The person Betty Fly loved the most couldn't see.

Lena had made herself a throne. She put it to good use, the teenage ruler sitting on hard blue.

The throne. It was the room's only piece of furniture.

Huge, the room was shaped like a rectangle, and its blue walls and blue floor took in light. They surrounded Betty and Lena, the seeing Watcher and the sightless High.

Lena wore a white shirt, and its short sleeves exposed her slim forearms. She wore blue jeans. She didn't wear her sunglasses. And her cane stayed on her thighs. The girl's pendant, blue with white markings, rested against her shirt. The light covered Lena's orange hair, touching the ruler. It illuminated her greatness.

Her.

The High brought preciousness.

As for Betty herself, the woman stood ten feet in front of Lena's throne.

She could see and Lena couldn't. Lena's blindness, her powerlessness, had come because of an incident on planet Still. It was Betty's fault Lena was the way she was.

Blind, Lena lacked Saves.

Betty had touched water on Still. That deed had destroyed Lena's vision, and it had snatched her two Saves. The power to fly and the ability to heal wounds had fled Lena.

Betty and Lena weren't alone together.

"Lovely," Boone said. He stood beside Betty, and Zoey's kidnapper stood next to him. "I'm here, my daughter."

Before moving into the throne room, Betty had gone into the space station's hangar, the same place where she had met Hailey Majestic. Boone had been in it. Misty Windsore, too. That woman had kidnapped Alice Endman, she had renamed her Zoey All, and she had tainted the girl's life with slaps. But Boone had wished for Betty to let his wife deeper into the home.

"Father," Lena said.

She had heard Boone speak. The great High stood, and she placed her cane on the floor. Boone rushed toward her.

When the two embraced, Betty grinned. Misty did the same.

Lena put her legs around Boone. She clung to him. Not only was the girl was blind, but she was capable of loving another person.

Boone and Lena sobbed. They had spent eleven years apart.

Lena's shoes met the floor. With tears on his face, Boone caressed Lena's cheek. She pointed her sightless eyes at her father. Like Boone, she grinned.

Someone rushed past Betty.

"Father!" Zoey said.

She came close to Boone, then put her slim arms around him. He hugged her. More tears came, leaving Boone and Zoey. The girl had run past her abductor, the woman she viewed as her mother.

Betty approached Misty.

Boone's wife or not, the abuser didn't deserve to stand in the room as Zoey embraced her father.

"Misty, go in the hall," Betty said. She glared while aiming her green eyes at the child abuser. The taller woman furrowed her brow. "You've already hurt Zoey, and someone else can hurt you. Someone in this room can, so I suggest you do what I want you to do."

If she desired it, Betty could set Zoey's abuser on fire. Boone could do it, too.

"Okay," Misty said. "I'm going."

She wiped away a tear, then exited the throne room, her stepdaughter's throne room. Misty had taken Zoey from her real parents, but she was married to Lena's true father. A man had impregnated Lauren Windsore, and his name was Boone. He wasn't a false parent to Lena.

Boone and Zoey stopped embracing.

In the hangar, Betty and Boone had hugged, like they had done during the invasion. The attack was over. It had come to an end, but so many great Soynites had died. Freemans had murdered them.

Boone had killed the long distance from his daughters.

"I love you, Father," Lena said.

Boone caressed orange hair and brown hair, showing his girls affection.

"And I love you, Lovely," Boone said. "I love both of you. You and Zoey. Listen, Zoey, your mother told me the truth. It happened years ago. After she told me what she did, I threatened to take you away from her. I couldn't let her keep Alice Endman. Your mother told me to leave. She threatened to kill me if I didn't. I left. I'm so sorry."

Betty crossed her pale arms. Her urge to bring Misty what she had brought to Zoey rampaged. The girl hadn't deserved what Misty had done to her.

"You don't have to be," Zoey said. She held Boone's hands. "You did what you had to do. I love you."

