“Hey, it’s not my fault you set everything on fire and got your friend killed,” Synthia kept pushing Gaia.
Gaia grabbed Synthia from the hem of her shirt. “SHUT UP! Floyd is not dead.”
Synthia smiled. “Not yet.”
That did it. Gaia slapped her. Hard.
Impulsive, angry and downright crazy, Synthia choked Gaia. Infuriated, Gaia concentrated on Synthia’s arms, she could feel her bones and the calcium in them. She felt the minerals and water running through her veins. She focused on every single one of the minerals in her body and wielded them.
Like a possessed doll, Synthia let go of Gaia’s neck and bent sideways, hitting the ground with her face. What have I done? I wielded her… Fear pulsed through Gaia. That was so wrong. She couldn’t believe she just wielded a human. What if she tells Edan? He will know for sure I’ve been seeing Pratt without their permission.
“You pushed me!” Synthia screamed and a small sense of relief invaded Gaia. Synthia didn’t realize Gaia never touched her.
COUGH! Floyd woke up coughing and gasping for air. He opened his bloodshot eyes. “Snowflake?” he whispered.
“You stupid Aussie!” Priyam wept, half relieved, half angry. “Don’t you ever do that again.”
Floyd managed to chuckle. “Is that caring or hatred?”
“Both!” she cried, with his hand against her forehead. “It’s mostly hate so stop smiling.”
“Veter, take Floyd to the nearest hotel.” Edan grabbed a heavy bag. “The rest, take only the food. We need to get out of here.”
Willow wielded a group of roots turning them into a mobile bed.
“Sorry, Prisum, you’ll get him back later.” Veter took the vines that were attached to the four corners of the bed and flew away.
Once Veter was out of sight, Edan bent down and carried four bags. “Take a bag and follow me.”
* * *
Edan guided the group in the same direction Veter flew with Floyd. Everyone was silent. Using the opportunity, Synthia walked beside him. Her face was red and sad.
Edan stopped and checked her cheek. “Synthia, what happened to your face?”
“I told Gaia to be more careful,” Synthia whimpered. “I didn’t want her to get hurt and… she hit me.”
He hated that. Everything with her was drama. His mind was focused on Floyd and Gaia. He didn’t want anything to do with Synthia’s agenda; he didn’t want to affect Gaia more than she already had been, but he knew Synthia was opening a second chance to regain his power over her plans. He couldn’t let that pass. Decided, Edan turned to Gaia who was walking with Priyam in the back. “Gaia, you hit her?”
“She said—”
“Gaia! You hit her?”
“I pushed her.” Gaia omitted the part where she did it without touching her.
“What is wrong with you?” Edan raised his voice. “She hurt herself trying to put out the fire and you push her?”
“I swear I put it out.” Gaia couldn’t believe what was happening.
“I believe her,” Priyam jumped in. He was glad she did.
“Believe it or not, the place was on fire.” Edan pointed at the smoke that was already escaping the barrier. “She burnt the whole forest down. She needs to face it and take some responsibility,” he said. Edan’s words cut like a knife. She wanted to cry and he hated himself for making her feel like that.
“It’s OK, Edan.” Synthia hugged his arm against her chest. “I forgive her.” It worked… he found a moment of peace within that thought.
A bird chirped from the sky. “They found a place,” said Donovan.
“Let’s go. Come here, Synthia.” Edan took Synthia away.
“G, he’s probably just—”
“He’s right, I should’ve checked better,” Gaia said and sped up her pace.
As they walked away, Synthia hugged Edan’s arm. She glared at Gaia’s direction and smirked with contempt.
* * *
For the past five hours Gaia couldn’t do a thing besides trying to relive the moment after she woke up next to that tree on fire. Sitting down on the floor outside Floyd’s room, she tried and tried to recall what happened but the last image she could summon was her hands on the tree as the fire was being absorbed by her palms. She felt lost, sick and plain stupid.
