Hailey Majestic was Theo Majestic's daughter.

She screamed.

Then she moved into a sitting position. While taking short breaths, Hailey fiddled with her thin fingers. She didn't leave her bed. Tears blurred her vision.

Even a Majestic could cry.

As warm tears fled her blue eyes, Hailey knew why they had made their entrance into her life, which had been going on for thirteen years.

The nightmare had reached its end.

And the bed Hailey sat in brought her comfort. It didn't bring terror and blood. Blood was what the bad dream had shown Hailey.

Her father's blood.

It had been red in the nightmare. Dream Theo's red blood had contrasted with his killer's pale skin. There was a name for the species that had drilled agonizing misery into many Soynites eleven years ago.

People who were part of the Freeman race didn't deserve to be shot and killed by Hailey's fellow Soynites.

The Freeman species was a precious species. Freeman lives were precious lives

People who were part of the Soynite species didn't deserve to be shot and killed by Lock Tannis's loyal supporters.

All life is precious.

Vera would rather kill a Freeman than let one live, but Hailey might convince her to adopt the traditional Soynite belief that all life was precious.

Hailey believed all life was precious.

Vera did not.

Still, Hailey and Vera belonged to the same species as each other. Hailey and her Watcher, they were Soynites. Because of what the Freemans had done, planet Soy had been ruined.

Hailey had witnessed the horrible invasion's aftermath. She had been younger than she was in the present when her father had brought her to the ruined Soy. Vera had been with them at the time, and she was with Hailey now, but she was not with the girl's father. She was not with the girl's mother.

They were not on Soy anymore, Hailey and Vera. They were not on planet Earth. The two Soynites were not on a planet at all.

When Hailey, Theo, and Vera had been on their home planet, which those three Soynites planned on bringing glory to one day, Theo had fought Boris Endman. Neither of the two men had been able to kill the other. Eleven years had passed since then, and there was a chance Boris had managed to avoid being killed so far.

Boris had destroyed his friendship with Theo. He had destroyed his status as a man who preferred to keep Soy safe from the Freeman people.

Boris Endman knew how to destroy.

As far as Hailey knew, Boris and the other former Highs still lived. Theo, Boris, and the other former Highs had lived with Hailey inside the royal palace on Soy. Like the other buildings on that planet, the royal palace had been destroyed.

Theo's former co-leaders had joined the mastermind behind the invasion that had brought much fierce agony. If a person killed Lock Tannis, they would become planet Free's latest leader.

Hailey, who might become a leader one day, was a Soynite.

Vera, who was great at finding people, was a Soynite.

Hailey's father's life was precious.

The reality was that Hailey had never witnessed her father's actual death.

Maybe Theo Majestic wasn't dead, but Hailey couldn't confirm her father hadn't been killed. Wherever he was, the man might not be able to confirm his daughter Hailey still lived.

December 25, 2008. Hailey had been born on that day.

The Soynite race had been in existence for a much longer time than the human race, and the year 2022 was not the same year the Soy calendar was in. The twelve months, such as December, had come from the Soy calendar. The Soynite race was the reason why planet Earth's Gregorian calendar had come into existence.

Hailey.

The man who had helped bring her into the universe, the man called Theo Majestic, had left Hailey when she had been younger than she was now. He was a Pure. Hailey was a Pure. But she had never developed her first Save. Just like her mother, Lilly Majestic.

Like Lilly, Hailey wasn't the only person with the surname Majestic.

Tears continued descending Hailey's face as she sobbed. The woman whose bedroom was next to Hailey's own room would be able to wipe away the tears, but Lilly might not be able to do that soon. Not because she aimed a strong dislike at her daughter, but because she had left with a boy and never came back. The woman and the boy had taken a spaceship to get away from Hailey, Theo, and Vera.

Not even a week after the invasion, Theo Majestic had gone away. He hadn't left with a person he loved. Theo hadn't taken Hailey with him. He hadn't taken Vera with him. Hailey's father, that great and excellent man with all the Saves, had left on his own.