"I love you too," Boone said. He turned his head to Betty. "And I love Marina."

During the Freemans' devastating attack on her home planet, Betty had failed to save Boone's first wife, Lena's mother. But she had succeeded in keeping Lena alive so far. The Watcher kept Lena safe.

Boone loved Betty. Of course he did.

"And I love you, Boone," Betty said. She went closer, hugged him. The man embraced her. They separated. "It's been great to take care of both of your girls, and I don't regret it. I'm glad you're here. So glad."

"Likewise," Boone said. He smiled, then patted Betty's arm. "Likewise."

His green-eyed gaze left the woman.

"Where's Misty?" he said.

The kidnapper didn't stand in the room, and it was thanks to the Watcher. She wasn't a High, but she had given a command. She wasn't Holly. Yet she had helped Zoey.

Betty gestured for Boone to follow her. They moved into the hall, and they spotted Misty as she leaned against a wall. After moving away from it, she embraced Boone. He hugged her back. They separated, kissed.

"You found your family," Misty said. Boone held her sides, touching the abuser through her blue dress. "And you reunited with me in Hawaii. We're together. We can go back to the spaceship, Boone. Both of our daughters can come with us. Even Marina."

A baby girl had become a teenager, and that sixteen-year-old hadn't deserved what Misty had done to her. Zoey, no matter what, would never be Misty's real daughter. Her true mother was Holly Endman. Not Misty, never her.

"Call me Betty," Betty said. "Also, Zoey isn't your daughter."

"I know what I did, Betty," Misty said. "You can't fight fate. Isn't it obvious? My husband found me in Hawaii. Then we managed to find you, Zoey, and Lena. That was fate, destiny. It was all so convenient, but it all happened. It happened because it was destined to. I'm appreciative. I really am. You can try to fight fate, but you can't beat it. I had to take Boris Endman's granddaughter. Yes, I did hurt her. But I'm not hurting her now."

With Betty alive and well, Misty would fail to bring Zoey harm.

"You don't hurt the people you love," Boone said. "You're supposed to make them better, not make them want to die."

"Back in Hawaii, you made me realize how wrong I was," Misty said. She stroked Boone's orange hair. "I didn't have Crammer. You know that. I saw a vision of the past, and Crammer was dead in it. My best friend. Dead. He's gone forever. Still, I managed to find my baby. I was wrong, Boone. I never should've hurt her. Her grandfather deserves to die, though. Crammer didn't. Boris Endman has to die. None of you believe that he's alive, but I know he is. I have to kill him."

Crying erupted. Zoey had heard about what had happened to Crammer, Betty assumed. Zoey was in Lena's throne room. Her abductor planned on murdering her already dead grandfather.

Misty turned and put her hands on her hips. How many times had she slapped Zoey?

"Boris is dead," Boone said. "You have to accept that, Misty."

Misty gripped the belief she had to kill Boris, a former High with no life in him. He lacked a beating heart. Years ago, Boris had replaced Lock Tannis as High, but he wasn't a ruler anymore. Theo Majestic had put an end to that. Boris had died. Hero had revealed that information to Zoey, and the girl had informed Betty about it.

Now, beneath a blue ceiling, Betty stood near Boone and a kidnapper.

Betty's dislike for Misty hadn't fled. The tall lady's hatred for Boris hadn't escaped.

"He isn't dead," Misty said, her voice shaking, as if Boone's love for her had died. "Boris is alive. He has to be. I'm his biggest enemy, and I have to get rid of him. You can't fight fate."

"I don't know if Boris died as a hero or a horrible person," Betty said. She pointed at Misty. "What I do know is that you don't deserve Zoey. And you don't deserve Boone. You can deny that Boris is dead, but you can't deny what you've done. You hurt Zoey. She's such a sweet girl. Why did you hurt her so much? Why did you do that at all?"

Where were Archer and Holly? They had to embrace their daughter.

