Page 28 of Desolation
Please, Gaia. If you can hear me, spare these men from this destruction. Hurt me if you must but please don’t injure them.
Tears leak down my eyes, unbidden, at the thought of one of them not surviving this assaults me. If this gets any worse—
Stop it, Lana. Pull yourself together.
As I pull the fear back inside me, a soothing sensation envelops my heart. Almost immediately, the wind begins to ease. I peek out from a small slit in my ripped towel.
Leaves float around us, drifting in the air before settling on the ground, as trees come to standing tall once more. As a silence descends around us, it feels unnatural, unhuman. The destruction that had ripped through the forest abates in just seconds.
I don’t need further proof.
I bow my head, acknowledging the higher being.Thank you for hearing me. I won’t forget this.
The warmth that I had felt in my chest as I prayed to Gaia spreads through my body and I feel a strange sensation of being heard. But that’s crazy.
Right?
Hands brush my back and I flinch from the pain I couldn’t brace for.
Oh, shit. Here comes a different storm. A shitstorm.
“Lana, are you okay?” Zedd says, worry in his voice. “Are you hurt? Why did you flinch away from me?”
I lower my towel and look into his concerned hazel eyes. My body relaxes from tension I hadn’t realized I was feeling.He’s okay.I lift my hand and caress his cheek for a second before turning to check on the others.
Other than Luke’s previous injury, everyone only has superficial wounds and all the tension seeps out of me.They’re okay.
“Lana,” Ash says, irritation already in his voice as he anticipates my answer, “Why is there blood dripping down your chin?”
Bracing myself for the fallout, I say, “Uh… I bit my lip?”
Zedd sighs, Luke and Leo facepalm and Ash’s eyes narrow, suspiciously.
Though my back screams at me, I take a moment to process the fact that we’re all okay, that they’re all here, behaving as they always do because they’reokay.
This could have been way worse.
It’s hard to find a balance between living our lives while accounting for the unpredictable natural phenomena that plagues our world.
“Why did you bite your lip that hard, Little One?” Hales asks softly.
I turn my gaze to Hale, wondering how to word this so I don’t piss them off. “My back was hit by a branch. I didn’t want to alarm any of you after I made a point about protecting myself.”
I know they heard what I’m not saying because the silence that follows my truth is deafening.
“Lana,” Hale says, a sigh in his voice, before shaking his head like he gives up. “We need to have a good, long chat when we get home about your place in all of our lives. I know Ash told you where we stand on our feelings for you. So, you need to decide on our way home where we stand in your life.”
I still, not daring to take a breath, half grateful that he let the current situation go and half nervous as hell about the looming conversation.
Am I ready for this?
Can I handle all of their feelings for me at the same time?
“Ok…” I mumble, trailing off, unsure what to say.
Feeling slightly overwhelmed, I get up as quickly as my back allows when a hand falls on my shoulder, pausing my movements. “May I?” Leo asks softly, wanting a closer look at my wound.
I nod for him to go ahead.
