"Move away from Hero, Kat," Macy said. "I need to talk to him now."

Kat picked up her gun. She took a few steps back, moving closer to the gray wall behind her. Macy went to the spot Kat had occupied. Inside their home, Macy had wielded a dagger in Hero's presence. Kat had done the same. Yet neither of those girls had stabbed him with those daggers. Macy would rather use a weapon on a Freeman than use one on her eldest sibling.

"We didn't kill Zoey," Macy said. "Wade isn't going to like that."

Hero would find Wade, or he might find Hero, who wouldn't let Wade kill the girl who had become his savior.

"Unfortunately for him, I'm fond of Zoey," Hero said.

Macy put her hand on his arm. "And I'm fond of you."

"I know."

Hero's laser pistol and his backpack remained on the floor. He didn't wield his gun, but his siblings held theirs. Hero couldn't see Wade, but that didn't mean he had never existed.

Did Wade have the laser pistol he had tried using to kill Zoey? Or had he taken a Freeman warrior's weapon?

"And thanks to Zoey, we know that there's a new group of Highs," Macy said. "But we don't serve Zoey's stepsister. We don't serve any of her co-rulers, either. There's only one person we serve, and that person isn't a High."

"Zoey might kneel for Lovely and the other Highs one day, but we never will," Hero said. "We will protect Zoey, though. She's not an Exchanger. She isn't one of us. But we're going to help her survive, and we're going to reunite with Father. He might be locked inside a Freeman base as I speak."

Hero looked around. He had chosen to head into a building Freemans had created. One of his pale enemies had almost killed him within this place.

"And Freeman bases aren't great places to be in," Hero said. "I refuse to let Father spend the rest of his life as a prisoner of the Freemans. We have to get him back, because we love him and he loves us."

Macy smiled. "You're right about that."

In the future, Macy might smile in Hawaii. There was a possibility Pures from Soy had gone to Hawaii, and Hero wanted to find Pures.

"If we don't find enough Pures inside this Freeman base, we'll go look for some in Hawaii," he said.

"I hope we find Wade here," Macy said. She pointed her finger at the floor. "We're not going to leave this planet without him. But if he tries to kill Zoey again, I'll stop him. I want what you want. Whatever you need me to do, I'll do it."

"Thank you, Macy. I can only hope that Wade won't give us too much trouble later."

Macy held a Soynite laser pistol, something she had taken from the spaceship. The Freeman dagger she had aimed at Hero stayed there. Everett and Kat didn't have the daggers they had wielded when they wanted Zoey to die.

If Wade tried to use one of the Freeman daggers to kill Zoey, she could use Misty's invisibility bracelet to turn invisible. The girl couldn't be with her mother, but she could use the woman's bracelet to defend herself. Hero wished he could defend her.

"Wade isn't going to kill Zoey," Macy said. "You're not going to let him, and neither will I. I'm going to do my best to protect your friend. Regardless of how Wade feels about Zoey, I'm going to defend her. She has to see her mother again. And she needs to meet her stepsister. If I had a sister I've never met, I wouldn't want to stay away from her. I would want to see her."

Hero looked at Sydney, then he glanced at Kat.

"Your sisters are with you," he told Macy. "Zoey doesn't have hers, but it doesn't have to be that way forever."

Macy looked at her gun. "I'm not going to kill her, but I still think it would've been easier if I had killed her."

"Sometimes sparing a life is better than taking one. Keeping Zoey alive will bring good things into our lives. You'll see."

Macy glanced around the hall.

"I want to see some Freemans," she said. "If the ones inside this base are all dead, I'm going to be angry. Because I haven't killed enough Freemans today. They have ruined our lives. Even before they took Father away, they ruined so much for us. We have to ruin them."

"Wherever Wade is, he's probably killing some Freemans," Hero said. "We don't have to worry about him, though. He's tough. And he's going to find us. Or we'll find him."

Hero and the other Exchangers in the hall didn't have a Bloodhound who could lead them to their missing brother. A Bloodhound could claim they weren't one, and a Soynite who wasn't a Bloodhound could claim they were one.

