He opened the book and started to read. Gaia got nervous, she looked around and saw every single chair empty, and not just that, Willow was sitting alone on the other side of the kitchen. She was finally getting used to having Edan being annoying and distant when he magically switched to being sort of nice
I swear this man is bipolar… What the hell had Mor told him? She remembered seeing the two of them talking the day she took the Ocean’s Tear and how Edan kept staring at her.
The nerves punched her, back again. It seemed to be a constant variable for her meetings with Edan. “Willow’s right there.” She nodded her head in Willow’s direction.
Edan lifted his piercing green eyes from the pages of the book and saw Willow doing an inventory of her seeds on top of the counter. “I’m very aware of that.” He returned to his reading.
“Do you want me to call her?” Get the freaking hint… Shoo! Shoo!
“Thank you.” Edan took a chocolate without looking away from the book. “But I have my own voice. If I wanted her here, I would’ve called her myself.”
Gaia stood up. In a quick motion, Edan pulled her down. “Sit, eat,” he commanded as he pushed the chocolates closer to Gaia.
Now you’re bossy? Seriously? And erase that stupid smile… it was easier when you were arrogant and mean. And they say women are confusing… Gaia looked around for an escape route. Maybe I should tell Edan that Priyam is calling me or something… Gaia took a chocolate from the box and ate it while thinking how to get out of there. No… that would be lame, I need a better excuse…What if I— JEEZ! This chocolate is delicious! What’s this!?
Gaia moved the box to find the name of the chocolates while the idea of running away slipped from her mind.
For the first time since Edan had sat next to her, Gaia was calm enough to notice he was reading an unusually thick book. “You read?”
Edan’s thick eyebrows frowned with confusion. “Do I look like someone who doesn’t?”
“No. I mean… what are you reading?” Smooth G, Smooth.
“Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkien.” He showed the cover of the worn-out book. “Priyam lent it to me. She said I would need it as an inspiration to continue our journey.”
“It sounds like something she would do.” Gaia giggled. “You like it?”
“I find it truly compelling.”
“You find hobbits and elves compelling?”
“No, human nature. To have ancestors conquered by greed and yet have hope that everything will be alright.” Edan put the book down. “Some might say that’s mad.”
“It’s not crazy, just because their ancestors were greedy doesn’t mean they are. After all, not all good comes from light, not all evil comes from darkness.”
Edan smiled. A beautiful sincere smile.
“What’s funny?”
“I’m just surprised to see you actually paid attention,” he grinned.
“What’s wrong with you? I pay attention all the time,” she said and Edan’s mouth fell open. “Well, almost all the time.”
“Better.” He chuckled in such a carefree way, that even Willow turned to look at him. “And between you and me, I think the elves are wicked.”
“Tell that to Priyam.” Gaia took a salted caramel treat from the box of chocolates. “That will make her love you.”
“What would make you?” Edan blurted out.
“What—” Gaia coughed, almost choking on the caramel.
“Could you try not to die at the hands of a chocolate?” He tapped her back and she glared at him. Edan pointed at the chocolates. “Are they to your liking? I couldn’t find the store you usually buy your chocolates from.”
“You looked for them?”
“I tried. They don’t have it here in Canada.”
What the F is happening to this man?! Why is he all smiles, happiness and free chocolate…? Well, I don’t mind the free chocolate part. “No worries, I think these are better,” she picked a turtle made with almonds with chocolate. She bit the sweet treat and a few crumbles of chocolate fell on her shirt. “Shoot!”
“You still eat like you did when you were a child.” Edan laughed out loud while Gaia flicked the crumbs with both of her hands.
“I’m not a child anymore.”
Edan lifted his hand and cleaned Gaia’s chin. “I know,” he said. At first, it was funny but as soon as Gaia looked his way, the mood changed. They stared intently at each other, without Edan moving his hand from her chin.
