Oblivious to everything that was happening, Synthia had stepped back from the team as soon as she saw Edan kissing Gaia. She wasn’t even aware of the Tracker attack, all she could think about was that she hated how Gaia seemed to have everything so easy. She then realized how the trees around her began to change.
Hoping to see the man from before, Synthia followed the road up to her mysterious man.
“Homeless person!” Synthia screamed in every direction. “I know it’s you. The same person as when we were back on the road.”
“It is.” Azazel walked from behind a dying tree. “What brings you here?”
“I want more,” Synthia whined. “Whatever you gave me, it worked.”
Azazel took out another small red vase with the shape of a diamond. “Take it.”
Synthia inspected the vase. She drank it and saw her nose getting smaller and her lips puffing. “Wait… what do you want in exchange for this one?”
“Same as last one, nothing.”
* * *
Edan and Gaia arrived at the house. The rest of the group was waiting nervously. “Blimey!” said Pink as soon as they walked through the main door. “What happened, Boss?”
“Nothing, a Tracker took us by surprise,” he said.
“Where’s Synthia?” asked Shui. “She hasn’t returned either.”
Edan’s face clouded with confusion. “She was never with us,” he said, then gave a signal to Hunter. “Take Veter and look for her. She shouldn’t be far. Pink, please check that Gaia is unharmed.” He turned to Donovan. “Donovan, could you help me with the security maps?”
“Sure.” Donovan followed Edan to the room upstairs.
Once inside, he closed the door. “What’s going on Edan? We already did the security maps,” Donovan pointed out.
“I need help with my back.” Edan peeled off his jacket and left it on his bed. Donovan was used to treating his back. Besides Klog Mor, he was the only one on Earth who’d seen it before.
“You’re bleeding.” Donovan helped him with taking off his bloody shirt. “Did the Tracker do this?” he asked, and Edan nodded. “What did you mean a Tracker got you by surprise?” asked Donovan as he prepared the medicine paste. “Nothing takes you by surprise.”
“I was a bit distracted.” Edan turned a chair around and sat down hugging the backside.
“Distracted?” Donovan couldn’t understand what could possibly distract Edan. “By what? A seizure?” he joked.
“Gaia.”
“Uh…” He took a wet towel and the paste and stood behind Edan’s shirtless back. “This is going to hurt a lot,” he said and cleaned Edan’s bloody back. Edan didn’t even flinch.
Finishing cleaning the wound, Donovan placed the bloody towel on the desk and took the paste. With his finger he smudged the paste on the cuts. He tried to do it fast, as he knew Edan got uncomfortable everytime someone was able to look at his back.
Underneath cuts and burned marks was the reason most Terrians feared him. The reason for his perfectionism. The reason why he constantly carried the world on his shoulders. The reason that brought him to Gaia and could tear them apart as well.
“All done.” Donovan placed some bandages on him, cleaned up, and passed him a new T-shirt. Icarus squeaked loud outside the door. “Synthia’s back. I’ll go check on her.”
“Don’t.” Edan stood up from the chair. “First, we need to talk about her.”
* * *
The following morning, Gaia went to check on one of the white irises she kept putting wherever they went. She had no idea if Pratt was able to follow the trail. She couldn’t get it out of her mind that she saved Edan, thanks to Pratt’s training. He could’ve died. She shivered at the thought.
Even the thought was enough to make her want to hurl. There was no way she could picture a life without him, not now, not ever. Every single kiss he gave her was a reminder of how she needed to learn everything she could to keep him and everyone she loved alive.
She was about to go home when she heard footsteps. “I thought you weren’t coming anymore,” said a familiar voice.
Gaia hadn’t realized how much she missed her talks with Pratt until that moment. She turned around casually trying not to show her excitement. No way was she going to let him gloat on that. “I changed my mind,” she said in a laid-back manner. Nailed it.
“I see that. You’ve been trying to contact me,” he said taking out a bunch of dried white irises.
She counted them. “You have all of them?”
