Seasons Within Box Set

by Lele Iturrioz

  “That’s the age our element ends maturing,” said Willow.

  “Also, at that age you are old enough to know not to look for unnecessary trouble.” Veter lit up his cigar. “Anyone after the age of twenty-eight can begin the journey.”

  “Only eight Terrians have reached the last rune.” Donovan scratched Icarus’ head. “One of them is lying beside Gaia.”

  Gaia turned to Edan. “You?” Gaia felt the scars on his left arm. She understood now what they meant. She caressed them with her thumb. “That’s what these are?”

  “Yes,” he said. No emotion in his words.

  “How?” she asked. “You are not even twenty-two.”

  “No.” Donovan laughed, tapping Edan’s shoulder. “Because this lunatic is the youngest one to ever reach the third ruin. He was nine.”

  “Ripper! That’s impressive, Boss,” Pink congratulated him, still wanting to try out the marks herself.

  “What’s impressive is that there are no bloody tornados here,” Edan changed the subject.

  Shui leaned her head against Veter’s shoulder. “We should start thinking about other options, Edan.”

  “I will, give me a few hours and I’ll have an answer by tomorrow night.”

  “Meeting tomorrow!” Priyam cheered.

  “Since when do you get this excited for a meeting?” Gaia asked Priyam.

  “Since they became the highlight of my day… Sad, I know.”

  * * *

  The next day Gaia got ready for Edan’s meeting. She smiled at how things had changed. Before, just like with Edan, Gaia used to find the meetings annoying. Now she really got excited every time they held one. She brushed her hair and put on a yellow slip dress.

  Late as usual, Gaia opened the door. To her surprise, she found Edan leaning against a wall with both of his hands in the front pockets of his dark jeans. “Good morning, Red.” He scanned her dress, liking what he saw. “I came to escort you.”

  “Lucky me.” She threw her arms around his neck and pulled him closer. “My own bodyguard.”

  “Actually, you have eight,” he said as he hugged her from her lower back. Chills crawled all over her skin. She felt an electric current passing through her body. “A bit high maintenance,” he teased.

  “I could always call for another one of my bodyguards.”

  “You could try,” he said with a grin, leaning in slowly.

  Gaia pulled him by the hem of his shirt and kissed him. He tasted like lemon and honey. His lips felt warm. His hands sliding over her arms felt cool. He was everything Gaia could ever imagine.

  Like every single time ever since their talk, as soon as the kiss began to intensify, Edan moved backwards. “Let’s go, Red.”

  Gaia locked her arms around his neck not letting him go. “You’re my boyfriend.”

  Edan chuckled and hugged Gaia’s waist. “I’m absolutely aware of that,” he grinned, amused.

  “What I meant was…” Shy over her words, she looked away from his gaze. “You can kiss me like that if you want.”

  “Gaia.” He loosened his hug.

  “Fine, you win. Damn you, chocolate.”

  “Chocolate?”

  “One of Priyam’s many metaphors. Let’s go, Mr. No Fun.” She pressed her lips against his one last time.

  ZAP! A brief electric shock passed from his lower lip to hers. “What was that?” she asked, passing her fingers over her lower lip.

  “Me.” Edan laughed. “I don’t know why I’ve been carrying a lot of static lately. Poor Icarus keeps avoiding me.”

  “Must be the city,” Gaia guessed. “It’s pretty dry here.”

  “Must be Nature telling us we’ll be late to the meeting.” Smiling, Edan began to walk backwards.

  Gaia laughed. “She wouldn’t. I’m her mother.”

  Edan and Gaia arrived at the meeting where everyone, including Synthia, was already waiting for them.

  Gaia sat next to Hunter while Edan sat beside Donovan. Not wanting to be shocked, Icarus gradually moved far away from him to Shui’s lap.

  “What are we going to do?” asked Willow. “None of the next doors are within distance, not even by car.”

  “Challenge accepted,” said Pink and Floyd in unison, before slapping the table.

  “No.” Edan stopped them. “This is not one of your mad challenges, and moreover, Priyam already took care of it,” he said and everybody turned to look at Priyam.

  “Sure did,” she said with a grin full of wisdom. “We’re flying there.”

