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  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

  Hathor heard the talk about Alexander Napoli, but he didn’t think much of it. He was vaguely aware of the leadership structure on Earth and recalled that the leader of the United Nations held a powerful position, but in the past, Ann had seemed to think that it didn’t have much impact on ordinary people in the United States so she never emphasized it. She stressed the role of the president of the United States more. That was why, when the students on the campus were praising Alexander Napoli, he thought it was mildly interesting but wouldn’t affect their daily lives.

  He was more concerned about locating Omin’s clone, who had to be in the area, waiting for the right time to strike Ann. It was a frustrating feeling to know the Paler was out there but be unable to detect him. Now that William was no longer a threat, he could spend more time on trying to locate the clone. The problem was, there were so many people around him he didn’t even know where to look. He took the bus early in the morning just to navigate his way around, studying the people around him for clues for an imposter. But he had no luck.

  Finally, he quit his search for the time being and went to the cafeteria on campus. Usually, he went with Kent, but today, he ate lunch alone since it was almost two when he decided to eat. He was expecting Ann to stop by in half an hour. Thanks to Kent, he learned to tell time on Earth. He often wondered what Kent must have thought of him. Surely, Kent suspected that he was hiding something.

  As he finished his meal, one of the students turned on the TV that was in the corner of the room. “You’ve got to see this,” the girl told her friend. “Alexander Napoli is amazing.”

  Hathor’s eyebrows furrowed. Why were so many people fascinated by this man? It was as if they were captivated by him.

  “Napoli, when can we expect to receive our chip?” a reporter asked him.

  “I assure you that I have people working day and night to produce enough chips for everyone on Earth,” he responded. “They should be available by the end of the week.”

  Chip? What was this about? Hathor glanced over at the TV, showing more interest in Alexander Napoli than he had since he arrived on Earth. On the TV, he saw a mass of reporters huddling before Alexander Napoli.

  A funny sensation crawled up his spine as he watched the man answering the reporters’ questions.

  “Will this really bring us peace?” a reporter asked.

  “Was peace in the Middle East possible?” he replied. “Anything is possible as long as we strive for it. Unity is the key word. We must come together and work for the common good.”

  “You are amazing!” another reporter cried out. “It’s like you’re a god.”

  “No, I am not a god,” Alexander said. “I am merely doing what’s best for the people.”

  “He is god! We have a god living among us!” another person insisted.

  This caused a flurry of activity as the reporters sought to worship him.

  Hathor’s eyes narrowed as he took a good, hard look at Alexander.

  “It is imperative that we unify as a planet,” Alexander said. “Everything I do, I do for the common good.”

  Hathor found the comment oddly familiar. He had heard it before, but it wasn’t something he’d heard from Earth. He scanned his mind for the memory he needed to pull up. Someone had said that before. It was his platform when he ascended to power. Even then, the Razians saw through his lies, for he had no intention of being the benefactor he claimed to be.

  Hathor blinked when a blue outline began to form around Alexander’s body.

  “Praise Alexander Napoli!” someone from the TV cheered. “He has saved us from destroying ourselves.”

  The whole scene was ridiculous. These people were acting as if they were following some sort of script, as if they no longer had the ability to think for themselves. And Alexander was taking it all in, pleased by their mindless devotion.

  As Hathor watched the scene, the blue outline grew more intense until the man’s image began to fade. Hathor blinked several times until a familiar face replaced the human one.

  Hathor nearly dropped his drink when he realized it was Omin’s face. It was the clone! He couldn’t believe it. All the time he had spent searching for the clone in the area…

  Omin’s clone wasn’t hiding in secret among the people of Dayton, Beavercreek, or Xenia. He was hiding in plain sight, with cameras focused on him so the whole world could see him.

  The Palers would be searching near Queen Ann for him, just as he had. He had to notify the Palers. Before he could do that, he had to get back to his future, but he couldn’t leave without Ann. But how was he going to get them back to their correct time?

  Chapter Twenty

  Hathor’s College

  A Paler walked around the campus, hidden by a long, black cloak. She knew Hathor was nearby, but she wasn’t there to confront him. She had more important matters on her mind. She was there to find the queen of Raz. She knew the queen wouldn’t be too far from Hathor.

  She rubbed her hand. It itched from where the implant had been inserted, but the chip knew that the queen was on her way here to see Hathor. The Paler found a group of bushes to kneel behind. She was patient. She could wait. Pulling back her hood, Jaz settled in her hiding spot.

  ***

  Hathor ran back to his dorm room. He pulled out the Book of Spells and flipped through it, eager to find a spell that would help him defeat Omin’s clone. He still had fifteen minutes before Ann was due to arrive in the visitor parking lot, so he had time to make a quick inquiry into what the book offered. Hopefully, he’d find what he was looking for, and Ann would be safe before the hour was up.

