"Mother," Zoey said.

She had teleported into a bedroom, one within the spaceship her mother owned.

Past the circular window was outer space, a massive void, the place Hailey had traveled in after abandoning Vera.

Zoey's mother had never been a Bloodhound.

After kidnapping Zoey, her mother had left Soy. A Bloodhound team had searched for the stolen infant, but no one in the group had found her. The spaceship carrying Alice had continued its flight through outer space. Misty All had kept the baby Endman.

No matter what her grandfather had said, Zoey was Misty's daughter. Zoey stood behind her mother.

Blue walls and a blue floor surrounded Zoey, not Soy's air. She had stood on a ruined land. Her grandfather had hovered above it, flying over dirt that housed no grass. He could've blasted lasers into Freemans on Soy's green grass, but he had decided not to. He had revived his friendship with Lock, and only one former High wanted to bring grass and trees back to Soy.

That man couldn't help Zoey. He couldn't even assist his daughter Hailey.

Zodiac Angel. He was another former Soynite ruler.

Zoey had gone away from him. She had teleported to the spot where she had reunited with her grandfather. She had retrieved her gun, and then she had teleported into her mother's home.

Bathed in the bright glow, Misty turned to Zoey. The woman smiled.

"My baby has returned," Zoey's mother said.

Zoey set her laser pistol on the nightstand.

Her mother went near her, and they embraced. Between them was the pendant Zoey wore, the one her birth parents had given her when she was a baby. Her grandfather had touched it. He had recognized it as Alice Endman's pendant. Maybe Archer and Holly would touch it again, too.

"Did you find your parents?" Zoey's mother said, holding her.

"Just this one," Zoey said.

"That's okay. I'm so glad that I can hug you again."

The embrace reached its end, and Zoey's mother kissed her forehead. She caressed the girl's cheek. A reunion had come, not slaps.

"There's so much I have to tell you," Zoey said. "I've been living with Hero and his siblings. We're living inside their spaceship, and it's parked on Soy."

"What about Lena and Betty?" her mother said.

"Hailey tried to kill Lena," Zoey said. Her mother clenched her fists, but she didn't strike the girl. Zoey wasn't the person she wanted to hurt. "After you left, Hailey and her mother, Lilly, came to the space station. Lilly used Vamp to make Betty go unconscious. Hailey tried to kill Lena after that, but I stopped her. I slit her throat."

A shuddering breath left Zoey, as if Theo Majestic had pierced her flesh with a jagged icicle. Theo had hurled icicles into Freemans' eyeballs. Hailey had told Zoey about that.

"It's okay," Zoey's mother said. She patted her arm. "Take your time."

"Hailey healed herself," Zoey said. "I need you to know that I had to hurt her, Mother. If I hadn't done that, she would've assassinated Lena. I convinced her not to kill Lena, though. That's why my sister is still alive. And Lilly met her. Lena tried to beat her to death, but she wasn't able to. Lilly adopted her."

Standing near the bed, Zoey's mother kept her slim arms crossed. She couldn't look at her former stepdaughter, the High who couldn't see anyone.

"Lena went to live with Lilly and Hailey at their space station," Zoey said. "I left Betty yesterday. I went to Soy, and that's how I reunited with Hero and his brothers and sisters. They treat me well, Mother."

"Better than I've treated you, I hope," her mother said, as Zoey rubbed her own arms.

"Hero is my boyfriend now."

During her time away from her mother, in Washington, Zoey had shot a Freeman to save Hero. He had defended her from Wade, Everett, Macy, and Kat.

Hero had earned the kisses Zoey had given him.

"I can't think of a better boyfriend for you," her mother said. "You deserve to have someone like him. You need good people in your life, Zoey, especially after all those times I was cruel to you. You're not like how I was. You were never cruel."

Cruelty.

Zoey's grandfather was the reason why Crammer would never hug her again. He had killed her friend.

And her mother had stolen her from the Endman family, and she had assaulted Zoey's life with slaps and harsh words. Misty doubled as her abductor and former abuser.

Soynites could be cruel.

Zoey had tried firing blue lasers into her grandfather, but she had missed. She knew what it was like to fail to kill Zodiac Angel. So did Lock Tannis.

"You don't have to find your birth parents," Zoey's mother said. "You can stay here. I'm never going to hurt you again, and I want you to know that. I need you to."

