Seasons Within Box Set

by Lele Iturrioz

  Synthia moved closer to Donovan. “How can they take them off?”

  “They can’t,” he answered. His tone of voice made it clear he wished the mark was removable. “It’s a choice for life. Once it’s there it will never come off.”

  “Is he the one who gave me the scar?” Synthia pointed at where her scar used to be. Or at least that’s what she thought.

  “Yes,” said Shui. “He’s the one who created that curse.”

  “What happens if he dies?” In her mind, Synthia wondered if Azazel lost his life, she would be able to steal all of his beauty vases and have that power all to herself.

  “No one knows what can happen,” said Edan. “No one who’s tried to kill him has survived.”

  “Really?” she muttered to herself.

  “Enough of that.” Edan crossed his arms. “Everyone, get some rest, we’ll train tomorrow.” The team followed orders and left to get some well-earned relaxation time.

  Edan held Gaia’s arm and pulled her closer. “Come here.” He guided her towards the kitchen where he threw some of the First Tree’s flowers to a bowl and crushed the paste. “Stay still,” he ordered and covered the wound on her cheek with the paste.

  “Ouch.” She flinched.

  “Don’t move.” He smudged the rest of the medicine. “If I don’t do this, it’ll leave a scar. There, all done.” He placed the bowl down and Gaia kissed him.

  “Thanks,” she whispered before she pulled herself closer to him and kissed him again. This time stronger.

  “Wait,” he panted against her mouth. “Let’s stop,” he whispered before kissing her forehead.

  Gaia felt the anxiety crawling on her skin. “Stop kissing?”

  “Yes.”

  “Did I do something wrong?” she asked, not understanding what could’ve happened to make him react that way.

  “Absolutely not. This has nothing to do with you. I can’t think rationally when I’m with you like that. I could put you and everyone else in danger if something happens.”

  “What could possibly happen?”

  “Last time,” he said.

  Last time? Gaia recalled all the times they kissed. The first time, we were already in danger so that wasn’t it. Wait… No way, it finally clicked, the Tracker? “You didn’t put me in danger, a Tracker did.”

  “I can sense a Tracker from miles away, Red.” He caressed her arm. “That time, I didn’t notice the beast until it was a few feet from us.”

  “But you killed it.” She curled her lip into a smile trying her best to improve the mood. “You always do.”

  “That’s not the point.”

  “OK, we got a scare from a Tracker and Synthia went missing for an hour. So?”

  “We were lucky.”

  “We were enjoying.” Gaia pulled him closer. “I’m enjoying this, or at least I was.”

  “I’m enjoying this, too.” Edan gave her a quick small kiss. “There’s a time for everything. I waited twelve years to hear you call me your match again.” He smiled at the last word. “I can wait a year for that.”

  “A year!” She pushed herself away from Edan’s arms.

  “At least until your Resurgence,” he explained to her.

  “You’re kidding, right?”

  “No.” Edan leaned against the wall and crossed his arms. “I’m pretty set on that. I can’t let down my guard until I know you can fully take care of yourself.”

  Excuse me?! Can’t take care of myself? Gaia hated that Edan was still treating her like a child. Even after everything that had happened between them. “I already can. I saved you from a Draak.”

  “And it was remarkable. Yet, you are not fully in control.” He tried to get closer but she moved back, her body tense with anger. “Gaia, your elements are only now resurging. With the exception of fire, you barely used the rest for a year before locking them up.”

  “Why are you deciding this?” she scowled. “You’re my match.”

  “I’m also your protector. I can’t do my job if I’m distracted.” He passed a strand of red hair behind her ear. “Even if that distraction is you.”

  Gaia hugged herself. She had her arms crossed, gripping her upper arms. “You’re serious?”

  “I am,” he said clear and loud. “When it comes to you, I always am.” Not wanting to fight, Edan cornered Gaia against a wall. He gently passed his hand around her waist to her back. “Red, I’m yours forever.” He lifted her face by her chin. “What’s the rush?”

  “Well… when you put it like that…” She nipped on her lower lip.