Just look back! Turn around, check the damn tree! She screamed at herself as she tried to remember what had happened. There was no way to prove if the fire wasn’t as well put out as she thought. All because she never looked back at that tree.
“Gaia?” Edan’s voice interrupted Gaia’s search for the truth.
“Hi,” was the only thing she was able to reply. She knew he was right to get angry yet she was still hurt by it.
Edan sat down next to her. “How are you?” he asked and Gaia shook her head in denial. “I’m sorry for earlier,” he spoke. “I shouldn’t have reacted like that. My mind ran through so many possibilities I just couldn’t handle anything else bad happening.” At least that was true. He thought. Part of it. He wanted to tell her he never doubted her but that would put his suspicions of Synthia at risk. There was no way he would let anything bad happen to Gaia or anyone else from the group.
“No,” Gaia said softly, “you were right.”
“What happened? Synthia said you were sleeping when you set it on fire,” he changed the subject.
“I was. I had a nightmare.”
Edan closed the distance between them. “About?”
“Us,” she said. “We were little.” Gaia looked at his forearm. There was the scar made by the red dagger.
Edan followed her eyes. “My scar?”
“It’s OK.” She hugged her legs against her chest and leaned her back on the hallway wall. “I don’t need to know. I know you like secrets.”
Like secrets? He almost laughed at her wrong assumption. “Being private does not mean liking secrets.” And yet, he found her lack of curiosity odd. “Are you OK? It’s been a few weeks since you’ve asked questions about your past.”
“I figured you would tell me when the right time arrives,” she lied; with Pratt telling her everything there was no reason for her to ask.
“I can tell you about that dream,” he said without looking at her and Gaia could tell he was trying his best to open up with her. “What else happened?”
“We were kids. I was probably around three,” she said, passing her hair behind her ear. “Only this time was different.”
“How was it different?”
Gaia faced Edan. She looked into his beautiful green eyes, eyes she swore she could spend the entire evening staring at. A feeling she realized she had in some of her memories too. “We weren’t together.”
“We couldn’t.”
“Why?”
“They thought I was a bad influence on you,” he said. “I am different.” Edan turned his hand on fire. “Even my element is different. There’s no other Terrian with blue fire. Not one. Not ever.”
“I like that it’s blue,” she flickered her fingers over the blue flame.
“You’ve said that before, that it’s your favorite color.” He smiled and turned his fire off. “On the other hand, the rest of Terra didn’t like it. Even Terrians are afraid of what they don’t know.”
“Edan,” she called, taking hold of his hand. “I used to be sure I didn’t set it off.” Gaia bit her lower lip to prevent herself from crying. “Now I can’t tell. I’m responsible for the death of those animals and for Floyd.”
“Floyd will be fine.” Edan patted Gaia’s back. “He will get better in no time. Besides, if there’s someone who would love to have a scar like that one, it’s Floyd. He’s mental. He’ll think it’s his warrior battle wound.”
“You’re right. He’s insane.” Gaia giggled and took a deep breath. “I should apologize to Synthia,” she whispered.
“I think she’ll be alright,” he said as he played with one of Gaia’s hair strands.
Gaia faced him, amused
at his change of heart. “Is that you not wanting to kill her anymore?”
“I never wanted to kill her, I was just doing my duty as the leader and I still think we shouldn’t be traveling with the Marked One.” Edan leaned against the wall, still playing with Gaia’s hair. “Especially not after all the beasts we’ve killed so far. Including the town back at the first camp.”
“Is it because of her?” she asked. “The beasts keep finding us because of her?”
“Not entirely. Azazel knows we need to go to Terra, he’s just following the paths to the doors to see if we took one of those.”
Gaia gasped in horror.
“What?” he jumped.
“The door. How are we going to move Floyd?”
“I don’t know yet.” He passed his fingers through his messy brown hair.
“Don’t they need to have elements to go through the door’s barrier?” she asked.
“Yes,” he agreed.
“And if they don’t will it be difficult?”
“Almost impossible,” Edan sighed.
