Seasons Within Box Set

by Lele Iturrioz

  “Trust me, they tried,” Willow joked, stealing one of the blackberries from Veter’s basket.

  Gaia giggled. She knelt down beside the strawberry bush and picked one of the reddest strawberries, only to notice her right wrist was missing Molly’s pink ribbon. No! Molly’s ribbon!! Did I lose it on the fight?

  She rummaged frenetically around in the dirt. No, I can’t lose it. It’s all I have left of her. Her panic turned into anger. Damn it! Where is it?! No, No! she cursed as the twigs snapped against her skin.

  “Red.” Edan stopped Gaia by showing her the ribbon. “Is this what you are looking for?” Gaia held the ribbon as tight as she could. “Calm down. It’s OK. You didn’t lose it.” Edan took her right wrist. “Are you OK?” He tied it tight next to Klog Mor’s wooden bracelet, then caressed the dirt on top of her Five Fold symbol with his thumb.

  “Why would you think there’s something wrong?” she asked.

  “I’ve been feeling it.” He held her hands and helped her up. “Like that time on the boat. It was a bit faded at the beginning but the more we work on our connection the more I can sense it.”

  “Feel what?”

  “How you are feeling, Red.” He tucked her hair behind her ear. “You were fine before I left but not now. Your stress, your anger. I feel it all. Is it because of the ribbon?”

  She nodded. “The town, Molly.” Gaia gripped her left hand around Molly’s ribbon.

  “The little girl you told me about?” Edan held her by the nape of her neck and pulled her closer, calming her down.

  “I keep having dreams about her, and visions.” She rested her head against his chest. “I can’t take away my guilt. I feel anger and sometimes even hatred.”

  “Don’t.” Edan lifted her face by holding her chin. “What happened was an accident. The life you were destined to live was never an easy one, that’s why you have all of us. You have me.” Edan kissed her gently on her lips. He wasn’t very fond of PDA but he would do anything to make Gaia feel better. His fingers caressed her cheeks and his lips moved against hers. “Better?” She nodded. “Good.” He took her baskets, gave them to Floyd and guided Gaia to where everyone had finished loading the food. He stood in front of one of the three motorcycles “The climate is clear, do you want to go on the bike?” Edan asked Gaia.

  “Thanks for the cheer up but I’m so bad at driving that I would probably kill about five pedestrians…and myself.”

  “I know you would.” He grabbed an extra helmet. “That’s why you won’t be driving.” He leaned closer, handing her the helmet. “I’ll be the one driving.”

  “Oh…” She put it on and climbed on top of the bike.

  “Now hold on.” He fastened his helmet while Gaia held the back of her seat. “Not the bike, me.” He took both of her hands, curling them around his waist.

  Gaia leaned forward. She could see the back of his neck, smell the lemony scent of his shampoo. “This reminds me of something.”

  “That time I carried you after hurting your foot,” he guessed right.

  “I thought you didn’t remember.”

  “I remember everything from you.” He closed the helmet’s shield. “Hold on tight.”

  Edan started the bike and the rest followed. The wind hit them so hard that even with long jeans she could feel the coldness. Gaia hugged him tighter, warming herself within seconds. “Edan?” she called him; they could hear each other through the helmet’s intercom. “Can I ask you a question?”

  “Sure.”

  “Is the fight after I returned your jacket also something you remember?” she asked.

  “As if it was yesterday.”

  “Then…” Gaia chewed on her lower lip. She felt stupid asking something like this but her curiosity seemed to always get the better of her. “Why did you say you weren’t my boyfriend when you actually were?”

  A few seconds passed and Edan remained silent. Seconds that seemed hours to Gaia.

  “Yes, Edan?” Donovan’s voice was heard from the intercom breaking the silence. “Why did you?”

  “Bloody hell…” Edan muttered.

  “Ahem.” Pink’s voice was also heard from the com. “You lads do know your coms are connected to every vehicle right?”

  Bollocks! Edan cursed. “Regrettably, that’s something I forgot.”

  “Boss?” Floyd’s flirty voice was heard. “Why did you say that?”

