Vera Mod had found the youngest High.

Kara Ascend stood between two men in the backyard, holding a kitten as she and the men looked at Vera's spaceship. It crushed grass beneath it. This planet had trees, water, and the girl Vera had left her space station to find.

Kara had brown hair and brown eyes. So did a certain Soynite man Vera used to see inside the royal palace on Soy. Like him, Kara was thin. When Theo Majestic took a picture of her during the Invasion, she had been a baby. On that night, Theo had given her authority over most of their people.

Vera kneeled before bowing her head.

"Rise," High Kara said, speaking Soynite. Vera rose. "Who are you?"

"My name is Vera Mod," Vera said. "And I'm the Watcher of Hailey Majestic, the third child of Theo and Lilly. I'm here to serve you, High Kara. I used to be friends with your parents. Also, your father joined Lock Tannis. I'm sorry."

"I know he joined Lock. My mother joined him, too. And please speak English, Vera. I don't want to spend a lot of time speaking Soynite. Not yet, anyway."

"Of course, my High," Vera said, responding in English.

"And I prefer to be called Jill now. Jill Key. You will have to call me High Jill or refer to me as your High. The man to my left is my adoptive father, Joseph. And the other man is Cambridge Downer."

"I know who he is. I've never seen him before today, though."

Joseph turned before walking toward the mansion. "Let's go inside. By the way, the kitten's name is Dexter. Jill named him after Don's father. Dexter was one of Jill's birthday gifts. Her eleventh birthday, to be specific."

The mansion had light gray exterior walls. It stood as sunlight shone against it. Light from Soy couldn't glow against a certain palace, the home Hailey had been born in. On that day, she had seen Vera for the first time.

How many times had Theo looked at Vera? When would they see each other again? How many times had he said her name?

He couldn't see the makeup she wore on her face. He couldn't speak with his daughter Hailey. Neither could Vera, who had tried convincing Hailey to stay home. Vera had failed to do that. But she had succeeded in finding Jill.

Inside the mansion's kitchen, Vera stood on the floor's black and white tiles. Jill put Dexter down. No animal had ever been on Soy or Free. Jill had named her kitten after Dexter Ascend. He would never know his daughter-in-law had joined Lock Tannis.

Vera and the others sat at the table. Vera was next to Cambridge, and Jill sat next to Joseph. Vera was across from Jill. More than once, Vera and Hailey had sat across from each other. Hailey had left her home, but Vera had entered Jill's. Vera could help this High. Theo wanted Soynites to help Jill and her co-rulers. Too many Soynites would rather give assistance to Lock than help their Highs. One of those Soynites was Camille.

"For years, I knew that Don joined Lock Tannis," Vera said. "Before today I didn't know that Camille did the same."

"My sister is working for the worst Soynite in the universe," Cambridge said. "Lock is one of us. Did you know that?"

"Yeah. And I know that because of Theo Majestic. He had a vision of the past, and it showed him Reed Pisces shapeshifting into Lock."

"Where is Theo now?"

Vera sighed. "I don't know. I haven't seen him in a long time. He left our space station a few days after the Invasion. He hasn't come back home yet, but I want him to. His daughter Hailey left too. She did that yesterday. I said that Hailey is Theo and Lilly's third child, and I wasn't lying about that. Theo and Lilly have three other children. Nick is Theo's son, his only one. And there's Nova. She's Theo's first daughter. All of you know her as Reese Low. Theo's youngest child is Anne. Her own Watcher kidnapped her. That woman's name is Summer Locket. Lilly and Nick are the only Majestics who are together. They left our space station after the Invasion."

"How did you find me?" Jill asked.

"I'm a Bloodhound," Vera said. "Hailey left me, and I was alone. But I didn't have to be that way forever. I could leave my home and make sure you were okay. You're the youngest High. I knew there was a chance you were one of the Highs who needed the most help, and I needed to tell you that your birth father joined Lock. And I have to make sure that you won't become like Don. That's another reason why I'm here. Also, one of your co-rulers is blind."

"Which one?"

"Lovely Windsore. A Freeman told me that she's blind. Lilly and Nick were with me when it happened. That was years ago, after they came back home. The last time I saw them was on that day. Hailey didn't see them back then."

Hailey could see, but it had been a long time since she had looked at Theo. It was possible pale fools had captured him. Vera didn't believe that, though. He had abandoned her and Hailey. At least he hadn't done what Boris, Don, Ray, Tale, and Notch had done.

