MARCH 1, 2022

They sang happy birthday to Jill Key.

She sat at the table in the kitchen, wearing a cone-shaped hat. Her awesome dad, Joseph Key, stood near her as he sang.

Like the birthday girl, Joseph had brown hair and brown eyes. Unlike her, he had a beard. He took care of Jill, but he had never been her biological father. Joseph stood tall. He was muscular, as if Don Ascend had commanded him to develop a strong-looking body years ago. He had lost his authority over Joseph, but Jill hadn't. He stayed close to Don's daughter, the thirteenth High. And a crown didn't touch her long brown hair, but she deserved one.

She was thin. She wore a blue shirt with short sleeves, blue jeans, and white shoes. Like her dad, she donned a Soynite pendant. A white star showed on its blue surface. When Jill's dad delivered her, the pendant had already been hers. The one King Hase used to wear had touched her before, something her birth father had never done.

Jill, her dad, and the party guests celebrated her birthday inside a mansion. They lived in Honolulu, Hawaii. As a baby, Jill had gone to Egypt with her dad, but they didn't live there anymore. Years ago, they had resided inside a spaceship. Jill couldn't remember the other Highs' faces. But she would see them again.

Her dad and the party guests remained nearby, their shoes touching the kitchen's black-and-white tiled floor. Years ago, Hase's pendant had touched Jill's forehead, and Theo Majestic had given her what he had given her birth father: leadership.

After arriving on Earth, Jill and her dad had ridden in a car with a human man. He had helped the six Highs and their Watchers, and Jill didn't know where to find him. Maybe he had met one of her co-rulers. Or if he hadn't, he might.

Jill was in a kitchen now, not a car. And it had light gray walls. So did her bedroom, the living room, and other areas within the mansion. She sat at a long table. As the party hat's strap touched her skin, she grinned. A chocolate cake stayed in front of her. Eleven candles stuck out from it, touching brown frosting. A small flame burned on each candle, dancing. Jill looked at them with her brown eyes.

Her dad and the others stopped singing happy birthday.

"Make a wish!" her dad said.

Jill shut her eyes. She had been born while Freeman warriors slaughtered Soynites on her home planet. Soy had become as lifeless as her grandfather Dexter.

I wish Soy would get revived.

Jill opened her eyes and blew out the candles. Smoke rose, as if someone had killed a Freeman. Foul Freemans didn't aim their guns at Jill, and her dad stood close to her. He had kept her safe while Lock Tannis's people destroyed Soy. He kept her safe now.

The others clapped.

After eating the birthday cake, Jill, her dad, and the human men, women, and children went into the living room. Jill had taken off her conical hat. Boxes sat on the gray carpet, and some sat on other ones. A gift box was one of them.

Jill's dad walked toward it. "Sit on the sofa, Jill."

She obeyed. Her dad picked up the gift box, pressing his hands against it.

"I hope you love what I got you," he said.

While Jill stayed seated, her dad went closer to her. He set the box beside her. She couldn't look into it without opening it. She didn't have X-ray vision yet.

"Don't shake it," her dad said. "Just open it."

Jill removed the box's lid before placing it on the sofa. An orange kitten with green eyes sat inside the box. Jill grinned. She didn't see any of the other Highs, but she saw her new pet.

"He's a male kitten," her dad said, as she grabbed the kitten.

She took him out the box, then put him on her lap. "He looks awesome! And I love him already. Thanks, Dad."

Jill's dad smiled. "You're welcome. Give your new pet a name."

A long time ago, Dexter Ascend had died. But Jill could give the kitten her grandfather's name, and she could care for him.

"Dexter," she said. "His name is Dexter."

After the birthday party ended, Jill sat cross-legged on her bed. Her pants rested beside Dexter. She acted like sleeping with pants or shorts on would make it impossible for her to reunite with Camille. Nothing covered Jill's feet. When Theo made her into a High, a blue blanket had been wrapped around her. An umbilical cord stump had been attached to her back then.