  “I didn’t hear you,” he teased.

  “Fine.” She finally hugged him back. “Can I still kiss you?”

  “Any time you want,” he said. “As long as we don’t go overboard, of course.”

  “How about right now?”

  “Right now is a great time.” Edan slid his palm across Gaia’s cheek. He dipped his head and kissed her, trying his best to keep his word and hold back.

  “Get a room!” Priyam whistled as she passed the two lovebirds on her way to her room.

  Gaia laughed at her best friend’s lack of timing. “I’m hungry, wanna eat?”

  Edan smiled back. “Lead the way.”

  * * *

  The next day, while everyone trained, Synthia crawled out of her room. She snuck into the twin’s cabinet and stole a dagger. She put on some running shoes she found in Willow’s room and escaped in the same direction she last found the hooded man. It was a dumb move since she knew who that man was, but she didn’t care. This time she had a plan to make her beauty infinite.

  She walked and walked, hoping she would find him once more. Finally, after a mile of searching for him, Synthia found herself at a crossroad.

  “Azazel!” she screamed. “Are you here?”

  “I’m always here.” Azazel walked from behind a tree.

  “I don’t want to kill you.” She lifted her arms to show him she was unarmed.

  “Kill me?” Azazel laughed with creepy soul-chilling laughter. “You’ve figured out who I am. I’m slightly impressed, but please, kill me? I urge you to try.”

  “I won’t. I promise, I come in peace,” she wailed.

  “Peace?” he emphasized. “A word your kind knows nothing about.” Azazel paced around Synthia. “What have you come here for, if you know who I am?”

  “I need more,” she demanded.

  “More what?”

  “What do you think? I want more of the potion.”

  “What a coincidence, I have some here.” He took out another vase identical to the last one. “Needless to say, this one will cost you.”

  “What!?” she whined, and pouted her mouth. “Why!? Give it to me,” she screamed but he refused. Filled with anger, Synthia took out the dagger she stole from Pink and stabbed Azazel in the chest. She patted Azazel trying to find the vase. “Where are the potions?!”

  Laughing, Azazel took out the dagger. He threw it to the grass. The green grass turned gray once it came in contact with his blood. He placed his palm on top of the trunk of a still-living tree. As the tree died, the cut on his chest closed up. “Uhh,” he grunted with pleasure before glaring at her.

  “No! Don’t hurt me!” Synthia cried in panic. “I’ll tell you where Gaia is.”

  “I know where she is.” He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “I can feel her. I can sense her.” He opened his eyes. “What I can’t do is get close to her without the tracker boy sensing me from far away.”

  “He’s not that good.”

  “He is, and more.” He continued to pace around Synthia. “My beasts are too loud, too messy, that makes them easier to track. I…” Azazel wielded the trees around them, turning the crossroads into a forest full of tall trees. “I can wield Nature to hide my essence. Even so, he senses me.” He dried one of the trees to ashes and wielded its remains to the shape of Gaia’s face. “I can get close, but not close enough,” he said, and the ashes crumbled, erasing Gaia’s i
mage.

  “I can kill her,” Synthia offered. “I can kill Gaia if you make me prettier.”

  “As well as you killed me?” He laughed at her face.

  “No…”

  Azazel leaned closer to her. He saw there was fear in her eyes but she spoke the truth when she talked about taking someone’s life for her needs. “Is that how far you are willing to go? For beauty?”

  “For that I’m willing to do anything.”

  “Anything?”

  “Anything you want.”

  “Are you aware of the deal you are making?” He stared at Synthia the same way that a predator stares at his prey seconds before attacking. “It can cost someone’s life.”

  “So?” she moaned with her nasal voice. “I stabbed you, didn’t I?”

  “The life of an enemy can be easily given away. The life I would be taking would be from them, your friends.”

  “And?” she said without a single care in the world.

  “I will never understand your kind; you worship vanity and things over thoughts and life.”

  “Says the creepy guy who kills everything.” She crossed her arms with impatience. “Are we making this deal or not?”

