Zoey and her mother had to find Crammer.

The woman's need to befriend the big man with a red sword didn't make Zoey smile.

Crammer hadn't shown any signs he struggled when fighting the Freemans. He had killed them. His red sword was his weapon, and the man knew how to put it to good use.

Zoey's mother wanted to give assistance to the seven-foot tall Soynite.

After seeing what the man had done to Freemans, Zoey knew he would have no trouble with killing more pale warriors before the day died. His fighting talent hadn't been hard to see.

Crammer didn't need help.

Other Soynites had needed help. But the girl in the reading room hadn't given them assistance.

Zoey was sorry. She was sorry she hadn't been stronger, or braver, during the invasion. The girl had stood behind her mother when she shot and killed Freemans hunting Boone. The woman was skilled with a gun. Boone knew it. Zoey knew it too.

She wasn't dead. Only eleven and uneasy, and a girl with a missing father.

Away from her was Boone.

Away from Zoey was Lovely, and other people the kid had never met. The universe was a big place. Even Crammer was smaller than it.

What kind of people would Zoey meet? Would she meet a person who could fly?

Would she meet a boy who could fly?

Freemans had killed Soynites who could fly. During the Freemans' huge attack on Soy, Zoey had been such a coward. She hadn't been as strong as her mother, and she still wasn't as strong as the woman. The kid had never been as tough as her mother. She might never be.

Killing that Freeman had been as sweet as a mother's hug.

A Soynite could become tougher. Zoey could get stronger, and killing Freemans could become easier.

The floor under the preteen's shoes was black. A pile of Freeman belongings sat nearby. The one-armed warrior who had owned them stayed dead. His killer wasn't dead. Even though Freemans had made Misty Windsore's life miserable, she lived.

Zoey's mother had done the universe a favor. She had helped the Soynite race by killing that Freeman.

"I don't want Crammer to be with us," Zoey said. "He's scary. Plus, he doesn't like you, and he doesn't like me, either. We should leave. I really want to go home, Mother. Can we please do that? Please? Crammer can kill all of the Freemans here. We don't have to do it."

"We might not get another chance like this," Zoey's mother said. Her sword's tip pointed at the floor. "Don't you want help, Zoey? We can always afford to get a new friend in our lives. Your father, my husband, is gone. He's probably never coming back, but what we do know is that Crammer is here. He can become a new friend of ours. It can happen. He's still here, and he can help us. Me and you both saw how great he is. That man heard you scream, then he was going to save you. I rescued you before he could, though. Remember?"

"I remember," Zoey said. "But he's still weird."

Still holding the sword, the mother brushed the girl's hair with her free hand.

"He's strong," Zoey's mother said. "Your father isn't with us anymore. He's gone. That's what I told you a few years ago. Because it's the truth. Boone isn't here. He can't help us, and he can't use his pyrokinesis to get us out of trouble. We need a new great fighter on our side. That person can be Crammer. We both saw him kill Freemans so easily. There are strong Soynites and there are weak ones. Crammer is a strong one. I'm strong, too, but I'm smart enough to know that we need Crammer. Can we complain about having a skilled Soynite living with us? No, we can't. Only a fool would do that."

Zoey turned. She looked at the pile of Freeman belongings. The light covered the dead Freeman's possessions.

"Crammer doesn't even want to talk to us," Zoey said. "I think we should just go home. I hate being in this place. I don't want to try getting Crammer to be my friend. Let's leave him. Please, let's just leave him here. He isn't weak. He will survive, and both of us know that. The Freemans aren't going to kill him. He's going to kill them. I don't care what Crammer does, and I think we should leave. He wants us to leave. So we should."

Zoey believed her mother would become friends with Crammer if she tried hard enough. But the eleven-year-old saw making an attempt to befriend the big man as a waste of time.

It was nothing but a waste.

Crammer didn't want Zoey to be his friend. The seven-foot tall Soynite didn't want Zoey's mother to be his friend, but she still wanted to befriend him. The lady refused to give up.

Her daughter would rather leave the space station than look for Crammer.