As Dexter lay on Jill's comforter, she ran her fingers through his fur. "Are you planning on going to sleep soon, too, Dexter?"

Sunlight entered the room through the open blinds near the window. One day light from Soy's sun would shine on that planet's grass again. When it still had grass, someone had taken Alice Endman from her parents, Archer and Holly. It had happened in February, one month after Alice's birth.

Not long after Jill's birth, she had met her mother's older brother. Cambridge Downer had never been a ruler. But he had become the uncle of Jill Key, the thirteenth High. Children who had never been thirteen had been invited to become Soy's new rulers. Don and Camille had wanted their daughter to become one, and Jill's dad had granted them their wish.

Camille's friends had helped Jill and her dad survive the trip to the area where they had met Theo. Jill hoped she would befriend great Soynites. She didn't have a Bloodhound friend. No one could lead her to Don or Camille. But Pures could befriend Bloodhounds, and Jill hadn't forgotten what she was.

Her dad stepped into the bedroom. After walking closer to her, he kissed her hair. Camille couldn't do that. Neither could Don, who had replaced Reed Pisces as a High.

One day Jill's dad had given her a video-game system, which rested near the television in the room. Today he had given her Dexter the kitten. She had never met his namesake. Dexter the Soynite had died. Years ago, his son had gone missing.

Had a Freeman murdered Don?

"Do you ever think about the Freemans, Dad?" Jill asked.

"I think about our pale antagonists every single day," her dad said. "I hope they haven't succeeded in killing your birth parents. Despite the fact that I haven't seen Don or Camille in years, they're still my friends. I wonder where your birth father went. I wonder where all the former Highs went."

Don, Boris Endman, Ray Fire, Tale Wick, and Notch Slip had vanished on the day of Soy's invasion. If Don hadn't gone missing, he might have held his daughter during that terrible night.

"Don never got to hold me when I was a baby," Jill said. "I wish that he had. I don't know where he went, but I wish that he were with me right now. And I want to know what happened to him."

Her dad looked at the television's blank screen. "Likewise, my High."

"I wish I could see the past. One day I will, but I wish I could do it right now. I want to see where Don went."

If Jill lived long enough, she would gain the power to see the past. Soynites with that Save couldn't choose what they saw in their visions. Neither could Soynites with the power of precognition.

In the past, Theo had given Jill royal power. She wasn't a false High. When she had gained authority over most of her people, it had been awesome, like beating a video-game level.

"I hope he's with Camille," Jill's dad said. "Don deserves to be with his wife. And both of them deserve to be with you, their only child. Their High."

Jill's dad ran his fingers through her hair.

"Highs need crowns," he said. "Regardless, a High without a crown is still a High. Remember that."

Jill didn't have a crown. The ones the former Highs had worn hadn't had caps, like Lock Tannis's. He had let Soynites live in peace for many years before ordering Soy's invasion. The Freeman leader didn't lack patience.

"I wonder where Don's crown is," Jill said. A person could wear something their father had worn, including headwear. "I want to wear it."

"Fortunately, crowns can be resized," her dad said. "The one Don wore might fit your head well one day."

Jill heard laser beam fire.

She moved off the bed, her heart pounding. Many Soynites had heard laser beam fire shortly before dying.

"That sounded like—" Jill started saying.

"Laser beam fire," her dad said. "Grab Dexter, then hide in your closet. Use your laser gun to defend yourself. I'll come back for you."

Jill's dad had survived Soy's invasion, but each fight someone participated in could end in their death. She embraced her dad. He hugged her back before they separated.

"Don't die, Dad," she said, as if a Freeman had wounded him. "Please don't die. I love you."

"I love you, too," her dad said. He pointed at the walk-in closet's door. "Grab Dexter, then hide in your closet."

Jill grabbed Dexter. If her kitten died, that would be terrible, like if she killed one of her co-rulers.

