were imprisoned in towers all across the world. When his followers—you—heard of his capture, they went to free him.
    “They—you traveled until you reached an immense wall ringing a single tower. But when you tried to free him, he said the phoenixes had imprisoned him because he had succeeded in his quest: he’d discovered the secret to immortality.”
    “And then what?” Whit asked.
    “Then . . .”
    Stef lifted an eyebrow, a silent question. Did I want her to say it?
    I shook my head. No. No one else needed to bear that guilt. And . . . it was easier if they didn’t know.
    Sam looked at me with a sudden and penetrating curiosity, as though he could tell I held back something important.
    I averted my gaze and continued speaking. “Then Janan shed his mortal form. He became part of the temple, which was already infused with phoenix magic, and began the journey to immortality. True immortality, without the cycle of life and death and rebirth. He wanted you all to wait for him. He wanted to come back and rule you as he had before”—so he’d told them—“so he caused you to reincarnate.”
    Stef nodded. “We allowed Meuric to bind us in chains inside the temple, and then Janan became part of the temple. We were all bound to him.”
    From across the room, Sam’s gaze was dark and heavy and grieving.
    “Does that mean—” Whit glanced from me to Sam and back. “Oh. You’ll never be reincarnated, will you?”
    I shrugged and opened the temple book again. “It’s not important.”
    “It is—” he started.
    “It’s not. There’s nothing we can do about it, and even if we could change it, the cost is too great.” I tried to focus on my work, but my vision was misty. No matter what happened, this was it for me. I had this one fleeting life.
    I had to make the most of it.
    “All right.” Whit’s voice was soft; he was only conceding because he wouldn’t argue with a girl who’d live only once.
    I didn’t look up from the book, but I could feel everyone’s stares. Their pity.
    Sam’s grief.
    “It’s not important,” I repeated. “After Soul Night,