Royal Hearts (25 page)

“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?”

“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 tape 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.”

“They’re probably holding off so they don’t
have to raise the rate of tuition.” Ann sorted through the tapes
until she found the one she needed. “Great. My teacher is as
predictable as I thought.” Sure enough, Sister Clair had recorded
yesterday’s speech.

“You want me to check for subliminal messages
on this tape?” Teresa asked.

“Yes. I have a theory as to how Alexander is
able to mesmerize so many people. I’ve noticed that people don’t
fully accept the idea of getting these chip implants until they
watch him talk about them on TV. When I heard the idea on the
radio, I didn’t like it, but as soon as I saw him on TV, I would
have done it right after seeing his speech.”

“That is weird,” Stacey admitted.

Ann handed the tape to Teresa, who shook her
head. “Once you see there are no subliminal messages, you’ll give
up on this crazy notion that Alexander’s a bad guy, right?” Teresa
asked.

“Okay, I will,” Ann replied.

While Teresa worked on the tape, Stacey
asked, “How is he going to make us his slaves?”

“By inserting a chip into us. This chip will
control our thoughts and actions.”

“That sounds like science fiction.”

“Well, didn’t you ever hear that real life is
often stranger than fiction?”

“I got it,” Teresa said. She stood up and
played the tape so that it played in extremely slow motion. “Let’s
see if your theory has any validity to it.”

Ann held her breath as she watched the tape.
It started out normally. She watched Alexander walk up to the
podium, a big smile on his face.

“This is taking forever,” Stacey said,
glancing at her watch. “School’s going to start soon.”

“He’s getting ready to speak. Just wait until
he starts. I’m sure we’ll see what we’re looking for,” Ann said.
Please let this work, she silently pleaded.

Alexander opened his mouth and began to
speak. As he spoke, his image began to change on the screen. His
face mutated until they saw an alien with no hair, black eyes and
an extremely white face.

Teresa and Stacey gasped.

Ann would have also gasped if she hadn’t been
attacked by the female Paler the day before.

“You will obey me,” the alien said. “You will
take this chip into your hand. You will give your lives for me and
do whatever I ask of you. Anyone who refuses to take this chip will
die. I will not tolerate any dissenters.” The message looped.

Ann released her breath. She should be
satisfied that she was right after all, but instead of feeling
justified, she was scared. How many people had already taken the
chip?

“This is awful,” Teresa said, finally
breaking out of her adoration for the leader. “Who is he and where
did he come from?”

“He’s a Paler from the planet Pale. Pale’s in
another galaxy,” Ann said.

“How do you know this?” Stacey asked.

“I’m also from another planet. Well, I will
be in a few years. Right now I’m back in the past.”