"There's something else all of you have to know," Vera said. "Don isn't the only former High who joined Lock. Most of the other ones did, too. Theo is the only one who hasn't."

"We know," Cambridge said. "Don gave me some useful information when I reunited with him after the Invasion. That's how I learned what he and most of the other former Highs did. One of those traitors is dead, Vera. Boris Endman died somehow. Two Soynites came here earlier. They are brother and sister, and their names are Hero Shame and Sydney Shame. Hero was adopted by a man named Mitch, and Sydney is his only biological child. Mitch was captured by Freemans at some point. Anyway, Hero and Sydney heard a Freeman talking. And that's how they learned that Boris is dead."

Vera hadn't forgotten what Boris had done after the Invasion. "Boris tried to kill Theo on Soy, and then he stopped trying to, because he wanted Lock to kill Theo one day. I was there when he fought Boris. So was Hailey. I held her as her father had a sword fight with a man who used to be like a brother to him. I don't know how Boris died, but I'm glad he's gone."

Boris would never have the opportunity to hurt Theo ever again. Boris had survived his duel with Theo, but Boris wasn't alive now. He couldn't kill Vera, Theo, or Hailey. Someone might have killed Boris. Or he might have killed himself. Either way, that traitor couldn't help Lock accomplish his goals anymore.

"He's never going to reunite with his granddaughter," Joseph said. "Hero and Sydney are friends with Alice Endman. A woman named Misty Windsore kidnapped her and changed her name to Zoey All. Misty is Lovely's stepmother. She married Lovely's father, Boone. We don't know where Zoey is, though. When she was with Hero and Sydney in Hawaii, she saw a woman. Then she left Hero and Sydney to meet that woman. Hopefully she will never hurt Zoey. That's what Misty did to her. More than once, too. Misty didn't just kidnap Zoey. She also abused her."

Vera glared at the table. "In that case, I wish that awful woman had gotten killed during the Invasion."

"Zoey loves that awful woman. Misty was good to her sometimes, and that's why Zoey cares about her. She sees Misty as her mother, and Misty sees Zoey as her daughter. It's disgusting. Misty is an unpleasant person, and I wish she had never hurt Zoey. I wish Misty had never taken her away from Archer and Holly."

No one had taken Hailey away from Vera. She had spent years raising Hailey, who had left their home. She wanted to find Theo. He had become pessimistic, and that fact was as bad as the fact Hailey hadn't seen her brother in years.

Joseph stroked his beard. "I wonder where Zoey is now. Her friend Crammer Cole is a Bloodhound, Vera. He's Misty's best friend. Crammer used to be a member of the Children of Still. It's a cult of Soynites who worship planet Still. And they don't wear their pendants, but they do wear purple. The Children of Still are evil, and so are the Soynites who are members of the Lock Tannis Church. The one who leads that cult is a man named Bane Sinister. He and his followers worship Lock Tannis. I don't know who the leader of the Children of Still is, though."

"Whoever they are, I want them to stay far away from Hailey," Vera said. "I trained her. I taught her how to kill, but I don't know if she will ever kill anyone to protect herself. The girl is a pacifist. She believes that all life is precious. I love her, but her belief can get her killed one day. I can only hope that she's still alive. I don't want to have a vision of the future that will show me Hailey getting killed by someone."

Jill smiled. "You can see the future?"

"Yes, my High. I can also see the past. I've never had a vision that showed me Lock's death, though. He's still alive, and someone needs to get rid of him one day. I'm sure that Theo is the person Lock hates the most. He wants to kill Theo, and that's one of the reasons why that terrible Soynite needs to die."

"Lock used to be a High," Cambridge said. "He used to be one of Soy's leaders. Now he owns a red crown, and he hates the man who gave him power over most of our people."

"Now he has power over all of the Freemans," Joseph said. "Even a bunch of former Highs serve him. Don is one of those traitors, but me, Jill, and Cambridge want to convince him to join our side again. Don needs to betray Lock. Jill's birth parents serve him, but they should be serving her. She is one of the six rightful Highs of planet Soy. She and the other Highs rule that planet, and no one rules them. But one of those children will eventually be the leader of the rest of them."

"There's no Supreme High, but there needs to be," Vera said. "Theo created the High system, and the Supreme High role is part of that system. The Highs need a leader. But that person can't be someone who isn't a High. The Supreme High can't be a regular Soynite, which means none of the adults in this room can take the position. Only a High can be elected as the Supreme High. Theo was the first one. And there needs to be a second. I don't know where Theo went, but I do know that he wants the Highs to have a leader. That's the way it has to be."

