MARCH 3, 2022

Who was Zoey All?

Was she Zoey? Or was she Alice Endman?

The sixteen-year-old sat on the bed in her new room, holding a photograph displaying Boris Endman and his granddaughter, whose name was both Alice Endman and Zoey All.

A boy she had kissed had given her the picture.

Hero Shame.

The boy had given information to Zoey, and she had handed that information to her sister, her sister's Watcher, and Hailey Majestic.

Betty had informed Zoey what Hailey had told the Watcher.

Theo Majestic had fought Boris Endman on planet Soy, and Hailey and her Watcher had seen the fight.

They had fought with Strife. Their powers had been gone. The average Soynite deserved their powers like people deserve their limbs.

Boris, Zoey's grandfather, had joined Lock Tannis. Hailey herself had told Betty about Boris's identity as the dictator's minion. Like Zoey, Hailey, Lena, and Betty had already known Lock was a Soynite. That dreadful truth was bitter cold. It could make someone shiver.

Hero had informed Zoey that Boris was dead. Someone had destroyed him, Zoey assumed.

Zoey had told her new friends what she knew about the Children of Still cult, the Lock Tannis Church cult, Hero and his family, and other things.

She had told Hailey and Lena the truth. They knew she had been born as Alice Endman, and that was information Betty had learned before the two girls had learned it.

Hailey.

She was friends with Holly and Archer, Zoey's biological parents. The blonde girl had been a toddler when she saw them last, young and filled with so much compassion.

Hailey had killed a Freeman. She had murdered multiple Freemans, but she had done it to protect Zoey's sister.

Then Zoey had come.

But she had left Hero and his brothers and sisters.

A heavy sigh left Zoey.

"Zoey?" Lena said. "Are you in there?"

A girl who sported orange hair and pale gray eyes stood near the open door. Lena Fly. She wasn't just a High. The girl was Zoey's sister, and the two teenagers had met during a war.

Lena didn't wear her sunglasses. Eyes that couldn't see pointed forward, their owner's vision gone.

Pale gray eyes. They weren't like Zoey's brown ones. The love child of Betty Tome and planet Still was Lena's blindness.

"I am," Zoey said. She put the picture next to her, letting it rest on the bed. "You can come in."

As she moved, Lena swung her white cane from side to side. She entered the bedroom.

"I want to get straight to the point," Zoey said. "Can you please tell me why you ran toward the Freemans earlier? Please? Hailey told me that's what you did."

Hailey stepped into the room.

"I'm here, too," she said. "I want to know why you ran toward the Freemans, Lena."

Hailey's father didn't stand in the bedroom. He wouldn't hear Lena talk, and he couldn't listen to his daughter speak.

"That means the two of you want to hear what I already told Betty," Lena said. "It's simple. After I became obviously sad in front of Hailey, you know, crying and all that nonsense, a suicidal urge came with it. I knew there was a chance those Freemans would kill me. But I remembered what happened to my mother. I thought about how my father is probably dead. And I didn't forget that I might never get my sight back. My powers were still gone. They still are. I had to run towards the Freemans. It was a win-win situation. If they killed me, I wouldn't have been blind anymore. I would've had my vision back. And my powers. If I killed them, no more Freeman attackers. But I didn't kill them, did I?. No, that girl over there saved my life. Hailey saved me. That made me less depressed. Then I met you, Zoey. I finally met my stepsister. My sister. I can't kill myself, and I'm not going to."

Hailey smiled.

Zoey didn't. She rubbed her arms with her hands.

Uneasiness slipped into her body, like when her mother-kidnapper had slipped a sword into Crammer Cole.

Zoey had been younger when it happened. She hadn't known her sister was blind back then, and the brunette had freed an ancient man from his prison cell. She was now in a different space station. A Soynite one.

Zoey had met Zodiac, and he hadn't worn a pendant when they met. The teenager's mother had refused to give the girl her pendant. That was the reason why she hadn't worn one when she freed Zodiac. Misty Windsore had concealed her pendant.

Two pendant-lacking Soynites had met inside a prison wing.

Where was Zodiac Angel?

Wherever he was, Zoey didn't forget how she had met Lena during a bad time.

Her sister was the blind High.

"I should've been here," Zoey said. "Lena, I should've been with you years ago. I'm sorry we met each other too late."

