His niece.

Cambridge Downer hadn't given Jill any cousins, but perhaps he would. The future was not certain to him, but that didn't mean he would die before having his first child.

Camille and Don. While they supported Lock, Cambridge was with their child.

Jill and Darla sat next to each other on the sofa. Cambridge stood not far from his niece and her human friend, a girl with blonde hair and blue eyes. She wasn't a Majestic, though. Darla would never be related to the girl Vera had raised.

Joseph had told Darla that Cambridge and Vera were his friends, which was the truth. Cambridge was Jill's uncle and Vera was like a second Watcher to the eleven-year-old, to be specific.

"Dexter is still as cute as he was on your birthday, Jill," Darla said, sitting on the sofa as the kitten sat on her lap. She stroked Dexter's orange fur. "He's a good kitty."

"Yeah," Jill said. "He's awesome."

Cambridge's niece was safe and okay. Good. Now, with the awareness her mother might betray Lock one day, Cambridge returned to Joseph's bedroom.

Sitting on the desk was a red dictionary. Cambridge had used it to read words and their definitions. That had been before Cambridge's first meeting with Vera, Theo Majestic's Bloodhound friend.

She had exchanged words with Cambridge, Joseph, and Jill.

She had put her ruthlessness to good use.

She would help Cambridge during his return to enemy domain.

A big bed stayed nearby. Eleven years ago, Cambridge's sister had been on a different one, and Joseph had delivered her baby. Jill. She was older than an infant, and she had survived her time on Earth. So far, anyway.

The television was off. Birds chirped outside, singing, not dead. They weren't Boris Endman. He had fought Theo on Soy, but he hadn't killed him.

"Jill is still in the living room with Darla," Cambridge said. He moved closer to Joseph and Vera, the two Watchers standing with their arms crossed. "Now, Vera, you said that you think we should bring Jill with us. Are you sure? Are you sure that she's ready to fight the Freemans? She let Hero and his siblings live, remember? She might not be ready to see her enemies die."

Cambridge would never be prepared to see Jill die.

Unlike her mother, she hadn't joined the Freeman ruler. She wasn't as old as her uncle. Young or old, a warrior was still a warrior. And Jill could become almost as powerful as Lock Tannis, and then she could become stronger than him.

"Those youthful antagonists weren't Freemans, Cambridge," Joseph said. "Jill despises the Freemans, though. She knows what they did, and she knows it's imperative for us to kill all of them."

That awful Hero. He and his siblings had tried stealing Jill from her family. With pleasure, Vera had tortured Hero and Sydney. Much to her uncle's dismay, Jill had convinced Vera to spare Hero and his brothers and sisters.

Vera had let them know she was a Bloodhound. That fact had formed a warning, made Hero and his siblings more cautious of her. If they had kidnapped Jill after that, Vera would've searched for her. Hero knew it.

The Bloodhound had done something clever.

"Jill doesn't have to participate in the attack if she doesn't want to," Vera said.

"I would love to participate in being in her life for a long time," Cambridge said. "I can't do that if she becomes as dead as Boris Endman. That fool. He didn't live long enough to see you torture his granddaughter's friends, at least. So lucky."

Boris Endman. Grandfather, former High, dead.

Before his death, had he found Alice Endman? She was Zoey All. A friend of Hero's. Cambridge had met him, but maybe Zoey hadn't reunited with her grandfather.

"Perhaps Boris betrayed Lock Tannis," Joseph said. "If that is what he had done, maybe he died as a good man. Now, I am ignorant of the identity of his slayer, but I know I can speculate. What if Lock killed Boris?"

After the invasion, Vera had seen Boris on Soy. She had held Hailey when the girl's father clashed with his former friend. Before Vera's arrival to the mansion's backyard, Cambridge had already known Boris had joined Lock. Don had informed him and Camille about it.

"It's possible," Vera said. "Lock is the type of person who would destroy a planet and kill off most of his own people, because someone made him angry. That's exactly what Lock did. If he had to, he would kill Boris. Boris was powerful, but he wasn't as deadly as Lock. Few Soynites are."