When Vera saw Theo for the last time, he hadn't been the Supreme High. On that day, though, he had still been the man who had wanted Vera to be his unborn daughter's Watcher. Theo had gotten his wish.

Was he dead?

Vera's breath trembled. "There needs to be a Supreme High, and Theo needs to be okay."

"Theo is awesome," Jill said. "He's the only former High who hasn't joined Lock, and he also made me into a High. How can I not appreciate him?"

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"It's hard not to appreciate him, but I need all of you to know that Theo changed. He's not optimistic anymore. He lost hope. And I'm not sure if he will ever get it back. Hailey is different than her father, though. She's still an optimist. But she's too optimistic. Yesterday she believed that she would always be okay, and now she knows that's not true. She definitely wasn't okay when she found out that her mother and her brother returned to our space station on her seventh birthday. That happened yesterday. It didn't take long for Hailey to leave after that. She left with one of our spaceships, and she also left with the pictures Theo took of the new Highs. You're in one of them, High Jill. You were just a baby. When the Freemans were destroying our planet, you were so young."

Joseph ran his fingers through Jill's hair. "During the Invasion, she was even younger than she is now. She was just a newborn. How old are you, Vera?"

"Thirty-four," Vera said. "And my birthday is February twentieth."

"Like Cape and Reese."

"Yeah. Like Cape and Nova. Theo wanted Ken Herman to be her Watcher, and Theo got his wish. Nova's Watcher is also her uncle. That's a good thing. Theo met me inside my Watcher academy, and he wanted me to be Hailey's Watcher one day. At the time, Lilly was still pregnant with her. By the time she was born, I was her Watcher."

"Me and you are alike, Vera," Joseph said. "Each of us was chosen to be the Watcher of a High's child one day."

"But unlike you, I'm not with my mentee. And the last time I hugged her, she didn't hug me back. She also told me not to look for her."

"I'm sure that Hailey will return home. You just have to wait. Hailey will be back home, and so will Theo. And someone will revive Soy. That's going to happen, too."

The Soy Maker had created Soy, and it could bring trees, grass, and buildings back to that planet. The Soy Maker could make Soy the way it used to be. Vera could locate any person and animal, but her power couldn't lead her to any object.

"Only the Soy Maker can revive Soy," Vera said. "And Theo is the only person who knows where it is."

Cambridge remained seated next to Vera. "It's okay. We're going to find it."

"The Soy Maker is at my space station. I just don't know exactly where it is. Theo hid it somewhere. He didn't tell me where he keeps it, though. He didn't tell any of his family where he keeps it, either."

"There's one good thing about that. Theo is the only one who can lead any of our enemies to the Soy Maker. If Freemans captured you, you wouldn't be able to take them to the Soy Maker."

"I want to ask the Soy Maker if I was the last Soynite to be born," Jill said. "I wish it were here."

"So do I, my High," Vera said.

The Soy Maker was inside Vera's space station, not being touched by anyone. No Soynite could ask the Soy Maker a question, including the one who had hidden it.

Joseph stroked his beard. "There's something I'm wondering about, Vera. How did you find out that Lovely is blind? You said a Freeman told you, but I want to know more."

"That Freeman's name was Zale Kin," Vera said. "He's dead now, but I wish I could kill that pale fool again. Zale was one of the Freemans Lilly and Nick brought back to our space station on Hailey's seventh birthday. Me and Nick tortured the Freemans. There were two of them. Zale didn't want to suffer even more than he already was, so he revealed a valuable piece of information. He said that one of the Highs was blind. He talked some more, and I realized that Lovely Windsore was the blind High. I don't know how she became that way, though. Her eyes are useless. I do know that. Also, I killed Zale. I killed the other Freeman, too."

"Good," Joseph said. "Those are two Freemans we don't have to worry about."

"But we do have to worry about the fact that Lovely is blind," Vera said. "She might never see Soy ever again."

"There's something I want you to know about High Lovely. She's not a good person, Vera. Well, she might be good now. Or maybe she still isn't. Anyway, when Jill and I lived in that spaceship with her, she was awful to her co-rulers. And Lovely doesn't care about most of us regular Soynites. She only views us as people who need to serve her. Marina Tome is one of the few regular Soynites whom Lovely cares about. Marina is her Watcher, and she is a much nicer person than Lovely is."

Theo believed regular Soynites were supposed to serve their Highs. Vera believed it as well. Even before meeting Theo, she had been eager to kneel for at least one High someday. But Theo's belief that regular Soynites should serve their Highs made Vera even more willing to kneel for any of them.

