Seasons Within Box Set

by Lele Iturrioz

  “Every two hundred years there’s a new incarnation of Nature. They are always girls who are born on the twenty-first of March, and they are always picked by the First Tree,” Klog Mor said.

  “Why are we reborn? Can’t nature stay alive all the time?”

  “Nothing can stay alive all the time. Just like nature, your essence is born, grows, dies and nourishes the world so it can be ready for the next new life.” Klog Mor took Gaia’s hands between hers. “I need you to understand something, my child: the reason you were sent to Earth was to prevent Him from finding you. That same reason is why so many Terrians lost their lives to protect you. Azazel will do anything to find you and prevent you from finishing your Resurgence. You must not let him.” She slid her hand on Gaia’s hair. “Five days from now, the countdown for your survival will officially begin.”

  Gaia felt a knot in her throat. Not long ago she knew nothing about her identity and childhood. After all these years, now not only did she know who she was, she needed to learn to wield the elements, she was being chased by beasts and she needed to run away for a year from someone who wanted her dead. The pressure felt suffocating.

  She wanted to crawl into bed and stay there until everything was fixed. She felt vulnerable and weak. She knew who she was and who she was meant to become but she didn’t feel strong enough to reach everyone’s expectations. I have to reach them… she thought. I need to… “Why does he want me dead?” she asked, choosing to show Klog Mor a stronger side.

  “To understand the cause, you must first understand the man.”

  “Why is he doing this?”

  She shrugged. “Only He knows.” Klog Mor smiled at Gaia and pointed at a small cooler behind some flowers. “Honey, could you be so kind and pass me a Corona?”

  “Sure.” Gaia looked around and saw the cooler. She went to get it and sat down in the same spot she was before.

  “Thank you.” Klog Mor opened the bottle and took a sip. “Something worries you,” she asked Gaia once again, hitting right on the problem.

  “What if you made a mistake?” asked Gaia.

  “Oh, no, dear, I really wanted the Corona,” she said.

  “I’m not talking about the beer, I’m talking about me,” she admitted in a lower voice.

  To her surprise, Klog Mor smiled. She seemed pleased and relaxed, as if a weight on her shoulder was just now removed. “So different and yet so alike. No wonder you keep choosing each other.”

  Choosing? What is she talking about? “Who?”

  “To answer your previous question,” said Klog Mor, changing the subject once again. “Can you wield fire?”

  “Yes.”

  “Do you carry a Five Fold symbol birthmark under your right wrist?”

  Gaia turned her hand, glanced at her wrist and there it was, her strange birthmark made by four circles united by another one in the middle. Five Fold symbol… she thought finally knowing what the symbol’s name was. “Yes.”

  “Does the First Tree follow you?”

  “Yes.” Gaia smiled at the thought of Bobby.

  “Then there is no mistake, you are Gaia.” Klog Mor took another swig of her beer. “Whether you’re ready or not to accept who you are, it does not change what you are destined to achieve.”

  “I’m terrible at controlling fire,” Gaia finally admitted.

  “That’s because fire will always be a wild living thing, you should relate.”

  “That’s easy for you to say,” Gaia laughed. “I saw what you did with the flame, you’re incredible!”

  “Same reason why I am the first of The Six,” she said proud and clear.

  Gaia’s eyes opened wide. “I thought Edan was the first.”

  Klog Mor took a peek towards the stairs… no one, she then faced Gaia. “Not only is he not the first but he’s not part of The Six,” she whispered.

  “He’s not?!” That definitely took Gaia by surprise. “Why?”

  “It is not my secret to tell,” Klog Mor said which only gave Gaia a bigger need to know the reason.

  “I thought he was the leader,” Gaia whispered back, hoping Edan wasn’t somewhere near.

  “He is the leader.”

  Gaia couldn’t make sense of what Klog Mor was saying. “I’m confused,” she said as she rubbed her forehead.

  “He’s the leader not because a bunch of politicians told him to be, like they did with me, he’s the leader because the warriors chose to follow him.” Klog Mor smiled. She was clearly happy to give Edan her spot as leader.

