I looked up to the darkening sky to see the shapes of two crescent moons and a half moon peaking through the treetops of the Imperial Garden. I don’t know how long we’d been outside, but the day was now faded to twilight. I had been too busy learning and working through a handful of exercises to hopefully help me release the adaptable locks.

Most of them were just about being more mindful, especially of my experiences and surroundings. Master Kiev also showed me how to dive a little deeper if something came up as being familiar. We actually worked on that exercise the longest. I spent what seemed like hours gazing at the Zahn family crest he had brought up on a tablet.

The only thing that had done was bring up my still simmering anger at having the mark on my skin. I opted not to share that with Master Kiev. So far he had been immensely helpful, but I wasn’t sure how he felt about the Zahn family, and I didn’t want him to think I was some spoiled brat that didn’t appreciate his family origins.

Even though the exercise was a bust, I was grateful that I had some tools I could use to help me release my locks. It made me feel at least a little bit more in control of my life, even if it was only a small bit.

“It is getting quite late. We should adjourn for the evening,” Master Kiev replied as he stood up from the bench and slipped the tablet into an inside pocket of his brown coat.

“Thank you, this has been helpful,” I said as I too stood up.

Kiev began walking back to the main path of the garden and I followed. “Of course. I only wish I could have done more. I know this must be frustrating for you. I am actually surprised that Aragon did not release the locks himself. I can understand the locks being important when you were a child, but you certainly are no longer that.”

“He really didn’t have the opportunity. Everything happened so fast. In fact, he tried to give himself up so I could stay where I was. He said he was going to tell them I had died when our ship had crash-landed.”

Kiev looked to me with a raised eyebrow. “What would possess him to do such a thing? Even if he had been successful in giving himself up, they would have done a mind probe to discover the truth. They certainly wouldn’t have taken his word for it.”

I shrugged my shoulders. “I don’t know, but he seemed convinced he could make it work.”

Kiev was quiet for a long moment. Too long in fact. I peered at him through the gathering night to see the contemplative look on his face.

“What? What is it?” I asked.

“I don’t mean to pry, Highness, but if Aragon was trying to intervene on your behalf, how did you end up on Admiral Vang’s ship?”

“Well, I guess I should start at the beginning. This may take a minute, unless you have somewhere else to be?”

“No, I feel this is important. Perhaps, we can convene to the courtyard and order some dinner before you start your tale.”

My stomach took that opportunity to grumble, reminding me it had been quite some time since lunch. “That is a good idea.”

Master Kiev led us through the garden to a large open area with a handful of tables and chairs scattered around a large fountain of a white-stone man, and from his cupped hands water cascaded into a circular pool around him. Small circular lights surrounded the pool and were also scattered strategically throughout the courtyard, giving off just enough light to set a cozy and quiet ambience.

“This is really nice, but how are we going to get food out here?” I asked.

Master Kiev had already taken out his tablet and began tapping away at it. “I’m ordering something from the kitchen now. It should be out shortly.”

He slipped the tablet away again and gestured to table close by. “I hope you don’t mind if I ordered for you. I assume you haven’t had much time to get used to our food?”

I shook my head. “I had tasteless gruel on Vang’s ship, and have only had a handful of meals since I got here. I’m sure whatever your ordered is fine.”

Master Kiev chuckled. “Yes, I have heard the stories of the Admiral feeding his men that nasty stuff. It’s full of nutrients and proteins needed for fueling the body, but leaves little to be desired taste wise. Rumors has it, he serves it because he himself eats it on a regular basis, and he assumes that’s whatever is good for him is good for his men too.”

I snorted at that. “Yep, that sounds like Vang alright. So you are telling me most Ethians don’t eat that stuff?”

Master Kiev laughed again. “Only those who can’t afford a real meal. Now tell me how you came to be with us today.”

I hesitated a moment, wondering how much I should tell him and remembering what had happened the last time I had opened up to someone. But Kiev sat there so earnest to help me, and I realized that I couldn’t keep myself walled off forever. And I had already surmised from Vang and my father that it would be difficult for me to have real conversations with people. So I decided to take a chance and plunged right into the story of the day my world changed forever. I started with that fateful conference meeting and the television newscast that started it all.

Partway through my telling, our food arrived. It was delivered by two servants who placed trays in front of Kiev and me, and then disappeared as if they were never there. I barely paid attention to my food as I continued my story, though the aroma made my stomach growl even louder than before.

