I turn back to the statue and focus on the pale gray arches. I’m about to insist I can’t see anything—about to insist this is as silly as looking for meaning in an astrology horoscope—when I see something behind the uneven curves.

The face of a woman with no hair erupting from a cloud of darkness and light and reaching up for something just beyond her grasp.

The face of someone escaping into another world.

Something flickers in the corner of my eye—a light maybe? But when I look toward the sudden movement, it seems to have vanished. All I can see is another empty hallway.

“Well?” the man asks gently. Methodically.

I don’t know why my instinct is to lie, but it is. “I can’t see anything.” I pause, grasping at the first distraction I can think of. “Why does the water shimmer like this?”

“Because it’s not water.” He holds his hand out toward the fountain like he’s commanding it to move. When it does, I feel as if the room has tilted sideways, and I struggle to maintain my balance.

“How did you…?” I start, my mouth hanging open in disbelief. The liquid rises in delicate spirals, spinning around the statue and weaving through the arches like it’s merely part of a dance. Like it’s…

Like it’s magic, my mind erupts.

Is that what this place is?

“Human consciousness created Infinity, and everything that’s created can also be controlled. In time you will learn how to make your mark here. You will learn to awaken the parts of your consciousness that were so limited in your biological life. But first you must drink.” He flicks his fingers, and the liquid swirls higher, circling above the statue like a halo of shimmering ribbons. “This is the Fountain of Eternity. The essence it carries is the same as what’s preserved in the pill that was offered to you. If you take the pill—if you drink from this fountain—you will complete your transition. Infinity will become yours to explore and shape. It will become the paradise your mind craves.”

I want so much to feel excitement over the fact that all my fantasies about having superpowers might actually come true, but I don’t know enough about this place to trust anyone. Maybe not even myself.

I’m dead. I lost my entire family in a single moment. Everything after—everything now—I’m not sure I want to be excited about anything ever again.

Because I wasn’t ready to die.

The thump behind my eyes doesn’t slow. It would be so easy to shut it off, to take a sip from this ethereal pool and never feel pain again.