Lena's round sunglasses.

They were in Hailey's space station, her home, her and Lena's place. The white cane was there, too, and so was its owner.

It was the fifth of March. The year was 2022.

"Yesterday was an extremely miserable day, Father," Lena said. "I lost you. Forever."

Even the blind High could mourn, Hailey couldn't deny, but Lena had tried beating her mother to death. Their mother.

With her back pressed against the wall, Hailey stood near Lena's new bedroom. The door was open.

Lena was okay. No harm could come to her now, and she could speak. With safety on her side, she stayed in her room. She mourned.

Hailey wore a white shirt. It had no sleeves. Her arms were bare as blue jeans covered her legs. No shoes. White socks covered Hailey's feet. The girl owned no crown, not a blue one, and not one that was red. She wasn't her father. And she wasn't Lock Tannis.

A red crown hadn't met Hailey's blonde locks. Unbeknownst to her, one would.

"You knew your place," Lena said. "But that isn't the only reason why I miss you. Without you and my mother, I wouldn't be here. My greatness wouldn't exist. Thanks. Thank you, Boone Windsore. Your other daughter, Zoey, isn't with me. But I will continue to do whatever I can to protect her. She isn't as great as I am, but she is a great Soynite. Your wife isn't her real mother. But I didn't want to make Zoey feel worse by telling her what I really think about Misty. A Freeman murdered you in my throne room, Father. It should've been Misty. She should've gotten killed. Not you."

In truth, a Freeman warrior had murdered Boone Windsore. Misty hadn't died in her former stepdaughter's throne room.

"I was there when you died," Lena said. "And you were there when I became a High. You saw it happen. I was able to see, too, and I saw you. And I saw those government agents. They were protecting their new Highs, and they protected their former one. Theo Majestic. My new father. My fool of a new father."

Hailey resisted the urge to rush into the room and yell at Lena.

With graceful quietness, Hailey stepped into Lena's room. Resting on her back was the not-so-great High. She was on the bed, holding a photograph. It showed a living man. An alive Boone.

Lena hadn't put an end to her dislike for Hailey's father, and her love for Boone continued moving through her.

She wore a black shirt and blue jeans. Like her hatred for her new family, Lena's feet were uncovered. She didn't disguise how she felt about Hailey and their mother.

"Theo Majestic is your father, Lena," Hailey said. "No matter what happens, you have to love him. Eventually."

Lena sat up. She placed the picture on the bed's blue comforter, then swung her legs over the bed's side. Pale gray eyes pointed at Hailey, but they saw nothing.

"You're going to rue the moment you spared my life," Lena said. She squeezed the comforter. "Sister."

A Vamp-filled syringe stayed on the desk.

"Right, we're sisters now," Hailey said. "That means you should really forgive me. I did something bad to you, but you should stop hating me for it."

She hadn't forgotten slicing Lena. She remembered the assassination attempt, and her attack on Lena had made Zoey open her throat.

"You tried to kill me, Majestic!" Lena said. "You tried to assassinate your High, and now you're expecting her to forgive you?! You really are dumb. I am your High! My word is law! Yours isn't! Why do you and Mother act as if that isn't the truth? Years ago, I met our foolish father and he made me into a High. Me! Not you, Hailey! I am your ruler, and you keep pretending as if I'm an ordinary Soynite! It's as if you became Supreme High and expect me to kneel for you whenever you want me to! That's not the truth. The truth is that some people lost their fathers. Some people lost their mothers. Some people can't be with their sisters. And some people are rulers. Some people kneel for those rulers. Do you know which category you belong to, Hailey?"

"The one full of people who want to bring their families back together," Hailey said.

Nick. Reese. Anne. Theo Majestic.

They needed to be together, and Hailey wanted to be with them.

"That was the wrong answer," Lena said.

"I don't care what it was," Hailey said. She pointed a finger at Lena's face. She, blind, couldn't see it. "You're my sister now, and I'm going to do everything in my power to protect you. Even though I wish Mother only beat you in your throne room. She adopted you, unfortunately."

Day had come and Hailey had woken, and she needed to deal with Lena. If Zoey hadn't intervened yesterday, Lena wouldn't have the power to fling words at her new sister.

"She gave birth to you, unfortunately," Lena said. She gestured to Hailey. "For the record, nothing is forgiven. You saved my life the other day, and you were supposed to, but we're not friends. Not anymore. Those siblings of yours won't ever be friends of mine, either. And Reese, your sister Nova, I'm always going to wish that bellmas ate her alive when the invasion was still happening. And your sister Anne is a Lock Tannis worshipper. I don't doubt that. What are you going to do about that, Hailey? She might try to kill you. She might try to kill Mother, too. If that happens, I'll be forced to protect my new family. You know what I would have to do."

Lena smiled.

Hailey shook her head. "No one has to get killed. If Anne tries to hurt us, we could restrain her."

"Some dangers should just be disposed of," Lena said. "If you let those Freemans live the other day, they would've tried to kill me."

Me. Me. Me. Do you care about anyone who isn't you, Lena?

"I was there, too," Hailey said. "They would've tried to kill me as well."

A Soynite she was, thirteen and dangerous. Still, deadly Soynite warriors could get killed. Even the powerful Boris Endman might have been murdered.

"Whatever," Lena said. "Your youngest sibling is a danger to me. I've never met a member of Bane's cult, but it would be a bloody meeting if I did. And I wouldn't be the one bleeding."

"That Freeman you killed the other day was an exception," Hailey said. "You won't be able to hurt anyone else. Also, Anne is your sister, too. She's your sister and she's mine. My father is your father. My mother is your mother. My siblings are your siblings. Me and you are sisters. You should also stop calling me Majestic with so much hatred in your voice. Whether you like it or not, you're a Majestic now. You are Theo Majestic's fifth child."

"And?"

Hailey crossed her arms.

"You are a child of Theo and you should start acting like one," she said. "Sisters shouldn't fight each other. They should love each other. You act like the only sister you have is Zoey, and I think you should accept your new family members."

"Zoey is the only sister I want," Lena said. "Misty isn't her mother, but her father was her father. That's how Zoey is my sister, and I'm glad that she is. As for you, you're the Majestic who tried to murder me. You tried to kill me in my own throne room."

Lena's throne room had found the High naked. She had stripped, and she had been able to do so because Hailey hadn't murdered her.

A ruler Lena was, with orange hair and a love for power, but she was a Majestic, and Hailey was her sister.

"But I'm not trying to kill you now," Hailey said. "Betty said you are smart, but I don't see it. I know you can't. Even though you're blind, you believed that you could beat our mother to death. And you tried to do that. An intelligent person wouldn't have done that. You're a power-hungry fool, Lena. I think that's all you're ever going to be, but I wish I didn't. I wish I could believe that you'll get better. Your personality is—"

"My personality is what, Majestic?!" Lena shouted.

Awful.

"Awful." Hailey said.

Lena narrowed blind gray eyes, then she moved her fists to her knees.

"You keep giving me every reason to kill you," she said. "But it would be harder to make Theo Majestic kneel for me if he finds out I did something too terrible to you. I wish Zoey killed you. She should've stabbed you in the heart. Regardless, she's still my sister. You are never going to be her, and you are never going to be as great as she is."

In a wash of the desire to serve her High, Hailey had entered Lena's life. The ruler wasn't Nova, Cape, Kara, Aris, or Path. Hailey would rather be with one of Lena's co-rulers, her fellow Highs.

Nova.

Unlike Lena, Nova had come from Hailey's mother. The adopted child's uncle had gone with her, and Hailey hoped they didn't lay in puddles of their blood. She wanted her uncle and her sister to be okay.

Hailey's mother had hurt Lena, and she had turned the girl into her fifth child.

Zoey. She wasn't Lena's only sister, and Hailey's mother had made sure of that. Misty had stolen Alice Endman. The woman had given her a new name, and she had concealed Zoey from her birth parents.

Archer Endman.

Holly Endman.

Where were they? A Freeman base? A Soynite space station? A distant planet?

"You're never going to be as great as Zoey," Hailey said. "She is nice, friendly, and humble. Most of the time, Lena, you act like it's impossible for you to be either of those things. Soy won't explode if you say something nice to me."

Soy. It was far from Hailey. As usual.

"Does it matter?" Lena said. "That planet is already dead. And my sight and my Saves are never coming back. I reunited with my father, but a Freeman murdered him. You have a mother, but the rest of your family is gone. They're not dead. They might as well be, though. No matter what I say, I can't bring your family back together."

"Our family," Hailey said. "Lena Majestic."

Lena scoffed, as if the truth weren't true.

"You're a Majestic, too," Hailey said. "You said your new surname in your throne room. I heard you. No matter what you say about your new family, you're a Majestic. It feels great, right? You have a family again."

Hailey, Nick, Nova, and Anne. They were Lena's siblings. Theo and Lilly were her parents.

"The only sister I want isn't with me," Lena said. She pointed at Hailey. "And the sister I don't want tried to kill me yesterday. In my own throne room, too! Having my arm slashed with your dagger didn't feel great. You tried to kill me, Majestic."

Planet Still had robbed Lena of her sight, but it hadn't stolen her ability to live. As long as Lena was alive, she could plan Nova's murder. But Hailey would defend her older sister from the blind High. She didn't have to kill Lena.

"I'm sorry," Hailey said. "I had to do it, though. I just wanted Nova to be safe."

"Nova, Nova, Nova," Lena said. She rubbed her forehead. "I'm tired of hearing that name so much. You've never even talked to that fool, but you make it seem as if she's almost as great as I am."

No, Nova was greater than Lena.

"You know about her, but you don't know her," Lena said. "I know Zoey. I know my sister. And I don't plan on being separated from her forever. You never even touched Reese, and I can't say that I hope you will. Because I don't. A person who tried to assassinate their own High doesn't deserve to hug their sister. You tried to murder the greatest person in this universe, Hailey, and I won't forget that. Seriously, what kind of fool are you? You assumed that I will murder Reese, so you tried to murder me. It wasn't smart."

Hailey's father hadn't impregnated his wife for the fifth time, but she had gained a fifth child anyway.

Lena. Lilly's fourth daughter, a High, someone who had the potential to become as bad as Lock Tannis. Still, Lena didn't try murdering Hailey.

Hailey didn't make an attempt to assassinate the High.

The fighting was over. The physical conflict between Hailey and Lena had come to an end. Yet they shot dislike at each other.

"I know," Hailey said. She fiddled with her fingers. "I know. But when you love someone, you'll do drastic things for them. I've never even talked to Nova, but I want to. I want to hug her. And I want her to love me back. If you kill her before I meet her, none of those things will happen. I can't let you do that. That's why I tried so hard to kill you yesterday, but I'm sorry. I'm really sorry about what I did to you."

Lena chuckled, scowled.

"Go get killed by a Freeman," Lena said. "You think that you can apologize for trying to kill your High and all is forgiven? It doesn't work that way, Hailey. You believed that I would become a second Lock Tannis, right? He used to be how a certain girl was. This girl, blonde and dumb, came into my life and frustrated me. A good person can become corrupt. It happened to Lock, and it's already happened to you. But you haven't killed off most of your own people. No, your worst deed is your attempted killing of your own High. Tell me, Hailey, am I really going to become a second Lock? Or should a dumb blonde look in the mirror and see the person who's really going to become as bad as Lock?"

"I'll never do what Lock did," Hailey said.