Kiev picked at his food while I talked. Somewhere in the back of my mind it registered that the Master Mind Bender didn’t seem to have a problem sharing a table with me as he ate. I certainly appreciated that.

Shortly, I came to the ending with me frantically placing my half-comatose dad on the sofa of the farm house before making a mad dash out to the meadow clearing.

The evening around us was suddenly silent as I stopped talking. I decided to take the opportunity to eat what was in front of me. I didn’t recognize anything on the tray. So I decided to just jump in and see how it went. I plunged my fork into what looked like a casserole of some kind. It was white with bits of green and yellow mixed in. When I popped it into my mouth, it tasted hearty and meaty. It kind of reminded me of shepherd’s pie.

I took several bites before I realized that Kiev had yet to say anything. I looked over to him thinking maybe he was taking the opportunity to eat, but he had stopped picking at his food altogether, and he had a drawn expression on his face. I set my utensils down as I gave the man my full attention.

“Is there something wrong?” I asked.

Master Kiev looked to me. He gave me a small smile, but I could tell it was forced.

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“That is quite the story. I must say. And quite an interesting planet you were living on. But it’s the last bit that has me concerned. You say that Aragon was not responding to you in anyway, but he still appeared awake.”

It felt like my blood was freezing in my veins. Something was wrong. I had suspected it, but with everything going on, I hadn’t had much time to dwell on how I had left my dad.

“Yes?” I said hesitantly, not sure I wanted to know what was really wrong with him. What could I even do for him all the way in Ethia? But a deeper part wanted to know, no needed to know what was wrong with my dad. “Do you know what happened to him?”

Master Kiev nodded slowly. “I suspect I do, though I can’t say for sure without examining him myself. But what I do know is that if Aragon was confident that he could keep the truth from being revealed about you still being alive, even knowing he would undergo a mind probe, there really is only one thing he could have done.”

I realized I had been holding my breath. I let it out so I could speak. “And what is that?”

“He was attempting to create a closed lock on himself, so that he would forget about you entirely. If he did that, then no matter how much they worked a mental probe on him, they could never learn the truth about what had happened to you, at least not through him.”

“But they did learn about me. The Emperor has a whole database of information about my time on Earth when I talked to him yesterday. Aragon’s planned would not have worked.”

Master Kiev shrugged. “I’m sure Aragon would have accounted for that. I dare say, he probably had a emx device on him. All you have to do is get within three hundred feet of a data net, and you can kill it. And guess where the data net is located in those battle cruisers?”

I grunted. “Near the landing bay and that transporter thing they have?”

Master Kiev nodded. “All he had to do was wait until he was on the ship, hit the switch on the emx, and find a way to dispose of it after its use. The thing about data nets is they aren’t always reliable. Killing it with an emx would have created an error code. They wouldn’t have known it was dead until they sent a maintenance tech to look at it, and even then, they might have assumed the net had failed on its own without the help of an emx. If they didn’t see Aragon dispose of it, they may not have put two and two together.”

“You seem to know an awful lot about that kind of thing,” I said with a raised eyebrow.

Kiev chuckled. “Well, I should hope so. It’s our job at the College to teach the Protectors to be the best at all sorts of situations, to think on their feet, and to try to outthink the enemy. Aragon was exceptionally good at that part. It’s how he remained a Protector for King Rainus for sixty years, when the average life span of a Protector is significantly shorter than that.”

That made me stop for a minute. Sixty years? Exactly how old was my dad? It was definitely more than the fifty-five he claimed to be on his last birthday bash we threw for him. As Emmaline would say, “Liar. Liar. Pants on fire.” I put that aside to ponder later as I attempted to get myself back on track on our original topic.

“So they wouldn’t have known about me, or gotten any information about me?”

Master Kiev shrugged. “Maybe. Maybe not. Who is to say for sure? Things certainly could have gone wrong with that plan. And it sounds like something already did go wrong.”

It then dawned on me what Kiev had implied about my dad trying to put a closed lock on himself. “Wait, are you telling me that my dad was going to wipe all his memories permanently in order to keep them from finding me?”

“Yes, that’s exactly what I am saying.”

I sat back as I took that in. I didn’t know what to think or even say. That someone would go to such lengths for me. “I-I don’t even know what to say about that.”

Keiv looked solemn for a long moment before speaking. “I would say that he was dedicated to his duty to you.”

“I would never ask him to do such a thing.”