  “Out of the coms, now!” Edan screamed at all of them. After waiting for a minute, Edan took a deep breath. “I do miss having biscuits with my tea.”

  Gaia burst out laughing. “What was that about?”

  “Checking to make sure they are gone,” he said.

  “Are they gone?”

  “Undeniably. Floyd and Donovan wouldn’t be able to keep quiet on that one,” he chuckled. “As for your question… To be honest? Sheer panic,” he admitted, making Gaia even more nervous than she was when she asked the question. “You didn’t remember we were a match. Besides, I’m terrible at talking about these kinds of things. I didn’t know what to say. It would’ve been strange if I blurted it out right there what really happened. Out of nowhere, being sort of… yeah, I’ve been yours since I was nine. Oh, and by the way, I took you to bed and covered you up after a ten-minute inner battle of wanting to snog you.”

  Wait… he stayed with me for a while? “You stayed with me?”

  “Priyam didn’t tell you?”

  “Nope.” She wanted to laugh but there was no way he would forgive her. “You stalked me at night?”

  “I prefer the term ‘secretly protected’ you at night.”

  “Sorry to interrupt, Kapetan,” Veter screamed from the com. “We got beasts following us.”

  Gaia turned her head. She couldn’t see much but she could sense the danger.

  “Floyd! Take Gaia.” Edan stopped cold a moment before Floyd arrived.

  “What do you mean by ‘take Gaia’?” Gaia held Edan tight. She wasn’t letting him go anywhere without her, not when beasts were about to attack them.

  Veter came out of the van’s co-pilot seat. He took Gaia by the waist and carried her to the seat.

  Gaia was about to get out when Pink pushed her in, closing the door behind her.

  “Leave!” Edan ordered and Floyd stepped on the gas.

  A Skuggor came out of nowhere. It jumped, aiming for the van but Hunter crashed into the beast, hurling himself off the bike before impact.

  Pink took out a gun. She broke the van’s back window and shot the bike’s gas tank. The exposition killed the beast instantly.

  Donovan drifted next to Hunter. “Need a ride?” he joked as the teen shook the dust out of his messy black hair and hopped on the bike.

  “Priyam, pass me those guns!” Pink kept shooting at the beasts while Floyd drove the van.

  “Fuck!” Donovan’s stressed voice was heard from the com. “They’re too many.”

  “We need to kill them all,” said Veter. “They’ll reveal our location if we don’t.”

  Floyd ran over a Tracker. “Whoops,” he snorted.

  “Pay attention to the road!” Pink smacked Floyd’s seat.

  “It worked, didn’t it?” He grinned at his twin. “How are the rest doing?”

  “I can’t see that far behind.” Gaia felt her heart racing. “We need to go back.”

  “Can’t.” Floyd sped up. “Boss’ orders.”

  “To leave them behind?” Gaia freaked out.

  “To take you far away from danger,” he said.

  Damn it! Gaia hated that Edan was still keeping her away. She was Mother Nature, and like it or not, he needed to stop trying to keep her behind a shield. “Turn back or I’ll freeze the road.”

  “He warned me about you doing something like that.” He tapped the car’s wheel. “The van has studded snow tires and flame protector.”

  “Floyd, I’m serious,” she growled, since there was no way she could come up with something Edan hadn’t prepared for. “Go back.”<
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  “Sorry, future Terrian queen,” he refused. “Orders are orders.”

  “Floyd!” Priyam hated seeing her best friend that angry, that scared. “Turn this damn van around or I’ll stab you with my spoon and will never cook for you again.”

  “No more cookies? Boss did not warn me about that.” Floyd thought about it for a little. “Buckle up, lads. We got some beasties to kill.”

  Floyd turned on his highlights. He saw a Skuggor pinning Willow against the concrete. It was about to attack with one of its tails when Floyd ran over it.

  Willow scrambled up. “What are you doing here?”

  “Oh, Floyd!” he imitated Willow’s voice. “Thank you for saving me, you’re such a hero.”

  “Well, hero,” Willow said, getting inside the van. “Edan is going to kill you.”

  “If he wants to get in this van then he can queue up.” He smiled and drove to the rest.

