“You must want to be with Queen Ann very much. Would that be an accurate statement?” the thing asked him.
William hesitated but finally nodded.
“As I recall, you insisted on coming back to this time, with your memory intact, so that you could have her for your own.”
Again, he nodded.
“You might even be willing to do anything to get her. Would that be a correct statement?”
He just stared at the Paler, unsure of what to say.
“How is it going so far? Have you accomplished your goal?” the thing asked.
“No.”
The thing’s eyes widened. “No? Why not?”
“Someone else got her instead.”
“Hathor?”
Surprised, he said, “Yes. She’s with him. But how did you know it was him?”
“Hathor wouldn’t let her go without a fight. I’m dismayed you weren’t able to overcome him. You had the benefit of her not remembering him. Lucky for you,” the thing smiled, “I am willing to give you another chance.”
“You’ll send us back again?”
“No. You messed up before, so it’s pointless to pursue that avenue again. This time I offer you my way of doing things, which I think you’ll find much more efficient.”
William took a deep breath then indicated his agreement.
“You can still be king of Raz. All you have to do is insert this chip in her hand.” The creature took out a clear instrument that was in the shape of a gun, and in the thing was a chip. The chip was ready to be inserted as soon as someone pulled the trigger.
“What will the chip do?” William asked, glancing uneasily from it to the creature.
“It will make her yours.”
William’s eyebrows furrowed.
“This chip will make her fall in love with you and want you to be her king,” the creature told him. “I sent you back in time, so what makes you think I can’t do this as well?”
After a couple attempts to speak, he finally found his voice. “Are you Alexander Napoli when in human form?”
“The one and only.”
“But you’re from that place called Pale?”
“Indeed I am.”
“Why would you do this for me?”
“Who said I was doing this for you?” The creature laughed. “I am doing this for me. With this chip inserted into her, she will no longer be a threat to me.” William began to ask another question, but the thing quickly silenced him. “Do we have a deal or not? Because if not, I can always do this myself.”
“I’ll do it!”
“I thought you might agree. I wouldn’t waste a lot of time. The sooner you get the chip into her, the better.”
William took the chip injector.
The thing glanced at the device and shrugged. “You can keep it. It’s worn out its use.”
William watched the strange alien leave the room, his head spinning with the possibilities looming ahead of him. He raised the gun to his eyes and examined it. It was small enough to easily hide in his pocket. He should be able to insert the chip into Ann’s hand without too much trouble.
This was his third chance to get to be with her. The first time, she said no and left. The second time, Hathor got in the way. Now, this time, he would succeed. He had to. This time he would do everything he could to make sure he ended up with her.
***
Ann’s house
Xenia, Ohio
Planet: Earth
Ann felt awkward around her parents now that she knew they would die in the next couple of years. She wanted to say something, to warn them, but she was afraid of disrupting the sequences of events that were meant to be on Earth. She had disrupted it before when she told William about Raz, and now he had a hand in bringing her back to the past, which had the potential to ruin her future with Hathor and Katherine. If she hadn’t let William remember that she was the queen of Raz, then he wouldn’t have gone to such lengths to bring her back here. And she’d remember her marriage with Hathor and their child.
She wondered if she was technically married since she was stuck in her past without any memory of the future. It was too weird to think that she was married so young. Was she still the queen of Raz? Did she retain any authority as queen? Or was all of that void until she went back into the future?
And…the most pressing question of all…was it all true?
Pushing everything aside, she called Lisa. She wanted to spend time with her parents, but now that she knew Alexander Napoli wanted to make everyone take the mind-controlling chips, she didn’t have a lot of time to spare. That was one thing, at least, she knew without a doubt.
As soon as Lisa answered the phone, she quickly explained everything that she had just learned. It took her almost an hour to go through everything. She still didn’t understand all of it, but she had figured out enough to connect the dots for a coherent explanation.
After she finished, she noticed the prolonged silence on the other end of the phone. “Are you still there?” she asked.
“Yes, I’m here,” Lisa assured her. “I’m just stunned.”
“Me too.” She glanced around her room. Everything was just as it should be. She remembered decorating it several months ago. Only, it might have been years since she had done anything to this room. Turning her attention back to Lisa, she said, “I need your help.”
“What can I do?”
“Well, I told you about William and how he also came back to the past, only he remembers everything. You mentioned that he seemed strange, right?”
“Right.”
“And Carson said he noticed a change in him recently?”
Lisa paused. “You’re right. He said it’s like William changed overnight.”
Ann released her breath. This only led her to believe Hathor was telling the truth, but still… Could she really afford to believe it? “What is it about William that has changed?”
“Let’s see. Carson came over here earlier today. He just had a big fight with William. William was upset because you cancelled your date with him, and he blamed Carson for it. Carson didn’t think that was typical William behavior.”
