Royal Hearts (11 page)

***

Six years in the past

Current Events class

Ann’s High School

Dayton, Ohio

Planet: Earth

Ann yawned as soon as she sat in her seat in
class. Of all the classes she had, this was the most boring one.
Stacey saw her yawn again and giggled.

Ann decided to ignore her. She opened her
notebook, ready to take notes. She envied Teresa, who was currently
in her English Composition III class.

Ann turned her attention to the teacher who
entered the classroom. Sister Clair looked unusually happy that
day. Good. Maybe she wouldn’t give everyone homework tonight.

“Boys and girls, we are living in historic
times,” Sister Clair said cheerfully, not using her usual monotone.
She eagerly passed out the new issues of the news magazine to all
the students. “Someone great has achieved what had once been
thought to be impossible. There is finally peace in the Middle
East!”

Ann took a magazine from the person in front
of her and handed the other issues back to the person behind her.
She glanced at the front cover in mild interest. Alexander Napoli.
He was a good looking fifty-five-year-old man wearing a dark blue
business suit. His brown hair had hints of gray in it, and he wore
a big smile. He was standing between the Israeli Prime Minister and
several Arab leaders.

The title of the issue
read
The Dream For Peace Comes
True
.

“How many of you watched the news last
night?” Sister Clair asked the class.

Only a handful of students raised their
hands. Ann and Stacey weren’t among them. Ann had been too busy
talking on the phone with William.

The teacher was determined to not let their
lack of enthusiasm destroy her good mood. “Last night the Jews and
Arabs signed a peace treaty, and I believe it’s going to work. What
a thrilling time to be alive!”

Ann flipped through the magazine. She did
like to read the comic pieces throughout the magazine but had to
turn to the main story on page thirty-four with the rest of the
class. She tried to read the article as Sister Clair wanted them to
for the next five minutes, but the contents were boring and she
didn’t know who these big political people were, nor did she care.
Peace in the Middle East was great. But she didn’t see what it had
to do with her.

After five long minutes passed, Sister Clair
turned on the TV. She taped just about every news show out there
and then brought in what she thought were the best news
stories.

Ann yawned. She had a hard time staying awake
during these newscasts. The most interesting parts were the
commercials. And it was sad when she looked forward to seeing
commercials.

As expected, the news her teacher had taped
happened to be about the same article she’d just told the class to
read. Ann’s eyes drooped. She blinked her eyes several times in her
struggle to stay awake. Glancing at Sister Clair, she noticed her
teacher was so consumed in the news that she wasn’t paying
attention to the class. Ann softly turned the pages of the magazine
to the comic strips she enjoyed. It was either do that or fall
asleep.

Chapter Ten

Six years in the past

Dayton, Ohio

Planet: Earth

To Hathor’s relief, Kent found William
Nichols’ address by looking it up on something called the Internet,
which he accessed through a small device similar to things the
Palers used.

“Do you need a ride?” Kent offered as he
wrote down William’s address on a piece of paper.

“A ride?” Hathor asked.

“I have a car. It’s not much to look at, but
it runs. I can drive you over to his place.”

“Yes, that would be great.”

Hathor never realized people were so
dependent on automobiles in their daily life. It almost seemed as
if they couldn’t do anything unless they had a car or rode the
bus.

“Oh wait. Let me call him to make sure he’s
home,” Kent said as he tapped something on the screen of his
handheld device. He put it up to his ear, waited for a few seconds,
and then made up some excuse about calling the wrong number.
Afterwards, he put the device in his pocket. “There. Now we know
he’s home.”

Hathor didn’t know how he figured that out
but decided it wasn’t worth asking. He wasn’t going to be on this
planet long enough to worry about the strange devices they
used.

By the time Kent pulled up to William’s
house, Hathor had rehearsed what he was going to say for the
hundredth time. Surely William would understand Ann’s place was on
Raz, that she had a destiny larger than a high school
infatuation.

“Do you want me to go in with you?” Kent
asked.

