if he were an object of interest.
“So, you’re the new boy,” she said, expressionless. Her green eyes burned with an intensity he’d never seen, and he could, indeed, sense that she was one of theirs.
Final y, after what seemed like forever, she nodded.
“Interesting.”
With that, she walked right past them, and her entourage quickly fol owed.
But one person lingered behind, clearly one of the royals.
She looked to be about 17, and was dressed in a royal blue, velvet gown, from head to toe. She had the fairest skin that Sam had ever seen, set against long, curly blonde hair, and piercing aqua eyes. She fixed them right on Sam, locking them onto his.
He felt helpless in her gaze, unable to look anywhere else.
She was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen.
After several seconds, she took a step forward, and stared even closer into his eyes. She reached out her hand, palm down, clearly expecting him to kiss it. She moved slowly, proudly.
Sam took her hand, and was electrified at the touch of her skin. He pul ed her fingertips close, and kissed them.
“Pol y?” the girl said. “Aren’t you going to introduce us?”
It wasn’t a question. It was a command.
Pol y cleared her throat, reluctantly.
“Kendra, Sam,” she said. “Sam, Kendra.”
Kendra, Sam thought, staring into her eyes, taken aback by how aggressively she stared back at him, as if he were already her property.
“Sam,” she echoed, smiling. “A bit simple. But I like it.”
CHAPTER SIX
Kyle smashed through the stone sarcophagus with a single punch. It smashed into a mil ion bits, and he walked right out of the standing coffin, on his feet, and ready for action.
He wheeled and looked about, ready to fight anyone who approached. In fact, he was hoping that someone approached him for a fight. This time travel had been particularly annoying, and he was ready to let his rage out on someone.
But as he looked around, to his disappointment, he saw that the chamber was empty. It was just him.
Slowly, his rage began to cool. At least he’d landed in the right place, and he could already sense, the right time. He knew that he was more of a veteran of time travel than Caitlin, and he could place himself more specifical y. He looked around, and to his satisfaction, saw that he landed exactly where he’d wanted to be: Les Invalides.
Les Invalides was a place he’d always loved, one that had been important to the more evil of his kind. A mausoleum, deep underground, it was made of marble, beautiful y adorned, sarcophagi lining its wal s. The building had a cylindrical shape, with a soaring, hundred foot ceiling, culminating in a dome. It was a somber place, the perfect resting place for al of France’s elite soldiers. It was also the place, Kyle knew, that Napoleon would one day be buried.
But not yet. It was only 1789, and Napoleon, that little bastard, was stil alive. One of Kyle’s favorites of his own kind. He would be about 20 years old now, Kyle realized, stil starting his career.
He wouldn’t be buried in this place for some time to come.
Of course, being of his race, Napoleon’s burial was just a ruse, just a way to let the human masses think he was one of theirs.
Kyle smiled at the thought of it. Here he was, in Napoleon’s final resting place, before Napoleon had even “died.” He would look forward to seeing him again, to reminiscing about old times. He was, after al , one of few people of his kind that Kyle semi-respected. But he was also an arrogant little bastard. Kyle would have to slap him into shape.
Kyle walked slowly across the marble floor, footsteps echoing, and checked himself. He had seen better days.
He had lost one eye from that horrible little child, Caleb’s son, and his face was stil disfigured from what Rexius had done to him back in New York. If that weren’t enough, he now had a large wound in his cheek from the spear that Sam had hurled at him in the Colosseum. He was a wreck, he knew.
But he also kind of liked it. He was a survivor. He was alive, and no one had been able to stop him. And he was madder than ever. Not only was he determined to stop Caitlin and Caleb from finding the Shield, but now he was determined to make them both pay. To make them suffer, just as he had suffered. Sam was