In the library within the mansion, a High and a Bloodhound sat.

The girl and the woman had gone into the room on the day Hero and his siblings tried abducting the kid. A father sat at the table, too, sitting next to his only child.

Today it was the fifth of March, no longer the fourth.

Jill Key.

Vera Mod.

The Watcher had come into Jill's life. Before her first meeting with the High, Vera had been with Hailey Majestic. Former High Theo's daughter.

Hailey had siblings. One brother. Two sisters.

Nick, Reese, and Anne had been Don's housemates. Reese hadn't lived with them for long. Theo and Lilly had given her up for adoption, so Reese had been forced to live with Bowie Low and Prim Low. Reese's adoptive parents had been alive. Not anymore.

As for Jill, she was the only child of former High Don. She had become what her birth father had been.

A Soynite ruler. A leader. A High.

Theo Majestic had made six children into Highs. Eleven years ago, he had placed Hase Majestic's pendant on Jill's forehead, and she had become royalty.

Vera had kneeled. She had done it for Jill, because the Bloodhound had acknowledged the girl as her High. She still did.

What Theo had done to Jill had been awesome.

Hero and Sydney hadn't kneeled for the youngest High.

Yet she had convinced Vera to spare their lives. The woman had shown the Shame children mercy because of her High. Jill had power. Influence.

Hero and his brothers and sisters had tried taking Jill, for a reason known to her.

A father. The attempted abductors didn't have theirs, but not because he was dead. Hero wished to see him again. He and his siblings had made it clear they were willing to kidnap Jill in order to reunite with their adoptive father.

Jill's adoptive parent was Joseph Key. Her Watcher.

Her birth father, Don, had never seen her. But he had seen Lock Tannis, and he had joined the Freeman ruler's side.

Jill had no adoptive mother. Her real mother, a woman named Camille, had let Don convince her joining Lock Tannis would be better than fighting against him.

The urge to see someone fight and kill Lock hadn't bled out of Jill. Maybe she would become his slayer.

Lock wasn't like Hero or Sydney, siblings on a mission to find their father, he was planet Free's ruler. He and Jill led people. But the pale ones in service to Lock were more horrible than the sibling group that had tried kidnapping Jill. Lock's Freeman warriors were crueler than Hero and his brothers and sisters.

"Do you still miss Hailey?" Jill said.

No book rested on the table's wooden surface. The books in the room stood on their shelves, safe like the High and the Bloodhound.

Hero had tried abducting Jill. He had failed.

That was the reason why she had the power to sit across her Bloodhound friend. Jill and Theo didn't share the same status as missing people.

"Of course I do," Vera said. "I raised her. She's mad at me, but her anger is understandable. It also won't last. It's going to vanish, especially when I bring her father to her. That will make my girl very happy. Hailey loves her father. After we attack the Freeman base in this city, I'm going to look for Theo. I've spent way too many years not looking for him. I want Hailey to forgive me. I hope she does. I've met a bunch of Majestics, but Hailey is the one I know the best. Maybe she hates me. Maybe she still loves me. Either way, how I feel about her hasn't changed."

Vera looked at the table.

Jill had met Theo, not his daughter Hailey. She was his second one. In truth, Jill had already met Theo's first daughter. Reese Low.

The eleven-year-old ruler hadn't stood outside the spaceport, because she hadn't been able to stand during the invasion. Her father had held her. He had carried a newborn baby who hadn't possessed the power to walk.

She could take steps now.

"So, after we attack this Freeman base, I'm going to look for Theo," Vera said. "That's the plan. I decided not to look for Theo for so long, and I'm a terrible Watcher because of it. Hailey was concerned for her father. Instead of finding him, I didn't. If Theo is sitting in a Freeman prison cell while I sit here, it's my fault. It really is. Because I could've saved him years ago. I wonder how many people I doomed by not rescuing Theo a long time ago. Does that make me almost as bad as Lock Tannis?"

"Negative, Vera," Jill's dad said. "You're not the destroyer of an entire world. Lock is. You even took care of one of Theo's children. I lived with another Soynite who did the same, that mutual friend of ours. Let's hope he's still alive. We need everyone we can gather, because we need assistance with ending this dreadful war."

Vera put her hands on the table. "We need Theo."

Yes, Jill, her dad, and Vera needed Theo Majestic. The great Soynites did.

