Sabrina Sam filled her mind with her optimistic best friend.

But Sabrina had stopped being in the same place as him. That was the honest truth. Even though it was a truth that brought no comfort.

Blue walls weren't around the girl.

Black walls surrounded her.

The spaceship containing Sabrina didn't have Soynite allies in it. She was with enemies. She was with her enemies, and they weren't in the same place as the man Sabrina cared about the most. The sixteen-year-old had been in a different place before, eating food near Kevin Sam in a cafeteria. That room was away from Sabrina, and so was a blond-haired boy who had hugged her goodbye. Kevin was away too.

Freemans had forced Sabrina and Kevin apart. They were the reason why the girl and her Watcher weren't able to return to their wonderful mansion in California.

In the present, as the teenager wished for Kevin to be with her again, she sighed. The pieces of Strife in the black walls and the black floor prevented Sabrina from using her only Save.

The prisoner inhaled, exhaled, inhaled, exhaled.

Breathing didn't change her status from a captive person to a liberated person.

The Freemans kept Sabrina locked inside a prison cell, and her captors showed her no affection. They weren't like Kevin.

All Freemans needed to die.

While Sabrina Sam sat on the bed in her prison cell, she filled her mind with Kevin Sam's face. The Freemans had separated Sabrina from the man who had spent years raising her, and that honest truth deepened the girl's desire to kill all the Freemans.

Sabrina had held her Watcher's hand. She had shared her power with him, but that hadn't lasted.

Because Strife had ruined it.

Without the power to use her power, Sabrina had been put in Freeman custody. They had separated her from her loyal Watcher.

Much to Sabrina's disappointment, there was a chance many pale women on planet Free were pregnant. Pregnant Freeman women would spawn more gross Freemans.

They might become Freeman warriors Sabrina would have to kill.

Freeman men, pregnant Freeman women, Freeman children, and Freeman babies, they all deserved to get murdered. Pale warriors from Free had murdered Soynite men, Soynite women, Soynite children, and Soynite babies.

The Freemans had provoked the Soynites. They had provoked the girl in the cell.

Sabrina wore a zip-up hoodie and black jeans. Underneath the hoodie was a short-sleeved shirt that was white with blue stripes. The hoodie was unzipped.

The girl wore her Soynite pendant in full view. Her first pair of parents had gifted it to her.

Footsteps moved past the prison cell's door, quick.

"There's trouble!" a Freeman said, running as he spoke his native language in an urgent tone.

Sabrina got off the bed, then took her own quick steps closer to the door. She brought her ear near the door's gray hardness.

"What is it?" a different Freeman said. Sabrina assumed that Freeman was the same one she had seen before being forced into the cell.

"Soynites are attacking the base we're heading to," said the Freeman who had moved past the door. "The alarm there has been sounded. The warriors over there are on alert. There are eight Soynites inside the building. They're attacking our people."

Sabrina smiled.

"What else do you know about those Soynites?" the other Freeman said.

"Two of them might not be allied with the others there," the Freeman with the information said. "They're not wearing white backpacks. The other six Soynites are. I'm under the belief that two different groups are assaulting the base. The Soynites with the backpacks surely belong to the same team."

A hand slapped the prison cell's door two times.

"Open this door," said the Freeman who had spoken. "I want to speak to the girl."

Sabrina scoffed.

"I know you're listening, Soynite!" he added, speaking English.

Yes, the girl had been listening. Thanks to the Freeman, Sabrina had learned several Soynites had started an attack on a Freeman place. They attacked the Freeman base the sixteen-year-old Soynite was headed to.

Kevin wasn't with her.

Sabrina fiddled with her fingers. If the gross Freemans had never used Strife to their advantage, the attack on that Freeman base in California wouldn't have ended in failure for the girl and her Watcher.

Eight Soynites.

The Freeman who had hurled his words at Sabrina had mentioned eight Soynites.

Eight Soynites were located in the Freeman base Sabrina's pale enemies intended on getting her to. Any one of those eight Soynites would be able to give Sabrina help. The girl and her captors were on the way to the base, which was one of many Freeman bases found on Earth and planet Free itself. Lock Tannis had made sure to send his warfare-loving Freemans to other places that were not the planet called Free.

Freemans weren't just found on Free.

Soynites were found on Earth. Sabrina's people, people who deserved to live and be great, were not with the teenager, but they were at a Freeman base.