Misty had stolen Alice Endman, Zoey, from them. Betty would reunite the couple with their child, if she could.

"Betty," Boone said. The man stood behind Misty, and he placed a hand on her shoulder. "My wife knows what she did. We'll go back into the room, and no one is going to be hurt."

"If someone does get hurt, it won't be Zoey," Betty said. Misty remained. "I wish you wanted to stay away from her."

"I can't," Misty said. She walked toward the open door. "Zoey!"

The kidnapper moved into the space Lena had turned into a throne room.

Betty headed into it, Boone following her.

Light cloaked Zoey. It made her tears glisten. The Watcher didn't doubt her abductor had made her cry with sorrow in the past, but Betty would use telekinesis to slam Misty against a wall if she slapped Zoey.

The two girls were away from Lena's throne, closer to the open door than they were to the room's only chair.

Lena stood beside Zoey. Unable to see, she patted Zoey. With one hand, the sightless girl touched Zoey's face, her neck, her breasts, her stomach. The High now knew Zoey faced the room's front. Like she did. Lena blocked Misty's path to her.

"Lena, it's okay," Zoey said. She peeked from behind the great High. "I don't think you should be around me, Mother. You know what you did. And I don't have to be scared of you. Not anymore."

She moved around Lena.

"I'm not scared of you," Zoey said.

"Zoey, get behind me!" Lena said. "You don't have to face that monster. Let me do it."

"I'm sorry, Lena," Zoey said. Tears left her eyes. She wiped them away. "I have to do this, though. Mother, you took me away from my real parents. You're not one of them. You're my kidnapper, and you know exactly what you did to me. How many times have you slapped me? How many times? You're awful. And my friends helped me realize that. Hero, Sydney, and their siblings. They're not like you, and they never will be. They're good people. They don't hurt anyone they don't have to."

Soynites had to hurt Freemans.

Misty hadn't needed to bring pain to Zoey.

"One of them put a gun to your head," Misty said. She took a step closer to Zoey. Betty's fists clenched. "I'm not Hero. I'm your mother. That's what you call me, Zoey. That boy you're so fond of found out the truth, and you learned it, too. But you still call me Mother. I want you to always be my daughter. I even brought you a gift."

Misty's long dress had pockets. She moved a hand into one of them.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

"I don't want it," Zoey said. "Go away."

Her false mother pulled out a Soynite pendant.

"This is Alice Endman's Soynite pendant," Misty said, speaking with reverence, as if Hase Majestic himself had owned the object she held.

The pendant dangled. The woman kept her grip on its blue cord.

"It's your pendant," Misty said.

Like the other Soynite pendants, Zoey All's wasn't shaped like a sphere. It had a round shape. Its surface was blue, except for the white markings on the pendant's front. The markings on it formed a horizontal zigzag and four circles. The zigzag had a circle above it, below it, to its left, and to its right.

"I'm sorry I took you away from your real parents, Alice," Misty said. "I'm sorry I hurt you."

Betty and Lena scowled. Zoey, Misty, and Boone didn't.

"Can I go to you?" Misty said. Zoey nodded. The woman went closer to her. As she stood in front of Zoey, she raised the pendant higher. "Every Soynite should have a pendant."

Misty put the pendant on Zoey, Alice Endman.

"There," Misty said. She towered over Zoey, but she didn't slap her. Zoey rubbed what Misty had put on her. "If you see your real mother again, she won't doubt that you're her daughter. The pendant is proof."

"You're my mother," Zoey said.

She embraced Misty, and the woman hugged her back.

"I'm sorry I called you awful," Zoey said, clinging to Misty, as if the woman would vanish soon.

"I deserved it," Misty said. She cried. "If you want to, you can slap me."

Betty smiled. Lena no longer glared. Boone went closer to the great High, then kissed her cheek. They had reunited.

"Misty is back to being on good terms with Zoey," Boone said. "I hope you never stopped wanting to be with me again, Lena."