“Maybe not, but a Protector can and often do go to extreme lengths for their charges. It is what they do, after all.” Keiv was quiet for a minute longer before continuing. “I am more concerned about how you left him. If he was attempting to do a closed lock on himself, and he somehow lost his concentration while doing so, it would explain why he was in the state you described.”

“Will he be able to pull out of it?”

Kiev shook his head. “If he had another Mind Bender there to help him, possibly, but I very much doubt he has the ability to do it himself.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means that he will probably remain that way.”

My whole body felt like it had been put in a deep freeze. This is not what I wanted to hear. “There’s no possible way for him to come out of it?”

Master Kiev shook his head, a look of sympathy on his face. “Not that I know of. What you are describing is called the living death. It is a Mind Bender’s worst fear, and can happen to any one of us who are not careful when using our ability.

“Being able to manipulate the mind can be a dangerous thing, especially our own. It’s why many Mind Benders stick to using their talent on others and only on others. To avoid exactly what I fear has happened to Aragon.”

I sat stunned, but he wasn’t telling me what I had already been fearing myself. I had been holding out hope that what had happened to him was just a temporary thing. To hear Kiev tell me otherwise made me feel sick. Not only had my dad been willing to sacrifice everything for me, I had left him in a mental prison that he would probably never find his way out of.

It made me question why I had been doing any of this. If he was as far gone as Kiev said, he probably would never live a normal life again. So my family had not only lost me, but dad as well. I could only imagine what they must be going through right now.

I wish I was there with them. I wish that I could reverse what had happened to my dad, but even if I somehow found a way to get him help from another Mind Bender, then I would just be sentencing him to another horrible fate by the hands of my birth father.

Anger rolled through me. It was back with a vengeance. It wanted to scream. It wanted to kick and tear things apart. This wasn’t fair. Not to him. Not to me. I had cooperated so they wouldn’t go back for my dad. I did it to save the life of a man I respected and loved dearly.

But it didn’t even matter, now did it? He was as good as dead any ways. He was confined to a living death. A place he wouldn’t be in if it wasn’t for me. I had tried to save him. And I had failed.

My anger burned so hot I felt lightheaded and dizzy. The blue-black of the night seemed to shift before my eyes until I swear it had turned a deep shade of crimson. I felt rage at Vang. At the Emperor. But mostly as myself. I could no longer stay still. I could no longer just pretend everything was alright, and play along like a good little son returned to his long lost home. All I could do was act. I exploded to my feet and marched across the courtyard.

“Highness?” Master Kiev called from behind me. “What’s wrong? Where are you going?”

But I didn’t stop to answer him. A small part of me felt bad for just leaving him, he had done nothing but help me, which I truly appreciated, but I couldn’t stop, I didn’t want to stop. That nagging feeling I usually had to be nice and to explain myself was swept away like it was nothing.

Wasn’t that how I had gotten myself in this whole situation in the first place? Because I was too nice? Because I wanted to appear polite, respectful, and dutiful? Sure, part of it was fear for my dad, but if I was truly honest with myself, it just seemed like the easier thing to do, to go along for the ride.

I was done going along for the ride.

Moments later, I found myself back in the palace. The place felt stifling after being in the garden all afternoon. Part of me wanted to go back out and enjoy the evening, the other part of me turned to face one of my guards who had followed me back into the palace.

“I want to see the Emperor. Take me to him,” I demanded, leaving it clear I wasn’t asking.

The guard stood there for a moment with his mouth partway open like he wasn’t sure what was going on, or what to say. It annoyed the shit out of me, but instead of wasting time with this guy, I whirled around and began marching up the corridor again.

“Wait, Highness. He’s retired to his bed chambers by now. He won’t want to be disturbed,” the guard called after me.

“I don’t care.”

My eyes searched for one of the transport alcoves Tessa had demonstrated for me only just yesterday. It felt like a lifetime since then. I spied one around the corner from my location. I quickly crossed the white stone floor and entered through the wide opening.

My guards hustled to enter the alcove after me. I suspected they knew I wasn’t going to wait for them, and I wasn’t. My hands reached for the top of the long wall of circular indents. I quickly swiped through the circle banks to find the one titled Central Tower and went for the top one just like Tessa had.

A green light engulfed us. A tingling sensation filled me and it made me shutter. It was going to take a bit to get used to that sensation. A moment later, the green light was gone, and I peered out of the alcove to see the same ante-room I had entered yesterday to go to the Emperor’s office. But there were two other doors, and I remembered the middle one she pointed out as being his bedroom and started for it.