"I really wish that you could see this, my High," the weakling said.

High Lena Fly sat on her big bed, wearing her dark sunglasses and her Soynite pendant. The comforter beneath her butt was soft. When she slept, Betty had moved her from a sofa to her bed. Lena would rather hug Betty than Hailey. Yet the greatest High hadn't forgotten what Betty had done to her.

She hadn't forgotten Reese Low. She couldn't speak to Lena, but her younger sister could.

"What is it?" Lena asked.

"It's a picture of you," Hailey said. "It was taken during the Invasion. You were so young back then."

"I was five. My eyes were green back then. Your sister Reese was with me on that night. She's even worse than you are."

"I love her," Hailey said. "I love everyone, but I really love her. And I'm going to meet her one day."

Lena had met Reese, but Hailey never had. Before Soy's invasion, she used to watch Reese while Theo kept himself and her invisible.

"Here," Hailey said.

An object came to Lena's hand, then Hailey's skin touched Lena's. The blind High scowled. She slammed her hand against Hailey's arm, slapping it.

"Don't touch me!" Lena shouted.

"I'm sorry, my High!" Hailey said. "I just wanted to give you the picture. I'm so sorry."

Lena stroked the photograph with her thumb before placing it beside her. "I can't see, weakling! I should hurt you for wasting my time."

Betty had left the space station. She wouldn't be able to stop Lena from hurting Hailey. Even if Betty were inside the space station, she would let Lena do what she wanted to do to Hailey.

"Please, don't," Hailey said. "You already hit me."

"And I can hit you again," Lena replied. She squeezed the comforter.

"Please, don't. I'm sorry, my High. And I really wish that you could see the photograph. One day you'll be able to. I know that."

Someday the beautiful High might sit on a throne and see Hailey kneeling for her.

She didn't slap Hailey.

"I'm not going to hurt you," Lena said. She patted the bed with a pale hand. "Sit down. I want to know exactly where you are."

If Hailey sat close enough to Lena, she would be able to strike the weakling if she frustrated her.

Hailey sat beside Lena.

"My High," she said. "Can you tell me how you became blind? Betty said that it's her fault you're like this."

"It is her fault that I'm like this," Lena said.

"What happened?"

Lena hadn't forgotten what had happened on planet Still. She had beautiful orange hair, but she no longer had beautiful green eyes. On Still, her eyes had changed from green to pale gray. Even her pupils had become that color. And her Saves were as absent as her vision.

"Years ago, when I was young, me and Betty went to Still," Lena said. "We wanted to find Soynites and valuable things. We found some water. Whenever you touch an object from Still, you learn its function. This water was no different. Betty touched it, then I couldn't see anymore. I was blind."

Lena had lost her eyesight, and she had never regained it. If she were a Bloodhound, she would've lost the power to find anyone on the day Betty touched that water on Still.

"You see, weakling, the person who touched the water would be given all the Saves," Lena said. "But the person they loved the most would become blind. And if that loved one was a Soynite, they would lose any powers they had. Betty's powers came at a price. The water she touched only worked once. That meant she was the first person in history to touch that water. Knowledge came to her. It was knowledge that informed her about the water and how to cure my blindness and get my powers back. The blinded person has to become worthy. Then their blindness would be cured and their powers would come back. But that's never going to happen. There's also another way I can be cured."

Did Hailey know where the Soy Maker was?

"What is it?" she asked.

"The Soy Maker," Lena said. "Do you know where it is?"

"It should be at my space station," Hailey said. "But me and Vera never found it. My father hid it pretty well."

Lena clenched her fists. "Of course he did. And maybe the Soy Maker isn't even at your space station. Maybe that foolish father of yours hid it somewhere else."

"There's still hope, my High," Hailey said. "You don't need the Soy Maker to get cured. You can still become worthy."

The knowledge Betty had gained hadn't informed her what Lena needed to do to become worthy. She shook her head.

