Maggie Up was cursed.

Always had been.

Suffering stalked her like a shadow, clinging to her no matter how much she wished it didn't. Before Maggie's first meeting with Peter Wayne, Lock Tannis had murdered her grandfather.

A few days ago, in a forest in Washington, Maggie had met a boy named Jake Wayne.

The girl had whispered a sentence to the boy and he had fled. Maggie's words had coursed with dread. It was clear.

Maggie had done what Lock Tannis had wanted her to do. She had struck dread into another Soynite, one without Lock Tannis as his name.

Jake. He had expressed his gratitude to the cursed girl.

"The day will come when you won't be," Maggie had said.

She glanced at Peter, then lowered her laser rifle to the floor. The girl offered Jake her hand. He took it, then Maggie placed her other hand on his shoulder. She brought her lips close to his ear.

Maggie Up whispered a single sentence.

But that single sentence made dread shoot into Jake Wayne.

He pulled his hand away from Maggie's, then took a step back.

Jake turned and ran.

"Jake!" Peter shouted.

A Soynite could love another one sooner than they believed they would. It wasn't a lie Jake loved Peter as if he were his father, and the truth was that Maggie had caused Jake to flee.

Peter.

That man was a Watcher. He had let Maggie move in to the mansion he shared with his mentee, the distant Jake.

Where was Jake?

Maggie knew. Jake and Sabrina, they had escaped that Freeman base. Together. Lilly Majestic's younger brother and Sabrina's baby Freeman had gone with them.

Peter had spoken to Jake on the phone. The boy had given information to his Watcher, and Peter had informed Maggie. He had revealed to her what Jake had revealed to him.

Sabrina Sam, one of the six Highs, was Theo Majestic's second child. She was Jake's sixth cousin.

The Lock Tannis Church was real. Bane Sinister, its founder, had married Anne Majestic's kidnapper. The stolen baby had graduated into someone who prayed to Lock Tannis.

What a fool.

Maggie had been eleven. Five years ago, she had seen Lock Tannis murder her father's father.

Cobalt Up.

The man was as dead as Maggie's curse was alive.

Sixteen years ago, Cobalt had become a grandfather. Thanks to Jake's friend Sabrina, Theo Majestic had become one. Maggie hadn't met Sabrina's son. His wail had clashed with her ears.

A certain teenager didn't hear the pale baby now, and she wasn't in California. She didn't reside where Ben lived.

Peter had insisted that he and Maggie should put her spaceship to good use.

It was what had led to Maggie taking steps in a blue space station, which she did now. Peter walked beside her.

During the attack on that Freeman base, Maggie had developed telekinesis. It was how she had been able to open the space station's hangar's door.

The hall Maggie and Peter were in had rooms attached to it. Not all of the doors were closed.

Maggie's reddish-brown hair was down, and her eyes, blue eyes, worked. She wasn't Lovely Windsore.

February 13, 2006. Maggie had been born on that day. She hadn't known Peter on that day, but her curse had been there.

Peter wasn't with Jake, because Maggie had told him a secret drowning in horror.

The boy had run. The cursed girl and the Watcher had left the Freeman base.

Maggie had told Peter about her past. Tears had come. The Soynites had hugged, but the curse remained in Maggie. Stuck.

Regardless of whether or not Maggie's curse would vanish, she wanted a quick death.

"I'm still sorry for making Jake run away," Maggie said, speaking Soynite. "If I had just waited for us to be back home, he wouldn't have done that. He would be with us right now."

Peter put a hand on Maggie's shoulder.

"It's not your fault," he said. "You made a choice and Jake made one, too. He decided to run away from us, and me and you escaped that Freeman base together."

A vision shot into Maggie. A precognition, she knew.

In the vision, a girl with brown hair and brown eyes wielded a dagger. She buried it into Jake Wayne's chest.

The vision died.

"No," Maggie said. She ran a hand through reddish-brown. "No, no, no."

Peter stepped in front of Maggie. He furrowed his brow.

"Are you okay, Maggie?" Peter said.

Maggie had seen a dagger-wielding girl put her blade into a boy she had saved the other day. No, she was far from okay.

"No," Maggie said. "I had a vision. I saw the future. Jake was in it. Don't get excited, though. What happened to my grandfather is going to happen to him."

The Watcher gripped her shoulders. "Tell me what you saw."

