On planet Soy, Theo Majestic tried killing his former friend.

The strife prevented him from using his powers. He wielded a sword made from the green substance, but he could use it to kill Boris Endman.

A gust rippled Theo's blond hair. The strong wind swayed the four Soynites' clothing.

Vera stood nearby, carrying Hailey. Theo's love for the woman and the girl stuck to him like glue. Boris had spoken to Vera and Hailey many times before, yet he would kill them if given the chance. Theo couldn't let that happen.

Swords clashed as he and Boris struggled to kill each other. Gray soil remained underneath their shoes. Trees didn't stand on the planet, and the Freemans had destroyed its grass as well. Boris fought for the awful person who had turned Soy into a wasteland.

With his sword, Theo could kill a man he had ruled a planet with. They stepped away from each other, gripping their weapons.

Soy's sunlight shone against the swords, but the warm light wouldn't kill Boris. Yet Theo could.

Boris had destroyed his friendship with him. The white-haired Boris looked much older than Theo, but he was younger than the blond man.

It was March second. For the humans, the year was 2011.

Theo didn't have a polite chat with Boris inside the Soynite royal palace. That building, that home, didn't stand. Now Theo lived somewhere else.

Where did Boris reside? Did he and Lock Tannis live beneath the same roof?

"Why did you join him, Boris?" Theo said.

Yesterday, Freemans had brought swords to Soy, and they had murdered Soynites. Theo had killed pale invaders.

Boris hadn't.

Theo had agreed to fight him in a one-on-one duel. A green blade had crashed against another, but the men didn't bleed.

Thanks to Theo, Freemans had died, and smoke had risen. Boris deserved to fall. He held a sword, but it wasn't guaranteed it would enter Theo's chest.

Boris looked at Vera before focusing on Theo. "Your Bloodhound has led you to me, but you're not going to kill me."

"I have to," Theo said.

"But you won't," Boris replied. "Anyway, I should depart from here. If I spare your life, Lock could just kill you instead."

The former High moved a hand into his pants pocket.

"I'm going to use my teleportation stone," Boris said. "I will leave this place. By the way, don't forget that Soy is like this because of you. And you will be killed. You, Vera, and Hailey. All of you will be killed."

Boris vanished, teleporting to a different place. The woman and the girl remained nearby.

Why hadn't Boris taken Theo, Vera, and Hailey with him? Boris could've taken them to Lock, yet he had decided not to. Regardless, Theo couldn't trust Boris, or his other former co-rulers.

Theo stood on Soy, the planet where he had made a new group of Highs. But he doubted one of those young rulers would kill Lock Tannis.

Hope had died.

MARCH 3, 2022

Jake and Peter had to attack.

"We might die in the Freeman base, Jake," Peter said. "But dying is a risk everyone takes by living. Let's do everything we can to survive our assault on that base."

The weapon Jake wielded hadn't been manufactured on Earth. He could use the blue gun to kill someone who hadn't been born on the planet. That person didn't have to be himself, or Peter.

Chirping pierced the air. Overhead, a bird flapped its dark wings.

Trees dominated the area, their limbs reaching for the sky, as if they were drowning people.

Jake and Peter stood in a forest. Many miles beyond Washington was a planet, the one Jake and Peter had been born on.

Over a decade ago, they had fled Majestic City. Seattle would never be as great as that place.

Jake and Peter lived in a city they hadn't been born in. They had gone away from Soy, their homeworld, a place they might return to one day. The Freemans had traveled to Soy. Destruction had swept across the planet, Soynites had died, and Jake had escaped.

"The Freemans aren't the only ones with guns," Peter said. "We need to give them a very hard time, Jake."

Peter's hair was black, and so was the average Freeman's. It was impossible for Free's pale natives to have natural hair that wasn't black, gray, or white. And it wasn't unusual to see an old Freeman with gray or white hair.

Freemans could only have brown eyes. Jake's eyes were blue. Like Theo Majestic's.

