Royal Hearts (15 page)

“We aren’t hungry,” she finally said for both
of them. “We were wondering if you heard anything about Queen Ann,
Hathor, or Guard Falon?”

“Unfortunately, we have not. We are beginning
to wonder if Queen Ann was sent to another time, either the past or
future,” Apollo said. “We recall how you and Seta had sent her to
the past during the Laxy Rebellion two years ago. Considering
another Paler is behind this current disappearance, he may have
used the same method to isolate her. Whenever you can isolate the
enemy, you gain the advantage because you eliminate their allies.
Hathor, we are guessing, must have been taken to the other time
with her. In that case, it would have been an accident since Hathor
would be there to protect her. Or he could be somewhere else. We
assume that since they left together, they are still together. What
they remember, though, is an important question since Queen Ann’s
memory was affected when she was sent back to her past before. As
for Guard Falon, if he hasn’t arrived here by noon today, we will
know Hades has decided to keep him in the Underworld,” Apollo
finished.

“We can’t let Guard Falon stay there,” she
said. “We have to go and get him out.”

Apollo rubbed the back of his neck, something
Jaz figured was a nervous habit. “We have already discussed a way
to approach Hades. We don’t like to disturb him, but for Queen
Ann’s sake, we are working on a way to do so. It won’t be easy. It
all depends on how Demeter will respond.”

“Demeter?” Lino asked.

“Demeter is Persephone’s mother. Persephone
gets to spend six months out of the year with her mother, and she
gets to be with Hades for the other six. Persephone has only been
up here for five months. This will create a lot of problems.”

“Why do you need Persephone to go down there?
Isn’t the fact that Queen Ann is in trouble enough to get his
attention?” For the life of her, Jaz couldn’t understand the hold
Hades had over all of the Olympians.

“Hades won’t give us a chance to talk to him
unless Persephone is there. She’s the only one he’ll listen to
without creating a big fuss.”

“Sounds like a wonderful god to deal with,”
she mumbled, crossing her arms.

“We don’t like him either, but we’re stuck
with him. Besides, he takes care of the Underworld creatures. No
one else wants to be stuck with that duty.”

“So when are you going to talk to Demeter
about letting her daughter go to the Underworld?”

“This afternoon. We’re collecting lots of
gifts to soften her up.”

“Why do you need Hades to find Queen Ann?”
Lino asked.

“Hades has access to the Sands of Time which
can only be found in the Underworld. We need to get those sands so
we can go back and forth in time.”

“I want to come with Persephone when she goes
to talk to him,” Jaz said, hoping the tone in her voice left no
room for argument. “I need to get Guard Falon out of there. He’s my
responsibility. I can’t go back to Pale without him.”

“We will go together,” Lino said.

She smiled, taking comfort in his
support.

“That’s up to Persephone,” Apollo replied.
“Come, I’ll take you to the gods and goddesses.”

“Whether or not she agrees to it, we’re going
to get Guard Falon out of the Underworld,” Jaz whispered to Lino
when Apollo turned to guide them down to the morning room.

***

Six years in the past

Dayton, Ohio

Planet: Earth

William and Ann stood at the entrance of the
miniature golf course. William had picked her up at her house so
her parents got a chance to talk with him for a little bit. She
wished she could have asked for their opinion about him right away,
but she knew she would have to wait until later.

She didn’t notice anything strange about him.
He seemed nice enough, and he was attentive to everything she said.
He made some clever jokes along the way and even told her she
looked pretty. But all of this could be because he was trying to
make a good impression. Anyone could put on a good show. So she
opted to proceed with caution.

“I have a confession to make,” William said
after they collected their scorecards and pencils. “I’m no good at
this game.”

“Join the club,” she replied. “I lose to
everyone I play with.”

“I have an idea. Why don’t we see who plays
the worst?”

“Sounds like fun.”

“May the worst one win,” he said with a grin
then wrote down “xavier” on the card for his name. “What do you
want for your name?”