"I can't stay here," Zoey said. Her mother sat on the bed, and rubbed her forehead. "I have a boyfriend, and I want to help him find his father. Hero is just like me. He knows what it's like to have a dead father, but he also knows what it's like to have a living one. Mitch Shame is out there, and I want to meet him. I also have to find Archer and Holly. They miss me."

Her mother held her hand.

"I missed you," Zoey's mother said. "I want Archer and Holly to have their girl again, but I want her, too."

"The three of you can't have me at the same time, Mother," Zoey said. "You're dealing with quite a dilemma."

"Yes, I am," her mother said. "Regardless, I know where you deserve to be. And it's not here with me. You don't belong here. Holly should be holding your hand, not me. She's the mother you need to be with. I told you that you don't have to find your parents, and I know that. But I know who they deserve. You."

Warmth from her hand mixed with Zoey's. Sixteen years ago, she had taken Holly's baby. The kidnapper hadn't forgotten she had stolen the Endman family's joy. Zoey hadn't forgotten it.

"You're always welcome to stay here," Zoey's mother said. "Either way, the truth won't leave. Archer and Holly need you."

She stopped holding Zoey's hand.

"But I need you," Zoey said. "I forgive everything that you've done to me. I don't plan on staying with you, but I want you to know that I forgive you. And I'm always going to love you. My loyalty to my kidnapper is stunning, I know."

Her mother put her bare feet onto the bed. She moved onto her back. Hero's bed had become Zoey's.

"My child is better than I am," Zoey's mother said. "That much is obvious. You're going to die as a good person, Zoey."

Crammer had died.

Zoey's grandfather had killed him. She had opened fire, but her laser beams hadn't torn into his body.

"I'm sorry about what happened to Crammer," Zoey said, as if her apology would destroy the fact her grandfather had murdered her friend. Her mother's closest one. "He wasn't always nice, but he was decent enough. When you found out that Boris Endman died, I wanted to comfort you. Crammer didn't let me."

"He was worried that I would accidentally reveal that you're Boris's granddaughter," Zoey's mother said. "Back in that lounge room, when I thought that Boris was dead, there was someone I wanted more than I wanted Crammer. I needed my baby girl. You, Zoey. On the day we met Crammer, I whispered the truth to him. I told him who you are. I told him who you really are. Now he's gone. You're still here, though. So is Lena."

Zoey grabbed the framed photograph sitting on the nightstand. It displayed her mother and Zoey as a baby. The woman held her, the girl who had become a High's sister.

Lena. She had discarded her Fly surname and adopted Majestic as her family name. The girl couldn't fly, but she could call herself a Majestic and be honest about it.

"People can argue with me about whether or not she's my sister," Zoey said. She returned the framed photograph to its spot. "But I know that we can pick family. Lena is my sister, and she's also Theo Majestic's daughter. Lilly chose her, and I was there when it happened. Lilly held me when I was a baby. So did Theo. I've loved him for years, but I spent a long time not knowing that me and him had already met. He was my grandfather's best friend."

On Soy, Boris Endman and Lena's second father had fought. The invasion had been over by then.

Soy's destruction had come. It had left. Theo had vanished, and he hadn't returned. Without the universe's most powerful Soynite on her side, Zoey had faced her grandfather alone.

No toddler Hailey. No Vera. No Theo.

Lilly had made a blind High into her daughter. If the woman reunited with Theo, she could have a fifth biological child.

Anne was the youngest Majestic. She didn't have to be the youngest one forever.

"But Theo and Boris aren't friends anymore," Zoey said. "And Boris was horrible. He joined Lock Tannis. He's dead now, but Lock isn't."

Zoey took off her shoes, and she removed her socks. She moved onto the bed. Kneeling, she put a hand on her mother's shoulder.

Her mother laughed, but Zoey didn't. Her mother's brown hair touched the pillow beneath her head.

Was Holly on a bed?

Zoey kneeled near the woman who had taken her from Holly. Lilly had left Betty's space station with Lena, but Zoey's sister had departed on her own free will. A long time ago, Zoey's mother had forced her to go with her. The girl hadn't been able to put up a fight when she was a baby.

Earlier, her grandfather had found her.

