Excerpt from 'The League of Ascenders, Journey of the Fledglings' (Chapter 44; Noah & Mina, How did we get here?)

          Noah awoke to find himself in strange surroundings. He blinked and the room came into focus. He was a bit disoriented, but he felt surprisingly good. As he tried to stretch, he found that his arms were pinned. When he looked down, his breath caught. Mina lay sleeping in his arms!

          He touched her auburn hair that had fallen free from the braid she’d had it in the night before. It fell gloriously all around her in waves. 

          How had this happened? He struggled to remember but could not. He found that he didn’t really care. And part of him didn’t want to wake her, but wanted to stay like that forever. 

          He couldn’t help himself—he wrapped his arms all the way around her and hugged her lovingly. It felt so good to finally hold her. He breathed in deeply and could smell the sweet scent of her hair; cherishing the moment, because he thought she might wake up at any time and slap him. 

          Sure enough, she began to stir in his arms. He sighed and let her go reluctantly. Her eyes were still closed, and he smiled as she stretched and squirmed around trying to wake up. He propped his head up on one hand and continued to watch her silently. 

          After a few moments, she finally opened her eyes, and looked directly at him. Mina smiled and then her smile slowly faded, her eyebrows drawing together in concern. And then when awareness dawned completely, her eyes widened in panic. 

          How in the world had she come to be lying next to Noah! She sat up quickly and crawled to the far side of her couch. “How…what…”

          “Yes, I know.” Noah was grinning and cringing at the same time. “But just in case you’re about to hit me—I did not do this…I don’t think so anyway,” he said, suddenly unsure, and he, also, was trying to figure out how they came to be there in that way. He hadn’t much cared before, because waking up with Mina in his arms suited him just fine. But now he was curious. He thought back to the night before.

          Her mind traveled back to the night before as well, and they must have figured it out at the same time, as realization dawned in both their expressions.

          “You were hurt,” she remembered.

          “Yes.” And as he recalled everything that had taken place, he said, “Oooh, that was painful.” He looked down at his arm where the bear had bitten him, and saw only healthy skin.

          “Yes it was…I mean…that was so awful; I felt like I could feel your pain just watching you.”

          “But you healed me…again. Thank you,” he said, smiling at her.

          She flushed as usual. “Oh…uh…you’re welcome. But it’s funny, I don’t remember coming in here. My last memory was of seeing you bitten by that grizzly. I must have…passed out or something. Weird.”