Luke’s eyes fall on a weak-looking Follower. His mouth hardens into a grim line, and he marches over to her. She looks up at him as he snatches her disc blade away. He raises an eyebrow at her and leans in close.
“I told you before,” he hisses in her ear. “If you even try to hurt my brothers, I’ll bounce you off every ruin in the Lost City. Since I failed the first time, I will warn you again; if you even move, I’ll kill you. I’m not as easily swayed into benevolence as Lae.”
“When I die,” she rasps, “it won’t be at your hand. My fate is yet to be decided.”
Luke snorts. “I don’t believe in fate. Chaser controls you like a puppet. Your death is the only freedom we could give you.”
“I am not a puppet!” She snaps defensively. “He has no control over me!”
Luke feels his blood boil with anger. “Then prove it!” He shouts furiously. “Take us to him! Prove to us that you aren’t just another lying, faceless bastard like him.” He stands up and scowls at her before stalking towards Lae. “Heal her, Lae. She won’t trouble us. Not after I’ve challenged her.”
Luke sees the conflict in his brother’s face but doesn’t say anything. Lae sighs and walks over to Follower. Luke glares at her as her wounds heal, and an eased smile spreads across her face. She stands and looks up at Luke, still smiling eerily. “Challenge accepted.”
Luke smirks.
She shrugs. “I don’t know where this…portal…is, but if you can find the book, I can read it.” She starts to walk into the ruins.
Chang quickly grabs her arm. His eyes are burning, and her sleeve starts to smoke. “Where are you going?”
“I’m going to see if he dropped the book!” She snaps, yanking away before her arm was singed. “Although I seriously doubt it.”
“It’s right here,” Sehun says, holding a rectangular, brown object up for all to see. “By Tao.”
“It must have slipped when he took my ring,” Tao mumbles quietly. Sehun tosses the book to Follower, who catches it deftly.
She opens it to the first page and chuckles. “I can’t believe you can’t read this. It’s so simple.”
“What does it say?” Suho asks patiently.
“In the end of the Before Times, when there was only one ground and one sky, twelve guardians, each with their own mystical power, cared for and nurtured Life Tree,” she reads. She glances up. “Is it talking about you?”
“Just keep reading,” Sehun urges.
“Or skip to the page with the map,” D.O. finishes.
She flips through the book and frowns. “There’s no map here. He must have torn it out.”
“Just read the book, then,” Byun says. “We don’t have much time. Tell us everything the book has that might be useful to us.”
She simply snorts and leafs through the pages. Luke turns away and runs his fingers through his hair. We already know that the Half Twelve are descendents from the Guardians. What use is some crusty old book to us if Chaser still has the map?
“It is them,” Follower says finally. “The Half Twelve, and Lina’s six. They are the Guardians of Life Tree.”
Luke slams his hand into one of the ruins, breaking the skin on his knuckles. He doesn’t care. “Don’t tell us what we already know!” He snaps angrily. “It’s the thirteenth person we are worried about. What does that legend have to do with Lina? It can’t help her now.”
