Royal Hearts (19 page)

“Hathor, do you know anyone that Teresa can
go out with? I meant to ask Kent, but I forgot,” Stacey said.

“I’m sorry,” Hathor replied. “I’m still new
to the area, and Kent’s the only one I know. Kent knows a lot of
people though. He’s involved in almost every activity there is on
the campus.”

“He’s quite the people person, huh?” Ann
asked. “I wouldn’t have guessed it. He seemed so shy the other
day.”

“Just around girls he likes.” He winked at
Stacey.

Stacey beamed. “He’s a great guy.”

“You two make a good couple,” Ann said.

Teresa came back. “Okay, I’m ready to go. I’m
sorry I interrupted you two, but if I don’t do well on this test, I
may not get the A I’ve been hoping for. Right now, I’m between an A
and a B, and a B will bring down my grade point average and make it
harder for me to get the scholarship I’m going to apply for.”

“It’s no problem, Teresa,” Ann assured her.
“I’ll call you before I go to your house tomorrow.”

“Great. See you around,” Teresa said.

“And you’ll give me a call, right, Ann?”
Stacey asked.

“Sure.” As soon as they were gone, Ann turned
her attention back to Hathor. “She wants to know all the details
about William now. There’s something you should know about girls.
We love to gossip.”

“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t happy about
this,” Hathor admitted.

“Well, I’m relieved. Now I can cancel my date
with William tomorrow, and when I tell him why, I won’t be lying.
Anyway, I’m tired of talking about him. Let’s get on with our
date.”

He was more than glad to put William behind
them. Thankfully, William’s plans hadn’t interrupted the time line.
Hathor’s future with her and the life of their daughter were
secure.

They continued eating, and by the time she
drove to the visitor’s parking lot, there was just enough time for
her to drive home so she’d be there when her parents told her to
be.

“I wish tonight could have gone on forever,”
he said.

He didn’t want to spend another night without
her. He never realized he’d taken it for granted she’d allowed him
to her bed every night when they were on Raz. He especially wanted
to make love to her now that she had gotten William completely out
of her life. But he had to remind himself that she had forgotten
the last six years of her life. That being the case, he had to
wait.

“I had a good time,” she told him. She paused
for a moment then added, “You know, this campus isn’t too far from
Teresa’s house. If you’re not doing anything tomorrow afternoon, I
could always stop by to say hi.”

The thought of seeing her the next day took
the edge off of saying good-bye tonight. “You can stop by whenever
you want. Just give me a call and let me know when to expect you.
Then I’ll meet you here.”

“Okay. I’ll do that.”

He leaned over to kiss her. He’d missed
kissing her, but this time he didn’t feel like he needed her
permission as he had at other times.

She smiled. “See you tomorrow.”

He smiled back and got out of the car. As
always, it was hard to watch her go. He glanced up at the sky.
Somewhere out there was Raz.

His heart ached to go back, but he didn’t
know how to get there in the future. He couldn’t go back in this
time. Raz wasn’t ready to accept Ann as its queen. But he’d find a
way back somehow. Then all would be right again.

Chapter Seventeen

Present day

Mount Olympus

Planet: Olympia

Hades and Persephone brought the three Palers
with them to the Ivory Palace, and on the way there, Falon
expressed his appreciation to Jaz and Lino for coming to his
aid.

“It was no big deal,” Jaz said. “As soon as
Hades found out we were on a mission to find Queen Ann, he set you
free. Apparently, Queen Ann has a tremendous influence on this
planet.”

“I’m still honored that you took the risk.
You didn’t know what was going to happen,” Falon replied.

“You’re our friend, and we weren’t going to
abandon you when you needed us,” Lino replied.

They reached the entrance of the palace, and
Hades opened the door without waiting to be summoned in. “I have
the Sands of Time,” he called out.

The others followed him, and Jaz watched as
Hades placed the hourglass on the glass table.

The gods and goddesses came into the room,
and Zeus bowed before him. “We would not have disturbed you if it
had not been for Queen Ann.”