"They gave us a very hard time," Jake said. "Of course we have to return the favor. I can't even hug my parents because of the Freemans. I can't live on Soy anymore, and that's the Freemans' fault too. And my life isn't the only one that they ruined."

"You're right, Jake," Peter said. "Sadly. The Freemans ruined your life, and they ruined mine. And they made your fellow Highs miserable. But we can do the right thing today. Well, we're going to try to do that. We have guns. And we have Freemans to kill. It's not a guarantee that we'll survive our attack on that base, but we're going to try to."

Jake had tried surviving Soy's invasion, and he had succeeded. He hadn't lost his life eleven years ago. He could try living through the attack on the Freeman base. The assault on the building would come, and he wouldn't die during the conflict.

"We're going to survive the attack, Peter," Jake said. "We're alive, and we can still do what we have to do. It's not too late to kill some Freemans."

Many pale warriors would fight and die for Lock Tannis if they could. He had made his supporters turn Soy into a planet with no green.

Freemans would kill for Lock. They had murdered great people for him.

"The Freemans love their horrible bases," Peter said. He scoffed. "They couldn't just stay away from Earth, could they?"

"Neither could we," Jake replied. "We're here because of them."

Peter inspected his laser pistol. "Let's make some Freemans die because of us."

Planet Soy.

Trees had stood on it when Jake was born. Soy's warm air couldn't brush against leaves anymore, but it would. One day.

Soy had lost its trees, grass, and buildings. Its people had either died during Soy's invasion or fled their precious planet while Freemans attacked it.

But beauty would return to Soy. Birds had never flown in its sky. Boris Endman had, though. More than once.

Soy would become a place with trees and grass again. Jake had kept that belief alive for years. He would find the Soy Maker, and he would revive the planet Freemans had ruined.

Jake and Peter had aimed their eyes at a building. Its walls were the same color as Soy's lifeless soil, and the gray place held enough space to host a huge battle.

The Freeman base. Jake's target.

If being murdered was how Jake would die, maybe his future killer would go into the building.

"It's possible we'll get separated in the Freeman base," Peter said. The dark bird perched on a tree. "No matter what happens, don't lose your gun. And if you do, take a Freeman's."

"We're not going to get separated," Jake said.

"The Freemans will want us to split up. Let's not do what they want us to do."

"I don't plan to."

"Good."

Back on Soy, Jake had struggled to survive. No Freeman had killed him during the attack on his home planet. Would he die inside the gray building?

Jake wielded a Soynite laser pistol. So did Peter.

"We're a long way from Soy," Peter said. "And the Freemans in that base are a long way from Free. We need to make sure that they never go back there."

"They don't deserve a home planet to go back to," Jake said.

Planet Free had Freemans and a red throne. Jake didn't sit on a throne, and a crown didn't touch his blond hair, but it was his right to have Soynites kneeling for him. Theo had given Jake royal power. Peter had stood behind him when it happened.

Where would Peter be when his death came? Would he die inside a space station while precious blood escaped his body?

Jake and Peter were distant from a space station, distant from Soy.

Each Soynite pendant was round and had a blue surface and a marking or markings that were white. Any markings pendants had showed on their fronts. No Soynite pendant was shaped like a sphere, and each one had a small hole meant for a blue cord.

Jake and Peter wore their pendants. The marking on Jake's pendant was a white vertical line. His best friend, someone who wasn't Peter, had a pendant with two white circles on it.

"We deserve to go back to Soy," Peter said. He gestured to the forest, one that stayed in enemy territory. "This is where we are, though. Freemans are here too. Fortunately, it's never too late to turn them into smoke. That's what we have to do today."

"Yeah," Jake said. "I'm ready to do it."

Peter glanced around the area. "You have to be."

Jake was sixteen, and he wasn't as tall as the average Freeman warrior. But held a laser gun, something that could turn a Freeman into smoke.

Were Victor and Kara armed? Where was she? Did she have Saves?

When the spaceship carrying her landed on Earth, she hadn't been able to use any Saves.

