Read Mira's Hope for Free Online Page A

and then
grinned. Elenio began to rise in the air, lifted by the wind as
Galena raised her hand, looking extremely alarmed. His cocky
expression turned into one of shock as she turned him upside down,
no less than ten feet above the ground. His pack came sliding down
and crashed into the back of his head with a resounding thump and
he had to grab his sword before it went racing to the ground
too.
    “Sorry, sorry I didn’t mean it!” he cried
out.
    Looking up at Elenio floating upside down,
Tark burst out laughing, practically falling over himself.
    “I like this way of revenge so much better,”
Galena said, smugness radiating through her. Lowering her hand
slowly, she brought Elenio down and righted him before placing him
gently on the ground.
    “I say you should learn to bite your tongue
until we’ve finished this or the next time she might send you into
a tree just to prove a point.” Tark chuckled as he wiped a tear
from his eye.
    Elenio made a point of ignoring Tark while he
continued to laugh at him. “You might want to show your furry
friend that you survived. She’s been a bit off ever since
your...accident,” Elenio finished lamely. A haunted look crept over
his face with these words.
    Galena felt a sadness sweep over her. She
reached for his hand and taking it in her own, squeezed it in a
reassuring way. Letting go, she bent down and opened the flap of
her pack. There, curled up in a tight ball was Twoit. She wasn’t
moving except for her rapid breaths. Galena reached in and gently
stroked the tiny creatures head. Twoit’s tiny noise began to
twitch, slowly at first and then more quickly as she recognized
Galena’s scent. She lifted her tiny head, eyes wide open, and
regarded Galena for all of a second before racing up her arm.
Galena fell back in surprise as the ferret raced around and around
her neck. She nipped Galena’s ears as she passed them, too excited
to stop for more than a quick bite. She raced down her other arm
and continued her frenzied movements while she ran circles around
Galena.
    Galena laughed, finally reaching out and
grabbing her around the middle and bringing her up to her face. She
nuzzled Twoit’s head against her cheek, mumbling reassuringly to
her friend. Twoit calmed down and nibbled at Galena’s fingers
indicating that she was ready to be put down, to which Galena
complied with her unspoken request. The happy ferret scampered
away, in search of a meal.
    “She’s probably hungry,” Elenio said quietly
while Tark and Galena gathered their belongings.
    Tark started toward the edge of the mountain,
giving Galena and Elenio a bit of privacy.
    “She just gave up. We couldn’t get her to eat
anything, but we were able to force some water down.”
    Galena looked at Elenio when she felt the
heart breaking sadness wash through him once more. He had the same
haunted look on his face as he had when he first told her to check
on her pet.
    “We could do more for her than we could you.”
Crossing the few remaining steps that kept them apart, he grabbed
her face in his hands, bringing her within an inch of his own. “I
never gave up. I knew you would come back to me.”
    “I never doubted you would,” Galena
whispered, placing her own hands over the tops of his.
    “You were dead when I put you in the pool. I
checked. I think that’s when I finally thought it was all over.”
His voice sounded hollow and Galena felt as if her own heart was
breaking with his. “I was ready to join you then, even in death.”
He stared into her eyes, willing her to understand, almost as if he
was trying to apologize for even thinking about stopping.
    She reached up and very lightly kissed him.
Pulling back after a moment, she caressed his face, taking in every
minute detail and smiled. “Elenio, I could never hope to do this
without you by my side. I’m sorry for what I did to you back on the
other mountain, but I felt it was necessary.”
    “Why did you have to do something that used
so much