Gaia's Secret (19 page)

Sonya paused before a tree.

It reminded me of a willow, but its tendrils
of green hair were much thicker and longer, each strand lined with
beautiful bright orange flowers, some of which hung over our trail.
The tree looked like it was covered in tiny bursts of flame. The
flowers belled open into the shape of a star with blinding yellow
centers. The air all around was infused with its scent, something
passionate and intoxicating and…strangely familiar.

“Cicero, look!” Sonya smiled up at the
tree.

“How can I forget?” He smiled at his wife,
plucking one of the flowers and smelling it before handing it to
her. I didn’t know why he bothered smelling it. I could smell the
flowers from here. Any closer and my nose would probably never
recover.

The moment Sonya’s fingers touched the petal,
the flower flared blood red at its edges. Sonya and Cicero
continued on, lost in their memories with each other.

“Ardor’s Flame,” said a deep voice in my
ear.

Alex was right behind me, gazing at the
tree.

“That flower…it just changed color.” I
watched the little flame Sonya was carrying.

He watched after his parents. “The tree is
enchanted. It sees the heart. Legend says that if you pick a flower
and give it to someone you love, it holds its bloom as long as that
love lives.”

“Do they always change color like that?”

“No. The flower feeds off the love two people
share. Common thought is the greater the love, the greater the
color change. But you never know what to expect—just how they’ll
change. My parents still have the flower my dad gave my mom when he
confessed his love.”

The flower. The one that floated in the water
bowl at their home on Earth. It was from this world. All that time,
it was the same flower.

“The water bowl,” I said.

He nodded.

I reached out my hand to touch one of the
bright stars. But just as my fingertips touched the soft velvet,
the flower retracted into itself. In its place was a tiny green bud
sticking out from the strand of the tree. As if that wasn’t enough,
it began recruiting all the other flowers so that in a few second’s
time, there were no flowers left on the tree. Nothing but clusters
of green buds.

I pulled back my hand. “Why did they do
that?”

Alex looked humored. “The flowers are afraid
of you.”

“Do you enjoy watching me struggle to figure
things out on my own?”

He frowned. “No, actually, it’s the most
frustrating thing about you.”

He gave Parsec a soft kick, squeezed past me
and walked on after his parents.

“I’ll tell you who’s frustrating,” I
mumbled.

Calyx whinnied as we walked on. But when I
looked back at that tree—that selfish, haughty tree—the flowers
were out again in full bloom, and all of them were facing me.

We had been walking parallel with a solid,
rock wall when Cicero finally stopped. Except, I couldn’t really be
sure the wall was still there. The sun had faded and the mist
became so dark and so thick it was like we were walking through a
cumulonimbus.

“Ah, there it is.” Cicero said.

I had no idea what “it” was; all I could see
was cloud. Before I could ask, Cicero led Nova off to the right and
Alex and Sonya continued after him. Calyx hurried to follow so we
didn’t lose them.

They stopped before a cave, its black opening
just visible through the fog. Cicero dismounted, and led Nova after
him through the narrow crack.

Calyx’s irritation surged through me as I
leapt from the saddle. I tugged his reigns forward but he shook his
head and tugged back.

“Oh, come on. You’re not afraid of a little
cave are you?”

He whinnied and pulled harder.

“Fine, then. Want me to leave you out
here?”

He stopped pulling, stood tall, and snorted.
I couldn’t help but chuckle at his obstinacy. When I grabbed
Calyx’s reins again, he still wouldn’t budge. “Well, are you coming
or not?”

Calyx whinnied but stepped forward and
followed me through the narrow opening. Rough rock wall stood close
on both sides, but after a few yards it ended, much to Calyx’s
relief, and opened into a single, large domed room. Fuzzy balls of
light floated near the arched stone ceiling, casting the rock
chamber in an orange glow.

“There, that should do it.” Cicero dusted off
his hands and looked back at me with a smile.

“You made those?” I asked.

He smiled, then started shuffling through his
pack. I stared at the lights overhead, hovering weightless in the
air. How he had managed them was beyond me, as were most things in
this world.

“How did you know this was here?” I
asked.

