Royal Hearts (21 page)

The camera zoomed in on the chip he held
up.

Ann squinted at the image. It was so
small.

“It’s barely even noticeable,” he continued.
“I know what you’re thinking. How can this tiny thing possibly
ensure peace? Though small, this chip can do wonders. With it, the
police will be able to rescue a kidnapped child or prevent a woman
from being raped. Even if you cannot scream for help, the chip will
pick up on your fear and call for help. The proper authorities will
be notified immediately. You don’t have to try to find help. Help
will find you.”

Ann’s body seemed to sink right into the
chair. She couldn’t recall feeling more relaxed in her entire
life.

“This device is to serve you,” Alexander
said. “It will not invade your privacy. You will not be recorded.
Your life will still be your own. All this chip does is make sure
that everyone is safe to pursue life, liberty and happiness. It
simply slips under the skin, and best of all, it’s painless. One
second of your life and you will be completely safe. This is my
dream for peace, and I hope it is yours as well. Thank you.”

The audience at the United Nations
applauded.

Teresa smiled and turned to Ann. “Isn’t he
amazing?”

Ann’s mind felt foggy, as if she were between
the state of being asleep and state of being awake. She had to
admit that his plan was reasonable. It made good sense. She
wondered why she was so opposed to it when she heard about it on
the radio.

“They won’t have the chip available for
ordinary people like us until the middle of the week,” Teresa
said.

“That’s too bad. I’d like to take it now,”
Ann replied.

Something in the back of Ann’s mind warned
her that Alexander Napoli wasn’t the hero he claimed to be, but the
groggy feeling kept taking over, telling her that Alexander was the
best thing that’d ever happened to the planet.

“We should get to our studying,” Ann finally
said, having enough of the news.

It wasn’t until they were in Teresa’s bedroom
that the groggy feeling finally left.

“I’m so glad you came over,” Teresa said as
Ann pulled out her notes. “Are you sure you’re not mad that you had
to break your date with William?”

“Positive. In fact, I’m glad. There’s
something about William that doesn’t seem right.”

“It’s good to find out now. Hathor’s not bad
looking either, so I’m sure it’s no sacrifice.”

“I like him better anyway. Hey, did Stacey
ever find someone to fix you up with?”

“Actually, this morning she called and told
me Kent knows a freshman who likes to draw as much as I do. We’ll
be going on a double date this Friday.”

“Good old Stacey pulls through again,” she
said. “Okay. We’d better start going through this stuff. There’s a
lot of it and most of it’s boring.”

“You mean all of it is boring.”

Ann chuckled at her friend’s joke before they
turned their attention to studying.

***

Alexander Napoli’s Underground Chamber

Omin-2, still disguised as Alexander Napoli,
watched in great amusement as his Earthling military officials
brought the prisoners to him. His officials had already received
the chips, so they were fully under his control and never
questioned his commands. They hadn’t told anyone else about the
aliens. They’d brought the Olympians and Palers to his underground
chamber without a single argument, which only proved how obedient
that chip made humans.

He clasped his hands in front of him and
waited between two chairs. Two of his assistants waited by the
chairs, each ready to inject the chips into his prisoners’ hands.
Omin only thought to create a Great Prison that took months to
brainwash someone. But he was much smarter. His chip would conform
everyone into mindless drones right away.

“Greetings, friends,” Omin-2 said. “It’s so
nice you stopped by to see how I’ve fared since I left Pale.”

“Friends?” Second Commander Jaz asked, her
tone indignant. “Your creator wasn’t our friend and neither are
you.”

“I take it you are Jaz. Stupidly believing
everyone deserves to be treated equally.” He rolled his eyes. “How
fitting it is you’ll be the first to receive my chip.”

He motioned to one of his assistants. “Bring
her.” He pointed to a chair.

She started to run away, but five bodyguards
grabbed her and dragged her to the chair. Despite her best efforts,
they strapped her in so she could not escape. While she might’ve
been strong enough for a couple of them, she couldn’t win against
all of them.

