Mother Nature nodded and let her eyes wander off toward the fort. Was Aaron like that? Lonely without even knowing it? Had he never had another woman since Ruth and Kizzy’s mother died? She didn’t want to bring that up right now. Ruth was on her way to a party, and it wouldn’t be a good idea to bring up her deceased mother. Besides, she could always ask Aaron when they had a few moments alone.
“Well, I’ll see you at the party,” Ruth said.
“I guess so.” Gaia smiled and waved.
She watched as Ruth and her date drove away. Ruth’s baby in the car seat just completed the happy family picture. Even though the relationship was new, Gaia knew it would grow and flourish.
She leaned back and let the sun beat down on her face. It was another one of her beautiful days. She was able to do a few things for this devastated island. She made it sunny during the day and let the gentle rains fall at night. People didn’t usually notice things going well, but that was good. She hoped nobody noticed her little blessings. It was better if they didn’t.
After waiting nearly half an hour, she became concerned. Where had Aaron gone? She closed her eyes and tried to zero in on his energy.Tried tobeing the operative words. She couldn’t feel him. Anywhere! He wasn’t hiding. Even if invisible, he didn’t have the power to hide his energy.
Suddenly realizing something was very wrong, she charged off into the fort to look for him. Retracing what was left of his energy signature, she came upon a small potted plant hidden behind a large stone. Picking it up, she recognized the little heart plant, but there were two of them, growing out of the same stem. Odd. Did he discover the anomaly and think of them? Two hearts sharing the same nutrients?
She cradled the plant to her breast as tears sprang to her eyes.
Chapter 17
Aaron came to, tied to a tree. As he looked around, his vision cleared, but he wasn’t sure he was seeing properly yet. Amid an Alpine forest, a furry figure that couldn’t actually exist smirked at him.
“Who the hell are you?” Aaron demanded of the strange half goat/half man.
“You’ve never heard of the god Pan?”
Aaron frowned. “Are you telling me you’re a god?”
“Yes. What’s so hard to believe?”
“Gaia told me you were causing problems for her, but that was quite a while ago. I thought you had probably come to your senses and moved on.”
Pan laughed. “Come to my senses? If anyone needs a reality check, it’s you, mortal. You think you’re good enough for the goddess of all?”
“She seems to like me.”
“For now. She will get tired of your limitations before long.”
“How do you know?” Aaron pulled at the ropes binding him to the tree. They held fast. “Gaia?” he called out. “Gaia!”
“Aww. You need her to rescue you, don’t you? What a shame that you’re so helpless and she doesn’t know where you are.”
“Where am I then?”
“I brought you to my own personal forest. It doesn’t exist on earth, so she’ll never be able to find you.” He laughed maniacally.
“If I’m not on earth, where am I?”
“We’re in a galaxy far, far away.” He giggled.
“Okaaaay… If there’s no one around to help me, why do you have me tied up?”
“It’s for your own protection. If I untied you, you’d run away, and you could fall right off the edge of my planet.”
Aaron almost laughed. He’d heard of flat-earthers. They were people who insisted the earth was flat, took things literally—and if they couldn’t see something with their own eyes, they refused to believe its existence, and that was that.
“Tell me, is there day and night in this place?”
“Of course. I need to sleep.”
“So if it’s daytime now, it’s because we’re facing the sun. How does it become night if the planet isn’t round and rotating on its axis?”