Her dad rushed out of the bedroom. He would arm himself, and so would Jill. Lock's people had guns and swords, but Jill and her dad had weapons as well.

After hurrying into the closet, she flipped the light switch, then put Dexter down. She shut the door. Hangers hung on rods, suspending her clothes above the gray carpet. Pairs of shoes idled on the floor. They had never touched Soy's lifeless soil. A cardboard box sat on the carpet. Jill kneeled in front of it, opened it. Trembling, she pulled out her Soynite laser pistol. She stood.

Jill had never shot anyone, not even a Freeman.

She turned off her gun's safety and aimed it at the closed door. Lock was the reason why she couldn't be with her mother. He had made his warriors murder her people and ruin Soy. Jill wouldn't show any of his soldiers mercy.

She waited. She didn't wear pants, but she had a weapon that could kill. Yet she breathed as if someone aimed a gun at her.

During the wait, laser beam fire erupted outside. A fight raged on the property, a conflict Jill's dad might have joined.

"Please don't die, Dad," she said.

Minutes passed. Voices came from outside the room.

"Jill, it's okay!" her dad shouted. She turned on the gun's safety before lowering it. "Stay in the closet. I'm coming to you. There's someone I want you to see."

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

After the door swung open, Jill's dad moved into the closet and another man did the same. The light glowed against his brown hair. He looked at Jill with his brown eyes. He stood tall, and he was muscular.

"I'm here, High Kara," the man said, speaking English with a Soynite accent. "It's me. Cambridge Downer. I'm your mother's older brother. I'm your uncle."

A Freeman warrior hadn't gone into the closet. Cambridge Downer had. He had been in the same room as Jill when she emerged from her mother, his sister.

She smiled. "Cambridge!"

She wanted to hug him, but he got on his knees. He bowed his head, kneeling for his High. He respected her royal authority.

"Rise," Jill commanded.

Cambridge rose, and smiled. After turning, Jill put her Soynite gun in the cardboard box. She wouldn't shoot her uncle. She approached Cambridge, who might know where she could find her mother. They hugged. The fight had ended, and a child ruler had reunited with a loved one. The moment was better than the chocolate cake she had eaten earlier. She and Cambridge stopped hugging.

He kissed her cheek. "I missed you, High Kara. High Jill, I mean. High Jill."

"You can call me Jill," she said. "You don't have to add High before my name. It's okay."

"I'm so glad you're still alive. And you're beautiful, too. Just like your mother."

Cambridge Downer had come into Jill's life and her closet, but he hadn't arrived with Don or Camille. Jill didn't have her birth parents or her pants. Her shirt wasn't long enough to hide her blue panties from Cambridge's view. She felt awkward, as if she had tripped in front of Theo Majestic.

"Dad," she said. "Please bring me my pants."

Her dad nodded. He left the closet and Cambridge did the same. After Jill's dad gave her the blue jeans she had left on the bed, he exited the closet again. Dexter moved out of it. Jill's dad had given him to her as a birthday gift. Today she had gained a pet and a reunion with her uncle.

Jill put her pants on before buttoning them. Barefooted, she walked out of the closet. Her dad and Cambridge stood in the room, their socks pressing against the gray carpet. When they were away from her, she had heard laser beam fire.

"What happened outside?" she asked.

"Freemans happened," her dad said. "They were trying to kill your uncle, but I stopped them."

"After spending years as their prisoner, I finally escaped, Jill," Cambridge said. "By the way, I saw your birth father. I saw Don Ascend. Me and your mother found him after the Invasion. He had changed, though."

Jill furrowed her brow. "What do you mean?"

"Your birth father joined Lock Tannis."

Maybe Cambridge had made a cruel joke. Jill's birth father might not be terrible like Lock.

"Are you sure?" she asked.

"He's telling the truth," her dad said.

Cambridge nodded. "There's something else I have to tell you, too, Jill. But it can wait. It's your birthday, and I don't want to ruin it. It's already bad enough that your birth father sided with Lock. I'm sorry, my High."