If Freemans had captured Theo, Hailey would find him.

With Vera on her side, finding Hailey's male parent might come with ease. Vera could locate Theo, but that didn't guarantee she would get to him. It also didn't guarantee Vera planned on seeking out the man.

Vera, she had taken in the belief Theo had no intention of returning to his daughter and her Watcher.

Theo would never abandon his daughter forever on his own free will, Hailey believed.

Hailey didn't forget Vera had taken care of her for years, but the Watcher woman was wrong. Theo, the most powerful Soynite of them all, must have been captured. He must have been captured by the Freeman people.

Footsteps came into earshot, someone moving with urgency.

The bedroom door swung open. Vera headed into the room.

Instead of bringing her thin finger to the tears on her face, Hailey cried as she kept her blue eyes pointed at her caretaker's face.

She wielded a weapon in her hand. The weapon had a white handle and a blue blade, which was sharp and dangerous enough to end a living being's life. If Hailey held the Soynite dagger, she would rather use it for an activity not involving killing. Vera had slaughtered people with her weapons, and she had murdered others in Hailey's presence.

Much to her disappointment, Hailey's Watcher was a murderer.

Vera glanced around the room, vigilant. A brief moment after she made eye contact with Hailey, the woman frowned.

"What happened, Hailey?" Vera said, speaking Soynite. Hailey and the Watcher preferred to speak their native language. Vera looked at the desk close to the door, then placed the dagger onto its wooden surface. "I don't see any enemies in here, but there is a crying child of Theo Majestic. Tell me why."

Hailey moved a hand to the Soynite pendant she wore. She gripped it. Vera didn't grip hers.

"I had a nightmare," Hailey said. "My father got killed by a Freeman."

"In your bad dream, of course," Vera replied. She went near the bed, then sat on it. "Do you want a hug, Hailey?"

"Yes, please," Hailey said.

A hug. Hailey's last hug with her father had been years ago. Now, at this point in Hailey's life, the only person she could hug was Vera.

Hailey hugged her Watcher. Her hands touched the fabric of Vera's shirt as the woman embraced her. What Hailey wore was a blue gown. No shoes. No socks. She didn't wear a blue crown. Her distant relative, her sixth cousin, to be exact, had earned the right to wear a High's crown.

As she shut her eyes, Hailey shed more tears.

"I need to see him again," she said, her deep sadness obvious as Vera stroked her blonde hair. "He left, but he's not dead. He can't be. I think the Freemans took him. They took my father away."

"If they did, we're going to kill Freemans to get your father back," Vera said. Hailey opened her eyes, then the hug ended. The woman in the room got off the bed. She pointed her gaze at the photograph Hailey had taped to the wall earlier. It displayed Theo Majestic, who smiled in the picture. "I don't think they captured your father. He abandoned us, Hailey. Just like your mother did. Your father told me not to look for him, then he left. He left me. He left you."

Hailey bowed her head, and she held onto the blue comforter, as if the action would bring her father and the rest of her family back to her. But holding onto the comforter did not give Hailey a reunion with her loved ones. She was a girl who still lived in the same space station as Vera, the Bloodhound with the deep urge to kill whoever would love to end Hailey's life.

"Look at me, Hailey," Vera said. Hailey looked at her. "Christine Cross. Sydney Shame. Devin Hall. Do you know those Soynites?"

Christine Cross.

Sydney Shame.

Devin Hall.

Hailey shook her head. She did not know Christine, Sydney, or Devin.

"No," Hailey said. "I don't know those people, but I hope I can meet them."

Hailey had met Vera years ago. The first meeting between the two female Soynites had happened thirteen years ago, and they now lived inside a huge space station together. Hugging Vera hadn't slipped emotional pain into Hailey, which was what the nightmare had done to her, and Vera also wasn't like the baby kidnapper she and Hailey had last seen during the invasion.

A friend wasn't supposed to kidnap your loved one.