"Me and Betty don't know how I can become worthy," she said. "And whether someone is worthy or not all depends on perspective. Lock Tannis considers the Freemans to be worthy people, but we don't."

"From my perspective, I think you have to become a good person," Hailey said. "Or maybe you have to do something heroic and noble. Sacrifice yourself for a loved one, for example."

Lena scowled. "Are you telling me I should get myself killed to save someone else?"

Hailey had given Lena a reason to hurt her. The High had blind eyes that wandered, but she could beat this foolish Majestic. Theo had made Lena into a High, but that didn't mean his daughter deserved a hug or a kiss from Lena. Hailey needed to be beaten.

"I'm just theorizing, my High," she said. "But you'll be healed, I think. I think if you get yourself hurt for someone else, the wound will heal and your sight will come back. And your Saves."

"You truly are the dumbest person I've ever met," Lena replied.

"Planet Still works in mysterious ways. And it wants you to become a better person."

"I'll become a better person by beating you, weakling."

Hailey moved off the bed. Her footsteps informed Lena the weakling wasn't walking or jogging. Hailey ran.

"Get back here!" Lena shouted.

She stood. Hailey had run out the bedroom, but Lena could find her. Unlike Hailey, Lena's white cane hadn't left the room. Betty had bought it on the weak humans' planet. It came from the place where Lena had last seen Reese, another frustrating Majestic.

"I'm never going to sacrifice myself for anyone!" Lena said. "Do you hear me? I'm going to find you and then beat you."

With her arms in front of her, Lena moved closer to the wall. Soon, her hands touched the desk. It wasn't soft like the comforter she had sat on. It was hard enough to injure Hailey if Lena slammed that weakling's head against it a couple times. Lena removed her sunglasses and set them on the desk's wooden surface. If Hailey were in the room, she would be able to see Lena's eyes, hideous ones Hailey had called beautiful. Lena should've kicked her harder.

Socks covered Lena's feet. If she kicked Hailey with a shoe-covered foot, that would hurt worse than if Lena kicked her while wearing socks. Lena grabbed her shoes before putting them on.

Her cane should be in the corner, not far from her bed. After approaching the cane, she grabbed it. Smiling, she stroked its hard length.

"I'm going to find you, weakling!" Lena shouted.

Walking, she swung her cane from side to side. A short moment later, she stood in the hall outside her room. Rapid breathing met her ears.

"I can hear you breathing!" Lena said.

"I don't want you to hurt me again!" Hailey said. It sounded like she stood nearby, but she didn't stand close enough for Lena to punch or kick her. "Please, my High. I love you. I really do. But you hurt me."

"I hurt you because you deserved to be hurt!" Lena said. "And I was right. I said that you were going to love me, and now you do."

"I love everyone."

"You shouldn't. Come here, weakling."

"No," Hailey said.

"I'm not going to hurt you," Lena lied.

"You're going to try to! You're my High, but I don't want you to hurt me anymore."

For years, Betty had been the only person who could serve Lena. Then Hailey had come into her life. If Lena killed her, the number of people who could serve her would drop from two to one. She wouldn't murder Hailey, but she would beat her.

"I knew you were weak," Lena said. "You're so weak. You had the audacity to yell at your Watcher, but you can't even kill a member of the race that destroyed our planet. Your older sister is a fool, but she probably fights and kills Freemans."

"My sister isn't a fool," Hailey said. "And her name is Nova Majestic."

"When I lived with her, her name was Reese Low. She's a fool, and so is our co-ruler Aris Upside. I remember when I poured juice on his head. What I'm going to do to you is going to be a lot worse than what I did to him."

Hailey sobbed as if she had seen Vera's corpse. "Please, just leave me alone. I don't want to hurt you. You're my High, and my father made you into what you are."

"Your father made a fool," Lena said. "I don't mean me. I mean you. The fool he made is you, weakling. You and your sister have frustrated me so much. Reese has frustrated me much more than you have, though. Still, I hate both of you."