“I do.” He smiled, scratching the two moles on his straight nose. “Not that I needed them to find you.” Pratt lifted his left hand and Gaia saw the hair tie she gave him back on the day of their deal, wrapped around his wrist. “I told you, I can always find you as long as I have something of yours.”
“If you knew, then why didn’t you answer?”
“It wasn’t the right time.” He grinned at her. “Now that that’s out of the way, what can I do you for?”
Damn it… here it comes…“I need your help,” she slurred her words.
“Excuse me?” He laughed at her failed attempt to sound casual. “I think I heard something impossible.”
“I do.” She spoke clearer this time. “I need your help.”
“Why the change of heart?” he asked, sitting down on a nearby rock. It was clear he was enjoying the moment.
“The Nature’s Communion… It helped me saved someone.” She tried to be vague on who she saved. She had no time for another one of Pratt’s discussions on Edan, especially now that he was her match.
“I hate to say I told you so,” he said with his usual charming confidence.
“No, you don’t.”
“No, I don’t.” Pratt’s smile morphed into a gasp as soon as he noticed Gaia’s pinky ring. “Is… Is that a matching ring?”
“Yes.” Gaia stretched her hand and gave it a good look. She loved every part of it.
“Cool! Although to be honest, I never pictured you with Mr. Pretty Eyes.”
“It’s not Donovan’s. It’s Edan’s.”
To Gaia’s surprise, Pratt laughed. Really loud. “Stop joking around, Princess.” He kept laughing until he noticed Gaia was serious. “Mmmh… you’re not kidding.”
“Why would I?”
Pratt crossed his arms in front of his chest. His thick eyebrows frowned together. “Edan’s your match?” he asked with a hint of anger in his voice.
“And I am his,” she said loud and clear.
“Declared?”
“Since I was six.” Gaia could tell there was something off about Pratt’s reaction. He was happy a minute ago. “What?”
“That’s ironic,” he said.
“I don’t see it that way.” She twitched at his odd choice of words. There was no irony in them being together.
His serious face turned into his usual playful grin. “I guess congratulations are in order.”
“I know you don’t like him but don’t hold the truth.” She wielded a thick root to come out of the grass and sat down on top of it. “If there’s something wrong, you tell me. We had a deal, we don’t lie to each other. After all, that’s the reason we’re meeting, isn’t it?”
“True… yet you told Priyam about me,” he said, resting his elbows on his knees. “You broke our deal. I’m the one who should be giving this speech.”
Damn it… Gaia knew Pratt was right. She couldn’t expect him to stay true and let her break the main and only promise he’d ask her. Gaia stretched her arm. “No more lies. I mean it.”
“You can’t tell anyone else you’ve been training with me. At least not until you’re ready.” He took her hand. “Deal?” He grinned.
“Absolutely not. I promise you, but I’m not making any more deals with you.”
“No fun,” he teased, and shook her hand. Great! She thought, Pratt going back to his teasing let her know everything was right between them.
“Gaia!” Priyam screamed in the distance.
“Gaia! I need your help with the laundry.”
“I think Priy is looking for you.” He let go of her hand. “See you soon?”
“See you soon, teacher,” she said, and ran back to Priyam.
* * *
Gaia reached her best friend. “You look happy,” pointed out Priyam as Gaia smiled. “No… you saw Forest boy again?” she guessed right. She always did. “Are you kidding me?”
“He agreed to help me train once more.”
“What? No.” Priyam gave Gaia a basket made of straws just like the one she had. “Why would you do that? I thought you were scared of the new power.”
“I was,” she admitted. “Until it helped me save Edan.” Gaia bent down and placed the clean wet clothes in the basket.
“It did?”
“Yes.”
“Mmm…” Priyam grabbed one of the recently washed shirts and gave it a good stretch before hanging it on a branch. “Help me hang the rest or they’ll never dry.”
Instead of helping to hang the laundry, Gaia pointed her palm towards the basket of clothes. She concentrated on the water in the fabric. Every single drop. She flicked her hand towards the sky, wielding the water away from the clothes leaving them all dry. “There. All dry now.”