  “I didn’t know that about him.”

  Klog Mor finished her beer and placed it next to her. “He does tend to be a little closed to… everyone, about… well, everything,” she said. Gaia nodded in one hundred percent in agreement.

  “Klog Mor… Can I ask you a question?”

  “After all that’s what we are doing, aren’t we?”

  “Who’s Pratt?”

  Klog Mor’s face turned white. She looked at the door to see if anyone heard Gaia say that name out loud. “Someone you shouldn’t mention to Edan or anyone else,” she said with a dead-serious tone.

  “Were they friends?” Gaia whispered.

  “Inseparable. They were like brothers, but life had other plans. It pains me, I miss that boy. Besides, he was really good to Edan.”

  “Nobody talks about him or about what happened?” asked Gaia not understanding what was so wrong with talking about a loved one.

  “No one does. Which leads to my next question, how do you know that name?”

  “I… heard the name in a memory,” she lied.

  “Memories are nothing but a reminder of the past. It would be a shame to waste your life re-living them.”

  “What is Le Gardien de la vie?”

  “Another memory?” she guessed and Gaia nodded, only this time she was telling the truth. “Le Gardien de la vie is the fifth element, it is the artifact that saved the elder Terrians from the Big Flood.”

  “Is it true, nobody knows what it looks like?”

  “Not even me. It was so long ago that its appearance got lost between faded memories.”

  “What was the Big Flood?”

  KNOCK! KNOCK… Gaia turned around and saw Edan knocking the door frame. “Sorry for the interruption.” A loud growl was heard a few blocks away. “We need to go.”

  “Of course you need to, but please, take the blonde demon back with you. There’s nothing I found that can help that child, and I’d rather not… deal with her anymore.”

  Gaia leaned closer to Edan and whispered, “Blonde demon?”

  “She’s talking about Synthia.”

  Gaia looked at Klog Mor with amusement. “Wow, you really don’t like her.”

  “Nobody does, sweetie.”

  “Shui likes her,” said Edan after some deep thinking.

  “Shui likes everyone,” Klog Mor laughed.

  “We’ll take her back.” Edan hugged her. “Thank you for looking into it.”

  “Gaia!” Klog Mor slid a wooden bracelet from her wrist and gave it to Gaia. “It belonged to me; keep it so you can find me wherever you go. Don’t wait for this brute to bring you next time, come anytime you want, my child.” Gaia slid the bracelet on her own wrist, next to Molly’s ribbon, and hugged Klog Mor. Edan escorted her towards the door. “And Edan…” He turned around and she threw the lotus flower made by glass. “Keep the flower, it might remind you what and who you are.”

  Edan held the flower, looked at it with hope and took the stairs with Gaia. “What did she mean by that?” she asked, feeling curious since the glass and the necklace he gave her were the same type of flower.

  “Something of no importance,” he said and placed the flower in his back pocket.

  Edan and Gaia walked out of Klog Mor’s place and found Synthia already next to Donovan.

  “Thanks for nothing, Edan,” Synthia complained. “That tree hugger did nothing but bore me to death.”

  Out of nowhere, Floyd arrived runn
ing. His honey-blond Mohawk was messier than usual and his clothes had more holes than they did before. “Sorry to disturb… however, we need to get out of here.” Floyd panted with his scratched face.

  “Where are Pink and Veter?” asked Edan.

  Floyd pointed at the left. “They’re holding the line. Before we knew it, we were surrounded by dark beasts.” He cleaned the blood from his cheek with the sleeve of his black jacket. “There are four Draaks coming from the next corner. My sis, Veter and I managed to semi-kill one, but the rest are on their way here now.”

  “Donovan, take the girls to the meeting point and prepare everyone to move to the second camp.”

  Chapter 22

  The Second Camp

  GAIA SWUNG ON TOP OF a fallen tree across the protective shield. The five days Pratt told her to wait were over and she had found a marigold flower next to a fallen tree, yet he was nowhere to be found.

