“And when you spend a hundred lifetimes with someone, they start to feel like family anyway,” Shura adds, smiling at her adoptive mother.

I motion toward their clothes. Toward everything around me. “Most of this stuff looks modern. A hundred lifetimes would practically put you in the Stone Age. So unless one of you turns out to be a real-life Flintstone, I don’t understand how that’s possible.”

“Time operates differently here,” Ahmet says. “There isn’t such a thing as time at all, technically. Our existence is permanent. What we perceive as the passing of time in Infinity has no relation to what’s happening in the living world. Weeks for us could be seconds for them, or it could be years. There’s no science to it, no formula. Our timelines exist separately.”

“So for my family…” My voice trails off as I try to piece together what he’s saying.

“They may not even know you’re dead yet, or they may have lived another twenty years. The only thing we know for sure is that when you’ve been here awhile, it feels…” Ahmet twists his mouth, searching for the right words.

“Like a hundred lifetimes,” Theo and Shura finish in unison, glancing at each other with matching grins. A sign of a very long friendship.

“Which is why,” Annika continues, “it feels like we’ve been waiting for you for quite some time.”

The room falls quiet, and I realize everyone is staring at me. Even Gil, though his gaze is much more accosting.

“A Hero,” Ahmet says, standing straighter.

I’m shaking my head and waving my hands all at once. “No, you’re wrong. I am not a Hero.” I cut my eyes toward Annika. “I know what happened—how I died. But one rush of adrenaline does not a hero make. I’m terrified of spiders, for crying out loud. So if this is some Chosen One moment, I’m sorry to disappoint you, but you’ve got the wrong person.”

Everyone bursts out laughing. Even Gil’s scowl has twisted into a smirk.

My cheeks burn. Clearly I’ve said something ridiculous.

Annika smiles warmly and waves a hand across the rest of the room. “You are no more chosen than we are. We’re all Heroes here. It’s what Queen Ophelia fears the most—what she fears will be her ruin. Because every human story has a hero.” She takes a step closer. “Being a Hero in Infinity just means that we’re still aware; it’s what makes us a threat to the Residents. Because as long as we exist, humans still have a chance. We can still fight.”

I stumble through my thoughts. “So I’m—I’m not special, or anything like that.”