He shook his head. “I’d better do this
alone.”

“Okay. I’ll wait for you.”

“Thank you, Kent.”

Hathor got out of the car and walked up to
the front door. He knocked a couple times then cleared his throat
and straightened his back. As soon as William opened the door, his
mind went blank.

“Can I help you?” William asked.

“Yes. I need to talk to you,” he finally
replied. “It’s of the utmost importance.”

Eyebrows furrowed, William looked him up and
down. “Do I know you?”

“No. I’m Hathor, and I come from another
planet.”

Understanding lit up his eyes. “Oh! Come on
in. My parents aren’t home, so it’s safe to talk here.”

Hathor followed him into his house, and
William shut the door.

“How much do you know about Raz?” Hathor
asked as they entered the living room.

“Before I answer you, I want to know who you
are. I’m familiar with Raz, but I haven’t heard of you.”

“I was born and raised on Raz. Do you know
that Ann Kerwin is supposed to be the queen there?”

“Are you the one who contacted me through my
computer six years from now?” William sat down in a chair and
motioned for Hathor to sit on the couch.

Hathor accepted despite his discomfort. So
William had gone back in time six years like he and Ann had. Now
the question was how and why. “I didn’t contact you. I was
wondering if you know who did, but it doesn’t sound like you
do.”

He shrugged. “No, I don’t.”

“Is there anything you remember before you
went back to this time? Any symbols or strange looking objects or
words?”

“Oh…I think there was something about a
Pale.”

“Someone from Pale? Planet Pale?” Hathor
asked.

After a moment, he nodded. “Yes. Something
about a planet like that.”

Omin’s clone must have somehow found William
and used him to get back to this time. For some reason, he had
needed William in order to engage in time travel himself. So that
meant the clone was lurking out there somewhere, biding his time
until he could kill Ann.

“I know Ann talked about a place called
Pale,” William said, surprising Hathor. “She doesn’t remember
anything though. I’m the only one who remembers the future six
years.”

“The Paler who sent you back to this time has
used you to get Ann back to this time. I don’t understand how he
did it, but I know his motives are to harm her.”

William stared at him for a moment then
laughed.

“This isn’t funny. I remember the future six
years like you do,” Hathor said. “There’s something you should know
about Ann and her role on Raz. She’s the queen. That makes her the
most important person in the world, and it’s only because of her
everyone is safe. Right now she needs protection.”

“I take it that you mean she needs your
protection?”

“Yes. As the king, it’s my duty to protect
her. My role on Raz is to do everything I can to keep her
safe.”

“Hmm…I would gladly relieve you of that duty.
Between you and me, I look like I’m physically more able to win a
fight.”

It took Hathor a moment to understand what
William was getting at. Just because William was taller and broader
in the shoulder than him, it didn’t mean he was better suited to
protect Ann. Half the battle was in strategy, after all. “You’d be
surprised at how well I can engage in battle when I need to,” he
dryly stated. “I have been trained since childhood to fight for the
queen.”

“Yeah. Well, I can beat up any guy I want to
here on Earth.”

Clearly, this wasn’t the avenue Hathor wanted
to pursue. A servant of the queen was expected to maintain a humble
attitude at all times. Also, he was to do no harm unless it came
down to self-defense or in defending the queen.

Forcing aside the urge to wipe the smug smirk
off of William’s face, Hathor asked, “How much do you know about
Ann? Do you remember dumping her once she moved to Florida? Do you
remember rejecting her for four years before she went to Raz to be
the queen?”

“She mentioned something about that in the
past, but I did no such thing. She and I were dating, and she was
convinced she was destined to be a queen of some other planet. I
didn’t believe her at the time. Let’s face it. It sounds like
something a person makes up. Anyway, when I saw the Sphinx and a
blue little creature come for her, that’s when I realized she was
telling me the truth. I wanted to go with her, but she wouldn’t let
me. I still don’t understand why. Things were going great between
us. Despite what you think, I would never have dumped her, even if
she had moved to Florida. She never gave me a chance. I could have
been a good king. That’s what I’m going to show her. She’s going to
take me with her this time.”