"Regardless of whatever kind of person Lovely is, she deserves respect," Vera said. "Whether they're rude or polite, a High is still a High. Each one needs to be obeyed."

Theo had ordered Vera not to look for him, but it hadn't been a High's command. She had obeyed it anyway, and she still refused to look for Theo.

"Theo wants us regular Soynites to serve our Highs," Vera said. "I don't know where he went, but I'm very sure that he wants us to be good to Lovely. Joseph and Cambridge, we have to be good to all of the Highs. But if Lovely is still an awful person, we will have to make her stop being that way. It's already bad enough that there's only one good former High left. All of the Highs have to be good people. And they need to know when to be compassionate and when to be cruel."

"Lovely showed necessary cruelty when she killed a Freeman during the Invasion," Joseph said. "But she was also unnecessarily cruel, back when I lived with her. She wasn't fond of me, and I wasn't fond of her. My dislike for her was her own fault, though. Still, I knew that she was important. Soy needed her, and the Soynite people needed her. And she's still an important person. Lovely is a High. Each one has value, and each one needs to be kept alive for as long as possible. They also have to be together again. Right now, a great High is in Hawaii. But we don't know where the other ones are."

"I can find them."

"Yes, you can," Joseph said. "But the Highs shouldn't reunite yet. There are problems we still have to solve. There are issues we need to deal with."

Cambridge looked at the table. "Like the fact that my sister and her husband serve Lock Tannis."

"Don Ascend is a problem, and so is Camille," Joseph said. "We can't deny that. That leader of theirs needs to die. Lock is never going to regret what he did eleven years ago. Don and Camille don't have to die, but we can't let them remain as the people they are now. I don't want them to spend the rest of their lives helping Lock. Don and Camille were good friends of mine. It's awful, knowing that they serve the worst Soynite in the universe. Camille's friends died during the Invasion. Freemans killed them while they were trying to help me and Jill get to the place where Theo was. Now Camille is helping the man who ordered the attack her friends died in."

"We're not helping him, though," Jill said. "Lock has us to worry about, and none of us will ever join him."

Vera was sure she would never make that terrible mistake Don had made, but Jill wasn't Vera. Yet she could spend time with Jill, and try making it less likely she would join Lock.

"I want to stay here, Joseph," Vera said. "I need to help High Jill, which means I should live with her for a while."

"I agree," Joseph said. "You can stay here, for as long as you need to."

"Thank you."

Joseph glanced at Jill before focusing on Vera. "Be like a second Watcher to my daughter, Vera. Give her as much help as you can. Guide her well."

"I intend to."

"I'm glad you're here. Yesterday I didn't even know that Theo had children. Now the Watcher of one of his children is sitting at my kitchen table. It's an honor to have you in my home."

"Being here is an honor for me. I'm sitting across from one of the Highs. When I decided that I should find High Jill, I wasn't even sure that she was still alive. But now I know. High Jill is alive, and I hope that Theo is, too. He's the most powerful Soynite, and he's also Hailey's father. Wherever he is, he needs to return home. Hailey deserves to have him in her life. But I can't go looking for him. And if he does return home soon, Hailey probably won't even be there."

Vera rubbed her forehead.

"This is a stressful situation," she said. "My girl is gone, and so is her father, who is a really good friend of mine. And only two Majestics are together. I hope that Lilly and Nick are together, anyway. Theo, Lilly, and their children have to be in the same place. Theo has multiple space stations. I only live in one of them, though. And it's the one where Theo, Lilly, and their children need to be. Two of their children have never gone into that space station, but I want them to. Nova and Anne are probably still alive. Maybe it's not too late for them to be inside my space station one day. I want their parents and their siblings to be there, too. The Majestic family needs to be together."

"I agree," Joseph said.

"By the way, Nova doesn't know that she's a Majestic. She doesn't know that she's Theo's daughter. Unless Ken Herman told her that she is. Lilly wanted to put Nova up for adoption because she believed that the Freemans would destroy Soy one day. She didn't want Nova to be at the Soynite royal palace when it happened. Lilly convinced Theo that Nova would be safer if a different couple raised her. Also, Theo and Lilly kept the fact that they had children a secret from the Soynite public because they didn't want Lock and his Freemans to find out about them. Theo and Lilly love their children. They want to keep them safe. That's why they let Summer Locket keep Anne, and it's also why Nova was given up for adoption."