“I didn’t.” Cicero pulled a few reddish,
round objects the size of softballs from his bag. “But I knew it
existed. Alaric told me about it once. Said he used to come out
here as a boy when he didn’t want anyone to find him, like me.”
Cicero grinned.

“Not that it helped.” Sonya winked at me and
turned her attention back to Orion.

“Yes, your poor father. Appointed me as his
Aegis because I wouldn’t leave him alone. Figured he might as well
pay me for it.”

Everyone knew more about my dad than I did,
even strangers like Thad. Funny the most reliable creature in my
life should be a horse I met a few days ago. No, it wasn’t funny,
it was depressing. Extremely depressing.

There was nothing in all my life I could
remember making me feel like such an outcast. Like I was a big
mistake, so the world threw me in the middle of the Pacific without
a life preserver.

Calyx nuzzled my palm and I sighed.

Wallowing in your woes isn’t going to get
you anywhere.

Thanks for understanding, conscience.

I started un-strapping my pack, but Alex
placed his hand over mine.

“I’ll do it. Sit down.”

I jerked my hand away. “I don’t need your
help, thanks.” I yanked down on a strap, tightening it rather than
loosening it. Calyx shifted.

“Daria.”

I was not in the mood for this. “You’re a
protector, not a gentleman.”

“Is it impossible to be both?”

“For you?” Snap. “Yes.” I had now broken one
of the leather straps, and Calyx was so furious his nose flared and
he was showing me his big, white teeth.

“Daria? Would you come here please?” It was
Sonya. “Oh, don’t worry about your pack. Alex can handle it.”

I turned back to Alex, expecting to see the
fight in him, some sign that he was angry with me, but there was
none. In fact, I couldn’t even see his face. He had turned
completely away, already busying himself with my things.

Why didn’t he ever fight back?

Frustrated, I joined Sonya, who had piled a
few logs in the middle of the room.

“Where did you find those?” I asked.

“Over there.” She pointed to an orderly
stacked pile. “Your father was always prepared.”

She was right about that one.

“You were asking how Cicero made the light
appear,” she said.

So they weren’t totally ignoring me.
“Yeah?”

“I’ll show you,” she continued. “I wanted to
show you sooner, but it wasn’t safe. And now, considering where we
are, I think it’s safe.”

My curiosity soared. “Safe?”

Rather than answer, she closed her eyes. I
felt a strange surge of her power, and a tiny flame appeared. Right
in the center of her woodpile. It was small at first, licking and
grasping at the air, but grew larger and hotter until it was
blazing so hot I had to back away so my skin wouldn’t melt off.
“How did you do that?”

She smiled. “Magic. It is a force of its own
here. Gaia is filled with it. Some of us can use it; draw on its
power. Not without exchanging our own energy.”

“You exchanged your energy to make the
fire?”

She nodded. “Now, that’s not what Cicero did.
Conjuring light like that takes a bit more practice, but it’s the
same general concept.”

“Can anyone do it?”

“Most everyone can tap into its source, but
not everyone’s connection is strong, and no two persons interact
with it the same way. Those with the strongest connections usually
serve the king, but the most gifted are members of the Guild.”

“Wait, if they’re so powerful, why can’t they
hunt whoever’s after me instead of my dad?”

Cicero scratched his chin. “Alaric doesn’t
trust everyone in the Guild.”

“That’s a high position of power for people
you can’t trust.”

I felt traces of Alex’s irritation as Sonya
exchanged a glance with Cicero.

“We know,” she said.

No wonder Dad wanted the Del Contes to hide
me in a place protected by ancient magic. If someone at the
palace—someone with great magical ability—was at all involved with
my attempted assault, they might as well just hand me over.

The magical fire snapped and crackled, and a
thought struck me. If I expected to make it in this world on my
own, I needed to learn how to use magic, and fast. “I want to try,”
I said.

“No.”

Alex had moved behind us. His arms were
folded over his chest, and he stared at his mom like my request was
a personal affront.

Of course he would pick this moment to fight
me. “Why not?” I asked.

He ignored me. “Mom, it’s a bad idea. They
could still be following us.”

Sonya sighed. “Alex, I understand your
concern, but she at least needs to be able to recognize it, for her
own safety. Besides, it’s too small an amount to attract
anyone.”

