Royal Hearts (6 page)

He heard Carson scoff under his breath,
clearly upset at William’s disdain for education.

But William didn’t care. He knew he would
never speak another Spanish word once he got out of high school. It
was pointless to even take the class. Fortunately, Study Hall was
his next class, so he could make plans on what to say to Ann when
he saw her. Last time, he had sounded like such a dork. This time,
he would have a chance to change all of that. He would sweep her
off her feet.

As soon as the bell rang, he slammed his
notebook shut.

“What’s wrong with you today?” Carson asked
as they walked out of class.

“What do you mean?” William replied.

“You’re acting strange. It’s like you’re
someone else.”

He stopped walking in the crowded hall and
gave Carson a good look. He was impressed. He didn’t realize Carson
could be so perceptive.

“You’re starting to weird me out,” Carson
said.

William chuckled. “I
shouldn’t be. But you’re right. I’m not the same person I was a day
ago.”
In your time.
“I’m better than that person. I’ve got a new outlook on
life.”

Carson didn’t look convinced. “Okay.”

“Look, we’re getting together to double date,
right?”

“Sure. If you still want to…”

“That’s all I need to know. I’ll see you
tomorrow.”

As William walked to Study Hall, he couldn’t
help but notice the high skirts some of the girls wore. He grinned
appreciatively. They were just asking to be stared at, and he was
happy to oblige them. Hey, he wasn’t on Raz yet. He still had time
to look around before he became king of the foreign planet.

Chapter Six

Six years in the past

Throne Room of the Royal Palace

Planet: Raz

“Are you sure you’re ready to see the Great
Magician?” Hathor’s mother asked as he entered the room.

“I’m fine,” he assured her despite the sharp
pain in his side. He had to find Ann. He could worry about himself
later.

“Alright,” she reluctantly complied. “I never
knew you could be so stubborn, although it will make an excellent
trait when you’re the future king. A queen needs someone who will
risk his life to protect her.”

She led him to the room behind her throne
where the Great Magician usually consulted her. Hathor noticed that
the gray-haired magician wouldn’t change much in the next six
years. The magician must have been born old, for Hathor couldn’t
remember a time in his childhood when the man looked young.

“Welcome, Hathor,” the magician said with a
smile. “I’ve been informed that you have come from the future.”

“Yes. I’m twenty-seven, but I’m in my
twenty-one-year-old body. I don’t know how I got back in time.”

“This is interesting. Razians don’t often
take part in time travel. It’s usually something the queen only
does in an emergency.”

“I think the future queen is also back in
this time, but she’s not on Raz.”

“Ah…good news on that count at least.” The
Great Magician smiled. “You see my queen, you will succeed in
finding a successor to the throne. All will be well with Raz.”

“Yes, that is good news,” Hathor’s mother
said.

“But I don’t know where Ann is right now, and
she could be in trouble,” Hathor spoke up.

“Ann? Is that the future queen’s name?” the
magician asked.

Hathor nodded. “Ann Kerwin from planet
Earth.”

“Earth? My goodness, why would Raz pick such
a boring planet to take its next queen from?”

“She’s an excellent queen. Raz picked the
right person. As boring as Earth is, it must have its good
points.”

“You love her a lot,” his mother said, her
voice soft.

Hathor cleared his throat and turned back to
the magician. “Do you know where she is and how I can get back to
my time?”

“Let’s see what we can do,” the magician
said.

Hathor followed him to his crystal ball.

“You say her name is Ann Kerwin and she came
from Earth?” the magician asked.

“She has a birthmark on her wrist,” Hathor
said. “It’s in the shape of a crown. That’s her identification
mark.”

“And you think she went back in time, like
you did?”

“I think so. We were together when it
happened. But there was something—some kind of force—that pulled us
apart.”

The magician focused his attention on the
crystal ball. His eyes became a milky white color and his ball
turned the same color.

Hathor shifted, afraid that even the Great
Magician wouldn’t know where Ann was.

