What are we going to do?” Dexter asked.

They were sitting aboard Praiseworthy flying aimlessly through space while they tried to figure out where to go and what they could possibly do about the situation. Catalina didn’t think it was likely that they would be able to sway the Election Council, and an appeal to the king would be futile because he had already handed control over to the council. Jacob figured there was only one possibility remaining.

“Catalina should take my place,” Jacob said. “I’ll be a special adviser or something. She’s an Astral, she can be president.”

Catalina smiled. “That’s really sweet, Jacob, but I don’t want to be president. That would be so boring. I want to be a princess.”

Jacob gritted his teeth. “Catalina, you are really smart. You could be president. Don’t you want to be something? You’d rather just let your brother win than try and be your own person?”

Catalina shook her head. “Jacob, darling, I’m not one of those people who doesn’t realize how good she has it. Being a princess is wonderful.”

“But how are you going to be princess if Mick is president? He’s getting rid of the whole monarchy. Isn’t it time to give up the princess thing?”

Catalina shook her head again and tried to look confident, but Jacob sensed she was questioning herself. “Oh, well. I… I know how to take care of my brother. Don’t you worry about a thing.”

Jacob rolled his eyes. It didn’t make any sense. It seemed like she was in total denial that her old life of tea parties and crowns was coming to an end.

“At least I got to spend time with you, darling!” she said. “How are we going to get married someday if we don’t get to know each other?”

Jacob looked over at Sarah Daisy, whose face was bright red and who looked capable of extreme violence.

“So I guess this is it then,” Jacob said.

Jacob’s Telly buzzed to life. He looked at it, and when he saw who it was, he felt like he was going to faint.

“It’s the king.”

“The king? Really?!” Dexter said.

“The king is calling you?!” Sarah asked.

“He’s sending me an invite to talk at the palace.”

“Answer it, silly!” Catalina said. “And tell Daddy I say hello!”

Jacob took a deep breath and said, “Accept” and felt his mind whisked away to Planet Royale. He found himself in the garden with the king, who was staring at a fountain and was dressed in bright red robes. There was a light rain falling and the king didn’t seem to mind, but Jacob found it very strange to be standing in the rain without feeling the raindrops or getting wet at all.

“Hello, Jacob,” the king said.

“Hi,” Jacob managed to say, looking around the garden.

The king stared at Jacob for a while and then said, “Have you ever wondered why Astrals like you so much?”

Jacob furrowed his brow. “Um… No?”

“You came into the election at an enormous disadvantage, given the skepticism Astrals have about people from Earth. And yet you made an impressive comeback, particularly given your… slow start. Why do you think that was?”

Jacob had been so consumed by the campaign that he hadn’t even really thought about it that much. “Well,” he said. “I guess I realized at some point that I needed to be myself and trust my instincts. And that even if I was going to lose I should at least just get that one thing right. That started working.”

The king looked impressed. “Quite right,” he said. “Quite right. Though sometimes even one’s best isn’t enough, is it?”

Jacob didn’t know how to answer that, and the king turned and walked away. Jacob followed, and they arrived at a statue of a spaceship. The king stared at it for a moment before turning back to Jacob. “I suppose you’ve heard about the rule that bars Earthers from running for office. What do you plan to do about it?”

Jacob hadn’t thought there was anything he could do about it, but since the king asked, he started thinking. “I guess I can try to get it overturned. Or maybe steal your time machine and go back and stop Sarah from saying the A-word.”

The king smiled. “That’s what I thought you’d say. But Jacob, I don’t think the situation calls for that type of a solution.”

Jacob waited for the king to tell him he could just go back to his life on Earth. To let him down easy, tell him that it was a good run and that he was proud of him. A part of him would have found it a terrific relief for the king to just say that Jacob had done well, but there was nothing he could do and everything was over. Even the king didn’t have power in the new era, so it was time to go home. But another part was mad that Mick was taking away the Astrals’ first chance to choose their leader instead of inheriting one. It was going to be Mick Cracken or nothing. Mick had seen to that.

“Jacob, the new rule says that no Earther can be president.”

Jacob nodded.

“But you’re not an Earther. Well, not entirely.”

Jacob felt his entire body go numb. Of course he was an Earther! He grew up on Earth and his parents were… He stopped his train of thought and thought about his father and the strange postcard and the pipe he had found on Planet Paisley and how Jacob had always suspected that his father might actually be lost in outer space. If Jacob wasn’t “entirely” an Earther, that meant…

“Jacob, you are half Astral. And you are still very eligible for this election.”