"That doesn't make what you did okay, you dumb Majestic," Lena said. "I want to live. Yesterday you didn't want me to. No, you cut my arm, and then you tried to murder me. If my sweet sister hadn't come, you would've killed me. Isn't that right?"

Hailey turned her head. Lena couldn't see her, but the blonde acted as if focusing on Lena's face would make her mother abandon her. The woman had left Hailey inside the space station more than once.

She was back now, living with her third child and her fifth one.

It had been years since Hailey had last seen Nova, but she still hoped her older sister would reunite with their mother. Hailey had done it.

She looked at Lena.

"I like my sister being alive," Hailey said.

Even now, as Hailey stayed far from Nova, she would love to embrace her.

"And I like being alive," Lena said. "Yesterday you didn't care about what I wanted, of course. Because you're as much of a fool as your father is. I'm going to make him kneel for me. And he will. He'll do it because I'm his High. That's what he made me into a long time ago, and he'll know who I am. He might not recognize me as the little girl he met during the invasion, but I'll make him remember. I'll make him kneel."

Hailey and Lena shared the same father. Yet one of the girls acted as if that man was only a bit better than Lock Tannis.

"He's not just my father, Lena," Hailey said. "You can't keep acting like you weren't adopted by the Majestic family. Our mother made you become one of us, and she doesn't want to do anything that I won't like. But I didn't make her disown you. She really wanted another kid, and I wanted her to have another one. Even though that child is you. We're family now, and I'm not going to tell Mother to disown you. She's a good mother. I know that her methods can be vicious, but that's the way she has to be. Sometimes. She has you, and she has me, and she's going to try getting the family back together. Father. Nick. Nova. Anne. You and me. All of us might be together."

Two adult Majestics. Four children who had been born from them. One High who wasn't a biological Majestic. Lena, like Hailey's mother, hadn't been born into the Majestic family, but she was what they were.

A Majestic.

No matter what Lena had said about the Majestic family, she had become part of it.

"If that happens, there will be one great person and she will be surrounded by fools," Lena said. "You, Mother, and all of your blond-haired family members aren't as bad as Lock Tannis. But you are all ridiculous. One of you is nothing but a fool whose greatest deed was turning me into a High, and that man's wife let her youngest child stay with her dangerous kidnapper. One of you is a dumb girl who tried to murder her own High. You know her very well. There's Reese. Where do I even begin with her? And then there's Nick. I've heard enough about him, and I already know that I'm not going to like him, either."

Nick.

He was a boy Hailey needed to find, embrace, speak to. He was her only brother. And he had left his mother, and Hailey didn't know his location. She wished she did.

"Nick is my brother," Hailey said. "And he's yours, too. And if you're worried that he's going to try to kill you, he won't."

She looked at the photograph on the bed. A Freeman had murdered Boone, but a pale enemy hadn't killed his first daughter. She was in the Majestic family's care. Lena was the only orange-haired Majestic, but she wasn't the only one with royal power. Long before her first meeting with Lena, Hailey had seen a different Majestic. A blonde adoptee.

"Torture is a thing," Lena said. "Someone could hurt another person for days, and they wouldn't even have to kill their victim. Nick might attempt to turn me into a victim. Might."

"Me and Mother will protect you," Hailey said. "We're not going to let Nick hurt his new sister."

Lena grimaced, as if viewing Nick as her brother had made her bleed. She didn't. Lena saw nothing, but she didn't have any wounds. Her chest didn't push out blood.

"We won't, really," Hailey said. "Nick has telekinesis, but you have me. And you have Mother. Nick won't hurt you, because we won't let him. I know what I tried to do to you yesterday, but that was yesterday. It's a new day. And if Nick plans on hurting you at any point in the future, he's going to be disappointed."

"He's also going to come back here," Lena said. She looked around, but she couldn't see the space station's blue walls. "He's going to come back to this place, and he's probably going to be alone when he does. You don't think I'm smart. But I am. And I don't doubt that Nick will return. He needs a Bloodhound. And he's not with Vera, but he thinks that she's here. Nick knows that Vera has the power to find your father, and I think he will come back here. Because he'll want to make Vera find your father. Isn't it obvious? If I were Nick, I would do all of that. He's going to come back. It would be the smart thing to do. Believe me."

Hailey didn't hug her brother, but she would if she could.

Would Nick come back home?

Lena believed so, but she also considered Hailey's father to be a fool. In Lena's opinion, the most powerful man deserved nothing good. She was wrong.

"He won't like me and I won't like him," Lena said. She stroked her cheek with her thumb. "How tall is he?"

According to Hailey's mother, Nick was tall. But Hailey couldn't give Lena the answer she wanted.

"I don't know," Hailey said. "Mother said he's tall, though."

"And he has telekinesis," Lena said. "That's going to be another problem for me. Nick is a fool, but he knows when to put his Save to good use. What telekinesis user doesn't?"

Hailey hadn't gained telekinesis. Not yet.

"You're not going to get into a fight with him, Lena," Hailey said. "Don't worry. Me and Mother won't let Nick do anything bad to you. If we have to, we'll hurt him. If it gets to that point, I'll heal him. And that's if he bleeds. But I really hope that won't happen."

"Because you don't want your menace of a brother to get hurt," Lena said. "Aren't you such a good person, you piece of Majestic trash. Your brother doesn't want to talk to his mother, and he is a sadistic moron, but you don't want him to get hurt. You're such a great sister, Majestic. I have one of those, too. Just one."

Hailey crossed her slim arms.

"We used to be friends," she said. "Me and you. We weren't sisters when we were still friends, but I liked you anyway. A few days ago, I wished that you became like an older sister to me, and I wanted you to see me as your younger sister."

Lena glared.

"We were friends, yes," she said. "I remember. A certain someone ruined that by trying to assassinate me. You know that person very well. She doesn't think I'm smart, but she's the one who was too dumb enough to realize that Vice Reaper supporters might have taken her father. I came up with that theory. Not you."

"Being arrogant doesn't make you smart," Hailey said. "What's it going to take to make you realize that you're actually an idiot? I'm not better than everyone else. Knowing that makes me smarter than you. You, Lena, are the only fool in this room."

"You insulted my greatness," Lena said.

"I can't insult something that doesn't exist."

Lena gripped the comforter, and she leaned back, as if she had seen Hailey pull out a Vamp-filled syringe.

"You will rue what you said, you Majestic piece of trash," Lena said, not shouting. Hailey preferred for her to not assault her ears with yelling. "I'm never going to become worthy, but I will make you rue what you said."

"How?" Hailey said.

"Your brother is going to come here," Lena said. "Is that syringe with Vamp in it still on the desk?"

The desk. Hailey looked at it. Sitting on a wooden surface, cloaked in the bedroom's light, was a syringe. It held purple liquid.

Vamp.

"Yes," Hailey said. "If you're planning on using it on Nick, good luck. In order to put Vamp into someone, you have to be able to see what you're doing."

"Is the syringe's needle still covered?" Lena said.

Hailey couldn't see the syringe's sharp needle. Yes, it was covered.

"Yes," Hailey said.

"When the time comes, I'll uncover it," Lena said. She moved her legs and her back onto the bed. She exhaled. "Our brother is going to make his homecoming, and then I'll put some Vamp into him. Nick is going to go down. I'm not going to kill him, but I am going to make him drop. At least I'll be able to make one Majestic go down. It's a shame that I couldn't do that to Mother."

"Were you really going to try to beat her to death?" Hailey said.

She didn't doubt Lena had wanted to murder their mother yesterday. After all, in a distant cafeteria, the blind High had tried killing Hailey.

"You know me," Lena said. "I hate that woman. I wanted to kill her so badly, and she knows that. I don't have to like her. And I don't even have to like you. You have to like me, though. You've already kneeled for me before, and you're going to do it again. Because your father gave me power over you and all the other Soynites who aren't Highs. Regardless, I'm still better than everyone alive. Me. Lena."

"Majestic," Hailey said. "Lena Majestic."

"Majestic is my new last name, but the only Majestic I'll ever love is myself," Lena said. "You and that Theo-loving piece of trash aren't as bad as Lock Tannis, but the two of you are still awful. You. Lilly. Reese. Nick. Anne. None of you deserve to be remembered millions of years from now. As for me, I do. I won't be forgotten. And as long as I'm alive, I'll make sure that at least one person remembers Boone Windsore. He wasn't as great as I am. He came close enough, though. So tragic. My father was murdered. And while I was grieving, a mother and her foolish child put their assassination plot into motion. You tried to kill me."

Hailey had prepared to bury a dagger into Lena's heart. Yet here the blind High was. Alive. Not as dead as her first father.

"It wasn't my best moment," Hailey said. "I make mistakes, too. Just like you."

"I don't make mistakes," Lena said. "I make people kneel for me, and that's almost as important as breathing. Do you know what else is important? Not trying to kill your own High. It's a good thing that my sister came and convinced you not to kill me, but you should've decided to spare my life without anyone convincing you to. I wonder. If Reese was given the opportunity to kill me, would she?"

"I tried to kill you, because I didn't want you to murder her," Hailey said. "She's my sister. Our sister. She's our sister. I want to see her again, and that was yesterday when I thought that I had to kill you in order to keep Nova safe. I don't believe that. Not anymore. I wish that Mother didn't adopt you, but I'm not going to make her disown you. I don't want her to lose a child. Plus, Lena, is it really so bad that you're a Majestic now? You have a new mother. And you have a new father. And you have a bunch of new siblings. Zoey isn't the only sister you have. You even have a brother, and you think that he's going to come here. Nick is your brother. And Theo Majestic is your father."

Lena moved her fingers to her hair, then she gripped the orange strands.

"That is true," Lena said. "Theo is my father now, but he did nothing to gain my respect. Few people have. If you think that I'm going to hug Theo and be glad that he's my father, you're wrong. He needs to kneel for me. He needs to serve me. And when I find him, when he's in front of me, he will kneel. He will show his respect to his High. That piece of Majestic trash will kneel for the best High, and I am going to savor that moment. I will."

Hailey didn't embrace her father, but she wished she could hug him.

Years ago, Hailey had been with her father and Vera on Soy. Hailey had been a toddler and she had seen her father clashing with Boris Endman, his former friend. His grandchild, Zoey, believed he was dead. Misty did not.

And Hailey had suggested Zoey should go to Soy.

It was a planet with no trees, no grass, and no beauty. But maybe Zoey would find people on Soy. Enemies. Friends. Strangers.

"Lena, you still think about Zoey, right?" Hailey said.

"I'll never forget the girl who, thankfully, slit your throat," Lena said. She touched the arm Hailey had sliced yesterday. "I wish you bled out."

"Thankfully, I didn't," Hailey said. "I'm going to stay alive and maybe I'll see the Majestic family get put back together. I need to see that happen."

Theo.

Lilly.

Nick.

Nova.

Anne.

Lena.

Hailey.

Seven Majestics deserved to be in the same place. Three of them were in a space station, and one of those three believed Nick would make his homecoming.

Hailey's mother stepped into the room.

She smiled. Then she hugged Hailey. The gesture almost made the girl smile. Hailey embraced the woman back. She hugged the only parent she could be with.

"We're going to get this family back together, baby." Hailey's mother said.

The embrace ended.

The woman looked at the spot near the bed.

Lena sat up. She moved a short distance away from Hailey's mother, her mother. But the High didn't leave the bed.