From next to him, his mother gave him a
sympathetic pat on the arm.

The minutes dragged on for what seemed like
an eternity. Hathor pressed his hand to his side, noting that the
pain was in a small spot. At least, it wasn’t his entire side that
got injured. He was fortunate his injuries were simply bruises
instead of broken ribs.

Finally, the magician’s eyes returned to
their normal blue color, and the crystal ball went back to being
clear. “The good news is that the future queen is safe. There seems
to be no immediate threat to her well-being.”

Hathor released his breath.

“What’s the bad news?” his mother asked.

Having not considered that part of the
equation, Hathor’s attention returned to the magician.

“As Hathor guessed, she is also in the past.
Six years. She is on Earth, but, unlike you,” he looked at Hathor,
“she has no memory of the future six years. She only remembers what
has happened up to her seventeenth year. This would make
approaching her difficult since she won’t know who you are.”

Hathor groaned. How could she not remember he
was her husband?

“To go to the future where you came from,
only the Palers can help you with that. And it must be a Paler from
the same future you came from,” the magician added.

Hathor couldn’t believe it. What else could
go wrong today?

“What about the Book of Spells? Will that
help him find the Paler who can help him?” his mother asked.

“Not directly. He must identify the Paler he
needs, and I don’t know who that is. I can only tell you that the
Paler will be on Earth when he needs him,” the magician
replied.

What in the world did that
mean? Hathor hated it when the magician spoke in such a cryptic
way. But he had to focus on important things first. “Will Ann
remember who she is when we go back to the future?” Hathor couldn’t
bring himself to say
if we go back to the
future
. He wouldn’t allow himself to think
negative thoughts. He had to remain strong for Ann’s
sake.

“Yes. That which took her memory away in the
time travel will return it to her on her journey back.”

“You must be careful when you meet her,” his
mother warned. “You can’t scare her off by telling her about her
future. She needs to trust you in order to follow you to meet the
Paler.”

“The Paler may come for her,” Hathor
whispered as he recalled Omin’s threat. In a louder voice, he
added, “In my time, a Paler created a clone, and this clone
threated to kill her so she can’t become the queen in the
future.”

“Be diligent. Whoever is behind this is
clever, so you’ll need to proceed with caution,” the magician
said.

“The life of a queen is one filled with
adventure, and sometimes those adventures are scary,” his mother
told Hathor. “You can do it. I raised you for this role.”

“Do you have the Book of Spells with you?”
the magician asked.

Hathor pulled the book out of his pocket.
“Yes.”

“That book will get you to Earth. I will set
it up so you will be an Earthling once you are there. You must
blend in with the others. You will have an identity suitable for
your age. That way, you won’t raise any suspicions. This Paler who
poses this threat to you and the future queen must not be aware of
your presence.”

The idea of being an Earthling made Hathor
uneasy. Would he feel different?

“Will the Hathor of this time be here when
this one departs for Earth?” his mother asked the magician.

“After Hathor gets back to his own time,
yes.”

“So until then,” his mother began, “I will
not see the Hathor of this time, and I cannot mention this to him
when I do.”

“It would be wise to keep quiet. You don’t
want to disturb the delicate balance of time.”

“Good luck, my son.” With a smile, she hugged
him.

He hugged her back. He would succeed. He had
to believe that. Because if he didn’t believe it, he was already
doomed. Releasing his mother, he opened the Book of Spells, took a
deep breath, and recited the spell that would take him to
Earth.

***

Six years in the past

Ann’s house

Xenia, Ohio

Planet: Earth

The next day, Ann was watching TV with her
mom before she was due to go to Lisa’s house. Her dad was reading
one of his financial magazines, like usual, at the kitchen
table.

“I hope I get to go to my junior prom,” Ann
said as a commercial came on.

Her mom muted the TV. “If things work out
with this guy you’re going to meet today, then you just might.
What’s his name again?”