Gaia could feel her heart speeding up. Her face was getting warm, so warm that Edan’s skin felt refreshingly cold against hers. She wanted to do something about it, maybe reach him with her hand or find a way to get closer to him but she was afraid that any kind of movement would break the spell Edan was in. No, no! Not today, G! Last time you told him your damn feelings, he got insanely mad and you ended up condemning a whole town. A whole damn town! Screw this.
“Kapetan, we’re ready!” Veter yelped from the other side of the table. Gaia and Edan jumped away from each other. “Do you want us to leave now or—” Veter continued.
Gaia moved away. A part of her was glad they were interrupted while a part wanted to smack Veter.
“Veter.” Shui took him by the hand. She pulled him in, leaning closer to his ear. “You should pay more attention before interrupting them.”
“I interrupted them? From what?” He passed his thumb over Shui’s pinky red ring.
“We are ready.” Edan scratched the back of his head and stood up.
“Ready for what?” Gaia asked Veter.
“We need to get supplies for tonight’s trip,” Veter cheered. He loved going for supplies, or as he would call it, ‘candy time.’
Edan turned towards Gaia. “You want to come?”
“To get supplies outside the camp?” Gaia couldn’t hide her excitement. “I thought after the third camp I wasn’t allowed to go.”
“I’m asking you now, aren’t I?”
“Yes! I do want to go.”
“Good.” Edan took one last chocolate before walking away. “Get some rest. We leave in an hour.”
Excited, Gaia took the box of chocolates with her to a tree next to the forest and leaned against it. There she felt comfortable, safe. Before, on her dull days, the word nomad sounded incredibly appealing. Now… not so much. Moving camps every two to three days was more trying than she could have ever imagined.
While she rested, The Six, Edan and the twins were having a special meeting on how to get to the first entrance without attracting the Darklings or any beast, even though there hadn’t been any attacks since they left the second camp back in Nevada.
Apart from the Draak Pratt killed, Gaia thought, knowing she was the only one who knew how close the creature had gotten. Luckily, Edan wanted everyone to be extra careful. They were so close to reaching Terra that any wrong movement could let that whole operation go to waste.
Full of chocolate and slightly tired, Gaia drifted into sleep.
* * *
Opening her eyes, Gaia found herself on Zansèt Palace.
This is home. Am I back home…? Wait... Did we already pass through the door? She remembered she was eating chocolates with Edan but she had no memory after that.
Gaia tried to move and find the others. Her body didn’t respond. She paid attention to her surroundings. The furniture looked way taller than her. A memory.
Little Gaia stood up and walked around the room made of stones, vines, and pearls. She passed a huge mirror and Gaia saw her reflection. She was barely three in that memory. Her long wavy hair was tied in a high ponytail.
On the other side of the mirror, Gaia could see six-year-old Edan sitting on a couch. Edan? She sensed there was something odd about the situation. Edan wasn’t playing with little Gaia like he always did in her memories. He was there, alone, completely still on the couch. More than still, he looked lifeless.
Little Gaia stared at Edan. The little boy looked back and when their eyes met, pan
ic flickered across his face and he lowered his head. Well, that’s weird. Gaia couldn’t help but wonder if they’d had a fight or something.
As for little Gaia, she left the room to wander around the palace. She walked and wandered until she found a big empty room.
It was dark and foreboding. Little Gaia walked into it unable to sense what the older Gaia could. Something is not OK…
The palace was quiet to the point of silence. At the end of the room, there was a corridor. The strangest sensation passed through Gaia’s body. Have I been here before? The further little Gaia walked, the more Gaia recognized the hallway. I know this place, and not from memories, more like… recently.
Little Gaia stared at the shadows and saw him. The yellow strange man with the red dagger. The dagger! She remembered she had a vision of this when she was with Edan in his office back on campus. It was the same, only this time, the image was clear and stable. Little Gaia began to run, feeling the need to escape, only this time she knew why.
As she ran, the lights shut down behind her, one at a time. Each lightbulb bursting, sending shattered pieces of glass over the floor. Hiding between the shadows was a man running towards her. Though one of his legs dragged while running, he still ran fast, catching up to her. His skin was as white as the snow and his neck, face, and back were covered by stripes made from black symbols. His teeth were black and his eyes were yellow.