“I’ve had enough of this,” Ares said then
punched one of the guards, who fell to the floor, unconscious.

The other prisoners followed his lead and
fought their captors.

Omin-2 rolled his eyes. Having expected such
an outburst, he radioed in for reinforcements. Then he ordered his
assistant to inject Jaz with the chip while the others weren’t
paying attention.

The assistant obeyed, and at once, she
stopped fighting against him. More guards ran into the room, armed
with guns, and started shooting at the gods and Palers. One guard
shot Lino in the arm, and as soon as Lino stopped fighting, three
guards ran to pin him to the floor.

Ares and Zeus managed to grab a gun from one
of the guards, but Omin-2 snuck up behind them and knocked them
unconscious by hitting them on the back of their heads with his own
gun.

“Give them their chips,” Omin-2 told his
assistants, who rushed to obey him.

Athena, who’d been the weakest of them all,
couldn’t get out of a guard’s hold, and had given up trying to
fight well before this point. She allowed an assistant to put a
chip into her, but warned Omin-2 that his victory was only
temporary.

Omin-2 shook his head at her lack of vision.
If she only understood how intelligent he was, she wouldn’t be
making such a ridiculous claim.

Falon tried to knock Omin-2 down, but
Omin-2’s personal bodyguards shot him in the leg. Falon, in turn,
fell down, grabbing his leg. An assistant ran over to him and
implanted a chip in his hand. The other assistant got a hold of
Lino’s hand and inserted the chip before he could pull his hand
away. Falon and Lino, now under the control of the chip, got up and
helped the guards pin Apollo, Ares, and Zeus down until the two
assistants were able to insert the chips into them as well.

Finally, the commotion died down.

Omin-2 smiled. “That wasn’t as hard as I
thought it would be. Good job, everyone.”

“Alexander,” one of the guards began, “what
will we do if others protest getting the chip?”

Omin-2’s smile grew wider. “Eliminate anyone
who is an enemy of this world.”

“Eliminate, sir?”

He nodded. “We cannot allow anyone to disrupt
the peace.”

The guard bowed. “Your wisdom will
prevail.”

Soon, Omin-2 thought. Very soon they would
all worship him. Glancing at Jaz, an idea came to him. Queen Ann
was still a threat to him as long as she lived. The Olympians
obviously came to Earth to rescue her because they had no
connection to anyone on Pale. And that meant more Olympians could
be coming here.

He crossed his arms and examined the
situation. He had planned to wait to do anything about the queen,
but this new development caused him to change his mind. He had
something far better in mind for Queen Ann, and Jaz would be the
perfect one to carry it out.

Chapter Nineteen

Six years in the past

Lisa’s house

Beavercreek, Ohio

Planet: Earth

Lisa heard the doorbell ring from her bedroom
upstairs. She was busy painting her fingernails, so she waited for
her parents or brother to answer it. The ringing continued, almost
in desperation. Remembering that her family had gone to the grocery
store, she put down her fingernail polish and headed down the
stairs.

From the window by the front door, she could
see Carson. She gasped when she saw his freshly bruised nose. She
flung the door open, her wet nails forgotten.

“What happened?” she asked.

He entered the house. “William’s crazy! He
hit me. He thinks I intentionally ruined things between him and
Ann.”

“You tried to talk me into telling her that
he’s a good guy.”

“I know. He was right there listening to our
conversation.”

She watched as he sat on the couch in the
living room. “I’ll be right back.” She ran to grab a hand towel and
wrapped it around a bag of frozen peas. When she returned, she
handed it to him. “Tell me everything.”

He took the frozen peas from her and put it
up to his nose.

“When did you see him?” she asked.

“Just now. He called me up and asked me to
come over. He sounded like his usual happy self. I had no idea he
was mad at me.”

“He was mad because….?”

“Ann cancelled their date for today. She said
she had to help a friend study for a test.”