The girl Sabrina needed a friend. She needed a friend who wasn't Kevin, the Soynite adult she had been forced to distance herself from.

"It sounds like your buddies are having trouble!" Sabrina yelled, speaking English. Unlike Kevin, she possessed an American accent. "Eight Soynites are already killing the Freemans at the base we're going to! I'm going to help them!"

The door swung open.

A Freeman stepped into the cell. Sabrina kept her gaze pinned on him as he headed toward where she sat. He came to a stop. As she stayed seated on the bed's black sheet, the girl in the cell craned her head up to look at the repulsive man's face.

Freemans were too pale. Maybe each living Freeman had been born evil. If Sabrina met a Soynite who clutched that belief, she would not insult them for it.

"You're a prisoner, Soynite," the Freeman said. He was the one who had given intel to the other Freeman, who stood in the nearby hall. "Even if you joined your people, you would be fighting for the losing side. But I need you to focus on the present. You're in a prison cell. You're with me. The man who helped you kill many good Freeman warriors is gone. Who is he? Is he your father?"

Sabrina's father, Bowie Low, was dead.

Sabrina's mother, Prim Low, was dead.

Those two Soynites had never produced any biological children.

Kevin was not Sabrina's father, but he had spent a long time raising her. The Watcher had taken care of Sabrina for a longer amount of time than the Lows had, but the teenage girl still planned on killing the Freeman who had murdered that married couple.

Sabrina hadn't forgotten what her parents' killer looked like. If she was a lucky Soynite girl, she would find the murderer at the base she was en route to.

What was the killer's name?

During the invasion, Sabrina had been called Reese. Reese Low wasn't Sabrina's name anymore.

The Freeman who had murdered Bowie Low and Prim Low was male. He wasn't a Soynite. He wasn't a Soynite in hiding from hostile Freeman forces.

Sabrina doubted the Freeman lowlife had changed his name.

Where is my parents' killer?

Sabrina was not a Bloodhound, which was a type of Soynite a dog breed was named after, but the girl could find the killer of Bowie Low and Prim Low.

Glorious parents didn't deserve to have their lives taken from them. Yet that had happened to Sabrina's parents, parents who had been good and kind to her.

The girl Sabrina wanted to meet Soynites who were good and kind. She wanted to flash them smiles and introduce herself to them.

With no Soynites to help her, Sabrina was forced to deal with the nearby Freeman on her own.

"You want to know if the man I was with is my father?" Sabrina said. The Freeman nodded. The Soynite shrugged. "That's the answer. I don't know if he is my father."

Maybe Sabrina had told a lie. Maybe she hadn't.

"Your foolish arrogance is going to be gone when you've spent enough time with my people, Soynite," the Freeman said. "You and that other piece of Soynite trash killed too many great Freemans. While you're in here, Freemans who are still alive are killing those Soynite intruders at the base we're going to. If they're not dead by the time we get there, I will join the fight. And those Soynites will die."

Sabrina hadn't seen how many of the Freeman's repulsing people had boarded the spaceship she traveled in, but she stayed alert to the fact she and Kevin had killed many Freemans at one of their bases in California.

Eight Soynites had become trouble for the Freemans at a base in Washington. Trouble for the Freemans was good for Sabrina.

The Freemans outnumbered Soynites, but Soynites could make the Freeman population drop. Sabrina's people could kill. The Soynite herself had killed. She had killed Freemans, and slaughtering those pale brutes had made her heart beat with joy.

"They're not going to die," Sabrina said. "They're going to live. And they're not going to let your friends live. I'm not going to let you live."

Sabrina's enemy was alive, but he wouldn't always be. The Soynite could bring an end to the warrior's life, and she was going to bring an end to Kevin Sam's imprisonment. Hush Warden's death and Kevin Sam's rescue needed to become as real as the dark floor under Sabrina's shoes.

The floor was not soft. It was not gentle. The Freemans' prisoner would not be gentle to her captors. The Freeman in front of Sabrina had the undeserved power of being able to launch insults at her, but she would shoot the too-pale lowlife in the head if she earned the sweet opportunity to.

As for the room Sabrina sat in, it had no windows in its hard walls. Maybe the spaceship flew above trees that were way taller than the Freeman warrior himself. If the scenery outside Sabrina's view was a forest, the girl didn't know. But her enemies planned on transporting her to one of their bases. That base would be in enemy territory, Freeman territory.

That mansion in the state of California didn't harbor its teenage resident. That had stopped.