How could Lena make Hailey drop her guard? In the nearby bathroom, she could use toilet paper to wipe away the wetness that might be on her face. While she worked on cleaning it, her alertness might lower.

"You should go to the bathroom," Lena said. "Get some toilet paper and wipe away your tears."

"Okay," Hailey replied. Lena heard her footsteps as she moved away from her.

A minute passed.

"Dumb Majestic," Lena whispered.

She advanced toward the bathroom, ready to give Hailey a beating. She hadn't closed the door to the room. Lena stepped into it.

Cold liquid crashed against her face, then an object slammed onto a hard surface. Hailey must have set the cup onto the counter, the cup that had held the water dripping down Lena's face. She cried out and dropped her cane, ready to punch or kick Hailey. Something slammed against Lena's leg. She yelped.

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Had the weakling kicked her? Why did Hailey act like Lena deserved to be hurt? Why couldn't Hailey accept the fact she had earned herself a painful beating?

"Don't fight me," Hailey said, sounding as confident as a Watcher. "That's a warning."

"Stop acting like you can beat me in a fight!" Lena told Hailey.

"I'm not acting."

Lena winced. "You hurt my leg, you dumb Majestic! You hurt your High. I'm going to hurt you so badly."

"I'm not scared of you, but I am scared of hurting you."

"You already have hurt me," Lena said. She rubbed her leg. "You kicked me, you disrespectful fool!"

"I don't want to hurt you, my High," Hailey said. "All life is precious. I will always believe that. But if you give me a reason to hurt you, I will. Vera trained me. You're blind, and you don't have Saves anymore. I have the advantage. You can't beat me."

Hailey could see, which Lena couldn't do. But she was a High, not Hailey. She was supposed to obey the High. Yet that pathetic weakling refused to let Lena beat her. Another girl Lena deserved to hurt was Reese.

"I regret not beating your sister," Lena said. "She never got violent with me, but you have. Maybe you'll try to kill me one day. Is that what you want to do? Do you want to murder your High?"

"No," Hailey said. "I love you, my High."

Betty might die for Lena if she could. Her Watcher loved her. If someone told her Betty had died, that would be terrible, like the moment when she became blind and Saveless. But Lena wouldn't die for Betty if given the option to. And Lena would never sacrifice herself to save Hailey.

Lena hadn't been blind when she lived with Reese, a girl who didn't deserve to be a High.

"You also love that sister of yours," Lena said. "I'm never going to love her, and I'm never going to love your father. You shouldn't love him, weakling. He abandoned you. And I don't know where he is, but I do know that he's a horrible person."

The Theo-loving Lilly had left Hailey's space station with her son, but she hadn't taken Hailey with her. Lilly had abandoned her, her husband, and almost all their children.

"Your mother is horrible, too," Lena said. "She left you. She abandoned your father and almost all of her children. She took Nick with her, but she didn't take you, because you don't matter to her. And before the Invasion, she gave Reese away. But that's not the only awful thing she did. She made a dangerous Watcher keep her baby. Even after that Watcher shot her husband in the leg. Maybe Summer shot Anne, too. That girl probably tried to leave Summer and got killed for it."

"Don't say that!" Hailey said. "Anne is still alive, and I'm going to see her again."

"You left your Watcher. Anne probably left hers, too. Summer shot your father, and then she took Anne. That woman is dangerous. What do you think would happen if Anne tried to leave her?"

"Summer will never kill her. She loves Anne too much to do that."

"Loving someone doesn't guarantee you will love them forever," Lena said. "Still, I really hope that Anne isn't dead. I want her to serve me. You and her are Majestics, but the two of you can serve High Lena. Unfortunately, you hurt me. I'm not going to forget that. I hate Anne less than I hate you. It's too bad that she isn't here."

Lena and Reese ruled a planet together. The two Highs didn't have to kneel for each other, but Reese's siblings needed to kneel for Lena. One day Anne might. If Summer hadn't taken her from Theo and Lilly, Anne might have arrived at this space station with Hailey.

