Seasons Within Box Set

by Lele Iturrioz

  “What is it?” he asked before Gaia knocked. She felt like dying, not knowing how long ago he’d realized she was there.

  “You took me to my bed last night,” Gaia said nervously. This was the first time she was talking to him while aware of her true feelings and it was harder than she thought it would be.

  “Yes. And?” he answered with his usual attitude and sat down properly.

  “Well… thank you,” she said almost sure this was the first time she’d ever thanked him. Oh, no…will he notice my feelings if I’m being nice to him? Will he notice even if I don’t? She panicked, hoping Edan wasn’t as sharp when it came to other people’s feelings. Well, he is terrible at figuring out Willow’s feelings, she thought and a sense of calm washed over her.

  “No need to thank me,” he said, oblivious to Gaia’s internal meltdown.

  Gaia offered him back his grey jacket. “And you lent me your jacket,” she said.

  Edan took the jacket from Gaia’s hands and threw it on his bed. “It was cold.”

  “It wasn’t that cold.” Gaia walked further into the room and got closer to Edan. “Last night-”

  “Where are you getting with this?” he began to get nervous.

  Gaia didn’t know the answer to that question. Not long ago she saw him as an annoyance and now she saw him as something more, but aside from that, she wasn’t clear on what she wanted, what she could have. “I want to understand.”

  “Understand what?”

  “What you are doing.” I guess…

  “I’m not doing anything.” He looked around his room as if being inside of it with Gaia made him uncomfortable. “I think you should get out.”

  “You treat me like crap every single day, but whenever I get hurt or something happens, you are the first to jump to my rescue.” Gaia took a step closer and Edan stiffened. “Why?” she asked looking straight into his nervous green eyes.

  “Because you are our future queen,” he said, his voice rougher than usual. “Leave now, please.” He grabbed Gaia by the shoulder and pushed her gently towards the door. Gaia knew that continuing her questioning would get her nowhere but her filter was gone. She couldn’t control it anymore. She took his hand and turned around. “There’s something else.”

  “There’s nothing else,” he said and snatched his hand back, away from her touch.

  “You’re a liar.”

  “And you are my job,” he snapped. “This isn’t summer camp and I’m not your boyfriend,” he said. Gaia felt like slapping him, but she didn’t, because the moment she was about to, she noticed a glimmer of hurt in his eyes.

  Nonetheless, she was furious; furious at him but more at herself. What were you expecting? She well knew that just because she figured out her feelings, he wasn’t going to become nice all of a sudden. He wasn’t going to stop having this cold unattached way of treating her or change his bipolar behavior.

  She hated when he acted like this and she was too tired to deal with him, so without a word she turned around and walked away. “Where are you going?”

  “Why would I tell you? You’re not my boyfriend.”

  “You-” he tried to take her hand when Willow interrupted:

  “Edan.”

  “Damn it,” he followed Gaia but Willow stopped him. “Not now.”

  “Donovan just received a message from Klog Mor,” she told him, but Edan’s eyes were still watching Gaia running away. “Edan!” Willow yelled and Edan looked at her for the first time since she arrived “She will be fine.”

  “Call Shui and Veter, I’ll follow Gaia.”

  “The eagle asked for you, specifically,” she said, but Edan still wouldn’t stop chasing after Gaia. “Edan, stop! She’s not a child.” Willow raced after him and stepped in front of Edan. “You’re our leader, not her babysitter. This place is covered in light marks. Hunter just made his fourth routine check and everything is clear. Let Gaia have her temper tantrum… Right now Donovan needs you.”

  Knowing she was right, Edan took a last look at the forest Gaia ran into. “Bloody hell,” he muttered to himself and followed Willow.

  * * *

  The forest had never seemed so cold. Gaia ran feeling like she would fall apart if she stopped. She hated herself for making herself vulnerable to Edan but she couldn’t stay quiet, not when she had so many questions about her feelings. She remembered Edan’s cold apathetic face and her chest tightened leaving her breathless. Why? Why him? Just this morning she barely accepted her own feelings for him and now she couldn’t wait to get rid of them.