"Don't be like that, baby," Zoey's mother said. "We have to keep trying. I was able to become friends with your father because I made an effort to. I was successful. Me and you both cared about him. We still do. Listen, if we get Crammer to join us, you will have a better chance at reuniting with your father. You'll even have a better chance at meeting your sister, Lovely. You want that to happen, don't you? I know you do."

Zoey would love to hug Lovely and speak to her and fight Freemans with her, but she didn't need Crammer. She didn't have to accept Crammer into her life. If she didn't, the girl would still meet her stepsister, her sister, for the first time.

Lovely was family.

She wasn't biologically related to Zoey, but they had the same father. They were connected.

"Even if Crammer was dead, I would still find my sister," Zoey said.

Her wish to meet her High sister hadn't left. It would never leave the girl who had a missing parent. She had to see Boone, and she had to see his daughter too. The eleven-year-old needed to.

"My little optimist," Zoey's mother said. She stroked the kid's brown hair. The girl hadn't stopped loving when her mother did that. "Whatever happens, you have to stay hopeful. One of us has to. Soynites are supposed to be hopeful. They're not supposed to kill, but that's what we have to do now. We have to kill. But being hopeful won't hurt us. I'm not very hopeful anymore. You still are. Keep your optimism. Keep your hope, Zoey."

"I will," the girl said.

Many Soynites had fallen and didn't get back up. Even as millions of her people stayed dead, Zoey didn't lose her hope.

Billions of Freemans were alive. There were so many of them. Too many. Freemans had murdered plenty Soynites. Men, women, and children who had lived on Soy had been killed. They had been murdered. Because the Freemans' Great Leader hated the Soynites so much, he had ordered his pale supporters to kill Zoey's people and destroy their planet. The Freemans had killed with pleasure.

Zoey's mother kept a healing glass in her pants pocket. She had failed to use it to save Soynites during the invasion.

The girl and her mother had met Boone during the invasion. Zoey's mother had talked to him. The preteen had talked to the man, and he hadn't scared her. Boone wasn't Crammer.

Zoey and her mother had spoken to Boone, lived with the man, and developed a strong bond with him.

They loved him. That hadn't stopped.

Zoey's mother had fallen in love with Boone, and that love had led to her changing her last name. Misty All had become Misty Windsore.

"Come on, Zoey," the girl's mother said. "Let's go find Crammer."

Finding the man wasn't something Zoey would love to do, but it was what her parent wanted. She had to go with the woman.

The kid didn't like Crammer, a man who held no like or love for her mother. But the tall lady liked him.

Zoey followed her mother out the room.

In the hall outside the room with the books, they didn't see the large man.

They found Crammer in the neighboring hall, which he had stepped into earlier. He stood. As he did that, the man watched the area ahead, waiting as he gripped his red sword.

He waited for Freemans.

The space station belonged to the Freemans, but three Soynites had gone into it.

Zoey.

Misty.

Crammer.

Zoey liked her mother, and she loved her as well. The preteen didn't like Crammer. Her mother considered the man to be a person worth protecting. Zoey didn't. Crammer seemed to dislike Zoey's mother more than he disliked the girl.

The situation was interesting.

Crammer's sword reflected the light, which gave him, Zoey, and her mother the power to see the windowless hall. It gave them the power to see each other.

In Zoey's hand was her red throwing knife. She had lifted it off the floor before heading into the hall. With her Freeman weapon on her side, she would have a better chance at leaving the black space station alive.

"It's just us," Zoey's mother said, as Crammer kept his back turned. "Me and my daughter."

"I know," Crammer said. "The Freemans take heavier steps."

The Soynite man had taken heavier steps than Zoey and the woman. The huge Crammer was a foot taller than Zoey's mother. Like her, he was vicious when killing Freemans.

"What's a Child of Still?" Zoey's mother said.

The man faced her.

Zoey disliked him, but he knew about the Children of Still. It was a topic the young Soynite had put her interest in.

What was a Child of Still?

"I thought you and Zoey were Children of Still," Crammer said.

He had used the English words for "Children of."

Children. Plural.

"You two aren't wearing purple, but I figured you were undercover," Crammer said. "I doubt you really are Children of Still."