Omar had done what a team of Bloodhounds hadn't been able to do after Zoey's kidnapping. He had located Alice Endman.

More than a decade ago, Zoey's mother had carved out her desire to hug Boris. What had made her do that?

A vision of the future.

Holly hadn't learned the identity of her daughter's abductor, Zoey assumed. The woman had never discovered the harsh extent of how much Misty hated Boris.

"Boris Endman is dead," Zoey lied.

She couldn't fight fate, but she could lie.

"You know that, right?" Zoey said. "Boris is gone. My grandfather is dead."

Her mother sat up.

"I never saw his body," she said. "If Boris is dead, where is his corpse? Why haven't I seen it? You and all of those people outside of this spaceship can think that Boris is dead. Not me, though."

Zoey clutched the comforter. Hero and his siblings might furrow their brows if Zoey revealed Boris Endman was alive. Because they believed he was as dead as their mothers.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Why couldn't Zoey's mother accept the lie as the truth?

A hand caressed Zoey's cheek.

"I love you," her mother said. "I'm not going to hurt you anymore. I took you away from your family, and I hurt you. I did. But I don't have to hurt you to hurt Boris Endman. There are other ways I can bring him pain, and I'm going to do that. I'm going to do everything in my power to hurt your grandfather. I haven't killed Boris. Yet. And when I finally get rid of him, I will be so happy. I'm going to kill him. You can't fight fate."

"What if it's not your destiny to kill Boris?" Zoey said.

Her mother didn't slap her.

"Zoey, it's my destiny to kill your grandfather," Zoey's mother said. "I have to be his worst enemy and I already am. When you hate someone as much as I hate Boris, you have to get rid of them. Kidnapping his granddaughter and abusing her wasn't enough. I have to kill him. I need to."

"Since you hate Boris so much, why didn't you just kill his granddaughter?!" Zoey said, her hands trembling.

If her mother had murdered her a long time ago, what would be different now?

In life, Zoey had Hailey's throat, to rescue Lena. Had that been Zoey's most heroic moment? When she saved Hero inside a Freeman base, had that been her greatest deed?

Her mother went in front of her. "I could never kill you."

"But abusing me was okay?" Zoey said. Lena's mother shrouded her mind. "Lilly is out there. Why couldn't you be more like her? She knew that Lena hurt Hailey, but she adopted her anyway. When Lena became Lilly's daughter, that woman didn't hurt her again. She didn't. You hurt me. You took me away from my family. And now you're so eager to get yourself killed."

"Why are you so eager to protect your kidnapper?!" Zoey's mother said. "I took you away from your real parents. I hurt you. Instead of hating me, you love me. Stop trying to protect a monster."

Lock Tannis was a monster. Not Zoey's mother.

"You're my mother!" Zoey said. "You saved my life. More than once, too. Holly is my mother, but she's not the person who raised me and let me live with my friends. Is she? Is she?!"

"Holly loves you," Zoey's mother said. "That's what matters. She never hurt you, and neither did Archer. Your father."

"Boone was more of a father to me than Archer ever was."

A throwing knife had severed Boone's connection to life. If it hadn't, he might have gone to Soy with Zoey and seen her reunion with the Shame children.

"Your stepfather was wonderful, wasn't he?" Zoey's mother said. "We both know how his daughter is, but Boone was great. And Lena has the potential to be. I'm grateful that I kneeled for her. I'm also grateful for you, my only child. Me and Father might have another one. For now, you're the only child I have. Still, we know the truth. Me and you. You didn't come from me."

"That's right," Zoey said. "I came from Holly. And you need to stop believing that her father-in-law is still alive. Because he isn't. And if you keep hunting that dead man, you're going to die."

"How?"

Zodiac Angel. Would he bring Zoey's mother the demise she had avoided for decades?

If Zoey hadn't pulled that lever when she was eleven, her grandfather would've remained in Freeman custody. Maybe he would have died and decomposed inside the prison cell.

The truth. What was the truth?

Zoey had delivered her grandfather his freedom. Liberated, he had killed Crammer.

Zoey rubbed her own arms.

"You hate a corpse," she said. "If you don't want to end up like Crammer, don't look for Boris. You'll just find a dead body anyway."

