Royal Hearts (22 page)

Hathor heard the talk about Alexander Napoli,
but he didn’t think much of it. He was vaguely aware of the
leadership structure on Earth and recalled that the leader of the
United Nations held a powerful position, but in the past, Ann had
seemed to think that it didn’t have much impact on ordinary people
in the United States so she never emphasized it. She stressed the
role of the president of the United States more. That was why, when
the students on the campus were praising Alexander Napoli, he
thought it was mildly interesting but wouldn’t affect their daily
lives.

He was more concerned about locating Omin’s
clone, who had to be in the area, waiting for the right time to
strike Ann. It was a frustrating feeling to know the Paler was out
there but be unable to detect him. Now that William was no longer a
threat, he could spend more time on trying to locate the clone. The
problem was, there were so many people around him he didn’t even
know where to look. He took the bus early in the morning just to
navigate his way around, studying the people around him for clues
for an imposter. But he had no luck.

Finally, he quit his search for the time
being and went to the cafeteria on campus. Usually, he went with
Kent, but today, he ate lunch alone since it was almost two when he
decided to eat. He was expecting Ann to stop by in half an hour.
Thanks to Kent, he learned to tell time on Earth. He often wondered
what Kent must have thought of him. Surely, Kent suspected that he
was hiding something.

As he finished his meal, one of the students
turned on the TV that was in the corner of the room. “You’ve got to
see this,” the girl told her friend. “Alexander Napoli is
amazing.”

Hathor’s eyebrows furrowed. Why were so many
people fascinated by this man? It was as if they were captivated by
him.

“Napoli, when can we expect to receive our
chip?” a reporter asked him.

“I assure you that I have people working day
and night to produce enough chips for everyone on Earth,” he
responded. “They should be available by the end of the week.”

Chip? What was this about? Hathor glanced
over at the TV, showing more interest in Alexander Napoli than he
had since he arrived on Earth. On the TV, he saw a mass of
reporters huddling before Alexander Napoli.

A funny sensation crawled up his spine as he
watched the man answering the reporters’ questions.

“Will this really bring us peace?” a reporter
asked.

“Was peace in the Middle East possible?” he
replied. “Anything is possible as long as we strive for it. Unity
is the key word. We must come together and work for the common
good.”

“You are amazing!” another reporter cried
out. “It’s like you’re a god.”

“No, I am not a god,” Alexander said. “I am
merely doing what’s best for the people.”

“He is god! We have a god living among us!”
another person insisted.

This caused a flurry of activity as the
reporters sought to worship him.

Hathor’s eyes narrowed as he took a good,
hard look at Alexander.

“It is imperative that we unify as a planet,”
Alexander said. “Everything I do, I do for the common good.”

Hathor found the comment oddly familiar. He
had heard it before, but it wasn’t something he’d heard from Earth.
He scanned his mind for the memory he needed to pull up. Someone
had said that before. It was his platform when he ascended to
power. Even then, the Razians saw through his lies, for he had no
intention of being the benefactor he claimed to be.

Hathor blinked when a blue outline began to
form around Alexander’s body.

“Praise Alexander Napoli!” someone from the
TV cheered. “He has saved us from destroying ourselves.”

The whole scene was ridiculous. These people
were acting as if they were following some sort of script, as if
they no longer had the ability to think for themselves. And
Alexander was taking it all in, pleased by their mindless
devotion.

As Hathor watched the scene, the blue outline
grew more intense until the man’s image began to fade. Hathor
blinked several times until a familiar face replaced the human
one.

Hathor nearly dropped his drink when he
realized it was Omin’s face. It was the clone! He couldn’t believe
it. All the time he had spent searching for the clone in the
area…

Omin’s clone wasn’t hiding in secret among
the people of Dayton, Beavercreek, or Xenia. He was hiding in plain
sight, with cameras focused on him so the whole world could see
him.

