Seasons Within Box Set

by Lele Iturrioz

  Little by little, the water began to evaporate leaving her entire body warm and dry.

  Once dried, she knelt down next to Edan. She placed her hands on his bare chest and warmed his body and dried his clothes.

  She took a deep breath. The beasts were no longer able to be heard, which meant they had gone for their master. How close was He? Gaia opened a gap in the cave and a Crawler jabbed its tail inside the cave cutting her cheek. “Wow!”

  In seconds, she managed to close the cave smashing the beast’s tail inside Not good. Not good at all. The team needs to find us, and soon.

  She reached for her seed pouch to find it was torn. “Damn it…”

  Taking a deep breath, she placed both of her hands on the cave’s ceiling. “Here’s to nothing.” She shut her eyes to concentrate and did everything Willow explained when talking about creating plants.

  Gaia felt the earth, she imagined the tree above her head, she named it, and recognized it. The cave began to shake. From inside the ceiling, a small plant grew. It spun and spun making its way to the top. Gaia felt nauseous, and blood dripped out of her nose. This wielding was too much for her earth level. Not stopping the wield, the plant kept growing until it pierced the tip of the mountain and the roots surrounded the cave like a cocoon.

  Almost there…

  The plant grew out of the tip creating a gorgeous golden tree on top of the white snow. Cold from the snow, tired from the battle and her wield, Gaia wasn’t able to hold herself up any longer. Her face hit the floor the moment she fainted.

  * * *

  Edan woke up feeling dizzy and in pain. He inspected his surroundings and noticed how the cave was covered by roots. He tried to remember how he got there but his last memory was pushing Gaia before been taken by a Draak. He felt a sense of relief, for in his mind, at least she was safe. Wherever she was.

  He sat up with a grunt. The weight of his arm pulled his shoulders, causing him excruciating pain. He clenched his hand against his stomach and noticed his shirt was unbuttoned.

  Sheer panic and angst crossed his eyes. He passed his fingers across his shoulder before inspecting it. He saw the shirt was pushed back as far as his burned mark reached and relaxed. He was about to cover his body when he saw the burnt shape of a hand scarred over his wound; it looked so small against his shoulder.

  “Gaia?” he turned to the other side and saw Gaia on the floor. “Gaia!” he wailed, but she didn’t move.

  Ignoring his pain, Edan crawled to where she was. She was cold, very cold. “You are seriously mad.” He cradled her against his body to warm her up.

  * * *

  Willow dropped a large rock on top of the Darkling. His white skin turned gray as his life escaped his body. “Are they retreating?” she yelled at Donovan after she noticed a Skuggor running away instead of attacking.

  “Yes, I think they are.” Donovan noticed too.

  “Why?” Shui asked, knowing the beasts never ever retreat, not even during the war nor on the day of the supernova.

  “They went to look for Edan and Gaia,” Hunter signaled.

  “What do you mean ‘look for them’?” Confused, Willow twitched her mouth. “Where are they?”

  “Edan was attacked then taken by a Draak.” Veter arrived with the group. “Princeza followed him.”

  “Against a Draak?” Priyam’s nerves were shattered. “Veter, where is she?!”

  “I don’t know, but I promise you we’ll find them,” Veter reassured her. “Hunter, I need you to track them down,” he instructed and the teen nodded. “There will be a lot of beasts, therefore, Willow you are also coming. Blueberry there’s a lot of water around us so I need you too.” He turned toward Floyd. “Floyd, Pink, and Donovan get Priyam and Synthia to a safe place. Send Icarus once you find somewhere to stay.” He placed his massive hand on Pink’s shoulder. “Be careful, the mark is getting stronger.”

  Donovan whistled. He took six thick leather straps from his left pocket. “Put this on. They’ll take you where you need to go,” he said.

  Veter tied four of the leather straps to his vest. He passed the other two to Willow, who wrapped them around her forearms, making two thick bracelets like the one's Hunter and Edan used. As soon as they finished, Willow and Hunter crossed their arms over their heads. A group of four black condors flew from the woods. Two took Willow and Hunter by their forearms lifting them to the sky, while the other two condors waited gliding in the sky.