Since they weren’t going to take this game
seriously, she thought of the first thing that came to mind. “Put
me down as ‘z’.”

“‘
Z’?”

“Sure. The last letter of the alphabet. You
could say it lost to the other letters.”

He chuckled and wrote it on the card. “I like
it.” They walked up to the first hole, and he gestured to her.
“Ladies first. And remember, whoever does the worst, wins.”

She tapped the ball and it rolled up to the
windmill, bounced off of it and rolled back to her. “It looks like
I’m off to a good start.”

“Excellent play,” he replied then hit his
ball, which went past the windmill and flew into the grass.

She laughed. “You got me beat on this
hole.”

The game continued on with them doing the
worst they possibly could. There were several times when they had
to step aside to let the people behind them play since they stayed
longer than usual at each hole, and at one point, Ann accidentally
knocked her ball into someone else’s game. Her face grew red with
embarrassment.

“I’ll get it,” William told her. He ran over
to the other game, apologized to the people there, and returned. “I
think we know who the winner is. Congratulations on a game poorly
played!”

She giggled, her embarrassment fading. “Yeah,
well, never underestimate how poorly I can play ever again.”

“You are the master of losing,” he teased,
bowing to her.

Still laughing, she followed him to the stand
where they returned their golf clubs.

“Have you ever been to Wright Brother’s
Park?” he asked once they got into his car.

“Yes. It’s a great park.”

“Would you like to go now? It’s beautiful at
sunset.”

“Let’s go,” she said, looking forward to it.
Who didn’t enjoy a nice sunset?

As he drove down the street, he asked, “Do
you like classic rock?”

“To be honest, I haven’t listened to it. I
mainly stick with the current hits.”

“I do, too, from time to time. Here’s a good
station for those.”

He turned the radio on, and they listened to
music on their way to the park. Although she was having a good
time, she couldn’t help but wonder what Hathor was doing tonight.
What if he was on a date with someone else? Something she couldn’t
explain had trouble accepting this idea, which was silly. They
hardly knew each other. It wasn’t like they were going steady or
anything. So why should the thought bother her as much as it
did?

“I think the best thing about music is that
it’s timeless,” William said. “You can enjoy it no matter when it
came out.”

Forcing her attention to him, she nodded.
“You’re right. A good beat is still a good beat.”

He smiled. “Exactly.”

After a moment, she asked, “What are your
favorite groups?”

While he told her, she realized that she only
recognized one of the names he mentioned. It wouldn’t hurt to
expand her horizons and listen to some of the ones she’d never
heard of before this evening.

“After we check out the park, I’d like to
listen to some classic rock,” she said. “You know, give it a
try.”

“I have my favorite songs downloaded here.”
He tapped the radio. “I’ll pick one, and you can get an idea of
what you’re getting yourself into by dating me.”

She grinned at his joke.

By the time they arrived at the park, streaks
of blues, pinks and oranges lit up the sky. She noticed the swans
and ducks left soft ripples in the lake as they swam. Five wooden
benches surrounded the lake, and a playground was nearby. A few
people were out that night. Some were walking along the paved trail
that circled the lake. Others were watching their kids play. One
person was reading a book.

She smiled. It looked like a perfect place to
relax and enjoy the warm weather. No wonder she loved spring so
much.

“I brought some bread, in case we stopped
by,” he said. “The ducks love to eat this stuff.”

After they got out of the car, she followed
him to one of the benches and sat down. As soon as he opened the
package of bread, the ducks ran up to them.

“I see you’ve done this before,” she said,
taking the slice of bread he offered her.

“This is one of my favorite places.”

They tore off small pieces of bread and fed
the ducks. She’d never done this before, but she had to admit it
was fun. In fact, her entire date with him had been fun. Just what
was it about him that bothered Carson and Lisa?

By the time the date came to an end, she was
at a loss. Surely, there was something she was missing, something
that she should be picking up on. But she had no idea what it was
or even how to go about finding it out.