If Theo were with the group, he could help slaughter the Freeman warriors inside Cambridge's former home. With ease, too.

Theo Majestic was stronger than Lock. The pale enemies occupying the base Cambridge had fled couldn't kill the universe's most powerful Soynite. They would need Strife's assistance. For way too long, green Strife had been in Cambridge's presence.

"My beloved daughter might become as strong as Theo himself," Joseph said. "Jill is a skilled enough with a gun. Vera, you believe she can survive an assault on the Freeman base in this city. So do I. Additionally, Cambridge escaped that dreadful place. One man got away from many Freemans. He's not even a Watcher."

Cambridge wasn't a Watcher, but he was an uncle, a brother who had evaded Honolulu's Freemans.

"Exactly," Vera said. "Cambridge is just a regular man."

"Thanks for humbling me, Vera," Cambridge said. "I'm so ordinary. Even though my sister is married to a former High, and I'm the uncle of one of the current ones."

Six Highs.

Jill Key. Cape Majestic. Reese Low. Lovely Windsore. Path Seekman.

There were six Highs, and Cambridge had found one. His sister's child. Jill was a ruler, and she was a great one. It was a pleasure to be her uncle.

"You survived your escape," Vera said. "Jill could survive an attack on the Freeman base. If she agrees to come with us, I'll make sure that no one hurts her. I'll be helping you, too, Cambridge. Jill has a great uncle."

Vera knew when to be cruel. And she knew when to be sweet.

"I know," Cambridge said. "Thanks, Vera."

"Anything is impossible until your heart stops beating," Joseph said. "The Freemans at the base in this city will be overwhelmed by three great Soynites. If Jill agrees to go with the two of you, that is. Either way, the Freemans will perish."

Lock Tannis had outlived many Freemans. No wonderful hero had killed him yet. Unfortunate.

"There are other Freeman bases on this planet, and I absolutely despise that truth," Joseph said. He brought his hands to his hips. "Still, destroying one of their places will make this universe a better place. Eventually, someone will terminate Lock's life, and the Freemans will kneel for them. I don't know who will become the slayer of Lock Tannis. I do hope I meet them. Just like how I remain aware that Lock will be killed. Freemans die. So do Soynites. And planet Free's ruler, that false Freeman, has to die. Lock forfeited his right to live a long time ago. His death has been overdue for way too long, and someone has to bring it to him. Who will do that?"

As hopeful as Cambridge was, he would rather not be in the same vicinity as Lock Tannis.

"I should've found the man who has the best chance at killing Lock," Vera said. "I wonder if I doomed everyone by not looking for Theo. If he were with us, life would be easier. None of my powers can help me fight, but Theo is a different Soynite than me. He has all the Saves. And the person most likely to kill Lock is him. I've failed Theo. I know that. Even now, I'm not even looking for him. Does that make me a bad person? Maybe. Or maybe not. I don't know. Theo is gone and Lock Tannis is, unfortunately, always making his Freemans ruin things for the good Soynites. That's us. And we're also three people who don't have the fighter we need. We need Theo Majestic. I need him."

"But you're not looking for him," Joseph said.

Cambridge didn't search for Theo, either. But he wasn't someone who could find anyone in the universe.

"No," Vera said. "No, I'm not. Because I can't. What if I leave and Hero and his siblings come back? What if I hadn't been here when those kids tried to kidnap Jill? I have to stay in Hawaii. I need to. There's a chance that Hailey went back to our space station, but I can't go back there. She probably doesn't even want to see me. I don't blame her. If I were her, I wouldn't want to see me, either."

The Bloodhound turned. She went close to the window. Sunlight touched her long brown hair as she gazed through the glass.

"Hailey will forgive you," Joseph said. "You raised her, and she loves you."

Even though Vera had raised Hailey, the girl had left her. Cambridge had rushed away from Freemans. Hailey had flown a spaceship away from her Watcher.