"Do you know anything else about them?" Zoey's mother said. "They wear purple, obviously. What are they?"

Crammer shook his head.

"Go home," he said. "I have Freemans to kill."

"We have Freemans to kill," Zoey's mother said. She patted her chest. "I'm a Soynite. Me, you, and my daughter are Soynites. We hate the same race, and that race is the Freeman race. Crammer, I want to help you avenge our people. Isn't that obvious?"

"What's obvious is that you're being a fool," Crammer said.

Zoey's mother held her sword harder.

"How am I a fool?" she said.

"Why are you annoying me so much?" Crammer said. "The sound of Freemans in pain is the only noise I want to hear."

"You don't like my talking,"

"No."

"Mother, can we please just go?" Zoey said.

Crammer pointed at her. "Your daughter is a smart girl. You should listen to her."

Zoey thought about the paint she had seen. It was red. And it formed a sentence. The girl had a theory about Crammer. She did. Right now, though, the big man was a person who disliked her mother. It was the truth.

"She is smart, yes," Zoey's mother said. "She's smart and you're strong. All of the Soynites have to be strong. Because there are billions of Freemans out there and not enough of us, we have to be tough. You agree, don't you? You have to tell me that you agree. Because I don't want to have a weak man as a friend. I want a strong friend. I need a strong friend. It's also what my daughter needs. There was a third person with us. His name is Boone Windsore, and he's my husband. He is Zoey's stepfather, but she calls him Father. He's gone."

"I don't want to hear your sob story," Crammer said.

"Be honest with me, at least," Zoey's mother said. "Have you met Boone? During your travels, have you seen a man with that name? His hair is orange. His eyes are green. He's tall and muscular, but he isn't as big as you."

Boone Windsore.

Zoey's mother had described the man she loved. She had told Crammer about the man her daughter cared about and missed.

Where was the girl's father? Had he found Lovely? Had Freemans captured him?

"I've never met Boone," Crammer said.

"If you do, be good to him," Zoey's mother said. "Please."

"If you stay around me, you probably won't ever see your husband again," Crammer said. Zoey rubbed her free hand against her arm. "I won't kill you. But the Children of Still might. I hope you've never gone to Still."

No, Zoey and the woman hadn't gone to Still. They had never stepped foot on that planet, and Zoey was grateful. She was glad Still had never been a place she had visited.

"You mentioned the Children of Still before, but you still won't tell me who they are," Zoey's mother said. "Who are they?"

"They're Soynites, Mother," Zoey said. "Crammer thought we were probably Children of Still. That means they're not Freemans."

The girl had paid attention.

"Smart kid," Crammer said. "But her mother isn't smart enough to know when she should leave. Go with your daughter, Misty. Leave."

Zoey's mother had to do what the man wanted her to do. Plus, it would be great if the woman and her daughter were inside their spaceship and not in a Freeman-owned hall.

The girl's bed would give her comfort. That bed was too far from where she was now, and the Freemans might come too close. Zoey had to leave. Her mother had to leave. They needed to travel through outer space and Zoey had to rest in her bed. She wanted its warmth.

"Please, Mother," Zoey said. "I don't want to be here anymore."

"I know how to deal with Freemans," her mother said.

"We have to leave," Zoey said. "The Children of Still are going to come here."

Whoever they were, Crammer didn't believe they were harmless. Neither did Zoey.

"Probably," Crammer said. "But I hope they don't. There's something I have to do. I'm the only one who can do it."

"What do you mean by that?" Zoey's mother said.

The light continued touching her brown hair and black clothes. She didn't wear purple, but that hadn't prevented the strong man from wondering if she was a Child of Still.

"Tell me more about your husband," Crammer said.

The girl in the hall could tell Crammer about Boone, but the man wanted the woman to tell him about her absent father.