"It's not your fault," Lena said. "Be grateful you haven't met Hailey's oldest sister. Reese Low is as much of a fool as her best friend."

Cape Majestic. He was Hailey's sixth cousin.

"I still think Nova is a good person, Lena," Hailey said. She leaned against a wall's blue hardness. "And I saved your life. Don't you think that I deserve to not hear you talk so negatively about my sister?"

"No, Hailey," Lena said. "I like you. But I don't like you enough to say good things about Reese."

"You said you love me," Hailey said.

Lena covered her face with a pale hand, as if Hailey had dropped her into the most embarrassing situation a Soynite could be in.

"That's what you told me, Lena," Hailey said.

Lena moved her hand.

She had never used it to slap Zoey. The girl was the sightless High, not Misty Windsore. Lena had hurt Hailey earlier, but that had been before.

In the present, they were friends.

"It was an emotional moment," Lena said. "Don't expect that to happen anytime soon. In addition to that, don't expect us to be friends after you meet your fool of a sister. I already know what's going to happen. You're going to meet Reese. Then I'll make you mad, because I hate her. And both of you will despise me. It's the way it's going to be. Both of the Majestic sisters will hate the best High."

Reese Low.

She was one of the five Highs who had lived in a spaceship with Lena for a few months. Zoey knew Reese was Theo Majestic's daughter, but did the blonde High know?

Ken Herman, her Watcher, was her maternal uncle, and she probably wasn't aware of that. Reese had been gifted with a Watcher who doubled as her mother's brother. What a fortunate girl.

Zoey had been away from any biological relative for a long time. Misty, her kidnapper, had taken her from her real mother.

Holly Endman. In truth, she had given birth to Zoey.

Still, the girl loved Misty Windsore more than she loved Holly. Zoey didn't love her. She hadn't seen the woman in years, and it was Misty who had spent those years raising Zoey.

Would both of the Majestic sisters hate Lena?

"That's not true," Hailey said. She fiddled with her thin fingers. "You can be frustrating to deal with, but I love you. We're friends. I'm also going to meet Nova. When I do, I'll still be nice to you. That won't change."

"Hailey, you should get rid of that optimism," Lena said. "You and Zoey both should. Life doesn't always give you what you want, and great things happen too rarely. I didn't expect to become blind, but that's what happened. I lost my Saves. Your sister is probably dead. If she isn't, she will be. Reese is going to get killed one of these days. Trust me."

Zoey's optimism and Lena's pessimism were not on sister-like terms.

"Sisters can find each other," Zoey said. She gestured to the sightless sister . "I found you."

In the room's warmth, Zoey and Lena stayed close.

"And look at the person you found," Lena said. "I can't see her. I can't see any mirrors, Zoey. I haven't seen my reflection in years."

"I know," Zoey said. "And I'm sorry."

Lena leaned her cane against the wall closest to her. She moved toward Zoey's bed, letting her hands roam the space in front of her.

Zoey stood. She approached Lena and put her slim arms around her. Lena hugged her back. The gray-eyed Lena couldn't see a sister's smile, but she could experience a sister's hug.

"I'm so sorry," Zoey said. She shut her brown eyes. "If I could, I would switch places with you."

"You're a good person, Zoey," Hailey said, sincere. "Please, stay that way."

"I will,"

Zoey opened her eyes and the hug with Lena broke. Her gray eyes stared ahead, but she couldn't see her sibling's face.

Hero had more siblings than Zoey.

The teenage boy Zoey had come to like had five siblings.

Sydney.

Macy.

Wade.

Everett.

Kat.

The Freemans had captured their father, Mitch Shame. The eleven-year-old Sydney had been born as a Shame, but her siblings had adopted that family name. Mitch's only biological child was Sydney, and Zoey knew the girl missed her father. She missed her own father. Her stepfather, anyway.

Archer Endman was Zoey's biological father. She didn't remember him. For Zoey, each memory of Archer was as absent as her love for Lock Tannis.

But Zoey hadn't forgotten Hero. The girl hadn't forgotten Sydney, Macy, Wade, Everett, or Kat. She wanted to hug Hero and Sydney more than she wanted to hug the other Shame children. Hero had tried hard to keep Zoey as safe as possible. He had protected her.