"Lena, I'm not going to hurt you," Hailey's mother said. "There are some Soynites I want to stab over and over, but you're not one of them."

She had wanted to stab Lena yesterday, no doubt.

The woman moved onto the bed. On her hands and knees, she examined Lena's pale face and her pale gray eyes.

"Years ago, back on one of Hailey's birthdays, I learned that you were blind," Hailey's mother said. "I remember being glad that Nova wasn't the High who had been blinded. But I'm looking at you now, and I wish that you could see. There are still beautiful things that deserve to be seen. A son's smile. A mother and her daughter hugging. A proud husband. Lena, maybe you'll have a son, a daughter, and a husband. One day. I have to keep raising you. You can't get married and have kids if you're dead."

Lena didn't have children.

Good.

"Theo changed," Lena said. "I know what that daughter of yours told me. Vera told her that Theo changed. He changed for the worst, obviously, and that can only mean that you're not going to like him if you do reunite with him. You are a fool, Mother. You're weak. You can beat up a blind girl, but you can't find your husband. Go spend some more years looking for him, or maybe you should spend time searching for your cultist daughter. Maybe you should've done that years ago. Instead of looking for Anne, you abandoned the Bloodhound who could've found her for you. You took your son. You let Hailey and your husband suffer without you. As for Reese, that girl you call Nova, you abandoned her, too. You gave her away. And now you're trying to do some good. Finally. But finally is too late."

Hailey's mother didn't slap Lena.

Yes, the woman had left most of her family. Years ago, she had brought her son with her, just him. But she had made her homecoming. Without Nick, a mother abandoner, Hailey's mother had found her third child, gained a fifth one, and she was intent on bringing her family together.

Hailey's mother put her hands on Lena's face. The woman didn't squeeze. With peaceful care, she kissed Lena's forehead. She stroked the High's hair.

"I want to love you," Hailey's mother said. Lena shook her head. "Don't give me a hard time, please, but I already know you're going to. You are difficult to handle. You are violent. And you aren't worthy. But you're my daughter, and I'm not going to give up on you. You're also right about me. A wise person acknowledges their mistakes, and I haven't forgotten my bad deeds. I did abandon my family. I let my friend convince me that I should give Nova away. Land never knew about her. He never will. And the damage is already done. I should've kept Nova, but I didn't."

The woman had given Nova up for adoption.

She had adopted Lena.

"I let a terrible woman keep my youngest child," Hailey's mother said, her voice's tremble making it clear she had lost too much. "Anne is gone. I failed her."

"Mother, it's okay," Hailey said.

Hoping to put comfort into someone needing it, Hailey rubbed the woman's back.

"Nick is the only child I have who I didn't abandon, Lena," Hailey's mother said. She slapped her chest. "I left my other children and my husband! I did that! Me!"

Hailey frowned. Her mother did the same and she did more than that.

"Believe me, Lena," Hailey's mother said. "I know exactly what I did. I became a terrible mother, and I can't even deny it. It's the truth. I gave Nova away, and I abandoned other people who didn't deserve to be abandoned! Hailey knows! She knows because she's one of the people I left. I even put her in danger. Zoey was able to slit Hailey's throat because I put her in that situation. I failed Hailey."

Lena grinned.

The blonde girl's mother had succeeded in helping her.

"No, you didn't," Hailey said.

"I disappointed people, Lena," Hailey's mother said. "Worst of all, I failed my husband and my children. Anne, my lost baby girl, might be trapped in a cult. Because of her awful mother. Because of me. Instead of getting my baby back, I let her horrible Watcher keep her. I let a monster keep her. I might be one myself."

"You're our mother," Hailey said. "There aren't any monsters in this room."

They weren't on planet Free. These three people, Hailey, her mother, and Lena, were at home.

Hailey and Lena's cheeks were dry.

"Thank you, baby," Hailey's mother said. Her blonde daughter's hand remained on her gray shirt. The woman exhaled. "Thank you."

"You really are pathetic," Lena said.

"No, she's not!" Hailey said. Fists formed. Hers. "You heard how sad Mother is, but you're still being awful! I should've killed you back in your throne room!"

The woman left the bed. She put a hand against Hailey's chest.

"It's okay, Hailey," Hailey's mother said. "Take a deep breath."

The girl took a shaking breath.

"Come on," her mother said. "Take a deep breath. You can do it, and you know that you can. It's okay. I need you to relax. That's all."

Hailey took a deep breath.

"Okay," her mother said. "Good, Hailey. Good."

Lena sat in peace as a good woman remained intent on protecting her.

"I wish that you didn't adopt her," Hailey said. She pointed at the sitting monster. "She talks about us as if we're as bad as Lock Tannis. She's so horrible to me and you. Lena is awful. Instead of letting her live, I should've just killed her."

"My ears still work, you Majestic piece of trash," Lena said.

Planet Still should've made Lena go blind and deaf at the same time, but that wasn't what had happened. She kept her hearing. Still had stolen her sight.

A hand came to Hailey's bare arm.

"I'm not going to give up on that girl, Hailey," the woman said. "Just because someone is awful, that doesn't mean they will die that way. I can help Lena. What else should I do? Should I get my dagger and stab her in the heart? Should I slit her throat and let her bleed out? Or should I try to love her? Should I do my best to make her worthy?"

Hailey looked at the blind ruler.

She, Lena, would never be worthy. Her Saves would never come back and her vision would never return. Even if Lena developed new Saves, the ability to heal wounds and the power to fly weren't powers she possessed. She had been Saveless when Hailey met her. She was that way now, lacking her powers, unable to see.

"I'm not going to give up on Anne," Hailey's mother said. "And I'm also not going to give up on your new sister. Why should I become cruel enough to kill a girl who lost her vision and her parents? No matter how bad Lena is, she deserves to have loving parents in her life. So do you. And so does Anne. I lost a daughter and I gained a new one. But I'm never going to forget about my youngest. I will get her back. Because of Zoey, we know that Summer is with the Lock Tannis Church and Anne is probably a member of that cult, too. I'm going to kill Summer. She's not going to keep my Anne forever. Summer will regret taking my baby away. I'll make sure of that. I will."

Someone chuckled.

"You should've made sure that Summer never took Anne in the first place," Lena said. "My mother never would've abandoned me like that. If a dangerous Watcher kidnapped me, she wouldn't have let that person keep me. You really did fail Anne. She might be praying to Lock Tannis as I speak, and it's your fault if she is. You could've taken her back years ago. You could've saved her. But you didn't. Instead of getting your youngest kid back, you let the woman who shot your husband keep her. The only Majestic who isn't a fool is me, obviously. Go ahead, Mother. Tell me I'm wrong."

"Don't be like th-!" Hailey started saying.

"Be quiet," Lena said. "You don't have the right to command me."

Hailey took a step closer to her mother, as if the woman had the power to protect her from every monster.

"I know me and Hailey have made it difficult for you to like us, Lena," Hailey's mother said. "Hailey told me that you accepted Zoey pretty quickly, and I want you to love Hailey like you love Zoey. I want you to love me like you loved your first mother. I can only hope that you remember what it was like to love your birth mother. If you don't remember, that's okay. You're not motherless anymore. You're also not fatherless."

Crossing her thin arms, Hailey waited for Lena's words. Words she would hurl, no doubt.

"With a new family like this, do I even need the Freemans as my enemies?!" Lena said, shooting words at her mother.

"We aren't as bad as the Freemans," Hailey's mother said. "You might think we're almost as bad as they are, but we're not. We're Soynites. And Soynites can hurt other ones, but I'm not going to hurt you. You know what I want to give you. It's not pain."

A pale hand roamed the space near it, found one of the two pillows on the bed. Lena grabbed it with both hands. She squeezed.

"You're supposed to love your High," Lena said. "You and that terrible daughter of yours should love me. Right now."

Had Lena loved Hailey?

Even if she had, the truth was that Lena would rather punch Hailey than embrace her.

"You make it hard for people to love you," Hailey said. "When I met you, you hurt me. I wanted to serve my High and she abused me. You did that! You!"

"It was fun," Lena said. "I'm not going to forget that good time I had. Reese Low's sister came to my home, knowing that Highs deserve to be respected, and she kneeled for me. You decided to ruin my mood that day. You just had to mention my eyes, didn't you? These blind eyes aren't beautiful. They're a reminder of what happened to me on Still. And they're useless. You and my eyes have that in common."

Hailey's mother caressed her daughter's blonde hair.

"Hailey wasn't being useless when she saved your life," the woman said. "It seems like you forgot that good thing she did. Your word is law, but Hailey didn't have to rescue you from those Freemans, Lena. She made a choice. Because of that, I was able to adopt you. Be glad. You're alive and you're here and there's still hope for you. You can become worthy."

If Lena became worthy to Still, her Saves and her eyesight would make their homecoming.

"No, Mother," Lena said. "The last thing I saw was Betty touching water, and I'll never see anything else. Never."

"If you became like Zoey, maybe your condition will go away," Hailey said.

Lena and Zoey were sisters. But Zoey preferred to not hurt innocent people. Lena did. Those siblings were alike in some ways, and they were different.

"I don't want to hear any of your theories," Lena said. "You suggested that I should get myself hurt. Well, that's not going to cure me."

"If you get yourself hurt for a loved one, maybe that will get rid of your condition," Hailey said. "Maybe. To be honest, I don't know what you should do. It's probably hopeless. Maybe you really will be blind forever."

Hailey's mother inspected Lena's blind eyes, but looking at them didn't provide the answer to a major question.

"What do I have to do to get rid of this condition?" Lena said.

"I don't know, baby," Hailey's mother said. "But I think that me and you will love each other. Eventually. If you're still blind and Saveless by that point, I'll love you anyway."

Lena smiled. It didn't mean she planned on loving her adoptive mother. The woman had participated in the assassination attempt, and she had beaten Lena. Hailey's mother had to try harder to make the High care about her.

She and Hailey both had to.

"You need to love your High," Lena said. "That's your duty, your obligation. But I don't have to love you."

"You will," Hailey's mother said, speaking with a High's confidence.

Hailey had fought to save Lena. With sweet ease, she had slaughtered Freemans to protect her High. Hailey and Lena had embraced.

Now, in the Soynite ruler's room, Hailey and Lena didn't hug. The blonde had loved her. It was the truth. And Hailey's respect for Lena had fled. It hadn't returned.

Where was Zoey? Was she on planet Soy?

Years ago, Hailey, her father, Vera, and Boris Endman had been on Soy. Zoey hadn't been there to see how horrible her grandfather had become.

Boris had tried killing Hailey's father with a Strife sword.

The blond-haired man had made an attempt to murder Boris.

On Soy, two men had failed to kill each other. Boris's granddaughter had slit Hailey's throat. Still, she had forgiven Hailey. The girls were on good terms.

As for Boris, he had died.

His granddaughter's kidnapper, Misty, had given Zoey her pendant. Alice Endman's pendant. Hailey had never met Misty, but she knew the kidnapper was a tall woman. She was Lena's former stepmother. Despite what Misty had done to Zoey, the girl loved her.

Misty had advised Zoey to find her birth parents.

Aware that Archer and Holly might try killing her, Misty had decided to depart from Zoey. The abductor and her victim couldn't travel together.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

Misty, like Zoey, had brown hair and brown eyes. Because of that, it was easier for Misty to pretend to be Zoey's biological mother. Hailey knew the truth. Misty hadn't given birth to Zoey. She had stolen her.