"I saw a girl hurt Jake with a Strife dagger," Maggie said. "She had brown hair and brown eyes, but I didn't recognize her. She looked like a teenager."

Peter moved his hands, then he took a step back. His gaze found the floor. But the hard blue didn't tell the man how to prevent Jake's murder.

Maggie hugged Peter. The Watcher hugged her.

"I'm sorry," Maggie said, as if the future killer had already murdered Jake.

In the future, Jake would stop being grateful Maggie had saved him.

"Thanks," Peter said. A shuddering breath left him. "Thanks for telling me, Maggie. You're a great Soynite."

The hug broke.

"It looks like I made you go down, you fool!" someone shouted, their voice filled with spite.

A girl's voice. If Maggie's curse was real, the voice belonged to Jake's future murderer.

"Let's go see who that is," Peter said.

Maggie and Peter took quick steps.

They headed through one of the open doors. On the floor was a boy. Tall, muscular, blond-haired. His eyes were shut. Maggie couldn't see what color they were, but she saw a gray-eyed girl and her scowl.

Two pairs of blue eyes belonged to blonde-haired people.

A woman. Maggie had seen photographs of the woman as a young girl. Lilly Majestic.

A girl. She was shorter than Maggie and the cursed girl assumed the blonde was a few years younger than her.

As for the girl with the gray eyes, she was orange-haired.

"What's going on here?" Peter said.

"Ine Rain?" the orange-haired girl said. "Is that you? I recognize your voice. When we lived with each other, my name was Lovely Windsore. It's Lena now. Lena Majestic."

"What?" Peter said. "Why is your last name Majestic?"

"Because she's my daughter now," Lilly said. She put a hand on the blonde girl's back. "And this one has been my daughter for a much longer time. Ine, meet Hailey Majestic. She's my third child."

Hailey.

She didn't know she was the aunt of Sabrina's Freeman son, did she?

Sabrina was in California, and that place was on Earth. So far from Lilly. So distant from the mother Sabrina and Hailey shared.

"Peter," Peter said. "That's my name now. Peter Wayne. I read about your children, Lilly. There's a note. I actually brought it with me."

Peter pulled the folded note from his pants pocket, then started reading it. After he finished reading, Lena scoffed.

"The Freeman people will lose," she said.

Peter folded the note several times, and he put it into his pants pocket.

"Where did you get that note?" Lena said.

"A Freeman base," Peter said. "It was in a conference room. My mentee, Jake, read the note first, and then I read it. Afterwards, Freemans attacked us. I got separated from Jake, and..."

The Watcher shook his head.

Lilly looked at the bed.

"Lilly, Jake is with Sabrina," Peter said. Lilly made eye contact with him. "Nova, I mean. He's with Nova. Her name is Sabrina now. Sabrina Sam. She and Jake are on Earth. They're in America. California, to be specific. Kevin is with them, too. Ken, I mean. Ken. His name is Kevin now. Kevin Sam. All of them met Anne. Your daughter is with the Lock Tannis Church. Its leader, Bane Sinister, married Summer. Sabrina and Jake met those Lock worshippers inside a Freeman base. It's the same Freeman base I took the note from. And there's a baby. Sabrina named him Ben. He's a Freeman. Instead of killing him, Sabrina adopted him. You have a grandson now."

"We have to go to them," Lilly said. Maggie glanced around. "Do you have their address?"

"I'll have to write it down," Peter said. "I have it memorized."

Maggie gasped.

She pointed at the photograph taped to the wall. It showed a teenage girl as she grinned at the camera.

"Who is she?!" Maggie said, aiming her blue eyes at the picture showing Jake's future killer. "She's the girl I saw in my vision. She's going to kill Jake."

"That's Zoey," Hailey said. "Zoey All. It used to be Alice Endman. Zoey is Boris Endman's granddaughter. Lena's father Boone Windsore married her kidnapper, Misty All. Boone is dead. He was murdered by a Freeman. Misty isn't Zoey's stepmother anymore, but she and Lena still see each other as sisters."

Zoey.

Maggie was sure she would hurt Jake with a dagger, and the awful act would lead to the boy's death. No matter what, a Soynite's visions of the future showed what would happen in it. Zoey would put a Strife dagger into Jake's chest. It was fate.

"Do you have any Saves, Maggie?" Lena said. "What about you, Peter? Are you still Saveless?"

"Maggie can rapidly regenerate," Peter said. "She has telekinesis, too. Before we walked into this room, she gained the ability to see the future. And I'm still Saveless."

