Seasons Within Box Set

by Lele Iturrioz

  Gaia pushed the bowl of fruit, placed her hands closer. She moved forwards trying to win against Edan. “Maybe it’s all thanks to a certain difficult trainer,” said Gaia. Once her stress toned down, she noticed how close she was to Edan’s face; and by his wavering eyes and faint blush, she knew he just realized it too. Like two released rubber bands, they both sat back down and watched everyone staring at them with an amused expression.

  “What?!” Edan and Gaia screamed in unison.

  “Nothing,” they all said at the same time and looked the other way.

  Chapter 12

  Him

  BACK IN TRUCKEE, Max, Gaia’s classmate, finally got the courage to ask his childhood friend on a date.

  To both his, and many others’ surprise, not only did she agree to go, she was happy he felt the same way as she did.

  “Eight years?” said one of Max’s friends in shock. “It took you eight years to tell her you like her?”

  “Yes.” He beamed with happiness, his smile wide creating dimples on his cheeks. “I guess I’m very patient.”

  “You’re crazy, that’s what you are.” The friend patted Max’s back as the blue sky darkened.

  The two guys looked up and watched as dark grey clouds took over, slowly emitting a strange acidic smell. The temperature lowered dramatically.

  Max felt a cold breeze that chilled him to the bone. “Did you feel that?” he asked his friend but by his trembling hands and watery eyes, Max knew he was feeling it too… Despair.

  From the woods, a man in his late forties emerged and walked onto the college grounds, the grass he stepped on instantly dying. The man moved with undeniable elegance and control. His face was covered by the black hood of a cloak that looked like an expensive long trench coat.

  Besides the unusual way he moved and hid his face, there was something about this man that made him disturbing. It was his aura. It was as if everything around him paused in time or was no longer alive.

  That man was Him, Azazel.

  Three creepy men with white slimy skin that resembled a slug, black teeth and long pointy nails followed Azazel, their joints bending in awkward ways. One of them, with a thick black mark made by symbols around his eye, was called Jinn.

  Jinn and the other two wore hoodies but their pale faces were still visible. Distinct dark lines made of symbols decorated their faces. Their dusty yellow eyes scanned their surroundings while avoiding eye contact with any of the students.

  They all followed their master until they reached the Five Fold symbol that Gaia burnt after having her necklace ripped off. Only now, the symbol wasn’t a burnt mark on the ground but a beautiful symbol made of soft grass and dozens of daffodils.

  Without uncovering his face, Azazel bent down and stroked the green grass. While his long fingers flickered over it, the grass and flowers died and rotted in a domino effect with a whooshing sound. Azazel breathed heavily.

  The black symbols on his neck turned crimson red. Images of Gaia floating in fire and The Six helping her raced through his mind. Images of Edan. Images of the broken necklace. He saw how the circle burned on Synthia’s chest while her sidekicks Alma-Loo and Diana cried.

  Azazel moved his hand away from the grass and glared at a section of the forest. “The Marked One,” he hissed with a deep, soul-crushing voice. “Find her.”

  A dozen growls and horrifying cries came out from the forest. They muffled in the distance as the Trackers ran to find their master’s prey.

  Azazel stood up and looked around. In the distance he saw Alma-Loo, who he recognized from the visions he had. “Go,” he commanded Jinn.

  “You heard him!” Jinn walked towards the school building. The other two men followed.

  Azazel placed both of his hands in his coat pockets and followed Alma-Loo, but on his way, Max crashed against him. Books and papers flew everywhere. “I’m so sorry, Sir,” said Max as he readjusted his glasses and bent down to pick of his books. “Are you alright?” he asked.

  With his face still covered by his hood, Azazel flicked with disgust the place where Max touched him, whispered some muffled words and kept walking.

  The student jolted at his words and dropped his books. His eyes turned lifeless, his face went pale. His bubbly happy attitude was replaced by a shadow of numbness. Max stood up, turned and walked towards a busy street.

  “What is he doing?!” yelled a woman who saw him about to step in front of a moving car. “Stop!!”