"I kept her away from her father," Vera said. "I knew how much she loved Theo, but I refused to find him for her anyway. What kind of monster does that? Am I Soynite or one of the Freemans' monsters?"

"You're the one who took care of Hailey," Cambridge said. "And you're a Soynite who wants to help her. You want to get Theo back to his daughter, but you can't do it right now. That's proof that you want to do the right thing. Just because you can't do a good deed, that doesn't make you a bad person. You want to be better than you already are. That's what matters, Vera."

The woman hadn't done what Hailey wanted her to do. Camille hadn't betrayed Lock, which was what Cambridge wished she would do. Jill needed her mother.

"That's not enough," Vera said. She turned. "It hasn't even been a week since I last saw Hailey, but it feels like so much time has passed. It's been so many weeks since Hailey last saw her father. It's my fault. I used to think that Theo abandoned me. He didn't abandon me. I abandoned him."

"You want to locate him," Joseph said. "You're not horrendous, Vera."

Lock Tannis. He was horrendous.

"I'm glad you think so," Vera said. "But that's your opinion, Joseph. If a loved one told you not to look for them, wouldn't you try to find them anyway? They could be in trouble. Deep trouble. A man I love very much told me not to look for him, and then he left. I raised his daughter for years. I watched her grow into a teenager, one who is way too compassionate. But she's still great, though. It's me who isn't. Hailey has wanted to reunite with her father for so long, and I never let that happen. Just because Bloodhounds can find anyone for you, it doesn't mean that they will. I never searched for Theo for Hailey. I never even tried."

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

The Bloodhound bowed her head. She looked at the carpet as Theo's absence stayed real. Meanwhile, Lock remained as a fake Freeman.

Vera lifted her head.

"I'm a Bloodhound, and I wasted my ability," she said. She gestured to the space around her. "Jill is here, in this house, and I found her. But there is someone else who I didn't bother to find. I should've disobeyed him. No matter what he said, I should've just looked for him anyway. This universe needs Theo Majestic. So many Soynites need him. He might be in trouble, but I refused to look for him. How many Soynites died because of me? How many Soynites were murdered because I didn't find Theo years ago?"

Cambridge didn't give her an answer.

"Theo needs to be saved," Vera said. "When I saw him for the last time, there wasn't any hope in him. But I refuse to believe he killed himself. And I know that we're going to have to find other Soynites. There are more of us out there, ones we haven't met yet. We have to gather more Soynites, because we don't want to die before Lock Tannis. None of us do. Regardless, no matter how many Soynites we gather, if Theo Majestic won't be one of them, I won't be happy. Hailey wanted me to find him, and I always refused to. I know that. But that doesn't mean I hate Theo. He doesn't deserve to suffer. And no one in this room wants to hurt him."

"We want to see him," Joseph said.

"I really do want to see Theo," Vera said. She took a deep breath. "I'm in love with him."

Cambridge nodded. Then he embraced Vera, and she hugged him back. The hug ended.

"I'll take that secret to my grave," Cambridge said. He put a hand on Vera's shoulder. "If you didn't love Theo, you wouldn't want to find him so badly."

He moved his hand.

Vera's life had been stripped of Theo. He, the most powerful Soynite, had left a space station. He hadn't returned to it. Lilly Majestic had left the place as well, and she had taken her only son, Nick, with her. She and Nick had come back to the space station years ago. They had left it.

Hailey had abandoned Vera.

The woman had left her home, and she had found Cambridge, Joseph, and Jill. Vera was welcome. Lock was not.

"You're really nice, Cambridge," Vera said. "Either way, I am a horrible person. I will never become Hailey's mother, but I could've become Theo's savior. I passed up that opportunity. The more powerful a Soynite is, the more clever you would be by siding with them. Theo is the most powerful member of our kind. Lock Tannis isn't. But that's not the only reason why I want to reunite with Theo."

"I won't tell your secret, Vera," Joseph said. "I will keep it concealed, and I won't even inform Jill about it. You will see Theo again. We both will."

Where was Theo?

