“Arrgh,” she cried with pain.
“I’m done.” He ripped off a piece of cloth from the front part of his shirt and used it to cover the wound, making sure it was secured in place. “You’ll be OK.”
“How are the others?” she asked.
“They are fine, Pink and Floyd found us mid-fight.” He helped her to sit up.
“How was Synthia, did she get to you?” She grunted in excruciating pain.
Edan felt a punch to his stomach. “She saw you?” he asked, trying to make sense of what he just heard.
“Yes, I found her sitting on that tree over there.”
“Shui, did she…” He felt sick even by thinking his question. “She saw how you got stabbed?”
“She did,” said Shui. “She freaked after I got stabbed.”
Edan tensed. All that time Synthia was stalling she knew Shui could be dying. Without realizing it, Edan’s fist turned on fire. It was one thing to cling onto him in desperation but another to let the people of his team get hurt just for attention. His suspicions of Synthia seemed worse than he feared. So much worse.
Edan felt Shui’s hand on his shoulder. “Stop.” Her voice was calm. “Don’t blame her.”
Edan curled his arm around her waist. “Somehow, it feels like we should.” He lifted Shui up making sure most of her weight was carried by him.
“Edan!” Shui gasped in horror.
“Sorry, did it hurt?”
“Look.” She pointed at the dead Darkling. “The amulet on his belt. I can’t believe that I missed it.”
Edan looked at the amulet. It was round with the size of an orange, it was white, thick and made of bones. It had a smudge of dry blood in the middle. “We need to get to the others,” He carried Shui in order to run.
Edan ran as fast as he could. He needed to reach the others. The amulet was no ordinary jewelry, it had the blood of Ifreann and was made with bones of the beast that craved the scent of that blood… Draaks.
As soon as they arrived they encountered a war zone. The place was chaotic. The group was fighting four Crawlers and a Draak next to a bunch of sleeping humans.
Willow threw seeds on the ground and wielded a bunch of vines full of sharp spikes. She pushed her arms forward, strangling one of the Crawlers that was about to hit a sleeping human.
Hunter and Priyam were taking care of one of the Crawlers. Donovan, with the help of an eagle throwing huge rocks, killed the longest Crawler, while Gaia and Floyd did their best to keep the Draak away.
“Need some extra help?” Edan asked Gaia.
“What took you so long?” she smiled, knowing Edan was alright and safe next to her.
“Shui.” He nodded towards Shui who was now cradled in Veter’s arms. “She’s fine. He’ll take care of her now.”
Willow ran next to Edan. “How are we going to do this?” she asked. “Pink and Priyam are back at the hotel and Veter just took Shui to a safer zone.”
“I got a wicked plan. Stall him,” said Floyd and ran away.
“You heard him. We hit all at once.” Edan prepared to fight. “Don’t give him any chances until Floyd comes back.”
“Not a chance.” Donovan whistled. Dozens of birds flew from the forest. They attacked the Draaks eyes. Willow curled roots around his legs trying to keep him down. Using the vines as a ladder, Hunter jumped on top of the beast and stabbed him repeatedly with his knife. The Draak growled and snapped all the vines. The dragon twisted dropping Hunter.
“Hunter!” Gaia wielded a tree catching the teen before he smashed on the ground.
Not wasting any time, the Draak attacked. He whipped its tail smashing Donovan against Penticton’s giant peach sculpture. Willow ran to help him but the beast used its wings to create a wind current so strong it kept Willow from reaching him. “Gaia,” she called for help.
Gaia wielded a dragon of fire. “Willow, get down!” she screamed before sending the flame dragon to collide with the Draak. The two dragons fought in the sky. The Draak managed to escape the red fire dragon and flew directly towards Gaia.
BOOM! A blue fire dragon crashed against the Draak.
Surprised, Gaia turned and saw Edan wielding the dragon a few feet from her. With a grin on her face, Gaia wielded the red dragon to fight the Draak as did Edan with his blue fire dragon.
“What are you smiling about?” Edan asked without taking his eyes off the beast.