He pulled into her parents’ driveway and
turned to her. “What do you think of classic rock?”

“It’s not bad,” she said.

“I’m glad you like it.” They sat quietly for
a moment before he continued, “I hope you don’t think I’m being too
forward, but I was wondering if you have any plans for tomorrow?
I’d like to see you again.”

She hesitated. Should she tell him she had
another date? No. That didn’t seem like the best thing to do. “I
already made plans,” she finally replied.

“How about Sunday?”

“Yeah, I’m free Sunday.” She saw no reason
not to go out with him again, not until a red flag waved itself in
front of her anyway.

“Great,” he said. “It’s a date.”

After saying good-bye, she went into the
house and saw her mom reading a book in the living room.

“How did tonight go?” her mom asked, putting
her book down.

Ann sighed as she sat on the couch. “It went
a lot better than I thought it would. He was a gentleman the whole
time.”

Her mom’s eyebrows rose in amusement. “Is
that a bad thing?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. I was expecting
to see what Lisa and Carson see in him. They seem to think
something is wrong with him.”

“What does your heart tell you?”

Ann stared at her mom, wondering why the
question made her uneasy. If she followed this line of reasoning,
she would have to give in to the very real possibility that nothing
was right, except for Hathor. But how could she justify that?

Chapter Fourteen

Six years in the past

Hathor’s College

Dayton, Ohio

Planet: Earth

Hathor sat in his dorm room, reading through
the Book of Spells…again. He had studied it as a student when he
was growing up, but it was just now occurring to him how little he
really knew about it. He had to find Omin’s clone before the clone
found Ann, if he hadn’t already found her. For all Hathor knew, the
clone could be waiting in the wings, perfecting his plan before
striking.

He leaned forward and rested his elbows on
the small desk and ran his fingers through his hair. The spells all
ran together through his mind. He had tried several of them, but so
far, he’d had no success in locating Omin’s clone. The clone had to
be close by. He was sure the clone had transformed his image into
that of a person so he would blend in with the humans on this
world.

He wished he knew how William managed to go
back in time with his memories intact. William must have had some
connection with the clone. Although Hathor was sure that William
had no idea he was being used by the clone, William wasn’t
completely innocent. William didn’t have to agree to bring Ann back
to this time.

Hathor didn’t understand William at all. From
what Ann had told him of her past, William had had his chance the
first time when he was dating her. He could have made some
arrangement to be with her, whether it was moving to Florida or
asking her to move back to Ohio so he could be near her. Instead,
he was too busy looking for other girls to date.

So why did William change his mind this time?
Because she was meant to be a queen? Was it all about becoming a
king? If he thought the king of Raz maintained a position of power,
he was sorely mistaken. The king of Raz had two purposes: to serve
the queen and to give her a daughter. Granted, the position was one
of great honor, but it wasn’t one of glory or prestige. The king
had to be willing to die for her.

It didn’t seem that William would be able to
think of someone beyond himself. If he didn’t even care that he
could break up a happy marriage and make it so that Katherine never
existed, then he wouldn’t be a good king.

Hathor still got angry every time he recalled
his conversation with William. He wished he could have wiped that
satisfied smirk off of William’s face.

What had Ann even seen in him? Hathor was
tempted to call her up and tell her everything about William, but
he knew that she would just think he was trying to control her. It
would be a surefire way to drive her into William’s arms.

He would see her tomorrow, and all he could
do was be himself. He couldn’t be Queen Basilia’s son, the young
man who’d been trained to protect the future queen of Raz. He had
to be plain old Hathor. There would be nothing special about him.
He’d be just like any other human male. He could only hope it was
enough.

Taking a deep breath, he focused on the Book
of Spells. He needed to find a spell to locate Omin’s clone.
Whether or not Ann chose him was of little consequence to Raz’s
future. As long as Ann was able to become queen, Raz would survive.
His primary responsibility was to protect her, even if it altered
the future. He hoped it wouldn’t, but he had to be willing to make
the sacrifice.