Hailey's mother had known her for thirteen years.

Zoey's first mother, Holly, had been away from her daughter. They had been separated for sixteen years. The distance hadn't closed, Hailey assumed.

"You're going to love me, Lena," Hailey's mother said. "You don't now, but you will. For now, the only Majestics in your life are me and Hailey, but it won't be that way forever. We're going to find the others. Your father and the rest of my children are out there. Somewhere. We just have to find them. We could do that if a certain Bloodhound were here, but that's not our reality. Unfortunately."

Hailey had her mother.

The woman didn't believe Hailey's father had abandoned his family. She wasn't like a certain foolish Bloodhound.

"We don't need Vera anyway," Hailey said. "Even if she were here, she wouldn't be helpful. I don't want to see her anyway. I just want to see you, Mother."

A disgust-tainted sigh slipped out Lena's mouth.

"What's the matter, Lena?" Hailey's mother said. "You can't tolerate your sister admiring me?"

"I can't tolerate her at all," Lena said. She rubbed a hand against her pale arm. "But I can tolerate Zoey. I just want to know why me and her both joined awful people. Misty took Zoey. I went with you and another Majestic piece of trash. But I know what I want, and being with the two of you will lead me to it. There's a missing man out there. He's somewhere. And he is going to show his High respect."

This space station lacked Hailey's father. It had many rooms and lots of halls, and it didn't have Vera, Nick, Nova, or Anne.

The home contained a thirteen-year-old girl, her mother, and the worst High.

Lena had worn a green shirt the day she met and beat Hailey. As for the blonde, her sleeveless shirt exposed the skin of her arms. She didn't wear green. The shirt Lena had worn on the third of March was green. Like her eyes had been.

Planet Still had changed Lena's eyes from green to pale gray. Blind eyes.

"Your father will love you," Hailey's mother said.

"You don't love me," Lena said.

"I want to."

Hailey, looking at her High-sister, didn't smile. It seemed as if grinning had become impossible. For Hailey, at least. Lena had grinned. She had shown her teeth. Hailey had seen Lena smile. Planet Still had stopped the ruler from seeing.

"Why did you adopt me?" Lena said. "You have to kneel for me, but you didn't need to make me your daughter."

"You hurt one of my children," Hailey's mother said. Her third child remembered the abuse. "But that's not the reason why I adopted you, obviously. You were an orphan. I lost one kid, and I wanted to gain a new one. I wanted to help you. And I did. You're clever, and I knew I could use that to help myself. I also know what it's like to lose your parents. The invasion didn't just give Summer the chance to take my baby away. It took my parents, too."

Betty had claimed Lena was smart, but the girl's arrogance made her a fool. Still, Lena had come up with an interesting theory. Maybe she could help Hailey find her father. Their father.

Hailey shook her head. "I was wrong about her being smart, Mother."

The woman sat on the bed. She put a hand on Lena's chin.

"You need to stop being so arrogant, Lena," Hailey's mother said. "If you didn't let your arrogance rule over you, you could become so brilliant."

"I am brilliant," Lena said.

She grabbed her mother's wrist, then forced her hand off her chin.

Hailey. Lena. And the woman in the room. They formed a team. Away from them, beyond the space station's blue walls, Jake, Sabrina, and Lilly's Freeman grandson were living on Earth. Hailey didn't know Cape had become Jake. She didn't know Nova's new name was Sabrina. And she didn't know she was a young Freeman's aunt.

"You're not, but you will be," Hailey's mother said. She clung to hope. Her blonde daughter didn't. "I wish I didn't have to hurt you yesterday. But I do wish that I could've had a talk with that former stepmother of yours."

Misty.

She had been Lena's stepmother before Boone's death. Lena was now a Majestic and her first father was a corpse. Betty had buried the lifeless body on Soy. Misty, Zoey's kidnapper, had gone away.

"Misty," Lena said. "She hurt Zoey. And she's not even her mother. I couldn't tell Zoey how I feel about Misty, though. It was already bad enough that she was grieving, and I'm not with her."

"I think that you and Zoey will reunite," Hailey's mother said. She gestured at the space Lena couldn't see. "You're here. You're with me and Hailey, and you can bond with us. Isn't that nice? What I did to you yesterday won't happen again. I'm not Misty. I'll only hurt a child if I absolutely have to."

Lena scoffed.

"How noble," she said. "You pointed a dagger at my sister yesterday. Would you have hurt her, too?"

"There are times when you have to hurt people," Hailey's mother said. "Meanwhile, you hurt people you shouldn't, Lena. I disapprove."

"I don't care," Lena said. "Why should I? You're a Theo-loving piece of Majestic trash, and I know what kind of person you are. You're going to abandon your family. Again."

Hailey's mother sat on the bed, and she touched Lena's knee.

"I'm right here," the woman said. "I'm not going to abandon you. I'm not going to leave Hailey and my other kids, either. My children who aren't here will be. I don't know where they are, but I'm going to try very hard to find them. You already met Nova. You lived with her for a few months. I know you and her don't like each other, but you're family now. You're sisters. And sisters have to be good to each other. I hope my brother is still alive. If I'm fortunate, he is with Nova now, protecting her, taking care of her. Ken was good to her. He's also your uncle."

"Ken is a fool," Lena said. "I lived with him and those other Watchers for a few months, and the only one I like is Betty. That's how it's always going to be. Betty and Zoey are the only people who are almost as great as I am. You, your brother, and everyone you love don't deserve anything good. You aren't me."

Sitting, Hailey's mother looked at Lena's leg. Underneath it was the picture of Boone. The woman grabbed it, then pulled it away from Lena's leg.

"Your first father saw your new one turn Nova into a High," Hailey's mother said. Her blue eyes focused on Boone's photographed face. "I wasn't there when it happened. I wish I had been. I would have hugged my girl goodbye."

She looked at the spot near Lena's bed.

Nova had gone with Ken and Lena. She had become a High during the invasion, but she hadn't embraced her birth mother on that dreadful night.

"The invasion was your husband's fault," Lena said. "He should've killed Lock Tannis a long time ago."

Hailey's father had chosen to exile Lock Tannis, and the Freeman ruler had gained power over Free's pale people. It had cost Vice Reaper his life.

And his death had made many Freemans leave their home planet.

Hailey hadn't been alive during Vice's reign. Thirteen years ago, Lock had been the Freemans' leader, for many years. No one had replaced him as Great Leader.

Someone could.

"Maybe Father will kill Lock," Hailey said. "That might happen."

"Perhaps Lock's future killer is in this room," Hailey's mother said. She put the picture of Boone on the bed. "Good people are dead because of Lock. Too many great Soynites died when the Freemans attacked Soy, and we have to avenge all of them. I've killed a lot of Freemans. I'm always ready to kill more of them."

The first person Hailey had killed, he had been a Freeman. He was a dead one. Hailey had brought his permanent absence. She knew that.

She had slaughtered Freemans.

Hailey and Lena had embraced. They had said sweet words to each other.

With genuine care, Betty had hugged them.

Hailey and Lena had been friends on that day. They were now sisters. But Hailey's attempt to assassinate Lena had broken their friendship.

Where was Lena's other sister? Where was Zoey?

Maybe she walked on Soy's ruined ground. The Freemans had tortured that planet, and they found pleasure in doing the same to Lock's enemies.

"Lena, I don't want you to put yourself in danger," Hailey's mother said, sitting next to Lena as Hailey stood. "Me and Hailey can fight Freemans, but you can't. Your condition is cruel. I know you want to contribute to Soynite society by killing Freemans, but it's best that you don't. I want you to be safe. I want all of my children to be safe. Safe and alive."

Safe and alive.

Hailey didn't know if her brother was okay. The opportunity to leave his mother had found him, and he had chosen to travel without her. His mother and Lena had their legs against a comforter, and they were in a bedroom, but where was Nick?

Had he found the father he and Hailey shared?

Nova, Anne, and Lena were real. They were actual people, and they were Hailey's siblings, but she had spent more time with Nick than she had spent with her other siblings. Nick was Hailey's only brother. Yet Hailey thought about him more than she thought about Anne and Nova. Because Hailey and Lena lived together, it was hard for Hailey to not think about that blind High.

"Anne won't make you safe," Lena said. "If she really does worship Lock Tannis, she will try to kill you. You won't join the cult she's with. I think that you should kill her, Mother."

The woman shook her head.

"No," Hailey's mother said. "No, no, no. I can't kill Anne. She's my baby. If I have to, I will hurt her. But I'm never going to kill my youngest. Never."

"You're going to have to," Lena said. "If you find Anne, you'll have to do yourself a favor by getting rid of her. She probably worships Lock Tannis. Any Soynite who does that has to die. You do realize that, right?"

Anne Majestic.

Hailey hadn't seen her in eleven years. The days when baby Anne could see Hailey were over. Anne was eleven, and she would be twelve years old months from now.

It wasn't too late to find her.

"We might be able to help Anne," Hailey said. "She's my sister. She's our sister. If she's part of Bane's cult, we could get her out of it. We have to try."

"Hailey is right, Lena," Hailey's mother said. "We have to try. If Anne is a member of the Lock Tannis Church, we'll help her escape from it. It's possible. Almost all of the former Highs joined Lock. That's proof that people can change. Good people can become horrible monsters, but the reverse is also true. If Anne does worship Lock, it won't be impossible to make her stop that. You're smart enough to realize that I'm right, Lena."

Lena shook her head.

"Right or wrong, keeping Anne alive will be a mistake," she said. "If she kills you, it won't be my fault."

"Anne is my kid," Hailey's mother said. "I'm willing to put myself in danger for her. I need her. Me and Anne have been separated for way too long, and I want my daughter back. I have to see her. I need to hug her. A really bad woman took her away from me when Freemans were attacking our home, and I intend to get Anne back. Summer is with the Lock Tannis Church. It's likely that Anne is, too. We'll have to make her stop worshipping Lock. Lena, you'll have to help me do that."

Hailey's mother stroked Lena's hair, which was a different color than the hair of the other two Soynites. Still, Lena was the woman's daughter.

"Killing her will be easier," Lena said.

Hailey looked as if someone had slapped her. Her mother's words had failed to convince Lena that Anne was worth saving. Of course.

"We'll only try to kill Summer," Hailey said. "Anne doesn't have to die, Lena."

"If the two of you don't want a Lock worshipper to stab you in your sleep, Anne does have to die," Lena said. "Mother, do you want to become like my father? Do you want to get killed inside a space station?"

"I love my youngest kid," Hailey's mother said. "I'm going to kill whatever dumb beliefs Summer and Bane put into her mind, and I'll kill Summer. I'll do the same to Bane if I have to. But I really want to make sure that Summer regrets what she did. I trusted her. In exchange, she shot the love of my life, then she kidnapped my daughter. I'm going to reward her by killing her."

Lena would rather stab Anne in the heart than help the kid. But Hailey's mother wasn't Lena.

"Lena, I need you to understand," Hailey's mother said. "I need you to understand that we have to save Anne. Will you help me and Hailey do that?"

Footsteps.

"Mother?!" a voice said, speaking Soynite. A male voice. "Is that you?!"

"Nick." Hailey's mother said.

Hailey grinned. She had heard her brother's voice, and he had come home. Hailey had to welcome him. Nick deserved a hug. A sweet embrace.