“I was thinking that it’s too bad that Priy isn’t here,” she laughed. “She would love to see this.”
The Draak spun in the air creating a tornado that dissolved the red and the blue dragon.
“Take cover!” yelled Donovan “It’s going to touch ground!”
Gaia placed her hands on the floor. She wielded the roots from the trees to restrain Edan and the rest to keep them from flying away.
A few seconds later, the tornado touched ground. The wind currents were unbearable. The team couldn’t breathe, they couldn’t hear or see anything. Gaia closed her eyes. She felt her body shaking like a rag doll. She took a deep breath but her lungs didn’t budge. She tried to wield the wind around her but the element wasn’t answering. Think G! Think! She could turn the whole place on fire killing the beast though that would also kill her friends. Maybe not the whole place…just the sky, she thought.
Not knowing what else to do, Gaia stood up. The tree roots kept her feet firm on the ground. She wielded the earth to lift up high raising her towards the sky. She then pointed her palms up lighting everything on her way.
The Draak howled in pain and stopped spinning. Angry, it flew directly towards Gaia.
She wielded herself back to where she was but the Draak was faster. She fell backwards and saw the Draak’s tail jabbing directly at her face.
The wind, the smell, the sound, her pain, everything disappeared. Only the increasing sound of her heartbeat remained. The feeling of a second slowed down to minutes as she saw that the hit was intercepted by Edan.
The tail pierced Edan right on the arm.
Nerves shot through her body lighting up all the adrenaline in her blood. She could see Floyd running towards them with a bazooka in his hands. He was screaming something but her ears could only hear a pitching sound.
Not again! Gaia hugged Edan and pulled him down, sliding the Draak’s tail out of his arm.
From there, everything happened so fast. Edan jumped on top of Gaia, covering her body while Floyd shot the beast. The cannonball sounded like a plane crashing against the Draak, creating an explosion big enough to kill the beast.
Once the fire was gone, Edan laughed against Gaia’s neck. “That was your plan?” he asked Floyd as he lifted himself and Gaia.
“Told you it was wicked.” The crazy Aussie helped the rest to get on their feet.
Donovan passed Edan a piece of leather and he wrapped it around his arm covering the wound.
What in the world is happening…? Gaia felt like puking, she had imagined her match been dragged by a Draak once more and there he was, making jokes with his friends.
“Are you stupid!?” Gaia snapped and the whole group stared at her in surprise. “You could’ve been taken away again! Do you know how hard it was for me seeing a Draak take you last time and now this?! What if I couldn’t reach you this time?”
Edan smirked at her worried face.
“Don’t give me that smug face! I’ve had it! You can’t just jump in front of me every time you think I’ll get hurt. I am Mother Nature! I can take care of myself.”
“Gaia—”
“No! Shut up! That thing stabbed you in the arm. I thought you were going to die you dumb, dum—” Edan took her by the shoulders. He pulled closer and kissed her. A passionate, heart-burning kiss.
Gaia gasped. Edan took advantage of it by deepening the kiss.
For a moment, it was just them. Gaia couldn’t feel anything other than him. The anger, the stress, the pain and the worrying melted away between Edan’s lips. Gaia could feel the electricity running
through them. It wasn’t just any kiss. It was something entirely different. It was life.
She curled her arms around his neck and pulled herself closer. It was a new type of need, a new type of feeling, new and yet familiar, at the same time. She couldn’t understand how something so strong felt so soft against her lips. She felt their connection increase.
There, melting away in his arms, against his lips, Gaia understood what Edan meant when he described what it was like to have a match. Even after the scare she just had, all she could feel was like everything would be perfect. All of her thoughts of fear were replaced by thoughts of comfort and peace.
Edan stopped the kiss and Gaia felt like complaining for breaking something so incredible.
He looked at her eyes and smiled. “You were saying?”