"I've missed you every single day, Father," Lena said. "I wish I could see you."

Betty grimaced, but no one had stabbed her.

She shut her eyes, then took a breath that trembled. Someone had made a terrible mistake when they touched water on Still.

Betty opened her eyes. She saw Zoey put her legs around Misty. The girl clung to the woman, the two hugging.

Lena saw nothing.

Zoey's shoes met the floor again. She and Misty separated, then the lady kissed the girl's brown hair several times.

"I told you I'll see you again," Misty said. She caressed Zoey's hair. "I promised."

"I know," Zoey said.

"I really do love you," Misty said.

"I love you too."

With Lena's throne room around her, around five Soynites, Betty sighed. Her revulsion for Misty had crumbled. It might as well have become smoke, which was what happened to Freemans after death.

"You didn't deserve what I did to you," Misty said. "I can't fight fate, but I can ask you this. Do you want to meet your birth parents?"

Holly. Archer.

"Yes," Zoey said.

"I'll let you," Misty said. "You can go to them, but I can't. They'll try to kill me. I don't want to take Archer and Holly away from you forever. The fact I took you away from them is already bad enough."

Footsteps.

But no one in the room walked, and they didn't run.

"That sounds like Freemans," Betty said. Her pulse quickened. So did the footsteps. "We need to kill them."

A Freeman came. Wielding a throwing knife and a Strife dagger, he charged. He flung the knife. Boone grunted.

With her Saves gone, Betty confronted the enemy. She disarmed him, then buried the Strife dagger into his chest. She pulled the weapon free. Blood adorned it, red.

Misty and Zoey gasped.

The bleeding Freeman dropped. His lifeless body changed into smoke, and Betty turned.

Zoey and Misty kneeled beside the man on the floor. Blood pushed out the wound in his chest, which the throwing knife protruded from.

"Boone!" Betty said.

She tossed the Strife dagger, scurried closer to the fallen man, someone whose eyes were shut. The Watcher kneeled. She tugged the throwing knife free, set it on the floor. Betty placed a hand against the injury, but her friend's wound didn't heal.

"What's happening?" Lena said. "Is my father okay?"

Was Boone okay?

The answer lived in Betty's mind, even though she preferred it didn't.

"No, Lena," Betty said. She kneeled as two women and a girl shed tears. Lena didn't. "He's dead. I'm so sorry."

"You couldn't protect any of my parents!" Lena said. Her shoulders rose and fell. She bared her teeth. "I hate you! I hate you! I hate you!"

Lauren. Boone. Lena's sight. How many more deaths would Betty bring?

"That's okay," she said.

She stood.

Lena went closer to the wall, found it. Her cane wasn't far from her. She turned. Lena moved onto her hands and knees, then roamed her hands along the blue floor. She was in her throne room. It was the place where a Freeman had murdered a great man.

"Where's my cane?!" Lena said.

Where were Freemans to dispose of?

"I'm going to be back," Betty said. "I have Freemans to kill."

"I'm coming too," Misty said. She stood, then retrieved the blood-soaked throwing knife. "Zoey, stay here."

"Where's my cane?!" Lena said.

She searched for her prized tool, as if it would revive her fallen father.

Zoey, able to see, went near the white cane. She grabbed it. When she was close enough, the girl kneeled beside Lena, put a hand on her back.

"It's right here," Zoey said. She grabbed Lena's wrist, guided the blind High's hand to the cane's whiteness. "I am, too."

Betty and Misty left the room.

Ten Freemans rushed toward the two women, armed. Betty outnumbered the pale enemies.

Using telekinesis, Betty slammed the Freemans against a wall. Bones shattered. Shouting, the Watcher used her mind to send the Freemans crashing against the other wall. Bones shattered more. The brutal noises were like sweet music.

The Freemans collapsed, broken.

"That was for Boone!" Betty said.