She didn’t see how that would give them a lead as to how she, Hathor and William got back into the past, so she asked for more information about the argument William and Carson had earlier that day.
“William punched Carson in the nose,” Lisa said. “He got him pretty good, too. It took awhile for the blood to stop flowing.”
Ann grimaced at the image in her mind.
“Oh, William said Carson ruined his chances of being a king. I don’t know what the place he was supposed to be king of was called though. Carson didn’t remember it.”
“Raz?”
“It could be. Hey, isn’t that where you said you’re the queen?”
“It’s where Hathor says I’m the queen.”
“So, you’re really a queen of another planet?”
“That’s what Hathor says, and I’m starting to believe him.”
Lisa considered her comment. “Hmm, if you believe him, then I have no reason to doubt him either. After all, I know you’re a good judge of character.”
“I wish. Apparently, I really loved William in the past. My other past, I mean. Oh, never mind. It’s all confusing.”
After a moment of silence, Lisa spoke up. “There was something else Carson mentioned. I didn’t think much of it at the time, but Carson said William went nuts when he almost stepped on it. It was something that looked like a smartphone, except he had never seen anything like it before.”
Ann’s ears perked up at this information. “Maybe that’s it.”
“What?”
“Maybe that’s how William went back into the past. Maybe that’s how he brought me and Hathor with him.”
“After everything you told me tonight, I’d believe in Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny.”
Ann chuckled. “Would Carson recognize it if he saw it again?”
&nb
sp; “I’m sure he would, but he’s not planning on going to William’s house. He won’t have anything to do with him ever again.”
“Maybe he won’t have to. Did he say where this thing was?”
“It was on William’s computer desk, in his bedroom.”
“So he probably keeps it in one of the drawers.”
“Wait a minute. You’re not going to go over there are you? I mean, William is a complete jerk. Who knows what he’d do to you if you got near the thing?”
“I won’t have to go alone. I’m sure Hathor will be there to protect me.”
“Is this thing that important?”
“It could be the thing Hathor and I need to go back to the future. We can’t do it with the Book of Spells.”
“The Book of what?”
“Never mind. That part isn’t important.”
“Ann, am I going to see you again? You know, after you go to that planet?”
Ann sighed. “When I go, you won’t remember any of this. It will be the past that I originally went through.”
“But I want to remember this. It’s better than knowing you went to Florida.”
“I can’t. I made that mistake with William. It’s bad enough I keep going back and forth in time like a yo-yo. I don’t want to interfere with the way things were when they happened the first time.”
“Okay. But just so I know, when did you move to Florida?”
“September. I don’t know the details. Hathor just told me the highlights of my life.”
“Wow.”
Ann secretly agreed. She still had trouble believing it. After a moment, she said, “Lisa, you have to promise me something.”
“What is it?”
“Don’t take the chip that Alexander Napoli is sending out around the world.”
“Alexander Napoli? Who’s he?”
“The leader of the United Nations. Actually, he’s a Paler from the planet Pale. He’s disguised as Alexander. Anyway, the chip is his way of controlling people on this planet.”
“What chip?”
“Don’t you watch the news?”
“No, it’s too boring.”
“Well, it’s probably best you don’t. Anyone who’s been watching him on TV seems to be mesmerized by him. I was one of those people.” She shivered at the memory of how devoted she had been to the Paler. It was amazing that someone could manipulate people like that, even without a chip.
“Alright. I won’t take the chip, and I’ll stay away from the news.”
“Good. I better get going. I promised Hathor I’d give him a call and tell him what I found out about William.” She said good-bye and hung up.
There was a knock on her bedroom door.
“Come in,” she called out.
Her mother opened the door and smiled at her. “You’re hardly around anymore. I take it that things are going well between you and Hathor?”
She blushed at the mention of his name. “Yes, they are.” Her mom had no idea how good things really were, considering she was married to him. “Something tells me he’s the one.”
“That’s pretty soon for you to be able to tell that, but then again, I knew your father was the one after our second date. So it’s possible to know these things.”
If only she knew… But Ann decided not to tell her.
“Anyway, it’s getting late and I just wanted to tell you that it’s close to your phone curfew,” her mother reminded her.
Ann glanced at the clock, stunned at how late it was. “Can I make one more phone call?”
“Only if it’s no longer than ten minutes. You have school tomorrow and should get to bed soon.”
“Okay. I’ll keep it short. I promise.”
Her mother nodded and turned to leave the room.
“Wait!”
Her mother stopped. “What is it?”
She ran over to her mother and hugged her. “Thank you, Mom.”
She laughed. “Thank you? For what?”
“For being my mom. You’re the best mom out there.”
“I should be thanking you, honey. That’s a very nice thing for you to say.”
If her dad hadn’t already been in bed, Ann would have told him he was the best father around. She was very lucky to have had the parents she did while growing up.
“You still have only ten minutes on the phone,” her mother kindly said.