"His daughter, my stepdaughter, is a High," Zoey's mother said. "Her name is Lovely Windsore. She's the same age as Zoey. Eleven. But me and Zoey still haven't met her. I hope we do. Both of us want to. When the invasion was still happening, Theo Majestic turned Lovely and five other kids into Highs. The man on my daughter's shirt isn't a High anymore. One of the new Highs is Don Ascend's daughter. Her name is Kara. She was born during the invasion, and it was her Watcher who delivered her. My husband forgot what his name is. It's probably a different one now. Me and Zoey don't know where any of the Highs are. We just know that my husband watched them become Highs. We really want to meet Lovely, and she's probably still alive. Her Watcher is probably still alive."

"What's her Watcher's name?" Crammer said.

"Marina Tome," Zoey's mother said.

Marina had met Zoey's sister. What a fortunate woman. If only the girl in the hall was in the same place as her father's biological kid.

"Tome?" Crammer said.

His interest had risen. Zoey had heard her father reveal his daughter was a High and her interest had gone up.

Neither of the three Soynites knew planet Still had taken Lovely Windsore's sight.

"Yes," Zoey's mother said. "Tome."

Crammer moved closer to a wall. He aimed his brown eyes at the black floor.

"Are you okay, Crammer?" Zoey's mother said.

"I'm fine," the tall man said. "You said you married Boone. What happened to his other wife?"

Lauren Windsore.

She was as dead as Boone was gone.

During that bad invasion, a Freeman had shot and killed Lovely's mother. Lauren had never seen Theo turn her daughter into a High, and she would never see it happen.

Death had come. Life had left.

Lauren had died. Afterwards, Boone Windsore had met Misty and fell in love.

"Lauren Windsore is dead," Zoey's mother said. "She was just one of many casualties of the invasion. She's at peace now. Her daughter, Lovely, might still be alive. If she is, I'm going to find her. Eventually. Where's your family, Crammer?"

Crammer patted his pants pocket.

"That's none of your business," he said.

"Okay," Zoey's mother said. "Okay. If you don't want to tell me about your family, I won't make you. Family is important, though. There are some people who aren't with their biological family. I know people like that so well. Very well. I don't know if your family is alive. I don't know if they're dead. If I had to guess, I would say that you're alone. Lonely people can get desperate. They could do bad things to others. They could do bad things to themselves. Join me. Come with me and my Zoey. You won't be alone anymore."

"You don't have to be lonely to do bad things to others," Crammer said.

"I'm aware," Zoey's mother said. "The Freemans weren't alone. They had each other. They still do. They killed almost all of our people, then they destroyed our planet. They ruined Soy. The Freemans did that together. When the attack was still happening, I met Boone. He had finished watching his daughter and a couple other kids become Highs. He found me after that, and he saw my spaceship. The Freemans were chasing him. Two of them. I killed the Freemans with my gun. You see, it was Boone's destiny to meet me during the invasion. You can't fight fate, Crammer. You can fight the Freemans, but you can't fight your destiny. It was my destiny to meet you inside this place. Before it happened, though, I didn't know it. And you didn't know it. Your future is predetermined. Everyone's future is."

Crammer rubbed his cheek with his thumb.

"That does make sense," the man said.

"It makes a lot of sense," Zoey's mother said. She placed a hand against her chest. "I make a lot of sense."

The man glanced at her sword. He made eye contact with her.

"You're a great fighter," Crammer said. "Are you a Watcher?"

No.

Zoey's mother was not a Watcher. She had trained. And the more practice she had with taking lives, the better. Soynites needed to be strong. Zoey's mother knew that.

"No," the woman said. "I'm actually not a Watcher, but there's a man I want to kill. I won't tell you who he is. But he's the reason why I've trained myself. I need to kill him."

"Everyone has at least one person they want to kill," Crammer said.

"Have you ever seen Boris Endman?" Zoey's mother said. Crammer shook his head. "That's disappointing, but you aren't. Me and you are alike. You're strong. So am I. You kill Freemans with no issue and I'm the same way. Just imagine what we could do together if we were friends. Best friends."

Zoey had no friends.

Still, having no friends would be better than being friends with the big man called Crammer.

Zoey's mother had talked to him, but he didn't plan on joining the woman and her girl. Meanwhile, Zoey didn't lose her urge to be back in her bed. She preferred for her mother to stop making an effort to befriend Crammer. It was a waste. It was a waste of time, and time was valuable.

