MARCH 3, 2022

Jake Wayne stared at the prison wing's ruined entrance.

His shoes touched the gray floor, but the area near the prison wing's entrance remained dark, blackened by whatever fire had raged in the hall.

He heard footsteps.

Armed with a Soynite laser pistol, Jake turned before raising the gun. He had been on the floor above this one earlier, and so had Freemans. More might be inside the building, a place where Jake had learned a dreadful secret.

A Soynite girl stepped into the hall.

She wore a zip-up hoodie and blue jeans. She donned a blue shirt beneath the hoodie, and it was white and unzipped. The girl wore a Soynite pendant. Her hands remained behind her, and there was a chance someone had restrained her with strife handcuffs.

A Freeman warrior walked behind the girl, wielding a red laser pistol.

Jake opened fire. A blue laser blasted through the Freeman's forehead, then he collapsed. The boy placed his gun on the floor. He went closer to the Freeman, knelt, and found a green key in his pants pocket. He had restrained the girl, but Jake could remove her restraints.

After moving behind her, he unlocked the strife handcuffs. He tossed them onto the floor.

The Freeman didn't breathe. Regardless, Jake grabbed his Soynite gun and shot the dead foe a couple more times, blasting his body with bright lasers. The Freeman's corpse changed into smoke.

The girl smiled.

"I will never get tired of seeing Freemans die," she said. "What's your name?"

"Jake," Jake replied. "Jake Wayne."

"I'm Sabrina Sam," the girl said. She gestured to the pile of Freeman belongings. "That was a good show you put on, Jake."

Sabrina wore makeup, but doing that wouldn't make a Freeman less likely to shoot her in the face. She had long blonde hair and blue eyes, and she was as beautiful as Soy used to be. Jake continued studying her face.

He furrowed his brow. "You seem familiar."

"You seem familiar to me, too," Sabrina said.

She lifted the Freeman's laser pistol off the floor. Peter had been armed when Jake saw him earlier. Maybe the Watcher had escaped the base with Maggie. If Jake hadn't run away from them, he might not have saved Sabrina.

She pointed at the prison wing's ruined door. "Did you do that?"

"No." Jake said.

He had moved past discarded strife daggers. One or more Soynites had fought Freemans in this area before Jake's arrival. He and Sabrina had missed the fight. Yet they hadn't left this building, one that belonged to their enemies.

"We have to stay cautious," Jake said. "We might have to deal with more Freemans later."

"I hope we do," Sabrina said. "And there's this Freeman I want to kill. His name is Hush Warden. He was in the spaceship that brought me here, and he should be inside this base."

Jake looked at the discarded combat uniform on the floor. "I hope you manage to turn him into smoke."

"I will do that."

When Sabrina entered the hall, she had been handcuffed. Strife handcuffs hadn't been around Jake's wrists when he read the note in that conference room.

Had Sabrina learned what he had learned?

"Most of the former Highs joined Lock Tannis," Jake said. "Theo Majestic is the only one who hasn't. And Boris Endman is dead. Lock killed him, but I don't know why."

The Freeman who had written the note Jake had read hadn't explained why Lock had killed Boris, a man who had allied with him. If Lovely had been in the conference room earlier, she wouldn't have been able to read the note.

"One of the Highs is blind," Jake said. Sabrina frowned. "Her name is Lovely Windsore."

Sabrina scoffed.

"Not much of a loss," she said.

Jake's heart beat harder. "You know Lovely?"

Sabrina nodded. She and Jake had met the same girl, one who used to insult him. Lovely had been able to look at Jake when they still lived in the same spaceship as each other.

"I haven't seen her in years," Sabrina said. "And now I know that she might never see me again. I wonder if she's still a horrible person."

"I met her before, too," Jake said. "I haven't seen her in years, either."

"Are you a High?"

"Yeah."

"Is your Soynite name Cape Majestic?" Sabrina asked.

"It is," Jake said. He gestured to Sabrina. "Is your Soynite name Reese Low?"

When Jake lived inside a spaceship with his five co-rulers, he used to play with a girl with blonde hair and blue eyes, and Lovely used to treat them like they were only a bit better than the Freemans.

