➳ 𝐄𝐥𝐲𝐬𝐢𝐚𝐧 - 𝐓𝐏𝐍 𝐱 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫 - 𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐧 𝐂𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫

⇢ ˗ˏˋ Eleven ࿐ྂ

"We'll let you two talk." As the others leave I stare at the scarred man. Lucas huh? He looks as old as the hag. Maybe they could know each other?

"I recognize that coat, you're from BO6-32 too, aren't you?" He asks, making me widen my eyes in realization.

"Then you are..."

"I'm afraid to ask because it's been thirteen years... but," He pauses before inhaling a  shaky breath. "Is... he alive?" I smile and nod my head, listening as he releases a sigh of relief.

"Oh my gosh. Thank goodness. Thank goodness."

"Nice to meet you, Lucas."

"Sorry for getting emotional there." He apologizes, the both of us taking a seat at the table, him sitting across from me.

"No, it's ok," I reassure him. "I'm glad you're alive. I want to tell him. The hag will finally be happy." He chuckles and shakes his head.

"He thinks you're dead," I explain to him. "He thinks he lost all of his friends."

"I was the only one who survived," He tells me. "Even I thought I was done back there. But someone saved me. It was someone I didn't know. I had never seen her before. She said she'd been hiding the whole time, so the monsters wouldn't find her. That she'd been playing hide-and-seek the whole time at a place they would never find her.

"And it was true. We were never discovered. She hid me. Helped me. I think the poachers assumed that I'd run away with him. I've been using this windmill as a base, hiding here for almost thirteen years. I became someone who didn't exist. The only ones who know I'm alive are you, Adam, and the nine kids."

"What happened to the girl who saved you?" I cautiously ask him.

"She died. Maybe about five years after she saved me. She got sick," He replies. "It's been eight years since then. I often thought of escaping here alone. I was injured and without a pen. But I thought I could take the chance and return to the shelter to tell him I was ok. But those memories would resurface every time... the grief over my friends who were killed by the poachers. The screams of the other children as they ran in confusion. The fear that girl felt." He grits his teeth before continuing on.

"I want to destroy this hunting ground. I'll never forgive those poachers! So I gathered kids who felt the same way. Taught them skills. Gave them information. Helped them prepare. Plus. I couldn't leave here," Lucas adds. "I needed to destroy this place for when I call him back." At this, I tilt my head slightly and stare at him in confusion.

"I found it," He states. "It was here at AO8-63. The reason Mr. Minerva invited us." My eyes widen as he stands up and walks to the wall.

"In the place where she hid me. In the beginning was it," He presses a brick, and the wall opens. "There's a secret passageway. It connects this windmill to the forest. There's a door beyond it. A door that's locked." I gasp and reach for my pocket.

"Could that be..."

"Yeah," Lucas nods. "The key to open it is that pen you have. It took thirteen years... I can't believe this opportunity has come at last. I can finally figure out what's on the other side of that door." Bring your pen and come here.

"Let's go," I stand up and follow him. "I'll take you to Mr. Minerva's door. To what he intends for us."

I follow him down the hallway, our footsteps echoing off the walls in the silence. Eventually we reach a door with an owl on it. The owl is inside a circle with broken up lines. Morse code perhaps?

P E N

The pen! I smile and open the pen, listening as the door beeps before a clicking sound resounds across the room. Lucas walks towards the door, opening it with a slight creak. He holds the door open for me as I go in, staring around in slight shock.