After they stopped breathing, the Freemans changed into smoke, which was what deserved to happen.

Betty activated her X-ray vision. She scanned the space station with eyes that looked past people and objects. Parked in the hangar was a Freeman spaceship, black, darker than the red blood that had come from Boone.

The Watcher kept searching, hoping to spot any enemies, aware Freemans needed to die.

She saw no more enemies.

"I can't see any more Freemans," Betty said. She turned off her X-ray vision. "I killed all of them, but Boone is dead. I'm sorry, Misty."

Misty returned to Lena's throne room. Betty did the same.

The tall woman released the throwing knife that had brought her husband his death.

Lena was on her back, one hand pressed against her forehead as the other held her cane. Betty had killed the Freemans, but she didn't do the same to Lena's tears.

Zoey, standing, looked at her mother.

"What are we going to do, Mother?" she said.

"I have to leave you," Misty said. She walked closer to Zoey, held her face with her hands. "You have to find your birth parents, Alice. Your stepfather is dead, but your biological father isn't. Find him, please. And find Holly, your first mother. I'm going to leave you. I have to, and you know it."

She and Zoey embraced. Their eyes closed.

"I love you, baby," Misty said.

"I love you too," Zoey said. "I'm going to find Archer and Holly. One day."

The hug died.

Misty approached Lena. She moved onto her knees, bowed her head.

A former stepmother. Misty was one to Lena. A divorce hadn't wrecked Misty's status as Lena's stepmother, and the reason why the woman had stopped being her stepmother made Betty want to kill more Freemans.

"Goodbye, High Lena," Misty said. She rose. "I'm sorry about your father. I really did love him."

Lena stayed on the floor.

Misty returned to the spot near Betty. The women hugged, stopped. One had lost a friend, and the other had lost a husband. The children had lost a father.

"Be good to my daughter," Misty said.

"I will," Betty said.

Like Boone had done, Misty departed.

After teleporting to planet Soy, Betty buried Boone in the gray dirt.

When she returned to Lena's throne room, Betty said, "Lena, your father was a good Soynite. He was one of the best ones."

In their space station, Betty stood in light and Lena sat in it. Boone's corpse had found a home in his dead planet's dirt.

Lena, on her throne, gripped her cane harder.

The light cloaked her. It glowed against the spot her father's lifeless body had been in. No Boone. No Misty. No Zoey.

Zoey, like Misty, was alive. But Betty didn't see her, and Lena might never see her own sister.

"He was the best one, you weakling," the great High said. Betty winced. But Boone had been hurt, not her. "Meanwhile, you're the Soynite who let a girl's parents get killed."

Lauren had been killed during the invasion. A Freeman had shot and killed her, and a different one had thrown a knife into Boone's heart years later.

If she could, Betty would bring two parents back from the dead.

"I wanted to save your parents," Betty said. She stood six feet in front of the blue throne. "I loved them. They were like family to me. That's what you are to me."

The Watcher hadn't lied.

"I would rather be a Majestic," Lena said. "I never want to be a Tome. Why did you do this to me?"

The Majestic family.

One of its members had stayed in the space station, but she was gone. Hailey wasn't dead, Betty assumed, but her absence was as true as Lena's throne.

Lena didn't sit in a chair on planet Soy. Maybe she never would, like how she might never see again.

"Lena, I didn't kill your parents," Betty said.

"Why did you make me go blind?" Lena said. She leaned forward, but that wouldn't help her see. "That's what I mean. Why, Betty?!"

"I didn't mean to," Betty said. "I didn't know what touching the water was going to do. When I did touch it, it was too late. I'm so sorry. You know how sorry I am. And you know that I didn't do it on purpose. Your parents are dead, and I wanted to save them. You know that, too. Don't you?"

"Why did you do this to me?" Lena said, as if she hadn't heard Betty.

Tears left useless eyes.

"Let me hold you," Betty said. "Please, Lena."

