Royal Hearts (7 page)

Since the students entered a large building,
he went to it, too. Perhaps this was where Earthlings liked to
congregate. At any rate, it was the best lead he had at the
moment.

As soon as he entered the
building, he noticed a tray full of the college’s newspapers in it.
He took one. With a quick glance to make sure no one saw him, he
pulled out the Book of Spells and found the spell that would enable
him to read the language. The date on the top right corner
read
Friday, April 1.
The word ‘Friday’ meant nothing to him, but he vaguely
remembered Ann referring to one of the months, and he was sure it
was April.

That was the time of year she liked best
because winter was finally over, and the days were warmer and
longer. Though, if he recalled right, this wasn’t true everywhere
on Earth this time of year. He should have paid more attention when
she talked about her planet. If he’d thought there was anything
interesting about it, he would have. But there was no magic or
interesting creatures. Just a bunch of humans and animals that
could be found on a good number of other planets.

Who would have ever thought he’d one day have
to come here? The whole point of taking her from Earth was so she
didn’t have to be here anymore.

After putting the book back in his pocket, he
went further into the building, noting the people he’d followed in
were eating at a couple of tables scattered throughout the place.
At the other side of the room were people waiting to serve a
variety of food. Well, at least he knew where to get food.

He continued through the room, went down a
long hall, until he came to an even larger room where more chairs
and tables were scattered about. But this wasn’t where people ate.
Here, they were either talking or reading.

He found a vacant table and flipped through
the paper, hoping to find something useful. His trip through the
campus hadn’t proven useful. He could only hope this would. Trying
to find Ann by using the Book of Spells was useless because it was
only set to find the current queen.

His gaze went to the campus calendar. On
Friday, there was something called a Spring Fever Dance in the
Student Union. That was this building. He recalled reading it on
the building on his way in. He didn’t see a dance on his way to the
cafeteria, so he must be here after Friday. On Saturday, there was
a movie scheduled to be played in the Student Union at 7 pm. He
stood up and walked back through the Student Union until he came to
a bulletin board filled with various ads and program notices. The
same movie was mentioned on the board that was mentioned in the
paper.

He glanced around the chairs and tables
around him. There were two other students in the place. He walked
over to the one who was writing something on a piece of paper, his
book open to a page with facts about the solar system containing
Earth.

Hathor briefly caught the number of planets
that had been discovered in what Earthlings referred to as the
Solar System. He’d forgotten they didn’t know about the three that
were cloaked. He was amazed at how little they actually knew about
magic.

“Did you want something?” the young man
asked, his curly black hair falling into his eyes. He quickly
pushed his bangs aside and adjusted his glasses. The rest of his
hair was short. Only his bangs got in his way.

Taking his eyes off the strange hairstyle,
Hathor nodded. “Yes. I was wondering where movies are played in
this building.”

“Over there, behind the large doors,” he
replied. “It’s a total flop though. I saw it in the theater and
fell asleep. So bring a pillow if you go.”

“Then it hasn’t played yet?”

His eyebrows rose. “Not until seven tonight.
That’s when all movies play here on Saturdays.”

Well, good. At least he knew the day. But if
it was Saturday, then Ann wouldn’t be in school for two days.

“You don’t get out much, do you?” the student
asked.

“What?” He forced himself to focus on the
student.

“It’s just that it’s towards the end of the
school year and you didn’t know about the movies. They have fliers
up everywhere announcing the movies here. It’s a total waste of
paper but no one’s asking me.”

“Yeah, well, this is my first quarter here,”
he replied, recalling something he’d skimmed in the paper about
graduation coming up for those in their final quarter.

“My name is Kent.” He extended his hand.

“Hathor.”

After a moment of indecision, Hathor put his
own hand out and waited to see what the student would do. As it
turned out, Kent shook it.

“Nice to meet you,” Kent said. “Want to sit
down and take a break? I can always brief you on other things about
this campus if you’d like.”

As anxious as Hathor was to find Ann, he
realized things might go faster if he had someone to help him
navigate the area, so he sat down.

“What’s your major?” Kent asked.

His mind drew a blank. Major?

“I’m going into Physics Education,” Kent
offered.

Hathor recalled how Ann would talk about how
she studied Psychology in college. “Psychology,” he blurted out.
“My major is Psychology.”

“That’s a good one for this school. Are you
thinking of any particular branch of Psychology?”

His mind rushed through everything Ann ever
told him about what she learned in her psychology classes. He
recalled one instance where she confessed she thought he was crazy
and needed psychiatric help when they first met.

“Psychiatric help,” Hathor finally said.

“Psychiatry?”

“Yes, that’s it.” Hathor felt so dumb. He
didn’t know anything about this stuff. He should have paid more
attention when she talked about this world.

Kent grinned. “You have a cool way of saying
things.”

Hathor returned the smile, uncertain if Kent
suspected the truth or not. If he didn’t know about the cloaked
planets, he’d panic if he knew he was talking to what Earthlings
called aliens. Now that, he did remember from what Ann had told
him.

“You want a tour of the campus?” Kent
offered. “I’m stumped on a question and could use a break from the
homework.”

“What question?” If it was something about
the solar system, Hathor was sure he could help him with it.

“It’s about the material in the rings on
Saturn and why they are important.”

“I know the answer to that.” Now they were
discussing things that he had been trained in. He quickly answered
the question for him.

Kent’s eyes widened. “Wow. You sure you want
to go into Psychology?”

Hathor beamed from the compliment. “I haven’t
dedicated myself to anything yet.”

“Great. Let me write down the answer, and
then we can take that tour. Thanks to you, I’m now finished with my
homework.”