"Yeah," Sabrina said. She grinned. "I've waited for this moment for years."

The Highs put their guns on the floor. Jake had shot Freeman warriors, but he wouldn't shoot this Soynite one.

"Cape!" Sabrina said.

She embraced Jake, and he hugged her back. They hugged like reunited relatives. They cried. Jake had found her, and he could help her kill Freemans.

The hug ended. Jake and Sabrina wiped away their tears, then she looked him up and down.

"Look at you," she said. "You got bigger."

"So have you," Jake said. He grabbed his Soynite pistol. Sabrina grabbed her Freeman one. "Have you met up with any of the other Highs?"

Two Soynite rulers stood in this hall, and the other four didn't.

"No," Sabrina said. "Just you. And I missed you more than I missed the others."

Jake doubted Sabrina missed Lovely. When the three of them lived together, Lovely had been able to see. An incident on planet Still had taken her sight. Today he hadn't found an egotistical girl who had lost her vision. He had found his closest friend.

"The feeling is mutual, Reese," Jake said. He chuckled. "Sabrina."

"I wish your distant cousin was here to help us," Sabrina said. "I'm assuming that Theo Majestic isn't with you."

Jake hadn't seen Theo in eleven years, but the boy had learned the former Supreme High had produced four children with his wife, Lilly.

"No, he's not," Jake said. "But I do know that he has children. He had four kids with Lilly. They have one son and three daughters. I don't know their names, though. I found a note here. That's how I learned about Theo's children, Lovely's blindness, and the fact that almost all the former Highs joined Lock Tannis."

Sabrina looked around the hall, but she saw no Freemans. "Where is that note now? I want to read it."

"It's with Peter," Jake replied. "He's my Watcher. His name isn't Ine Rain anymore."

Jake had left Peter with Maggie. The Watcher and the girl could keep each other safe, and Jake could help Sabrina deal with any Freemans they might encounter.

"I left Peter with my friend Maggie," Jake said. "She's a girl I met outside this base. I got separated from her and Peter. I ran away from them, actually."

"Why?" Sabrina asked.

"I don't want to talk about it. Where's your Watcher? I still remember him."

Sabrina fiddled with her fingers. Sometimes she did that when she was worried.

"Kevin," Sabrina said. "He changed his name to Kevin. He's not with me. Me and him were attacking a Freeman base in California, which is where we live now. The Freemans caught us, and they decided to separate us. That's why I was brought here. But I'm going to see Kevin again. I'm not going to let those pale morons keep me away from him forever. Also, I wish I was immune to strife. If I was, me and Kevin wouldn't have gotten separated."

Jake looked at the strife handcuffs on the floor, and then he thought about Lock Tannis.

"I hope you find him," Jake said. "Just like I hope I find my own Watcher."

A Freeman might have killed Kevin. Sabrina stood in front of Jake, unable to confirm no one had slain her Watcher. She didn't know if Kevin was still alive. Jake didn't, either. He ran his fingers through his blond hair.

"Kevin is like family to me," Sabrina said. "He raised me. He loves me, and I love him. After I get out of this Freeman base, I'm going back to the one where I was separated from Kevin. I'll see him again. You aren't the only person I'll reunite with today."

"Might," Jake said. "You might see Kevin again."

Sabrina leaned against a gray wall. "I will see him again, Jake."

Jake's Watcher hadn't run away from him. No, the High had run out of the hall Peter and Maggie had been in. Jake had left his Watcher. He might never see Peter again. Or Maggie.

Jake had chosen to abandon the man who had raised him, but Sabrina had been forced to leave Kevin. She might be a better Soynite than Jake was.

"Do you really think that I'm going to let Lock Tannis's people keep him?" Sabrina said. "If you do, you should stop thinking it. Kevin doesn't deserve to get killed by a Freeman. Neither do I. And neither do you. I won't let anyone murder the people I care about."

"I know," Jake said. "But you have to acknowledge the fact that bad things happen. There's a chance that Kevin—"

"He's alive. Me and Kevin were separated from each other, but we can still be reunited. And we will be. Because he isn't dead."