“Oh, that’s fine. I wasn’t trying to earn extra phone minutes.”
“Okay.”
As soon as her mother left, she sat down, picked up the phone, and dialed Hathor’s phone number.
He answered on the second ring. “Ann?”
“Yes, it’s me.”
“Thank goodness. I was beginning to think you got attacked again.”
“No, I’m safe at home in my bedroom. I just got off the phone with Lisa. It took me awhile to explain everything to her, but she gave me an important piece of information that might help us get back to the future. William has a device in his bedroom that looks like a smartphone, and she said that Carson didn’t recognize it as being something made from this planet.”
“A smartphone?”
“It’s something Earthlings use to get on the internet, make calls, and take pictures. But that’s not what this thing is. It’s too late for me to go over to William’s house tonight. I was thinking of going over there tomorrow after school.”
“You’re still going to school?”
“Well, yes. It is Monday.”
“But I thought that you’d want to stop Omin’s clone right away.”
“I do. It’s just that I have something I need to take care of first. It involves one of my classes. I’ll explain later. My mom said I could only talk for ten minutes because it’s close to my bedtime.”
“Ann, after all of this is over with, can I meet your parents? I never got a chance to meet them, and I’d like to see them once just to put a name with a face.”
“I wouldn’t let you meet them?”
“It’s been your policy to not go back to your past and visit them because you didn’t want to interfere with how they remembered you.”
“Oh.” That sounded like a good philosophy.
“I just want to see them in this particular time, while they know about me. Then after we leave and get back to our future, things can revert back to how they were before. That way, things can continue as they were meant to be.”
“Well, I don’t see any reason why that won’t work. Okay, you can meet them. I know they want to meet you, and even though they won’t remember you, at least you’ll remember them.”
They said good-bye and hung up.
Ann crawled into bed, but she wasn’t tired. She was too worked up over everything she had discovered that day to sleep. It was unbelievable. Some of it still seemed like a dream. The only part that seemed real to her was the fact that Hathor loved her. She chose to think on that fact. It gave her great comfort and joy. She had the next day to plan an attack on Omin’s clone and how to save Earth from his controlling reign.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Six Years in the Past
Ann’s High School
Dayton, Ohio
Planet: Earth
The next day, Ann cornered Teresa and Stacey at their lockers. “I need your help,” she told them.
“Hello to you, too,” Teresa replied.
“Look, this is urgent,” Ann said. “We really don’t have any time to waste.”
“What’s going on?” Stacey asked. “You’re acting like this is a matter of life and death.”
“It is. At least it could be if we don’t act in time,” Ann said. “Do you still have access to the video equipment in this school?”
“Of course,” Teresa replied. “I record the student morning announcements.”
“Great. That’s what I thought.” Ann hadn’t paid much attention to the announcements before because she usually slept through them, but there was no need to tell them that. “I need to see a t
ape my Current Events teacher took of Alexander Napoli giving a speech. Any speech will work.”
“Oh, I get it. You want to show everyone what a great leader he is. That’s a good idea.”
“Isn’t he that person that created peace in the Middle East?” Stacey asked.
Ann glanced at her friend. “You don’t think he’s the most wonderful person in the entire world?”
She shrugged. “It’s great that there’s peace over there, but I don’t think we need to broadcast it all over the school. It’s not like it affects us.”
Teresa shook her head. “Are you kidding, Stacey? He’s awesome! I can’t believe you didn’t see his incredible speech yesterday.”
“Maybe it’s because I’m too busy working in my spare time to care about other stuff,” Stacey reminded her.
Ann breathed a sigh of relief. At least Stacey wasn’t mesmerized by him. That made her job with Stacey easier. “So can you take me into the video equipment room? I’m sure my Current Events teacher will want to show the tape of Alexander’s speech from yesterday.”
“Why are you tampering with our teacher’s tape?” Stacey asked.
“He’s not what he claims to be, and I think I know how to prove it.”
“How could he not be what he claims?” Teresa asked. “He’s done what no one could.”
“I have to show you,” Ann began, “but I’ll need your knowledge of finding subliminal messages on tape to make you understand.”
“Isn’t it wrong to mess with a teacher’s tape? It is her property, not yours.”
“If I don’t do this, we may all be slaves by the end of the week.”
Teresa and Stacey burst out laughing. “Good one, Ann,” Teresa said. “You seem so serious.”
“I am.” Ann sighed. “I know it’s hard to believe, but can you help me? Please?”
Though they both looked skeptical, they led Ann to the equipment room.
Teresa took out a key to the room and unlocked it. “The other students won’t be here for another ten minutes.”
“I hope that’s enough time to get things set up,” Ann said. “Where are the teachers’ tapes?”
“Over here.” Teresa led her over to a shelf full of VCR tapes. “One of these days, the school is going to have to embrace technology. Tapes are way out of date.”
Royal Hearts Page 19