When would Misty Windsore reunite with her daughter?

Zoey had told Hero about her Bloodhound friend, a person named Crammer. He was Misty's friend. She and her daughter had met Crammer, but neither of those three people had met High Lovely. If Macy had murdered Zoey, Hero's friend would've lost the chance to meet her stepsister one day.

"He's going to see Zoey again," Hero said. "When he does, we have to protect her."

Macy held Hero's hand. "And we will. I'm not Wade, Hero. You don't have to worry about me killing Zoey. You can trust me. I'll help you keep that beautiful girl safe."

Macy stopped holding Hero's hand, but he doubted she would stop loving him. They stood beneath the hall's gray ceiling, blond-haired and blue-eyed, but they had never been Majestics.

Lilly had become a Majestic after marrying Theo. If Theo and Lilly had children, were they attractive like their parents?

"That beautiful girl thinks that Theo Majestic and Lilly had children," Hero said. "I wonder if Zoey's theory is true."

"If Theo does have children, maybe Zoey will meet them," Macy replied.

"Maybe me and you both will."

Hero had never met a Majestic, but he had met a Shame eleven years ago, and that man had adopted the Exchanger. That man had been away from his family for too long. But Hero and his brothers and sisters would take their beloved father away from the Freemans.

"I hope we see the children Theo may or may not have," Hero said. "Just like I hope we see Father again."

Sydney came closer to Hero. She said, "We will see him again. We're going to take him away from the Pale Monsters."

"We're definitely going to, Sydney," Macy told the youngest Exchanger. "One day Father will be with us again, and you'll be able to hug him. We both will. Father won't be with the Freemans forever, because we're going to save him. We're alive because of him. And he will get his freedom because of us."

Sydney smiled. One day her father would be able to see her do that.

"Hello!" Everett shouted.

He stood not far from the neighboring hall that the Exchangers hadn't gone into yet.

"We have a kidnapping to commit!" Everett said.

"We probably won't find a Pure here," Kat said, as she stood close to Hero, Macy, and Sydney. "It's not guaranteed that there's a Pure in this place. We might have gone into this Freeman base for nothing."

Hero had met Zoey inside the building. Going into the place had been worth it.

"We haven't gone into this horrible place for nothing, Kat," Hero said. "And there might be a Pure here. Try to be optimistic."

Hero lifted his backpack off the floor before putting it on. He picked up his Soynite laser pistol, arming himself. Having a gun in his hand made him feel more powerful, as if he were a Pure who had gained a new Save.

Everett moved into the neighboring hall, vanishing from view.

"Everyone, come here!" he said. "We're close to the prison wing."

Hero, Macy, Kat, and Sydney ran. They joined Everett in the other hall. It was long, like the one they had left. Connected to this hall was another one, but Hero couldn't see its entire length.

Painted on the floor were Freeman words.

PRISON WING

A red arrow above the painted sentence pointed at the hall connecting to this one, a hall the Exchangers hadn't moved into.

Lock's warriors might have a Pure imprisoned within this base. If they did, Hero would free them. Freemans had stolen the Exchangers' father, and they might steal a Pure from the Freemans.

"I'll take the lead," Hero said. "Good job, Everett."

Hero took the lead. His siblings followed. With laser pistols in their hands, they rushed into the hall.

A white object landed near Hero's feet, then it erupted with sound and a flash. White shrouded the Exchanger's vision. He saw white and nothing else. His ears didn't work. A hand snatched his laser pistol, disarming him.

When his vision and hearing returned, he remained weaponless.

Who had taken his laser pistol?

Kat no longer wore her backpack. Like Hero, she didn't hold a gun. Their enemies had disarmed Macy, Everett, and Sydney. Several Freemans stood not far from them. Two of the hulking warriors wielded strife daggers. Hero couldn't use his power. Neither could Macy and Sydney.

In a different part of the hall, Freemans blocked the path to the prison wing. The enemies in the first row lay on their stomachs. Each one in the second row was on one knee. Each one in the third row stood. The pale group near the prison wing aimed laser rifles at the Exchangers.