  “This past season something has been blocking the tracker boy’s senses but not enough to hide me. You will return with them and fix it.” He took out a dropper and handed it to Synthia. “Every three days you will make sure to give this to the tracker boy.”

  Synthia took the dropper and inspected it. It seemed too small to be dangerous. “Will it kill him?”

  “Would you care?”

  “Not if I get my end of the deal.”

  “It will only numb his senses.” He snapped his fingers.

  Obeying his king, Jinn took a golden container with liquid inside and placed it in Synthia’s hand. “Each time you pour from the dropper on those three days, the contract for your beauty will renew. If you miss a day, it will fade away. Never give him less, never give him more.”

  Synthia drank the golden liquid. Changing her own perspective, she could see her dark-brown eyes turning blue, her pale cheeks became rosy and her skin glowed. “How do I look?”

  “Not like you.”

  Synthia put the dropper inside her back pocket. “Question: If you can do all of these types of things, why can’t you use your powers for your own face? Fix all those ugly marks.”

  “On the contrary. My marks are not a defect to me. They make me who I am.” He passed his fingers over the black lines made by symbols making them shine red. “They are different, not ugly.”

  “That’s what you think.”

  “Your hand,” he demanded.

  Doing what she was told for the first time, Synthia stretched her hand. “What about it?”

  Azazel grabbed her hand. With his sharp nail he cut a reversed Uruz rune on her palm. “Ouch! What’s wrong with you?!”

  “That symbol will haze the Terrian’s focus when near.”

  “Why would I want this?” she cried. “Gaia used to escape all the time and didn’t need it.”

  “Because she’s who she is and you are too dim to keep the escaping undetected by them. It’s a miracle you haven’t been detected by now.” Azazel licked the blood out of his nail and at the same time, the cut on her palm closed. “Your blood is bound to me now. Get out of my sight,” he ordered her.

  * * *

  Synthia ran to the camp. She was thrilled to have the cure for eternal beauty. Entering the kitchen, took out a glass of water and dripped in three drops of the black liquid.

  “Where have you been?”

  Synthia jumped at the sound of Donovan’s voice. “Spa a few blocks from the house,” she said, as she hid the dropper in her back pocket. “I don’t just wake up this beautiful every day.”

  “This is the second time you’ve gone away without telling us. Please try not to go too far away,” he said, knowing Edan was right to be wary of her, she was up to something. Then his thoughts became slightly unfocused as Synthia moved closer with the mark on her palm. His suspicions, his thoughts, they all became hazy. “Anyway,” he mumbled, unable to recall what his important mission was about. “We don’t know what could happen if we’re separated at the wrong time. Stop wandering around.”

  “Relax.” She tapped his back as she walked to her room. “I’m back at the house with you guys. Here.” She passed the glass of water to Hunter. “I’m done with it so drink it.”

  “Thank you,” mouthed Hunter, knowing Synthia wouldn’t know the hand signal for that word, or any word.

  “No.” She smirked. “Thank you.”

  Chapter 20

  Stars of Terra

  AT NIGHT, GAIA WALKED to the balcony of her room. She looked around hoping to see a tornado somewhere, anywhere. Instead of a tornado, she saw Hunter lying down in the forest in a star pose. Gaia smiled at his cuteness and left the room to join him.

  “What are you doing?” she asked at a closer distance.

  “Looking at the sky,” he signed. “I miss the stars.”

  Gaia looked up. The sky was shining so beautifully it reminded her of the nights she spent looking at the sky when she lived in Truckee. “They’re shining really bright.”

  “In Terra you can see them so close, it feels like if you stretch your arms you will be able to touch them.” He pushed his arms towards the sky and sat up. “The moon is as big as a mountain.”

  Gaia imagined a moon that looked the way Hunter was describing it. She couldn’t wait to see it in Terra. “Can I join you?” she asked and the teen nodded happily. Gaia bent her knees and lay down close to him. Her back touched the warm ground and she let out a sigh.

  “What is it?” Hunter passed his hand over her frown. “You look worried.”