Crap! Not that way! It’s a dead end. Little Gaia reached a hallway that ended. She turned around to lift her hand. The man threw the curvy red dagger with black crystals directly at her face. Edan! Gaia screamed.
Out of the shadows, young Edan slid by her side and hugged her. He lifted his arm, and the red dagger cut his right forearm instead of her face. Edan stretched his hurt arm directly to the attacker. A wall of blue fire shot from his palm. The Darkling incinerated on contact. Edan bent down and carried Gaia. “Don’t cry, Lady Gaia. Don’t cry.” He stroked her red hair as he carried her out of the dark room.
Suddenly, two castle guards arrived to find Edan hugging the girl.
“Let her go!” The shorter guard pointed his heavy iron sword at Edan.
Edan gently lowered little Gaia until her feet could reach the floor. He moved away until his back was against the wall.
Gaia couldn’t understand what was happening. This was a new memory, and she had no idea what was going to happen. More than that, she hated not understanding why Edan was acting so strange.
Little Gaia tried to reach Edan but the bald guard took her by the waist. “Stop Lady Gaia. You know you can’t be near him!”
“She was going to get hurt,” young Edan protested holding his place against the wall.
“By who?” the guard snapped, gripping Gaia’s wrist a little too tightly. “By you?”
“A Darkling was here.”
“Liar.” The shorter guard kept his sword pointed at Edan. “There are no Darklings in this castle.”
“I swear,” Little Edan glared at the man. Gaia wanted to punch the guards for not believing him. Her blood was boiling and given the scowl on little Gaia’s face, so was she.
“Where is it then?”
“I burnt him.”
“How convenient! Take the boy,” the bald guard commanded. The short guard sheathed his sword, took Edan by the arm, and pulled him away from the wall.
“No!” Little Gaia wiggled unable to get away from the guard’s grip. She lifted her hands trying to reach Edan. “No! Don’t take him away from me!” Gaia couldn’t tell if the stress and anger she was feeling was happening to her or if it was part of the memory. Whatever the case, she could feel the hunger in her stomach. The same hunger she felt the time she lit up her school back in Truckee. The same hunger she felt the day of the Supernova. The soldier pulled Edan once more and that was all that little Gaia needed to break loose.
Little Gaia turned into flames burning the hands of the bald guard.
“Argggh,” the guard cried out, letting little Gaia go. “How is she wielding?! She’s barely three years old?” he screamed.
Once free, little Gaia ran to Edan who was also surprised that she was on fire at such an early age but there was something else in his expression. Happiness.
Still on flames, little Gaia reached Edan and hugged him. “What’s going on!?” Gaia saw a blurry image of a younger Hans entering the room.
Gaia woke up gasping for air. Her body was shaking, covered in flames. She took a deep breath but her lungs were filled with ashes. Fire?
Gaia realized she wasn’t dreaming anymore. She was awake and the tree she was leaning against was on fire. “Crap!”
“Gaia! Time to go,” she could hear Edan’s voice from far away.
“Coming!” she screamed back. More in control, Gaia placed her arms on the burning fire. Her hands absorbed the fire until there was nothing left. She stood up, cleaned the ashes from her shoulders, and ran towards the group who were going to gather the last of the needed supplies.
Priyam laughed as soon as she saw Gaia. “What happened to you?”
“Nothing.” Gaia kept cleaning her boho sundress with the palm of her hands. “I had a bad dream.”
“And you burnt your clothes?”
“I just messed up on my aim. Don’t tell anyone.”
“Not a word.”
They both walked away without noticing Synthia had been spying on them. Once Gaia and Priyam were out of sight, Synthia took out a lighter. “Oh Gaia, too bad you didn’t stop the fire as well as you thought.” She leaned down and lit the tree back on fire. “Wait for me.” She ran towards the rest of the group.