  Pink played with her cassette tape. “How?”

  “On Pegasus,” said Priyam as if it was obvious. “I found a bunch of them chilling on the grass… On a plane, people! We are flying on a plane. Got tickets for the day after tomorrow.”

  “I love your enthusiasm, little Prisum.” Veter blew the smoke from his cigar. “However, none of us have passports.”

  “We do now,” said Edan.

  “I made everyone a new identity,” Priyam beamed. “Best identity our little diamonds could buy.” She opened her backpack and took out a bunch of passports. “Edan and Donovan, you guys can speak fluent Spanish so I put you two and Hunter as Mexicans. The less paperwork you need the better.” She passed them their green passports. “Freckles, since you stayed twelve years in Quebec, I gave you a Canadian nationality. You won’t need a visa.” She gave Willow her new passport. “Pink and Floyd, you guys have yours, I hope.”

  The twins nodded.

  “Shui and Veter are under Serbian passports.” Priyam gave Shui two red passports.

  “Why do I have the same last name Veter has?” Shui asked after checking them.

  “Congratulations, you guys are married,” Priyam hailed. “Truth is I ran out of sheets. Besides someone needs to keep an eye on this Viking so he doesn’t mess it up.”

  Veter read the name Shui Jankovic and smiled. “Thank you, Prisum.”

  Priyam winked at Veter. “Gaia and Synthia, you get American passports.”

  Gaia took hers and checked it. It was of incredible quality. It was even faintly worn out to avoid suspicion. “Really? That’s my name?”

  “Sorry G, Gaia is not a common name.” Priyam pushed her sliding glasses up her nose.

  “I know.” Gaia showed the passport. “From all the names in the world, you gave me Alma-Loo? What about Leia? I liked that one better.”

  “We already used that for when we went to Canada.” She grinned.

  Gaia pouted. “You could have at least given me the name of someone smarter.” She placed the passport on the table. “What about you?”

  “I will be Priyamvada Singh, an exotic yet adorable Indian.” She took out hers. “Obviously.”

  “Indian?” Synthia snorted. “OMG, you are so dumb. They’ll know we’re lying,” she laughed. “Or are you taking your feather thing?”

  Pink twisted her eyebrows. “You mean a war bonnet?”

  Synthia tapped her head with her index finger. “Duh!”

  “I think you are confusing Native Americans with Eastern Indians.”

  “Same thing,” said Synthia.

  Pink passed Priyam a sleeping dart but Veter took it away from her hands before she could give it a good use.

  “Priyam?” Edan checked the plane tickets. “This is all perfect…”

  “Then why the face?”

  “The third door is in the Cave of Swallows.” He pointed at the door on a map he took from his back pocket. “That’s in San Luis Potosi.”

  Priyam checked where his finger was pointing at. “Yes, it is.”

  “It says Cancún, Quintana Roo in the destination.”

  “Right... it was Hunter’s idea to arrive somewhere else and take some other form of transportation once there. It would be harder that way to follow us. And btw, our final destination is Playa del Carmen.”

  “What?! I agree with Hunter, but Priyam…” he put his finger far, far away from where the earth door was. “Playa del Carmen is on the other side of the
country.”

  “True. But it’s also on the ‘Beaches you must visit’ list.”

  “You’re taking us to a beach?” Gaia asked, excited, never having seen the ocean.

  “Not just any beach.” Priyam grinned playfully as she took out a thick multi-colored tourist guide. “Terrians, get your sombreros ready, cuz in two days, we’re going to Mexico.”

  * * *

  That night, Synthia snuck out of her room. She pressed the part of her palm where Azazel cut her. The trees on her left shifted slowly, opening a path. She checked to make sure no one was watching her and then followed it.

  The more she walked the creepier it got. She could see the dead trees, smell sulfur, hear soft whispers of pleas, and feel the desperation in the air.

  Ignoring every survival sense that was screaming at her to get out of there, Synthia kept going until she saw Jinn’s shady figure at the end of the tunnel.

  “Where is he?” She walked closer trying her best not to get her clothes stained with the dark goo that dripped from the dead trees. “Why is he asking stuff from me and then doesn’t even show up?”