  The car managed to dodge Max. It was then that his friend saw him. “Max! Get out of the way!” screamed the boy. Max didn’t move. Instead, he looked at his friend as he stood there in the middle of the street.

  The boy ran as fast as he could as cars tried to dodge Max. His friend reached for his hand and, for a second, saw the fear inside Max’s eyes before a car couldn’t swerve in time and hit him head-on.

  Horrified, students and teachers ran to help the dying student while Azazel kept following Alma-Loo into the forest.

  Alma-Loo continued to walk home, so focused on her phone that she failed to notice how the trees next to her withered. The bright brown limbs went dead. The green leaves turned black.

  A twig cracked, she shifted her gaze from the screen and looked behind her… nothing.

  She turned back around and found Azazel standing a few feet from her, hidden by his cloak.

  “Ugh!” she yelped. “Creep much?”

  Ignoring the man, Alma-Loo walked passed Azazel. He continued to follow her, only this time, Alma-Loo noticed the dead trees and the rotten smell. Hearing hundreds of screams coming from her school, she picked up her pace. The chilling pleas and cries made her heart pound.

  “Stop,” hissed Azazel. Alma-Loo stopped as if she had no control over her body. “Kneel,” he ordered and she did. “You hear them? Your friends,” Azazel asked as he paced around her. Alma-Loo lifted her gaze and saw his smile. Dark lines made by strange symbols showed from the inside of his shirt’s neckline to his face. His eyes were still covered by the cloak.

  Alma-Loo tried to move. Azazel gave a disturbing laugh. “No need to try,” he said squatting in front of her. “I can bend you at my will.” He leaned closer and whispered something in her ear. Alma-Loo stopped breathing.

  Her eyes shut and her hands shook with terror, unable to do anything to stop his command. “Breath,” he said and Alma-Loo choked as air rushed into her lungs.

  “Stop,” she cried. “My father is rich. I can give you anything you want.”

  “Is he?”

  “Yes; he owns most of the land around here.”

  “He owns the land?” he asked in a grim tone. “It is interesting how your kind takes everything as if it was theirs to claim.” He leaned closer, whispered again. Alma-Loo stopped breathing. He moved closer. “Breathe.”

  “Please…” she gasped. “What do you want?” she asked between sobs.

  Azazel caressed her cheek. “Your memories.”

  He lifted his hand and took Alma-Loo by her neck. As he squeezed, the life of Alma-Loo drained out. Her skin turned grey and dry. The symbols from his neck glowed a crimson red. The images of Synthia, Alma-Loo and Diana making fun of others surged through his mind. Images of Gaia falling from the stairs. Of Gaia and Synthia being taken away by The Six. Azazel let go of Alma-Loo’s corpse and smiled with contempt, “Found you.”

  Chapter 13

  The Five Fables

  EDAN STARED AT PRIYAM’S FINGERS as they danced over the computer’s keyboard. She was moving them so fast that if it wasn’t for the information appearing on the screen he could’ve sworn she was pressing them randomly.

  Priyam clicked ‘enter’ and a screen with the American Government’s seal opened. “Done!” She swung on her rock to face Edan. “I managed to place alerts in all the nearest towns so we can have extra security and trace everything we need,” she said clearly proud of her skills.

  “You can trace Him or any dark creature?” asked Shui in amazement after finishing pre
paring tea. Fragrant steam of flowers and herbs filled the air.

  “If they appear in the news, any other mentions across the internet, or the government secret files, yes.”

  Shui took a couple of bamboo cups and filled them. “If you are tracing Him, can He trace you back?” She offered a cup of tea to Priyam.

  Priyam took the cup and blew on it. The hot steam made her glasses foggy. “Does He work at NASA or SKYNET?”

  “No,” said Edan as he checked all the information on the screen.

  “Then, no.” She grinned and took a sip of her tea. “Geez! Great tea, Shui,” she said. Shui bowed her head thanking Priyam for the compliment.