With urgency, Hailey rushed out the room. She came to a stop in the hall.

Bathed in light was a boy. He was clad in black clothing, and he stood tall. He was muscular. Blond-haired and blue-eyed, Nick Majestic looked Hailey up and down.

"Nick!" she said.

"Hailey," he said.

He grinned. Hailey rushed toward him. She embraced her sweet brother, and he hugged her back.

"I missed you," Hailey said. She closed her eyes.

She did what her mother had done. But Hailey didn't think about any of her failures. Still, tears left her eyes. Blue eyes. The siblings' had the same eye color.

"I know," Nick said.

After the hug ended, they stayed close. He wiped away her tears.

He looked away, scowled.

"Don't come near me, Mother," Nick said. Hailey turned. Her mother and Lena stood in the hall. Nick looked at the High. "Who are you?"

"She's Lena," Hailey's mother said. "You know her as Lovely Windsore. Her new name is Lena Majestic. She's your new sister, Nick. I adopted her yesterday."

"Where's Vera?" Nick said.

He didn't plan on spending too long discussing Lena, his new sibling. Nick wished to see Vera. Unlike his mother and his sisters, Nick didn't know the space station didn't harbor Vera. The Bloodhound was absent.

"She's gone," Hailey said. "She isn't dead, though. She just isn't here."

Nick's hands trembled. He clenched his fists.

"Of course she is," Nick said. He pointed at his mother's face. "You never should've abandoned Father. I wouldn't be doing all of this searching if you didn't leave Father. This is your fault."

Nick had embraced Hailey, and now he gripped hatred for what his mother had done.

"I'm sorry, son," Hailey's mother said.

"Be nice to Mother, Nick," Hailey said. She put a hand on his arm. "She wants to find Father, too. And she's really sorry for leaving him."

"Remorse isn't going to bring Father back," Nick said. He crossed his arms. "Let's go to the cafeteria, Hailey."

"All of us should go there," Hailey's mother said.

"I want to talk to Hailey in private," Nick said. "You and your blind daughter don't have to stay in this hall, but you can't go to the cafeteria."

"My name is Lena," Lena said. "Brother."

Nick turned. So did Hailey. The two walked, putting distance between themselves and their mother and sister.

"Don't walk away from me, Nick!" Lena said. "Kneel for your High!"

Nick kept walking.

"It's okay, Lena," Hailey's mother said. "He'll kneel for you, eventually. Nick!"

Nick kept walking.

His mother sighed. "Your sister Anne might be a Lock Tannis worshipper!"

Nick stopped walking. Hailey did the same. The girl and her brother turned. A woman stood beside the blind High, lacking two of her five children.

Hailey. Nick. Lena. Hailey's mother could speak to them.

Nova. Anne. Hailey's mother couldn't talk to them.

"Thanks to Alice Endman, whose name is Zoey now, we know the truth," Hailey's mother said. "Zoey's friend Hero told her about the Lock Tannis Church. Their leader is a man named Bane Sinister. His wife is Summer. Her name is Summer Sinister now. It's not Summer Locket anymore. Me and your sisters assume that Anne is with the Lock Tannis Church, and we have to get her back. We need to save her."

Lena, who believed killing Anne would be better than letting her live, didn't leave her position beside her mother.

"We will," Nick said. "It will be so easy."

Lena walked toward him.

"You didn't kneel for your High," she said. "Why?"

"Look, I need to go to the cafeteria," Nick said. "I don't want to waste time talking to a girl who can't even see me."

Lena reached the spot in front of Nick. She slammed her hand against his cheek.

"That's for not kneeling for me," Lena said.

"Lena, get back over here!" Hailey's mother said. Nick grabbed Lena's neck, and he slammed her against the wall. "No, Nick! Stop!"

Nick released his hold on Lena. Without touching her, he sent her crashing onto the floor.

"If you ever slap me again, I will cut you up!" Nick said.

Lena propped herself onto her elbows.

"Will you smile while doing it?" she said.

As if Nick hadn't used telekinesis to make her hit the floor, Lena grinned. She had slapped Nick and he had attacked her with his only Save. Lena, blind and Saveless, hadn't forgotten how to hurt people with her hands.

Hailey and Lena had been violent toward each other. It had led to the High attempting to murder Hailey in a cafeteria.

Lena had hurt Nick. The boy had hurt her.

Hailey fiddled with her fingers.

"Lena, are you okay?" Hailey's mother said. She kneeled next to Lena, and she caressed the girl's long hair. "Are you okay, my High?"

"It's just pain," Lena said. As if he had done something important by hurting her, Nick smiled. "It'll go away."

"Hailey can make that happen," the woman said. She looked at her blonde daughter. "Hailey, heal-"

"No," Lena said. She sat up. "I don't want anyone to heal me. Is Nick watching, Mother?"

Nick put a hand on the wall, the same one he had slammed Lena against. He watched. His mother and Hailey did what Lena couldn't do.

"He is," Hailey's mother said.

Lena embraced the woman, and she hugged her back.

Nick moved his hand off the wall. It became a fist.

"Let's go, Hailey," he said.

As the mother and Lena embraced, Hailey and her only brother left the hall. They walked beside each other. Their destination was the room meant for chewing food and taking in drinks, not killing.

"I know why that blind girl hugged Mother," Nick said. "She wants to make me jealous."

"Did it work?" Hailey said.

"I hate what Mother did, but she still raised me, Hailey," Nick said. "Still, she's a moron. She's the woman who abandoned almost all of her loved ones. She decided to keep me, though."

Years ago, Hailey's mother had taken Nick with her, and the girl had reunited with her brother less than ten minutes ago.

"You remind me of Mother," Hailey said. "Both of you can be vicious."

"We have to be," Nick said. "If we decide to be passive people who let others treat us unfairly, we'll get killed. I like living."

Because Hailey had been alive the other day, she had succeeded in saving Lena's life.

The blind High.

She hadn't embraced her adoptive mother because she loved her. Lena, a spiteful opportunist, had hugged Hailey's mother to try stabbing jealousy into Nick.

"Lena's other sister is Zoey," Hailey said. "She's really Alice Endman. Mother wasn't lying. She was kidnapped by a woman named Misty, and she married Lena's father. His name was Boone Windsore. A Freeman killed him. It happened yesterday. Boris Endman is dead, too, and we don't know how it happened. Maybe he killed himself. Maybe Lock Tannis killed him."

"Theories and theories," Nick said. "We can only speculate about how Boris died, of course. Either way, we're going to get Anne back. Mother spent so much time talking about how badly she wanted her back. I'm going to be the good son that I am and fetch my youngest sister. A cult won't stop me. Nothing will."

Hailey smiled. An hour ago, smiling seemed too difficult to do. Nick had changed that.

"Lena thinks we should just kill Anne," Hailey said.

"I can't blame her," Nick said, his shoes slapping against the blue floor. "If Anne is part of the Lock Tannis Church, it will be hard to convert her back to our side. But someone needs to tell Lena that hard doesn't mean impossible. We'll take our sister back, Hailey. We know Summer. But she's not like how Pristine was."

Pristine Claude.

Nick's beloved Watcher was as dead as Anne was missing.

"Pristine was a good Watcher," Hailey said. "If she were still alive, I would be glad to have her as my Watcher. Vera is awful. She's not as bad as Lena, but she is horrible. She thinks that Father abandoned us. She always refused to look for him. I don't know where Vera is, but I hope she stays gone. You and Mother are here. Both of you are with me, and I don't need Vera. The three of us should be able to find Father without Vera's help."

Where was Hailey's father?

The girl had found Nick. He was Theo and Lilly's first child. Their eldest. Hailey's sole brother. Nick had spent more time with their father than Hailey had, and he yearned to hug the man.

That didn't happen.

"Mother thinks that we'll find him," Hailey said. "I want that to happen. I haven't seen Father in years, but I still love him. I've changed. But how I feel about Father hasn't gone away. No matter what Lena says about him, I'll never hate our father. I never will."

"I know," Nick said. He moved his hand to Hailey's back. "You're not an idiot, Hailey. You're not like Mother, or Vera, or Lena."

Nick. He made it clear what he aimed at his mother was anger. Understandable fury.

"I'm fine with you calling Lena an idiot," Hailey said. "But Mother is trying so hard to do some good, Nick. Can you please show her some respect? I know you keep thinking about what she did. But she's sorry."

"I don't care what she is," Nick said. "She kept me away from you, Father, and Vera. She let the person who attacked Father keep Anne. Mother might be sorry. That doesn't mean I have to forgive her, though. You know that."

Hailey looked at her moving feet. Sock-covered feet. As Hailey walked beside Nick, what did their father wear?

"Things have changed," Nick said. "Mother didn't just let Summer keep Anne, but she has tainted this family by adopting that blind menace. That girl slapped me. I should've broken both of her arms."

"I'm glad you didn't," Hailey said. Lena wasn't a stranger to grief. Or pain. Yesterday Hailey and her mother had stabbed Lena with enough pain. "Lena has been hurt enough. Plus, her father got killed yesterday. I don't want you to hurt her. You have to give her some peace. We all have to. Lena is also our High, and Father doesn't want us to hurt her. We don't have to hurt Lena, and we don't have to kill her. She's not Summer."

"No, she's not," Nick said. He and Hailey stepped into a different hall. "You mentioned Zoey. I hope she's easier to be around than Lena. What is she like?"

Zoey.

Lena hadn't wanted Zoey to kneel for Hailey, but she had done so anyway. A good person. That was what Zoey was.

Yesterday Lena had commanded Zoey to kill Hailey. She had disobeyed.

"Zoey is good," Hailey said. "That's the best way I can describe her. She isn't like how Boris was. Zoey is kind, sweet, and humble. She and Lena are two very different people. I told Zoey that she should go to Soy, and she also plans on finding her birth parents. Archer and Holly. I hope she reunites with them. She was abused by Misty, but Archer and Holly won't hurt her. They're good people. You remember what they were like, don't you? Zoey deserves to be with them. She's one of the nicest people I know."

Years ago, before her kidnapping, Zoey had been a baby and Hailey's mother had held her. Yesterday she had pointed a dagger at the girl. Before yesterday's death, Hailey's mother and Zoey had hugged.

"There's not enough good people," Hailey said. "Zoey is one of the fine Soynites. She didn't even want anyone to kill her abuser. How many people would do that? Zoey sees Misty as her mother, and nothing I told her made her stop loving that woman."

Under a blue ceiling, Hailey walked.

The hall was distant from the gray and ruined Soy. It was far from Hailey's father, and a fine Soynite needed to bring the man home.

Hailey took steps in the hall, her slim arms bare. Her blue eyes didn't focus on her father. Neither did Nick's.

Blue eyes. Blond hair.

One Majestic had orange hair and gray eyes, and she doubled as the only blind member of her family.

Lena, a girl High, had clashed with Nick. Hailey hadn't forgotten what it was like to have the desire to make Lena bleed. She had done that.

With a dagger's sharp blade, Hailey had slashed Lena's arm. Pale skin had split and blood had come.

"Misty doesn't think that Boris Endman is dead," Hailey said. "She hated him. She had a vision of the future, and it showed her fighting Boris. It made her believe that she was destined to be his worst enemy. That's why she kidnapped Zoey, and she didn't just kidnap her. Misty hurt her. I wish I had been there to stop the abuse. I wasn't there, though. I couldn't help Zoey. Wherever she is now, I hope she's okay. She's been a good friend to me. I did something that could've made Zoey hate me, but she didn't. She's better than Lena, Nick. Trust me."