A Freeman had shot Maggie, and Jake had believed the enemy had killed her. But the High had learned Maggie could rapidly regenerate. Kevin couldn't do what she could do, and Jake and Sabrina couldn't confirm the man hadn't been killed.

"Maggie got shot," Jake said. "I thought that she was dead, but she was actually alive. The Freeman hadn't killed her. But Kevin isn't Maggie, and Soynites can die. Watchers can die."

Sabrina shook her head.

"Kevin is still alive," she said. "What happened to you? You used to be so hopeful. Listen, Jake. Horrible things have happened to us, and we're fighting in a war, but we can still do what we have to do. There's still hope. I haven't forgotten that."

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Sabrina put her hand on Jake's shoulder.

"I'm here now," she said. "I'm with you. Me and you are together again. You're like a brother to me, and I want you to know that. We're going to kill Freemans, go to California, and save Kevin. Everything is going to be fine. Okay?"

Almost all the former Highs had allied with Lock Tannis. He had killed Boris Endman. A current High, Lovely Windsore, had gone blind. Maggie had whispered a dreadful sentence to Jake, and it had made him run away from her and Peter.

"I want to believe that," Jake said. "But we have too many problems to deal with, and we're going to have more. Lock Tannis has the Freemans helping him. And most of the former Highs are on his side. Theo Majestic isn't, but we don't even know where he is."

Sabrina looked at a wall, doing something one of the Highs couldn't do.

"Lovely Windsore is blind," Jake said. "I know we don't like her, but her being blind means that she won't be able to help us kill Freemans. Or any of our other enemies. Plus, the Freemans still have Kevin, and that's assuming he isn't dead. We have no reason to be hopeful."

"I'll find my Watcher," Sabrina said. "Or maybe he's on his way here, planning on seeing me again."

"That's wishful thinking. And even if Kevin was on his way to this base, we're still here. He can't help us. We can only help ourselves. Right now, I'm the only help you have. Kevin can't help us deal with these Freemans. I really do wish that he was able to. We deserve to have a Watcher helping us. But yours isn't in this base with us, and mine probably left."

Jake would have to reunite with Peter, but Sabrina intended on going to California to rescue Kevin. Jake could help her. As for Kevin, he had managed to survive for years, but so had the Freeman Jake had shot to death inside the hall.

"We'll get back to our Watchers," Sabrina said. She scowled at the discarded Freeman belongings. "Those pale morons took me away from Kevin, but they're not going to kill him. I won't let a Freeman murder him or anyone else I love. That includes you. You're still my best friend, Jake."

"I know," Jake said. "And I'm glad that I am, but I'm also worried about Kevin."

"I appreciate your concern for him. He deserves to live. He helped me survive, after all. And when I find him, he'll continue to help me survive. Even if Kevin wasn't my Watcher, he would have to help me. Because I'm his High. And so are you. Kevin was loyal to me before I even became one of his rulers, and he always will be. I have to save him."

Jake nodded. "And I have to help you do that."

"Freemans have killed a lot of Watchers," Sabrina said. "But none of the Freemans at that base in California is going to kill Kevin. I have the opportunity to get out of here and find him, so that's what I'm going to do. And I'll kill any Freeman who might try to stop me from reuniting with Kevin."

"I know you will," Jake told her. He thought about the blond man who had treated him and Sabrina well. "When the three of us were living in that spaceship together, Kevin was nice to me. It was Lovely who treated us horribly."

Sabrina looked at her Freeman pistol. "And now she's blind. She won't be a danger to the Freemans, but she also won't be a danger to us. We can handle a blind girl."

Jake and Lovely ruled a planet together, yet hugging her would be almost as bad as hugging a Freeman warrior.

"She's our co-ruler, but she hates us," Jake said.

"She won't be able to hurt us, though," Sabrina replied. "Lovely is blind. We can see, and she can't. You were able to shoot that Freeman because you could see him. Lovely wouldn't have been able to do that."

"Do you think she would hurt us if she could?"