  A part of her was still unsure about this whole deal with Pratt, but after confirming his existence with Klog Mor and the fact that she said she missed him before describing him as ‘really good to Edan,’ made her feel like maybe she could count on him.

  For the past two days, Edan and the rest drew dozens of light symbols around the new campsite. To keep tight surveillance, they chose a long space with no hills or anything separating the rooms from the rest of the camp, with the exception of the training grounds of course, so she didn’t accidentally burn everything up.

  Gaia sat down on a log and leaned her head against one of her arms. It was a small moment of peace from the last two days when everyone had been stressed and constantly on alert for any dark beast attacks. Gaia looked at her watch, she had been waiting for more than fifteen minutes and if that continued, she would be late to Edan’s class. “Where are you? Stupid Pratt,” she sighed out loud.

  “Looking for someone?” said Pratt peeking his head up from where Gaia was staring.

  “Pratt!” Gaia stood up and fixed her hair. She looked around to see if anyone was watching them, but there was no one in sight. “Sill want to train me?” she said hoping that getting to the point would make Pratt ignore what he had heard.

  Unable to hide his positive reaction to Gaia, Pratt smiled and leaned closer to her. “I thought you didn’t trust me,” he teased.

  “I don’t,” she said and took a step back.

  Pratt paced around her. “You’re standing here alone with me. You wouldn’t be here if you didn’t feel safe.” He stopped in front of her. “Come on, you’re smarter than that.”

  Gaia’s stomach fluttered. She never once needed someone to tell her she was good at something to make her feel like it was true, but after many weeks withstanding Edan’s intense bipolar behavior, Willow’s snarky comments and Synthia’s... well, all of Synthia, Gaia felt relieved that someone recognized her capabilities and not the lack of power she still had. “Fine, I don’t trust you a hundred percent. That doesn’t mean I don’t want you to train me. Still want to train me?”

  “Yes,” he said and stepped forward with a smile.

  Gaia took a step back to prevent him from getting to her. She looked over her shoulder to see if they were still alone. “I’ll let you train me with two conditions.”

  “Eager to hear them,” he said crossing his arms and leaning down against the log.

  “First… you need to keep answering every single one of my questions,” she said. “But really answer them and not in riddles or any other stressful way.”

  “Agreed,” he said after a second of thinking about it.

  “Seriously?” asked Gaia confused. After dealing with Edan and The Six, she’d spent hours of preparation on a speech to explain to Pratt why she wanted and needed her answers. “That easy?”

  “Yes.” He laughed so cheerfully that he made Gaia feel trusted. “We’re not all annoyingly stiff British professors.”

  “Second… take off your shirt,” she commanded.

  Pratt smirked and leaned closer to Gaia. “Really?”

  “Don’t be gross.” Gaia pushed him away with her hand. “Darklings have black markings, I want to make sure you don’t.”

  “Very smart of you.” Pratt unbuttoned his shirt and gave a slow spin so Gaia could check if there were any.

  Gaia studied his chest, besides a long thick scar that covered most of his chest, there were no marks or any other type of red flags she could think of. “Then we have a deal,” she said and lifted her hand to seal the deal, the ‘human’ way this time, and Pratt followed her lead.

  “Wait…,” he said and moved his hand away. “In fact, I do have something to ask in return.”

  “You are disgusting,” she said.

  Pratt smirked and hung his shirt over his shoulder. “I approve of your thinking, but I was referring to something else.”

  “Oh…” Gaia felt her face turning red from blushing. She felt stupid for assuming something like that.

  “You have to promise me you won’t tell the others that you’re meeting with me. I’ve had enough problems with Edan and I don’t want to add more.”

  “Fine.”

  “And I’ll need something of yours,” he said.

  “Like my firstborn?” she blurted out with terror.

  “What? No!” He looked at Gaia as if she was crazy. “Something more normal, like a bracelet or a ring.”

  “Oh!” Damn it Grim brothers… She blushed and searched for anything of hers that she could give to him. The problem was, with her necklace gone, she had no other jewelry to give away. She ran her hand through her hair and felt the rubber band. “Would my hair tie work?”

  “Yes. Perfect.”

