“Where’s Edan?” Gaia asked as she slid out of her shirt.
“G!” Priyam asked hating when Gaia ignored her.
“I promise I’ll tell you later.” She took a white boho shirt and put it on. “Where is he?” she asked again.
“On the new training field.”
Gaia ran her hands over her clothes making a mess of herself. “Ahhh! He’s going to kill me,” she cried and grabbed a pair of jeans.
Priyam kept working on the computer when Gaia fell to the floor to wiggle into her jeans. “I thought you didn’t need to change clothes for the class anymore.”
“I don’t.” Gaia felt stupid for doing it, but something about wearing the same clothes with Edan that she wore with Pratt made her feel uneasy, as if he would know she saw him again. She couldn’t handle seeing his disappointed face anymore. “I was just… cold,” she lied. Still lying on the floor, Gaia ran her fingers over her lips. Still angry at Pratt’s deal kiss.
“Be careful with him,” Priyam warned her.
Gaia’s heart almost stopped. Her breathing sped up and her hands turned sweaty. Have they figured it out? They saw us! No, he said it was impossible. “With whom?” she asked and stood up.
“Edan, he’s been strange all day.”
“Oh…” Her body calmed down instantly, knowing her secret was safe.
Priyam closed her laptop and glared at her friend. “What did you do?”
“What are you talking about?” Gaia asked, then bit her lower lip. She hated how Priyam managed to sense everything about her.
Priyam scanned her from head to toes. “What is it?”
Gaia grabbed her red hair and made a ponytail. “Nothing,” she said.
“Was it Edan?” Priyam tried to guess. “Is that why he’s been acting so strange?”
“No. His mood swings are not my problem or my doing.” At least most of the time…
“Was it Donovan? Floyd?” she asked and Gaia shook her head no. “Hunter?” Priyam lifted her eyebrow not knowing if those were answers she wanted like to hear.
“Hunter’s like a little brother to me.”
Not letting it go, Priyam went back to the interrogation. “Was it someone else?” she asked and Gaia’s face turned as red as her hair. “Someone else!” Priyam clapped excited. “Who?”
Gaia ran and covered her mouth. “Shhh!!” she begged her friend to let her go. “I’ll tell you everything when I get back from training.”
“No, seriously... Who could you possibly know outside from here?”
Gaia smiled and walked to the door. “Later!” she said and fled to the training area.
A few steps away from the new grounds, Gaia stopped to gulp some air. She was in much better shape than she was just a few months ago but running from so far away and with the pressure of being found out, she was panting like crazy.
Taking deep breaths to calm down, Gaia looked around for Edan and saw him lying on the ground next to two bowls of oil with his arms crossed covering his face. Oh damn… he must be furious. She ran as fast as she could, “I’m sorry I’m late!”
Edan moved his arms away from his face and glanced at Gaia. “Not to worry,” he said calm and relaxed, something that was entirely new to her, especially now with all the stress over being closely followed by all the dark beasts.
Gaia looked around to see if Edan was talking to someone else or if there was some other reason he was he so calm. “What?”
“I said it is fine,” he said and patted next to him. “Come here,” he said and closed his eyes.
“No. Why?” she asked without moving an inch.
Edan opened his eyes and propped himself up on his elbows. “Why are you acting like I’m going to murder you?”
“I don’t know, are you?”
“No. Why would I?”
Gaia opened her locket and looked at her watch. She was over half an hour late, something that she knew Edan hated. “Because I’m late?”
Edan laughed and lay back down. “You’re always late.”
“That never stopped you from getting angry.”
“Gaia…”
“Yes?”
“Shut up and get down here. I want to try a different way of teaching.”
He looked so carefree and so different that she couldn’t help but to stay motionless staring at him. “Lay down, now.”
Unsure of her movements, Gaia sat down and mimicked Edan’s posture. “Like this?”
“Yes,” he said content with his results. “I also wanted to say I’m sorry for these past months, I’ve-”
“Oh, no!” Gaia sprung back up, then sat back down. “Are you apologizing? Should I go get help?”
Annoyed, Edan grabbed Gaia by the hand and tugged her down next to him. “Bloody hell! I’m serious.”
“So am I,” she said and gave up resisting. She laid down and placed her hands on her sides, looking up at the gorgeous sky.
They both stayed quiet next to each other staring at the blue sky. Edan stole a glance at Gaia, he was surprised to see her that happy next to him. “Why is it so weird, me apologizing?” he asked.
“Well, you’re being… nice,” she said.
Edan twisted his thick eyebrows. “I thought nice was a good thing.”
“Not coming from you. From you it’s... confusing.”
Edan laughed at her for calling him confusing, especially since there was no one as confusing as she was. “Basically, what you are implying is that it’s bad when I’m in my usual mood and confusing when I’m being nice?”
Gaia turned to Edan and smiled. “Something like that.”
“You are incredibly difficult,” he said.
“Oh, and you are no-”
“Gaia… Let me finish. As I was saying before, these past months I concentrated on trying to make you remember the feeling of fire wielding instead of starting all over.”
“From the day at my school?”