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Maggie had three Saves. One of them gave her the wisdom to know that Zoey had to die.

She would become Jake's killer.

It was inevitable. In the future, someone needed to take Zoey's life. She would kill the boy Peter had raised. Maggie couldn't prevent that. But she could kill Zoey after Jake's unstoppable murder.

"Lena, your sister is going to kill Jake," Peter said. "You remember Cape Majestic, don't you?"

"I haven't forgotten that piece of Majestic trash," Lena said. "You're never going to see him again."

Lena's bare foot made contact with the unconscious boy on the floor. Resting on his back was a syringe, and Maggie assumed Lena had dropped it onto him.

"Who is he, by the way?" Maggie said. "The boy on the floor, I mean."

"Nick Majestic," Lilly said. "He's my son. My vicious boy was getting dangerous, so Lena had to inject him with Vamp. He's going to be unconscious for a couple of hours. Hailey, heal your brother. His neck is bleeding."

Lena, able to hear, moved toward Lilly. She held onto the woman's arm.

Hailey kneeled beside Nick. She placed a finger against the small hole in his neck. The wound healed.

"Peter, what are you going to do to Zoey?" Hailey said. She stood. "You're not going to hurt her, are you? She's my friend. She's also a good person."

"Right now, that is," Peter said. Maggie stood next to him, willing to do what he wanted her to do. "Maggie saw the future. She also didn't lie about what she saw. Maggie saw Zoey attack Jake with a dagger, and I have no doubt that it will lead to his death. Jake will die. And Zoey will, too. I need to make sure that happens."

Still holding Lilly's arm, Lena clenched her free fist.

"No," Hailey said. "Zoey is kind, and she will never hurt anyone she doesn't have to. Maggie's vision probably wasn't what it seemed to be."

Lena nodded.

"Hailey is right," the blind ruler said. "Maybe Lock Tannis will shapeshift into Jake. Maybe Zoey will really attack Lock."

"And what if the reverse becomes true?" Lilly said. "Lock might shapeshift into Zoey and he might hurt Jake."

The real Zoey would kill the real Jake.

The moment before Jake's death was what Maggie had seen. Her third Save, a wonderful power, had shown it to her.

"Zoey is the granddaughter of Boris Endman," Peter said. "He betrayed our people, and Lock killed him, for some reason. It's not too difficult to believe that Zoey will join Lock, just like her grandfather had done. Do you want me to be blunt, Lena? I have to kill your sister."

Lena took a step toward the Watcher. Lilly grabbed her arm.

"Let me go, Mother," Lena said. "Did you hear what that savage Watcher just said?!"

Lilly wrapped her arms around the High from behind.

"I heard him," the woman said. "No one is going to kill your sister. I care about Zoey, too. Trust me. I'm never going to let anyone hurt her."

"Where is Zoey?" Maggie said.

"She's far from here, unfortunately for you," Hailey said. "And if Nick was awake, you wouldn't be standing right now."

Peter pointed his palm at Hailey.

"Me and Maggie Up here don't want to fight anyone," the man said. "We just want to talk to Zoey. That's all."

"So you can kill her," Lena said, talking as Lilly kept her arms around her. "You think that your High is stupid, don't you? You think that she's going to let you kill her sweet sister? Even if Zoey does kill Jake, I will celebrate. He never liked me. You never liked me, either."

Despite the fact Jake had left Maggie and Peter in a Freeman base, the cursed girl didn't want Zoey to kill the boy.

"I'm sorry," Peter said. He ran a hand through his black hair. "And I'm sorry that your father is gone. I remember seeing him during the invasion, and I'm very sure that he loved you."

"Don't mention my father again," Lena said. "And if you were truly sorry about what happened to him, you would spare his daughter Zoey. Also, Mother, you can let me go. Release me."

Lilly didn't release Lena. The woman acted as if letting her daughter go would destroy her power to find Sabrina and Anne.

"It's okay," Lena said.

Her mother released her, letting go of the High whose sister would kill Jake.

Lena grimaced before putting a hand on her crotch.

"I'm going to have to go to the bathroom really soon," she said. "Anyway, I haven't even known Zoey for a week, but I love her. And she isn't a fool. Some fools think that I'll become a second Lock Tannis, but those people will never be as great as I am."