Freemans had slaughtered Hero's parents and other Soynites during Soy's invasion, and these Earth-dwelling ones pointed guns at him.

A Freeman held Kat's backpack. He grabbed her with his free hand, scowling. The towering warrior had put his hand on Kat, and Hero couldn't turn him into smoke. The boy glared.

The Freeman forced Kat to turn her back on him. He ran a hand along her jacket's back side, touching a destroyed museum's image.

"You Soynites were at the Ascend Museum," the Freeman said, speaking Soynite. "But you are all too young to have been employees there."

True.

"You're right," Macy said. The Freeman standing behind her kept his laser rifle's barrel pressed against her blonde hair. "We never worked there. When you foul Freemans attacked Soy, we were at the Ascend Museum. Our biological parents were murdered. Sydney's mother was murdered."

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

"Mitch Shame, Sydney's father, adopted us," Hero said.

His breath shuddered.

"And Freemans took him from us," he said. "He was captured by your people."

The enemy warrior smiled. Hero clenched his fists. He made no attempt to attack, but the opportunity to kill these awful Freemans would come.

"In order to find him, we need a Bloodhound's help," Hero said. "The price for that is ten Pures. Heaven's people need Pures."

"That's why you and these siblings of yours have brought us trouble," the Freeman said.

He had learned about Hero's mission. The Exchanger had told him the reason why he and his siblings planned on kidnapping Pures.

But the Freeman wouldn't live long enough to report what he had learned to his people beyond the hall.

The enemy dropped Kat's backpack, and unsheathed a strife dagger. He brought it close to her throat.

"Hero!" Kat said.

Hero's heart hammered, as if a strife dagger were too close to his throat. Kat had never slain a Freeman, but she didn't deserve to get killed by one.

"Planet Soy was destroyed in a few hours," the Freeman said. "You all won't last that long. Kill them!"

Wade teleported.

He unleashed a laser from his black Freeman rifle, and it blasted through the enemy's head. The red beam tore through a wall. The foe dropped the strife dagger.

Macy ducked, preventing the Freeman behind her from shooting her.

Wounded, the enemy behind Kat released her. He pressed his hands against the red tunnel in his head. Wade had given the disgusting Freeman what he deserved: an injury that might kill him.

Had Wade gained the ability to teleport? Or had he used a teleportation stone to get near the Freeman?

Kat ran, intent on reaching a less dangerous area.

Wade dodged a red laser. He fired twice, grinning. The Freeman he had injured crashed against the one who had stood behind Kat. They collapsed, and their corpses morphed into smoke.

Macy lifted her Soynite pistol off the floor before opening fire. A blue laser, beautiful like Zoey, tore through the Freeman who had pressed his gun against Macy's hair. Her adversary dropped. She grinned.

Hero's laser pistol lay near a Freeman's combat boots.

He rushed toward his weapon. The Freeman kicked it by accident, while he tried killing Wade on purpose.

Armed with a red dagger, Sydney jumped onto a Freeman. She buried the blade into his chest before tugging the weapon free. Blood fled the wound. She assaulted her enemy with stabs.

Sydney shouted, her war cry as fierce as she was. Her victim yelled as the eleven-year-old girl hurt him with her dagger. His blood splattered onto the floor.

Hero crawled toward his gun. He retrieved it.

Everett threw two strife daggers into the neighboring hall. Hero didn't see the third one.

As Hero kneeled, a boot slammed into his side. His attacker disarmed him before tossing the gun. A Freeman forced him to stand. He shoved the Exchanger against a wall, and pain spread across his back.

"Help!" Hero shouted, as the Freeman aimed a strife dagger at his chest.

A laser sent the enemy dropping onto the floor. The Freeman writhed, bleeding from a hole the blue laser had left in his head.

Wade wielded his Soynite laser pistol. He had saved Hero. He wanted Zoey to live, and Wade didn’t. Yet he had saved his brother.

Sydney stood on the floor, and she watched as the Freeman she had wounded collapsed. He stopped breathing.