“And now he’s hurt!” Gaia’s anxiety rose. “How are you not freaking out?”
“I can’t allow myself to ‘freak out’.” He smiled. “I’m the leader. I need to stay calm and concentrated. If I don’t, we could all fall. Any human would have trouble with that, but like his twin and Priyam, they aren’t just any human. They are as strong and as talented as any Terrian warrior.” He nudged her. “He will make it.”
“What about Synthia?”
“She’ll pass too. She wears a Terrian mark.” Edan slightly caressed Gaia’s arm with the back of his fingers. “Don’t worry, it will be fine.”
“You’re right.” Gaia rubbed her forehead. “I guess I’m just stressed.”
“Come here,” Edan lifted his hands. “Lay down on my thighs.”
“On your thighs?”
“Yes.” He patted them. “Right here.”
“Why are you being so nice?”
“Because I am.”
“Is this part of your job?”
“Gaia, stop thinking everything through and trust me.” She lay down using his thighs as a pillow. “That wasn’t difficult, right?” Edan made small balls of fire and wielded them to fly like a carousel around on top of Gaia. The small fireballs shone, enchanting Gaia.
“This is very pretty.”
“Better?” he asked, and Gaia nodded. “I used to do this for you every time you were stressed or sad.”
“It works,” she smiled and popped a ball. A warm tingle crawled over Gaia’s finger.
Edan was about to touch Gaia’s cheek when Willow walked outside Floyd’s room. “Ahem.”
“Willow,” Gaia sat up like an elastic band.
“Floyd’s awake,” she let them know, looking the other way. “If you want to go see him.”
Gaia stood up from the floor. “I do.”
Gaia walked into the room. The place smelled like mint and was covered in herbaceous plants, wooden bowls, a big jar of water, and bandages. It resembled a medieval hospital.
In the middle of a big white bed, Floyd wore a thick bandage that covered half his face as he talked with Hunter. “This definitely got harder, mini mate.” Floyd signaled Hunter’s hands. “You might need to start talking because I can’t see you with all this crap on my face.”
“At least your face looks better that way,” Hunter joked. The two guys and Priyam laughed.
“Take this, Floyd.” Shui wielded water around a leaf. She fed it to him like a pill.
Floyd took the pill and noticed Gaia standing in the hallway. “Hey girly, why the long face?”
Gaia took a few steps inside the room. “I got you hurt.”
“Nah, just this bit,” Floyd smirked, measuring his large cut by separating his fingers. “I still look wickedly handsome, though.”
Pink walked into the room with a big pillow. “Yeah, you finally look manly.”
“Oi! I’ve always looked manly,” Floyd complained while his sister placed the pillow behind his head, allowing him to sit straighter.
“Not so much, dork,” she laughed.
“Don’t be so hard, sis,” Floyd teased. “I heard you were crying back there. Hugging my lifeless body. Very dramatic.”
Pink laughed out loud. “Either you have footage or it never happened.”
Floyd almost lost his sight, he almost died. He had a scar that covered most of his face, and yet there he was, joking around not blaming her for a thing. Gaia couldn’t take it anymore, she felt the terror and pain she felt when Floyd was dying against her finger. “I’m really sorry.”
“Don’t be.” Floyd reached for Gaia’s hand, patting it. “You didn’t mean for this to happen. Besides, I love it.”
Gaia chuckled. Edan was right, Floyd was insane.
“I really do love it.” The Australian crazy man grinned. “I look a lot more badass, now. Plus, I got it saving Snowflake.”
Hunter came back in the room. He signaled. “Edan wants to do a ‘what the hell are we going to do’ meeting.”
“He called it that?” asked Pink.
“He called it ‘regroup’ meeting.” The teen smiled. “I thought the other was way more accurate.”
Floyd cackled, trying not to move much.
“Bye, dwip.” Pink caressed his hair and gave him her cassette. “It’s your turn to take care of it. For now. And Floyd… don’t do anything stupid.”
“Not without you here.” He smiled back.