Cambridge stood in a royal bedroom. Jill had a High's authority, and she could order him to tell her the information he hid. But he didn't believe she should learn the secret too soon.

"Okay," she said. Cambridge had told her about Don. She could ask him about her mother. "What about my mother? Where is she?"

Cambridge frowned. Maybe he had gotten separated from Camille years ago and he didn't know where he could find her. Or maybe a Freeman had murdered her. Whatever Cambridge's response would be, Jill hoped it wouldn't be too terrible.

"She joined Lock, too," Cambridge said. "Don had convinced her to work for Lock, but I didn't let him influence me. That's why I ended up as a prisoner."

Cambridge had kneeled for Jill, yet Don and Camille might have done that for Lock today. Jill's birth parents supported her worst enemy. They didn't support her. She walked closer to the bed and pressed her fingers against the comforter. It blurred in her vision.

"I'm sorry," Cambridge said. He rubbed Jill's back, and tears fled her eyes. "Do you want to know what I think? I think your mother will realize how wrong she is, and so will Don. They won't be on Lock's side forever."

People could change.

"I know," Jill said. "And someone will kill Lock."

She wiped away her tears before facing Cambridge. He had stood in the closet where she had wielded her laser gun. Camille wouldn't try shooting Lock, and neither would Don. The mastermind behind Soy's invasion deserved to be shot in the head. Don and Camille didn't believe that. Their daughter did.

"I will never fight for him," Cambridge said. "There are a couple of people I need to fight for, and Lock isn't one of them. I only serve the six Highs. I'm going to help you, Jill. And the fact that you're my High isn't the only reason why I'll do that."

Don and Camille remained away from Jill's big bedroom, but Cambridge didn't. He had gone into the mansion and found her. Don hadn't.

He used to rule Soy with Theo and the other former Highs who weren't Reed.

"You told me about Don," Jill said. "What happened to the other former Highs?"

Cambridge unleashed a heavy sigh, as if he had finished arguing with someone. "Most of them joined Lock. Those fools. They made a stupid decision when they sided with that awful man, because he doesn't deserve anyone's support. The only former High who understands that is Theo Majestic."

"Do you know where he is?"

"No. But I wish I did. He is the biggest threat to Lock, and they need to face each other, because Lock needs to die."

Jill's dad stroked his brown beard. Unlike him, Cambridge had no facial hair.

"I wonder when that will happen," Jill's dad said. "Lock has been alive for an extremely long time, but he gave us a good reason to kill him when he made his warriors attack Soy. That was years ago. Yet Lock is still alive. Eventually, we will defeat him. I do believe that. We've survived the Freemans so far, but Lock won't survive the Soynites. When we kill that unpleasant man, his warriors will be on our side. All the Freemans will."

"I wonder who their next leader will be," Jill said.

Cambridge bent down and stroked Dexter's fur. "They will be a friend, hopefully."

Cambridge stood. The bedroom he remained in wasn't the one where Camille had given birth to Jill. She couldn't remember her first meeting with Cambridge, but her dad used to talk about him, and he could help her. Today Freemans had lost a fight with her dad. None of them had murdered Cambridge, and that was why he could speak with Jill.

If she found Camille, what would she say to Jill?

Her dad caressed her hair. "If Jill becomes the next Freeman leader, we won't have to worry about the Freemans trying to kill us."

"If I were their leader, I would end this war," Jill said. "We have to win, not the Freemans. So many good Soynites died because of them. That's one of the reasons why Lock has to die. Someone has to kill him."

"And someone will," Cambridge said. "By the way, Jill, I'm going to stay here. Your dad was kind enough to let me live here. We're housemates now."

Cambridge would sleep in the same home as Jill. A Freeman base's walls didn't surround him. Jill's dad had rescued him, and he would help them survive. He served Jill. Someday he might assist the other Highs, children who had stood outside a spaceport as Jill's dad held her. His shoes had touched an airstrip. Then they had made contact with a spaceship's floor, and that spaceship had taken them to safety.

