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Back The Infinity Courts Save as PDF
Chapters (52)
  1. Dedication
  2. 1
  3. 2
  4. 3
  5. 4
  6. 5
  7. 6
  8. 7
  9. 8
  10. 9
  11. 10
  12. 11
  13. 12
  14. 13
  15. 14
  16. 15
  17. 16
  18. 17
  19. 18
  20. 19
  21. 20
  22. 21
  23. 22
  24. 23
  25. 24
  26. 25
  27. 26
  28. 27
  29. 28
  30. 29
  31. 30
  32. 31
  33. 32
  34. 33
  35. 34
  36. 35
  37. 36
  38. 37
  39. 38
  40. 39
  41. 40
  42. 41
  43. 42
  44. 43
  45. 44
  46. 45
  47. 46
  48. 47
  49. 48
  50. 49
  51. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  52. ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Because if they’re saving people, it’s for a reason. There must be an endgame—a purpose to all of this.

Annika tilts her head, her eyes a luminous amber. She doesn’t hesitate. “We’re going to find a way to kill Queen Ophelia and take back Infinity. And when that day comes, we hope you’ll be ready to fight with us.” She pauses, letting her words sink in. “But for now? All we want you to do is survive.”

8

THE THROBBING IN MY SKULL returns, beating behind my forehead like there’s a monster trying to break free. I pinch the bridge of my nose, hoping to ease the pain, but nothing changes.

It gets worse every time I think about my family, and what being in Infinity means.

This is the future my sister will one day find when she grows old and dies.

Annika says the Residents separate humans based on how they respond to death during Orientation. Humans who die peacefully and without a fight are usually the easiest to rob of their minds. Most take the pill willingly, because they’ve already accepted their deaths. They’re then forced into the shadows of Victory, forever in servitude to the Residents.

Those who die in pain with suffering still webbed around their souls usually need more coaxing—either because they’re in denial about their death or because they don’t believe they deserve peace. They refuse the pill, not because they see through the lie, but because they aren’t ready for an afterlife. They’re sent to Famine, where they waste away, tormented by the pain of their human lives until they surrender themselves to the Residents.

And those who turn down the pill because they sense deceit? Who fight back and remain aware, but aren’t lucky enough to escape with the Colony? They’re sent to War, where they’re quite literally beaten into submission. It’s where I’d be now if the Colony hadn’t come to rescue me.

And Death—the last of the Four Courts—is a mystery.

Annika says the only whisper of proof Death even exists is the prince who wears its colors. But there are rumors that plague the Colony, about how Death is more of a testing facility than a princedom. And since Queen Ophelia’s greatest desire is to rid Infinity of human consciousness for good, it doesn’t take much of an imagination to guess what it is Death hopes to accomplish.

They’re searching for a way to eradicate us.

I sit on the edge of a thin mattress, staring at the crooked floorboards like I’m half expecting the earth to open up and swallow me whole. I don’t want this for Mei. For my parents.

I don’t want this for me.

All we want you to do is survive.