“William something. I don’t remember his last
name.”

“How many weeks is it until your prom?”

“Four. I guess even if I do start dating him,
it would be too soon to expect him to go to the prom with me.”

“Nonsense. Four weeks is plenty of time.
Don’t worry. It’ll all come out in the wash.”

Ann grinned in amusement. Her mother always
said that.

Her mother turned the volume up on the
TV.

“This special report has been brought to you
by your local news station,” a voice said on the TV as a “Special
Report” bulletin crossed the screen at the bottom.

Ann groaned and went to her bedroom. Why was
it whenever a show got really good, it was usually interrupted by a
special report? She plopped on her bed, took out her diary, and
wrote in it until it was time to go to Lisa’s house.

As she got ready to go out the door, her mom
and dad told her what was on the special report. It was about an
unknown man who suddenly came on the world scene to negotiate a
peace treaty in the Middle East.

“It’s like he came out of nowhere,” her dad
said. “No one even knew his name until this morning.”

“I will be amazed if this actually works,”
her mom replied. “People have been trying to figure out a way to
ensure peace in the Middle East for a long time.”

“Only time will tell if Alexander Napoli’s
treaty is a success.”

Ann didn’t know much about the Middle East
conflict, nor was she interested. She just wanted to focus on being
a teenager. She had the rest of her life to worry about world
events.

“I guess my Current Events teacher will be
talking about this on Monday,” she said. “Okay. I’ve got to get
going. Bye, you two. I love you.”

“Be home at eleven, and we love you, too,”
her mom called out as Ann shut the front door.

Now that Ann was on her way to Lisa’s house,
the butterflies in her stomach suddenly came out to play. She
shouldn’t be so nervous about meeting William. She figured that if
it didn’t work out, then she would be where she was now, without a
boyfriend. But who knew? William could be her next boyfriend. She’d
never know if she didn’t meet him.

She hopped in her mom’s car and started up
the engine. As she backed out of the driveway, she noted that the
news station on the radio was talking about this amazing Alexander
Napoli. She immediately changed the station so that her favorite
music was blasting from the radio.

***

Six years in the past

Hathor’s new dorm room

Wright State University

Dayton, Ohio

Planet: Earth

Hathor appeared in his dorm room. He didn’t
feel different than before. He breathed a sigh of relief. Maybe
being an Earthling wasn’t so bad after all.

He took a moment to examine his new
surroundings. There was a bed, a table, a closet, and a bathroom.
He saw Earth clothes hanging in the closet. On the table, he saw a
driver’s license, college student I.D. and some money in a wallet
that he would need. He glanced in the mirror and saw that he was
wearing a white t-shirt with the college logo on it, blue jeans,
and white sneakers. It felt odd to not be wearing the clothes he
was used to, but it wasn’t a bad feeling. It was just
different.

It looked as if the Great Magician had
thought of everything. Now all he had to do was study his
surroundings and find out where Ann lived. He wondered what he
should say to her. She didn’t know him, so he had to act like it
was the first time they were meeting each other. He thought back to
everything she had told him about her time on Earth.

He knew she lived in Xenia but often went to
Beavercreek and Dayton to visit her friends. She went to a private
school in Dayton.

What day was it here? He searched his room
but didn’t find any clues. He remembered that she had school from
Mondays through Fridays from 8:15 am to 2:50 pm. Her school would
probably be the best place to approach her since it was the most
likely place where she wouldn’t question his walking up to her and
talking to her.

He grabbed the dorm key and left the
building, mentally noting where his temporary lodging was so he
would be able to find his way back. The campus seemed empty. He
only saw three other students walking on the sidewalks. They seemed
to be heading to a large building toward the center of the campus,
so he followed them.

As he scanned the sparse parking lots and
vacant buildings, he understood how Ann must have felt when she
stepped on Raz for the first time. Everything was so foreign. He
didn’t know anything about it, and he had no idea what to expect.
It must have been a difficult transition for her.