  “I’ve got an idea.” Gaia pointed at the highway from the back of the van. “You said Edan asked everyone to take me away when in danger right? I’m sure beasts don’t have snow tires.”

  “You freaking genius,” Priyam cheered.

  Gaia wielded any water she could find flooding the highway. She concentrated as the water froze into ice. At that speed, the cars had no problem with staying steady but the beasts slipped. She waited for the cars to be far away from the beasts when she turned her hands, burying the beast in the concrete and the rest of the highway.

  “You just destroyed miles of highway.” Priyam giggled. “Government will hate you for this.”

  “Not just the government.” Pink pointed at a furious Edan.

  “I told you to leave, Floyd,” he glared at him.

  Gaia stepped in. “And I told him to go back.”

  “Sorry Boss. Even in chess, queen beats the king.”

  “She’s not queen yet.” Edan snarled to the twin. “I’ll deal with you later.” Edan pointed at Gaia. “And you! I don’t make the rules to be annoying, they are for your protection.”

  “Don’t know if you noticed but I was pretty helpful over there,” Gaia hissed.

  “You could’ve been hurt,” he growled. “I don’t care how useful you are if that means I could lose you. Don’t run into danger like that again.”

  “I’ll try.” She pressed her lips trying not to grin.

  “No you won’t.” Edan sighed, slightly more relaxed. He turned the bike on. “The ones who drove, change seats with someone,” he gave the order. “Once rested, change again. We are reaching Huntsville today.”

  Chapter 18

  Interlude

  A FEW DAYS HAD PASSED and nothing. Edan worried constantly over the fact that Huntsville, Alabama, the place with ‘more tornados in the world’, had no tornados at all.

  Great news for the locals, bad news for Gaia and the rest… Especially since the door to Terra was through a tornado.

  He paced around the dining room of a house Priyam found on Airbnb. The house was secluded and the less contact they had with locals, the better.

  Veter was braiding Shui’s blue ombre hair while they sat on a comfy white couch. Growing up with seven sisters, he’d had lots of practice making gorgeous hairstyles. In the dining room area were Willow and Gaia, already with their braided hair done by Veter, studying plant names; Priyam, Donovan and Pink played cards on the other side of the table; and Synthia watched TV, while Hunter showed Floyd how to carve on wood using one of his daggers.

  Edan paced once more. The moment he passed next to Gaia, she grabbed him by the hand. “You’re going to go insane if you keep circling the room.”

  “Sorry.” He squeezed her hand. “We should’ve been gone by now.”

  “I know, but there’re no tornados now so there’s nothing we can do except wait.” She caressed his hand with her thumb, a small gesture that meant the world to them. “We should go out or at least try to keep our minds busy with something else.”

  “Let’s play Jenga!” Veter cheered.

  “Never again, mate,” said Pink as she took another card before throwing more candies to the betting pool.

  “Why not?” the Viking man complained. “It was fun.”

  “You cheated,” said Pink while picking up her winnings.

  “Who cheated?” asked Veter.

  “All of you!” Priyam jumped into the conversation. “Willow wielded the wood so she never touched it. You used the wind to hold the structure for you.”

  “I did not,” he chuckled.

  “Mate, the tower was floating yay high off the table.” Pink placed her hand as high as the tower was floating. “And you took the only wood left at the very bottom.”

  “Well I did use the wind,” he said with his childish smile and thick Serbian accent. “But only a little.”

  Amused by her match, Shui took her empty cup of tea. “I think Gaia’s right.” She wielded some of the tea out of the teapot, across the dining room, and into her cup. “We should get out or do something.”

  Edan shook his head. “I don’t want to risk it.”

  “You’re risking it more by staying locked up.” Shui offered a sip of tea to her match. “It’s been days and we haven’t been outside of this house.”

  Priyam shuffled the card deck. “It’s called cabin fever,” she said. “Tons of movies about that. They all end up dying at the end.”

  “Priy!” Gaia glared at her.

  “I’m just saying.” Priyam dealt the cards.

  “Not helping.”

  “Strangely, she is.” Edan looked at the time. “We still have a few hours before sundown, who’s up for some local food?” he asked, and every single one of them except Synthia raised their hands. “Synthia?”