Hathor frowned. “In case you didn’t
understand what I said earlier, I’ll make myself clearer. I’m the
king. That means she’s already married. We’ve been married for two
years and we have a daughter.”

“So?”

Hathor blinked in surprise. “So?”

“Yeah. So what? Look, what happened in the
future we came from isn’t necessarily going to happen this time.
We’re all starting with a clean slate. The future is wide
open.”

It took Hathor a minute to find his voice.
“But Raz needs her. She’s the queen. She has people to rule over,
other planets to help, a daughter to have… Raz will cease to exist
without her.”

“That’s why I’ll go with her when it’s her
time to go. I’m not going to risk the lives of people on another
planet to keep her here.”

“But she’s married. To me.”

“Not yet. The future is wide open. Anything
can happen.”

Heat crept up in Hathor’s face. “But there’s
a child. That child won’t exist if we’re not married.”

“I can give her a child. Then that child will
exist. These details are easy to work around.”

“You can’t do this. I love her.”

“And I don’t? I just spent the last six years
wishing I could be with her. You’ve had your chance. It’s my
turn.”

Hathor’s jaw clenched. What did Ann ever see
in this creep? “All you care about is yourself. You don’t care who
you hurt. Ann was happy with me.”

“Interesting that you should
say she
was
happy
with you. I like the sound of that. It’s almost poetic.” He stood
up. “It looks like you’ll just have to win her from me. I have
nothing more to say to you, so I’ll be glad if you show yourself
out.”

Hathor watched as William
left the room.
Don’t hit him. A king never
loses control. He maintains the dignity worthy of the queen at all
times, regardless of his feelings.

Hathor rose to his feet and stiffly made his
way out of the house. He couldn’t let Ann down. He couldn’t let Raz
down. He would fight for her, and he would win. But he would do it
with honor. He wouldn’t stoop to William’s level.

He made it to Kent’s car, got in, and slammed
the door. Wincing, he said, “Sorry. I didn’t mean to shut it so
hard.”

“That must have been some talk you two had,”
Kent said, turning off his radio.

As Kent backed out of the driveway, Hathor
felt better. “William is the most selfish person I’ve ever met.” He
glanced at his new friend. “I’m sorry, but I can’t explain what
happened back there or why I’m so upset about it. It’s something I
have to keep to myself.”

“You don’t owe me an explanation. Your
business is your business.”

“Thanks.” As Hathor stared out the window, he
couldn’t help wishing he was back on Raz with Ann and their
daughter.

***

William watched Hathor leave and grunted. Who
did that twerp think he was to demand that William change his
plans? William had suffered for six years to get to this moment.
How could he be expected to give it all up? It was his turn to find
the love that had been denied him for so long.

“No way am I giving up,” he whispered. “It’s
my turn to be happy. You had your turn. Now it’s mine.”

Glancing at the phone, he decided he would
make a phone call to Ann. He would ask her on a date. It would be
their first date alone, and he would take her miniature golfing.
She loved that game, he recalled.

“I’ll get my way this time,” he promised.
“And no one’s going to stop me.”

***

Present day

The Ivory Palace

Planet: Olympia

Second Commander Jaz breathed a sigh of
relief when she and Guard Lino climbed their last step. Her entire
body ached from their long ascent. She took a moment to stretch her
sore muscles before ringing the doorbell, which chimed an
assortment of melodies.

“I hope they know where Queen Ann is,” Guard
Lino said as he wiped the sweat off his forehead. “I hate to think
we made this climb up here for nothing.”

“Even if they don’t know where she is, I’m
sure they will want to help us find her,” she replied.

The door opened, and Hephaestus greeted them
then asked, “What can I do for you?”

“I am Second Commander Jaz and this is Guard
Lino. We traveled from Pale in search of Queen Ann from Raz. She
was supposed to come here with Hathor almost a week ago, but we
haven’t heard from her and wondered if she ever made it.”