“Way before.” He smiled in a way that made Gaia’s heart beat faster. “You don’t know this, but this isn’t the first time I’ve taught you how to wield fire.”
“It’s not?”
“No. The first time was when you were barely three.” He rested his elbows on the grass. “You were smarter, less opinionated and far more likable back then.”
Gaia smiled wide. “I bet you were the same frustrating, perfectionist little British kid.”
“I wasn’t British before.”
“I thought you were born like that, you know, Terra’s version of it.”
“No. Terra has no division on nationalities. Even though we have different colors and physical attributes like humans do, we don’t separate each other, we’re all the same. One set of fables, one race, one Terra.”
“Then how did you get the pretentious accent?”
“I did live in England for more than half of my life.” Edan twisted his lips as he thought about it. “You really think it’s pretentious?”
“Only when it’s coming from you.” She smiled more than she wanted to. The more time she spent next to Edan, the more impossible it was becoming to control her emotions.
Edan leaned closer and studied her face. Her hands became sweaty and his eyebrow lifted. “Odd.”
“What’s odd?”
“I know you meant it as an insult, but somehow it sounded more like a compliment.”
Gaia blushed. “It wasn’t a compliment.”
“I believe you are losing your touch,” Edan laughed carefreely. So carefree that it made Gaia want to hear it again. What made him change like this? she couldn’t help but wonder. Whatever it was, it wasn’t good. This new side of him only made Gaia feel confused and more attracted to him, an emotion that was useless to feel for him. Crap… “I believe we’re wasting time.”
“Fine, check this out.” Edan lifted his hands and a small flame of blue fire appeared between them. He moved his hands with the fire to the bowl with oil and lit it. The fire grew.
“Treat the fire
as a living thing, think of it as a wild animal.” He moved his hands closer to the fire and it moved on its own uneven beat. “At first it seems untamed and dangerous. All you need to do is show it your respect and stand your ground. You need to calm down since it will connect with your mood. The more stressed you are, the more dangerous the fire will be.” Edan moved his hand closer and the flame crawled onto his palm. “Nature always follows a leader, an alpha. Once you learn how to control yourself, nature will recognize you as the alpha. You will be able to tame the wild and when you do, you will gain its trust for eternity.”
The fire moved and danced around Edan’s fingers and palms. The movement was enchanting. Its soft blue flame cradled and caressed Edan’s skin in the most entrancing and tender way. “Beautiful,” Gaia whispered.
Edan extinguish the fire and moved closer to Gaia. “Close your eyes,” he said. Edan pressed the palm of his hand above her chest. “Feel the pressure here. Try to connect with every feeling you are dealing with.”
Whatever Edan wanted her to concentrate on was useless. Gaia couldn’t think about, or feel anything, except him. She tried to fight the urge to pull him closer. She wondered how his hand would feel in movement, sliding down her spine or softly tracing up her arm. She tried to remember the last words he said, something about connecting and feeling, but after placing his hand there, everything got blurry. Great G, not even being Mother Nature turns off your awkward teenage side. “Isn’t that the opposite of letting go and controlling the situation?” she managed to say.
“True control is not in pushing away your feelings but in recognizing them, embracing them and accepting them as a part of what you are experiencing. Give it a try,” he said and moved his hand away.
Accepting what I’m experiencing? She took a deep breath. I’m a mess. I’m a seventeen-year-old who just learned her real name and birth date. I’m not afraid of dying as much as I’m afraid of letting down the people I love, my new family. I’m intrigued by a man I shouldn’t be talking to and I might be in love with a man who sees me as his job... but at least now I know who I am. The fire on her hands lit up fast.
“Good.” He stepped back and gave Gaia some space. “Now connect with it and take your time.”
Gaia opened her eyes and saw how the fire crawled through her fingers and danced around her hands. As she moved them, the fire followed. Unlike the previous times, this fire didn’t extinguish, it burnt more clear and radiant than any fire she’d ever seen.
* * *
An hour and a half later, feeling great and in control, Gaia finished her lesson with Edan and walked into her room. Her smile was a massive giveaway that something wonderful had just happened. Priyam peeked away from her computer and scanned her friend from head to toes. “Someone seems happy.”
Gaia laid down on her bed and threw her arms around the pillow on top of her. “I’ve got news.”
“I’ve got popcorn.” Priyam closed her laptop and took a big bowl full of popcorn out of a box from underneath her bed.
“How…?”
“Willow’s plants,” she explained as she sat down on her bed and got into her gossip mode position. “Start.”
“I can finally wield my fire,” Gaia grinned.
“I’m so proud. Is that what happened this afternoon?”
“No, that…” Gaia didn’t know what she should tell Priyam. She felt like her friend would kill her if she knew that after all the trouble that had been caused, she was still meeting up with Pratt, formerly known as Noah. She will find out, she always does she thought and decided to come clean. “This morning, I met with someone.”
“Another guy?!” Priyam dropped the buttery popcorn she was holding. “Where did you find him? A tree?”
“He’s from the village. He’s the same guy I told you about earlier.”
“Wait… The village? The place that got burnt?!” Priyam screamed and then lowered her voice. “Are you crazy? That place was like resident evil creepy,” she whispered. “Does Edan-”
“No!” Gaia jumped out of her bed and checked from the window of her room to see if anyone was close. “No one knows.”