Like Hero and his siblings, Zoey's mother hadn't learned Lock Tannis and Boris Endman had clashed. They had fought. Boris had survived, and he had changed his name to Zodiac Angel. Lock had lied about Boris being dead.

"Crammer is dead," Zoey's mother said. "I do know that. I saw his body in my vision, his corpse. There has been talk of Boris being dead, too, but people can lie. After all, didn't I lie about being your biological mother?"

The woman had lied. She had been untruthful, but no one forced her to keep her hatred for Zoey's grandfather alive.

She held onto Zoey's arms.

"Your grandfather is alive and well," Zoey's mother said. "Somewhere. No matter what you say to me, I'm going to find Boris. And you know what I plan to do to him when I track him down. You know."

"I don't want you to do it," Zoey said.

"I want to."

"You don't have to."

Zoey had tried disposing of her grandfather, but he had flown to safety. He had fired a laser beam, and the violent yellow had blasted through Omar's lifeless heart.

"If Boris were alive, you wouldn't be able to kill him," Zoey said. "That time you finally fought my grandfather was your last opportunity to, but you failed. You didn't kill him back then. And you never will. You lost, Mother."

"I lost that fight with Boris, yes," Zoey's mother said. "But one loss doesn't mean permanent failure. My purpose in life is to kill Boris Endman. For way too long, he has been alive. He's not the corpse that you claim he is. There are people who deserve to live. You. Your stepfather. Crammer. What gives Boris the right to live? During the invasion, we were trying to survive. While all of that was happening, where was your grandfather, Zoey? Where was he? He definitely wasn't with you. No, Boris betrayed his people. He left his family to die."

Zoey's mother smiled.

"When I kill Boris, our people will see me as a true hero," she said.

"Even if he had been a good person, you would've tried to kill him," Zoey said.

"You can't fight fate, Zoey."

Her mother turned her back on her.

"Just give up," Zoey said, as her mother headed toward the bed. "Boris is dead and he's never coming back!"

Hands grabbed her arms, and Zoey's mother forced her toward the bed. The girl struggled.

"Get off of me!" she said.

"You need to calm down!" her mother replied. She moved Zoey onto the bed, then straddled her. Her mother pinned her arms against the comforter's softness. "I love you, but I'm not going to do what you want. I know he's alive. Your grandfather."

"He's dead."

Zoey's mother released her arms. She moved onto her side next to Zoey, and grabbed the pendant she had given the girl.

Her grandfather had touched it. The fact Zoey wore Alice Endman's pendant gave more evidence she was Holly's abducted daughter.

Zoey had worn the pendant when she slit Hailey's throat. She had made Theo's daughter bleed.

The man himself had become a former High. That had happened to Zoey's grandfather, too. Many years ago, Supreme High Theo Majestic had given six boys royal power, and he had taken it from them.

No Soynite needed to kneel in respect for Theo, Boris, Don, or the other former Highs. Their royal authority had vanished. It had crumbled.

Theo had turned his daughters Nova and Lena into Highs, Soynite rulers. He had left Hailey as an ordinary girl.

Yet Zoey had gotten on her knees for her.

Maybe Zoey wouldn't be the last person to kneel for Hailey.

Lena. Reese. Cape. Aris. Path. Kara.

The six Highs. Zoey had met one of them, but she knew all six deserved to live.

Zoey had helped Lena navigate a space station's halls and rooms. She had protected the gray-eyed Soynite, and Zoey had spilled blood to do it. A Majestic's blood. Zoey had served High Lena well.

Reese, Cape, Aris, Path, and Kara had been outside that spaceport while Soy's invasion raged. Theo had made them into Highs. His rulers.

Lena. She wasn't the only High.

Zoey would have to kneel for Reese, Cape, Aris, Path, and Kara. In the future, those five leaders might frown if they shared a room with Lena. Plus, Zoey had slit Hailey's throat. She had wounded Reese's younger sister, to defend Lena.

If Reese learned what Zoey had done to Hailey, what would the blonde High do to her?

Zoey had attacked Hailey, but she hadn't killed her.

Hailey was alive. Zoey hoped so, at least. She loved Hailey and the blonde girl loved her. After meeting Zoey, Reese might treat her like Lena did.

"Whether Boris is alive or not, you will always be his granddaughter," Zoey's mother said. She let go of the pendant. "And I will always be his worst enemy. It's fate."