“See? If you weren’t meeting asshole once again, I would applaud you for how damn awesome that trick was.” Priyam pointed at the dry laundry. “You’re just missing on points.”
“I’ll be careful.”
“You won’t.” Priyam smiled at her best friend.
“I’m not—”Gaia was interrupted the moment her eye caught a ball of fire flying directly to the side of her head. “Watch out!”
Gaia pushed Priyam away from the ball’s trajectory, putting herself in the fire zone. The ball of blue fire hit Gaia on the back. It was painful but it didn’t burn her the way it would have burned Priyam. As quickly as Gaia got hit, she absorbed the fire. Blue fire? She knew Edan was the only one with blue fire but why would he attack her? Completely alert, Gaia turned around and pointed the palm of her hand towards her attacker.
To her surprise, the attacker was in fact Edan.
Chapter 19
The Devil’s Crossroad
“WOW!” VETER GASPED a few feet from both of them. “That was brutal.”
“I told you, dude, he wouldn’t go easy on her just cuz she’s his match.” Donovan stretched his hand. “Pay up.”
“What is wrong with you!?” Gaia flipped out at Edan. Match or no match he could’ve hurt any one of them.
“It’s called testing,” he said with not a single bit of guilt for whatever just happened.
“Testing what?”
“Your abilities.” Edan signaled Willow to attack.
Willow flicked her wrists. Two branches lashed out, one managed to slap Gaia on the face but before the second one could reach it, she wielded to the ground. “Willow too?” Gaia panted.
“Not just Willow.” Edan smirked, letting Gaia know he meant business. “You are going to fight us all.”
“Like group training?” Priyam asked, entertained by the idea of a new show.
“Sort of.” Donovan sat next to Priyam. “This time we’ll grade Gaia.”
“Grades?!” She laughed so hard her glasses almost fell off her round nose. “You’re done, G.”
Without waiting for Gaia to react, Pink took four knives out of her belt and threw them at Gaia. As Pink threw them, Gaia moved to a tree. She wielded the top branch to curl around her arm and pull her up to the top. “Why grades?” Gaia screamed from the top of the tree.
“To claim your place as Mother Nature you’ll need the approval of the parliament,” Edan explained as calm as ever. “We need to prepare you for that. Now stop talking and concentrate.”
Willow shook the tree making Gaia fall. As she was about to hit the ground, a current of wind pushed her to her feet. Edan glared at Veter. “Sorry, Kapetan,” he apologized, with a huge childish grin. “I won’t do it again.”
“Priy is right,” Gaia screamed, while running away. “I’ve never been good at tests!”
“You will be.” Edan gave the twins a nod.
The twins fought with Gaia. Pink used her long sword while Floyd stuck to the knives. Skillfully, Gaia jumped from side to side until she reached her sword. She unfolded her Wakizashi just in time to block one of Pink’s attacks. With her sword, she fought, switching between the two of them. The twins mixed the sword fight with martial arts, making it harder for Gaia. With one twist, Floyd threw a knife, hitting Gaia in the thigh. “Ouch,” she grunted in pain.
“Whoops. Sorry, Fairy Princess.” Floyd ran to her but Pink stopped him cold.
“Don’t!” she hissed. “Boss said we had to be tough.”
“Right… Suck it!”
Pink slapped her brother on the arm. “He said tough, not insensitive, you dill.”
Taking advantage of the twins being distracted, Gaia took out the knife and cauterized her wound by pressing her burning finger on it. She swung her hands, wielding a couple of branches to twirl around their arms and waist.
“No bloody way!” Floyd laughed as they were both carried to the top of the tree.
SPLASH! Water slithered from the small river nearby to where Gaia was standing. She turned around and saw Shui wielding the water. Shui twisted her hands as if she was reading a magic crystal ball and the water followed its wield, creating a ball of water surrounding Gaia. The water ball levitated with Gaia inside.