“Wait… the village was miles away.”
Here it goes… “He’s been following us.”
“The guy has been following us?”
“I first met him as Noah, remember? Only his real name is Pratt.”
“How is that not creepy?” Priyam panicked the way Gaia knew she would.
“He’s one of us…of them.”
“Of who? The Six?”
“Not from The Six, but Pratt’s from Terra,” she said.
“Why did he lie about his name?”
“He was afraid I was going to tell someone here about him. And Edan hates him; they used to be like brothers but something happened. You can’t tell anyone.”
“I won’t” she promised, and Gaia knew she would keep it a secret. “How can you trust him, though? He’s clearly lied to you before.”
“Remember the wise lady I told you about?”
“Beer Grandma?”
“Yes,” Gaia giggled. “Well, she talked to me about him; she said he used to be good for Edan. I also checked for any Darkling’s marks; he’s not dangerous.” The word dangerous made Gaia remember kissing him.
“What was that?! That face, like annoyance, but with something else.” Priyam pointed at Gaia’s eyes.
“I didn’t make a face.”
“Liar!” she called her out and Gaia opened her gray eyes wider. “You’re doing it again!... Nooo!” Priyam gasped and covered her mouth with both hands.
“What?”
Priyam stood up and paced the floor. She knew what happened between Gaia and that Pratt boy. “I’ve seen that face before.”
“When?”
“When you kissed the principal’s son!” she said. Gaia remembered how terrible that first kiss was, not just the kiss but the whole dog biting the poor guy’s leg thing. “You guys kissed?!”
“No! Well, yes but-”
“Oh dear! Oh dear!!” Priyam hyperventilated.
“Shut up!” Gaia took another look at the window. This was definitely a conversation she didn’t want Edan to hear and misunderstand. “It wasn’t like that. We made a deal.”
“Sure. I also make out with the people I make deals with.”
“We didn’t make out… only one of the times. I guess.”
“There were more?”
“There was more than one deal,” she smiled.
“What about Edan?”
“What about him? The kiss wasn’t romantic, and besides, there’s nothing going on between Edan and me. He sees me as a child and a damn job, so there’s nothing to it. Besides, it’s not like I like Pratt.”
“Don’t you want to be with Edan?”
“It doesn’t matter what I want, he won’t go near me unless I’m wielding fire, getting into trouble or about to be killed.”
“Which is every second of the day.”
“True, just not the way I want to.” The thought of it made Gaia feel depressed.
“So… Pratt?” Priyam moved closer to the edge of her bed. “Is he hot?” she asked.
“He’s not bad.”
“Yes! The plot thickens... I hope Edan doesn’t find out that you’re sneaking away to learn about your past. If he does, you’ll be in trouble.”
Gaia thought of Pratt and all the dumb and dangerous things she’d done since they met, and for the first time, she pushed her feelings for Edan aside. She wasn’t the type of woman who stopped living for a man’s opinion and she wasn’t going to start now. Not ever. “I guess I am.”
Chapter 23
Earth
THE TREES SWISHED as they swayed with the wind’s rhythm. The sunlight that managed to pass through the leaves created dancing lights and shadows that made Gaia feel like she was underwater. The snow outside the protective dome had melted by then. In exchange, the ground was now covered in green grass that stuck to Gaia’s boot
s as she strolled around the forest of the new camp. After a week she had finally gotten used to their new home, although she truly missed the hill.
She missed how the sunlight shone through the dome and how peaceful it was to do her morning jog around the lower landscape.
Gaia took a bunch of seeds from a hanging pouch she had wrapped around her waist and planted them near a fallen tree. Willow, who was following her from behind, moved her hands and small little plants grew out of the dirt. The plants spun and spun as they grew taller. Their trunks became harder and a bunch of twigs and branches grew out from them. The branches reached out and leaves covered them. Gaia smiled and placed her hands on one of the growing trees. She loved how the plants looked when they grew like that.
Whenever she touched the tree, Gaia’s feet tingled. It was as if she was walking over soft grass that gently tickled her with every step she took. Without letting go of the trunk, Gaia closed her gray eyes and an overwhelming sensation ran from her fingers through her entire body. She could see the tree’s energy, its soul.
She felt what the tree was feeling and she became aware of its life force. “You are truly beautiful,” she whispered to the tree and continued helping Willow with the re-plantation.
“Take the ax, it’s your time to chop.” Willow lowered her hands and left.
Following orders, Gaia took the ax that rested on a near rock. She hated cutting the wood, especially next to Veter. For each one she managed to cut, Veter had already cut more than a dozen. Gaia took a big swing and slammed the blade against the log. Her hands shook with the bouncing energy. She bit her lip trying to suppress a cry of pain, but Veter noticed it.
“Here Princeza, I’ll cut it for you.”
Gaia moved the ax away from Veter’s reach. She hated being treated like a child. “I can do it.”
“Of course you can.” He leaned closer to her so Hunter and Donovan wouldn’t hear him. “It’s just that I enjoy doing it.”
Seasons Within Box Set Page 26