If Anne was alive, what was she like? Did she believe all life was precious? Had she killed Freemans?

Lena didn't know where someone could find Anne, but the High knew where that girl's sister was. Hailey had hurt Lena in this bathroom. She needed to feel Lena's fists battering her.

"Anne hasn't hurt me before," Lena said. "I wish I could say that you've never hurt me, but I obviously can't."

Hailey sighed. "I didn't want to hurt you, but I had to do it. I'm sorry."

"You're going to be sorry when I hurt you. And you're not great, weakling. No one will ever kneel for you. You've never killed anyone. Not even a Freeman. You won't ever kill Lock Tannis, because I'm going to do it. Even if you did have the opportunity to kill him, you wouldn't do it anyway. Because you believe all life is precious. You dumb Majestic. The Freemans will never kneel for you. And no Soynite will ever kneel for you."

"You don't know that," Hailey said. "I might become a High one day."

"When I'm finally the Supreme High, I'll make sure that you never become a High. You don't deserve to be like me. And I haven't forgotten that you hurt me. I'm going to punish you."

"You can try to."

As if Hailey had forgotten what Lena was, she had hurt the High. Her royal fists would strike Hailey, who must have gotten water on the floor. The liquid could make Lena slip and fall.

She aimed her hand at the wall before taking several steps to the side. She put her hands in front of her, and walked. Then she touched Hailey.

Lena clenched her fists. "I'm going to hurt you now."

She swung her fist, but it didn't slam against Hailey. A hand yanked Lena's hair from behind. Hailey pushed Lena forward, making her stumble.

Hailey must have dodged Lena's fist before moving behind her, but Hailey wouldn't be able to keep avoiding punishment. It would come to her. Like destruction had come to Soy. The Freemans had murdered Soynites. Those dead people couldn't serve Lena, the greatest High. They couldn't help her deal with Hailey.

"Just stop," Hailey said. "You're not going to hurt me."

Lena headed toward her enemy. Something slammed against her leg. She yelped and pain spread like spilled water. Hailey struck her other leg. Something fist-sized hit her stomach three times, bringing more pain.

Hailey forced Lena onto the floor. Hands slammed against her arms, pinning them. Hailey straddled her.

"You can't even fight," Hailey said. "Vera trained me well. Even if you weren't blind, I could beat you."

Hailey moved her hands off Lena, and she stopped straddling her. Pain ran through the sore spots on her body.

"You lost," Hailey said. Her voice's distance made Lena assume she had stood.

"Did you punch me?" Lena asked, rubbing her stomach.

"Yes," Hailey said. "I had to do it. I'm sorry, my High. I'll get a healing glass. Stay here. I don't want you to walk while you're in pain."

Hailey's shoes slapped against the hard floor. Lena listened as Hailey walked in the hall outside the bathroom. She had defeated Lena, but she would make Hailey regret what she had done to her. Nobody should be able to hurt High Lena without being punished afterward. Theo would never see Hailey again.

Lena waited.

Hailey returned to the bathroom. "I'm back, my High. I brought a healing glass."

"Give it to me," Lena said. Staying on her back, she held her hand out. A hard object landed on it. "Go back to my room."

After Hailey left the room, Lena placed the healing glass next to her. She took off her shoes. The fact neither of them had struck Hailey in this bathroom made Lena frown. She unbuttoned her jeans before unzipping them. She removed the pants. Using the healing glass, she healed her legs. Then she healed her stomach.

If Lena hadn't lost her healing power, she wouldn't have needed the glass to heal herself. And if she hadn't gone blind, she would've put up a better fight against Hailey.

Lena had her pants and shoes on when she returned to her room. She held her white cane and the healing glass. She placed the transparent object on the desk.

"I'm still sorry for hurting you," Hailey said.

"You should be," Lena said. "You should also be punished."

Lena returned her cane to the corner she had taken it from, then took off her shoes. She moved into her bed, as if her pain had returned. She had healed herself, but her hatred for Hailey hadn't left.