After he was done, they walked around the
campus, and Hathor paid close attention to where everything was and
what things were called. He learned that classes took place from
Monday through Friday, just like Ann’s high school, though there
were a couple of Saturday courses.

“What do you do on Saturdays?” Hathor
asked.

“A lot of things. But mostly, I hang out with
friends.”

Hathor got the image of people hanging on a
line but knew that couldn’t be what Kent was talking about. “What
do you mean by ‘hang out’?”

Kent glanced at him and laughed. “If I didn’t
know better, I’d swear that you came from another planet. You have
this look about you. It’s like you’ve never been here before. Yeah,
hang out. You know, see a movie, go out to eat, just sit around and
talk. Of course, it’s better when you can get a date. Girls make
the best company.”

“They do.”

“Usually the high school senior girls are
happy to date college guys. They think we’re more sophisticated
than high school boys.”

Seeing an opportunity, Hathor inquired about
Ann’s high school.

“Are you thinking of going to College Day
there?”

“College Day?”

“It’s right in your paper.”

Hathor opened the folded paper in his hand
and flipped through it.

“Whoa. Not so fast. It’s the last page you
were on,” Kent said.

He turned back the page. “The college is
looking for volunteers to go there on Monday from 1-2pm and talk to
the students about this school.”

“It’s part of their recruitment program.”

“So all I have to do is show up?”

“You need to sign up for it. I already did.
Not many people are interested in going. The deadline for signing
up was last Wednesday because we were briefed on what materials to
bring and what to talk about. But since I’m the president of the
Community Outreach Club, I can slip you in. We really could use
more people there. Are you interested?”

“We would meet the students there?”

“The juniors and seniors. They’re the ones
who are more likely to be thinking about college.”

Ann was a junior in this time period. He
could meet her there. “Yeah, I’m interested.”

“Terrific. I can tell you what to do when we
get there.”

Hathor nodded, glad he had run into Kent. He
couldn’t wait for Monday to come. It was going to be hard, waiting
to see Ann. But she was safe at the moment. He could afford to wait
two days.

Two days. It was a short time, but a lot
could happen between now and then. He wondered what she’d do in
that time.

Chapter Seven

Six years in the past

Lisa’s house

Beavercreek, Ohio

Planet: Earth

Ann parked her mother’s car in Lisa’s yard.
She was given permission to park there so Carson and William could
use the driveway. She noted that Carson and William weren’t there
yet. She turned off the ignition and took a deep breath to calm her
racing heart. It was no big deal. She was going to meet a guy. That
was it. If it didn’t work out, it didn’t work out.

She pulled down the visor and studied her
hair. The sides of her long hair were pulled back with barrettes so
that her curls fell around her face. She smiled and saw there was
nothing in between her teeth. Satisfied, she flipped the visor up,
grabbed her purse and walked to the front door of Lisa’s house.

Lisa opened the door before she could knock.
“Hey, come on in! The guys are running late so they won’t be here
for another five minutes.”

“More time to build up the tension,” Ann said
with a grin.

Lisa snorted. “And they complain that girls
take forever to get ready to go anywhere.”

Sitting on the couch, Ann asked, “Are there
any plans yet?”

Lisa sat next to her. “No. Carson thought it
would be best if we got together and then picked something to
do.”

“What is William like?”

“I only met him once in the three months I’ve
been going out with Carson. So let’s see…William likes computers
and cars.”

When she didn’t continue, Ann laughed. “Does
he like anything else?”

“I’m sure he does. It’s just that all Carson
told me is that he’s big into those two things.” Lisa seemed
hesitant to say more but then flipped her dark hair over her
shoulder. “Okay. I’ll tell you something, but you have to swear not
to tell Carson I told you.”

“I swear. What is it?”

“William saw a picture of you and thought you
were cute.”

Ann’s face flushed with pleasure. “Really? He
said I was cute?”

“And he asked to meet you. But you have to
swear not to tell him that I told you he asked to meet you. He
wants you to think that I’m trying to get you two together.”

“If all secrets were this good, I’d say we
need more of them.”

Lisa giggled, and the doorbell rang. She
cleared her throat, forcing aside more laughter. “It’s show
time.”

Ann stood up and got ready to meet William.
She’d met Carson before, and since he was a blond, her gaze went to
the boy next to him. William had dark brown hair and dark brown
eyes, a slender build, and was considerably taller than her. He
seemed more rugged than the guys she was usually attracted to, but
knowing that he thought she was good looking made her attracted to
him right away. At the very least, it showed he had great
taste.

After Lisa made the introductions, she asked,
“So, what do you guys want to do?”

A moment of silence passed between the four
before Ann asked, “Anybody like tacos?”

“They’re my favorite,” William replied.

“Carson?” Lisa asked.

“Sure. Why not? We can all go in my car.”

Ann’s heart skipped a beat. That meant she
would have to sit next to William in the backseat.

Lisa and Carson headed on out of the house,
and William stopped and faced Ann. “Your name, Ann Kerwin… It
sounds like a name meant for a queen.”

She stared at him, not sure what to make of
the ridiculous comment. She waited for him to tell her he was only
joking, but he only smiled at her, as if he gave her the highest
compliment a boy could give a girl. And who knew? Maybe this was
something he told every girl he met.

Since he seemed to expect her to say
something, she offered a smile and thanked him. His smile widened,
so she guessed she gave him the response he wanted. He gestured for
her to head out the door first, so she did. At least he had good
manners.

His pick up line, if that’s what it was,
needed some work, but maybe he was nervous and didn’t know what to
say. She’d had moments when she said something stupid. She needed
to give him more leeway. Girls weren’t the only ones who had
trouble coming up with things to say when they were attracted to
someone. Feeling better, she went to the car.

***

Present day

Paff ’s sleeping quarters

Alpha Head I

Planet: Pale