  “Is this part of the deal?”

  “No, this is so I can find you. If I hold something of yours, I can find you no matter where you are.” He placed the hairband on his wrist and took a black rock with an Algiz rune engraved on it. “You keep this one.” He gave Gaia the rock. She noticed there was a red dot in the middle of the rune. “Be sure to keep it hidden,” he said. “Edan gave it to me so he will know you’re talking to me if he sees it.”

  Gaia placed the rock in her back pocket. “Deal,” she agreed, knowing he wasn’t a threat. Klog Mor would have warned me if it was the case… Or at least Hunter would have sensed him if he was some sort of mutant darkling who happed to be free of black symbols. Gaia stretched her arm to seal the deal but instead of shaking her hand, Pratt stood there grinning at her. Conscious of his stare, Gaia ran her hand over her face and hair to check if everything was in order. “What?”

  “I believe this is the second deal you made with me in this week,” he said as he walked closer.

  “And?” She backed until she hit a tree with her back.

  “And…” Pratt said as he closed in pinning Gaia against the tree. “If you want to kiss me that bad you just have say it. No need for all this ‘let’s have a deal’ charade.”

  “Dream on,” she glared at him.

  “Don’t mind if I do,” he said and took Gaia from the chin. “Should we seal it?”

  Gaia smacked his hand away from her chin leaving a burning sensation on her palm. “Like that? Never again.”

  “Too bad,” he said and stepped away. “I thought you wanted answers.”

  “Are you serious?”

  “Hey! You’re making deals to get what you want, and I’m making deals to get what I want.” Gaia looked over her shoulder for the second time. “What is it? You look nervous,” asked Pratt.

  “I am. If they see you we’ll both be in big trouble.”

  “Relax, they won’t see me.”

  “Hunter will.” She knew it. She’d seen him sense dark beasts more than twenty miles away, and even though Pratt wasn’t one, he was too close into camp for Hunter to miss his presence.

  “I’ve been following you guys since you left Truckee. Hunter has no idea.” He leaned closer to her, almost touching her cheek. “Trust me, Princess, Hunter isn’t the only good tracker in Terra.”

&nbs
p; Gaia relaxed a little. He was right about not being detected by Hunter, and she hadn’t heard anything about someone following them. “Do we have a deal or what?” He pinched her chin lifting her face towards his.

  Another kiss… Gaia panicked since she couldn’t keep Edan’s face out of her mind. No! Get a hold of yourself! This isn’t romantic and this is definitely not about Edan or anyone, this is about the answers you need and Pratt has them… Gaia slapped Pratt’s hand away from her chin and pushed him by his bare chest against the tree. “Stay there and don’t you dare move!” she ordered.

  Amused, he lifted his eyebrow. “Bossy,” he said and Gaia glared at him. “Alright, I’ll stay here and won’t move.”

  Having him under her control was too much fun. She thought about messing with him a little more but she had no time for that, so she stood on her tiptoes and gave Pratt a peck.

  She tried not to linger too long and moved backwards, but Pratt snatched his arms up, grabbed Gaia from the back of her head and pulled her back to his lips. “Wa-! ” she complained.

  Regaining control of the situation, Gaia placed both of her hands on Pratt’s chest, moved away from the kiss and smiled. “I hope you liked it,” she whispered while looking him straight to his eyes.

  “I did,” he chuckled.

  “Good...” Gaia pushed Pratt with all her strength. “Cuz that was ten deals worth!” she said louder than her usual voice and slapped his hands away.

  Pratt laughed. His scratched the two moles on his straight nose with amusement. “You say that now, but in time, you’ll admit it was fun.”

  Never, she took a deep breath. It felt as awkward as her first kiss felt like. Numbed…Just like every single time. “Time!” Gaia remembered Edan was waiting for her. “Gotta go.”

  “I’ll find you in five days, Princess,” Pratt said before she was out of reach.

  * * *

  Gaia ran to her room. She closed the door behind her and sprinted to her closet almost falling after tripping on a shoe. “Where have you been?” said Priyam as she looked away from her computer.