"What kind of person do you think I am?" Lena said. "Do you believe that I'll let you hug me and everything will be okay? That's never going to happen. My father and mother are never going to come back. Neither is my eyesight. My Saves are gone forever, too. Whose fault is that, Betty?"

Betty and Lena had traveled to planet Still. After leaving in one of their spaceships, they had returned home, to the space station. Betty had come back with her vision still with her.

Lena hadn't.

"It's planet Still's fault," Betty said.

"No," Lena said. "No, it's all your fault. If you didn't love me more than anyone else, I would've been able to see my father."

"I know," Betty said. "Listen, though. You have an older sister, and I do, too. And you have me. You said that you hate me, but you don't hate me anymore. I know you don't. You were just angry. That's all. There are tears on your face, and I want to wipe them away for you. Let me help you. Please."

"I really wanted to see my father," Lena said.

She wept.

"I know," Betty said.

Lena set her cane on the floor. She stood. Tears went down her pale cheeks. Even though she had rage-laced flung her words at Betty, she was a wonderful High.

"I said that I hate you," Lena said. "I really meant it. I meant it."

"But you don't mean it now," Betty said.

If five Highs didn't like one, Betty would have to continue loving the disliked ruler. A girl lacked two Saves and her sight. Still, she had her Watcher.

"Hold me," Lena said. "Just do it."

Betty approached her, then held the girl. Her High. Lena hugged her back. She sobbed. The blind Soynite cried as Boone and Lauren stayed as dead as her vision.

Whose fault was that?

"You're intelligent," Betty said, hugging Lena. "You know when to seek comfort, and you don't hate me now."

"That was earlier," Lena said.

The embrace ended.

As she wiped away Lena's tears, the Watcher in the throne room hoped her High, her Lena, would soon smile.

"I'll kneel for you," Betty said. "That always makes you happy, having people kneel for you."

"No," Lena said. "Just talk to me."

"Okay," Betty said. She touched her hair, which was the same color as Lena's. "I'm sorry that Hailey left. I thought you two became close."

"We did," Lena said. "She wanted me to find a sister in me. I couldn't provide that. I couldn't give her what she wanted, because I don't want to have a Majestic as a sister. I drove her away. She left because of me. I had to deal with Reese. Then I had to deal with her sister. She beat me up, and she also threw water on my face. Still, they are worse Soynites than Hailey."

Lena placed a hand against her forehead.

"But so am I," she said. "I'm the reason why my parents died."

"No, Lena," Betty said. "No. The Freemans killed your parents. They murdered them."

"A Freeman gunned down my mother," Lena said. "I didn't save her. And my father got killed in this room."

As the ceiling stayed high above her head, the High gestured at the blue surrounding her and Betty.

"They're dead because of me," Lena said. "I couldn't save them."

"You saved me from a bad life, Lena," Betty said. "You were all I had for a long time. I raised you. If you want to blame me for what happened on Still, you can. I won't blame you. I couldn't save your parents, either."

Hands patted Betty's arms, moved down. Lena found the woman's hands.

"You didn't know what was going to happen," Lena said, holding Betty's hands. "You were right. It's planet Still's fault that I'm like this. I can't see. I can't fly, and I can't heal anyone. It's because of Still."

She stopped holding Betty's hands.

"Carry me," Lena said. "I know I can walk, but I don't want my feet to touch the floor. It would be like all those times I flew. Carry me to my room."

Betty carried Lena bridal style. Hailey was absent. Before her departure, on the day she had met the Watcher and the blind High, Hailey had seen Betty carry a sleeping Lena into her room.

"Do you really think Freemans who love Vice Reaper took Theo Majestic?" Betty said.

She walked toward the open door.

The pile of Freeman belongings was gone, because the Watcher with all the Saves had moved them to a different room.

"I don't want to be in the same room with Hailey," Lena said, clinging to Betty. "Regardless, I do believe Vice Reaper lovers took her father."