“That’s the truth. She told me late last
night about it.”

He sighed. “I guess even if I told him it was
the truth, he wouldn’t have believed me. He was insane. I don’t
think I’ve ever seen anyone so angry.”

“He hit you because Ann cancelled the
date?”

“He hit me because he thinks I had you talk
Ann out of seeing him. Then he basically told me that he didn’t
want to see me ever again.”

“I know you told me that I should stick up
for him when I talked to Ann, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it.
And looking at you now, I’m glad I listened to my gut instinct.
William is bad news.”

“I wouldn’t be friends with a creep like
that. He’s not the same person I grew up with.” Carson shook his
head. “It’s as if he’s been replaced by a bitter, selfish person
who thinks that everyone is out to destroy him.”

“Are you mad at me for not telling Ann what
you told me to?”

“Are you kidding? Telling her to avoid him
was the best thing to do. I had no idea he could flip off the
handle like that. He was rambling on about being a king of some
place I’d never heard of. And worse, you should have seen him when
I almost stepped on this thing that looked like a smartphone that
could flip open. He really went ballistic. It was like he couldn’t
afford to lose it or something.”

Lisa couldn’t believe it. She hadn’t thought
William was good for Ann, but this was outrageous.

“I’m not going to talk to him anymore. As far
as I’m concerned, he’s no longer my friend,” Carson said.

She put her arm around him. She knew he
didn’t like losing his best friend, but she was relieved to see he
wouldn’t be putting himself in danger anymore. William just
couldn’t be trusted. She would have to call Ann later on to let her
know that she made the right decision in choosing Hathor over
William.

***

William’s bedroom

William frantically typed in everything he
could think of to activate the device that had brought him back in
time. He had it properly hooked up to the computer, hoping he could
find a way to communicate with it again. He really messed it up
with Ann. After she found out what he did to Carson, there was no
way she was going to give him another chance.

So his only option at this point was to go
back in time again to the day they met. This time he would track
Hathor down and kill him before he had a chance to meet her. He had
to! He couldn’t keep losing like this.

With every command that failed, William grew
more irritated. Why weren’t the commands he used before working?
After another command didn’t go through, he banged his desk. His
fist broke the cheap fake wood. He rubbed his hand which hurt from
the impact, especially after having punched Carson earlier that
day.

When he realized he wasn’t going to succeed,
at least for today, he unhooked the device and put it back in his
desk drawer. He would try again later. He sat on his bed, staring
blankly at the wall and cursed his ill luck.

He hated Hathor. Hathor got in his way, even
more than Carson did. If it weren’t for Hathor, he’d be with Ann
right now because there would be no competition. Hathor had
incredible nerve to come between him and Ann.

William deserved to be with her. He knew he
would make a better king than Hathor ever could. He gritted his
teeth. He would find a way to pay Hathor back for ruining his
life.

***

United Nations

Omin-2 felt the probe under his skin throb.
Someone was trying to reach him through the device Omin had sent
out upon his death. Omin-2, still disguised as Alexander Napoli,
calmly excused himself from the meeting he was in and went to his
office.

He sat at his desk, opened a drawer and found
a pocket knife. He opened it and made a small slit in his arm. A
chip glowed a bright blue color. He didn’t dare take it out. It
gave him all the memories Omin had and the blueprint of Earth that
he needed in order to control the Earthlings.

He pulled the small white wire out and
plugged it into the USB port of his computer. He needed to find out
who was trying to reach him and why. The computer screen went
blank. Then the message appeared on it requesting his inquiry.

“Scan the fingerprint of the person who has
my device,” he said.

Scanning,
read the message on his computer.

It only took him five
minutes to find his answer.
William
Nichols. Age 18. 709 Cleveland Avenue, Dayton, Ohio. United States
of America.

Satisfied, he removed the wire from the
computer and put it back into the chip. He would personally visit
this William person and see what William could do for him.

***

Hathor’s College