  She couldn’t understand why she was attracted to that iceberg of a man who saw nothing in others but flaws and challenges. Why was she so enchanted by a man who was such a perfectionist that being with him for more than an hour was irritating? She found him annoying, controlling, proud, arrogant but also… sweet at times, always thinking of others, constantly complaining about her yet always ready to help her no matter what. He was good, he was loyal and always true to his beliefs and to her.

  She hated him. She liked him.

  After running for what felt like forever, Gaia reached one of the small towns that rested relatively close to the camp. Tired of running and almost out of breath, she sat down on a bench next to a tree. She lifted her head and covered her face with her crossed arms. She closed her eyes and wished she could stay there and fall asleep until everything was magically forgotten or solved.

  Why?... she shuddered. Why did I have to find out how I feel?... And he said boyfriend! She kept asking herself over and over as if the answer would stop making her body feel sick.

  “Hello,” said a friendly voice right above of her.

  Gaia lowered her arms and saw a blond guy in his early-twenties with dimples on his cheeks, hanging upside down staring at her. She lifted her head and watched the man jump over the bench so he could sit next to Gaia. “Are you new here? I’ve never seen you before,” he asked. Gaia remained silent, staring at him. The guy tilted his head, his hazel eyes inspecting her. “English?” he asked and Gaia said nothing. “Español?” Still no response from Gaia. “Français? Duits? Hindee? Afrikaans? Ca-”

  “English,” Gaia jumped in smiling before he could name any more languages. “I don’t talk to strangers.”

  The guy laughed like a child would. His straight nose wrinkled and his feet swung to keep his balance. “What are you, five?”

  Gaia’s eyebrows frowned amused. “Says the guy who’s swinging his legs on top of a bench.”

  The guy leaned forward and offered Gaia his hand. “I’m Noah, I live behind that market.” Gaia took his hand and shook it feeling excited to deal with human customs again. Enjoying the moment, Gaia failed to notice she sat there shaking a stranger’s hand in silence. “Ahem…” Noah coughed and glanced at their shaking hands.

  Oh right, my name… She knew Gaia wasn’t a typical name and she would definitely get in trouble if people around the village start talking about it, so she said the only name she could think of having beside hers. “I’m Tanya. Just passing by.”

  Noah leaned closer without letting go of her hand. “Progress, I like it,” he said and stood up. “So, ‘Just passing by Tanya,’ what brings you here?” he asked as he walked to an apple tree that grew a few feet from them.

  “Road trip.”

  Noah picked off an apple and bit it. “Traveling by yourself?” he asked and took another one to offer to Gaia.

  “I came with some friends.” Not expecting the gesture, Gaia brushed back her hair behind her ear and took the apple from his hands.

  Noah rocked from his toes to his heals while looking around them. “Where are they?”

  “What are you? A detective?”

  “No, I’m bored. Or at least I was.” His hazel eyes gazed at Gaia in a way that started to make her feel giggly. “And apparently, so were you.”

  “Smooth talker,” she said thinking how well Donovan and he would get along.

  “Not a chance,” he laughed. “Unless
you want me to be.” He threw the almost finished apple at a trash can five feet from them and made it in. “I like your fire hair.”

  “Let me guess, you love my eyes and my outfit too?”

  “Your eyes-” He leaned closer to her, close enough to make her nervous. “Definitely,” he whispered and proceeded to scan her outfit. “But your sweater could use some changes.” Gaia looked down at her baby pink sweater to see what was wrong with it, when Noah walked back and offered her his hand. “I’m starving, join me.”

  Instead of taking it like last time, Gaia stood her ground, not knowing for sure how smart going with him would be. Sensing her indecision, Noah retrieved his hand and crossed his arms in front of his chest. “Are you always this suspicious of people?”

  “Are you always this friendly?”

  “Only when it’s worth it,” he said as he brushed his ashy golden hair and pointed at their left. “The ice-cream place is right there, inside the candy shop.”

  “Ice-cream and candies?”