  “Blueberry,” Veter opened his arms and Shui hugged him. He held her protectively against his torso and levitated from the floor. “See you soon, Prisum,” he said and they all flew following Hunter’s condor.

  * * *

  In the cave, Gaia moved her head against a hard surface. She recalled making the tree grow and how she lost consciousness slamming her head on the floor. She slid her hand across Edan’s chest. Super! At least the floor is warm… she thought as she unknowingly traced his torso.

  Her fingers reached the curve of his neck. Edan shivered. OK…Weird. Definitely not the floor. Gaia slowly opened her eyes afraid of what she might find. She then realized she was leaning on top of Edan as he hugged her.

  Shocked, Gaia jumped back, falling towards the floor.

  “Don’t move.” Edan caught her before her back hit the cold dirt. “I’ve got you.”

  “Your shoulder, you shouldn’t move it.” Unnerved finding herself on top of Edan, Gaia wiggled until she was sitting next to him. “Or add any pressure to it.”

  “It’s fine.” Edan rotated his entire arm to prove his point to Gaia. “You did a great job.” Edan noticed Gaia was calmer after he moved his shoulder without much pain. He closed his shirt, covering his shoulder. “Did you… remove all of it?”

  “Your shirt?” Gaia stared at his green eyes. “Just the shoulder, I know how strict you are about having your shirt on.”

  “Thank you.”

  “How long since you woke up?”

  “About forty minutes ago,” he said.

  Forty freaking minutes?! Gaia’s hands turned sweaty from nerves. She’d slept for forty minutes on top of Edan. Oh crap! She placed her palm against one of the rough roots. “Are they still out there?” she asked, trying to concentrate on anything other than having Edan watching over her for forty minutes.

  “The beasts? Yes. I’ve been hearing them growling from time to time.” He touched the same root Gaia was touching. Her fingertips tingled at the closeness. Gaia felt lighter. Well, not so bad. Besides sweaty palms and slight nerves, I felt nothing else. I can handle it. Totally over this.

  “Good idea with the tree. I noticed your seed pouch ripped. I guess we are lucky you had one seed left.”

  She moved her hand away. “I didn’t have any seeds left.”

  “You created it?” Edan seemed excited. “Impressive. I’m proud of you,” he said and Gaia’s eyes opened wide. “What?” he asked over her shocked expression.

  “This is the first time you’re proud of me.”

  “No,” he smiled. A big gorgeous smile. “It’s just the first time I’ve told you.”

  Scratch that… I’m not over this. Damn him. Damn that smile. Gaia bit her lower lip trying to seem calm. A useless move, Edan knew her too well. Her stomach fluttered and her eyes couldn’t stop looking at his. Too bad you’re just his job. She wanted to change the mood before they ended up the same way they did back at the first camp. Fighting and putting a whole town in danger. Fortunately, his stomach growled.

  “I guess you’re hungry.” Gaia laughed out loud. She placed her palms on the dirt and smiled. “What do you want?”

  “Save it,” Edan stopped her. “You don’t have enough energy to create another tree.” He took out a small bag of seeds from his left pocket. “Use this.”

  Gaia took the bag. “Where did you get this?”

  “Willow always gives them to me,” he smirked.

  “Perfect.” Gaia took a seed and placed it in the dirt. She lifted her hand and wielded the pl
ant to grow. Juicy grapes grew from the vines around it. “Grapes!” she cheered at the surprise.

  “You like them?”

  “I love them.”

  She took a few bunches and sat next to Edan to eat. A smile crept across her lips. “You really like them,” said Edan. “You are even smiling.”

  Gaia shook her head. “I’m not smiling because I like grapes. You called me Red in your sleep.”

  To Gaia’s surprised he blushed. “Did I?”

  “Yep,” she giggled at how cute he looked. “It’s the third time you called me that.”

  “Sorry, that was—”

  “My nickname when I was little,” she jumped in and ate another grape.

  “You remembered?” he asked with surprise in his eyes.