She aimed her blind eyes at the spot near Hailey. The blonde girl unleashed a heavy sigh, then she looked at Nick.

"When that piece of Majestic trash tried to assassinate me, Zoey saved my life," Lena said. "She was supposed to come to my rescue, yes. But I'm still grateful that she did. What I don't appreciate is a certain useless Watcher and the random girl he came with. Both of you want to kill my sister. I can't see the future, Maggie, but I am one-hundred percent sure that you and Peter won't be alive tomorrow."

"Drop that down to zero percent, please," Maggie said. She smirked. "I want to live long enough to see my curse go away."

"Death will be the cure," Lena said.

Hailey walked. She came to a stop beside Lena.

"No one in this room has to die," Peter said. "We all want the same thing. We want to kill Lock Tannis."

The man was tall, black-haired, and brown-eyed. Lena couldn't see how the Watcher looked, but she had seen him. Years ago, the High had met Peter.

"Some of us don't want what you and Maggie want," Hailey said. "I don't want my friend to die."

"I know where your sister is, Hailey," Peter said. "If you take us to Zoey, I'll take you to Sabrina. I'll take you to Nova."

Maggie had never met Sabrina, but Hailey could.

If she wanted to meet her older sister, she needed to reveal Zoey's location.

"Hailey, don't do it," Lilly said. "Zoey's parents, her real parents, are good friends of mine. I don't know where they are. But I will protect their daughter. I'll do it as if she were my own child. I don't care what Maggie supposedly saw. Zoey is good. She's a great girl, and I won't let her die because a girl had a vision of the future. You two won't kill Zoey."

Lena swayed. She tapped her fingers against her thighs.

"If you don't lead us to Zoey, you won't see Sabrina again," Maggie said.

"I'll find a different way to meet my Nova," Lilly said.

Lena extended her hands. She made them roam the space in front of her as she walked.

"Where are you going, Lena?" Peter said.

"The bathroom," Lena said. "Blind girls need to use them, too. If you don't let me go, I'll just urinate in my panties."

Peter pointed at the open door. "Go to the bathroom."

When the High was gone from the room, Peter looked at Nick. Theo Majestic's son had stayed unconscious during the arguing. He breathed. He lived.

In the future, Zoey would murder Jake.

"Lilly, you're defending someone who doesn't deserve to be defended," Peter said. "Zoey is going to kill Jake. She's going to destroy him. If someone doesn't kill her, she's going to destroy more great Soynites. You can keep seeing Zoey as a sweet girl who will never hurt you, but I won't. Lock Tannis is a Soynite. He's one of us, and Zoey will become like him. That's obvious to me now. You and your daughters can say that the Jake in the vision was actually Lock Tannis, but that's not the truth. Zoey will kill the real Jake. I have to kill Zoey."

Maggie nodded.

Lilly, Hailey, and Lena had to realize Peter needed to end Zoey's life. She would destroy too many good Soynites if the Watcher let her live.

"Maggie has a gift," Peter said. "She has a great Save, and it showed her what Zoey will do. The vision showed Maggie what Zoey will do to the boy I raised. That's a sign. That's a sign that Boris Endman's granddaughter needs to die. Jake is a High. Lilly, your husband made him into what he is, and Zoey will kill him. She will get rid of Jake Wayne. It's destiny. I can't stop it, but I can prevent Zoey from killing other fine Soynites. I can stop her from killing other Highs. How long will she love Lena?"

As she stood behind Peter, Lena drove a Strife dagger into the Watcher's heart.

She pulled the weapon free. Red coated sharp green, and Peter tripped over Nick's unconscious body. He was dead before he struck the floor.

"No!" Maggie said.

Lena had heard her. With a scream, the High lunged. The Strife dagger pierced her heart. It had disabled her Saves, and it might destroy her life.

The sightless ruler hadn't gone to the bathroom. She had gone to arm herself.

Maggie crashed onto the floor. The High straddled her. As blood fled the wound in Maggie's chest, Lena stabbed.

She stabbed.

She stabbed.

She stabbed.

Blood ruined the Soynite pendant Maggie wore, the one her parents had given her years ago. The bedroom's light reflected off warm red.

And Maggie Up, the girl who had told Jake the dreadful truth, died.

"Lena!" Lilly said. As her adoptive child unleashed her rage on a corpse, the woman sighed. "She's dead! It's over!"

Lena raised the dagger. Her breaths left in short pants, and she dropped the weapon. It clattered.