Gaia patted his slim arm. “Call us if you need anything,”
“G,” Priyam spoke as soon as everyone left the room. “I think I’ll stay here. You know, take care of the injured warrior.”
“I’ll let Edan know.” Gaia saw how Priyam sat down next to Floyd and passed him some water. He was safe now.
Gaia exited the room to join the rest of the group in the next bedroom
“What are we going to do?” Willow buttoned a sporty sweater covering her oversized crop top and her Sakura tree tattoo.
“Stay,” said Edan. “We can’t move him that much.”
Shui drank from her tea; she felt restless. “What about the door?”
“It will be OK,” Edan leaned against a wooden desk. “We still have a few weeks to get there. As soon as Floyd gets better we can work on catching up.”
“What about the weapons and everything we lost in the fire?” Donovan helped Icarus climb to his shoulder.
“I’m sure Pink would love a trip to get everything we need in that department,” Edan looked at the twin.
“Full freedom?” she smiled mischievously.
“Are you going to make me regret it?”
“Probably,” she said without hesitation.
Edan considered all the outcomes of sending Pink on a free shopping spree of armory. In all of his scenarios, nothing was as bad as having nothing prepared. “Full freedom.”
“Wicked.” She grinned.
“I guess that’s all for tonight. You should go to rest. We’ll take turns with Floyd.”
Edan stared at the group as he watched them go to their rooms, all except Hunter. "Edan, we might not make it on time.”
Edan took a moment, he hated his answer but there wasn’t anything else to say. “I know.”
Chapter 9
Drakkar
GAIA STRETCHED HER silk covered body on her round elegant bed. Hundreds of rose petals, crystal chandeliers, cinnamon candles, and a big golden table decorated the room she was in.
“Good morning, my queen,” said Pratt from the comfort of a long red couch.
Without saying hello back, Gaia flicked her hand. “Ugh, why is the help so damn terrible these days?” she complained in a voice that didn’t sound like her own.
Seconds later, Synthia marched inside the room holding a tray with a golden cup of freshly squeezed orange juice. She was walking awkwardly. Her joints moving in all directions as if she wasn’t the one moving her muscles but her muscles were moving h
er.
Uncoordinated, clumsy, and plain creepy, Synthia reached Gaia. “Here, my queen,” she said in a robotic voice as she handed her the cup. Gaia took her drink, flicked her hand and Synthia moved backwards.
Gaia took one sip of her juice and threw it against the wall. The juice dripped staining everything on its way. “Is it me or hasn’t Edan told me he likes me today?”
“It’s because you haven’t wielded him today, my queen,” Pratt smiled like a plastic toy.
“Right.” Gaia moved her hands, bringing Edan closer to her. “Hug me,” she commanded him. The arms of Edan twisted awkwardly until he hugged her.
“I like you, always you,” he slurred in a forced voice, almost like the voices kids play with their toys when they pull their string.
Synthia laughed, and the rest of the group, who were now sitting on the golden table, clapped as if they were puppets.
Gaia wielded Edan while Pratt and the rest kept clapping. Edan leaned closer to her. Inch by inch moving his lips towards her lips.
So close, just about to kiss her…
“Stop!” Gaia gasped as she woke up from her nightmare. Her breathing was accelerated, her body drenched in sweat. She turned around and saw Priyam peacefully sleeping on the other bed of their hotel room. “Crap.”
Gaia stood up and walked to the bathroom. She turned on the water, then used her hands to splash her face.
It’d been five days since Floyd got hurt. Thanks to the First Tree’s pink flowers, his wound was almost healed. His health might have been better but he was still unable to walk, hike and run the distances they had to. Luckily, Edan managed to find a small hotel miles away from civilization and right next to the Fraser River. A place good enough to hide them until Floyd was able to stand.
Gaia took a deep breath. She splashed her face for a second time, closed the tap and looked in the mirror. She could still see Edan’s twisted body and empty expression as he was about to kiss her. “That was horrible,” she whispered to her reflection.
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