They had kissed. Twice.

Hero wasn't Zoey's boyfriend, but she wouldn't frown or sigh in frustration if he had kissed her a third time. In the emotional sense, they were close, but they were physically far from each other. Frustrating longing covered the distance. Zoey had last seen Hero in Hawaii. The girl lived in a space station now. With Lena. With Hailey Majestic. With Watcher Betty Fly, whose original name was Marina Tome.

Zoey had informed Betty that Boris Endman was dead. Before that, though, Zoey had learned about that former High's fate from Hero.

Her grandfather was dead.

No matter how much Zoey's mother believed Boris had a beating heart, the girl herself doubted he was alive. Boris didn't have a working heart. He had a dead one. Because he was gone, deceased.

Lifeless.

Zoey didn't miss him.

Boris had joined Lock Tannis. When that was the truth, how could Zoey miss her late grandfather?

Boris Endman's former housemate Hailey lived with Zoey. The two girls lived in the same space station as each other, and there was no way they could return to the Soynite royal palace. The Freemans had destroyed it.

Zoey missed Hero and Sydney. Zoey even missed their siblings, Wade included. He had tried shooting Zoey to death. The boy had failed.

Wade had been murderous and hostile toward Zoey, but he hadn't killed her.

Plus, he had hugged her goodbye.

"You deserve to be with Archer and Holly, your real parents," Lena said. She pressed her hands against Zoey's arms. "That's if they're even alive. Look, I don't care how you feel about Misty Windsore, but she has to die because of what she did to you. She took you away. You have real parents who loved you, but Misty kidnapped you. She abused you, Zoey. You're someone who only attacks people who attack you. Misty isn't. You're not even her kid. Me and you will always be sisters, but Misty isn't your mother. She never will be."

Lena moved her hands away from Zoey's arms.

"You don't know my mother like I did," Zoey said. "She really loves me. She does. I know you don't believe me, but it's the truth. She hugged me more times than she slapped me. And I loved it when she stroked my hair. I loved it when I put my legs around her and we just held each other. It's what I did when I reunited with her. Hero and his siblings saw it. Misty Windsore is my mother. Holly Endman isn't. Technically, she is. But she's not."

"Zoey," Hailey said. She shook her head. "Don't be like that, please. Holly is a good woman. She's my friend."

Lena shook her head. She couldn't see, but she could do that.

"Your kidnapper managed to make you love her, Zoey," Lena said. "But you're with me, Betty, and Hailey now. I'm not going to hurt you. None of us are. I love you."

"And I love Misty Windsore," Zoey said. She rubbed her arms with her hands. "I'm sorry."

Zoey sat on the bed. She clasped her hands.

"Lena," Hailey said. "Zoey isn't the only one with missing parents. You said that you have a theory about what happened to my father. I remember."

Lena's eyes faced the wall ahead. She blinked. After turning, she ran a hand through her orange hair.

"I remember, too," Lena said. "Right. I did say that. I think I know what happened to your father, Hailey."

Hailey smiled and stepped toward the blind High.

"Really?" she said. "We have to figure out where he is. We have to figure out if he's okay or not. I love him. I love him so much. We have to find him, Lena."

Lena turned her palms to the wall.

"Relax," the gray-eyed girl said. "Don't be an excited fool. Your father is probably dead. If he isn't, I suspect the Freemans took him."

"They didn't," Hailey said. "Vera told me that the Freemans don't know where my father is."

"Use your brain," Lena said. She tapped her pale forehead twice. "Lock Tannis's Freemans don't know where your father is. After Lock became the new Freeman ruler, a lot of Freemans left Free. Remember? I believe they settled on a different planet. They had to. It's entirely possible these Freemans are alive and thriving, and I think they have your father. If your father wasn't in trouble, why wouldn't he go back to you? I doubt he abandoned you. Theo Majestic, your father, was taken by Freemans. I think. They must be descendants of the ones who didn't like Lock Tannis. I believe they have your father."

Zoey furrowed her brow. She watched as Hailey took quick steps toward Lena. Theo's daughter hugged Boone Windsore's. The High hugged Hailey back, and the blonde grinned.

The girls separated.

"You're a genius!" Hailey said. "Betty told me that you're intelligent! And you are! You really are!"