During his imprisonment, Cambridge hadn't seen the former Supreme High. The uncle's world had been reduced to a prison cell, but he was free. He was liberated and Theo was missing.

When the three adults headed to the living room, Darla was gone.

So was Theo Majestic. As usual.

Jill sat on the sofa, stroking Dexter's orange fur as he relaxed on her lap.

"Darla left," Jill said.

"Jill, Cambridge and Vera are planning on attacking the Freeman base in this city," Joseph said. "They're going to do it soon. Vera wants you to join them. If you want to participate in the attack, you have my permission."

Jill moved her hand away from Dexter. She grimaced, but no Freeman had stabbed her.

"But the Freemans will be there," Jill said, as she spoke about a Freeman base.

"It's a Freeman base, after all," Cambridge said. He smiled. His niece didn't. "You don't have to go. I do, though. Against my will, I lived inside that place. But I can go back to it, kill the Freemans there, and then come back here. Vera is going to help me. She's a good Watcher. Thanks to her, Hero and his siblings won't try to take you from us. They're gone. And the Freemans at the base I escaped need to be gone, too. They won't be gone because they left. No, we're going to kill them. Me and Vera. We will turn those Freemans into smoke."

Jill leaned back. She pressed her back against the sofa, shut her brown eyes.

When she opened them again, she said, "I'll go."

Vera smiled.

Don Ascend had made the choice to support Lock Tannis, but his daughter hadn't. Former High Don was a fool. Not Jill.

The invasion had been horrible, yet Jill's birth had happened during it. Something great had occurred.

"You're going to be a great warrior, Jill," Vera said. "You'll make me proud."

"I have to help you and Cambridge," Jill said. "I've never even killed a Freeman, but I have to. I'm a High. Theo Majestic was a High, and he fought Freemans. I have to, too. Plus, the Freemans are bad people. They're not awesome at all. I want to kill them."

Don didn't intend to kill Lock.

Don Ascend. Ray Fire. Notch Slip. Tale Wick. Traitors, all of them. Lock's four living minions.

Theo, who was a finer Soynite than the other former Highs, hadn't succeeded in preventing the invasion.

Lock had started a war, and Cambridge had been tangled in it. His niece was caught in it. The man's younger sister and her husband had sided with Lock, and their only child hadn't allied with them. Still, without Theo, Cambridge, Jill, Joseph, and Vera didn't have the deadliest Soynite helping them.

But Cambridge, Vera, and Jill might not need Theo's assistance to slaughter the Freemans at their base in Honolulu. There were other pale enemy bases, but the one in the city was Cambridge's target.

The uncle stood, and saw, and heard, and yet he didn't stand in a Freeman prison cell. He could go back to the building he had been trapped inside.

He could kill Freemans.

Cambridge had a duty to do. He needed to contribute to Soynite society by changing Freemans into smoke.

"Cambridge got out of that Freeman base without any help," Jill said. "It sounds like the Freemans over there are weak, and I think killing them shouldn't be too hard. Right?"

"Right," Joseph said. He stroked Jill's hair, kissed her forehead. "You continue to make me proud, my child. You're Jill Key. And you're on the path to becoming as spectacular as Theo Majestic himself. He put that Hase Majestic's pendant on your forehead, and he made you into a High. You are my daughter, but you're also my ruler. I will always serve you. When I was your age, I knew I was meant to become a Watcher, but I didn't know that Don Ascend's daughter would be my mentee. The invasion came. Freemans murdered so many great Soynites, and I had to get you to Theo. Your uncle here stayed with your birth mother. Camille works for Lock Tannis now, but her friends helped me and you during the invasion."

Cambridge's sister hadn't murdered her baby after giving birth to her. Still, she had joined Lock. And there was the possibility she would try taking Jill's life. But Cambridge would rather think about a living Jill and not a dead one.

As for the man himself, he needed to hope Camille would show him mercy.