Hailey had been with Zoey's birth parents. They cared about Hailey and she cared about them.

Were they alive?

Hailey had seen Zoey yesterday. Both of the girls hadn't seen Archer or Holly in years.

"I believe you," Nick said.

In the cafeteria, Hailey sat across her older brother. Her only male sibling. Nick was the only male relative Hailey could see.

Bathed in bright illumination, Hailey and Nick stayed seated at the long bench. No food trays sat on the hard surface. Hailey didn't wield a dagger. Nick made no attempt to squeeze her heart with his mind.

The siblings didn't want to kill each other.

If Anne were in the huge room, she might try to kill Hailey and Nick.

"I love you," Hailey said.

"And I love you, younger sister," Nick said.

His hand was on the table. Hailey put her hand on Nick's, and she hoped he wouldn't leave the space station before the day ended.

"Was living with Mother awful?" Hailey said.

"Yes, but not because she treated me horribly," Nick said. "It wasn't fun, because I was away from you, Father, and the rest of our family. I couldn't see any of you. Mother was the only person I had. Eventually, thanks to Vera, we found out that Father was missing. That made me even more frustrated. I didn't know if Freemans had captured him. I didn't know if he was dead or alive. I still don't. Me and Mother had some good times together, but it would've been great if Father had been with us. I wish you had been living with us, too."

Eleven years ago, Hailey had taken up residence at the space station she sat in now.

Her mother had left. She had taken Nick with her, and neither of those two Majestics had found Nova or Anne.

Hailey's father had left. His absence had turned Vera into Hailey's sole caretaker.

Hailey moved her hand.

"I was living with Vera," she said. "She was nice enough, but she was terrible, too. I wasn't always a killer. Vera hated that I was a pacifist, and it's too bad that she's not here to see me now. I'm willing to kill. Finally, right? Well, Vera isn't here anymore. She's gone. When I left this place the other day, Vera was here. When I came back, she was gone. I found Mother instead. She was in my room. She hugged me, and I didn't hug her back. It was cruel. But I was angry. I was mad at Mother. She hadn't been there when I needed her."

Nick looked at the door. Beyond it was his mother, a woman he had abandoned.

"Mother wasn't there for the people who needed her," he said. He sighed. "And I didn't just come here because I wanted Vera's help. I wanted to see you. You didn't have a relative with you for years, but you should have. You deserved to. The Majestic family is the best family. We have Hase Majestic's genes in us, and Vera doesn't. Me and you want the same thing. We want to bring glory back to the great Majestic family, and we need to do that by gathering the others. We have to find Father, Anne, and Nova. Let's hope that Mother doesn't adopt any more Soynites. That blind girl never should've become one of us."

Yet the High had become a Majestic. Lena, the High who might have hated the Majestic family more than the other Highs did, was like Hailey and Nick. She was like her missing new father. She was like Nova and Anne. And she was like her new mother. Her former opponent. Her adoptive mother.

Lena Fly had changed into Lena Majestic.

"Lena is a tyrant," Hailey said. "But Mother wants to love her. She wants to keep her, and we have to let her, Nick. Anne will never be replaced. But Mother made Lena her new child, and we have to accept that. Lena doesn't care about her people. Our people. She only cares about two Soynites. Zoey and Betty. Lena might become a second Lock Tannis. She's violent. She's obsessed with power. And she really believes that she's the greatest person in this universe. She isn't, though."

The door opened.

Hailey's mother moved into the well-lit space. Nick scowled. Hailey did not.

"For abandoning your family, you're an idiot, Mother," Nick said. "I'm not afraid to tell that to you."

"Because you're not afraid of anyone, son," Hailey's mother said. "Your anger is understandable. It really is. But I need you to be good to me, and I need your help."

Nick possessed telekinesis. But he aimed disappointment at his mother. He wished she hadn't separated him from Hailey, their father, and Vera years ago.

The mother hadn't rescued Anne. It was another reason why Nick acted as if his mother had become almost as bad as a Freeman warrior.

"Nick," Hailey said. She leaned toward him. "Be nice to Mother. Please, brother."

If he wanted to, Nick could, without touching her, take off his mother's head. Hailey hoped he wouldn't.

"I left you," Nick said, talking to his mother. "I was hoping that I wouldn't have to speak to you for some time. I searched for Father. I didn't find him. So, I came up with the brilliant idea to return here, to this space station. I was so sure that Vera was going to be here. I planned on making her find Father, and I would've hurt her if she refused to."

Hailey leaned back, fighting the desire to glare.

Vera had refused to look for Hailey's father, but the girl didn't want to see Nick hurt her Watcher.

"No," Hailey said. "Vera doesn't want to find Father, but she doesn't deserve to be hurt."

"You're wrong," Nick said. "I'll do whatever I have to do. If hurting Vera will make her agree to find Father, that's what I'll do. We need to bring glory back to this family. We can't do it without Father."

"If there isn't only love in this family, it won't find glory," Hailey's mother said. She took a step toward Nick. "You can't hate me, Nick. If you want what's best for this family, you can't despise your own mother. You just can't."

Nick laughed.

"Do you really think I hate you?" he said. His mother shook her head. "Why are you acting like I do?"

"Maybe you'll want to," Hailey's mother said. "You have to know that you should never hate me. Eventually, you might wish you did, and that's what I hope doesn't happen."

With her hand on the long bench's top, Hailey looked at her mother. She had embraced the woman, and they had bonded. But Nick didn't show his mother respect.

"I don't want that to happen either, Mother," Hailey said. "I'm never going to hate you."

She held out her hand, and her mother came close. They held hands.

"I know, Hailey," Hailey's mother said. "When we reunited, you had the right to be mad at me. I did leave you. I abandoned you, and I'm sorry."

With her other hand, the woman caressed Hailey's hair. She kissed her daughter's forehead.

The hand holding stopped.

"So, Nick, do you hate me?" Hailey's mother said.

"No." Nick said.

"What do you think about your new sister?"

Nick looked at the door. Lena didn't swing it open. Wherever she was, the High wasn't in the cafeteria. She didn't stand in the same room as Hailey, her mother, and Nick.

"Be honest," Hailey's mother said.

"Lena is a tyrant who has arms I want to break," Nick said.

"Good, my vicious boy," Hailey's mother said. "You didn't lie to your mother. You told me how you really feel. Don't break Lena's arms, please. She's my daughter, and I want her to be okay. And you don't want to hurt a sister of yours, right?"

Nick sighed.

"Right, Nick?" Hailey's mother said. She put her hands against the bench's table. "You're not scared of anyone, but I'm not going to let you hurt my new girl. Lena is a vicious tyrant. But she's a vicious tyrant who is going to help us put this family back together. She is arrogant, but she is clever. Sometimes. We need her. I didn't just make her my daughter because I'm a nice person. I also did it because we need that High in this family. I'll make her love me. And she'll do what I want her to do. We're at war, my children. We're not just fighting the Freemans, but we have a cult to get rid of as well. And those Lock Tannis worshippers have my youngest kid. Lena will help us get her back."

Hailey's mother put a hand on the girl's shoulder. She could touch Hailey. She couldn't show her youngest child affection.

"Hailey here has befriended Lena before," Hailey's mother said. "I can do the same. I'll make Lena see me as a good mother, and she will spare Anne's life. Because she'll love me. I need her to love me. Even if I didn't need to use her love as a tool, I would still want it. What kind of parent doesn't want their child to love them?"

Earning Lena's possible love had been difficult for Hailey. Living with the blind High was almost as bad as being forced onto a blood-splattered battlefield, and getting her love wouldn't be easy.

"Lena isn't like a daughter to me," Hailey's mother said. "She is my daughter. She is my fifth child, and I am going to defend her. Nick, Lena slapped you and you attacked her. What you did was understandable, but I don't want you to hurt her again. She's your sister. She's not a Freeman."

"According to what Hailey told me, Lena might become a second Lock Tannis," Nick said.

Hailey's mother crossed her arms.

"Might, Nick," she said. "Might. Lena will never become like Lock. Even if she does, we'll change her. We have to care for her. She doesn't have her eyesight, but she does have a mother. I made that happen."

Hailey hadn't met Lock Tannis, but she had met Lena. That girl was the first High Hailey had spoken to. She had abused the blonde.

If the other Soynite rulers were like Lena, that wouldn't be good.

"Anne doesn't have a mother," Hailey said. "What are we going to do about her? How are we going to get her back? She shouldn't be with Summer and the rest of Bane's cult. Anne deserves to be with us. She needs to be with us. We're her family, and Summer and Bane aren't her real parents. Summer kidnapped Anne. She shot Father, and then she took Anne away from us. We want to get her back. But we don't even know where Anne is. Vera could find her, but she isn't here, either. I know that I'm mad at her, but I can't deny that I need her. I need Vera to find my sister. We need her."

Hailey's mother put a hand on her daughter's back. No one had taken the girl from her mother. Hailey wasn't the youngest Majestic. Anne, wherever she was, couldn't stand beside her true mother.

"Vera thinks that Father abandoned us, but she knows what happened to Anne," Hailey said. "She knows that Summer kidnapped her. If Vera were here, she would find Anne for us. I know she would. Vera was never given a reason to hate Anne. She always refused to find Father, but she would look for Anne, if I told her to. Vera isn't here, though. We'll have to figure out a different way to get Anne back."

Hailey had left Vera. As a Watcher abandoner, the girl had found High Lena. Inside a different space station, Hailey had slaughtered Freemans. She had done it to rescue Lena.

The Freemans. They could find Soynites, and it was possible for planet Free's pale people to capture worshippers of Lock Tannis.

Yes, it was possible.

"We'll get your sister back," Hailey's mother said.

She sat next to her daughter. The three Majestics sat at the long bench, their blond hair cloaked in light, their hearts beating. They were alive. But they weren't in Theo Majestic's life. And they couldn't see Anne.

Her own Watcher had kidnapped her. Much to Hailey's dismay, Summer had become a baby snatcher.

That had happened years ago. The baby Anne had turned eleven.

When Hailey was her younger sister's age, she had been living with Vera. A Bloodhound. Her Watcher. Vera had never kidnapped Hailey. No, she had refused to find the girl's father.

"I believe you, Mother," Nick said. "Letting Summer keep Anne was an idiotic act that you've committed. But she won't be with Summer forever, not as long as I'm here. I'm going to save Anne. If there's a cult that needs to be destroyed, I'll destroy it. If there's a younger sister that needs to be saved, I'll save her. If there's Freemans who need to get killed, I'll kill them. I can't show mercy to people who want to kill us. But I can hurt them. I can kill them."

Hailey's mother smiled. Nick, like the woman, knew when it was best to be vicious. But he had attacked the blind Lena because she had slapped him.

"That's nice, my boy," Hailey's mother said. "I taught you well. You know that we can't show our enemies any mercy. Summer, Bane, Lock Tannis, and so many others need to die. We can't let them live."

Hailey remembered that Freeman Lena had killed. With a sword, she had sliced off the enemy's arms. Then she had driven the blade into his brain. Hailey, being a pacifistic fool, had wished Lena had let that armless Freeman live.

That had been the last time Hailey mourned a Freeman.