  “What can I say?” he shrugged his shoulders in a carefree way. “I’m a child with the income of a grownup.” Noah offered her his hand again. “Are you coming?”

  Gaia took a moment, she knew she shouldn’t be going with a stranger, but she also knew that in the short time she’d spent with him, she’d stopped feeling terrible about Edan or worried about getting killed or anything to do with the camp. She took a closer look at him; with his beautiful hazel eyes, beach boy haircut and two moles on his straight nose, he appeared cheerful and harmless. He was definitely good looking. But so was Ted Bundy, she couldn’t help thinking.

  Going with him might be a bad idea but at least she would stop feeling miserable. And besides, I have powers… I can totally take him. “You’re paying.”

  “I was planning to.”

  * * *

  Back in the camp, Edan was behaving worse than usual. Everything angered him, even the maps and numbers he had spread on the table in front of him. He tried to calm down but his morning talk with Gaia kept replaying in his thoughts over and over again.

  A couple of hours ago, Hunter and Veter reported the two almost intruders they saw last night and all Edan could think about was, where the hell did Gaia run to? His stress was so obvious that half of the group asked him, ‘What’s wrong?’ on separate occasions, something that drove him mad.

  He warmed his hands and rubbed them against his forehead, he had all this work to do but his mind couldn’t focus.

  “Where is she?” he asked Donovan, who happened to be passing by.

  “I don’t know.” Donovan looked around, not knowing why Edan was still glaring at him. “Should I know?”

  Edan knew it wasn’t his friend’s fault but he couldn’t control his anger. Not until he found her. “Send her here if you see her.”

  “What’s wrong?” Donovan dared to ask.

  “Nothing is bloody wrong,” he snapped causing Donovan to back away slowly.

  Floyd patted Donovan on the back. “Told you mate. Today the boss is as mad as a cut snake.”

  “English, dude, English,” Donovan begged him not understanding a thing he said.

  As for Edan, it wasn’t just this morning’s talk that was tormenting him. After what happened last night he couldn’t sleep at all, and having her that morning in his room was worse than he thought. “What was I thinking?” he mumbled to himself and then realized he was being watched by Priyam, who unlike everyone else, found his mood amusing.

  “Let me guess… what’s wrong?” he asked in a bitter tone.

  Priyam ignored his deadly vibes and sat down on one of the rook stools across the table from him. “No, I already know what’s wrong,” she said and Edan’s angry frowned switched to a confusing stare. “G-a-i-a.” She said her name the same way an interlocutor announces the title of an epic movie.

  “What about her?”

  “I saw you, yesterday. In my bungalow. Tucking her in, smiling at her sleepy face.”

  Edan felt like he’d been punched in the gut. “I don’t know what you are talking about,” he lied.

  “Relax.” Priyam laughed enjoying it too much. “I won’t tell, not even G, since I assume you have your reasons. I don’t get why you play dumb.”

  Knowing Edan wasn’t going to open up about any of his issues, Priyam stood up from the table and took a box of cookies. “You know, G used to tell me all about the nice kid who saved her in her dreams. She used to tell me how sweet you talked to her and how safe you made her feel. Last night was the first time I saw what she meant.” She ate half a cookie. “What made you change?”

  “I didn’t change, she did,” he said angrily. With that honest answer, Priyam walked away. “She forgot our promise,” he said without anyone there but himself to hear it.

  * * *

  Meanwhile, in the ice-cream shop, Noah stared with amazement at Gaia as she licked a neon pink and blue ice-cream cone with sprinkles and a candy crown. “I still can’t believe you ordered princess bubble-gum ice-cream.”

  “What? Molly recommended this one.”

  “She’s three.”

  “And?” Gaia licked the top. “It’s delicious.”

  “It is,” said Molly an adorable three-year-old sitting between them. Her pink ribbons holding her brown pigtails hung longer than her hair. She left her pencil on the table and leaned forward to take her knitted Lalaloopsy doll. “Mommy lets me eat it after I finish my chores.”

  “Which is what you should be doing now,” said Noah.