Sabrina shrugged. "I don't know. But if she tries to, I will protect us."

Jake looked at the pile of Freeman belongings. Sabrina had taken the dead enemy's laser pistol, something she could use on living Freemans later.

"Peter protected me from Freemans," Jake said. "I wish I was with him. He's probably already gone from this place, but I'm not with him. I shouldn't have left him. I ran away from my Watcher, and the Freemans took you away from yours. Which one of us is the better Soynite, Sabrina? It definitely isn't me."

"Me and you are Soynites who will see our Watchers again," Sabrina said. "That's what matters. And avenging our parents matters, too."

Sabrina pointed at the pile of Freeman belongings.

"We have to kill his people," she said. "And I have to kill his leader."

Jake heard footsteps. As his heart pounded, he and Sabrina raised the guns.

"A Freeman might be coming," Jake said.

After a man stepped into the hall, the Highs pointed their guns at him. A crown didn't touch his brown hair, but he had been a ruler. Tall and thin, Don Ascend walked toward Sabrina.

"That's close enough!" she said, aiming her Freeman pistol at Don's chest. He stopped walking. "I know what you did, Don."

"What did I do?" Don asked, the traitor speaking English with a Soynite accent.

"You betrayed your people by joining Lock Tannis," Jake said. "And that's why you're as bad as the Freemans who destroyed Soy, your home planet. Our home planet."

Don shook his head. "Lock Tannis is a great man, and that will always be the truth. As for Soy, it deserved to be destroyed."

"So do you."

Sabrina moved her Freeman gun into her front pants pocket. She grabbed the strife handcuffs and threw them past Don.

"Don't kill him, Jake," she whispered. "And be careful."

Sabrina ran toward the wall, then passed through it, as if it weren't there. The gray walls surrounding Jake hadn't stopped his friend from escaping the hall, but she hadn't taken him with her. Don stood not far from him, and Sabrina had ordered Jake not to kill Don. Jake hoped Sabrina's plan wouldn't get him killed.

"Your friend knows what I'm capable of," Don said. "That's why she just abandoned you."

Jake glared. "You don't know that."

"I know that you're a fool for believing that you will defeat Great Leader Lock Tannis. Your friend believes it, too, doesn't she? Neither of you will kill Lock. He is more powerful than you will ever be, and he has former Highs fighting for him."

"All the former Highs who aren't Theo Majestic, you mean. As long as he's alive, there's someone who is more powerful than Lock. There's someone who can kill him."

Jake kept his Soynite pistol pointed at the former High, and the strife handcuffs near him prevented the man from making a force field. Theo couldn't help Jake. But Sabrina could help him deal with Don. A long time ago, Jake had become her best friend, and she wouldn't abandon him. She would return to this gray hall.

"You're lucky that I need you to be alive," Don said. "For now, at least. I have a question for you."

Sabrina passed through the wall. If Jake stared at her, that might make Don discover she had come back. The boy held eye contact with the former High.

"Where is Kara Ascend?" Don said, as Sabrina crept toward the strife handcuffs resting on the floor. "I'm assuming you're smart enough to know why I want to find her."

"And you're assuming that she's alive," Jake said. "I know your wife was pregnant when the Freemans were attacking Soy. She was very pregnant, and you're claiming that this Kara girl has your last name. But your daughter might be dead. I also don't know who she is."

Jake hadn't forgotten the baby he had spent a few months living with. He hoped she would kill her traitorous father one day.

"Lovely Windsore," Don said. "Have you ever met someone with that name?"

"Whoever that person is, I hope they're a better person than you are," Jake replied. "I don't know who Lovely is, and I don't know who Kara is. But I know who you are. You're the one who replaced Reed Pisces as a High. He wanted to destroy the Freemans, and you sided with the man who used them to destroy our home planet. Why did you do that, Don?"

Sabrina lifted the strife handcuffs off the floor.

"I won't answer that, but I am going to give you a second chance to help me," Don said. "Are you sure you don't know where Kara Ascend is? She has brown hair and brown eyes."

Sabrina placed the strife handcuffs around Don's wrists. He turned.