“You’re coming?” asked Edan, confused over her excitement to be doing something.
“Duh! I need to fix my hair.”
Priyam jumped behind Edan. “For sure she does.”
As they walked away from the camp, Synthia looked back to the forest with a huge smile.
Chapter 7
Lifeless
GAIA PAID THE ICE-CREAM lady with the coins she had left from buying supplies. “Thank you,” she smiled as she took her grape ice-cream and a lemon-pie one.
She walked to the meeting spot where she found Edan sitting by himself on a picnic bench with his eyes closed, his legs crossed, and his elbows resting on top of the table. He looked so happy and relaxed that Gaia couldn’t help but slow her pace and enjoy the rare view.
She knew there was something different about him, not just the fact that he was nicer, he had actually started wearing regular T-shirts and jeans instead of his usual stuffy outfits.
Gaia stopped in front of Edan. “Enjoying the sun?”
Edan opened his eyes and saw Gaia against the brightness. The light was passing through her red hair making it look even redder, her skin whiter, and her eyes grayer. “Every second of it.” He gave a lazy smile and patted the spot next to him so Gaia could sit.
Gaia sat in the same place he patted. “This is yours. A small ‘thank you’ for the chocolates earlier.” She handed him the lemon-pie ice-cream.
“Ah... thanks,” he stared at his treat without knowing what to do. He’d never had ice cream before. Sneaky as a ninja, he checked Gaia through the corner of his eye and noticed how she was licking it. He did the same and experienced the decadent taste swirl across his tongue.
“Where’s everyone else?”
“Veter, Priyam and Floyd left their stuff here a minute ago and went to get some food at that store,” he mumbled while licking his frozen treat. “Shui took Synthia to the hair salon, Pink is with Hunter, and Willow and Donovan haven’t checked in.”
“Edan… we’re almost in Terra.”
Gaia’s voice caused Edan to pause his licking, and he focused on her body language. “You seem nervous about it.”
“I am,” she confessed. “For twelve years Terrians have been waiting for Mother Nature to return home and become their great queen.” Gaia lowered her eyes. She felt vulnerable admitting what was next, especially to someone as importan
t to her as Edan was. Not just as her stupid crush but as her protector. The leader of the group. “What if I disappoint them?”
“You didn’t disappoint me,” he admitted surprising Gaia. “And I’m a tad picky,” he added.
Gaia laughed, feeling ten times more shook up with his three-sixty degree personality change. “The pickiest.”
“You’ll see, you are exactly what they hoped for.”
“Well, you look at this, ten minutes alone and we haven’t irritated each other,” Gaia said playfully. “I believe we’re making progress.”
“You don’t irritate me,” he stared right at her. “You make me nervous.”
Wait… what?! Gaia’s stomach fluttered.
“What’s happening guys?” Priyam cheered from the street. Veter, Priyam and Floyd arrived with one bag of food each.
“You got everything?” Edan asked having returned to his ice cream as if nothing happened. Floyd nodded. “What are the numbers?”
“With all the provisions we have now, we can make it for about two weeks,” Floyd explained before taking out the map. “We would only need to make sure this route is safe and try not to take any longer.”
“Is the door closing?” Gaia asked, trying to lick her melted dessert before it dripped on her hand. Her previous talk distracted her too much to pay attention to her melting ice cream. Or anything else at all.
“No, but the more time we take to get there the easier it would be for the Darklings to stop us.” Edan checked the map. “How long do we have?”
Veter placed the bags of food on the floor. “The deadline is in less than two weeks and a half, Kapetan.”
“How sure are you?”
“Very,” Floyd grinned. “Snowflake made the numbers.”
“Sure did,” Priyam winked at the group.
Gaia peeked on the map, where there were a bunch of numbers, paths and lines across the states. “Weeks? How far are we from the door?”
“Here.” Edan placed his finger on top of the door’s location. “It’s two-hundred and thirty-four clicks away.”
Gaia gulped. “That much?”
Seasons Within Box Set Page 35