  “You know he can’t get this far.” Jinn paced gradually, getting closer and closer to Synthia up to smelling her hair. “Moreover,” he growled, “you’re the one who called.”

  “So?!” She tapped the floor with her shoe.

  “He sent me.”

  “Give him this.” She passed Jinn a crumbled piece of paper. “And tell him I want more of the potion.”

  Without opening it or saying goodbye, Jinn turned around and left between the shadows.

  “You are welcome!” screamed Synthia.

  Jinn arrived to where Azazel was, knelt down and handed him the paper.

  Azazel opened the piece of paper and read it.

  2 days we arrive at Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo

  Door in San Luis Potosi, Mexico

  Chapter 21

  Compos Mentis

  YAWNING, GAIA WALKED out of her room only to find the house empty. “Guys?” she called but no one answered. She checked their rooms and nothing. They were all gone.

  “I’m beyond stoked!” Gaia heard Floyd’s screams coming from outside. She walked towards the window and saw Veter and the rest in the garden, speaking with delight to Edan. Whatever they were talking about, it had to be good. Even Synthia was among them.

  “Are we really going to do this?” Gaia could hear Veter’s screams of happiness as she strode outside the house.

  “Why wouldn’t we?” asked Edan as if the question was obvious. “Hunter already secured the area. Willow helped me with the camouflage. Besides, we have today left before the flight, might as well use it.”

  “It’s… dangerous,” Veter pointed out, puffing the smoke of his cigar.

  “And?” Edan opened the top of the wooden box.

  “You hate doing unnecessarily dangerous things, Boss,” Pink chimed in.

  “There are far more dangerous things out there, and I believe this will be of use to Gaia.” Edan took a cotton bag from the box.

  “She’s also joining us?” Donovan gasped, excited.

  “Of course.” Edan smirked at Gaia who was lost over what they were talking about. “She proved she can handle it when we tested her.”

  “Yes!” Donovan patted Edan’s back. “Guys, Edan agreed! And Gaia will play, too.”

  “No way,” Willow complained. Her freckled nose wrinkled. “Edan, is Gaia really playing with us? She’s not ready, she’ll get hurt.”

  Edan nodded. “I beg to differ.”

  Veter hugged Gaia so hard, he lifted her from her seat. “Moja Princeza! This is so exciting.”

  Priyam lifted her hand before talking. “Excuse me… Someone care to explain what are the Terrians talking about?”

  “The Games,” Veter said, placing Gaia on steady ground.

  “What games?” Gaia asked.

  “You get this excited for games, so lame,” Synthia whined with her usual nasal pitch that grated on every single one of Priyam’s nerves.

  “They’re not just games, you aggravating creature,” Donovan jumped in. “They are the games of Terra. We called them Compos Mentis.”

  “They are more like a tournament,” Edan said, placing the wooden box on the table and passing the cotton bag to Donovan. “Donovan, rules.”

  “Each warrior takes a Soul’s Pebble,” Donovan explained as he took a crystal pebble slightly smaller than a golf ball out of the cotton bag. The Soul’s Pebble shone brightly on Donovan’s hand.

  Once the pebble stopped shinning, it wasn’t transparent anymore. It had an eagle’s feather painted in oil. “The Soul’s Pebbles show a part of the essence of the warrior who took it. Once the connection is complete, the warrior puts the pebble inside the choosing box.” Donovan put his pebble inside the wooden box and passed the cotton bag with the rest of the Soul’s Pebbles to Veter. “In Terra, two members of parliament are in charge of announcing the warriors that will fight against each other. In this case Priyam and Hunter, you’ll take a pebble each out of the choosing box. Those two chosen warriors will fight using their elements or in Pink and Floyd’s case, their weapons.”

  Veter placed his Soul’s Pebble in the choosing box. “The goal is to reach five-hundred points. From waist down each hit counts fifteen points, from the waist up it counts thirty, a major hit will count fifty, and if you are thrown out of the arena you lose automatically. The winner fights against a new warrior until he or she loses.”

  Gaia lifted her eyebrow in confusion. “Sorry, what’s a major hit?”

