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a scattered and broken people from the four corners of the Outcast Zone and brought them together, save for one.”
    “Me.”
    “You were the only one I could not reach with my message. And you were the son of the king and queen that ruled the hybrid kingdom before it was targeted and destroyed by humans. The humans were afraid. Afraid that, given the chance, hybrids could come to rule all of OZ. So they obliterated your kingdom and scattered the hybrids to the winds, enacting laws that kept the status of hybrids just barely that above the livestock in the fields.”
    He had heard the same tale from Zee many times before.
    “You haven’t answered my question.”
    “I have given the hybrids everything that humans took away from them. I gave them a place where they could live without persecution. I’ve made education available to every one of them. But there was one thing that I could not restore.”
    “Their kingdom.”
    “At least not without their king.”
    He was beginning to understand why she believed him to be integral to what she had planned for the hybrids. But what did she have planned?
    He gazed into the deep black abyss of her eyes. They glistened back, but refused to reveal any of her secrets.
    “You want me to be a leader to my people?”
    Her face softened as she smiled. “I want you, to want to be a leader for your people.”
    “What’s the difference?”
    “If you do what I want, you do it with your head. When you do what you want, you do it with your heart.”
    “Why is this so important to you?”
    She reflected on his question for a moment before finally answering. “It’s not just important to me. It’s important to you, to every hybrid, and to every human in OZ. Your decision to finally become a leader just might matter to the entire world.”
    A voice he vaguely recognized from his past spoke from behind him. “She’s right, Caleb.”
    The speaker of the new voice stepped into his view, and his heart leapt into his throat. Despite the lack of hair, and intense scarring over the entire face of the man standing before him, he recognized him in an instant.
    “Nero?”
    The horribly scarred face grimaced in an attempt to smile. “How are you doing, son?”
    Caleb lurched forward, but was held back by the two guards who gripped his arms tightly. “You are not my father!”
    Nero leaned heavily on the cane he clutched in one hand. “So much for time heals all wounds.”
    “I should’ve known you would be behind this. The puppet master pulling on all the strings.”
    Nero let out a guttural chuckle. The damage to his body, when the emerald laser had exploded and ejected him out the window of the casino, was far more than skin deep and consigned a deeper, raspier, quality to his voice.
    He motioned toward the Southern Marshal with a swish of his cane. “I’m afraid this time, she’s the one in charge. I’m only here to help.”
    “Help!? Since when have you been the one they call when someone needs help?”
    “Actually, I came to her. To ask for her help.”
    Caleb practically choked on his own laugh.
    “Okay, similar question. Since when have you needed help from anyone?”
    “For the first time, something is coming that even I, with my vast resources and connections, cannot take on alone.”
    “And just what is it that has the two of you, the most powerful people in all of OZ, running and hiding with your tail between your legs?”
    Nero coughed to clear his throat. “They are the people who sent me here to find something for them.”
    “Who are ‘they’?”
    Near shook his head. “The infamous ‘they’ go by the name of the Directors. A small group of world leaders that operate in the shadows. I think there are only five members at any given time who make all the decisions.”
    The Southern Marshal interrupted him. “You think? Don’t you know? Aren’t they the ones who sent you here?”
    Nero nodded. “They only speak through proxies. I was given my instructions