If there was a possibility Hailey could become friends with Christine, Sydney, and Devin, then it wouldn't be a waste to try making that become part of her reality.

"I've never met them, either," Vera said. "But I've seen them. I've seen them in visions of the past. And they might help us. We would have an easier time surviving if those three Soynites were on our side. Even if we never meet them, even if me and you are the last two Soynites in this universe, I need you to be ready."

Hands gripped Hailey's shoulders. Even though the desire to shift her blue-eyed gaze sunk into her, Hailey held eye contact with the woman her father had selected to be her Watcher over a decade ago.

"You're not a defenseless infant anymore, Hailey," Vera said, which was the truth. "You need to be ready to kill. While you're being a pacifist, the Freemans are breeding and the former Highs are hunting us down. Boris Endman didn't kill us the last time we were in the same place as him, but that doesn't mean he won't be so kind the next time we see him. And you already know what the Freemans will do to any Soynite not allied with their ruler. You're thirteen years old. It's time for you to become a warrior. Yes, fighting our enemies will put us in danger. But we've been in danger more times than one. We avoided being killed. Because of me. And I intend to kill some enemies again, but I need your help. You have to assist me, Hailey. And it isn't just because I want to survive for as long as I can. The others need us to help them."

Hailey brought her hands to Vera's, trapping the woman's hands between her shoulders and her own hands. Maybe Hailey's touch would make Vera less likely to toss rude sentences at the girl, after she told the woman what she wanted to tell her.

"I'm sorry, Vera," Hailey said. "I have to be like my grandfather and my other ancestors. I can't become a murderer. I won't. You want me to help the other Soynites by turning into a killer, but all life is precious."

Vera looked at Hailey for a moment. The older Soynite bowed her head, then she shook it at a slow pace.

Disappointment.

Vera had tried convincing Hailey to become what she was more than once, but the woman's charge had chosen to embrace the will to let other people keep living.

She might be able to convince a Freeman to help her. It was Vera who would love to live in a universe that did not harbor any Freeman people, but Hailey was not her Watcher. She was not her father's father, Holy Majestic, whose son had invented a government system revolving around six rulers. Hailey hadn't been born as royalty. Her father had been born as a royal, but he had changed the way the Soynite people were ruled. Theo had been a prince. He had been a king. He had been a High.

And now, as Hailey sat in her bed as Vera stayed disappointed, Theo remained as a missing former High.

"Vera," Hailey said. Vera forced her hands away from Hailey's, then she turned to one of the bedroom's blue walls. "Vera, please talk to me. Did my father actually tell you not to look for him?"

"Yes," Vera said, crossing her thin arms. A heavy sigh followed. "Your father doesn't want to be found. It doesn't even matter. You won't make me disobey your father's wish. You respect him too much."

Hailey swallowed.

Could she disobey her father's wish?

By making Vera search for Theo Majestic, Hailey would oppose what her father wanted.

She opposed Vera by refusing to turn into a murderer, but that wasn't the same as making the Watcher find Theo. Deciding to make Vera disobey Theo would be bad, but it wouldn't be as bad as killing a fellow living being.

"I can't make you look for my father," Hailey said. She moved her legs from underneath the comforter, let her bare feet make contact with the hard floor. "Making you look for him would be bad. If I do that, I won't be making him happy."

Unless Theo Majestic spent his time as a prisoner, that is.

What if Hailey's father didn't exist as a captive?

If Theo was free and enjoying his time away from Hailey and Vera, the thirteen-year-old girl would make anger course through her father if she made Vera find him.

Could Hailey let that happen?

She had to be good.

Vera uncrossed her arms. She faced Hailey, the Watcher no longer seeming disappointed. The woman came closer. She reached out and ran her fingers through Hailey's blonde hair.

"You're getting better at understanding how to handle this plight," Vera said. She leaned in and kissed Hailey's hair. "You can't be a hero, Hailey. You can't make me look for your father, because he doesn't want me to find him. Even if you do manage to reunite with him, he won't be like how he used to be. Your father changed."