Jill smiled. "I'm glad my dad saved you, Cambridge. And I hope the other Highs are like you. I hope they're okay, I mean."

"Including Lovely?" her dad asked, mentioning a girl who had killed someone before.

"Yes, even Lovely," Jill said. Her dad smiled, as if he saw her wearing a blue crown. Theo might know where someone could find Don's. "You told me how awful she was. If she's still like that, I'll help her become better. Soy needs good leaders."

The Freeman leader had made his people attack Soy.

Jill pointed at the window, aiming her finger at its hard glass. "Freemans were outside our house. And there are more of them. They're here. They're on Earth, Free, and probably Soy, too. And they fight for the worst Freeman in the universe."

Jill touched her pendant.

"So do the people who gave me this," she said. "But I'm going to help Don and Camille. I'm going to make them realize that they shouldn't be serving Lock. One day they will serve me, their daughter."

Jill's dad pointed a thumb at himself. "This Watcher will always serve you, my High. And no matter what happens, you will always be my daughter."

Cambridge looked at the window. Sunlight passed through its glass. The light from Earth's sun could touch grass, but Soy's sunlight couldn't. Someday Jill might hold the Soy Maker, the object with the power to revive her homeworld. And that blue orb could do more than bring life back to her dead planet.

"I've never been a Watcher, and I never will be one," Cambridge said. He made eye contact with Jill. "But I'm going to keep serving you and the other Highs. And you will see them again."

"That's what I have to do," Jill said. "I can't stay away from them forever. They're somewhere. As long as you're alive, you're always somewhere. My co-rulers need to be alive, because we need to rule Soy together. None of us will do what Don did. We won't join Lock. We will do everything in our power to get rid of him. Don doesn't want that to happen, but I do."

Jill touched her hair.

"And maybe I'll wear his crown one day," she said.

"You're a good Soynite, Jill," Cambridge told her. "I serve you, and I'm grateful that I can. It's an honor. Your birth father needs to be like you. So does your mother. I survived Soy's invasion, but I wasn't able to stop my sister from joining Lock. One day I'll make her support Soy again. I'll make her support you too, my High."

"Thanks, Cambridge. And I love you."

"I love you, too."

Not even Don's crown was as great as Cambridge.

"I'll keep helping you," he said. "Until I die, of course. But I'm not dead. I'm here, and I won't let anything bad happen to you."

Jill ruled a dead planet and a nearly extinct race, but Cambridge supported her anyway. She embraced him, and he hugged her back. Her dad stroked her hair. Years ago, he had delivered her in the home Cambridge had shared with Camille. She couldn't live with Jill, who hated the cruel person Camille served.

Someone would have to kill Lock, but Jill would have to speak with Camille, help her become someone who would rather slay Lock than serve him. Today she might have kneeled for him. He had made his people massacre most of Jill's. She would never kneel in respect for that foul Freeman.

Jill and Cambridge stopped hugging. Dexter lay on the carpet, looking at her with his green eyes. Someday Don would see her. Before Soy's invasion, Lock must have found him. He must have convinced Don to join him. While Camille gave birth to Jill, he hadn't been in the bedroom with her. He had abandoned her. Unlike Cambridge, Don wasn't awesome.

"You're a good person," Jill told Cambridge. "You didn't deserve to be locked inside of a Freeman base. I'm sorry that happened to you."

"My imprisonment is over," Cambridge said. He grinned as if Camille had told him she no longer supported Lock. "I'm free, and I don't have to worry about dying in that Freeman base anymore. I escaped from that place, and then I found my niece and my friend. I'm exactly where I need to be. I'm just sorry that it took so long for me to reunite with the two of you."

Jill's dad put a hand on Cambridge's shoulder. "You don't have to apologize. You were a prisoner. And the Freemans didn't want you to leave. You had to fight for your freedom, and you did. You're here, Cambridge. You're alive."