Maggie Up. Dead.

Peter Wayne. Dead.

The person who had made Maggie and Peter into two lifeless people hadn't died. No, the royal teenager lived. Maggie and Peter had lost. The High had won.

Lena laughed.

The High stood. She turned, grinning.

"You said that she's dead," Lena said. "Is Peter dead, too?"

The Watcher was on his stomach. Below him was a spreading blood pool. Nick breathed and Peter did not.

"He is," Lilly said. "You did a good job, my High."

"Peter didn't write down Sabrina's address, Mother," Hailey said. "We can't find her now. What are we going to do?"

"We'll keep hoping," Lilly said.

She walked. When she was close enough, the woman put her hands against Lena's pale cheeks.

"Are you okay?" Lilly said. "You're not bleeding or anything? You're fine, right?"

"I'm okay," Lena said. "Peter knew Reese's address, but you didn't help him. You defended Zoey instead. You helped her."

"I did."

"Thank you." Lena said.

Later, after Lilly used a teleportation stone to transport Lena's victims to the gray and barren Soy, the mother returned to the High's bedroom.

On his back, Nick was on the floor. A blue pillow rested underneath his head. Lilly kneeled beside him. She kissed his hair.

Nick. Lilly's child. Her firstborn. Her son.

He had been unconscious during the blood-adorned conflict.

If Nick had been awake, Lilly's vicious boy would have slaughtered Peter and Maggie. He would've done it without touching them.

The reality was that Lilly's blind child had put an end to the Watcher and his girl companion.

"When you wake up, I'll have to tell you everything that happened," Lilly said. "And you will help keep Zoey safe."

Archer and Holly.

Lilly had reunited with their daughter, and her kidnapper had advised the girl to find her real parents.

Peter the Watcher had come. A girl named Maggie had gone with him. With determination, Peter had been willing to kill Zoey. Lena had stabbed him in the heart. She had unleashed her fury on Maggie.

Lena had laughed after slaying Maggie, and she had grinned.

Zoey lived.

"Betty buried my father on Soy," Lena said, seated on her bed. "You left Peter and Maggie on the surface. They're exposed. You left them out in the open, and I would be lying if I said I'm disappointed."

Lilly looked at the bed.

"Peter and Maggie didn't deserve to be buried," she said. "I don't care what the cursed girl saw. Zoey is here to stay, and Peter and Maggie had to go."

Lilly would find a different way to get to Nova, her younger brother, and her Freeman grandson.

As for Jake, Peter's mentee, Lilly would have to tell him a lie. If he discovered Lena had murdered his Watcher and his friend, peaceful smiles and sweet hugs wouldn't come.

"I agree," Lena said. "Can you sit next to me?"

She had killed Peter and Maggie with vicious quickness. Now she wanted her mother to sit beside her.

"Of course," Lilly said.

She sat next to the High on the bed, and they breathed. They could do that. The boy on the floor could breathe as well, but not Peter and Maggie.

"What are we going to tell Jake?" Lena said.

"We won't tell him my blind daughter murdered his Watcher and his friend, obviously," Lilly said. "We'll tell him the Freemans did it. Jake will believe it."

"He better."

Jake had met Anne inside a Freeman base. His Watcher had confirmed Anne belonged to the Lock Tannis Church.

"Nick called me a monster," Lena said.

"You killed two people to keep your sister safe," Lilly said. "It could've ended badly for you, but you did it anyway. You're not a monster. You're a hero."

The blind High didn't nod. She grabbed the photograph that showed her first father, stroked it with her thumb.

Peter and Maggie had died because the supposedly cursed girl had seen a picture of Zoey.

Hailey stepped into the bedroom. Nick stayed on the floor, not standing like his sister he had spent the most time with.

"I'll help you save Anne," Lena said. "Father would like that. My new father, specifically."

"Your first father, too," Lilly said. "You know, Lena, a Soynite can love another one sooner than they believed they would."

Lena put the picture down.

"You said that you would love me forever, if I help you save Anne," she said.

"Forget I said that," Lilly said.

"Why?"

"Because I love you right now," Lilly said. "You're not worthy to planet Still, but you are worthy to me."

"I love you." Lena said.

Warmth flooded Lilly, sweet and precious. The two brutal deaths she had seen might as well have been false acts.

Yes, Lena had killed Peter and Maggie.

