Page 17 of The Secrets of Jane: Reborn

“What is Cypress using us for?” Soren asks, straightening his posture from a slight slump, his drifting gaze now sharpened.

My father slowly blinks before craning his head to look up at the ceiling, as if reading something unwritten up there. “The honest truth is onlysheknows. The reason I’m here, aside fromseeingJane, is that the fanatics in the Fire Isles, the ones going by the Order of Ash, are closing in, and I’ve secured somewhere across the Black Sea to escape to. It’s safer there.That’swhat can’t be delayed. And I want out of this city. Immediately.”

No matter what, it’s as if I climbed a mountain’s peak, only to see therealpeak in the distance, and I have no interest in evenattemptingit. The Order of Ash are those fire worshippers, situated on a giant island near the Balar Coasts. To have them here… It doesn’t make a lot of sense. “Closing in? On who? For what? Why is Ash after me? They don’t seem to ever bother us here. You said something aboutBlackwell.”

“They want you, Jane, because of a power you don’t know of. Or, perhaps you’re aware that it exists, but don’t understand it,” my father answers, his voice low and full of urgency. “Fire, heat, anything that would burn the average man can’t hurt you.”

My lips open,and then they stay that way.

“That—that’s it?” I aimlessly look all around as I raise my hands as if to gripsomething,but then they drop with heavy confusion. “That sounds useless.”

Soren’s grave expression momentarily breaks with a flicker of amusement, only to deadpan again. “Would make sense why you’re unaffected from the boiling water.”

As fascinating as that might be on any other day, it just feels like a massive distraction right now. “Okay, sure, let’s say that’s real. Why are we bringing it up?”

In all honesty, even if it immediately brings clarity about my lack of burns, I can’t embrace the concept. It’s such a random trait to learn about myself, and feels so wildly disconnected from what’s happening.

“Useless toyou, perhaps. But not to those who want you. It’s from your mother’s line. It’s why you were hunted in the first place. Why youbothwere.” He leans back in his seat, glaring at a candelabra. “There is an entity known as the God of Misery,who lives north of the Fire Isles, in lands that are so damn hot no man can walk before burning through his boots within a few steps. The further inland you go, the air will eventually burn yourlungs.” He lifts a finger to gesture at me. “Yourlineage, and those with your powers, allow people to reach there. To visit Misery’s crypts, so he can be reborn in the flesh.Ourflesh.”

“Did you just say the fucking God of Misery?” Soren asks, an intensity in his voice that makes my heart race.

“He’sthe reason we’re all here,” Dad grimly answers. “Blackwell. The Order of Ash. Even Cypress.”

My heart thrums in my rib cage, my teeth grinding painfully into each other. Staring at the many waxy sticks that melt down the iron ore that holds them, I fixate on one in particular, observing the bright light like it’s a giant, bizarre lie.

Fire? All of this for something I didn’t even know I supposedly am?

Some neglected, traumatized part of my heart sorely longs for the idea that myfather—a man I thought I lost—knows more things about me than I do. Like a parent might. Even thesuggestionis so enticing that I’m momentarily frozen, not wanting to ruin the possibility.

Fuck it. Release the hope. It always tastes bitter in the end. Get this over with.

Nearing one of the waxy sticks, I reach out, holding my hand near the heat to feel the gentle sensation of warmth, pinching the fire, then squeezing the wick between my fingers and hold it.

I examine my skin.

Nothing. Maybe slightly pink, but there’s nothing like what I witnessed in the village. It’s also far from uncomfortable, reminding me of how the baths are never too warm, even if others have skin as red as cooked lobster.

There’s no way…

Coalfell.My gut seizes with dread when recalling the villagers, and of Maryanne. The guilt for what happened is like poison, giving me tunnel vision as soon as it enters my veins. Almost as quickly as it appears, I shove it down so it can’t drown me.Don’t focus on that now.

My chest rises and falls, faintly shaking my head now thateverythingis heavier with my dad’s statement. “I didn’t realize… how did I never know? Mom never said anything,” I murmur.

“You always stayed away from fires because it’s what everyone else did. And she and Iplannedto tell you, but didn’t want that secret out in case anyone was searching for someone like you. Kids keep secrets with each other, and you were close to your friends. It was a risk we weren’t ready to take.”

Focus, Jane. Don’t get emotional. A god wants you for this…“I don’t—you said this dumb god wants to be born in theflesh? I’ve never heard of that.”

I just want things to be normal.

So badly.

I’m so burnt out by the calamity.

“Gods usually don’t seek this route. The risk is insurmountable to most, requiring a forfeiture of powers for centuries. They usually manage their bidding through conduits, like Cypress. Meddling directly with us means they can be killed and cease to exist while in the limbo state that Misery is currently within.”

“And he’s risking all that… for what? Do you even know?”

“If grief and strife are how he gains force, and he isgreedy, then being in the flesh allows him to ensure a reign of misery would last for centuries, if not longer. And either due to an annoying string of the fates, or shit luck, we’re alive in a time where he’s seeking rebirth. Fifty years earlier, and this would be your mother living this reality.”