  “No way.” She rolled her eyes. “I have a TV in here.”

  “Too bad, we can’t leave you alone.” Edan put on a black jacket and the rest followed.

  * * *

  Strolling back from downtown, Priyam managed to find a popular french-fry truck. “I don’t get it, lovely Giant.” Priyam took one of her fries and ate it in one bite. “Can’t you just shake your hands and make a tornado?”

  “I can but it won’t serve us as a door. The doors are made by Nature only.” He stole a bite of Priyam’s fries. “It has to be a real tornado.”

  “Soo…” Synthia joined the conversation. “What you’re saying is that your stupid element is like, useless?”

  “I wouldn’t say useless.” Veter wielded the wind towards him. The wind reached where Shui and Willow were walking. It cradled Shui and flew her up into his arms. “Hello, Blueberry.” He kissed her tenderly on the lips.

  The group laughed while Shui turned red.

  “Veter.” Shui jumped down from his strong arms. “Humans can be around here.”

  “The closest one is yards away.” He chuckled. “Icarus checked.”

  Edan walked with his arm hugging Gaia’s shoulders. He gave her a sneaky scan. It was rare to see her with her hair tied up. Her neck was long, and right above the chain of the locket he’d given her was the Triple Spiral mark. The mark she got on her Eighteenth Spring. Subconsciously, Edan passed his thumb over the golden mark.

  Gaia’s skin shivered with goosebumps. She turned to Edan. “Sorry, couldn’t help it.” He smiled. “The golden mark pops out a lot with your hair tied up.”

  “I keep forgetting I have that mark now.” She leaned her head against Edan’s arm. “You know, I saw how it marked Kai that time I took the Ocean’s tear.”

  “Yes, every Mother Nature has it after their Eighteenth Spring,” he said. “Though I don’t think any of them looked this pretty with it.”

  Gaia’s stomach fluttered with happiness. Not in a million years! She thought of how surreal her current situation with Edan was. “Edan Blau, are you giving me a compliment?” She smiled.

  Instead of answering, Edan pulled Gaia to the back of a tree. Hiding themselves from the rest of the group, he took her by the neck and kissed her. “I was,” he
whispered against her lips and took her left hand. “I believe this belongs to you.”

  Gaia looked at her hand and saw a bigger version of her match ring on her pinky finger. “You made this?”

  “Of course.” He showed Gaia his pinky where he had his. “I used the same ribbons we had last time and added a new one to make it bigger.”

  Gaia noticed the mix of the darker older ribbon with the bright and new one. It was perfect. “I don’t know what to say.”

  Edan kissed her finger. “You don’t have to say a word.”

  She could see him turning around to join the rest of the group but she wasn’t ready for that. She curled her arms around his neck and pulled him back at her, crashing her lips against his. At first, Edan hesitated but once Gaia entwined her fingers in his hair he was all in.

  He pushed her against the tree and kissed her the same way he had been wanting to since the first time he walked into that classroom. He turned around, leaning his back on the trunk, slowly tracing Gaia’s back with his hand. She was the strongest living being in the universe yet she seemed incredibly fragile between his arms. She’d been everything that kept him trying harder to become a better Terrian, a better leader, a better man and now she was there, feeling the same way he was. Gaia gasped against his lips.

  SNAP! A branch cracked a few feet from them. Without pause, Edan reacted. He pushed himself away from Gaia and by twisting his body on top of her, he covered Gaia from the claws of a Tracker.

  “Stay down!” he ordered her as he turned his body on fire and jumped to fight the Tracker.

  Gaia couldn’t even react before Edan had already burnt the Tracker to death. She was just about to stand up when he grabbed ahold of her. “Are you OK? Did he hit you?” he asked, searching for wounds.

  “He didn’t reach me.” She tried to check his back. “Is your back alright?”

  “Don’t worry, it didn’t hit me,” he said, thankful his jacket was covering the wound. “We need to leave.”

  “What about the Tracker? Are there more?”

  “I highly doubt it.” He took her hand and walked faster. “Unless they are alone, Trackers hunt in packs. If there were more, we would’ve seen them by now.”