Macy tossed a strife dagger into the other hall, and Hero's Save returned. He smiled.

The Exchangers had killed the Freemans near them.

Before the pale group near the prison wing could open fire, Sydney Shame used her Save. Fire spread across the enemies, Freemans igniting as the girl's pyrokinesis rewarded them with the burning pain they deserved. Freemans dropped their weapons.

"Wade, take Sydney to the prison wing with you," Hero said. "The rest of us will stay here for a bit. We'll watch out for any Freemans. While we do that, the two of you will see what's inside the prison wing. Come back to us after a couple of minutes."

Wade and Sydney vanished, teleporting.

Lock's warriors ran toward each other, burning. They ran toward the walls, burning. Sydney had turned them into living torches. Fire slammed against the gray walls, consuming what Freemans had worked hard on. After ruining Soy within a few hours, they deserved to have their walls ruined.

Freemans burned.

After Wade and Sydney teleported into the hall, she extinguished the flames.

Sydney's fire had ruined the area near the prison wing's entrance, and the door had changed from red to black. The flames had scorched the section of floor near the prison wing's entrance. Smoke rose from the floor's burnt area.

The Freemans in the hall had died, but pain ran through Hero's back and his side.

"Macy, heal my back," he said. "One of the Freemans slammed me against a wall. And heal my right side, too. The Freeman kicked me there."

After Macy finished healing Hero, she remained behind him.

"You're okay," she said.

Hero faced her. "Thank you. I'm glad you have that Save of yours, and I'm glad that you're still with us. Father isn't the only person I need in my life."

Macy smiled. Hero could see her do that, but he would never fly alongside Boris Endman, a man who had lost his grandchild and his life. How had he died? Had a laser killed him?

Hero acted like obsessing over Boris and his family would reunite him with his father Mitch. Boris hadn't found his abducted granddaughter, Alice. But Hero could. Soon he would have to investigate her kidnapping and find her. For Boris.

"I know," Macy said. "You need all of us, Hero. Me, Wade, and the others. And we need all of you. I thought I needed to kill Zoey to keep our mission a secret, but I should've helped you save her. We need a Bloodhound to find Father for us, and Zoey's friend might be the Bloodhound we need."

"It's not a guarantee that Crammer will help us, but I hope he does," Hero said. "He might lead us to Father. I think we're going to be okay, Macy."

Hero smiled. He gave Macy a kiss on the lips, something he had done many times before.

Kat moved into the hall. She had gone into the neighboring one during the fight. Wade walked closer to Hero, accompanied by Sydney.

"I'm going to teleport all of us into the prison wing," Wade said. "I can do that now."

"Clearly," Everett said. He put a hand on Wade's shoulder. "In all seriousness, that's a good power you've gained. You deserve it, Wade."

Wade could teleport, and he didn't need a teleportation stone to do it. His power made it more likely the Exchangers would succeed in rescuing their father.

Wade used his Save, bringing Hero and the other Exchangers with him. They stood in a long hall. Twenty prison cells stood in one wall. Each cell door had a window, giving each possible captive a view of the gray wall beyond their cell. And each one had a lever near it. Numbers in the Freeman language were on the cell doors.

Did Hero's father stare at a wall within a Freeman base?

"Almost all of these cells are empty," Wade said. He pointed. "But there's a boy inside the one way over there. He's a Soynite. But me and Sydney don't know if he's a Pure."

Everett smirked. "You couldn't ask him?"

"You can't be less frustrating?!"

"It's okay, Wade," Sydney said, as she rubbed Wade's arm. "And we're going to find out if that prisoner is a Pure or not. It's going to happen soon, too."

"He probably isn't a Pure," Kat said.

There was a chance the Soynite locked inside the prison cell hadn't been born as a Pure, but he might be one. Hero had an object that could prove someone was a Pure.

"Have some hope, Kat," Hero said. "The Soynite in that prison cell might be what we're looking for."

Kat sighed. "Father isn't with us. There is no hope."