"Thanks for keeping my niece alive. You did it, Joseph. You got her to Theo Majestic, and he made her into a High. Camille and Don wanted that to happen. They serve Lock now, but they should really be serving the wonderful girl they made."

"If they were here, they wouldn't want to kneel for me," Jill said. "But I'm still their High. Lock isn't."

"You rule over all three of them," her dad said. "Everything that Soy's sunlight and moonlight touches is yours, Jill. You and your co-rulers own that planet. And I acknowledge you as one of my leaders."

He kneeled on the carpet before bowing his head, and Cambridge did the same. Kneeling, they showed respect to High Jill.

"Rise," she commanded.

Her dad and Cambridge rose.

She preferred to be called Jill, but her name was still Kara. The Ascends who had given her that name would rather kneel for Lock and not her, but she was still a High. The thirteenth one.

"My last name is Key," Jill said. "But I'm still what Don and Camille are. I'm an Ascend, and I'm the only good one. My birth parents joined Lock, but I never will. That awful Freeman isn't going to have three Ascends working for him. It's my responsibility to protect my people. Lock doesn't want to do that. He wants to kill or imprison any Soynite who doesn't serve him."

Jill looked at Cambridge.

"You're not going to be locked inside of a Freeman base ever again, Cambridge," she said. "Camille deserves to be locked up, not you. She's my mother, but I'm not going to help her get what she wants. And she wants Lock to win. I can't let that happen."

"Because you're a High, and Highs need to do what's best for their people," Cambridge said. "You can't afford to become like your mother. Your people need you to protect them, Jill."

"And I will protect them. Don and Camille want to protect Lock, but he's going to lose them. I won't kill them, though. I don't want to be cruel when I don't have to be. I am not Lovely Windsore, and I'm also not Lock. I'm going to make Don and Camille switch sides. They aren't going to consider Lock their leader forever."

Jill had never slain anyone. Yet she would smile if she killed Lock.

"I hate him more than I hate anyone," she said. "And he has billions of people serving him, but he doesn't deserve anyone's support. Don and Camille should be helping me. They shouldn't be helping the Freeman who destroyed our planet and got so many of our people killed. Why are my birth parents like that? Why are they helping that monster?"

Cambridge put his hands on Jill's shoulders. "We're going to help them become better people."

"He's right, Jill," her dad said. "People can become awful, but they can also become great. That's what I want Don and Camille to be, and I know you want that, too."

Don and Camille would rather help the Freemans win the war against the Soynites who didn't serve Lock, but they would oppose him in the future. One day they would be like Cambridge, who preferred to turn Lock into smoke than assist him.

"I want my birth parents to not see me as their enemy," Jill said. "And I want them to be okay."

"They will be," Cambridge told her.

"I also don't want this war to ruin me."

"It won't."

Jill looked at her bed. "I think that I should go to sleep now."

Cambridge kissed her cheek. Yesterday he hadn't been able to do that. He had been locked inside a Freeman base, but he had gained sweet freedom.

"I'll see you later, my High," he said.

Jill's dad kissed her forehead. "Your birth parents are going to be okay. And I'm proud of you, Jill. You're a great example of a good High."

"Thanks, Dad." Jill said.

Her dad would kill to keep her safe. He loved her. Did he love someone the way Don loved Camille?

After Jill's dad and Cambridge left the room, she removed her pendant and placed it on the nightstand beside her bed. She removed her jeans before putting them in her laundry hamper. A short moment later, she rested in her bed. Dexter put his smaller one to use. His eyes were shut. Jill kept hers open, but she didn't see Don. She never had.

As her blue comforter lay on her, she stared at the ceiling. How many times had Cambridge slept inside the Freeman base he had escaped? His time as a prisoner had ended. Jill's dad had rescued him, and the three of them could convince Don and Camille to join their side.

Jill ruled a lifeless planet and its living people. But she had a loyal Watcher, a free uncle, and a young cat. And her birth parents would someday serve her.

She smiled.