But Lilly's fifth child was a hero, and she had expressed her love. Lilly grinned. She kissed the High's forehead.

"I love you, too," Lilly said.

Hailey came close, and she offered her hand. Lilly took it. Nova and Ken weren't in the room, but Lilly had Lena and Hailey. She had Nick.

"Lena, I was being so rude to you," Hailey said, holding Lilly's hand. "I'm sorry. What you did today was brave, and it was heroic. You're worthy to me, too. We're sisters. We always will be."

Hailey stopped holding hands with Lilly.

"Anne is with the Lock Tannis Church, Mother," the blonde girl said. "I'm sorry."

Anne Majestic.

Her siblings Hailey, Lena, and Nick were with their mother. Their sister Nova lived with their uncle on planet Earth. But the Lock Tannis Church had Anne tangled in it, and it was because Lilly hadn't rescued her youngest child years ago.

Vera Mod.

That Bloodhound had the power to find Anne. Wherever she was, Vera wasn't in the space station. She didn't stand in Lilly's blue home.

Neither did Lock Tannis.

He had killed Boris Endman. Thanks to Zoey, Lilly had learned that former High was dead. But Peter's note, the one he had read, had led to Lilly finding out the identity of Boris's killer.

Lock had slain Boris, but Lilly didn't know why.

She knew the note Peter had read was in her room. It was written in the Freeman language, but that wasn't an issue for Lilly.

The mother had a problem with Lena's condition.

What did the girl have to do to eliminate her blindness and Savelessness? Did she have to compliment a good person one thousand times? Did she have to put herself in danger for a loved one?

Lena had already risked her life to slaughter two aspiring Zoey killers.

Maybe planet Still would never view Lena as a worthy person.

"We're going to get Anne back," Lilly said. "I promise."

What did Lilly's youngest girl look like now?

If Peter hadn't been determined to murder Zoey, Lilly could have received answers to questions she wished she could ask the Watcher.

Six.

Peter had been one of the six Watchers who had gone with the six Highs. Not long ago, Lena had changed that number from six to five.

She had done it to stop Peter from becoming Zoey's murderer. Yes, the girl's grandfather had tried ending the life of Lilly's husband, but Zoey was innocent. She had possessed the opportunity to kill Hailey. Zoey had opened her throat instead.

"What about Zoey?" Hailey said. "What are we going to do about her? Maggie's vision. She saw—"

"Maggie didn't see Zoey," Lena said. "I hate Jake, but my sister will never kill him. Even if she does do that in the future, she'll have a good reason for doing it. Peter and Maggie wanted to kill Zoey, without even knowing the full truth about that vision. They were reckless. They were foolish. And now they're dead."

The High left the bed.

She stood in the light, her hair orange and her eyes gray and blind.

"I killed Jake's Watcher," Lena said. "I didn't think that I ever would, but I did. Years ago, I met Cape Majestic for the first time, and I met his Watcher, too. I met Peter. I hated them and they hated me. Instead of doing what their High wanted, Peter and Maggie were so ready to kill Zoey. Boris Endman wasn't innocent. Zoey is. Once that Watcher and his cursed friend made it clear they planned on killing my older sister, I knew what I had to do. And I did it. I got rid of them."

A Freeman warrior hadn't disposed of Peter and Maggie. A Soynite High, a child ruler, had killed them.

Lena. She didn't wear the shirt and pants she had worn during the murders of Peter and Maggie. Blood had clashed against the shirt and pants.

She was dressed in a green shirt and blue jeans. No shoes. No socks.

"A good ruler knows when to be strong," Lena said. "By killing Peter and Maggie, I proved that I am strong."

"You're not just strong," Lilly said. "You're worthy."

She got off the bed, then kneeled. After pulling the box from underneath it, Lilly opened it. Inside the box was a crown, blue and majestic.

"I hid your father's crown under your bed, Lena," Lilly said. She took the crown out the box, then stood. The woman approached her High daughter, the royal child she could be near. "I wanted Nova to inherit it, but she isn't here. You deserve to wear Theo Majestic's crown as much as she does. A High needs a crown."

Lilly put the crown on Lena's head.

She kneeled, bowed her head. Hailey kneeled, and she bowed her head.

A hero had murdered Peter and Maggie. A crowned hero, thanks to Lilly. The woman had granted Lena her second father's crown.

"We're kneeling for you," Lilly said. "Me and Hailey are kneeling for you, High Lena Majestic."