The Exchangers had arrived.

They wielded laser pistols, weapons that could kill. But none of the Exchangers had used a laser pistol to shoot Joseph. Hero had injected him with Vamp, which had rendered him unconscious. Hero and his siblings would take Joseph's daughter, Jill.

The Exchangers headed closer to the hall ahead. Jill ran into Hero's view, then rushed out of it.

"High Jill!" he shouted.

Jill didn't appear again.

"Get her, Wade!" Hero said, speaking Soynite.

A door nearby opened. A woman moved into the hall, armed with a Soynite laser rifle. She rushed closer to Hero before slamming the rifle against his head. He lost consciousness.

When he regained consciousness, he was sitting in a chair, restrained by ropes. The woman who had slammed a Soynite rifle against his head stood in front of him. She held a blue dagger and a healing glass. The dagger didn't have blood on it, but soon it might.

Someone had tied Hero's arms to the chair's armrests. He couldn't toy with his pendant.

Like Zoey, the woman had long brown hair and brown eyes. But Zoey had never used a laser rifle to hurt Hero, and she never would.

The bottom of Hero's shoes pressed against a plastic sheet. More plastic sheets lay on the room's gray carpet. Shaped like a rectangle, the room had light gray walls. Macy, Kat, Wade and Everett lay on their stomachs, resting on the section of the carpet that didn't have any plastic sheets on it. The Exchangers who lay on the carpet had strife handcuffs around their wrists. Jill, Joseph, and Cambridge stood not far from them. Jill held a kitten.

Hero no longer wore the white backpack he had gotten while on Heaven. The backpack and five other ones rested near Macy, Kat, Wade, and Everett. Each backpack had an Exchanger's first and last name written on its bottom.

"Macy!" Hero shouted. "Get up! Kat! Wade! Everett!"

"They can't hear you," the woman said, speaking English. "They're unconscious, Hero. I knocked them out. I had a vision of the future, and it showed me using a laser rifle to hit you in the head. I had to make it happen. I also knocked out Sydney. She's behind you. She's tied to the chair she's sitting in, and both of you are awake because I used this healing glass to heal your heads. There's a strife dagger under your chair. If you and Sydney have any Saves, you won't be able to use them. My name is Vera Mod, by the way. Right now, I have some questions I want to ask you. And you will nod or shake your head. If you don't know the answer to a question, you will open your mouth."

Hero struggled against his restraints.

"Stop doing that!" Vera shouted.

Hero stopped trying to escape his restraints.

"I know Sydney is your sister," Vera said. She gestured to the unconscious Exchangers. "Who are those children? Are they your friends? If they are, nod. If they aren't, shake your head. If you don't know the answer, open your mouth. Are the children over there your friends?"

The unconscious children on the floor weren't just Hero's friends.

He shook his head.

"Are they your siblings?" Vera asked.

Hero nodded.

"Of course they are," Vera said. "I read the names on those backpacks all of you were wearing. All of you have the same last name. I'm going to ask you another question. Were you trying to kidnap High Jill?"

Hero didn't nod, and he didn't shake his head. Nor did he open his mouth.

Vera moved past Hero's chair, armed with the dagger. Seconds later, a scream assaulted his ears, Sydney making her agony vocal. Hero shouted, as if Vera had stabbed him with the dagger. She returned to the spot in front of him.

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"Were you trying to kidnap High Jill?!" she asked.

Hero had tossed a Pure test ball toward Jill, and she had caught it. While she touched it, it had been red. Hero knew she was a Pure. He and his siblings had gone into this mansion to kidnap the Pure named Jill Key.

"Yes!" Hero told Vera. "Yes! Yes! We were trying to kidnap High Jill, and I'm sorry!"

Vera glared at Hero. "Joseph let you into his home, and in exchange for his kindness, you tried to kidnap his daughter! You are a terrible person!"

"Is Sydney okay?" Hero asked.

Vera grinned. "Stabbing her in the leg was fun. I did heal her, though. But I don't appreciate the fact that she's one of the people who tried to kidnap my High. Why did you and your siblings try to kidnap High Jill, Hero? Speak!"

Hero shook his head.

Vera pierced his thigh with the dagger, and vicious pain made him yell. Vera pulled the blade free. As Hero breathed hard, blood emerged from his wound. He would get another one if he didn't tell Vera what she wanted to know.

"Our father!" Hero said. "Our father is missing, and we have to find him!"