Maybe she could create ice. If she didn't have cyrokinesis, maybe she would gain that power in the future. She was what Theo was, after all.

"I'm definitely ready to kill some Freemans," Peter said. "I'm ready to kill a lot of them. Maybe another Watcher will attack that base of theirs too."

"That would be a great help," Jake said.

The Freemans had destroyed the Watcher academy Peter had graduated from. That school had taught him how to kill, but he had failed to dispose of each pale invader during Soy's invasion.

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"Even if we do meet a Watcher in the base, we have to assume that isn't going to happen," Peter said. He looked at the gaps between towering trees, but he didn't spot Freemans. Neither did Jake. "We shouldn't get our hopes up."

Clouds drifted in the sky. Its blue vastness stretched over the trees, their bare branches, and a Freeman base.

An enemy didn't stand in the meadow ahead, but one might soon.

"Before the Invasion, there were so many Soynites who didn't think that the Freemans would ever attack Soy," Peter said. "I was one of those Soynites. I thought that Lock Tannis's people were never going to attack ours. You know what ended up happening."

The attack on Soy had occurred eleven years ago. It was March third, and the year was 2022.

One Freeman had powers.

The typical Soynite developed at least one Save in their lifetime. The more Saves a Soynite had, the higher the chance they would survive a battle against their enemies. Jake planned on surviving for a long time. Surviving, like breathing, was important. And the average life expectancy for Soynites was one thousand years.

Jake couldn't teleport. He couldn't read minds, create fire, or shoot lasers from his palms. He didn't have Saves.

His ancestor Hase had gained every Save. No Soynite had existed before Hase's birth. His power had been vast, and he had brought smiles to his people's faces. He had led them well, and it had become Jake's duty to do the same.

He hadn't been a ruler when he was born. No, he had earned authority over his people during Soy's invasion. As Freemans spread carnage on Soy, Theo had given Jake royal power.

"Soynites got killed," Peter said. "Good Soynites. But what happened to them didn't happen to us. They didn't make it to the spaceship that we boarded."

For sixty-six days, Jake had lived inside a spaceship.

It had been large enough to fit a spacious cafeteria, and its walls had been blue. Freemans hadn't infiltrated the space vessel during Jake's time within it. The spaceship had harbored six young Soynite children. They belonged to the current group of Highs.

During the spaceship's flight to Earth, Jake had held a baby.

One day Jake might be with the other Highs again, and he might reunite with their Watchers, adults who had lived in that spaceship with them.

Jake stood beside Peter. Where were the other five High-Watcher pairs?

The spaceship had carried a pilot, six Soynite children, and the kids' Watchers.

Had a Freeman shot the pilot in his heart? Had the baby died years ago? They had escaped Soy with their lives, but Freemans might have killed them years ago. Or maybe one hadn't slain that baby, the youngest High. Soynites could die, but there was a possibility the baby wasn't dead like Jake's parents.

Thirteen people had moved into the blue spacecraft Jake and Peter no longer rode in. They couldn't put the spaceship to good use. Not anymore. Jake and Peter had distanced themselves from the spacecraft. They had moved away from five child rulers and their Watchers, but they had been instructed to do that. It had been part of the plan.

"Now we're away from that spaceship," Peter said. "But we're close to a Freeman base. Let me ask you something. Do you think things are going to go well for us today?"

"We're going to be fine," Jake said. He ran a finger along his weapon. "We have our guns."

"And the Freemans have theirs. They have their own spaceships, too."

The bird on the branch chirped. It flew away from the tree and joined five airborne birds.

When would Jake reunite with his co-rulers?

"Let's hope that me and you aren't the only Soynites left, Jake," Peter said.

The Soynite population no longer numbered in the billions. There had been a time when two billion of them lived on Soy. When the Freemans launched their attack on Soy, those pale people had twenty billion as their population. Many Freemans had died during the Invasion. But that had happened eleven years ago, and Jake didn't doubt there were at least twenty billion of them now.

He stood next to a tree, something no one could do on Soy. He refused to believe his home planet would be barren forever.