Zoey's sister was smarter than she was.

Good, good, good.

Lena lacked eyesight and she had lost her powers, yet she had much intelligence. Zoey was smart. But it hadn't saved her from being kidnapped sixteen years ago.

"Lena, do you really think Freemans who hate Lock Tannis took Theo?" Zoey said, seated on her bed's comforting warmth. Lena turned, nodded. "I believe you. It makes a lot of sense."

"I'm the best High," Lena said. "Of course my theory makes a lot of sense. I doubt my prediction will change much. Hailey, your father is most likely dead. I don't want to give you false hope. But I know your foolish optimism is going to make you believe that your father is alive. I pity you. You won't find your foolish father. And that Watcher who took your youngest sister is going to keep her forever. You're never going to see Anne again. Thanks to that Hero boy, you know that Summer is still alive. She's married to the actual leader of the Lock Tannis Church. Hero didn't say anything about Anne. Maybe she's not even alive. She's probably dead, just like your father. Stop being so hopeful, Hailey. You are never going to see your family again."

Theo, Lilly, Nick, Nova, and Anne were Hailey's family members. They were her loved ones. Nova was Reese Low and Reese Low was Nova. When Lena mentioned Reese, she referred to Nova. When Hailey mentioned Nova, she referred to Reese.

Reese Low and Nova Majestic were the same person.

Zoey All and Alice Endman were the same person.

Hailey fiddled with her fingers.

"Yes, I am!" she said. "I'm going to see my family again. I have to see them again. I know I will. Anne is still alive. Hero never met her, that's all. I'm going to find my younger sister, and I'm going to see my father, and I'm going to see Nick. I'm going to see Nova, too, and I don't care that I've never spoken to her. I love her. I love her so much. I'm going to see my mother, too. And Vera is out there. I don't know where my Watcher is, but I'm going to reunite with her. I'm going to see Vera. I want to see her again. I miss her."

Zoey missed Hero and his brothers and sisters. Out of all of Hero's siblings, Sydney was the best one. Was she okay? Where was she now?

Hero. Where was he?

Zoey's mother had slapped her with violence. Multiple times. But Hero had kissed the girl with true care, and it had happened twice.

"You're talking about the same woman who didn't tell you that your mother and brother came to see you," Lena said. She crossed her arms. "You should be angry. You should hold a grudge on that Watcher of yours. You yelled at her, argued with her. Then you abandoned her and found me. I treated you harshly. When we met, I hurt you with my cane. I loved it. Vera brought you to me, Hailey. Right now, you should be more like Lena Fly. You should hate this universe. I know I do. The majority of the people alive don't deserve anything good. That's the truth. Additionally, you know the situation is bad when the best High is blind."

Hailey walked closer to the chair near the desk, and she grabbed it. After turning the chair, she sat. Zoey stayed seated. Lena didn't sit. She didn't leave the room, but there was a chance Hailey wanted her to. Lena stood as warmth covered the three girls, teenagers who had distant parents.

"Nova is the best High," Hailey said. Her hands came to her clothed thighs. "Not you, Lena. You don't make good first impressions. You hurt me. When I first met you, that's what you did. My leg was hurting until Betty healed it. Now I can heal wounds. I healed you. And you had to get your pants out of the way, so I could heal your leg. I know you're wearing black panties."

Lena made no attempt to hurt Hailey.

Zoey lay on the bed. It seemed as if Lena's drowned urge to kill the girl wouldn't resurface. Zoey hoped it wouldn't.

She hadn't wanted to learn the color of her sister's underwear, but that information had been forced onto her. It had penetrated the girl. Like when death had penetrated Lauren Windsore. That woman couldn't see the brutal person her daughter had become. Still, Lena treated Zoey as if she had been born as the brunette's biological sister. It mattered. Lena mattered to Zoey.

"I am wearing black panties," Lena said. "Anything I wear is great fashion. I'm the best High, after all. If I reunite with the other Highs, they're going to love me. Even though you think that I didn't make a good first impression with you, you ended up loving me. Didn't you? The other Highs are going to like me. Whatever dislike they have for the best High is going to vanish. I promise. They are going to love Lena Fly. I know they will. Most people are horrible, but the other Highs will be good to me. I'm too great. It's that simple. I'm great and they're not."