"All friends do is disappoint you," Crammer said.

Footsteps came. Heavy.

Freemans charged into the hall. They carried blades, not holding guns, because only dumb Freemans would open fire inside a space station.

Crammer faced the pale group.

He roared. Then he charged toward the rushing enemies, big and brutal, tough and brave.

Four Freemans.

There were four opponents, and each of them wanted to kill the three Soynites in the hall.

They wanted to kill Crammer.

The Soynite man clashed with the nearest Freeman. He backed away. The pale warrior's sword cut through the spot, not slicing Crammer's flesh. Because the Freeman had missed.

Crammer swung. His sword's red metal, sharp metal, cut through Freeman flesh.

Great. That was what Zoey loved to see.

The arm with the sword came off, dropped onto the floor, and its owner shouted. Agony lived in the Freeman.

He pulled out a throwing knife, swaying.

An unarmed Freeman charged, planning on killing Crammer. Swords kissed.

Red flew past Crammer. As the one-armed Freeman dropped onto the floor, spewing blood from the spot his harm had been attached to, the enemy's throwing knife entered Zoey's thigh. Pain ripped the kid's leg.

She screamed.

Zoey dropped her own throwing knife, in agony. The weapon clattered.

Crammer dealt with the Freemans as a woman approached the girl. Misty Windsore. With fast urgency, she set the sword on the floor. The lady kneeled. She grabbed the throwing knife's black handle, pulled it free.

Red spread.

With the blade no longer acting as a plug, Zoey could bleed out. But her mother didn't plan on letting that happen.

Zoey shivered while whimpering.

"I know, baby," her mother said. "I know. I'm going to help you."

She grabbed onto the waistband of Zoey's sweatpants, then pulled the pants down. The woman saw her daughter's white panties, but what mattered was getting her healed.

Zoey's mother moved a hand into her pocket, pulled out her Soynite healing glass.

She healed the leg wound.

Because her good mother had given her the help she needed, life wouldn't leave Zoey. She was okay. Fine. The Freemans didn't deserve to be.

As red metal clashed against red metal, the woman stood. She backed away.

Zoey bent over, grabbed her pants, and pulled them up. The woman stroked her daughter's brown hair. She embraced Zoey, who hugged her back.

They separated.

"Thank you, Mother," the girl said.

"I was just doing what I had to do," her mother said. "No one is going to hurt you without being punished for it. Remember that. And I want you to watch this."

Zoey's mother grabbed the throwing knife, the one with her child's blood on it. She confronted the one-armed Freeman, who shook on the floor. His yelling didn't stop. The woman kneeled. She stabbed the knife into the Freeman's eyeball, then the fierce mother did the same to his other one.

The already injured Freeman yelled louder.

"I can't see!" he yelled, speaking his native language. Another one-armed Freeman, the one Zoey's mother had killed, had spoken that language to the girl. He had wanted help. Her help. "I can't see! My eyes! My eyes!"

Blood spilled from the holes in the enemy's eyeballs, red moving against white.

It was a bad situation for the Freeman. It was a good situation for the Soynite girl and her mother, the woman who had healed her leg. The kid didn't lose her appreciation. She was grateful. Her mother existed at the same time she did.

Zoey's mother buried the throwing knife into the Freeman's heart.

She stood. After picking up her sword, she watched as the Freeman's lifeless body turned into smoke. She had killed the enemy with the knife he had used to hurt her daughter.

Good.

Crammer shoved the last Freeman, an armless one, against a wall. Red blood shot out the gaping holes where his pale arms should be. He shouted. Crammer impaled him. The big man moved the sword out the Freeman's huge body, took several steps back, and stared as the wounded and armless enemy hit the floor.

He stilled. His body became smoke.

Zoey's mother had tended to her daughter as her potential friend dealt with the Freemans.

Neither of the dead enemies had been the strongest of their people. Lock Tannis was. If he had been in the hall with his warriors, they might have survived. Lock might have killed Zoey, her wonderful mother, and the big Crammer if he had fought them.

He was not the typical Freeman.

For a moment Crammer looked at the blood on Zoey's sweatpants.