The Palers would be searching near Queen Ann
for him, just as he had. He had to notify the Palers. Before he
could do that, he had to get back to his future, but he couldn’t
leave without Ann. But how was he going to get them back to their
correct time?

Chapter Twenty

Hathor’s College

A Paler walked around the campus, hidden by a
long, black cloak. She knew Hathor was nearby, but she wasn’t there
to confront him. She had more important matters on her mind. She
was there to find the queen of Raz. She knew the queen wouldn’t be
too far from Hathor.

She rubbed her hand. It itched from where the
implant had been inserted, but the chip knew that the queen was on
her way here to see Hathor. The Paler found a group of bushes to
kneel behind. She was patient. She could wait. Pulling back her
hood, Jaz settled in her hiding spot.

***

Hathor ran back to his dorm room. He pulled
out the Book of Spells and flipped through it, eager to find a
spell that would help him defeat Omin’s clone. He still had fifteen
minutes before Ann was due to arrive in the visitor parking lot, so
he had time to make a quick inquiry into what the book offered.
Hopefully, he’d find what he was looking for, and Ann would be safe
before the hour was up.

***

Ann drove into the visitor parking lot and
parked the car. Since she was early, she hadn’t expected Hathor to
be at the parking lot, and as it turned out, he wasn’t. She turned
off the car and got out.

She would walk around the parking lot until
he showed up. She knew where his dorm room was located since he had
shown it to her when she and Stacey took the tour, but she didn’t
feel comfortable showing up at his dorm room. They didn’t know each
other that well yet.

As she circled around the parking lot, she
thought of what she had seen on TV at Teresa’s house. She couldn’t
remember why she had objected to getting the chip earlier that day.
There was a good reason, she was sure, but no matter how much she
tried to dig that reason up, something in her mind seemed to
suppress it.

Just as she was about to make another lap
around the parking lot, she felt an odd sensation from behind. It
was as if someone was breathing on the back of her neck. Instinct
took over. She dropped to the ground in an effort to startle the
man behind her. It worked. He tripped over her. She stood up and
confronted her attacker, her body poised for a fight. The figure in
the dark cloak slowly got up.

Ann brought her arms up, ready for his next
move. A tense moment passed before her attacker lunged at her. She
grabbed the attacker by the arms, rolled back and kicked him away
from her. He landed flat on his back on the pavement. She rolled
back onto her feet and turned to face him again.

“You must die,” her attacker spat.

Ann blinked in surprise when she realized the
voice came from a female. She had just assumed her nemesis was
male.

“Hathor can’t save you. You’re all alone
here, and Raz will never get its queen,” her attacker continued as
she rose to her feet, the hood of her cloak still covering her
face. “Give in now, and the leader will let you live.”

“No,” Ann said. Even if she had no idea what
her attacker was talking about, she knew better than to do what the
woman wanted.

For a moment nothing happened, but then the
attacker flung something at Ann, and Ann dodged, just in time to
avoid the flying object. Glancing over her shoulder, she saw the
attacker had thrown a knife at her. A part of her felt like
screaming and running off, but another part, something deep within
her, prompted her to fight. She ran after the knife that had landed
on the grass behind her.

Her attacker was on her heels, heading for
the same knife. Ann grabbed it first and elbowed her attacker from
behind. Her attacker grunted in pain. Taking the moment to act, Ann
stuck her leg between her attacker’s legs so that her attacker fell
on her back again. This time, Ann, holding the knife firmly in her
hand, knelt beside her attacker and pulled back the hood so she
could see who would try to kill her.

What she saw almost made her drop the knife.
Her attacker was no human. The thing was definitely humanoid, but
its face was as white as snow. She didn’t know what it was. Perhaps
an alien? Maybe a robot?

The humanoid looked up at Ann, its black eyes
giving away its fear.

“Who are you?” Ann asked, holding the knife
to the humanoid’s throat.

“Please, let me go,” the thing whispered.

“Are you kidding me? I’m reporting you to the
security police on this campus,” Ann said.