Zoey moved onto her side.

"Fighting Boris that one time was your destiny," Zoey said, facing her mother. "Fate isn't forcing you to fight him again. It's not forcing you to be his worst enemy. Quit it, Mother. This is going to get you killed."

"If you think I'm going to die like Crammer, stop thinking that," Zoey's mother said. "I survived a fight with your grandfather before, and I'm going to survive my next one with him. My body won't be riddled with laser beams."

Zoey's grandfather had blasted Omar's heart with a laser beam. The Bloodhound hadn't been alive when it happened, but Zoey's grandfather could fire death-bringing lasers. His Save could make hearts stop.

He had killed Crammer, but he hadn't killed Zoey.

Sixteen years ago, Zoey and her grandfather had met for the first time.

Zoey's mother had kidnapped the young Endman, and eleven years had gone by. Zoey had reunited with her grandfather inside a Freeman space station. She had pulled a lever. That deed had let Zodiac Angel loose. He had murdered Crammer Cole less than a week ago, but the former High had let Zoey live. Crammer had been alive.

But his final meeting with Zoey's grandfather had come.

His liberation had been Zoey's work. Due to what she had done when she was an eleven-year-old, she had caused a chain of events. Those happenings had led to Crammer's death.

Zoey hadn't been with Lena when her sight died and her Saves abandoned her.

If an enemy pierced Lena's chest, would Hailey be with her?

Wherever Lena and Hailey were, Zoey couldn't see either of them. Her brown-eyed gaze didn't land on her blind sibling or that High's sister.

Wherever those two were, they didn't deserve to bleed from sword wounds.

Cape, Aris, Path, and Kara needed to stay safe.

Zoey had seen photographs of them, the pictures Hailey had brought to Betty's space station. The six Highs weren't as young as they had been during the invasion.

Boris Endman had grown his hair longer, gotten a beard, and he had changed his voice. Zodiac Angel wasn't the only Soynite with leadership experience who didn't look the way he did during the Freemans' attack on Soy.

Eleven years ago, a High had sported green eyes. They had turned gray. Pale gray.

Once, not long ago, Zoey had seen her for the first time. She had kneeled for the High, spoke polite words to her, held her hand, and she had done what she could to be a good sister.

Lena and Hailey were family to each other. The sightless ruler had tried beating Lilly to death, and she had failed. Lilly could've buried Hailey's dagger into Lena's chest, but she had made the girl her fifth child. The woman had shown mercy. She had two Highs in her family.

The Endman family had zero. It hadn't always been that way, and the man Zoey had tried killing knew it.

"You don't have to hate Boris," Zoey said, as her mother stroked her cheek with her thumb. The finger brought warmth. Zoey didn't bring the woman's hatred for Boris to an end. She needed to. "You have to stop wanting to kill a dead man. He's gone. Boris is gone forever."

"Why are you lying?" Zoey's mother said. "You might not know the truth, but I do. I know it."

"You need to accept that Boris is dead. He's as dead as Crammer. Even if he were alive, Boris would kill you. He was a powerful man. He was able to fly, too. Really fast. You don't even have Strife, Mother. And talking about what you have to do to kill Boris is pointless. You can't kill someone who's already dead."

"You don't think I know that? Listen, Zoey. Boris isn't like Crammer. And he's not like your father Boone. What happened to them never happened to your grandfather. He's somewhere. He's out there, alive and breathing, with a beating heart. I need to stop it. It's my purpose."

Purpose. What was Zoey's purpose?

Right now, hers was to convince her mother to destroy her hatred for Boris.

Would she spend the rest of her life craving Boris's death? Or would she lose the urge to kill him, before the day died?

"Can't your purpose be to love me forever?" Zoey said.

"Who said it isn't?" her mother said. She caressed the girl's hair. "You can have more than one purpose, Zoey. One of your purposes is to find your birth parents. But you have more than just one, right?"

On her side, Zoey nodded.

"Boris isn't good," Zoey's mother said. "That's a statement of fact. What we know is that he betrayed his own people. How many innocent Soynites died during the invasion? So many. Too many. Instead of helping his people, Boris stayed as Lock's ally. Right?"

"Yes," Zoey said. "Boris joined Lock before the invasion started, and he didn't help any of the Soynites who weren't with Lock."