"Why do you need to kidnap High Jill to find your father?!" Vera said. "And what does the symbol on each of your backpacks mean?"

"It hurts!" Hero said, bleeding. He squirmed. "Make it stop! Please!"

Vera placed the healing glass against the wound. It healed as tears went down Hero's face.

"Why do you need to kidnap High Jill to find your father?!" Vera said. "And what does the symbol on each of your backpacks mean? Answer my questions, Hero!"

"I can't!" Hero said. "If I do, you'll die. You'll get killed."

"That sounds like a threat," Vera said. She placed the dagger's flat side on Hero's thigh, the one she hadn't stabbed. "I don't like it when someone threatens me."

Hero clenched and unclenched his fists. "I'm not going to tell you anything else. I can't give you the answers you want, okay? If I do, you'll get killed. Everyone will, including me."

"No," Vera said. "You're lying, and you're also wasting my time. I'm going to kill you, and then I'm going to kill your brothers and sisters."

"No!" Sydney shouted.

Vera put a hand on Hero's shoulder. Her other one held the dagger.

"Bye, Hero," she said.

Hero would die in this room. His beloved father, Mitch Shame, might die inside a Freeman base's prison cell. He and Hero would never see each other again.

"Stop!" Jill commanded.

Vera moved her hand away from Hero's shoulder before looking at Jill. "Stop?"

"Yes," Jill said. "Stop. Cambridge, hold Dexter for me."

Jill gave the kitten to Cambridge. She approached Vera.

"Don't kill Hero or any of his siblings," Jill said. "Let them go. Let them find their father. I don't want you to kill them."

"Okay, my High," Vera said. "I won't kill them."

If Hero could hug Jill, he would have.

She made eye contact with him. "You're not going to die in this basement, Hero. Hopefully you will live long enough to reunite with your father. I hope you do. But no one in this room is going to help you find him. After all, you did try to kidnap me. I don't want you to die, though. Vera isn't going to kill you."

"Thank you, my High," Hero told Jill.

In this basement, Hero had called Jill his High, but he would rather serve President Troy Wilson than her.

Vera looked at Hero as if she wanted to torture him again. She rubbed her forehead, then sighed.

Joseph walked closer to Jill before putting a hand on her shoulder. "I wish you hadn't let them live. They tried to kidnap you, Jill."

"I know what they tried to do," Jill said. "And I want them to live anyway."

Hero had had the opportunity to kill Joseph, but he hadn't. He had rendered him unconscious instead of dead.

"You're alive because of me, Joseph," Hero said. "My unconscious siblings over there wanted you and Cambridge to die, but I wanted the two of you to live. I could have killed you in that hall, but I didn't. I spared your life."

"And my daughter shouldn't have spared yours," Joseph replied.

"But I did," Jill said. "And, Hero, you and your siblings are never going to try to kidnap me ever again. Do you understand?"

"Yes, my High," Hero said. "I understand."

On Earth, Hero had seen a cruel woman abuse his sweet friend. On Earth, he had listened as his youngest sibling screamed in pain. On Earth, he had been tortured. He and his siblings should leave this planet.

Two hours later, they were in their spaceship. Hero had parked it on Soy.

He had put on different clothes. Sydney had done the same. Now she lay in her bed, which the other Exchangers stood near. They didn't wear their museum employee jackets.

"I want to kill that woman," Wade said, clenching his fists. "Vera Mod deserves to die."

"We can't kill her, Wade," Hero said. "We need to stay far away from her."

"She hurt you! And she hurt Sydney!"

"I know, brother. I know. But we can't kill Vera, and we can't try to kidnap Jill again. We have to focus on the fact that there are other Pures out there. We need to find nine more. We will kidnap them, and then a Bloodhound will take us to Father."

Sydney didn't wipe away the tears on her face. "We're never going to find him. Trying to kidnap Jill wasn't worth it. Talking doesn't seem worth it, either. Can all of you please get out of my room?"

"Yes, we can," Macy said. She gave Sydney a kiss on the lips. "I'll talk to you later, okay?"

Sydney shook her head.

"Come on," Hero said. "Let's get out of here. Sydney wants to be left alone."

Sydney's siblings left the room, including Hero. They took steps in the hall outside of it.

Macy walked beside Hero. "I'm worried about her. And I'm worried about you too, Hero. Are you okay?"

"Getting tortured never makes anyone okay," Everett said.

"I'm fine." Hero lied.