"You should've killed Summer a long time ago," Nick said. "You could've made Vera look for Anne, and we would've found Anne. You would've killed Summer. If you had done all of that, we wouldn't have discussed how to save Anne. You failed her, Mother."

"Just stop it, Nick!" Hailey said. She put her hand on the bench's table with hard force. "Stop it! You can't keep disrespecting Mother like that!"

"Yes, I can," Nick said.

Hailey knew a tyrant who was her sister. The blonde sat across a mother-disrespecting brother.

"You can talk to her like that, but that doesn't mean it's okay," Hailey said. "Mother kept you. She never abandoned you."

"You're right," Nick said. "She never abandoned me. But there is a person she did abandon. Multiple people, really."

Hailey stood. She clenched her fists.

Nick stayed seated. He acted as if Hailey would never give him a punch.

"It's okay, Hailey," Hailey's mother said. "Nick was just being honest. I did abandon people I shouldn't have, and I failed Anne. Anyway, let's go, Hailey. Me and you can go see how Lena is doing."

The girl and her mother were soon in the hall outside the cafeteria.

In a different hall, in another space station, a Freeman had recognized Lena as the blind High. She had taken off his arms.

"Nick will forgive me, eventually," Hailey's mother said. "My boy isn't going to stay mad at me forever. Nick can be cruel, but he can be caring, too. Just like another member of this family. If the majority of the Soynite population knew Lena, they might see her as a great hero. Or they might see her as a cruel ruler."

"I don't think she's both," Hailey said. "She is more of a cruel ruler."

In six years, would Lena be a great hero? Or would she remain as a cruel ruler?

"Betty is a better person than Lena," Hailey said. "That Watcher cares about her so much. Assuming that Clementine is still alive, Betty loves Lena more than she loves her own sister. That's why Lena became blind and not Clementine. Planet Still took away the eyesight of the person Betty loves the most. The person had to be a living loved one. Betty knows her parents are dead, but she doesn't know if Clementine is. If she's alive, that means Betty loves Lena more than she loves her sister."

Clementine Tome.

Hailey had heard about her. Had the woman heard about the blonde girl?

"Betty's Saves came at a price, and it's the reason why Lena can't see," Hailey said. "She has to become worthy. And I can talk about what she probably has to do to become worthy, but it's just theories. Vera told me that Lena was blind the other day. I didn't know how she became blind, but I did find out. Regardless, I don't know how to cure Lena. Betty doesn't know how to, either. We don't know how to make Lena see again. And we don't know how to get her Saves back."

Betty.

She had communicated with Hailey without opening her mouth. The Watcher had healed Hailey, and they had hugged. Betty had spoken to the girl with respect. In truth, kindness flowed through the woman.

But she had let Lena abuse Hailey.

Yet Betty wasn't Vera, the Bloodhound who had refused to find Hailey's father after the invasion.

Hailey's mother had opened Betty's notebook, which doubled as a journal. Betty's writing had mentioned Hailey. The girl's mother had let Betty keep her notebook. She hadn't stolen it like Summer had stolen Anne.

As for Hailey, she was more than eleven years old. She lived with her mother. Anne didn't.

Eleven years ago, Hailey, Nick, and Anne had resided in a massive home. Blue walls had surrounded them. Multiple years before Hailey's birth, those walls had been around a different blonde.

Nova.

She had become Reese Low. During the invasion, her uncle had started the journey to the outside of a spaceport, and the Soynite royal palace's walls had surrounded pale enemies.

They had come with Strife weapons. Yet they had failed to murder Hailey's father, the most powerful Soynite.

"Betty was nicer to me than Vera was," Hailey said. "But she let Lena hurt me. I don't know if Betty would kill us if Lena told her to, but I wouldn't be surprised if she did. Lena is like a daughter to her. She's her High. And Betty always kneeled for Lena without hesitation. She isn't like us, Mother. Betty takes Lena being her High seriously. I did, too. But I don't anymore. I don't think that Lena deserves respect, and Nova would agree, if she were here. I wish I could see her. I wish I could meet her already. I've seen her, but I never talked to her. And she never talked to me."

Hailey crossed her arms. Her socks moved against a floor Nova didn't walk on. Hailey accompanied her mother, but she couldn't be with her sister Nova.

"That's my fault," Hailey's mother said. "If I didn't give Nova up for adoption, you would have a good relationship with her now. I gained a new daughter. But I sent my first one away. I'm never going to forget that. It's one of my biggest shames, actually. I've failed all of my children at some point. My biological children, anyway. I won't fail our High. Lena is here, and I can help her. She needs my love. She has hurt you, but she's never going to do that again. And her hatred for Nick will pass, eventually. I doubt him and Lena will dislike each other forever."

Lena and Nick.

One of them had met Hailey on the same day she abandoned Vera.

Nick, Hailey's only brother, brought along his viciousness. A slap had put it on display.

"They're both brutal people," Hailey said. "I saw Nick smile after he hurt Lena. If he killed her, he would probably laugh."

"I won't let that happen," Hailey's mother said. "Lena slapped Nick, and he hurt her. But he didn't kill her. Lena is fortunate that Nick isn't as ruthless as he could be."

"And Nick is fortunate that Lena is blind and Saveless," Hailey said. "All of us are."

After Hailey stepped into Lena's bedroom, she looked at the High. She stood with her back turned. Near her was the desk, and the Vamp-filled syringe didn't rest on it.

"Lena," Hailey's mother said. "Turn around, my High. Please."

Lena faced the woman.

"Is Nick in here?" the High said.

"No," Hailey's mother said. "It's just me and Hailey. We left Nick in the cafeteria."

"What do you want?"

"I want to kneel for you," Hailey's mother said. She took a step closer to Lena. "And I'm going to. You deserve to see me kneeling for you. You can't see. But I can kneel."

The woman approached Lena, and she kneeled for her High. She bowed her head.

"I'm kneeling for you," Hailey's mother said. Lena grinned. "You are one of the six Highs, and you are really great."

"I am the greatest High," Lena said. "Rise."

Hailey's mother stood. She looked at the spot near the bed.

"Your husband never kneeled for me," Lena said. "But you have. I appreciate the fact that you know your place. I really do."

Lena's lust for power hadn't dissolved.

"You held my sister when she was a baby," Lena said. "You let Summer keep your own baby, and now you want my help. You want me to help you and your foolish children save Anne from that cult. I don't like the Lock Tannis Church, but I also don't like you. You tried to have your daughter kill me. You beat me. You sat on my throne. And you love that absent and ridiculous Theo Majestic. I really hope he did abandon you and the rest of your family, because that would mean I was in the right each time I disrespected him. Your daughter Anne needs to die, Mother."

Hands gripped Lena's arms.

"I'm begging you, my High," Hailey's mother said, holding onto the blind girl's thin arms. "I'm begging you to help me save Anne. Please. If Bane and Summer made her into a devoted worshipper of Lock Tannis, I'll make her stop being one. I will. Really. And she will love me. She's eleven, and she could love me harder than she did all of those years ago. She's not a baby anymore. But she's still my daughter. Family is important, Lena, and Anne isn't with her family. She's with a dangerous Watcher. She's with a horrible cult leader. You can destroy the Lock Tannis Church if you want to, but I need you to let my youngest live. Please."

As if the woman had told her the High deserved to wear a crown, Lena smiled.

"You're begging me to let a possible worshipper of Lock Tannis live," Lena said. "That's funny. In addition, it's foolish. But I've come to expect idiotic sentences and idiotic deeds from you. You want me to assist you with saving that abducted girl you love so much, and I'm not surprised. Here's what I think. If you manage to find Anne, you should kill her. I want you to be safe. That won't happen if you let that Lock-worshipping fool live. You need to cut her life short. You could make a new child after that, assuming your husband will be with you at that point. Killing Anne won't be tragic. You've only spent a couple of months with her, after all."

Hailey scoffed.

"You knew Zoey for a way shorter length of time than that, but you love her," she said. "For Mother, killing Anne will be tragic."

Lena narrowed her blind eyes. She had heard Hailey speak, something the High could still do herself.

"Whether or not killing Anne will be tragic, that doesn't change the fact that she needs to die," Lena said. "If you keep one worshipper of Lock Tannis alive, they could corrupt you. Just like they were corrupted. Bane Sinister was able to turn Summer into a loyal worshipper of Lock Tannis, and he did the same to other Soynites. You might let Anne influence you. That missing daughter of yours could make you oppose your husband. She could turn you into what she is."

Hailey's mother moved her attention to the blue floor. After taking a shuddering breath, she looked at Lena's useless eyes.

"That's never going to happen," Hailey's mother said. "Look, I will save Anne. I know what side I'll always be on, and it's the same one your father is on. You think that I should kill my youngest child, but I won't do it. I'll never bring the death of my own kid. Never."

The woman had convinced Hailey to try assassinating Lena, but that had been before the adoption.

"In that case, Anne will kill you," Lena said. "Your life is worth more than a useless child who worships the worst Soynite in history. Kill that girl, Mother. If you do that, she won't be able to kill you. I don't doubt that Summer and Bane turned your youngest kid into an absolute monster. Summer won't let Anne's mother live. Neither will Bane. You want to take Anne back, and they know it. In addition, you're Theo Majestic's wife. You're extremely loyal to him. Summer and Bane know that you most likely won't join their cult. Anne knows it, too."

Hailey's mother nodded at a slow pace.

Meanwhile, Hailey didn't nod. She crossed her bare arms as light cast down on the desk that had no syringe on it.

"I really want my girl to hug me, Lena," Hailey's mother said. "And I want to hug her. If she worships Lock, I'll make her stop. But if you kill her, if you kill your sister, I won't be able to save her. She would be as dead as my own parents."

"Why should I care?" Lena said.

A frustrated noise launched from Hailey. Her mother's parents had been murdered, but Anne didn't have to die because a blind ruler had decided she was better off dead.

"Zoey isn't the only sister you have, Lena," Hailey said. "There's me. There's Anne. And Nova is your sister, too. You have a bunch of sisters and one brother. One of your siblings needs your help, and she won't get the help she needs if you kill her."

"Even a worshipper of Lock Tannis can start hating him again," Hailey's mother said. "If that hasn't happened before, I'll make it happen."

Lena had never prayed to Lock Tannis. But she had tried murdering Hailey with a dagger.

Yesterday the blonde had opened Lena's arm with a weapon of her own. Royal blood had greeted the blade.

If Lena met Anne, would she succeed in killing Theo Majestic's youngest child?

"But you want my help," she said. "You want your great High to save your awful daughter. Mother, if you leave one worshipper of Lock alive, his enemies will never be safe. Don't give Anne a chance. Stab her in the heart. That's what Hailey was going to do to me, and that's what you need to do to your youngest kid."

"There's nothing great about what you just said," Hailey said. "And there's nothing great about you."

"Great Soynites don't try to kill their Highs," Lena said. "Great Soynites are Highs. You're not a great Soynite, Hailey. Your sister Anne isn't great, and neither is your brother. Your mother is a fool for believing that showing Anne mercy will be the right thing to do. Being kind to Anne won't involve hugs and sweet kisses. If you love Anne, you should stab her in the heart, Mother. That will be mercy."

Mercy.

Yesterday Zoey had granted Hailey mercy. Theo Majestic's third child had spared Lena's life, but the High didn't intend on giving Anne what Hailey had given her.

Would Lena show Anne mercy?