* * *
That night, Willow dashed inside the townhouse. The feeling of suffocation increased by the second. She wanted to cry, to burst into flames, and just disappear. Her brain kept repeating Edan and Gaia’s kiss over and over. As if mental torture wasn’t enough, she could feel it too, the physical pain inside her chest. The air that left her lungs and was replaced by a burning fire. She knew he had never been hers, she knew he would never love her, and yet she felt the loss, the loss of what?
She fell to her knees. Her hands clutched her stomach as she sobbed as quiet as she could. She was surprised by how many tears she had left. She was sure that after all those years of looking at him from the sidelines, wanting him to look her way at least once, all of her tears would be gone by now. All those years she clung onto some sort of sick hope that increased with each act of kindness he gave her, hope that had been shattered a few minutes ago. Even five years ago, after Edan confessed to her and Donovan that he and Gaia were a match. Even then, Willow hadn’t been able to give up hope.
The door opened slowly. “Willow?” Shui called her name softly.
“You shouldn’t be up at this hour.” Willow helped Shui to her bed. “You’re hurt.”
“So are you,” said Shui.
“I’m alright,” she sobbed, sitting on the floor next to Shui. “After all, I always knew this would happen.”
Shui stepped down from the bed and knelt next to Willow, gently stroking her pale blonde hair. “Knowing you’ll get hurt doesn’t lessen the pain.”
“Unfortunately, I know,” she sobbed, unable to look at her friend. “It’s funny how being near someone can fill you with life yet kill you little by little at the same time.”
“Hey, Blondie,” Veter walked into the room, locking the door behind him.
“Not now, Giant,” Willow whimpered.
Veter ignored her pleas. He bent down and picked her up from the floor, hugging her. “You can punch me if you want.”
Instead of punching him, Willow hugged him back and sobbed against his chest. “What am I going to do?” she cried.
“You’re going to go and you tell your best friend you are happy for his happiness,” he said with a soft voice.
“What if I’m not happy for his happiness?”
“Then lie and lie,” he said. “Lie until one day it becomes true.” Veter rubbed her back like an older brother would.
“How can I congratulate him? How can I smile at them?”
“You just do.” Veter kept hugging her. “And after that, we’ll be here for you.”
Willow pushed herself away from his chest until she was able to look him in the eyes. “You mean that?”
“A hundred percent.” He grinned, making Willow think his childish smile was somewhat endearing. “We’re all one big family.”
Willow flashed a weak smile.
“Cheer up.” Veter placed Willow back on her feet as if she weighed the same as a feather. “Go. Come back and I’ll take you to fly for a little while.”
“For real!?” Her expression immediately brightened. “How high?”
“As high as you want.”
“I’ll be right back.” Willow smiled again. Simply this time, the smile was stronger and real.
Shui stood up. She walked closer to Veter and he hugged her. “Blueberry you’re hurt, don’t move around too much,” he said as he moved her back to the bed.
Meanwhile on Veter’s arms, Shui slowly traced the V-neck of his vest with her long delicate finger. “That wasn’t bad at all.”
“I have my moments,” he said before giving Shui a delicate kiss on her lips. “Now stop moving.”
* * *
Willow felt her excitement over flying drain as soon as she saw Edan holding Gaia’s hand. She understood she couldn’t keep hoping he would look at her the same way she looked at him, the same way he looked at Gaia. Watching him with Gaia hurt her. She was happy for him yet she hated every second of it. What else could you do when the happiness of your everything happened to be your unhappiness?
And there she was, the woman who took everything she wanted. At first, she was so angry to know someone like her was meant for Edan. They always fought, she always made him mad and stressed. Willow hated to see him giving Gaia everything when she didn’t even care. She hated her, every single day until the day of her Eighteenth Spring. That was the day when she saw it, Gaia was looking at Edan the same way she looked at him. Gaia cared. More than that, Gaia loved him. For a second, she saw herself in Gaia. Longing for Edan, not understanding the reason behind her feelings.
Willow could tell that Gaia was as afraid to lose him, just as Edan was afraid to lose her.
“Willow!” Edan called her, happier than ever, something that hurt her more than a stabbing knife wound rubbed with salt. “That thing with the Crawler you did was incredible,” he congratulated her.
