The Hope Of The Three (Book 2 of the Hidden Trilogy)

Chapter Twelve: They're Lost....

~Tsuki Hyashi~

Alena fell into the forest below. I stretched out my hand and called,

"Kaito! Can't you do anything?" I shouted. Kaito's brow was furrowed, and it looked like he was using his power to communicate with the Natoch.

"Give me a sec, Tsuki." He muttered. We started to get further and further away. "AGH! Forget it!" He jumped off.

"Wha- Kaito?!?!?!?" As he fell, he grabbed my leg and dragged me with him. "Why me?" I groaned as my face began tearing up because of the height of our fall. Kaito pulled me closer to him and made sure that if we landed- he'd hit the ground first. "You're so impulsive. You really couldn't think of anything else?"

"Well, I did try to communicate, but those aho beasts wouldn't listen." He huffed. "Besides, it's even more annoying when you've ridden one successfully before." I smiled at his rant.

"Since when did you ride one?"

"Erm, that was a really long time ago."

"How long?"

"Psh erm, within the last century." I tapped a finger to my lips.

"Hmmm..." Then my eyes snapped to the rising ground. We were gonna land right outside the forest. "Uhhhh, first we gotta do something about our landing..." My voice trailed off as Kaito's eyes closed. "Kaito...?" No answer. "Kaito?"

"Shhh, Tsuki. You know I need to concentrate to communicate long distances-" His voice was drowned in a loud squawk. A bird- a huge bird, with a beak and glinting golden wings swooped out of nowhere and caught us in its beak. It happened so fast, we were on the ground and the bird was gone before we knew it. I squinted in the direction it went.

"No way. You actually communicated with a- a Firebird?!" My jaw dropped. Those were birds found only in the Sun Kingdom. Every kingdom has its own flora and fauna, but I won't get into that too much.

That would require a whole new book.

"Yup." Kaito grinned impishly.

"How..?"

"I saved its babies on the way to find you."

"Trying to be charismatic huh?" I nudged him.

"Hey! It's not that I'm trying. Can't you see that I've already hit that expectation?" He smirked.

"In your dreams." I scoffed and punched him playfully.

"So we are gonna go in there and find Alena and Rayn right?"

"Yeah. I can only hope that Alena survives with Rayn there. Knowing him, he'll probably try to flirt it out." Then I frowned, trying to remember a little tidbit of information that had sauntered across my mind. A human... in the Sky Universe.... what was it again? It had something to do relating to Alena's mother, who was human as well. Ah well, I was sure the information would present itself in due time.

"He has changed."

"Huh?"

"Yes. I see it in his eyes. The used to be so bright, but now it's fractured."

"Did I hear you right? You thought his eyes were bright?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Uhm... Oh.." Kaito's face turned red. "I meant..."

"I was just teasing you," I said. "Anyway, let's just go and stop talking about Rayn." I looked towards the forest. "How far off did we go?"

"Around 13 kilometers. It would take around... hmmm two and a half hours by foot, at the very least."