Zoey loved Lena, but the blind High had terrorized Hailey. She had flung pain into her life, a life that had lasted thirteen years. So far.

"Are you going to hurt them, Lena?" Hailey said. She leaned forward. "You hurt me. If the other Highs were here, I think you would try to hurt them. You won't be able to, though. You're blind. They're not."

Lena clenched her fists, but Zoey had been told her favorite weapon was her cane.

"I will hurt whoever needs to be hurt," Lena said. "Highs. Freemans. Children of Still. Lock Tannis worshippers. There are so many people who have to feel my cane striking their legs. Your sister Reese is one of them. I hate her. If I see her again, I'm going to hurt her. If I see Cape again, I'm going to hurt him. Cape. Reese. They're two people who refuse to acknowledge how great I am, and people like that deserve to scream in agony."

No.

Cape and Hailey's sister Reese didn't deserve to scream in agony. Lena had to be wrong. It wasn't impossible for a Soynite to be wrong about something. A certain girl with no pendant had been wrong about who her biological mother was. She had suffered. A woman had stolen her from a good family, but the girl couldn't hate that lady. She didn't plan on making Boris Endman's worst enemy bleed.

"Lena, please," Zoey said. "No one has to get hurt. My mother hurt me. You know that, but you're still choosing to be like this. Don't be so violent, please."

Lena bowed her head. As Zoey lay on the bed, as Hailey sat, the gray-eyed girl lifted her head.

She spread one arm.

"Hailey," the blind High said. "Give me my cane."

Zoey's pulse didn't quicken. She trusted her sister to not bring her pain.

"Sure," the blonde said.

Hailey headed closer to the cane, grabbed it, and she handed it to a girl who had used the object to strike pain into her.

"I'll talk to you girls later," Lena said.

Without bothering to hurl bitter words at Theo Majestic's third child, Lena left the room.

When Zoey's blind sister had been gone for thirteen seconds, Hailey said, "She's going to try hurting the other Highs. What you said isn't going to stop her."

Maybe.

Zoey could drain Lena's violent nature. She had to try. There was so much else she had to try. The girl knew that as Hailey stood, not far, not as distant as Hero Shame.

Hailey sat in the chair.

Zoey stayed on her bed, letting her brown hair rest against the blue pillow. She was on her back and safe in the square-shaped warmth. Freemans weren't nearby. It was a pleasure to live far from a Freeman-occupied base. The father of a boy Zoey liked didn't have the luxury the girl had. It was bad. But Hero and his brothers and sisters would find the absent Mitch.

They would.

Zoey's relationship with Hero was simple: he had tried stopping Wade from murdering Zoey, he had run away with her, he had hugged her more than once, and he had kissed her twice.

Moments with Hero had been comforting in their pleasant weirdness.

Other events had happened, some minor, some major. A major event had been when Hero chose to spare Zoey's mother, but the option to commit murder had been his. He was one teenager, maybe more odd than the usual teenager, but the boy was Hero.

Zoey's fondness for him had grown. It hadn't faded.

Hero had done something absurd: he had prevented his beloved brother from killing a stalker girl.

What the uncanny Hero was, what he might always be, was a hero.

His hard decision to spare Zoey's mother had bought him extra love from the girl on the bed. Hero had hid a secret from Zoey, and he had even covered her eyes with a black blindfold, but the brunette hungered for him. She had no fruit. But it wasn't what she desired.

"Maybe, Hailey," Zoey said. "Maybe. Thanks, by the way. You saved my sister's life, and you broke your no-killing code to do it. You remind me of Hero. He always wants to do the right thing. When his siblings wanted to kill me, Hero ran away with me. He saved my life. Even though his family hated me, he didn't. You're like him. You're good. There's not enough kindness in this universe, that's for sure. But there's going to be. I already know it. And I'm going to see Hero again. I'm going to see his brothers and sisters, too. When I was with Hero and his family, I saw Betty outside. But Wade didn't see her. I left him. And I left Hero. I think that I'm going to see them again, though. I have to. It's weird, but I ended up liking those siblings a lot. They're uncanny. But they're also great."

Unbeknownst to Zoey, Hailey would become the uncanny Exchangers' tenth and final victim. Hailey didn't know that, either.