"Why did you have to come into my life?" Lena said. "Why did Reese's pathetic sister have to come into my home and hurt me? I wish you had gotten killed while the Freemans were attacking the royal palace. Unfortunately, you lived."

"Fortunately, I did," Hailey replied. "But some people weren't fortunate back then. Nick's Watcher died inside the royal palace. Freemans died there, too. And Summer took Anne away from me. I wasn't able to protect anyone when the Invasion was happening."

"And you're never going to protect anyone. Enjoy the time you have left, weakling."

How many days did Lena have left to live? How many more days would she be blind and Saveless?

She had won authority over a planet and most of its people, but she had lost her eyesight and her Saves. If she reunited with her father, she wouldn't be able to see him smile.

"I hope you enjoy the rest of your life, too," Hailey said. "You're just like everyone else. You deserve to live a great life."

Lena scowled. "I'm not like everyone else. I'm better than all of them. And I'm better than my co-rulers."

"I wish I could meet them."

"You're not going to. And I know that you want to meet Reese, but that's never going to happen. People don't always get what they want. You're never going to get a hug from that awful sister of yours."

"I'm going to hug Nova," Hailey said. "And it might happen soon. She's out there, and I'm going to find her. Or maybe she's going to find me. I haven't seen Nova in years, and she has never seen me. But we're going to be together. I just don't know when."

Lena would be with Betty again. She would return to the space station. When she came back, she might be with someone Lena had never met.

"Can I touch you?" Hailey asked.

If Lena let Hailey believe she hated her less than she did earlier, the weakling might be less cautious around Lena.

"Sure," she said.

Lips met her forehead. Warmth filled Hailey's lips. They weren't cold like the water she had used to wet Lena's face.

Victor Valley used to kiss Kara Ascend on the forehead. Like Hailey, Kara's biological father had ruled Soy. When she was a baby, her wails used to assault Lena's ears. Kara might frustrate her again if she were inside this room.

"I remember when me and Kara Ascend lived together," Lena said. "She was a baby back then, but she was still horrible."

"I can't wait to meet her," Hailey said. "She's also the same age as Anne. I wish that she had never been kidnapped. I wish my father wasn't missing. And I wish that you weren't blind and Saveless."

Lena sighed. "Me too. Betty loves me more than she loves anyone else, but that didn't stop her from ruining my life."

"You're like this because she loves you more than she loves anyone else."

When Lena met Betty for the first time, they had been younger. Six blue thrones had occupied a room in the Soynite royal palace back then. When the former Highs still had thrones, steps had been connected to the platform those chairs had stood on. Like the steps, it had been blue.

The Red Throne had a gray platform beneath it, and the steps attached to the platform were gray. The next Great Leader would sit on the Red Throne. That person would be Lena.

She lay in a bed within a space station. After killing Lock, she would sleep inside his bedroom within the Freeman royal palace. Hailey had told Betty Lock was a Soynite. He and Reed Pisces were the same person. Theo had stripped him of his High status, but he had gained royal power again after slaying Vice Reaper in a duel.

Most of the former Highs had joined Lock. Would one of the current ones do the same? Would Aris Upside join him?

"Betty is way better than my co-rulers," Lena said. "And she's powerful. I need people like that serving me. You're a Pure, but you're never going to be as powerful as Betty. And that Pure father of yours better be alive, because I need him to bring the Soy Maker here."

"He's alive," Hailey said. "And he's going to bring the Soy Maker here. When it cures you, your vision will come back. Your Saves will, too."

"I'm also going to kill Lock. He's been the owner of the Red Throne for way too long. I deserve to sit on it, not him."

When Lena was born, Lock had resided at the Freeman royal palace. She was sixteen, and Lock still lived inside that home in Spike City. It would become hers.

"His life is precious," Hailey said. "Just like yours. Killing is—"

"Stop!" Lena shouted. "I don't want to hear any of your pacifistic nonsense."

"Okay, my High."