  ***

  Ann drove into the visitor parking lot and parked the car. Since she was early, she hadn’t expected Hathor to be at the parking lot, and as it turned out, he wasn’t. She turned off the car and got out.

  She would walk around the parking lot until he showed up. She knew where his dorm room was located since he had shown it to her when she and Stacey took the tour, but she didn’t feel comfortable showing up at his dorm room. They didn’t know each other that well yet.

  As she circled around the parking lot, she thought of what she had seen on TV at Teresa’s house. She couldn’t remember why she had objected to getting the chip earlier that day. There was a good reason, she was sure, but no matter how much she tried to dig that reason up, something in her mind seemed to suppress it.

  Just as she was about to make another lap around the parking lot, she felt an odd sensation from behind. It was as if someone was breathing on the back of her neck. Instinct took over. She dropped to the ground in an effort to startle the man behind her. It worked. He tripped over her. She stood up and confronted her attacker, her body poised for a fight. The figure in the dark cloak slowly got up.

  Ann brought her arms up, ready for his next move. A tense moment passed before her attacker lunged at her. She grabbed the attacker by the arms, rolled back and kicked him away from her. He landed flat on his back on the pavement. She rolled back onto h
er feet and turned to face him again.

  “You must die,” her attacker spat.

  Ann blinked in surprise when she realized the voice came from a female. She had just assumed her nemesis was male.

  “Hathor can’t save you. You’re all alone here, and Raz will never get its queen,” her attacker continued as she rose to her feet, the hood of her cloak still covering her face. “Give in now, and the leader will let you live.”

  “No,” Ann said. Even if she had no idea what her attacker was talking about, she knew better than to do what the woman wanted.

  For a moment nothing happened, but then the attacker flung something at Ann, and Ann dodged, just in time to avoid the flying object. Glancing over her shoulder, she saw the attacker had thrown a knife at her. A part of her felt like screaming and running off, but another part, something deep within her, prompted her to fight. She ran after the knife that had landed on the grass behind her.

  Her attacker was on her heels, heading for the same knife. Ann grabbed it first and elbowed her attacker from behind. Her attacker grunted in pain. Taking the moment to act, Ann stuck her leg between her attacker’s legs so that her attacker fell on her back again. This time, Ann, holding the knife firmly in her hand, knelt beside her attacker and pulled back the hood so she could see who would try to kill her.

  What she saw almost made her drop the knife. Her attacker was no human. The thing was definitely humanoid, but its face was as white as snow. She didn’t know what it was. Perhaps an alien? Maybe a robot?

  The humanoid looked up at Ann, its black eyes giving away its fear.

  “Who are you?” Ann asked, holding the knife to the humanoid’s throat.

  “Please, let me go,” the thing whispered.

  “Are you kidding me? I’m reporting you to the security police on this campus,” Ann said.

  The humanoid jumped to her feet, knocking Ann back before she ran off, pulling her hood up around her head as she did so.

  It was then that Ann realized she was shaking. How did she know how to fight like that? She’d never engaged in any form of physical combat a day in her life, and yet her body knew what to do. It had all been reflexive. She didn’t even think about what she was doing. She simply did it.

  Then she recalled what her attacker had said. “Hathor can’t save you. You’re all alone here, and Raz will never get its queen.”

  Hathor? What did Hathor have to do with this? She looked in the direction of his dorm room. Whether it was safe or not, she had to confront him. She slid the knife into her back pocket and walked to his dorm. She didn’t actually believe she’d have to use the knife, but it didn’t hurt to be prepared. Obviously, she knew how to protect herself. How, she didn’t know, but deep down, she knew she could, as she’d done with that humanoid.

  When she reached Hathor’s room, she knocked on his door, her body still trembling. Okay, she knew how to protect herself, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t shaken up by everything.

  As soon as he opened the door, he frowned. “What’s wrong?”

  She entered his room, not knowing where to begin. What was she supposed to say? Some weird creature attacked her? That she was able to hold her own in unfamiliar combat?

  Her eyes fell on a book lying on his desk. “What is that?” she asked, glad for the distraction.

  He glanced at the book, and she sensed the conflict in his expression as he debated if he should tell her or not.

  “Hathor, something’s going on. I was just attacked in the parking lot by this…creature. I don’t know what it was, but it wasn’t human.”

  His face paled. “What? You were in danger just now and I wasn’t there to protect you?”

  So he was connected to all of this. “That’s what the creature said. She said that you couldn’t save me and that Raz would never get its queen. She mentioned you by name, and your last name is Raz.”

  “You need to sit down,” he told her as he led her over to the chair in front of the desk. He pulled up another chair and sat next to her. “Do you remember anything? Anything at all about moving to Florida or North Dakota or going to another galaxy?”

  He couldn’t be serious. She waited for him to say he was joking, but when he didn’t, she let out an uneasy chuckle. “I’m only seventeen. I’ve lived in Ohio my entire life. I’m a junior in high school. I will move to Florida. I have no reason to go to North Dakota, and I have no way to get to another galaxy.”