Gaia pushed her arms forward. Using the water around her, she turned it into the form of daggers that shot out of the water ball. One of the water daggers cut Edan on his cheek after shielding Priyam. “You should go somewhere safer,” he told Priyam and cleaned the blood from his cheek with the hem of his shirt.
“Are you kidding? That was incredible!” Priyam cheered. “You got them, G!”
Giving it another try, Shui froze the water trapping Gaia inside. Are you serious…!? Shaking, Gaia turned her body on fire. Slowly melting the water, enough to give her the space she needed to attack.
Finally, Gaia was able to move her arms and breathe. She pushed her arms to the edges of the bubble, exploding the fire, making Shui fly away.
Gaia landed on the floor all wet. She turned herself on fire, evaporating everything. Taking it as a challenge, Willow tried her best to hit Gaia with different types of plants, roots, and branches. In full-on fighting mode, Gaia pointed her arms to the damp earth. She wielded the water, turning it into a huge snake.
“Crikey!” Pink gasped.
Willow ran away but Gaia wielded the water snake to follow her until she was hit. The snake crashed against Willow.
Gaia turned on fire. “Who’s next?”
Edan signaled Veter it was his turn. Obeying his leader, Veter made a tornado around Gaia. Within seconds, her fire ran out of oxygen and the fire extinguished. Gaia began to suffocate.
Hunter stood up and took a step towards Gaia when Edan stopped him. “Let her.”
“Look at her. She’s choking,” he panicked. “Aren’t you worried?”
“Very,” he said. “But this is the only way she can truly learn.”
Gaia felt dizzy, her head pounding from the lack of air. Come on G! Think of something or you are going to faint. Gaia placed her hands on the ground. She closed her eyes concentrating. She could feel different grains of dirt vibrating under her palms. Now! She pushed and the ground swallowed her.
“No freaking way!” gasped Priyam. “Where is she?”
“I can’t believe it. She’s inside the ground.” Willow stood up to get a better look. “She’s incredible. I haven’t taught her any of that.”
GULP! The ground opened sucking Veter in and letting Gaia out.
Veter pierced the top of the ground with his massive hand and pulled himself outside the hole. “Veter, out!” Veter chuckled while bits of dirt fell from his bushy dark-brown beard.
In awe, everyone clapped at Gaia. “What about you?” she as
ked Edan. Her hands were trembling, her breathing was like crazy.
“I’ll attack another day,” he warned her. “When you least expect it.”
Hunter hugged Gaia. His arms were shaking and his head rested against her shoulder. “What’s wrong, Hunter?” Gaia asked.
“He was scared for you.” Veter patted the teen’s back. “I’m telling you, he was as white as a Darkling.”
Priyam passed Hunter a bottle of water. “Are Darklings born like that? All gooey and weird.”
“No. They are Terrians who chose to follow the path of Azazel.” Hunter drank the water.
“Then how do they get that white?” Priyam asked.
“Ifreann is full of ashes, so much it covers the sky.” Donovan took out of his pocket a nut and gave it to Icarus. “They never see sunlight. That’s why their faces look like that. As for their eyes and creepy looks, they get them as a warning for going against Nature.”
“What about the dark symbols on their faces?” asked Gaia, still hugging Hunter.
“Wait, what?” Synthia arrived just in time to hear the last part of the talk. “What dark symbols on their faces?”
“Darklings wear a series of black lines made of pagan symbols.” Shui leaned against Veter’s shoulder. “They’re said to be a written bond with Azazel. A way to show their choice to follow darkness.”
Synthia remembered the man on the hood had something tattooed on his face. Something that sounded a lot like what they were describing. “Dog boy, does the guy who wants to kill Gaia have one?”
“Azazel?” Donovan lifted his thick eyebrows. “Of course he does. His marks go from his heart to his left eye,” he said, tracing a line with his finger from his heart to his face.
“Around here?” Synthia asked, pointing at her left eyebrow.
“Exactly there.” Donovan was amazed, not only because Synthia knew where but because she was interested in learning something that wasn’t cutting diamonds or anything to do with clothes.
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