Lock Tannis. He had made his pale warriors ruin a planet and kill the majority of its people. He had proved he was not a great Soynite.

Vera deserved to live more than Lock did. As Jill sat across the woman, she stayed aware Lock was worse than Vera and the Bloodhound was better than him. So was Jill.

Even Jill's beloved kitten was better than Lock.

There wasn't a lack of Soynites who were greater than Lock, but he was the only one with a Freeman army. He had a reason for being Free's leader.

Long before Jill's birth, Lock had murdered Vice Reaper.

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Jill had bought her royal status by being a baby who met Theo outside a spaceport during the invasion. Lock had bought his by cutting Vice's life short.

"I already can't wait to be finished with attacking that Freeman base," Vera said. "It's too close to us, as usual. And if Theo were here, we would have an easier time attacking it."

"You, Jill, and Cambridge will survive the attack," Jill's dad said. "Those pale antagonists won't eliminate the three of you. They're going to perish. That's going to happen soon. The three of you won't be dead in the near future. You'll live. A Freeman base is here. In this city. Your attack on that horrible place must go well. There are many Freeman bases on this planet, and there are many of them on Free. But each successful attack on a Freeman base is still wonderful. Lock Tannis isn't dead. Not yet. But we can weaken his empire in the meantime. We can do that."

The Freeman empire. It was Lock's. It belonged to him, and so did the Red Throne.

"Maybe Hailey will inherit that empire," Jill said. "If I don't kill Lock Tannis, Hailey might."

"Perhaps," her dad said. "Vera, what do you think?"

"If Hailey is still a pacifist, she might never kill Lock," Vera said. "But if she isn't, if she's willing to kill, maybe there's a chance. Perhaps she's already a killer. We all know that we need her to be. If she becomes the new leader of planet Free, I'll just have to worry about ambitious people wanting to kill her. Every former Great Leader became a murder victim."

Jill had never met Hailey, and she had never seen her. But the High didn't want her to get killed by a Freeman or an ambitious non-Freeman. Hailey deserved to die of old age. Not murder.

"I understand your concern, Vera," Jill's dad said. "You don't want Hailey to be murdered. You don't want anyone to kill her. I feel the same way about Jill. I raised her and you raised Hailey, and we don't want any harm to come to these mentees of ours. No Watcher should outlive the person they had been tasked with mentoring. It would be horrible."

"You should go see her," Jill said. "Before we attack the Freeman base, I mean. It's not too late to see if she went back home."

Home.

Hailey had left the space station she had lived inside for years, and Vera had done the same. Jill lived in Honolulu, Hawaii. She had lived in Egypt, South Korea, and other places.

Vera shook her head.

"If I return to Hailey without Theo, she would still be mad at me," she said. "I think that if I show up with Theo, Hailey would forgive me. Maybe. Could she really stay mad if I bring her father back to her? Theo isn't just a friend I care about. He's a peace offering."

"You don't need him to earn Hailey's forgiveness," Jill's dad said. "You're a Watcher. Watchers are supposed to be resourceful and clever. We solve problems."

Vera rubbed her forehead, and a sigh left her mouth.

"Form a plan," Jill's dad said. "You can do it. Think of a way to please Hailey without reuniting her with Theo. Can you achieve that?"

"Yes, I can," Vera said.

Jill hadn't spoken to Theo, but Vera and Hailey had. The Watcher and her mentee had spent more time with him than Jill had. Hailey was the man's daughter. Vera was his friend.

But Hailey had left her. Years ago, the girl's father had done the same to the woman.

Hero and his siblings had tried taking Jill away from her dad, Vera, Cambridge, and the adorable Dexter. Jill hadn't planned on going with the Shame children on her own free will.

Wherever that group of siblings was now, Jill might smile if someone had told her they had found their father.

If her own father had gone missing, Jill would hold tight to the desire to reunite with him.

The anger Hailey had for Vera was understandable.

Brown-haired, brown-eyed Soynites sat in the library. They were far from the blonde-haired, blue-eyed Hailey. A few days ago, it hadn't been that way for Vera. She and Hailey had been close. They had been near each other.

Vera and Hailey had spent most of their time inside a space station, one that was blue and huge. That home with a population of two had become one with a population of one, and then zero.

The Bloodhound was with Jill's family.

As for Theo's third child, Vera didn't know where she was. Neither did Jill.