Cambridge had to do what was right. And he had to keep Vera's secret. She was in love with Theo. Maybe she preferred to marry him and bring half-siblings for Hailey, Reese, Nick, and Anne. But that didn't happen. Maybe it never would.

The Lock Tannis Church. That was a group Hero had told Joseph about. Summer, Anne's Watcher, was married to the cult's leader. The youngest Majestic had joined the group, Cambridge assumed.

Where was Anne? Cambridge and his housemates believed she lived where Summer Sinister lived.

Nick.

He was Theo's only son, his firstborn child. According to Vera, Nick was the type of Soynite who would smile while torturing an enemy. He was vicious. Good, as long as the boy only reserved his ruthlessness for the enemy.

Reese.

She was another High. But she was also Theo's second child, the only Majestic Lilly had given up for adoption. Joseph and Jill had met Reese. They didn't know her current location.

Hailey.

Vera knew Hailey more than she knew the rest of Theo's children. Unlike Vera, Hailey Majestic would rather flee a battlefield than fight on one. She wasn't a fighter.

Jill could become one.

But she would never be a Freeman. Even Lock, who had morphed into one, would always be a Soynite.

The Freemans called Lock Great Leader. Sepsis Nail had coined that term. He was not the Freemans' first ruler, but he had become their first Great Leader.

No Great Leader had died of natural causes. Each one had been murdered. The price to pay for power over the Freemans was the fact people would try assassinating you, so they could gain ultimate authority over Free's pale residents.

"The Freemans are vile and brutal," Joseph said. "They can perish, though. Freemans die. They morph into smoke. That must happen to the Freemans at their base in this city. I can't accompany all of you, because I have to watch over our feline resident. Jill, you named Dexter after Don's father, and that former High isn't like Dexter the man. He has changed. Don would rather help Lock than give assistance to his child. Even if your birth father doesn't kill you, he would be okay with letting you live your life inside a Freeman prison cell."

Cambridge shook his head.

Jill didn't deserve to live the rest of her life inside a Freeman prison cell. She was a Pure who might develop all the Saves one day, but a prisoner wasn't what Cambridge wanted her to be.

"And I don't want my niece to live the rest of her life inside a prison cell," Cambridge said. "Camille wanted her own brother to experience that, but he escaped. I escaped. Because I did that, and because Joseph saved my life, I can help you, Jill. You're not my sister. You're not your birth mother. Me and you both know that Lock Tannis isn't someone who deserves anything good. We know that he has to die. Don doesn't believe what we believe. Neither does Camille, unfortunately. They don't want to see Lock as the monster that he is."

Vera crossed her slim arms. She said, "They really should."

Lock. Don. Ray. Notch. Tale. Too many former Highs opposed Theo. He hadn't been given the choice to help Lock, but Cambridge doubted the man would have joined Lock anyway.

"Because Don teamed up with Lock, he is now a true fool," Vera said. "I'm going to do everything in my power to not become like him. I have to. I have a duty to do, and it doesn't involve kneeling for Lock and calling him Great Leader. I have to help the Soynites who hate Lock as much as I do. They're the ones who matter. We lost our planet. It's ruined, and it's Lock's fault. He and his Freemans did something terrible over ten years ago, and I won't forget that. I will always remember what Lock and his minions did. I won't forget it. And I'm always going to keep fighting Lock. Until he's dead, anyway. I wanted Hailey to become the next ruler of the Freemans."

Vera gestured to Jill.

"I want you to become that person, Jill," the woman said. "I still want you to rule over the Freemans. You and Hailey are both Pures, but I only have faith in one of you. Lock isn't a Pure. And the Saves he has now are the ones he will have for the rest of his life. Eventually, Jill, you will become more powerful than Lock. You just have to live long enough. And someone has to survive long enough to make Lock regret starting this war. That someone needs to be you. I'll keep helping you. Even when you become the Freemans' ruler, I'll keep helping you."

"Thanks, Vera," Jill said.

The girl didn't own the Red Throne. Lock did.