  “Since long ago,” she rested on her elbows against the floor. “What I don’t remember is, why Red?”

  Edan laughed, a genuine rich laugh that gave Gaia the sensation of butterflies in her stomach. “You used to get so angry every time I called you Lady Gaia.”

  “Really?”

  He nodded. “Everyone was allowed to call you that except for me. If I said that name you used to pout and glare at me. It was adorable.” He said, friendly. Same friendliness he had in her memories. “One day we went out to the plaza and you climbed Bobby. Your hair tie got tangled in a branch. Without knowing, you let go and fell on my arms. Your tie snapped and your hair floated all over the air.” He made a hand gesture to show Gaia how the hair had flowed around her face. “I remember all I could see was red.” Edan grinned. “Unaware that I was speaking my mind, I whispered, ‘red’. Since then you officially proclaimed that I would call you Red.”

  “Why’d you stop calling me like that?”

  Edan curled his leg, a gesture that made him look comfortable with the conversation. “At first, I was afraid you would recognize the name and wake before the time was right.”

  “You called me Red the first time we talked,” she said, remembering that day, a day that somehow felt like ages ago.

  “You caught me off-guard.” He froze just thinking about it. “I was terrified the minute I said it. Luckily, it did nothing.”

  “Well then.” Gaia lifted her hand. “I officially proclaim you call me Red.”

  Edan touched Gaia’s palm with his. “Red it is.”

  After lingering for a moment, she let go of his hand and placed hers on his shoulders. Concentrating, she turned her hand warm enough to stop him from freezing.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Warming you up,” she said, trying to seem unaffected by touching his body. “Your hand was ice cold.”

  “Don’t. You need your strength.” He opened his arms. “Here.”

  “What?”

  “Come over here.” He gestured her to get closer.

  Gaia did what she was told. She snuck between Edan’s legs and rested her back against his torso. She leaned her head against his chest. It was warm; she could hear his heartbeat, almost as fast as hers.

  “Odd,” he murmured.

  “What now?”

  “Nothing, I just expected a bit more fight from you.” He curled his arms around her waist. “You usually ask ten times ‘why’ before you actually listen to me.”

  True… “I was cold.” And she was, a little bit. But he doesn’t need to know that.

  “Are you warmer?” he asked in a voice so soft, Gaia almost couldn’t recognize it as his.

  “Much. And you?”

  “Very,” he whispered.

  “Then stop complaining.” She growled at him and he laughed. Yes, everything about the moment was perfection. Well, almost everything. There was a small part of her that kept her confused as hell. After all, she was his job… wasn’t she?

  “Edan…” Gaia talked while playing with one of his shirt’s buttons.

  “Yes?” he asked leaning his chin against her head.

  “Aren’t you going to get in trouble for this?”

  “For getting dragged like that?” He passed his free hand over his messy brown hair. “Only my pride,” he chuckled.

  “No, for being like this with me.”

  Edan took a moment too long to answer. “Probably.”

  A hole of pain opened in her chest. Gaia moved away. She instantly felt the coldness of the cave. “However, I’m OK with that,” he said as he pulled her closer than before.

  She placed her hands against his chest and pushed herself away. “What if you regret it?”

  “I won’t.” He gazed at her eyes in a way that made her feel seen. He pulled her again, and this time she let him. “I haven’t since the day I saw your tree,” he spoke, his lips touching the top of her head.

  Gaia knew he was talking about when he saw Bobby for the first time on the day she was born. “What does Bobby have to do with you being the leader?”

  “Being the leader?” This time it was Edan who broke the hug. He pushed Gaia away so he could read her expression. “What does this have to do with that?”

  She played with a strand of her hair. “Well, you said you would get in trouble for being here with me. You know, like teacher-student stuff.”

  He shook his head. “I said I would get in trouble, I didn’t mean because of that.” Edan thought for a bit. “And I’m not your teacher anymore, Red. As for the leader, if you think about it, you are the princes, you outrank me.”