A girl and her Watcher had left their mansion. They had attacked a Freeman base.

Imprisonment had sunk into Sabrina's life. Freedom had been yanked from Sabrina, just like how her power had been yanked from her.

Sabrina was in a bad situation, but she had escaped bad situations.

Kevin had helped her survive during the mass murder the Freemans had brought into reality. Sabrina and the Watcher had lived through that disastrous event. They had lived.

The Freemans had failed to kill Sabrina and Kevin. The Freemans would fail to kill their eight Soynite enemies. Those eight people weren't with Sabrina, but maybe they would be.

Hope filled the future.

Sabrina would rather save Kevin than let him die inside a prison cell Freemans had built. If Kevin had gotten free, he would kill his way back to Sabrina. The girl would have to do the same. And she would kill the Freeman standing across her. One less Freeman would make other Soynites safer.

A glare appeared on the Freeman.

"You think you will kill Hush Warden?" the Freeman said. Hush Warden. That was his name. It was even designed onto the front of his combat uniform, in the Freeman language. "That is extremely unlikely to happen. You're powerless. Strife handcuffs are going to be on you again, and you're never going to use that Save of yours again. You can be killed."

Hush, the nearby Freeman fool, was wrong for being under the impression Sabrina deserved to suffer, but he was not wrong about the girl's terrible status as a person who could be killed.

Sabrina was touchable.

Hush Warden's dagger stayed in its sheath, but he might use it to pierce her flesh in the future. If Hush stabbed Sabrina, she would live. No enemy of hers would take her life. They could try.

Wounds could be healed.

If Sabrina died, however, it would mean she would never see her Watcher again. That would be bad. It would be more than bad. It would be agonizing.

Now that eight Soynites had started an assault on the place she was traveling to, Sabrina gripped much hope. Freemans deserved to have their places come under attack. And Sabrina deserved to be free. So did Kevin.

Lock Tannis's minions had taken away too many good people, too many Soynites, too many parents, and too many Watchers. Freemans had made death take away Bowie Low and Prim Low.

They had taken away Kevin, but there was a chance that man was not dead.

After regaining freedom, Sabrina was going to gather whatever Soynite allies she could, go back home, then launch another attack on the base she and Kevin had released their violent determination on. That Freeman base in California state had her Watcher trapped in it.

"I can be killed, yeah," Sabrina told the Freeman. She curled her fingers, kept a grip on the black sheet underneath her butt. "So can you. I'm going to kill you, Hush. If I see you in that base, I'm going to kill you. Then I'm going to see that man again, the same one I helped attack the other base."

"Even if you manage to kill me in the near future, Great Leader Lock Tannis will kill you," Hush said. "If he doesn't kill you, he will make sure that you suffer. I can guarantee that Soynite man you know is suffering. I am speaking to you. While that happens, your friend is miserable. If he's not being physically tortured, he is being emotionally tortured. He is never going to see you again."

No.

The girl in the cell would see Kevin again. One of the eight Soynites who had chosen to attack the Freeman base would liberate Sabrina from her enemies. Maybe all eight of those people would form a team with Sabrina, then they would help the teenager free her Watcher.

Sabrina shook her head, then narrowed her eyes.

"I'm going to see him again," she said. "Before that happens, though, I'm going to make sure you never go back to planet Free."

Hush smiled.

"For you, there is no home planet to return to," the pale man said. He gestured to the black walls surrounding Sabrina. The black walls were around the too-pale Freeman. "Look around you, Soynite. You're inside a prison cell, which is inside a Freeman spaceship, and that spaceship is far from planet Soy. Soy has no life on it. And there is nothing for you there. There aren't even any trees. And there aren't any Soynites. I have a planet I can go back to. I have Free. I have my people. What do you have?"

Sabrina didn't break eye contact with the Freeman.

"You have nothing," Hush Warden said.

The Freeman left the prison cell.

Sabrina clenched her fists. And her desire to be back home grew larger.

FEBRUARY 27, 2019

Kevin and Sabrina were at their home.

The Watcher sat next to Sabrina on a blue sofa in the living room, their living room. Warm light from the sun bathed their blond hair. Their eyes were blue. Their hair was blond.

Kevin was more like Sabrina than she knew.

And the two Soynite fugitives lived in a mansion. No matter how great their huge home was, though, it would never be as great as their home planet had been.