  “I’m sorry, Noah.” Tara, a thirty-year-old single mother and spitting image of Molly, peeked her head over the counter. “If she’s too much trouble, I can send her upstairs.”

  “What are you talking about?” Noah smiled at Tara letting her know it was ok for her to be there. “She’s always trouble.” He bent down and tickled Molly.

  Gaia looked at him and, for a second, thought of Edan and how he used to treat her like that. “Sounds like you come here a lot.”

  “I live close by and it helps Tara when I watch over Molly.” Noah smiled at her. “You need to learn how to eat. You have ice-cream on your cheek.” Noah leaned across the table and brushed his hand across Gaia’s cheek, removing the small smudge of ice-cream. Gaia flinched at the proximity. “A Sagittarius girl being shy?”

  Trying to prove her point, Gaia lifted her face and looked at Noah. “I’m not shy and I’m… not so sure I’m a Sagittarius either.”

  “You can’t choose what to be; and December fifteen lands on Sagittarius.”

  “To be honest, that’s not my birthday. It’s only the date my best friend chose when we met at the orphanage.” She didn’t know why was she telling Noah all this about her life, especially when she’d always been reserved when it came to herself. “I don’t remember my real one.”

  “You don’t?”

  “No.”

  “In other words, you could be forty?”

  Gaia’s eyebrows lifted as she tilted her head. “Do I look like I’m forty?”

  “Nooo!” Molly laughed, and hugged her doll.

  Noah sat her on his lap. “Not at all,” he said after taking a good look at her face. “How do you know you’re eighteen and not twenty-four?”

  “Doctors. After all the tests they did on me for years… they can pretty much tell anything about you these days.”

  “Tests? For what?” he asked.

  “Not telling you.”

  Noah leaned closer to Molly and whispered, “She’s full of secrets.” Molly giggled.

  “I’m not full of secrets.” Gaia couldn’t tell if it was because she found Noah to be a great pain relief or the fact that he didn’t even know her real name, but she was opening herself too fast and too much to someone she barely knew. “You already know I’m an orphan with memory loss, what kind of talk with a stranger is that?”

  “Stranger?!” he gasped. “I shared my lemon pie ice cream with you. It doesn’t get more personal than that.”


  “It was a good flavor.”

  “What can I say?” Noah moved closer to Gaia and smiled, “I have good taste.”

  “And I have to go.”

  “So soon?”

  “It’s been almost two hours,” she said panicking at how angry Edan would be. If there was an emergency, he would have sent Hunter to look for me, wouldn’t he?

  “Two hours? That’s the definition of soon.”

  “Goodbye.” She smiled and gave Molly a hug. “Bye Molly.”

  Gaia walked out of the ice cream shop as Noah followed her, walking carefree with his hands in his pockets. “Will I see you again?” he asked.

  “No.”

  “How about tomorrow?”

  “No.”

  “Perfect. See you at the same time, same place then.”

  “Ok.”

  Chapter 19

  Cruel Reality

  FOR THE PAST WEEK GAIA had been escaping to the village to see Noah and Molly. Just like the first time they met, they went to have food or sweets and talked for no more than an hour before Gaia had to run back to camp.

  An hour or less was the time she was able to steal from each day without making it look suspicious to Edan, Priyam or The Six. She called it her meditation time and, since Terrians had a lot of respect for meditation, no one had a problem letting her work on it alone.

  During that week, her world became slightly bigger. She became friends with Tara, the owner of the ice cream shop, and her daughter Molly. Being the small town that it was, Tara let Molly and her inseparable doll play around with Gaia and Noah until Gaia’s curfew. Gaia loved Molly, she made her feel like she was back at the orphanage taking care of the little kids, and there was something about a man taking care of a little girl that made him completely trustworthy.

  She felt guilty sneaking away from Priyam and the rest, but for Gaia, Tanya was an escape. Gaia was the hero with a suffocating amount of mistakes that constantly lived at risk of letting down… or killed, all the people she loved, while Tanya was a strong traveling girl with lots of free time and good friends.