  “I do.” Gaia didn’t even try to hide her grin. She passed her fingers over his left arm, touching the burnt runes. “How come you don’t have the mark here?” She touched the top of his wrist.

  “I didn’t pass the temple.”

  He failed? How could he fail? And if he did… how is he still alive? “What are these then?” She trailed the first rune but he didn’t answer her question. “Grumpy.” She turned his hand and made a circle on his wrist underneath his palm. “Then what about the one here? Like Mor’s.”

  “That’s a binding mark.” Edan watched Gaia trailing her finger across his skin. He had no idea if she noticed how much she was touching him now. “For you and your match.”

  “Is Willow your match?” she asked not knowing where the hell that came from. Well, maybe a little.

  To her surprise, his heart raced faster than before. A lot faster. “What makes you think that?”

  “You talk to her and you eat her burger.”

  “I talk to her and eat her burger?” He chuckled. “How could I miss such an outstanding giveaway.”

  “Well, you’re all grumpy and zero emotional so… I assumed you would treat your match all polite and super serious.”

  “Willow is a childhood friend,” he said with a hint of sadness. “There was a time when she was the only friend I had.”

  “You said there was a time, what changed?”

  “I… don’t remember,” he lied, though she was unaware of it.

  Gaia leaned against Edan. “What do you think it’s like? To have a match?”

  “Just like humans, we can be attracted to many Terrians. Although, unlike them, once we find our match, there’s no one else but that person for you for the rest of your life,” he said, unaware he had started to play with Gaia’s hair. “It’s like there’s a clear meaning on everything. Like it all makes sense. No matter what happens, you will be OK because that person is right there with you. It’s peaceful. It’s like breathing for the first time.”

  Gaia giggled. “It sounds an awful lot like Twilight.”

  “I wouldn’t know.” Edan took a moment to recall any information he had on this ‘Twilight’ thing. Nothing. “Is that a human term?”

  “Far from it.” She laughed out loud. “Still, that was super specific. How do you know so much about how a match feels like?”

  “Because I have one,” he said with a tone so loving that Gaia wondered if he even said it.

  He has a match. Gaia froze. She was not expecting that answer. Her heart squeezed a little making the cave seem smaller, colder and suffocating. “You do? You
have a match?”

  “I do.” His face moved closer to hers. “Just not Willow.”

  “Who?” she blurted out before she could stop herself. Freaking curiosity! Gaia couldn’t help but feel the same way she did back in Truckee when she helped the wolf. She was scared, knowing her curiosity and wonder could get her hurt… yet she had to find out what was hiding there. Calling for her.

  “Someone who shouldn’t be.”

  “Why not?” she asked, feeling like she had just dug her own grave. Not good. Make a joke. “Is it because she’s bossy?” she laughed it off.

  To Gaia’s surprise, Edan smiled, squinting his green eyes. “The bossiest,” he laughed.

  “Is she clumsy?” her lips spoke before she could realize.

  “Worse.” He caressed her arm tracing lines over her pale skin. Lines that created heat ripples over her body. “She falls every two minutes.”

  “She sounds like a mess.”

  “She is.” He curled both of his arms around her waist accidentally grazing her bare back with his fingers. “She’s also funny, strong, brave, smart… sometimes too smart for her own good, and she’s beautiful,” he sighed. “Most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.”

  Gaia looked directly into Edan’s eyes. His eyes seemed different, she’d never seen that look before. He pushed her hair away from her face and tucked it behind her ear. He stared at her lips. Soft and within reach. Unable to stop, he passed his thumb over them.

  Gaia parted them and he moved closer and closer. “Gaia …”

  BANG! Something hit the other side of the wall so hard that it broke open. A ray of light crept inside the cave.

  Gaia’s heart raced even more than it was already racing. “A beast?”

  “Kapetan! Princeza!” Veter screamed from the other side of the roots. “Speak to me!”

  “Yes, a beast,” he scoffed. Edan rested his forehead against Gaia’s. “Later, then,” he whispered.

  Willow wielded the roots that were closest to the hole they’d made. Veter stormed inside. “Is anyone hurt?” he asked, helping Gaia to stand up.