Free Guardian: Protectors of Light by Melanie Houtman

Twilight
Forest.
    “ Well, I
suppose we should get going, then,” Thomas said. “We should be all
right finding that Gabriel, right? Since his house and name are
located on the map...”
    Rikki looked at him.
“Don’t think too lightly about this,” she said strictly. “It’s
harder to make it out of there alive than you think. Trust me; I’ve
been there before.”
    Thomas looked at her, and
then looked back up at his friends to check on their opinions. They
seemed to agree with Rikki; however, Antonio still seemed rather
sceptical about everything.
    Thomas was about to get
in another argument with his best friend, telling him to stop
joking around, but Rikki pulled him down by the collar of his cape
to whisper something in his ear.
    “ Just wait
until he sets himself on fire,” she said. “He’ll come about.”
Thomas couldn’t help but chuckle.
    “ ...But yes,
you should go,” Rikki said. “Gabriel will be waiting for you. The
quicker you get your training, the bigger the chance you’ll
survive.
    Gabriel is my brother,”
she suddenly decided to add. “He’ll take good care of you, and
he’ll also equip you with any other supplies you might need to make
sure you’ve got everything to help you on your way.”
    “ Well, then I
believe it’s about time we went out and found your brother, then,”
Bella said. “Who’s with me, guys?”
    A cheering “I!” came from
her friends. They were ready to do this. But would they still be in
five minutes, when they would’ve entered the Twilight Forest,
unarmed and unsure where to go?
    But how could they know unless they actually went there, right?
    The Guardians said
goodbye to Rikki, who stayed at the forest’s edge until the
teenagers had gone too far into the forest to see them before
returning to the secret hideout.
    “ And? How’d
it go?” Madeleine said, as she saw Rikki running down the
stairs.
    “ Well, they
seem to have the right spirit,” Rikki said. “I think that the
prophecy that old book has given us is going to come true, after
all.” She shortly made a gesture toward Akilah, who was holding the
Book Madeleine had showed the Guardians earlier.
    “ I sure do hope so,” Madeleine said. “They have to be the Generation that succeeds. According to the Book,
they’re the Last Generation. The Tenth. Which means...”
    “ ...They’re our last hope,” Akilah finished Madeleine’s
sentence. “That means we have to trust
them.”

Forest
    The forest was dark; if it wasn’t for the glowing patterns
on their clothes, it would’ve been impossible to see. So it turned
out those weird patterns were good for something , after
all.
    The sun had now
completely set and night had fallen; the dangers lurking in the
shadows of the forest could be felt all around the teenagers,
leading them to tread carefully. There was hardly any time to talk;
their main objective was to find Gabriel and get weapons – and
whatever else they might need to protect themselves.
    Thomas, accompanied by
James, was holding the map and leading the group. Together with
James, he tried to figure out which way to go; this was less
difficult than it seemed at first, as all James had to do was to
keep his hands up high enough to shed a light on the map. It looked
awfully strange for James to walk with his hands up whenever Thomas
wanted to check on the map again, but it was the only way to be
able to read the old, parchment thing until at least
dawn.
    “ All right, I
believe to have figured out how this works,” Thomas said.
“Technically, we’re still more or less in Keeper’s Cove, as this
part of the forest is located on the same island as the Cove. From
here, we’ll have to go east and cross the bridge there to get
deeper into the forest.”
    “ Why would we
even want to go deeper into the forest?” Antonio complained loudly.
“Can’t we just find that guy here and get out as soon as
possible?”
    “ I’m afraid
not,” James said, taking a closer look at the