Many Freemans had ruled Free's people. A long time ago, a Soynite had murdered Vice Reaper. He had been a true Freeman. The man hadn't been Lock, a Soynite posing as a Freeman. Regardless of how pale his skin was, Lock pretended to be a member of Vice's race.

The four people in the living room knew what Lock was. How many Soynites didn't know?

Cambridge. He didn't pretend to be a Freeman, and he didn't have to pretend to be an uncle. Because he was one. No matter how many Freemans believed Lock was one of them, he was what Cambridge was. A Soynite.

But Cambridge wasn't a horrible one.

Jill, who sat on a sofa in Hawaii, might kill the worst Soynite.

Lock had murdered Vice, like Sepsis Nail had killed his own father. The Freemans were united in their hatred for the Soynite people. A Freeman could slay another Freeman, and a Soynite could kill one, but the pale people stayed as Lock's subjects. His ignorant people. They didn't know what Lock Tannis was, did they?

"As for me, I'll keep assisting you, too, Jill," Joseph said. "That's what I've been doing for eleven years, and I won't hesitate to help you for another eleven."

"Thanks, Dad," Jill said.

"You're welcome."

Vera left.

Then Joseph did the same, leaving Cambridge and Jill and Dexter in the room.

Lock stayed distant. He had hatched his plot. Because of that, Soynites had suffered. The Freemans, with destructive glee, had turned Soy into a place with no trees, no grass, no beauty.

The Freemans took commands from Lock, and their loyalty was to him.

"Cambridge," Jill said. She and Dexter looked at the man. Brown eyes and green ones. "I really wish you were my birth father. You never joined Lock Tannis."

"I did join the club of people who hate him, though," Cambridge said. Jill smiled. "I do wish things worked out differently, Jill. Your dad is already a great father to you. Still, if I had to, I would make you my daughter. Just because Don is your birth father, it doesn't mean that he's a good parent. He's not even a good person. Don was one of Theo's closest friends, but Lock influenced him, and Theo wasn't able to stop that from happening. You're Don's child. And you're my sister's kid. I can't see your birth mother, but I can see you. I can help you."

Cambridge's relative had let him spend years locked inside a Freeman prison cell. Another one had embraced him on her eleventh birthday.

Jill's birth. Eleven years had gone by, and Cambridge shared a home with his niece.

They had known about each other for years, but they hadn't been together for that length of time. Cambridge had spent over a decade locked inside a Freeman base. Jill had spent time traveling, and surviving, and having Joseph as her only companion. Those days had gone by.

Cambridge was no longer forced to spend miserable seconds trapped inside a Freeman base, but he had to go back to that place. Vera would go with him. Jill planned on coming along.

Before his death came, Cambridge must help Jill as much as he could. Her birth parents weren't good, but Cambridge could continue being a good uncle to her. He had to. He needed to. It was his duty, like it had been Joseph's duty to make Jill meet Theo Majestic. That had occurred years ago.

Jill was a High.

Theo was not.

Regardless of his status, he deserved to be found. He had earned the right to be covered in safety. The Red Throne was Lock's chair and his throne. Theo needed to sit on it. Not Lock.

The Red Throne was on Free and not Soy.

Soy.

Even ruined and hideous, that planet was Cambridge's home planet. That hadn't changed.

"There isn't enough compassion in this universe," Cambridge said. "But if a person can help his family, he should. Even though my sister did something horrible, I'm not going to give up on her. I will make her choose the right side. Our side. If I do that, maybe Don will fight against Lock, too. Even if the other former Highs refuse to betray Lock, having Don fighting for us would still be a good thing. We need help. We need fighters, and we need former Highs who will help us fight. Theo won't ever join Lock. We can trust him. We can't trust your birth father. In the future, maybe we will. Don isn't a man we can trust. But I doubt it will stay that way forever."

"Do you really think so?" Jill said, hope flowing through her.

"I do." Cambridge said.

Jill smiled. She put Dexter on the sofa, then she stood. She embraced Cambridge, and he hugged her back.

"I love you, Cambridge." Jill said.

"And I love you, Jill," said the good uncle.