  Edan pulled the computer closer to him and played around with the keyboard when by accident he clicked on the desktop icon. A picture popped up of Priyam and Gaia posing in their bikinis. Edan’s hand quickly moved to change it back but it froze on top of the button. His eyes were mesmerized by the image of Gaia in an olive green bikini.

  “What do you think, Fireball?” asked Priyam not paying attention to what Edan was looking at.

  Edan panicked thinking he was busted staring at Gaia. His face blushed crimson red, his palms turned sweaty and, on an impulse, he slammed his hand over the screen and closed the laptop. “What if he did?” he said and cleared his throat. “Work at NASA or SKYNET?”

  Priyam took a second to answer. “Not even then,” she smiled wickedly. “And Edan… SKYNET is not real, it’s from Terminator.”

  “What’s a Terminator?” Edan asked.

  “Seriously?”

  “I’m not from Earth.”

  “You weren’t born here but what did you do for the last twelve years?”

  “Train and stay on guard,” he said like there was no other thing he could be doing. “Where’s Gaia?” he said casually hoping Priyam would wait until after he left to open the computer again and flash that picture of Gaia in her bathing suit.

  “I think I saw her with Hunter around the hill,” she said. Without explanation, Edan walked away as fast as he could. “You’re welcome!”

  Edan ran towards the hill and saw Hunter helping Willow carry the wheat they’d just cut. “Hunter, where is she?” he asked. The teen pointed at the trail down the hill.

  Around the bottom of the hill, Gaia jogged and concentrated on her feet. She paid attention to how the bottom of her shoe interacted with the green grass, how the fresh air smelled, how her rapid heartbeat warmed her and how calming the absence of noise felt in her soul.

  For the past weeks she had been feeling pressured at her fire lessons and anxious about how they all, with the exception of Willow and Synthia, looked at her as if she would eventually become their savior even when she didn’t believe it herself.

  Everywhere she went stress followed. Everywhere but in that part of the camp. There she was free to be herself, to make mistakes, to run, to cry and to feel anything without guilt or disappointing anyone.

  “You’re doing it wrong,” said Edan as he walked the last part of the hill.

  “Good morning to you, too.” Gaia panted for air, hating him for destroying her happy place.

  “I’m serious,” he walked closer and pointed at her legs. “You’re jogging too fast on uneven ground. You will fall or get tired if you don’t slow it down.” He scanned her with a stern look. “Knowing you, you will achieve both.”

  “Yeah?” Gaia looked around and saw the uneven parts of grass and knew Edan was right, but as always, she preferred not to agree with him. “What else is wrong with me?”

  “So far, your jogging,” he said and continued walking towards her direction. “But the day isn’t over yet.” He smiled at his snarky comment and she jogged away up the hill. “Hey! What are you doing?”

  “Ignoring you. I’m sure you’ll get used to it eventually.”

  “Brat.”

  A few nights before, Priyam and Gaia had gone online and looked for strange and fancy ways to describe Edan’s annoying personality. This was the perfect opportunity to put her new vocabulary to use and she thanked her brain for actually remembering one of the words. “Haranguer!” she said, praying she’d pronounced it right. “Why are you jogging with me?”

  “Making sure you don’t kill yourself,” he said. “How did you know it? That word?”

  “What are you talking about? I’ve known it since forever.” Edan lifted his eyebrow in a doubtful expression. “Fine…I googled it, it suits you.”

  “You were searching for names to call me?” He smiled at her.

  Gaia glared at Edan as she kept her speed. “No, to-” Gaia took a wrong step and fell. She rolled down part of the hill and smashed into the ground.

  With two jumps, Edan was next to Gaia. He checked to make sure her neck wasn’t broken and pulled her into his arms. “Are you ok?” he caressed her head.

  Gaia opened her eyes and stared at Edan. Gaia laughed out loud. She couldn’t shake off the image of herself bouncing like a crazy person all over the hill.

  “Stop laughing!” he screamed with desperation and a hint of worry. “Are you ok?” he asked with a sweet voice.

  “Yes,” she whispered.

  Edan’s body relaxed and he smiled. “Good,” he said and continued caressing her wavy hair. “Does anything hurt? Do you feel dizzy or confused?”