"I don't know how long Hailey will stay mad at me," Vera said, keeping her hands against the table. "But I do know that I first held her years ago. Thirteen years ago, to be specific. That was before the invasion happened, before the Freemans murdered so many innocent Soynites. They came to the Soynite royal palace with Strife weapons, and I remember carrying Hailey while those horrible Freemans were attacking. It wasn't my home. But I had spent a lot of my time inside the royal palace. Hailey was a toddler back then. I remember when I saw her for the first time. When I saw her for the last time, she was angry. She was mad at me."

She tapped her fingers against the table. The light cloaked Jill, her dad, and Vera, the Watcher who had disappointed Hailey.

"You shouldn't let her be mad at you forever," Jill said.

"She's right, Vera," Jill's dad said. "You have to make an effort to please Hailey. You need to. This universe is a dangerous place, and we can perish at any moment. Do you want to die without being on good terms with Hailey?"

"No," Vera said. "Of course not."

She sat across Jill at a table inside a mansion. The Bloodhound, the High, and the Watcher-father were in a huge and lavish home.

Where was Hailey?

"You're distant from her," Jill's dad said. "Just like how Hero and his brothers and sisters are distant from their father. Being so far from a loved one is horrible. In short, make amends with Hailey. You have to do that, Vera."

Vera pulled an object from her pants pocket. She placed it on the table, and the light shone against its white roundness.

A Soynite teleportation stone.

"Okay," Vera said. "I've been convinced. Hailey might have gone back to our space station, and I should see her. This universe is a dangerous place. You said that, Joseph, and you're right about that. Perhaps I'll die while attacking the Freeman base in this city. Before I do, I intend to see Hailey again. But I can't just see her. I have to get her to forgive me. And if she's there, Zoey might be there, too."

"Zoey isn't like those companions of hers, hopefully," Jill's dad said. "Hero and his siblings need to be clever and avoid coming back here."

Jill looked at the table.

"Dad," she said. "Vera. Why do you think they tried to kidnap me? I know they want to find their father, I mean. But why did they need me, specifically? Did they try to take me because I'm a High?"

Vera grabbed the teleportation stone, but she didn't leave.

"In retrospect, it's obvious why that family came for you, Jill," Vera said, holding the teleportation stone between her index finger and thumb. "I wasn't here when you met them, but I heard enough to come up with a theory. They brought a Pure test ball, right?"

"Yeah," Jill said.

"Yes," her dad said. "They did. Hero and Sydney saw it turn red when Jill caught it. I remember. Hero tossed it to her."

The Pure test ball had changed from blue to red, because of Jill. A Pure.

"Jill is a Pure," Vera said. "The Shame siblings tried to kidnap her, but they didn't try to kidnap anyone else. They wanted Jill because she's a Pure."

Hero and Sydney hadn't kneeled for Jill. Not only had they refused to get on their knees for their High, but they had tried taking her. The Shame kids had tried kidnapping Jill because of what she had been born as. It was Vera's theory.

"And they're working for someone, correct?" Jill's dad said. "Their backpacks all had the same symbol. Each of them was white with a yellow circle. The symbol might have been a simple backpack design, but there's a possibility Hero and his siblings work for someone. Or a group. Why else would that family all have backpacks that look alike? It's as if Hero and his siblings are people who work at the same place. Those kids work for someone. Or a group."

"That someone, or that group, wants Pures," Vera said. She frowned. "Hailey is a Pure. We need to warn her. We need to warn her about Hero and his siblings."

She stood.

"We need to leave," she said. "Now."

"What about Cambridge?" Jill said. "Shouldn't we tell him where we're going?"

"I'll remain here," her dad said. "I'll explain everything to him. Jill, do you want to stay here, too?"

"I want to go with Vera. And I want to meet Hailey."

Jill stood. Her dad stood. Vera was still on her feet, holding the object that could take her to the home she shared with a girl named Hailey.

"What if she isn't at the space station?" Jill said.

"If she's not at the space station, I'll have to go on a mission to find her," Vera said. "Right now, we have to see if she's there."

Jill faced the man in the room. "Bye, Dad."

Her father, standing close, kissed her brown hair.

If good luck was on Jill's side, the man would do that again in the future. Vera had mentioned Freemans had infiltrated her space station in the past.

"Come back safe, my child," Jill's dad said.

"Jill," Vera said. "Are you ready?"

"Yeah." Jill said.

It was time for her to go into a space station, a place that might have Hailey Majestic.