“Thanks.” She pointed at his hand holding Gaia’s. “Finally. Here I was, thinking you would’ve never tell her.”
“Nobody did,” joked Donovan.
“I’m happy for you.” Willow hugged Edan.
“Thank you, it means a lot to us.” Edan smiled at her.
This time, it was Gaia who jumped to hug Willow. “It does. It… means a lot,” said Gaia.
Willow could feel Gaia was aware of her feelings towards Edan. Could I be any sadder? She laughed trying not to cry in front of everyone. “You’re not going to be that cheesy annoying couple, are you?” she teased, trying to keep her head up.
“Please, don’t!” Priyam jumped in. “We already have the gentle giant and Shui for that.”
“Speaking of, I’ll go help them pack.” Willow looked at the time. “The sleeping spores took care of putting the humans down but the explosion and beast could be seen by the distance. We should leave soon.”
“Willow is right; get your belongings ready,” said Edan. “The sooner we leave, the better.”
As they all walked to their rooms, Donovan and Hunter ran after Willow. “Willow!”
“What?” She dried the tears from her cheeks before turning around.
Donovan reached her. He placed his hand on her shoulder. “Are you OK?” he asked, concerned. No way… He knows too? she thought. His face didn’t have its usual smile. Damn it… he does know. “You too? Does everybody in here knows?”
“Pretty much,” Hunter nodded.
Willow gasped. “You too?” she panicked. If they knew, then that could mean that Edan knew too. She could see Edan being the kind of guy who was so nice that he would feel sorry for hurting her and try to fix it in a stupid unnecessary way. No, no, no! she shuddered.
“Don’t worry,” Donovan patted her back. “Edan doesn’t know.”
“How can you be sure?” she asked, almost sure Donovan was reading her thoughts, one way or another.
“Oh, trust me,” Donovan laughed. “As good as he is in fighting, wielding fire and with anything to do with being a leader, he’s the worst on the planet at picking up love vibes.”
“The universe,” Hunter opened his arms wide.
“I like that,” Donovan mirrored Hunter’s movements. “The universe.”
“The universe!” Hunt
er opened his arms wider than the previous time.
Willow laughed out loud. She shook her head. “You guys are really dumb sometimes.”
Donovan gave her a nudge on her shoulder. “We love you, too.”
“A lot.” Hunter hugged her, “You will be fine. You always are.”
Willow chuckled and kissed both of them on the cheek. “Thank you, you two.” She turned on her heel toward Veter. “I got to go now.”
“And pack? I thought you always kept your stuff packed,” Donovan pointed out.
“I do. Veter is taking me for a fly.” She grinned at her achievement.
“What!!” Donovan gasped like Willow had won Disneyland tickets for life.
“Why?” Hunter was as surprised as Donovan was. “He never does that!”
“Unless you are Shui,” said Donovan. “I want to go.”
“WE want to go!” Hunter pleaded with his hands.
Donovan leaned closer to Willow, as if being near her would magically let him know how she managed to convince Veter to do the impossible. “How did you do it?”
“Got my heart broken,” she said as she walked away, waving goodbye.
Donovan crossed his strong arms facing Hunter. “I want to get my heart broken,” he said.
“You’d need a heart for that,” Hunter signaled at Donovan’s chest. Just below his bear’s-claw tattoo.
Donovan placed both of his hands on top of where his heart was. “That almost hurt.”
Willow ran into the room where Veter and Shui were waiting for her. “I’m ready.”
“We’ll be right back. If Kapetan asks where we went tell him we will be right back.” Veter winked at Shui, took Willow, and jumped to the sky.
“How far?” he asked.
“As far as you can.”
Veter flew up and up, passing the mountains and the clouds. The higher he went up, the colder the air became. Willow felt how the coldness of the wind made her body feel numb and shaky. Veter stopped a few miles above the last cloud.
“Drop?” he asked her and she nodded. “Here you go.” Veter dropped Willow.
Seasons Within Box Set Page 45