  “A little confused,” she said, not understanding why Edan was caressing her so gently and how she’d ended up in his arms. She tried to recall but everything was still blurry. Gaia felt her throat tingling at the memory of her head bouncing over and over again while Edan chased her in a panic, but she held back her giggle to avoid breaking whatever inexplicable moment Edan was having.

  Realizing he was hugging her while caressing her hair, Edan pushed Gaia away from him. “Of course you are confused you reckless girl.”

  “And…he’s back.”

  Edan stood up and brushed the dirt off his pants. “If you want to run on uneven terrain like that, make sure you know how to walk first,” he said and walked away using the same path Gaia had fallen down.

  Cracking her neck and testing the mobility of her arms, Gaia stood up to follow Edan. “Ouch…” She flinched at the sudden sharp pain in her left foot. She pressed it again against the ground and the pain hit her harder. Damn it! She looked at the hill and almost cried at the idea of hiking all that with that type of injury.

  “What is it?”

  “Nothing,” she said and kept walking on her injured foot. “Just learning my lesson,” she mumbled to herself.

  Edan took another look and saw how Gaia was limping. She was very good at pretending she was fine, but Edan could see the slight hunching movement she made every time she rested her weight on her wounded foot. He shook his head and let go a deep sigh. “I swear you’ll be the death of me.” He knelt in front of her, took her foot and removed her shoe and sock leaving her bare foot resting on his thigh. With soft movements he caressed her foot as his hand warmed up careful not to hurt her. “Does this hurt?”

  “No,” she managed to say without gasping. She closed her eyes trying to concentrate on anything other than his fingers sliding softly around her skin. Gaia leaned against a tree to hold her balance so Edan could slip her sock back on.

  Once Gaia had her sock on, Edan put her shoe inside his back pocket, bent down and placed his hands tightly against his ribs. “Here,” he said.

  Gaia moved her arms towards her chest and froze. She’d never taken a piggy-back ride before, but she’d seen this pose in movies when the main guy tried to help his crush or when a kid was hurt and his parents wanted to help them. “What are you doing?” she asked concerned.

  “It’s so you can jump on my back and I can carry you.”

  “Oh no, I know what it is. I just don’t know why you’re offering to carry me,” she admitted still not understanding why Edan was nice enough to carry her up the hill, especially after warning her she was bound to fall.

  “Does it matter?” he said, feeling stressed about bein
g in that position and not having her climb up.

  “Maybe…”

  He stood up and walked away. “Good luck hiking the hill on that foot.”

  “Wait!” Gaia tried to reach him with her hand but he was too far for that. “Come back,” she pleaded, but he kept walking. Argg!! Why me!? Why him?… she cursed herself. She didn’t want to ask him again but she knew the only other way up the hill was to crawl. “Please?” she said as soft as she could.

  Victorious, Edan turned around and walked towards her. “Who would have known?” he said and bent down. “You do have manners.”

  “From time to time,” she smiled and prepared to climb on top of him.

  Gaia stared at his back. The idea of touching it made her more nervous than she could’ve imagined. She couldn’t take her eyes off it, how wide and strong it seemed. Only able to see the back of his head, she wondered if his face was as warm as hers. Seeing him waiting in silence for her to touch him was overwhelming.

  Gaining a little bit of courage, Gaia moved her hands as if she was afraid to touch a hot pan. Just do it, she thought. Her shaky fingers slid over his wide back and every one of his muscles tensed making her feel like she was hugging a statue. Her heartbeat went crazy, and she hoped he would confuse her palpitations as her being out of shape. She leaned her entire weight against his body which made no sign of being affected by it.

  In one movement, Edan cradled Gaia’s legs and stood up. “Your arms,” he demanded.

  “What about them?”

  “Wrap them around me,” he said in a voice lower than usual, sending chills down Gaia’s body.

  “Oh… right.” Gaia slid her hands around Edan’s back towards his neck. Her hands slightly moved Edan’s shirt. She noticed a black oval on his neck, like a birthmark. “You have a freckle on your back,” she said, passing her thumb over it.