"What do you mean by that?" Hailey asked.

"You might just see what I mean," Vera said. "One day. Right now, though, I need you to stop thinking about your father. He's gone. He might even be dead. If he is still alive, he would only disappoint you. He already disappointed me."

Hailey looked at the picture on the wall. Her father was gone, but his photographed face wasn't.

Yes, Theo Majestic had disappointed Vera Mod. Hailey had disappointed Vera. In truth, more than once. But Hailey's intense desire to stay good stayed stuck in her, and she would rather have Vera not see her as a fool.

Being a good person doesn't mean you have to be a fool.

Hailey stood. She went closer to the photograph displaying her father. During her father's unwanted absence, Hailey had taped the picture to the wall. Theo Majestic's absence hadn't stopped being real. His absence was a parent's absence, and Hailey's desire to be reunited with him was a daughter's desire.

Making her Watcher seek and find Theo would be a bad deed, but she would be a fool if she decided to not try reuniting with her father.

The girl had already disappointed Vera. She would have to disappoint her again.

Hailey fiddled with her fingers.

But she didn't stop looking at the picture of her father. Gazing at the photograph fed Hailey more of the desire to find and embrace the man.

"It's just me and you," Vera said, her hand coming to Hailey's shoulder. "I never abandoned you, Hailey. You know that. Your father is gone. He's been gone for a long time, and I know that you wish he was still here. But you should respect his wish. Some people don't want to be found. Some people are free, free and wanting to be away from others."

Hailey's father had gone away from the space station, which kept his daughter and her Watcher safe. Safe was what Hailey was. Safe was what Vera was.

But was Theo Majestic safe?

Maybe being a free man had stopped being true for him.

"My father isn't one of them," Hailey replied. "He was captured, I think."

"You think," Vera said.

"Yes," Hailey said. "And I gave it some thought. My father needs to be found. He told you not to look for him, but he might be in trouble. We have to find him, Vera."

Vera moved her hand away from Hailey's shoulder.

"I'm not going to look for Theo Majestic," the woman said. "That's final, Hailey."

The Bloodhound's refusal to search for Hailey's father presented a challenge. After knowing Vera for more than ten years, after loving her for years, Theo Majestic, the most powerful Soynite in the universe, had a Bloodhound friend who preferred to not locate him. Vera didn't support Hailey's wish to form a two-person search party. Hailey didn't support Vera's refusal to find the man with all the Saves.

Hailey kept her gaze pinned on the picture. Vera glanced at it, then looked at the teenage girl standing next to her.

"I am more useful than your father." Vera said.

What Hailey had been forced to do was listen to her Watcher disrespect her father.

Hailey trembled. Tears filled her eyes. She shook her head, then the girl turned to the wall closest to her bed. If Hailey's father had heard what Vera had said to his daughter, the man would not be pleased. At the present moment, while both her parents stayed gone, the youth named Hailey Majestic was not pleased.

The displeased Hailey had been born on Soy when it had been a beautiful place. She had gone to that planet's ruins, with her father and her Watcher accompanying her, and she had watched Theo Majestic and Boris Endman fight. Vera had held her. Even though Hailey chose to embrace pacifism and not violence, Vera chose to care for her.

Like the average Watcher, Vera had graduated from a Watcher academy at the age of twenty years old. When Hailey's birth had occurred inside the Soynite royal palace, a palace that was now gone, Vera had been in the building. She had met a defenseless infant known as Hailey Majestic.

Infant Hailey hadn't been able to use any Saves. Hailey in the present wasn't able to use any Saves. A laser beam to the head could kill her. She couldn't rapidly regenerate. And she didn't have the power to heal wounds.

Hailey had stopped being a defenseless infant, but she lacked the will to kill. She lacked the desire to please Watcher Vera Mod by taking a Freeman person's life.

The Freeman people were people. Just like Hailey. Just like her father. And just like Vera.