"Anne is a victim of this war," Hailey's mother said. "You are, too. You and your sister are just like each other, but the two of you are on different sides."

"I'm on the right one," Lena said. "That's what matters. This girl you're so obsessed with saving is just an ordinary girl. She's not me. Anne might be a worshipper of Lock Tannis, and she's on the wrong side. She should be with me. She should always be ready to kneel for me, but she isn't. Because she's terrible."

"I thought that it was better for Anne to stay with Summer and not me, and I suffered because of it," Hailey's mother said. "Being away from my youngest is torture. It really is. I don't even know where my girl is. I don't know if she's with the Lock Tannis Church. I just assume she is. Maybe she's dead. Maybe she was murdered by Freemans, or maybe Summer killed her. Do you know where my Anne is, Lena?"

Aware the woman could see, Lena shook her head.

"No," she said. "If I did, I know what I would do to her."

As Lena kept her killing intent going, Hailey remained ignorant. She couldn't confirm Anne's location. She wasn't sure if Anne had become a Lock-worshipping fool.

What if Anne was as dead as Hailey's maternal grandparents? What if she was as alive as her mother? What if she prayed to Lock Tannis?

Theories and theories.

"I know things, too, Lena," Hailey's mother said. "I know that I lost so much. I worry about Anne more than I worry about my other children. I have you, Lena. You're with me, and so is Hailey. So is Nick. Nova should still be with my wonderful younger brother. But I left my baby in the care of a woman who attacked my husband. She made us believe that she would never do something like that. We were fools for letting Summer keep Anne, and I'm still a fool. Because I haven't saved my daughter. Not yet, at least."

The woman put a hand on Lena's shoulder.

"I need a clever High to assist me with helping Anne," Hailey's mother said. "And I need my loyal third child to help, too. I need my vicious boy to do everything he can to help save his sister. It's okay to need help. Lena, how many times has Betty helped you? What about you, Hailey? How many times has your own Watcher, Vera, helped you?"

The woman looked at her daughter, the blonde one. Her mother had mentioned Vera. Hailey hadn't forgotten her Watcher. Vera had chosen to not look for her mentee's father.

In a High's bedroom, near her mother and Lena, Hailey Majestic remained away from her father.

She stood in a windowless room. The light glowing against her let her see her surroundings, but the illumination didn't give her Theo Majestic.

What could?

"She didn't help me enough," Hailey said. "Vera always refused to find Father."

"What a pity," Hailey's mother said. "But your father has a real supporter in me. I've been a great supporter of your father for years. Vera never looked for Father when you wanted her to, but I'm not her. I'm your mother. I'm your father's wife. And I am going to help all of my children. Right now, the one who needs the most is Anne. My precious baby was taken from me years ago, and I'm going to take her back. Do you hear me, Lena? Even if you don't help me, I'm going to get my daughter back. And you won't kill her."

Lena's royal eyes saw nothing. Even if Anne stood in the room, the ruler wouldn't see her. She hadn't seen the Freeman she had made armless. Lena had taken his arms. She had taken his life.

The High could kill.

"Are you sure about that?" Lena said. "I'm blind, but I can still kill people. I can kill Freemans. And I can kill a girl who made the foolish mistake of worshipping your husband's former best friend, and I won't regret it. Really, I won't. If I killed your Nova, I won't cry because of it. She hated me. If she's still alive, I'm sure that she still hates me. Her brother attacked me. He's also rude to his mother. My mother. As for Hailey, where do I even start with that one? I haven't known her for long, but she has given me more than one reason to hate her."

Hailey scowled.

"Your children can't be salvaged," Lena said. "Almost all of them, anyway."

"That's not tr—" Hailey's mother started saying.

"Your children can't be redeemed!" Lena shouted.

As the High glared, Hailey did the same. If there was a way to make Lena love her adoptive siblings, Hailey didn't know it.

Lena reached out. Her hand found her mother's breast, and then the ruler jerked it away.

"Get back!" Lena yelled. Hailey's mother obeyed. Lena extended her hand, and it didn't meet the woman. "Good, you did what your High commanded."

"You talked about my children," Hailey's mother said. "They're your siblings, Lena. Those young people who came from me are people you have to love, my High. And my husband, the man you keep refusing to call Father, is your father. That's the truth. Vera failed him. But I wish I could tell him that I never stopped wanting to find him. Ever since I found out that my Theo was missing, I wanted to find him. You want to find him, too. Your reason for wanting to is a selfish one, but I don't care. You will respect your father, eventually. You are going to love him."

As if loving Theo Majestic would be so bad, Lena shook her head.

"No," Lena said.

"Yes," Hailey's mother said. "I need you to help me find your father, and I need you to help me find Anne."

"You want me to help you find your future killer."

"She's a girl I abandoned a long time ago," Hailey's mother said. "I appreciate your concern for my safety, but I have to save my daughter. We will spare her life."

Lena's scowl was gone.

"You didn't kill me, because Hailey didn't want you to," the High said. "Instead of assassinating me, you adopted me."

"What I showed you was real mercy," Hailey's mother said. "I wanted to give a girl with dead parents new ones. I succeeded. I'm not a woman who was shot to death during the invasion. And I don't have a throwing knife in my chest. Neither does Father. You're not an orphan, Lena."

"Neither is Anne," Hailey said.

"She's right," Hailey's mother said. "Anne has parents. And she has a mother who wants to be with her. Lena, if you help me save Anne, I will love you forever."

Lena took a step closer to the woman who had beaten her yesterday.

"Do you promise?" Lena said.

"Yes," Hailey's mother said. "I also know that you are the greatest High there is, Lena. I serve you. I always will."

The woman knew Lena wasn't the greatest High, Hailey didn't doubt.

"Embrace me." Lena said.

Hailey's mother hugged her High, obeying the command. Lena embraced her back. Hailey didn't glare. She listened as footsteps met her ears.

The hug ended.

"You tried to kill Hailey, but I forgive you," Hailey's mother said. "And I really want you to meet Anne."

Lena's bare feet left the floor. She rose toward the blue ceiling at a slow pace.

"Mother?!" Lena said, floating.

"Nick!" Hailey's mother said. She looked at Nick as if he were almost as bad as a Freeman warrior. "Put her down! Now, son!"

"Why should I?!" Nick said, using his telekinesis. "You said that she tried to kill Hailey!"

"And I tried to kill her!" Hailey said. "We're even! Put her down, Nick! Do it, brother."

Nick continued Lena's ascent. Orange hair almost touched the ceiling. Without touching Lena, Nick had the power to end her life.

"Listen to your sister," Hailey's mother said. "And listen to me. Lower Lena to the floor, Nick, and be gentle when you do it."

"I am your High!" Lena shouted, flinging her words at Nick. "If you don't put me down, I will do much worse than slap you!"

"How brave of you, Lena," Nick said. "I can kill you right now, but you're still choosing to be defiant."

He lowered Lena onto the floor. Then he faced his mother.

"Is that what you wanted to see?" Nick said. "I put her down, Mother. Just like you and Hailey wanted. But I really should kill her, and I can do that. You and my sister over there are too weak to get rid of that tyrant, but I'm not. Why do you want her to live?!"

"We need her," Hailey's mother said. "I need her. She's my kid. She's my fifth child, and it's my responsibility to keep her safe. By myself, I took care of you for more than a decade, and now I have to take care of Lena, too. She's my High. I have to serve her. I'm never going to abandon her, and I'm never going to leave you. But if you kill Lena, I won't be such a good mother. Not to you."

Hailey's mother looked past Nick. She stared at the tyrant who was on her hands and knees, then she made eye contact with Nick.

"Look around you," Hailey's mother said. "Look at the people who are in this room. There's me. There's Hailey and Lena. There are others who deserve to be in this home, and they aren't here. Your father is gone. He's missing. While he's in possible trouble, you're so keen on murdering your own sister. What would your father think? He made that girl into a High. He could've refused to turn her into one, but he didn't. Your father supports Lena and the other Highs. So do I."

Lena Majestic.

Cape Majestic.

Nova Majestic.

Kara Ascend.

Aris Upside.

Path Seekman.

Six Highs. There were six Soynite rulers, and Hailey's mother had met two of them. She had given one up for adoption, and she had adopted another High.

Hailey and Nova had been away from each other for too long. They hadn't exchanged words. They hadn't touched. And there had never stopped being a distance between them, a terrible gap.

"Yes, Lena tried to kill Hailey," Hailey's mother said. "But there Hailey is, alive and well. She's fine. And Lena needs to be, too. I don't want you to kill her. I want you to defend her. I need you to. And you have to be a great older brother to her, and you have to love her. If someone in this family hates another member of it, it can never be great."

Lena, who wasn't the greatest High, made no attempt to attack. Nick stayed standing.

"I want this family to be great," Nick said. "Do you? You adopted that monster who tried to kill your daughter. How could you do that? She's not just a violent menace, but she's a horrible leader, too. She's an idiotic High who is blind and worthless. If I use my telekinesis to crush her heart, who will mourn her death. Who, Mother?"

"You won't," Hailey's mother said. "I met Lena yesterday. I haven't known her for a long time, but I'm going to defend her from you anyway. You want to hurt someone who doesn't need to be hurt, Nick. You said that Lena is a monster, but will I be wrong if I called you one? You want to kill my girl. And you treat me like I want to keep all of my loved ones far away from me. I never wanted to do that. Years ago, I took you with me. I needed my boy, and I left everyone who needed me. I abandoned them."

Because Hailey's mother had left years ago, the girl had been forced to have Vera as her sole caretaker. She had become like a mother to Hailey.

In truth, Vera had the power to find anyone. Much to Hailey's dismay, the Bloodhound had refused to find the girl's father. She chose not to look for planet Soy's best warrior. Despite the fact she had raised Hailey for years, Vera was a horrible fool.

"That girl on the floor isn't the sister you want, but she's the sister you need," Hailey's mother said. "If you have a problem with her, that means you have a problem with me. Lena is here to stay. Any bad she did in her past doesn't matter. She's my fifth child and she always will be. You can't change that. You're never going to be able to. Two of my daughters are Highs, and I'm okay with that."

"I don't see how you are," Nick said. "Hailey said that Lena might become a second Lock Tannis. You want to kill him just as badly as I do, but you're raising someone who will become as bad as Lock. Do you actually believe that Lena will ever love you?"

The woman had armed herself with Lena's white cane. She had struck the High with it, but she didn't assault the girl now.

Hailey's mother didn't love Lena like she loved her thirteen-year-old. But she could. As for Hailey, it was possible she wouldn't dislike Lena forever.

Did the woman in the room believe Lena would ever love her?

"I do," Hailey's mother said. "I do believe it. Lena is capable of loving other people, and I know it. I saw it for myself. She can't see, but she can love people. Maybe it's hard for you to believe that Lena doesn't just love herself. I want her to care about me. But killing her won't let that happen. If you kill Lena, you will ruin so much."

Lena stood. Unable to see her, Nick clenched his fists.

"You still want me to let her live," he said. "Whatever I decide to do with her, she's not going to bring me down."

A needle pierced Nick. As its sharpness stayed in a vein, Lena shot Vamp into the boy's bloodstream.

She pulled the syringe-attached needle out Nick's vein. He stumbled. He moved onto one knee, and his other one went against the hard floor. Nick's hands found it, too. He lost consciousness.

Lena had made Nick Majestic go down.