Hopes Peak Book Novels & Stories

For the first time that night, he took off his earbud, smiling as he ruffled my hair. "Aleah, thanks for being so understanding. Things are different now. A marriage certificate doesn't mean much. We should stand our ground, not give in just because your grandpa wants us to get married. Besides, aren't we happy like this?" Layne's voice was gentle, but it cut through me like a blade. Two years ago, Ruby's parents were abducted and killed after saving the Harper family. Since then, she'd developed severe separation anxiety. That was when she quietly started becoming a constant presence in our lives.

"That's why I said it." Hope, who had apparently overheard more of this conversation than any of us had noticed, appeared from the hallway with the composed expression she wore when she'd been listening to something important and had formed a view. "The first book was about people choosing honesty," she said. "The second book should be about people who have no choice but honesty and the world that makes that choice cost too much." She went upstairs without waiting for a response, leaving the three of us in the kitchen with her summary of the project sitting in the air with the specific, clarifying quality of an accurate statement offered without embellishment.

He had not asked what it said. "She wrote about what she hoped," I said. "Not what she expected — she was honest about not knowing what to expect. What she hoped." I paused. "She hoped the next Chosen would have what she didn't. Time. The settled power. The founding ground." I paused again. "She wrote: I hope she has someone who stays." Zane was very still. "I have someone who stays," I said. He looked at me. The valley was quiet around us.

"I've always envied you, Grayson. Really—since we were kids, I've envied you. You had everything—your loving family, a smart and beautiful girlfriend, a future full of promise. "At first, it was just envy. But later… it turned into jealousy. I know you were good to me. I can never repay those debts in this lifetime. But I don't regret it. Really. To steal even a little from you… "…even if it was just a tiny bit, I felt completely happy." I looked at him and suddenly felt a deep pity. Like a worm wriggling in a gutter, thinking that grabbing a speck of sunlight meant owning the entire sun.

Caelan said, "Let's write Seventeen before the day ends." She nodded. "Make it a hopeful one." Clause Seventeen: Hope isn't naive. It is intentional. It is constructed like roofs are—piece by piece, until you can stand beneath it. They rested their backs against the same wall, not saying anything. Not having to. The city outside didn't thank them. It breathed a little easier.

Never had I felt so useless as I had at that moment when I watched the little girl look at me with so much pain that it tugged my heart hard although I had no idea who she was. And then I said something that made me wish I had died without opening my eyes at all. I looked at the girl and opened my mouth. I looked at the small hope that had reappeared in her eyes when she saw me trying to speak to her. But I opened my mouth and crushed any and every of her hopes, immediately extinguishing the little spark of fire in them when I asked, "Who are you?"

"What happened, Hope? Have you planned this since that day we talked?" "No..." Hope opened her eyes and stared at me and I saw no lie there. "I accepted Dylan. I was starting to accept the path that the Gods wanted and I honestly thought it could work out..." "But... As I got access to the real library and learned more about the Gods, about the past, things I hadn't been able to connect when I read in Marcus' library made sense." I watched Marcus pick up a grape and give it to Hope.

Driver said and took the car in. “Augh I will not leave this road side kid. Even that hope too she’s giving me a hard time with her lectures.” Rose said. ******** Hope directly comes to library as she missed classes before and now she wanted to cover up her studies. Hope was searching for books and blabbering herself. " Umm so many books are here what should i take i am so confused if i take so much time taking books then when will i make notes and when will i study oh jesus save me please "

Not weakness. Hope.

She was holding her sketchbook in her lap, gripping it so hard the cover was bending. "They saw me," Hope whispered. "They saw me when I was little." "They saw you working," Aurora said. "They saw the truth." Hope looked up. Her slate-blue eyes were dark, dilated with fear, but underneath the fear was something else. Determination. "Tomorrow," Hope said. "Tomorrow," Liam agreed, leaning over to kiss her head. "You're going to be great, Rhino." Hope stood up. She smoothed her dress. "I'm not a Rhino tomorrow," she said.