Laser beam fire sounded, and the Exchangers looked at the gray ceiling.

"Remember when we were still outside?" Everett said. "That Freeman said that two Soynite males were inside this place. Maybe they're still here."

"Maybe," Hero said. "But I don't want to think about those two Soynite males right now. We have a mission to accomplish. There's a Soynite in that prison cell over there, and he might be a Pure. Everyone, get ready. Take out a syringe of Vamp. I'll do the same. Sydney, take out your notepad and a pencil. I need you to write down information about the boy. I'm going to get my Pure test ball out."

Each Exchanger kept a Pure test ball in their backpack. Those balls and the other supplies the Shame children possessed would help them complete their mission.

Hero and his siblings kneeled, took off their backpacks, then searched for what they required. When they were ready, they stood, each one carrying a syringe filled with Vamp. Hero had removed the cap meant for covering his syringe. Its needle showed.

Hero held his Pure test ball. The illumination in the hall shone against its spherical surface. If it made contact with a Pure's skin, the ball would turn red. The one Hero held remained blue.

"Let's do this," Hero said.

He and his siblings approached the prison cell, prepared. He would identify the prisoner as a Pure. If he was one, Hero would take him to Heaven.

"Open the door, Wade," Hero said.

Wade pulled the lever. The door to the prison cell slid open, and a boy stepped into the hall. Light bathed his blond hair. As a Soynite pendant rested against his chest, he looked at the Exchangers with his blue eyes. He stood tall, and blue clothes covered his muscular body. He seemed to be sixteen years old.

"What's your name?" Hero asked.

"Able Brick," the freed prisoner said. A Soynite accent flavored his voice. Sydney wrote on her notepad. Able grinned. "You and your friends saved me. You're heroes."

If Able knew what Hero planned on doing, the former captive might not call him a hero.

"These friends of mine are my adoptive brothers and sisters," Hero said. "Are you a Pure, Able Brick?"

Able nodded. "I am."

Soynites could lie. One could call themself a Pure and not be one, but the ball in Hero's hand would uncover the truth. He moved closer to Able before pressing the Pure test ball against his forehead.

It turned red.

After the Exchangers took Able to Heaven, they would have to kidnap nine more Pures. Then a Bloodhound would find their father.

"I have one Save," Hero said. "Because of the strife in here, I can't use it. When we get you away from this place, me and you will be able to use our Saves again. Isn't that nice? I'm Hero Shame, by the way."

Able smiled.

"Thank you, Hero," he said. He looked at the syringe Hero carried. Purple liquid sat in it, visible through the transparent surface of the syringe's barrel. "That's Vamp. I don't think you need to use that right now."

"I'm going to tell you the truth, Able," Hero told the Pure. "You are going to be with us on Heaven."

Hero stuck the needle into a vein in Able's neck, and depressed the plunger. Purple liquid slipped into his bloodstream. The Exchanger pulled the needle free. Able staggered, and Wade put down his syringe. Able fell toward the floor, but Wade caught him.

"He's unconscious," he said. He lowered Able onto the floor. "By the way, if I hadn't developed the power to teleport today, all of you would probably be dead right now."

"No," Macy said. "Even if you hadn't shown up, we still would've survived."

Wade touched his bare skin through the hole in his sleeve. When that Freeman shot him, Hero had been close to Zoey. She awaited his return to the spaceship.

"Where's your friend, Hero?" Wade said. "We still have to kill her."

When Macy, Everett, and Kat left Hero's bedroom earlier, Zoey's blood hadn't dripped off their Freeman daggers. Hero hadn't allowed them to kill her. But Wade still wanted to take her life. Zoey had rescued Hero when none of his siblings could, and he hadn't forgotten that heroic deed.

"I would be dead if Zoey hadn't saved my life," Hero said. "You're not going to kill her, Wade. The others sided with me."

"They sided with you," Wade said. "That's funny."

He didn't laugh.

"When I was trying to shoot that girl, I got shot," Wade said. "Macy healed me. I ended up getting separated from the others, and I had some fun killing as many Freemans as I could. But now I'm back here with all of you. And all of you decided to let that girl live."