"I can't wait to meet them," Hailey said, keeping her hands against her thighs. "I'm glad you left that family, though. If you didn't, you wouldn't have met me, Lena, and Betty. I'm happy you're here. What Misty did to you is never going to happen to you in this home. Lena even likes you. It was strange to see her treat a stranger so well, considering how she wasn't nice to me when I met her, but it was a great sight. It was wonderful. She didn't hurt you. You're sisters."

Lena was Boone Windsore's biological daughter. Zoey hadn't forgotten that piece of information, and the girl had met Lena in a piece of her life.

The blind Soynite had no love for her fellow Highs, no vision, no powers. But she had a sister.

Zoey was part of Lena's life now. They had been apart for too long, but Betty had brought Zoey into her home. She and Lena had embraced. Boris Endman's granddaughter had hugged the blind High with real love. Zoey had spent years knowing who Lovely was, but Lena had gone so long without knowing Boris Endman's grandchild was her stepsister.

As for Zoey, she now lived in a different environment.

No slapping, no yelling, no pain.

Zoey, or Alice Endman, whoever she was, lay on a bed, away from Misty Windsore. She was far from the uncanny Hero and his uncanny siblings.

Misty, Alice Endman's kidnapper.

Misty, Zoey All's kidnapper.

Was that woman even Zoey's mother?

As awful as the shouting and the slapping had been, Zoey knew she had survived for years. Because Misty existed. The woman was as real as the time when Zoey freed Zodiac from his prison cell.

Like the ancient man, Zoey had been a prisoner.

Her prison guard had showered her with cheek kisses and hugs, and the woman had assaulted the girl with slaps.

Hero Shame, a boy who hated Misty, had held Zoey hostage. That happened after their first kiss and before their second kiss. Zoey's relationships with people were interesting, no doubt. They weren't dull.

Her time with Hero and Misty had flown away. Misty's power to hug or slap the girl had crumbled.

Hero's ability to fly with Zoey or kiss her had dissolved.

"And my sister doesn't have her sight anymore," Zoey said. "Her powers are gone, too. A couple of years ago, I freed a Soynite from a Freeman prison cell. His powers were gone, too, but it was because of the Strife. It was near us. He was so happy to be freed. He kissed my forehead and we hugged. He knew how to show his appreciation. The man's name was Zodiac Angel. Anyway, Crammer punched him and he became unconscious. I think Zodiac wanted to keep me. He was going to kidnap me, just like my mother had done. He's probably powerful when he has his Saves. If Lena had her vision and her powers, she should be better at fighting. She used to be able to fly. Hero can do that now, and he knows how to put it to good use."

Hailey smiled. She gestured to Zoey.

"Are you Hero's girlfriend?" Hailey said.

No, Hero and Zoey weren't boyfriend and girlfriend. They were two teenagers who had met in Washington, planet Earth, then those Soynites had split from each other in Hawaii. They had kissed. Twice. But they weren't in a romantic relationship, not with each other, not with anyone else.

"No," Zoey said. "I want to be, though. I like him. I want him, in the romantic sense. I couldn't fly with Boris Endman, but I have flown with Hero."

Hero had carried Zoey while flying.

Misty had let her kidnapping victim fly out her life.

The girl clung to freedom. The Shame siblings had helped her earn great liberty. Precious freedom. No more abuse. Yet Zoey would rather see Misty alive than see her as a corpse.

The door leading to the kidnapping event had opened. Misty had gone through it.

"Anyway, Hailey, I'm fine now," Zoey said. "I do wish Lena was better. She has to become a better person. She has to become worthy. When that happens, she's going to get her sight back. And her powers. I wish we knew what she had to do. We don't know. I don't know. But I know more good will come. And we have to make sure that surviving through so much pain was worth it. We have to."

Hailey gestured to the space around them. Blue walls and a blue floor. Like the room, the bed beneath Zoey. The room was a place in a space station so far from Soy.

"There are better places than this," Hailey said. "Soy is going to be the best place again. We're going to go back home, Zoey. One day."

Zoey grinned.

She was grateful she had met the wonderful Theo Majestic's daughter.

Wherever Theo was, whether Lock Tannis-hating Freemans had him, Hailey would reunite with her father.

Zoey would reunite with Hero and his siblings.

Where were they?