Fortunately for Josephine, Naema knew exactly where her family was. When they reached the right detention center, Naema sprinted ahead while Josephine frantically wiped memories.

"Mama?" Naema pressed against the bars.

"Girl?" Naema's mother looked up from a crowd of closely packed prisoners. Behind her, a young boy got up from where he slept. Josephine had seen the child briefly in Naema's tent.

"Mama, come. We're leaving."

The woman approached Naema. She eyed Josephine warily. "What are you saying?"

"We're escaping," Naema whispered. She looked to Josephine. "Do you have the keys?"

"Hold on." Josephine said. "Look away a moment." The other detainees were perking up. She cleansed their minds of whatever they'd heard, and they all lost interest. Only two people were going to be leaving this cell, but for a moment, Josephine imagined what would happen if she let everyone out. It would be chaos. No one would know where to go, and when the soldiers arrived, people would get hurt. It was a foolish idea, but Josephine couldn't help wondering what it would be like if she could help them all. How many powers would she need on her side in order to stand up to the Lakirans instead of hiding from them?

She opened the cage. Two people exited. She sealed it closed. "Let's go," she said.

Together, they hurried to the launch bay. Naema hurriedly explained everything to her family as they went, including Josephine's and her own power. While her mother understandably looked bewildered, she didn't argue. She and Oni simply followed.

When they reached the nearest launch bay, something was different. The technicians weren't preparing for incoming ships. Men weren't loading or unloading supply shuttles. Instead people were gathered in conversational clumps as though everyone had decided to take a smoke break at once. Tan noticed this too. He made a noise somewhere between a groan and a growl.

Josephine tried taking the group to a grid-ready shuttle anyway. A cadet ran up with his arm extended.

"Hold up," he yelled.

"We're scheduled to leave," Josephine said. She didn't erase his memory quite yet, since she suspected what he was about to tell her.

"Hope it wasn't important. The citadel is on partial lockdown. Nobody is coming or going until the higher ups give the all clear."

The moment the shuttle touched down, Victoria strode out. Soldiers were waiting at attention for her. As she passed, they followed. One reached in the shuttle and fetched Willow. As a procession, they marched off, leaving Winnie and Helena behind. The fanfare was over.

"Bye, mom," Helena said, long after Victoria could have heard her. Then, under her breath, "God, I hate her."

The window to the cockpit opened. Melanie looked in. "Shall we return to the charity, Your Highness? I'm certain you'd still have time to make an appearance."

Helena sniffed and wiped her eyes in an attempt to regain composure. "No. It would be over by the time we showed up. People would be leaving."

"Are you sure? I'm sure if we call them, they'd keep the bidding going until you arrived."

"What's the fucking point? My speech was supposed to start the bidding off. It won't even make sense if I give it at the end."

"We'll have time to rework the speech. I know the benefactors would love to see a royal presence."

"They can go to hell," Helena snapped. "I said I don't want to do it anymore. Will you go away?"

Melanie nodded. The window closed.

After they heard Melanie exit through the pilot door and walk off, Helena finally broke down.

She cried as though there were no one there to see. Winnie sat beside her, still as a deer. She too was disappointed with missing the charity. Though unlike Helena, she at least had the benefit of seeing the results of their hard work. She'd finally found the auditorium in her head. Everything was proceeding just as planned, minus any royal presence. The decorations looked great. The staff and planners wore the outfits Winnie had designed. The style had certainly come together well. Guests chattered as dinner rounded up, and the auction had already gotten underway. Soon the staff would clear the floor for the dance.

Winnie decided it would be better to tell Helena tomorrow that all her planning wasn't for naught. The sting of missing out would be less.

"I hate her so fucking much." Helena's voice was ragged.

Winnie could no longer pretend she wasn't there. "Yeah. This really sucks. Do you want me to leave?"

Helena's response was long coming. "No. Stay."