  He sighed. That wasn’t the response she’d expected. She’d expected him to burst out laughing and tell her he wasn’t being serious. But he was being serious, and that being the case, she couldn’t help but feel like she was missing something important.

  “What is it?” she asked. “What’s going on?”

  He hesitated then said, “I guess I’ll start with me. My name is Hathor. I don’t have a last name. We don’t have last names on Raz. Raz is a planet in the Enchanted Galaxy. You were born and raised here on this planet, Earth, which is in the Average Galaxy. Four years from now, I will appear in your apartment in North Dakota and announce that you are to be Raz’s next queen. That is how you end up being the queen of Raz.”

  “I don’t understand. Why would I ever go to North Dakota?”

  “It’s a long story, but the basic history is that you moved to Florida in September of this year. Your parents died in a car accident, so you went to North Dakota to start a new life. That is four years from now.”

  She sharply inhaled. “My parents die?”

  He nodded.

  She forced aside the shiver that ran up her spine at this realization. She needed to find out how she got here. Taking a deep breath to absorb what she had learned so far, she managed to regain some composure. “Alright. So I’m in North Dakota, and I’m twenty-one.”

  “Right. That’s when I come to get you.”

  “That’s how we meet?”

  Again, he nodded. “I have this Book of Spells.” He showed her the book. “Usually, all I have to do is use this book and we can automatically go wherever we want. Unfortunately, it was during this time that the planet Pale was going through a civil war, and Raz got caught in the middle of it. The Palers were trying to kill you before you could get to be queen because without a queen, Raz will die.”

  “Palers?” Seriously? Now, he’d tell her he was joking. She was sure of it.

  But he didn’t. He looked just as serious as before. “They are tall creatures, similar to humans except that they have extremely white skin, no hair and black eyes.”

  “So an alien did attack me out there! I knew that thing couldn’t be from Earth.”

  “Are you sure a Paler attacked you?”

  “Yes. She looked just like what you described.”

  “She? You’re sure the Paler was a woman?”

  “Of course, I’m sure. She spoke to me. It was a female voice that I heard.”

  He sat back for a moment. “That doesn’t make sense. The Paler who’s after you right now is a man. Why would a woman attack you?”

  “Another one of those things is after me?” she asked, this time her voice rising a higher octave.

  “Yes. That’s why I’m here. I am to protect you so he can’t get to you, but he’s at a place called the United Nations. There’s no way he could have gotten here so fast. I just saw him on TV twenty-five minutes ago.”

  “If there was an alien on TV, I would know about it. It would be broadcasted all over the place.”

  “No. This Paler has disguised himself as a human.”

  After a moment, she started laughing. She couldn’t believe this. “Nice try. Haha. Is there a camera hidden somewhere?” She scanned the room, searching for anything that might be concealing a camera.

  “The first time we met, you thought the whole thing was a dream,” he said.

  She studied him, noting he was still utterly and completely serious. Either he was a fabulous liar, or he was telling her the truth.

  “I know it’s a lot to take in,” he ad
ded. “But it’s true.”

  “Well, I know I’m not dreaming,” she replied. And since he wasn’t giving away any indication that he was lying, she was beginning to suspect he was, in fact, being honest with her. “Is this a weapon a creature from Pale would use?” she asked as she pulled out the knife from her back pocket. “I don’t recognize the letters on it.”

  He took it from her, his jaw dropped. “You managed to get this from the Paler?”

  “I don’t know how I did it. I mean, I’ve never taken any training in how to fight. One minute, I was walking around the parking lot, and the next thing I knew, I felt this weird sensation on the back of my neck, as if someone was behind me.”

  His eyes grew wide. “The classic Paler attack? You finally conquered that attack method?”

  Again, she couldn’t get over how serious he seemed. “I can’t explain it. It all happened so fast. It’s one big blur in my mind. All I remember is that I felt the breeze on my neck and the next thing I knew, I had the thing lying on the ground and I was holding the knife to her. She jumped up and ran away.”

  He smiled. “You’ve been working on that particular strategy for six months. You’ve finally mastered it.”

  “That’s what I’m working on four years from now? Fighting Palers?”

  “Not exactly. Four years from now, you leave North Dakota, fight the Palers and win. With Omin dead, the Palers actually become friends with you. You, in turn, become queen of Raz, so Pale and Raz become allies.”

  “Okay.” This was a lot of information to process. “So then what? Why is a Paler after me if we’re allies?”

  “Two years after you become queen, Omin’s clone wakes up from a deep sleep. This clone brought you and me back six years into the past and is seeking to kill you before you get a chance to go to Raz. That’s why you don’t remember anything. He wiped out all of your memories so that you won’t fight him when the time comes for him to get rid of you.”