The Watcher in the living room had been born on Soy when peace and glory filled its land and its people. He had left the planet when the agony-bringing Freemans spread destruction on it.

A movie played on the television's glowing screen. The film had shown violence, but Kevin and Sabrina had seen non-fictional violence. They had seen it on Soy.

Freeman brutality was real.

Soynite brutality was real. And Kevin would love to make Freemans experience it, which he had already done in the past.

"Kevin, do you ever think about what happened to Theo Majestic and the other former Highs?" Sabrina said.

The former Highs. Kevin hadn't forgotten their names. When Kevin or Sabrina referred to the former Highs, they tended to think of six former Highs, not seven.

Six of the former Highs were Theo Majestic, Boris Endman, Don Ascend, Ray Fire, Notch Slip, and Tale Wick.

Don Ascend had replaced one of the former Highs as High. The person he had replaced as High wasn't Theo, Boris, Ray, Notch, or Tale.

Kevin could not confirm if Don Ascend's wife was alive. He could not confirm if she was dead. The man didn't forget the woman had a brother. The fate of Don's brother-in-law wasn't known to Kevin.

Cambridge Downer. That was the name of Don's brother-in-law.

Camille Ascend. That was the name of Don's wife.

Theo Majestic had developed the power to shapeshift. Strife had the power to take away Soynite powers. Years ago, before his arrival on Earth, Kevin had seen a photograph of Lock Tannis. He had seen the picture in a textbook. The Freeman ruler had been armed with a Strife sword in that photograph. If that weapon got too close to Theo, it would prevent him from using his powers.

"Sometimes," Kevin said, keeping his blue-eyed gaze pointed at the television.

Where was Theo Majestic?

What about Don Ascend? Where was he?

Boris Endman was gone as well. His status as a High had been destroyed.

Theo, Don, and Boris were not Highs. They had reigned over Soy and its great people. Those former Highs were no longer Highs, and six children now led a planet with no life.

Reed Pisces had been a Soynite High when Soy still had trees, grass, and water. He had hated Freemans. That hatred had led to his downfall.

Other Soynites, Soynites who were not the absent Reed Pisces, had fought to survive during the invasion. Freeman hostiles had forced Kevin and Sabrina to flee the planet they had been born on, and Freeman hostiles had tried to stop the wonderful birth of the latest generation of Highs from happening.

Still, Soynites remained. People like Kevin, Cape, Watcher Vera Mod, and other Soynites were in the universe. Sabrina's Watcher assumed Cape, Vera, and others had kept their deaths at bay so far.

Kevin's heart pumped blood, the man knew.

"Do you remember that museum that was named after Don Ascend?" Sabrina said. "The Ascend Museum. It's gone. Just like everything else that was on Soy. But we're going to bring all of that back to Soy. I already know we will."

Sabrina brought hope, and Soynites needed that. More Soynites needed to be like Sabrina the teenage Soynite.

Kevin and his fellow people had a dead planet, a too-low population, and billions of Soynite-hating Freemans opposing them. Every single Freeman alive was a problem for Kevin and Sabrina, and the Freemans viewed every Soynite alive as a problem.

The Freemans would rather kill every Soynite. Kevin would rather kill every Freeman.

Which Soynite would bring the Freeman race's end?

Perhaps a blonde-haired Majestic would do it. Perhaps someone who loved a blonde-haired Majestic would do it.

What mattered to Kevin was the hope the Freeman species would go extinct. After the murders they had committed, especially after those murders, the Freemans had been granted the right to die. All Freemans had earned it.

Kevin would be glad to give each Freeman the death they deserved.

"Speaking of the Ascend Museum, I wonder what happened to the fastest Soynite spaceship," Kevin said. "I don't doubt the Freemans destroyed the building. But I do hope one of our people flew the spaceship to safety. It didn't deserve to be destroyed by the Freemans."

The majority of the Soynite population hadn't deserved to be destroyed by the Freemans.

Yet that was what had happened.

Sabrina was the only Soynite Kevin had seen in too long. There was an unfortunate possibility the Freemans had slaughtered every single Soynite outside the mansion Kevin and Sabrina sat in.

Maybe a Soynite had fled their home planet in the fastest Soynite spaceship. Maybe several Soynites had done that.

If an entire Soynite crew was in possession of the universe's fastest Soynite spaceship, Kevin hoped those Soynites would be good to him and the people he loved.

In the present, as he sat next to his charge, Kevin placed two fingers against his cheek.