Theo. While Boris and other former Highs maintained their friendship with Lock, Theo had gone to the outside of a spaceport, and he had turned six normal children into royals.

Reese. She had been Theo's daughter for sixteen years. Lena had been his child for less than a week.

Anne. Summer had stolen her. She and Zoey's mother could never go back to the time when they hadn't kidnapped babies.

Who would return Anne to Lilly?

Nick. Where was he?

Misty had been inside Holly's home. The tall woman hadn't left without baby Alice.

"Boris didn't help you," Zoey's mother said. She put a hand on her daughter's arm. "I did. Me and your stepfather were with you when the Freemans were attacking our planet, and we kept you safe. Not your grandfather. You might think that people can change into better people, but Boris will never change for the better. Someone needs to kill him. That someone is going to be me."

"It doesn't have to be," Zoey said.

"You're wrong."

Zoey turned her back on her mother.

On the day she met Zoey, Hailey had slaughtered more than one Freeman. She had rescued Lena. Hailey had severed her connection with her pacifism. Would Zoey's mother discard her horrible wish?

The skin on Zoey's arm didn't succumb to fire. Did smoke rise from her skin? No. And she preferred to stay far from Ruth's fire.

Zoey left the bed, as if being so close to her mother would bring the ruthless Ruth back into her life.

"You don't have to go," Zoey's mother said.

"You're wrong," said Zoey.

She turned, and her mother got off the bed. Like the girl had done. Zoey's laser pistol sat on the nightstand. She would have to grab it, and take it back to the fastest Soynite spaceship. Her home.

Zoey put on her socks, and then she wore her shoes.

"I know I haven't always been good to you," Zoey's mother said. "I was cruel. I really was, and I know that. I was cruel to you. I was cruel to my baby. If you ever start hating me because of what I've done to you, I would understand. You were never a harsh person. I was, though. You're safe with me. And that's what I need you to understand. You don't have to leave so soon."

"I want to leave so soon," Zoey said. She pointed her thumb at the wall behind her. "I have to go to my best friend."

"You have a boyfriend and friends now. All of that feels good, right?"

Zoey sighed.

"I don't have to talk to you, Mother," she said. "But I'm doing it right now. And you don't have to hate my grandfather. We're two people who are doing things we don't have to do."

"I'm sorry, but you can't fight fate," Zoey's mother said. "None of us can. Regardless, I love you, Zoey."

Zoey grabbed her gun.

"Did you hear what I said?" her mother asked.

"Why does it matter?" Zoey said. She shook her head at a slow pace. "I have to go."

She moved a hand into her pants pocket, the one that contained her teleportation stone. Her mother's facial expression made it seem as if Zoey had thrown the object against her face.

"You're hurting me now, but I know you'll come back to me," Zoey's mother said. She pressed her hands against her girl's arms, and kissed her cheeks. "I meant what I said, baby."

Zoey teleported.

The room she stood in possessed a bed, a desk, a chair, and a framed photograph of Mitch Shame that sat on the nightstand.

Sydney Shame.

She was on her back, underneath the comforter. Her blue eyes were closed. Her hands weren't covered. Resting on one of her palms was a photograph of Mitch.

Zoey went near the sleeping Sydney.

"I know you miss your father," Zoey whispered. She stroked Sydney's blonde hair. "You're going to find him, and I'm going to find mine."

She didn't have to become more powerful to be with Sydney. They were together.

Zoey kissed Sydney's cheek, as if someone had told her the gesture would reunite them with their fathers.

But Mitch didn't step into the space. And Archer didn't embrace Zoey.

A kidnapper had kissed Zoey's cheek after slapping it, but the girl hadn't slammed a hand against Sydney. Imagining herself slapping the blonde made her frown.

"I'm never going to hurt you," Zoey whispered.

Red blood had spilled from Hailey's throat. Hailey had healed the wound. Not Zoey.

Sydney. No dagger-wielding girl had opened her throat. She breathed with a rhythm, her hands relaxed, wearing no glare. No frown.

Zoey's abductor had frowned. She had departed from that woman, and now Zoey stood in Sydney's room. She had returned to the spaceship, which carried no kidnappers.

The girl stroked blonde hair.

"Have a nice nap," Zoey said. "I love you, Sydney."