Fourteen years of age was what Hailey would be on her next birthday. She might live to be two million years old. Her father, whose birthday was on the first of January, already knew what it was like to reach the age of two million.

Theo and the other former Highs, all seven of them, had gained immortality. Maybe Hailey would live long enough to develop that power. If she became immortal, she could give help to many of her fellow living beings. Her father's former friends would rather serve Lock Tannis as they lived.

Like Hailey's father, Boris Endman possessed great power. When he had clashed with Theo, the senior-looking Boris hadn't been able to use his Saves.

Now, while she stood near the Bloodhound she had known for a long time, Hailey longed to embrace her father. If Theo Majestic were with her, Hailey could let him see how much she had grown since the last time they had been together. During her time at the Watcher academy she had graduated from, Vera had learned how to raise children, and that had helped during Theo Majestic's misery-inducing absence.

In the old days, Theo had ruled a planet. Before the first of the Freeman's creatures had arrived on Soy during the attack, no animal had ever been on the planet. Animals lived on Free. They hadn't lived on Soy.

Soy's beauty, like Theo, was missing.

At the present, away from his daughter, Theo might be in trouble. Deep trouble. Perhaps the man had been captured by Freeman people. The Save-disabling substance known as Strife had the power to take away Saves. As long as a Soynite was too close to Strife, any powers they had gained during their time alive would be gone. If Hailey's father got too close to Strife, his immortality would vanish. He would show signs of aging.

Hailey had shown signs of aging. It was okay. If Hailey's father had shown signs of aging, he wouldn't be alone in that experience. Hailey and Vera had gotten older since the last time they had been with Theo Majestic.

Unlike Theo, Vera's locks were brown. Hailey's hair was blonde and her eyes were blue. Hailey had looked at people descended from Hase Majestic, the first Soynite. Those people had been born with blond hair and blue eyes. Every single one of them. Several Majestics had dealt with their blond hair turning white. Holy Majestic, Hailey's paternal grandfather, for example. He had died of old age.

Another Majestic, a boy whose original name was Cape Majestic, had gone to Earth.

Where was Cape?

What was his current name?

Was he safe?

If Hailey's sixth cousin was not safe, she wouldn't be able to give him assistance. Maybe Cape would rescue a cousin of his. Maybe they would help each other survive.

Hailey's blonde hair and blue eyes gave more proof she was a descendant of Theo Majestic, who was a descendant of Hase Majestic, the first of his kind.

The space station housed the object that had created Hase and the other five original Soynites, according to Hailey's father.

Hailey and Vera had searched for the object in the structure, but they hadn't been able to find it.

"I want to meet Cape," Hailey said. "I was never able to meet him, Vera."

"You might get the chance," Vera said. "Unfortunately, Hailey, Cape is probably fighting for his life as I speak. Cape and his Watcher might be running for their lives right now. Be glad that you don't have to run from those pale enemies of ours. I think they are born evil. Their cruel nature is with them for their entire lives. Your distant relative might be in a horrible situation. I'm willing to say that no Majestic is with him. And a lone Majestic is a miserable Majestic."

In the past, Hase Majestic had been a lone Majestic. He had been the only Majestic for years. He had been away from any member of his kind for years.

"I'm a lone Majestic," Hailey said. "I haven't been in the same room as another Majestic for some time. If my father is a prisoner of the Freeman people, I don't believe he is with any of the other Majestics."

"Maybe Cape is with him," Vera said. Cape and Theo being locked inside the same Freeman base as each other would not be a pleasant experience for either of the two Majestics. Hailey moved her attention to the photograph on the wall. Then she put her focus back on the Watcher. "It's just speculation. Speculation doesn't always mean fact."

"Your theory about the Freemans being born evil probably isn't a fact," Hailey replied.

Vera scoffed.