He filled his mind with the Ascend Museum. The man filled his mind with brown-haired Ascends, and then he shifted his focus to the wall behind the television.

That wall was as solid as the optimism found in a boy both Kevin and Sabrina had met years ago.

That boy, did he have any Saves?

Watcher Kevin Sam possessed no Saves. He had unleashed fierce wrath on Freemans, but he had never used powers to kill pale enemies. Sabrina had a power, an ability, something that could help her and other Soynites survive.

What did Kevin Sam have?

He had no powers, that was for sure. But his will to kill Lock Tannis's people ran through his muscular body. Stronger Soynites than Kevin had died, but he lived. Unlike so many other Soynites, Kevin lived. That gave him the luxury to train Sabrina, gave him the luxury to fantasize about killing Freemans, gave him the luxury to watch films made by humans.

Kevin might, in the future, train Pures. He might train them and help them become skilled enough to end the war by killing Lock Tannis.

If Kevin killed Lock Tannis, he would earn the right to sit on the Freeman throne.

Tannis had gained Freeman leadership by killing the Freeman leader who had led before him. That same Freeman leader had gained Freeman leadership by killing the Freeman leader who had led before him. Tannis and the dead Freeman rulers formed a long line of leaders, a long line of murderers.

Gaining Freeman royalty was different than gaining Soynite royalty. It was more brutal.

With a person like Kevin as his enemy, Lock Tannis needed every Freeman warrior at his disposal.

Kevin knew Pures.

He was not a Pure himself. Like her Watcher, Sabrina was not a Pure. But she had been gifted with a power that would make it difficult for Freemans to take her life.

Too difficult.

Killing Lock Tannis would come with difficulty. Regardless of whether or not they were a Freeman, if a person ended the current Freeman leader's life, they would become the new Freeman leader.

Any human could become the Freeman leader.

Any Freeman could become the Freeman leader.

Any Soynite could become the Freeman leader.

Freemans despised Soynites with vicious intensity, but the majority of planet Free's natives should kneel for a Soynite if one became Lock Tannis's slayer.

The Freemans valued strength, but many Freemans had left Free because Lock Tannis had become its ruler, but most Freemans had chosen to praise and support the man.

Shining through the windows in the living room was glorious sunlight. The sun's light kissed Kevin and Sabrina, but it didn't drag Lock Tannis into the sun itself. For the Watcher and the girl, that would be a pleasant experience. It wouldn't be pleasant for Tannis, who would rather end innocent lives.

"We deserve to destroy the Freemans," Sabrina said. She looked at her palm, then formed a fist, as if the action would kill Lock Tannis from a distance. "One of them killed my parents. And they probably killed my birth parents. The Freemans killed my friends. Because of them, I can't even see the kids I became friends with. We weren't able to stay together, because of the Freemans."

Because of Lock Tannis.

Lock Tannis, you aren't going to kill this one.

Kevin nodded.

He and Sabrina formed a two-person team, but it hadn't always been that way. The two blond-haired people with no beautiful home planet had belonged to a bigger team.

Kevin didn't have information involving where Sabrina's friends were located, but the pair had seen Freemans, and not just on Soy. They had seen Freemans on Earth. Freemans had made their unwelcome advent on the humans' planet, Earth.

The Soynites hadn't welcomed the Freemans on Earth. If any Soynites had shown kindness and compassion to the Freemans because they had made the journey to Earth, those were Soynites Kevin and Sabrina couldn't trust.

Several former Highs could be trusted, but Freemans could not. If Soynites allied with the Freemans were real and alive, Kevin already hated them.

A Soynite needed to kill Tannis. Maybe one of Kevin's people engaged the Freeman ruler in a duel as the Watcher sat next to Sabrina. Perhaps, for Lock Tannis, death was near.

"I hate them," Sabrina said. "I hate the Freemans."

Kevin the Watcher had no like or love for Lock Tannis, only hatred.

Sabrina, like her caretaker, hated Freemans. She hated all the Freemans.

"The first Freemans were good," Sabrina said. "They started out that way, but they lost their goodness. There is hope for Soynites, but there isn't any hope for the Freemans. We need to kill all of them."

It was only natural for the Soynites to wish death cleansed the universe of the Freeman population, a population that had lost the right to thrive and exist. In truth, the Freemans thrived. They lived.

When he was a boy, Kevin hadn't expected he would hate the Freemans as much as he did in the present. Later, grown, he had adopted a strong dislike for Lock Tannis and planet Free's pale natives.