"We're not the only ones left," Jake said.

How many days did he have left to live?

Jake's parents had lived, and they had died. Jake had no family. His closest living relative, Theo Majestic, had gone away.

Cape Majestic.

Jake had been born with that name. Two great people had made the decision to name him Cape Majestic. His parents had smiled at him, and he had smiled at them. They had given Jake his original name. During the invasion that had made too many Soynite hearts stop, Jake's parents had been slaughtered.

They had named their son Cape. Peter called him Jake, the latest name he had chosen for himself. It wasn't the one his parents had pinned on him before his birth.

He would die as someone who shared an ancestor with Theo. As long as that man was alive, Jake didn't live as the first Soynite's only surviving descendant.

"We don't always get what we want," Peter said. "But we're going to keep hoping that we aren't the only Soynites in the universe. We can do that."

A gust shook a thin branch. Jake could snap it off the tree if he had telekinesis. If he had that power, he could separate a branch from its tree and hurl it against a pale face. If he could, he would sacrifice a tree's limb to prevent a Freeman from shooting any of his.

Could a different High break off a tree branch without touching it?

"Peter, do you ever think about the others?" Jake asked. "The Soynites we came to this planet with, I mean."

"I see that you still think about them," Peter said. He maintained his grip on his laser pistol. "You're not the only one who does, Jake. Trust me. We're going to find them. We just have to survive to see tomorr—"

Red zipped past his head.

A red laser beam. It had almost blasted into Peter's skull.

The Freeman standing in the meadow scowled. His skin was too pale, as if he were a living snowman. He aimed a black laser rifle at Peter's face.

A blue laser beam arrived. It launched into the Freeman's head. After blasting out his skull, the laser sped above the grass blades.

Jake's heart pounded, as if someone had shot him. The boy's laser pistol didn't leave his hand. With it, he could kill people who wanted to kill him. But he hadn't shot Lock's warrior.

Peter. He hadn't opened fire on the Freeman.

Jake hadn't shot him, but he wouldn't have frowned if he had wounded the enemy. The Freemans deserved to suffer.

Who had shot Lock's minion?

Blood poured from the red tunnel in his head, and he glared at his shooter.

He took aim.

His attacker fired first.

A blue laser rocketed through the air. It could grant that Freeman the death he deserved. The violent blue blasted into his forehead, and it shot through the back of his head.

How many Soynites had this injured Freeman killed? Ten? One hundred? One thousand?

If Jake could, he would kill one thousand of Lock's warriors. His supporters had murdered Soynites. Freemans hadn't shown Jake's people mercy. Why should he be kind to Lock's fighters?

With bleeding holes in his head, the Freeman dropped to his knees. He grabbed his sheathed dagger's handle.

"Die already!" a girl said.

The shooter. Like Peter, she had a Soynite accent. Jake assumed she hadn't spent too much time around humans.

She was like Jake and Peter.

Soynites could sense other ones by looking at them. The girl seemed to be sixteen years old, and she was slim. The sun cast its light against her reddish brown hair. Her eyes were blue, like Soynite space stations tended to be.

Wielding a laser gun, she opened fire. A laser launched out the weapon's barrel, and it zipped toward the Freeman. It went through his skin, flesh, and bone. The girl had put a hole in his torso. The Freeman collapsed onto his face, and he stopped breathing. His lifeless flesh changed into black smoke. Death had missed Peter, but it hadn't missed the Freeman.

Jake and Peter hadn't died. They could infiltrate the Freeman base, kill the enemies occupying it, and return home. Unlike Soy's buildings, Jake's mansion in Seattle hadn't been destroyed.

Theo Majestic, Boris Endman, Don Ascend. Three missing former Highs. Where were they?

Jake couldn't see them. He couldn't touch them. The only former High he had met was Theo, and that man didn't join Jake in the forest. He couldn't help Jake and Peter fight Freemans. Theo could create fire, read minds, and survive in the vacuum of outer space. He could do more than that.