The humanoid jumped to her feet, knocking Ann
back before she ran off, pulling her hood up around her head as she
did so.

It was then that Ann realized she was
shaking. How did she know how to fight like that? She’d never
engaged in any form of physical combat a day in her life, and yet
her body knew what to do. It had all been reflexive. She didn’t
even think about what she was doing. She simply did it.

Then she recalled what her
attacker had said.
“Hathor can’t save you.
You’re all alone here, and Raz will never get its
queen.”

Hathor? What did Hathor have to do with this?
She looked in the direction of his dorm room. Whether it was safe
or not, she had to confront him. She slid the knife into her back
pocket and walked to his dorm. She didn’t actually believe she’d
have to use the knife, but it didn’t hurt to be prepared.
Obviously, she knew how to protect herself. How, she didn’t know,
but deep down, she knew she could, as she’d done with that
humanoid.

When she reached Hathor’s room, she knocked
on his door, her body still trembling. Okay, she knew how to
protect herself, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t shaken up by
everything.

As soon as he opened the door, he frowned.
“What’s wrong?”

She entered his room, not knowing where to
begin. What was she supposed to say? Some weird creature attacked
her? That she was able to hold her own in unfamiliar combat?

Her eyes fell on a book lying on his desk.
“What is that?” she asked, glad for the distraction.

He glanced at the book, and she sensed the
conflict in his expression as he debated if he should tell her or
not.

“Hathor, something’s going on. I was just
attacked in the parking lot by this…creature. I don’t know what it
was, but it wasn’t human.”

His face paled. “What? You were in danger
just now and I wasn’t there to protect you?”

So he was connected to all of this. “That’s
what the creature said. She said that you couldn’t save me and that
Raz would never get its queen. She mentioned you by name, and your
last name is Raz.”

“You need to sit down,” he told her as he led
her over to the chair in front of the desk. He pulled up another
chair and sat next to her. “Do you remember anything? Anything at
all about moving to Florida or North Dakota or going to another
galaxy?”

He couldn’t be serious. She waited for him to
say he was joking, but when he didn’t, she let out an uneasy
chuckle. “I’m only seventeen. I’ve lived in Ohio my entire life.
I’m a junior in high school. I will move to Florida. I have no
reason to go to North Dakota, and I have no way to get to another
galaxy.”

He sighed. That wasn’t the response she’d
expected. She’d expected him to burst out laughing and tell her he
wasn’t being serious. But he was being serious, and that being the
case, she couldn’t help but feel like she was missing something
important.

“What is it?” she asked. “What’s going
on?”

He hesitated then said, “I guess I’ll start
with me. My name is Hathor. I don’t have a last name. We don’t have
last names on Raz. Raz is a planet in the Enchanted Galaxy. You
were born and raised here on this planet, Earth, which is in the
Average Galaxy. Four years from now, I will appear in your
apartment in North Dakota and announce that you are to be Raz’s
next queen. That is how you end up being the queen of Raz.”

“I don’t understand. Why would I ever go to
North Dakota?”

“It’s a long story, but the basic history is
that you moved to Florida in September of this year. Your parents
died in a car accident, so you went to North Dakota to start a new
life. That is four years from now.”

She sharply inhaled. “My parents die?”

He nodded.

She forced aside the shiver that ran up her
spine at this realization. She needed to find out how she got here.
Taking a deep breath to absorb what she had learned so far, she
managed to regain some composure. “Alright. So I’m in North Dakota,
and I’m twenty-one.”

“Right. That’s when I come to get you.”

“That’s how we meet?”

Again, he nodded. “I have this Book of
Spells.” He showed her the book. “Usually, all I have to do is use
this book and we can automatically go wherever we want.
Unfortunately, it was during this time that the planet Pale was
going through a civil war, and Raz got caught in the middle of it.
The Palers were trying to kill you before you could get to be queen
because without a queen, Raz will die.”

“Palers?” Seriously? Now, he’d tell her he
was joking. She was sure of it.