Planet Free was the Freemans' place. A place belonging to a cruel Freeman ruler. Cruel Freemans resided on that planet.

Planet Soy was the Soynites' place. A place belonging to six Highs and other Soynites, Soynites who were fugitives as much as their child rulers were. The Freemans were on the hunt for Soynites to kill.

Theo Majestic, the Soynite with the best chance at killing Lock Tannis and gaining ultimate authority over the Freemans, was out of reach. The Freemans had shown Theo what they viewed his people as, and the former High was now missing from Kevin and Sabrina's lives.

A Soynite needed to slay Tannis and sit on the throne found on Free. Assuming Theo hadn't been killed, there was still hope he would do what Kevin and the rest of the Soynite species needed him to do. They needed that descendant of Hase Majestic to end the reign of the terrible Lock Tannis.

The reason why the Ascend Museum had been destroyed was the Freeman ruler's fault.

The reason why Kevin and Sabrina had been forced to fight for their lives on Soy was the Freeman ruler's fault.

The reason why Kevin had been forced to leave a woman he cared about was the Freeman ruler's fault.

So much was Lock Tannis's fault.

Holy Majestic and Hase Majestic, they were both dead now. They didn't have the power to bring an end to Lock Tannis's rule.

Theo had made Soynite Highs. He had unmade Soynite Highs.

Ancestors of his were gone, dead.

Much to the dismay of Kevin, Sabrina, and other Soynites like them, Theo Majestic's ancestors weren't able to oppose Tannis and his organized empire.

The former Freeman rulers were dead now, and the Freeman throne belonged to the powerful Lock Tannis.

Since Tannis was skilled and dangerous, the Soynites needed every member of their species to be willing to help kill him. The Freemans' dictator had been alive for too long, and he had been the leader of Free for far too long. A hero needed to kill the pale ruler.

It would be good if Theo defeated Tannis by bringing him his demise, but Kevin would not mind if Sabrina killed the Freeman leader in the future.

A good Soynite with a good plan for how to lead deserved to sit on the throne inside the Freeman royal palace, which was on that terrible planet with terrible people, and Watcher Kevin Sam was responsible for training and mentoring Sabrina. It would be wise for the man to do everything he could to prepare his only charge in the universe.

The reign of Lock Tannis needed to reach a stop as soon as possible.

The reign of the six Soynite Highs needed to last as long as possible.

Because of Tannis, planet Soy's ground had drunk life blood belonging to many wonderful Soynites. Soynite blood had been shed. It was important for Freeman blood to be shed.

The Soynites had lacked the strength to prevent the Freemans from turning Soy into a lifeless place. If they lacked the strength to kill Tannis in the future, that would not be good.

If they failed to obtain the Soy Maker, the Soynites' home planet would never regain its glory.

Kevin was a Watcher man who had spent years being alive. He hadn't been well for every single second of his life, but he knew how to fight. He knew how to kill. The Soynite man knew how to make his war-loving enemies not be well, and that was great.

"We're going to kill all of the Freemans," Kevin said, grabbing the television's remote control. Perhaps a Freeman wielded a laser rifle as the Watcher in the huge room held the remote control. "They're hunting us down. They want to kill any Soynite they can find. The Freemans are here. They need to be hurt and killed."

"Where is my parents' killer?" Sabrina said. She rested her head against Kevin, letting her blonde hair meet his shirt. "I know you don't know, but I wish you did. I want to find the Freeman who killed my parents. I know that it's going to happen, but I hate the wait."

Finding the murderer of Sabrina's adoptive parents would have to wait.

Taking the fight to Lock Tannis himself would have to wait.

The revelation would have to wait.

"You're always so sure that hope will win," Kevin said. "That's a great belief, Sabrina. That means you won't ever give up."

"I've only met Theo Majestic one time," Kevin said.

The man averted his blue-eyed gaze to the carpet, the same carpet the two Soynites' bare feet stayed against.

"But I do know hope was extremely important to him," Kevin said. He looked at the television's shining screen, then placed the remote control in the gap between him and Sabrina. "If we reunite with Theo Majestic, we can get him to help us fight the Freemans. And everything will be okay. Whatever happens, I intend to see a Soynite sit on the Freeman throne. Before that, though, we are going to see Theo again."

Kevin had spent more than thirteen years loving Theo Majestic's wife.