"Are you okay, kid?" the man said.

Zoey nodded. She said, "I am. Thanks for asking."

Blood stayed warm against her thigh. Thanks to her mother, she wouldn't bleed out. Not today, at least.

The pain had run away.

Zoey wasn't hurt. Her mother had given her help, and the girl's love for her had grown larger. The great woman had stabbed the Freeman attacker in the eyes because of what he had done to her kid.

"Crammer," Zoey's mother said. "I can tell that you're becoming fond of us."

A scoff came out the man, stuck to biting dislike.

"If I had to, I would kill you," Crammer said. "I've already killed one Soynite. I can do it again. If you stop me from doing what I have to do, I will make you regret it."

No, no, no.

"Please, don't," Zoey said. "She's my mother."

"There are billions of mothers," Crammer said.

Yes, there were billions of mothers, but Misty Windsore was Zoey's mother. The girl loved her so much.

"You're not going to kill me," Zoey's mother said. "You can try. Yes, you can surely try. But it would be a fight you won't win. You're not going to take me away from my girl."

Crammer had put his sword to good use. Zoey's mother could put her sword to better use.

The woman had gone into a space station Freeman warriors owned and lived in. They hadn't killed her. Freemans had tried murdering the mother, but she was skilled. She was too skilled. Her enemies had been too weak to kill her.

"I took what I wanted," Zoey's mother said. "It's still with me. The thing is so close, but I'm never going to let you have it. I took what I wanted, Crammer. And I can take your life."

Zoey had love for the woman, no doubt.

Cranmer didn't.

"Only one person is going to kill me," the man said.

"If you keep being so aggressive, I will be that person." Zoey's mother said.

Right.

She could be that person.

"You have no idea who I fought," Zoey's mother said. "I fought that person and I survived. They're powerful. They're more powerful than you, and they are more skilled than you. A stronger person than you tried to kill me. They didn't. I'm still here. You won't kill me. You might have fun trying to, but you won't succeed. You won't win. I survived the invasion, and I'm not going to let myself get killed inside a Freeman space station. You can. That won't ever happen to me, though. I'm not going to let that happen."

"Trying can lead to winning," Crammer said.

"In a fight between me and you, I already know who would be the winner."

"If I don't kill you, someone else will."

Crammer had to be wrong. Zoey's mother didn't deserve to get killed. She had spent eleven years taking care of Zoey, and that meant something.

It mattered.

Freeman combat uniforms stayed on the black floor, unused. Crammer had killed his enemies. He didn't like Zoey's mother, and it wasn't surprising a Soynite would want to kill someone they disliked.

Zoey needed her mother. The girl needed her to stay alive and well.

"Stop it!" Zoey said. "Don't say that to my mother!"

"Don't pay any attention to his words, Zoey," the mother said. "No one is ever going to kill me."

They heard footsteps. There were too many pairs of them. It sounded as if Freemans were on their way, and they weren't gentle.

Zoey's mother went near her sword, bent down, lifted the weapon off the floor. She stood.

Near Zoey's feet was her Freeman throwing knife. She could throw it into an enemy's body, make their heart stop. But a pale warrior had to come first.

With her heart beating fast, Zoey picked up the throwing knife.

Freemans poured into the hall.

Some held swords and others held daggers. Their weapons were sharp, dangerous, and able to kill.

People came. Five men. Five women. They ran behind the Freeman mob. The people weren't pale, and some of them wielded blue daggers.

They wore one color.

An unseen force sent each Freeman shooting upwards. Pale heads crashed against the black ceiling above, someone using telekinesis to hurt the armed enemies.

A Soynite used telekinesis to slam the Freemans against the floor. They didn't stand. These too-pale warriors were pinned, someone's telekinesis working against them.

Their blades floated away from their hands. One at a time, the weapons stabbed into their skulls, piercing brains.

And the Freemans died.

Their bodies changed into smoke, which was far from being a bad sight.

The telekinesis user parted the smoke, creating a path for them and nine other Soynites. They took steps toward Zoey, her mother, and Crammer.

Purple.

The ten Soynites who had come wore purple shirts and purple pants.

The Children of Still.