Lena's warmth was close and Theo Majestic wasn't.

Not even his daughter Hailey had stayed in Lena's life.

In the hall outside the room, Betty said, "If you see Hailey again, will you kill her?"

"No," Lena said. "She's a Majestic, but she saved my life. I hate her father. But Hailey saved me and I had to tell her what I think happened to Theo. I owed it to her."

"You showed a Majestic compassion," Betty said, walking as she carried the best High she knew.

"I'm not a second Lock Tannis," Lena said.

"You're as great as a Majestic."

After reaching Lena's room, Betty placed the girl on her bed. She had no father. No mother. No eyesight. Her Watcher hadn't died. No, Betty lived, but Lock Tannis had caused too many deaths.

"When you were a baby, I carried you," Betty said. Lena moved her hands to her stomach as her blind eyes pointed at the blue above. "That was before the invasion. It was before your mother and father..."

The Watcher swallowed. She exhaled through her nose, putting out a burdened sigh.

"Lena, I know it's been tough," Betty said. "Your parents are gone, and I can't bring them back. I'm so sorry. I had to bury your father on the planet your mother was murdered on. The Freemans. They're the reason why your parents are gone, and it's Lock Tannis's fault. It will never be yours. Whatever happens, I'm going to be good to you. You're my High. You're Lena Fly. Even though you dislike Theo, you brought his daughter closer to finding him. That's the type of person you are."

Lena would never be like Lock Tannis.

"You're great." Betty said.

"Thank you, Betty," Lena said. She sat up. "If my horrible condition goes away, I'm going to kill as many Freemans as I can. So many. After what they did today, I know for a fact that I can't forgive any of them. I can't forgive Lock Tannis. That fake Freeman ruined so much for me. He's the reason why I can't talk to my parents. This universe needs me. But it needs Theo Majestic, too. He can see, and he has all of the Saves. He's skilled. Theo is the Soynite with the best chance at killing Lock. I know that he has to be found. Wherever he is, he has to come back. He will kneel for me. And he'll have to do what he didn't do before."

Lena clutched the blue comforter underneath her. She did that, but she couldn't see her parents. She couldn't see anyone. Not Theo Majestic. Not Lock Tannis.

"Theo has to kill Lock," Lena said. "I can't deny that we have to reunite with Theo. I need him."

Theo had to hammer death into Lock.

"We need him," Betty said. She bent over, then kissed Lena's orange hair. "I'm going to head back to my room. We're fine, Lena. We're safe."

"For how long?" Lena said.

She had spoken, and tears no longer moved down her cheeks. But that didn't mean her father hadn't taken a throwing knife to the chest in her throne room.

How long would Betty and Lena be safe?

After teleporting into her own bedroom, Betty made eye contact with a woman.

A blonde woman.

Even though Betty had never seen her in person, she knew what Lilly Majestic looked like.

The room surrounded the three. Dressed in black, Lilly blocked Betty's path to the big bed, which Hailey sat on.

In her hand was a Soynite dagger.

If Lena was fortunate, no one would stab her. If she lived long enough, maybe she would make her condition vanish. What Still had done to her didn't have to last, and Lena had to become worthy. Whatever that meant. She had to live. Her blindness, her powerless state, wouldn't disappear if she died before she became worthy.

Lilly and Hailey. When had they arrived in the space station?

Death had united with Boone and Lauren. Hailey and her mother had reunited.

"Lilly?" Betty said.

Lilly, Hailey's mother, held a Strife dagger and a syringe. Vamp sat in it, holding the power to make Saves vanish.

The needle slipped into Betty's neck.

As Betty stayed too close to Strife, the woman already powerless, warm liquid shot into her bloodstream. Theo Majestic's wife dropped the Strife dagger. She hugged Betty with one arm.

"I won't let Lena become a second Lock Tannis." Lilly said.

Betty's consciousness died.