“I am as concerned about her as you are,”
Hades replied.

Zeus tilted the hourglass slightly so that a
few sands went up the hourglass instead of down. “Athena thinks
Queen Ann is in the past.”

Athena’s smile widened. “It’s the most
logical assumption. It’s easier to prevent something from happening
than it is to cover for it once it’s happened.”

“I sure wouldn’t mind seeing Hathor again,”
Aphrodite murmured, twirling her long blond hair around her
fingers. “I enjoy mortal men immensely.”

Ares rolled his eyes. “Is that all you can
think about? We’re trying to save the Queen of Raz. We’re going to
war.”

“We don’t know that yet,” Aphrodite said with
a pout.

“Of course, we do. War is the only way to
atone for the abduction of the queen. Omin’s clone won’t let her go
without a fight.”

“You are such a brute.”

He was about to make a retort when Zeus
interrupted them. “We have more important things to do than
argue.”

“He’s right. Time is running out,” Athena
remarked.

Jaz forced back her sarcastic huff. She had
never seen anyone take their time in doing anything as these gods
and goddesses did. They seemed to think Omin’s clone couldn’t
possibly do any major damage until they reached him. They were
underestimating Omin. Omin could do incredible damage in the time
she and her team had wasted on climbing the mountain and then
getting Hades to agree to bring the sands—and Falon—here.

“I see that Queen Ann and Hathor were sent
back to Earth,” Zeus said as he studied the sands as they went up
the glass. “They are stuck six years in the past.”

The other gods and goddesses shivered.

“Imagine being trapped on Earth,” Ares said.
“Wasn’t it bad enough when you Palers sent Queen Ann there two
years ago? Must you keep condemning her to that boring place?”

Jaz blinked in surprise.

“Calm down,” Athena told him. “That female
Paler had nothing to do with it this time.”

“Well, the war another Paler started is soon
to become our war as well,” Ares said. “Lucky for the Palers, I am
an expert military strategist.”

“Yes, we are in awe of your amazing thirst
for blood,” Athena blandly replied.

“Unfortunately, this will most likely lead to
a war,” Zeus said.

“Good!” Ares cheered.

“I will have to notify Leader Paff that we’ve
located Queen Ann and Hathor,” Jaz said, although none of the gods
were paying attention to her. She shrugged and walked a few feet
away from the group so she could contact Paff.

“Leader Paff,” Paff greeted into his
telecommunicator.

“Leader Paff, this is Second Commander Jaz.
We have located Queen Ann. She is on Earth, but she is six years in
the past, which explains why none of our probes found her. Hathor
is there, too.”

“What could Omin’s clone want with her that
far in the past?”

“Your guess is as good as mine. It is,
however, reasonable to conclude that Omin’s clone is also there.
The main god, Zeus, doesn’t seem upset, so she must still be safe.
It could very well be that Omin’s clone is building an army. Omin
rarely did anything on impulse. I’m sure his clone is the same
way.”

“I will order an immediate deployment of our
finest soldiers to go to Earth. We will send them back six years
from now as soon as they enter Earth’s atmosphere. I’d rather be on
the offensive.”

“I request permission to take my team to
Earth with the gods and goddesses.”

“Permission granted. Leader Paff out.”

She ended her transmission and walked back to
the group.

The gods and goddesses were consulting Ares
on a suitable plan of action.

Falon came over to her. “So far they have
decided Zeus, Athena, and Apollo should go with Ares to Earth,” he
whispered. “Zeus is the head god, so he automatically qualifies for
the mission. Athena is wise and logical, which will balance Ares’
hot temper. Apollo can tell whether or not someone speaks the
truth, which will help them as they search for Queen Ann.”

“That’s all?” she asked.

He nodded. “They aren’t concerned with
fighting Omin’s clone. They merely want to rescue the queen. The
only reason Ares is involved is in case Queen Ann is in the middle
of a battle when they find her.”

“At least Leader Paff is sending an army over
there. We will accompany the gods to Earth to locate Omin’s clone,
and then we can meet up with the Paler army when they arrive.”