  Shui took the bag from Willow. “You draw blood.” She walked closer towards Gaia and Edan. They were the last ones to pick a pebble.

  “Blood? How common is that?” Gaia’s hands got sweaty just thinking about it.

  “Most of the hits.” Veter grinned holding his cigar between his molars.

  “Don’t stress.” Edan noticed Gaia’s nerves. “You are ready.”

  Shui offered the bag to Gaia. She slid her hand inside and took a Soul’s Pebble. The crystal shone on her hand. It was warm and tingly, as if the light was traveling through her hand and chest. The crystal stopped shining. Gaia opened her hand. The Soul’s Pebble had an oil painting of all the elements united by the same Five Fold symbol she bared under her right wrist.

  Shui moved the bag closer to Edan. Edan stared at the bag the same way a space traveler would look at a black hole. Deep down, he was afraid of what the pebble might show. Tapping into his bravery, Edan shoved his hand inside and took out a pebble. He squeezed it hard as if he wanted to hide the result. The pebble stopped shining. Edan slowly opened his hand. The pebble was the same color of his electric-blue fire with black spots and a white lotus flower. Edan relaxed and placed the pebble on the wooden box. “Willow, can you help us build the arena?”

  Willow nodded and lifted her hands. Within a ‘safe’ distance away from them, a rectangular section of the ground raised until it turned into an eighty-foot-long stage.

  “Priyam, would you do the honors?” said Donovan as he passed her the choosing box.

  Happy, Priyam took out a pebble with a painting of a tornado that kept spinning. “Veter,” she said, and gave the box to Hunter.

  The wild teen took out the next one, a green pebble with a yellow tulip. “Willow.”

  “Yes!” Veter cheered. “This will be fun.” He put out his cigar and flew to the arena.

  “No freaking way!” Priyam gasped in amazement. “He can fly?”

  “Please.” Willow rolled her eyes. “he’s just wielding the air around him.”

  “I would like to see if you can do something cooler?” Veter taunted her from the arena’s stage.

  Willow tied her pale-blonde hair into a high ponytail. She took a step and the earth lifted, taking her to the stage where it went back to normal once she stepped into the arena.

  Veter stayed floating in the sky. “Ready?” Edan asked. Both Willow and Veter nodded.

&
nbsp; Edan raised his hand and sent a fireball towards the sky. Once the ball of fire reached a distance higher than where Veter was flying, it exploded like a firecracker.

  Smiling, Veter taunted Willow with a hand wave. Willow dropped a seed on the floor and pointed her palm towards the dirt. A tall pine tree grew at a fast pace. Willow jumped on one of the branches and as it grew as she went up towards Veter. Willow, standing on a branch, pointed at Veter and one of the branches of the pine tree grew directly towards him.

  With great reflexes, Veter dodged the branch and flew higher but the branch managed to twirl around his foot and pull him down. Veter swung his hand and a fast, contained wind current cut the branch, releasing his foot. Veter shook off the debris when a second branch jabbed and cut him on the arm.

  “Fifty points for Willow!” cheered Donovan as he moved the marker.

  Veter turned to face his rival. He saw her smiling victoriously. “Oops, did that hurt?”

  “You tell me.” Veter lifted his arms with a slow strong motion. An intense wave of air flew from the bottom of the pine tree towards the sky, ripping off all of its needles and cutting Willow a few times.

  “Two hundred points for Veter!” Donovan changed the marker.

  “Is she OK?” Gaia asked Hunter with concern.

  “She is,” Hunter reassured her. “She’s probably furious though.”

  With her face red and a thin cut on her cheek, Willow wielded a dozen branches towards Veter. He flew in quick motions trying to get away from their range but the thick branches managed to reach him. Three of the branches twirled around both of his feet leaving him trapped.

  Willow swung her arms to the arena and the branches followed her wield, slamming Veter against the stage floor.

  “Nice counter-attack! Sixty-five points for Willow.” Donovan added the numbers to Willow’s marker.

  Lying on the floor, Veter made a bubble of constantly moving air around Willow and lowered her from the pine tree. She spun around, making her dizzy.

  “Thirty points for Veter.” Donovan cheered from the safe zone.