More than once, Vera had visited the Soynite royal palace, where Theo and Lilly's children used to live. Nova had lived there for a few days. For a few months, she had resided inside a spaceship with Jill, Joseph, and other Soynites. Ken Herman had been inside that spaceship. It had contained a man and his niece.

"It's great that Nova and Ken were in that spaceship together," Vera said. "She was with her uncle back then, and she probably doesn't even know it. I'm sure that Nova didn't know that she was Theo and Lilly's daughter during the Invasion. She and Theo were at the same place that night. It wasn't guaranteed that Theo would get another chance to tell Nova the truth, but he still didn't do it. He had a lot of hope back then. He believed that he was going to get another opportunity to let Nova know that she is his daughter. I want to kneel for her one day. I also want to protect her. Her parents and her siblings are like family to me. Even if she wasn't a High, I would want her to be safe."

Vera hadn't seen Nova in a long time. They had never spoken to each other, but maybe they would converse soon. On the day Vera met Nova's father Theo for the first time, they had talked. He could have chosen someone else to be Hailey's future Watcher, but he had picked Vera.

Years before Vera and Theo's first meeting, Lilly had approached him at a park. They had met for the first time there. If that meeting had never happened, Vera's girl never would have been born.

"I'm glad you can keep me safe, Vera," Jill said.

"Me too, my High," Vera replied.

Jill left her chair. "I want to show you my room. Follow me."

Jill moved.

Vera followed.

After Jill walked into a bedroom, Vera did the same. Like the kitchen, Jill's room had light gray walls. Vera stood on gray carpet, and she was in a royal bedroom. Hailey had been born inside one. On that day, she had looked at Vera for the first time. While that happened, Vera hadn't known what it was like to argue with Hailey.

Vera glanced around. "You have a nice room, my High."

"Thanks," Jill said. "Theo lives in a space station with you. He has his own room there, right? Are there any crowns in it?"

"Yes. Theo's room has seven crowns in it, and the former Highs used to wear them."

Jill ran her fingers through her hair. "I'm going to wear one of those crowns one day. My dad is going to put Don Ascend's crown on my head. I don't want it to happen today, but I do want it to happen soon."

"I used to see Don wearing that crown. He was a good High back then, and he was a good Soynite. Now he's helping the worst one in the universe. I want to see you wearing Don's crown. I want to see a good High wearing it."

"And one will," Jill said. "I'm also going to convince Don and Camille to stop serving Lock. They won't see him as their leader forever. I'm a High, and my parents will treat me like one. They will serve me one day."

"Your birth parents are traitors, but I'm glad your adoptive father isn't," Vera said. "He's a good Soynite. This universe needs a lot more of those."

"My birth parents are going to be like my dad is. Don and Camille are going to be good."

Before today, Vera hadn't known Camille worked for Lock. The Children of Still worked for someone. If their leader got killed, would another Soynite become their new one, then cause problems for Vera and her Highs?

Soy had six leaders. Vera stood in the bedroom belonging to one of them. Another High had been born inside the same room Lilly had given birth to Hailey in. Theo had delivered Nick and Anne in there, too.

Jill walked toward the bed, then sat on it. "I haven't met Don yet, but I will. I'm going to make him realize that helping Lock is wrong. Dexter Ascend is dead. He will never get the chance to convince his son to betray Lock, but I'm going to have that chance. Don doesn't have a father anymore. But he does have a daughter. And she's going to do her best to make him be good again."

"I believe you," Vera said. "And I appreciate the fact that you're not like your birth father. You're better than he is."

"And I'm going to be more powerful than Don. I'm a Pure, and none of the other Highs are. When I was living with them, one of them had a power, but it wasn't a Save. Path is like you. He's a Bloodhound. He was born with the power to find anyone in the universe. If Path is still alive, he's eighteen."

"When he turns twenty, he will stop being able to develop any new Saves," Vera said. "That's going to happen to all of your co-rulers. If one of them is Saveless by the time they turn twenty, they will never get any Saves. But you're a Pure. If you live long enough, you will eventually know what it's like to have all of the Saves. So will Hailey."

Jill stood. "You said that she didn't hug you back."

"Yes, I did say that. The last time I hugged Hailey, she didn't hug me back. That happened yesterday. Not long after that, she was gone."

"Hug me."

Vera approached Jill before hugging her. She hugged Vera back. Was Path as great as Jill?

Theo had made them into Highs. He had ended his reign as a Soynite ruler, but he hadn't ended his marriage with Lilly. When she wedded the brilliant Theo, she had become more fortunate.

If Vera married Theo, she would grin.