"Even if it isn't true, the Freemans are wicked brutes," the woman said. She gestured to Hailey's room, which she had headed into after Hailey's horrible dream. "Look at this room, Hailey. You sleep in this room because you can't sleep inside the Soynite royal palace. You remember why that is, don't you? Me and you reside in a space station because the Freeman brutes destroyed our planet. Me, you, and your father went to the ruins. I held you as your father fought Boris Endman. Our planet is lifeless. Soy is dead. I stood on its corpse. And I was able to do that because the Freemans made it that way. They ruined Soynite society. The Freemans did most of the work. They slaughtered our people. Even Soynite babies were murdered. Maybe Anne was murdered."

"Please don't say that," Hailey said, her hands shaking.

Vera watched the tears forming in her charge's eyes, then she shook her head. She stepped closer to the wall, placed a finger against the photograph taped to it.

"He is the most powerful Soynite in the universe," Vera said. "He's also gone, Hailey. His former friend Boris didn't kill him in Soy's ruins, but your father is still gone. He might as well be dead."

While tears traveled down her face, Hailey's hands trembled.

She hoped a future best friend of hers wouldn't take her life. The girl hoped each attempt to kill Cape Majestic had been unsuccessful.

Cape had become a High because Hailey's father had turned him into one. Five kids and an infant had been granted Soynite authority. The power to rule the Soynite people was theirs. As a result, it made the Freemans more eager to ruin those six children.

"I admit that I don't know everything," Vera said, moving her finger away from the missing Majestic's photographed face. "I don't know where your father is. I don't even know if there are more than just two Soynites left. If we really are the last of our kind, two Soynite females cannot repopulate. That's impossible."

"We're not the only Soynites left," Hailey said. Vera didn't look at her. "My father is alive. Cape is alive, too. The Freeman people won't be able to kill him. Cape is still here. My father is still here. He's here."

The wonderful and skilled Theo Majestic didn't stand in the space station Vera and Hailey lived in, but he had to be outside of it. Even if he was millions of miles away from Hailey and Vera, Theo Majestic had working lungs and a beating heart. He had to.

The Freeman people had attacked Soy and its people. Hailey's father had evaded what many Soynites had failed to evade. What had slipped into Vera's parents hadn't slipped into Theo.

Hailey's father was a survivor. A survivor was what Theo's daughter was.

Vera helped Hailey stay alive, and other non-Majestics had stopped death from slithering into Majestics. Still, people who didn't belong to Hailey's family had impaled the Majestic family with sorrow. The most famous Soynite family had taken losses.

"Your father isn't here," Vera said. "And you need to forget about him."

Vera had shown affection to Hailey's father in the past, but the woman now acted as if Theo Majestic had hurled unnecessary hostility at her.

What Hailey hoped for was the power to stay uncorrupted for the remainder of her life.

Hase Majestic had been born as a person who had never killed anyone. He had died as a person who had never killed anyone.

Theo Majestic, Hailey's own father, Vera, and too many other Soynites had morphed into killers. Good Soynites had become murderers. Because of Tannis, that Freeman leader, various Soynites had been forced to kill. Maybe the latest Highs had already murdered other living people.

Hailey would have to kill Lock Tannis to gain Freeman leadership.

As the Soynite with the most power, the Pure named Theo Majestic had the best chance to kill Lock Tannis. Because Theo was absent and his daughter was not, Vera might try to make Hailey become the Freeman ruler's murderer.

If that happened, Freemans would kneel. They would kneel for Theo's child.

But taking another life was wrong. Hase Majestic had spared Freeman lives, and Hailey had managed to avoid murdering another person so far. If she was fortunate, she would die as an uncorrupted Soynite.

Without speaking a word to Hailey, Vera turned before leaving the room.

Hailey loved the woman who had helped her so much, in truth. But the girl had witnessed the Bloodhound woman smile after murdering Freemans. Vera had a vicious nature in her. Hailey had witnessed its existence, and she missed being in the same room as other Majestics.

She hoped she would reunite with the other youthful Majestics.

Where were Hailey's siblings?