But he couldn't participate in the upcoming attack on Jake's target.

Theo had been born as a Pure. What he was, Jake would never become. Each Pure had been born as one. Jake couldn't become like Theo. He also couldn't turn into a Bloodhound. They were born, not made.

Maggie had made a Freeman die.

Dark smoke rose toward the sky. Lifeless Freemans gave birth to smoke. It had always been that way for them.

They weren't natural.

"Maggie Up, at your service," a voice said, speaking English.

Good. Jake preferred to speak that language. One day he might speak Soynite on Soy. Like he had done eleven years ago. No matter how human he appeared, his native language would always be Soynite.

If he went near a note written in Freeman, he would be able to read it. He could read the dead enemy's native language, and he could speak it.

The fallen laser rifle crushed grass with its dark weight. Maggie had killed its owner, contributing to Soynite society. Thanks to her, the Freeman couldn't use the gun to shoot anyone. Jake and Peter were unharmed, like they had been when they arrived on Earth.

Maggie had taken a Freeman's life. She had killed an enemy Jake could've killed, but he didn't glare at her. She had done something necessary. Plus, the Freeman she had killed hadn't been the only one in the universe.

Jake and Peter stepped onto the meadow's grass.

"Thanks for killing one of Lock Tannis's minions, Maggie," Peter said. He pressed a hand against his chest. "My name is Peter Wayne, and Ine Rain is my Soynite name. This is Jake Wayne. I'm his Watcher. He's one of the new Highs. Theo Majestic made him into one, back when the Freemans were still attacking Soy. We don't know if any of the other Highs are still alive. I hope they are."

Soy's invasion had ended. Lock's reign hadn't. His time as the Freemans' highest superior had lasted for too long, but a hero would put his power to an end. Someone needed to.

"It's nice to meet you, High Jake," Maggie said. "I would kneel for you, but I have to stay cautious. All of us need to. After all, this is Freeman territory. I hope me and you become good friends. Only good friends kill Freemans together."

Jake smiled.

Maggie had confirmed Jake and Peter weren't the Soynite race's only members. There were at least three of their people still alive. Maggie had shot a Freeman, and she had managed to kill him. A foe's demise. He had lost his life, but that fact didn't make tears leave Jake's eyes.

Freemans didn't get killed enough.

If some Freeman warriors had sobbed in remorse after Soy's invasion, Jake didn't know about it. Freemans had proved themselves to be vicious killers who changed into smoke after dying. Freeman leadership was gained by killing the current Freeman leader. Theo hadn't bled when he gave royal power to Jake. He had become a ruler during a non-violent event.

He touched his Soynite pendant. It had been with him when Theo turned him into a High. The pendant that man had pressed against Jake's forehead had belonged to Hase Majestic.

A bird chirped in the sky. Somewhere in the forest, a building stood that contained armed warriors. If given the opportunity, Lock's fighters would try to kill Jake and Peter. But the two Soynites wielded laser guns. They could use them to defend themselves and defeat Freemans.

Peter put a hand on Jake's arm. "Jake. Are you okay? You didn't get shot or anything, did you?"

"I'm fine," Jake said.

Peter patted his shoulder. "Okay, good."

"I was on my way to a Freeman base," Maggie said. "It's nearby. And I think that the two of you are planning on going there too."

"Yes, we are," Peter said. He smirked. "Maggie Up, me and Jake were under the impression that we were going to be an army of two for a lot longer than we would've liked. With you on our side, we're an army of three, though."

Jake hadn't reunited with the five people he ruled a planet with, but he had met Maggie. And Peter was still with him. He hoped his Watcher would never become a casualty in this horrible war, the one the High's parents had been killed in.

"I like the sound of that," Maggie said. "I also like my spaceship. It's a Soynite one. You and Jake will see it, Peter. After we deal with the Freemans, I'll take both of you to it."

Jake grinned. "A spaceship. The last time I was inside one was a long time ago."