There was no telling what to expect when they
got there. The important thing was they were prepared for
anything.

***

Six years in the past

United Nations

Planet: Earth

Omin-2, disguised in the human form of
Alexander Napoli, slowly smiled as he picked up the chip that was
the size of a grain of rice. He examined it, turning it over,
careful not to drop it. It was so small that it appeared harmless.
It was his most brilliant invention yet. He chuckled. Omin thought
he was clever, but his clone was more so.

He leaned back in his comfortable chair. His
office was luxurious, a major improvement over the room he had been
stuck in for two years on Pale. He found that he liked it here. The
Earthlings were so quick to accept everything. All he had to do was
implant a few terrorists with chips, and they became docile right
away. The humans were so impressed they made him the leader of the
United Nations.

Now he had chips inserted into all the
leaders of the countries. Today the leaders, tomorrow everyone
else. Soon, all humans would be his slave army.

“I will be a god to them,” he whispered.

A god. Omin was never a god. He was only a
leader. But these humans…they would worship him. He might even
succeed in getting Queen Ann to accept the chip. If she did, then
he would have no reason to kill her. She would be his slave to do
his bidding, just like every other useless human being on this
planet would soon be doing.

Once he had the entire Earth under his
control, he would go to Pale and make the Palers and Laxes take the
chip, too. There really was no limit to how far he could go with
this. He could control many planets instead of one. Again, he
marveled at Omin’s lack of vision. Omin only wanted Pale. But his
vision was so much greater than Omin’s.

Sighing in satisfaction, he set the chip on
his desk. He turned to his phone and called his secretary. It was
time he made his announcement to the world.

***

Six years in the past

William’s House

Planet: Earth

William gripped the phone in his hand so hard
it almost broke. He couldn’t believe Ann had just cancelled their
date for the day. This wasn’t going according to plan. She was
supposed to be with him. He was supposed to be the king of Raz.

Carson. It was all his fault. For once,
William had everything he wanted. He knew he had won Ann over on
Friday night with his charm, but Carson couldn’t take it. Carson
never wanted him to be happy. It was just like Carson to want to
hog all the joy for himself.

He realized now that Carson had set him up.
Carson mentioned the fact that Ann was going to bring Hathor over
to see Lisa just to tempt William into showing up at her place. For
all he knew, Carson probably arranged the whole thing with Hathor.
Why else would Hathor mention meeting William? He’d done it in
order to make William look bad in front of Ann.

He threw the phone as hard as he could across
the room, and it smashed into the wall, leaving a small crack in
it.

There was a knock on the closed door.
“William, are you okay?” his mother asked.

“I’m fine. Leave me alone,” he grumbled.

“Alright. If you need anything, I’ll be
in-”

“I’m not going to need anything. Just leave
me alone!”

He knew she was hurt by his outburst, but she
didn’t understand what was at stake here. His entire future
depended on Ann and her decision to take him to Raz. He was
fortunate enough to have a second chance, and he didn’t want to
blow it. He was doing just fine until yesterday.

What could he do? He had been very nice to
Ann on the phone just now and told her that he understood. He even
wished her well on her test. He was sure she was lying to him about
the test, but he didn’t let her know that. He was a perfect
gentleman, saying all the right things. He’d even apologized to Ann
about yesterday, sounding as sincere as he could. Obviously, it
hadn’t worked. She was still insistent on cancelling their
date.

And it was all Carson’s fault. William picked
up his phone and checked to see if it still worked. When he heard
the dial tone, he punched in Carson’s phone number. It was time for
them to have a talk about certain limits that Carson must obey in
the future.

***

Six years in the past

Ann’s House

Planet: Earth

Ann sighed with relief as she hung up the
phone. It hadn’t been easy to cancel her date with William. She was
never one who delighted in telling people no, but she knew that it
had to be done.

She walked into the kitchen where her parents
were eating lunch. “Well, I called William and got it over
with.”

“There goes my little girl, the
heartbreaker,” her father teased.