“I don’t think you
do
understand, Mom.
She could—“

“Alexander.” Sonya’s tone held warning.

“Help me with dinner?” Cicero looked at his
son as he got to his feet.

Alex held his mom’s gaze a long moment. His
eyes flashed to me before joining his father, who was already
cutting the red softballs into pieces.

Sonya looked after her son and I felt a wave
of her anxiety. She returned her attention to me and smiled, but it
failed to touch her eyes. “Magic is a skill you must learn,
particularly your own limitations. Many great sorcerers have died
over-extending their energy, so I need you to do exactly as I say,
and you shouldn’t have any problems.”

“All right. I’ll follow directions. So how
did you just do that?”

Loud scraping filled the rock chamber. Alex
sat on the floor sharpening his blade. His eyes were hard and
focused on the metal; his facial muscles taut.

Cicero, however, joined us and handed out
fruit. “Don’t be disappointed if you don’t take to it immediately.
It takes a lot of practice—some can’t do anything for years,
although I don’t think that will be the case with you. Are you
ready?”

I nodded, impatient for instructions.

“All right,” Sonya said. “Close your
eyes.”

I closed my eyes before she finished. The
scraping stopped, and I was overwhelmed by Alex’s intrigue.

“This is the challenging part. Reach out with
your mind, and connect with the wood.”

I knew what she meant by “connect” because
I’d felt “connected” to this world ever since I stepped foot in it.
I tried to think of the wood, picture it in my mind.

“Wrap your mind around it. Focus on nothing
else.”

With my mind I focused on the wood, the
grain, its shape. I felt Alex’s eyes on my back, studying me,
watching me. His curiosity and intrigue was so powerful it was
dizzying.

“Keep your focus. Once you think you’ve
connected, imagine heat with your mind. Feel it grow hotter and
hotter. See it consume the wood.”

Something pricked on my mind. The sensation
surged, melding with my thoughts—my being. It was much more
powerful than I expected. It seeped through my veins, into my soul.
My mind wouldn’t pull away—couldn’t pull away. My focus was
trapped, and somehow I felt…complete.

I thought of heat, tried to feel it, when
warmth burned deep inside of me. I was startled at first and had to
fight to keep my concentration on the wood. The heat simmered deep
in my gut and began spreading through my veins, down my limbs, and
surged beyond, flowing outside of me.

And was interrupted by frantic yelling.

“Daria…stop!” It was Alex. And he was on
fire.

I jumped to my feet, Cicero already dumping
the contents of his canteen over his flaming son. The water licked
up the last of the flames, leaving his shirt steaming and scorched,
the sleeves charred like a marshmallow.

“Alex! I can’t believe…I didn’t…are you
okay?”

He stared at me, water dripping from his face
and singed shirt. I tried and tried but I couldn’t detect any pain
from him, only irritation. Acute irritation.

Alex slowly turned to look at his father. “Do
you have a spare shirt?” His tone was low and even.

Cicero, however, was gawking at me with his
jaw hanging open. “Incredible.”

“Dad.”

“Check my bag.” Cicero continued staring at
me.

Alex brushed past me, his irritation so
strong I couldn’t even think about what I’d done. I just felt…mad,
with his anger.

If I hadn’t focused on the logs, I’d been
focused on…

“Alex, I’m so sorry. I don’t know how that
happened! I focused on the logs, just like you said.” I looked at a
wide-eyed Sonya. “And…anyway, I thought you said it was supposed to
be difficult to use magic the first time?”

The sound of Alex rummaging through Cicero’s
things was particularly loud.

Sonya grinned. “I think that’s enough for one
evening. Next time, we’ll have you practice things that aren’t
so…destructive.”

“There shouldn’t
be
a next time.
She’ll be destructive with anything at this point,” Alex mumbled as
he dressed himself in a fresh white tunic.

I didn’t argue. He’d earned himself some
verbal slack since I’d just set his shirt on fire, but it didn’t
stop me from making a face.

After Alex threw the remnants of his charred
shirt in the fire and the surprise from my mishap subsided, Sonya
and Cicero passed around more of the strange fruit and some salted
meats. The fruit’s bright blue flesh tasted bitter despite the
hundreds of sweet black seeds inside.