"Get on your back," Sabrina said. Don moved onto the floor, letting his hair touch it. "You mentioned a girl named Kara Ascend. You told my friend what she looks like, but there are a lot of girls with brown hair and brown eyes. You're going to have to be more specific. But that doesn't matter anyway, because I'm not going to help you find her. Neither will my friend."

Jake approached his restrained enemy. Sabrina kneeled beside Don and patted his pants pockets. She pulled a syringe from one of them. Purple liquid sat in it, liquid that could render a Soynite unconscious and powerless.

"The traitorous moron has Vamp," Sabrina said. She placed the syringe on the floor. "I'll put it to good use later."

Sabrina pulled a teleportation stone and a healing glass from Don's pants pocket. She put the objects back into the pocket.

"I need you to keep your teleportation stone," she said. "And I'll use the healing glass on you later."

"I don't know what you plan on doing to me, but I want you to know that you won't win this war," Don said. "If you kill me, there will still be a couple former Highs who will gladly fight for Lock Tannis. That's the truth."

While kneeling, Sabrina sighed. "I know it is. But if those former Highs keep fighting for Lock, I will just have to kill them."

Sabrina looked at Don's Soynite pendant.

"You're wearing the pendant your parents gave you," she said. The girl tapped her pendant. "This one belongs to someone who never joined Lock."

After taking off her pendant, Sabrina moved it closer to Don's face. He examined it.

"Hello, again," he said. "What's your name?"

Sabrina put her pendant on before standing. Don stayed on the floor, restrained. The strife handcuffs had been around Sabrina's wrists, but she had put them around Don's. A former High was at a current one's mercy.

"Sabrina," Sabrina said. She put a hand on Jake's back. "Sabrina Sam. And I wasn't going to abandon my best friend. I'm better than you, Don. You abandoned your own people. But our people have new rulers now, and I'm one of them. I'm a High. So is my friend here."

Jake let a heavy breath loose. "Sabrina, I really hope you know what you're doing."

"Sabrina," Don said.

"You're supposed to say High Sabrina," Sabrina said. "I haven't given you permission to say my name without putting High before it."

"You're a High, but you have no authority over me," Don said. "I won't forget your name, Sabrina Sam. And you and your friend are two Highs who should be kneeling for Lock Tannis, but you choose not to. That mistake will make both of you miserable, eventually."

"I'm with my best friend, and we're going to help each other survive. I'm not miserable. And I'm not going to be."

"That optimism of yours won't last forever," Don said. "Enjoy it while you can. You truly are a girl who doesn't know how foolish she is."

Sabrina glared at Don.

"I'm not the foolish one here," she said. "I'm not the one who's wearing strife handcuffs. I'm not the one who joined the worst Freeman in history. You're a fool, but you're a fool who's going to help me. There's something I want you to do for me, and it's something that involves Lock Tannis. That's the only reason why I'm not going to kill you."

If Jake or Sabrina killed Don, Lock would have one less former High supporting him.

"He works for Lock, Sabrina," Jake said. "What do you want him to do for you? He betrayed our race. Why do you want to keep him alive?"

"I need him to do me a favor," Sabrina replied.

"If you're going to torture me, it would be a waste of your time," Don said. "I won't tell you anything. Even if you kill me, you won't win. There are billions of Freemans, and there are so few Soynites. Great Leader Lock Tannis is the greatest being in this universe. You can't stop him."

Sabrina glanced around the hall. "I can't stop him, because he's not in front of me. But he will be. And I need your help to make that happen."

As long as Theo had his Saves, he could kill Lock with ease. But Sabrina would never be Theo. And Lock might always be more powerful than she was.

"Sabrina, you really want to fight Lock?" Jake said. "Seriously?"

"Yeah," Sabrina said. "If he was here, I would be able to kill him. I'm going to kill him."

"You're not Theo Majestic, and you're not close to being as powerful as he is. Lock might kill you. And I won't be able to hug you if you're dead. Or speak with you."

"I won't die, but Lock will."

Jake put a hand on the wall before sighing.