Lena put a hand on her stomach. "Anyway, I need to become the next leader of the Freemans. They need to kneel for me. And they will. When I get rid of Lock, everything is going to be better. I will have a red crown. And I will have the Red Throne. Plus, those awful co-rulers of mine are going to elect me as the Supreme High."

"If they do that, you'll be what my father was," Hailey said. "He's not the leader of the Highs anymore, but he's still important to me."

Hailey's respect for Theo was foolish, which she had been when she called Lena's eyes beautiful.

"Your father made me into a High," Lena said. "That will always be his greatest accomplishment. As for you, you're going to die without reuniting with him. You won't see your father again. You also won't reunite with the rest of your family. That fact shouldn't make you feel too bad, though. You haven't seen another Majestic in years. Can you even call them your loved ones?"

"I can," Hailey said. "I love my parents, and I love my brother and my sisters. I haven't met Nova. And Summer took Anne when she was a baby. My mother took Nick with her not long after that. I haven't seen any of those people in a long time, but they're still my loved ones. My parents are out there. My siblings are, too. And I'm never going to stop loving them."

"Your mother left, then your father did the same. He left you with Vera, someone who isn't even related to you. Why do you love the people who abandoned you?"

With most of her body still beneath the comforter, Lena moved onto her side. Before Hailey stepped into this bedroom, a Majestic had never been in it. And Lena had never been in a room with the Soy Maker.

Where had Theo put it?

"Everyone deserves to be loved," Hailey told Lena. "And my father didn't abandon me. I'm sure he was going to come back to our space station, but Freemans caught him. I believe that's what happened. I don't think that he planned on being gone for a long time."

"I hope he's okay," Lena said. "Because I really need him to bring me the Soy Maker. If you had brought it with you, I would've been cured hours ago. Unfortunately, your father didn't tell you where he hid the Soy Maker before he disappeared. Why do you Majestics have to make my life harder than it deserves to be?"

"I'm sorry," Hailey said. "I really am. But if I knew where the Soy Maker was, I would bring it to you. Betty isn't the only person who wants you to be cured."

Theo hadn't told Hailey where she could find the Soy Maker. She had teleported herself and her spaceship into Lena's home, but she hadn't brought the object that could make Lena see.

"You and her are supposed to want me to be cured," Lena said. "Sadly, neither of you know where the Soy Maker is. One of you is the reason why I'm like this. And the other one is the pathetic girl who didn't come here with the Soy Maker."

"I'm sorry, my High," Hailey said.

"Apologizing to me won't bring back my vision. It won't bring back my Saves, either. Your apology is as worthless as you are."

"I brought you that healing glass so you could heal yourself. I kneeled for you, and I serve you. I have worth. I have worth because of other reasons, too."

Lena's word was law.

She scowled. "I'm a High. If I say you're worthless, then you are."

Lena moved onto her back. Earlier, it had been on the floor in that bathroom. Hailey had given her a healing glass to heal herself with. Nobody would heal Hailey's future wounds. There had been a time when Lena could make wounds vanish. That had been a long time ago.

She could jump, but she couldn't fly. She could speak, but she couldn't see.

"By the way, I'm not going to be like this forever," Lena said. "I will get cured. The Soy Maker can't stay hidden forever."

"I know," Hailey said. "And when it cures you, you're going to see it, my High. You're also going to see your father again. You deserve to see him."

"And I will. I'll get my vision back, and I'll get my father back, too."

During Soy's invasion, Lena had bid farewell to her father, then she had met Reese. Lena hadn't heard that horrible girl's voice in years. Yet she had heard Reese's sister's voice not long ago.

When would Lena hear her father speak again? Where could she find him? Had he fallen in love again?

If he was alive, he could give her siblings.

"Stay hopeful," Hailey said. "Please. I'm going to go to the cafeteria now. If you need me, that's where I'll be."

"Okay," Lena said.

One minute went by. Hailey had left the bedroom. She would never enter it again, and Lena's Soynite dagger would make sure of that.

"Enjoy your last meal, weakling," she said.