"Her name is Zoey," Hero replied.

Wade glared. "Zoey is someone you should've killed."

Hero had let Zoey live, and he had convinced Macy, Everett, and Kat to do the same. They hadn't murdered Hero's friend. They never would.

"But you didn't kill her," Wade said. He aimed a finger at Hero's face. "No, you let her live. She is going to make everything so much worse for us, and it will be your fault!"

Macy blocked Wade's path to Hero. "Me and the others support Hero's decision, and that's what matters. He's going to figure out a way for everyone to live, including Zoey. If we kill her, Hero won't forgive us. He won't love us anymore."

Wade had become the only Exchanger who wanted Zoey to die, and his siblings were willing to defend her from him. And he might believe Hero would hate him if he chose to murder Zoey.

Wade took a heavy breath, as if he had finished moving a heavy object.

"Fine," he said. "I won't kill your new friend, Hero. But she has to stay ignorant. If she finds out about our mission, all of us will be in danger."

"Zoey is going to stay ignorant," Hero said. "We can even blindfold her. When we get to Heaven, she won't see it."

"We also have to make sure that she doesn't see him," Kat said, pointing at Able's unconscious body.

The Pure lay on the floor, his blond hair touching the gray floor beneath his head. He rested inside a Freeman base, but the Exchangers would take him into their spaceship. Afterward, Hero would fly it to a better place, one where Freemans didn't live.

"She won't," Hero said.

Everett gestured to Able. "I'm glad we found this Pure. We just got closer to reuniting with Father. Hero, you did a great job when you took Able down."

Saving Zoey had been great. Wade might never risk his life to rescue the girl, yet his hatred for Zoey wouldn't make Hero hate her. Would she despise him one day? If she started hating him in the future, would he do something awful to himself? Or try to?

The Exchangers stood in a Freeman base's prison wing, yet they hadn't become the Freemans' captives. They weren't their father. But they loved him, and they would kidnap ten Pures to reunite with him.

"It's time to get out of here," Hero said. "Let's go home. We have to take this Pure to Heaven."

Later, after helping the other Exchangers hide Able inside the spaceship, Hero stepped into his bedroom. His shoes touched a blue floor, not the gray one Able had rested on. The blue walls around him didn't belong to the Freeman base where he had almost died.

Hero had saved the girl sitting on his bed. Zoey remained on it, sweet, clever, and too far from her mother. Zoey's purple jacket lay behind her, and it was the same color as her shirt.

"Hero!" Zoey said.

She stood before taking quick steps toward him. When they were close enough, Hero and Zoey embraced. They hugged like longtime friends who had reunited.

"I'm glad you're okay," Hero said.

"Likewise," Zoey replied.

The hug ended. When would Hero show his father affection again?

"I'm going to hug my father again," Hero said. "He's not my first one, but he is the greatest father I've ever had. Our second fathers are important to us, Zoey. And sometimes a person gets a second love, and they end up loving that person more than they loved their first lover. Maybe that's what your mother experienced. I hope you see Boone again."

"Have you ever been in love?" Zoey asked.

"No. And I only want to be in love once."

Zoey smiled. "Me too."

She could smile, and she could be happy. When Wade failed to murder her, it had been a great failure.

"You're safe here," Hero said. "Wade and the others aren't going to kill you. But strange things will happen. I need you to know that. When we put a blindfold on you, don't question us."

Zoey nodded. "Okay."

She hadn't gone into the Freeman base's prison wing with Hero and the other Exchangers, but they would defend her. His brother Wade would never kill her. Someday Zoey's mother might give her a brother. Right now, the girl had no biological siblings, like Hero. But she had him and his brothers and sisters.

"You're one of us now," Hero said, as if Zoey had become an Exchanger. "I'm glad you're with us, and I'm glad you're in our home. We're going to get you back to your mother. Plus, the invisibility bracelet is still here. Your mother isn't going to be mad at you."

Zoey rubbed her arms.

"When we see my mother, try not to make her mad," she said.