  “I am. We’ve been here for days and nothing,” she said. “I can’t go through a day without worrying about them appearing each time I turn a corner.” Hunter smiled so big Gaia swore he was about to laugh out loud. “What’s so funny?”

  “This morning Edan told me the exact same thing,” he signaled. “Except he used the word ‘bloody’ many times.” Hunter picked out a white cyclamen from the grass patch near him. He gave the white flower to Gaia.

  “This flower is very pretty.”

  “Better.” He pointed at her mouth. “You are smiling now.”

  “Thanks for cheering me up.” Gaia took in the flower’s sweet fragrance. “For this and for never telling Edan about our talk.”

  Hunter thought for a moment. “About the Draak? Why would I?”

  Did he just ask why? she thought. Even after studying the signs for the past months, there were times when she still confused signs. “You asked why?” The teen nodded. “He’s the leader.”

  “You are my friend.” He crossed his legs. “Although, if it happens again, you should tell him yourself.”

  “I will,” Gaia promised, hoping she understood all of Hunter’s sentence. “Want to watch the stars?”

  Hunter lay down. Together they looked at the stars.

  “What’s happening?” said Priyam, standing up by them.

  “We’re star gazing.” Gaia patted the grass. “Come watch them with us.”

  “Nice!” Priyam turned around. “Floyd! Come here,” she called, and sat next to Hunter leaving a free space for whenever Edan got there.

  Little by little they all joined, all except Synthia who was now sleeping. As they lay down, side by side, they created a circle where their heads touched. Shui took out her flute and began to play an old Celtic song while the rest of the Terrians began to hum and sang to the melody in a foreign language.

  Gaia closed her eyes and concentrated on the gorgeous melody. She felt the warmth of Nature as she felt her skin tingle and her body relax. “I love how the sky’s shining,” she mumbled.

  “Just wait, Moja Princeza.” Veter gave Shui’s hand a soft squeeze. “In Wintercliff the stars shine the brightest; they look like diamonds shining on top of your head.”

&nbs
p; “In Lakefall the stars reflect on the lake,” said Shui. “It looks as if you’re floating in space.”

  “What about Emberdale?” Pink asked.

  “No stars for them,” Donovan laughed. “The volcano’s walls cover all of the sky. Unless you reach the last rune,” he said. “That’s where you can see them the best.”

  “The last rune?” Priyam lifted herself up by pushing against her elbows. “Is that real? That sounds epic.”

  “It is epic.” Veter kissed Shui’s hand.

  “It’s said that Nature teaches in three ways: you need to start a journey, make some sacrifices, and gain the knowledge you were looking for.” Shui leaned closer to Veter. “A long time ago, hundreds of years after Terra was separated from Earth, a group of runes were found carved inside the Emberdale’s caves. The Terrian who found them called the runes the Three Markings.”

  “They say whoever can reach them all will be granted the highest respect,” said Donovan. “They will also reach a peaceful and beautiful place. They say it will feel like you’re in the promised realm,” Donovan explained and Edan squeezed Gaia’s hand.

  “What happens if someone cheats?”

  “You can’t, little Prisum.” Veter chuckled. “The runes are carved on the walls of a volcano. For you to get the rune, you need to press your skin against the rune and brand yourself. No scar, no rune.”

  Pink used her arms as a pillow. “We def need to try that, mate,” she told Floyd while getting comfy.

  “Reckon.”

  “Is it as beautiful as they say?” Gaia asked Donovan. “The place where the runes take you?”

  “I wouldn’t know.” He shrugged his shoulders. “After the death of ninety-nine of the strongest Terrian warriors and wielders, the parliament saw the Three Markings as an extremely dangerous journey. They set an age limit for anyone who wanted to try it out.”

  “Like eighteen?”

  “More.” Edan talked for the first time since they all gathered on the grass. “Twenty-eight is the limit.”

  “Twenty-eight?” Pink felt bored by the idea of having to wait eleven years to try it out. “That’s a bit too much, don’t you think?”