Back on Soy, a museum had housed the fastest Soynite spaceship. Did it travel through outer space? Or had the Freemans destroyed it during their attack on Jake's homeworld?

"When we arrived on this planet, to be specific," Peter said. He tilted his head. No matter how hard he tried, he wouldn't see Soy from Earth. It wasn't possible. "Maybe your spaceship will take us back to Soy, Maggie. I haven't been there in so long."

"Likewise," Maggie said. "Maybe I'll take you to outer space, Peter. And then we would find other Soynites."

"I'd like that."

What would Jake like?

Saves. His own spaceship. And a reunion with his best friend.

Jake, Peter, and Maggie wore blue jackets. The High didn't have a crown, but he had a Watcher and a new ally.

Maggie gestured for Jake and Peter to follow her.

Peter took steps toward her. Jake moved as he kept his hold on a Soynite laser gun. A Freeman didn't open fire on him, but that might happen later. He planned on attacking a Freeman base, after all.

Maggie had killed someone who had been willing to fight and die for Lock Tannis. If a Soynite had told Jake the dead Freeman had been the last one, he wouldn't believe them. Freemans lived.

Jake, Peter, and Maggie walked in the meadow. White clouds moved in the sky. How many Freemans took steps underneath it? How many of Lock's warriors would Jake turn into smoke today?

The Invasion had ended. One year had gone by, then five, then eleven, like shadows lengthening at dusk.

"I know that me and Jake would've dealt with that Freeman if you hadn't shown up, Maggie," Peter said. "Regardless, I'm grateful that I know you. I'm glad you're here. Because of you, I'm aware that me and Jake aren't the only Soynites left."

"You're welcome," Maggie told Peter. "You seem decent enough. I wouldn't mind dying on a battlefield with you."

Jake shook his head. "None of us are going to get killed."

"I definitely killed that Freeman," Maggie said. "I turned him into smoke. After I make my way into that base, it's going to have lots of smoke inside of it. Soon."

"You're not the only one who plans on making that happen, Maggie," Peter replied.

The target: a Freeman base.

"I've never killed a Freeman, to be honest," Jake said.

Peter and Maggie didn't speak. When Jake talked, could people hear him, or were his words as quiet as idle ash?

"But I'm going to kill one," the High said. "How many Soynites have gotten killed because of the Freemans? Too many. A lot of our people are dead because of them. And Theo Majestic is missing, and we need to find him."

Theo Majestic.

He had a wife, but he had never produced children with her. He had been born as a Pure. His father had died as one.

Like a lit flashlight in a dark forest, Theo was useful. If he were with Jake, Peter, and Maggie, they would have a greater chance at surviving the attack on the Freeman base. They needed Theo. They had to recruit him.

"We're going to do our best to find him, Jake," Peter said. "Trust me."

A Bloodhound could find Theo, but Jake hadn't seen one in years. He had arrived on Earth, then he had left that Bloodhound. A long time ago, Theo hadn't been absent from Jake's life. Was the man with his wife? Or had she lost her life during the Freemans' attack on Soy?

Lilly had lived with Theo and other former Highs. Had she died in a room with her husband and his friends, men who no longer ruled a planet?

"I know," Jake said. "But we're not just going to do our best to find Theo. We will find him. He's not just the only closest relative I have. He's also the man who made me into a High, and he deserves to be found. He did so much for Soynite society too. We have to do a lot for him."

"We're going to try," Peter said.

He scanned the area. Freemans didn't stand in gaps between the trees. Eleven years ago, Soynites had escaped the carnage Freemans had spread on Soy. Jake had gone to Earth. So had Lock Tannis's people.

If Jake, Peter, and Maggie were lucky, Lock wouldn't arrive on Earth too soon.

"So will I," Maggie said.

"Right now, we have to go see the Freemans," Peter said. "They destroyed our planet in one night, and a lot of Soynites died in the attack. Unfortunately for the Freemans, we aren't those Soynites. It's time to attack that Freeman base."

Would Jake die today? Whatever the answer was, he would try his best to live.

The army of three kept walking.