"Two Highs are in a disagreement," Don said. "What are the Soynite people supposed to do when two of their rulers can't agree on something and there's no Supreme High to settle the dispute? A long time ago, I called myself a leader, yet there was a man who was my leader. Supreme High Theo Majestic. How can you call yourself a leader when you have a leader?"

Jake fought the urge to aim his laser pistol at Don's face.

"Why did you join Lock Tannis?" Sabrina said. "Me and my co-rulers are the only people you should kneel for."

"We're your Highs," Jake said.

"You don't have authority over us anymore, Don. We're your leaders, but that doesn't mean you have to serve Lock."

Don scoffed. "I do have to serve him. And you want to face him. But remember this, Sabrina. You can't always get what you want. You will never kill Lock."

Sabrina kneeled beside Don.

"I will," she said. "And that's why I need to meet him. I need to kill that Freeman you love so much. You're going to help me do that."

Lock had more powers than Sabrina had. Plus, billions of Freemans and four former Highs fought for him. Sabrina could run through a wall if she wanted to, but she couldn't slay Lock.

Jake kneeled next to Sabrina, then he put a hand on her arm. "I don't think you should meet Lock so soon. He's too powerful. I know you can become intangible, but strife can take that away. Where's your power right now, Sabrina?"

"It's not here, because of the strife," Sabrina said. "But I'll kill Lock anyway, with or without my Save. Don, you're going to do me a favor. You're only alive because I need you to be. For now, at least."

"Just kill him," Jake said. "Or let me do it."

"I'm not going to kill him, Jake!"

Sabrina grabbed the syringe filled with Vamp. The purple liquid could make people lose consciousness, former Highs included.

"You're going to send a message for me, Don," Sabrina said. "Tell Lock Tannis to come to Earth because I want to kill him. Tell him to go to that Freeman base in California, the one me and that blond man attacked today. March sixth. Tell Lock to be at that base on March sixth. I'm going to be there, too. And that's where I'm going to kill Lock. Remember, Don. March sixth. On that day, I'm going to kill Lock at that Freeman base in California me and that blond man attacked. March sixth."

Don glared at Sabrina, but he couldn't kill her. She took off the syringe's tip cover, exposing a sharp needle. She stuck it into a vein in Don's neck before depressing the syringe's plunger. The Vamp shot into his bloodstream, and he lost consciousness. He couldn't see Sabrina anymore. In the future, he might help her meet Lock.

Sabrina removed the needle from Don's neck. She pulled the healing glass from his pants pocket, and pressed it against the small hole in his neck. It healed. She returned the healing glass to Don's pocket. When Jake used one to heal his arm wound, Peter and Maggie had been with him. They couldn't be with him now.

"I can't wait for him to give Lock my message," Sabrina said.

She stood. Her Freeman gun's handle protruded from her pants pocket. If she had used the weapon to kill Don, Lock would've lost a loyal supporter.

"I'm sorry I raised my voice at you," Sabrina said. She pointed at Don. "But I really need him to live. Two of my parents are dead because of Lock. I have to kill him, Jake."

Maybe Don would do what Sabrina wanted him to do. There was a chance Jake and Sabrina wouldn't be alive on March 7, 2022.

"You did something that might get both of us killed," Jake said. "Do you know what's going to happen now? Lock Tannis is going to come here and he's going to make everything harder for us."

Sabrina put a hand on Jake's shoulder, as if doing that might make him believe she could kill Lock.

"I'm going to make everything harder for him," she said. "I need Don to get to Lock as soon as possible. That's why I'm letting that traitor keep his teleportation stone. I'm going to kill his leader."

Lock had slain a former High who had been able to fly. Boris had been able to do more than just that, but none of his Saves had prevented Lock from killing him.

Schools on Free taught Freemans how to kill. Teachers on that planet gave lessons on how to slay Soynites. Sabrina could make herself untouchable. But strife might prevent her from using her Save in the future, and Lock hadn't forgotten strife existed.

"It's going to be okay, Jake," Sabrina said.

Unconscious, Don remained on the floor. Where was his daughter?