Daring Plan Exposed

"What's the plan?" Blake asked after a minute of critical thinking.

"There is a train that will be leaving the city tomorrow. The Basic Academy school train. The protectors have no control over the Basic Academy. They only accept orders from the headquarters of the academy in the capital of the Sky Dominion," Lily said solemnly.

"What's the Basic Academy?" Blake asked, trying to sound nonchalant to hide his ignorance.

"You're talking like a person from another era," Lily said, entirely irritated. She thought Blake was toying with her, but she unknowingly nailed the right answer; he was from a different era.

"Basic Academy is the school every Awaken tries to attend. Although not compulsory, it increases your chance of being admitted to college. The college determines the type of work because not everybody is powerful. Moreover, the Basic Academy has quality skills which will support the awakened students to kill the awakened beast to get their cores," Lily still explained, to eliminate excuses Blake might formulate not to join her.

"Okay, go on with the plan," Blake said while keeping a nonchalant expression, which confirmed Lily's guess of toying with her.

"We will disguise as one of them. I already got their uniform." Lily said confidently.

"What is the percentage of being discovered?" Blake asked skeptically.

"Zero percent. Don't ask why. It is something personal. Moreover, I wouldn't want to get myself killed, right?" Lily said coldly.

"We can't have a perfect partnership if I'm not completely informed of the details of the plan. Maybe I might be sacrificed because of my limited knowledge. So, what gives you confidence?" Blake asked calmly.

"You don't have a choice. If you don't follow me, you will die. The reason I need you is for a deceptive plan. They don't know that I'm with you, so they will be searching for a girl. It is just for emergencies, if we get caught; a plan b. Are you going or not?" In the last sentence, Lily's voice became icy.

"Fine, I'm going," Blake, left with no choice, replied. Although he felt something was not right, he couldn't pinpoint it.

'If I do not go, perhaps she might kill me. I don't trust Hecate to save me,' Blake thought inwardly but kept a deadpan face.

"I'm using the room, while you will use the couch. Go to bed early. Tomorrow might be a hectic day. I require you at your prime," She said while pushing Blake out and banging the door in his face.

Blake, who was still feeling sleepy, went to bed immediately.

———

The next day, by 6:00 am, Blake and Lily were dressed in a purple long-sleeve with the basic academy's logo on it; which was a golden tower. A pair of black trousers, and a pair of black, mid-calf lace boots.

"It's their trial uniform, that's why it's strange," Lily explained to the confused Blake, who was dying her hair. They both dyed their hair black.

"Rub this makeup on your face," Lily, who was rubbing makeup that changed her face, said.

"I'm not rubbing that," Blake, who was feeling uncomfortable with the smell of the makeup, said. Although the smell was nice, he settled for a simple hair dye.

"That's your business," Lily said.

After they snuck out, using the cover of the foggy and dark morning. Lily took him past numerous hidden corners and alleys until they stopped at an underground train station.

It looked like a normal underground train station, except the walls of the tunnel were coated with strange black metal.

'Won't the metal expand during the day, resulting in the crumbling of the tunnel? I guess my basic knowledge of physics is lacking. However, the construction is not my concern,' Blake thought while staring at the walls of the tunnel.

"Come in," Lily opened a metal plate on the wall, and both of them jumped in. When she closed the metal plate, the pit in the wall was shallow and cramped. They were almost kissing the metal plate, but there was a good distance between Lily and Blake.

After waiting for an hour, Blake was feeling uneasy, when a silent train with a bright light halted at a spot.

'Technology has upgraded,' Blake thought.

Numerous teenagers, dressed in the purple uniform which Lily brought, walked disorderly into the train.

"Let's go," Lily opened the metal plate silently, as she whispered.

"What about the train driver?" Blake asked because they were coming from the front.

"It's autopilot," Lily whispered, as she walked in front silently and stealthily, missing the shock on Blake's face.

They snuck into the train while mingling with the crowd.

Blake got separated from Lily along the way. He sat in the last row, while Lily sat inconspicuously in the middle row.

When he sat down, he poked his head out of the seat into the passageway that divided the train into two major columns; two seats on each row of the column. Nobody was in the last row, except Blake. A beautiful girl in the opposite column, two seats from him, was smiling at him with a wink. Blake, who has been a celebrity, knows the next course of action. He replied to her with a charming smile, before returning to his seat.

Just as he closed his eyes and was about to relax his hanging heart, a voice jolted him.

"Hey, pretty boy!" An angry voice called out.

'I've dyed my hair, so why are they still calling me 'pretty boy?' ' Blake thought, and he turned to the glass by his side. He was shocked by the beauty of his face. Because of his extreme experiences, he hasn't looked at himself. He was handsome before but had a tender face. After being in prison, his face has lost all its tenderness, giving him a manly aura.

He had an oval chubby face before; he now has an oval, well-proportioned face, with a sharp jawline, and gem-like black eyes. His muscular chest which he saw when dressing, combined with his handsome face, made him smile in self-admiration.

"Handsome would do more justice," He said proudly when he turned to the person.

"When I mess up the so-called 'handsome' face, we will see if you are still handsome. This punch is for smiling at my woman," The teenage boy said while throwing a lightning-quick punch at Blake's face.

Blake, like a magnet, caught and held the teenager's fist with his palm.

'I looked powerless in front of the ape, and those men. Now, a no-name teenager wants to punch me. My time in the prison was not wasted. Moreover, we are on the same level,' Blake thought. Although he nearly missed the fist, because he was not used to his strength after awakening. His rich experience made him adapt.

"Jerry, what's going on?" A woman, dressed in a golden shimmering gown with an hourglass figure, asked. Blake left his fist quickly.

"Miss Scarlett, it's nothing," The teenage boy said, before walking away.

"Thank you, Miss Scarlett," Blake said with a smile, before sitting down.

"Nobody is sitting beside you, right?" Miss Scarlett asked with a friendly smile on her red lips.

"No," Blake replied aptly because excess words might expose him.

Scarlett sat down elegantly before she asked. "Do you know who he is?"

"Does everybody I meet have a big reputation, power, or a terrifying background?" Blake muttered, frustrated.

"He is Jerry Rothschild, the last son of Jasper. Jasper pampers him too much. Do you know what that means? He has his gang; the children of the people who want to establish a profitable connection with his father. Although you are more powerful than him, in a gang fight, you will lose," Scarlett said with a smile.

"Will the teacher allow that?" Blake asked, trying to sound surprised.

'The little brother of that idiot, Rothschild. Well, he wouldn't even see me again,' Blake mocked inwardly.

"They wouldn't allow that, but in their absence, he can do it. That's why I'm going to stay beside you, to protect you," Scarlett declared.

"Who are you?" Blake asked because she looks like a seductress.

"I'm a teacher," Scarlett said with her mesmerizing smile. It was no longer enchanting in Blake's eye; she looked like an evil spirit with two horns.

'Keep calm and nobody will know,' Blake assured himself, without changing his expression.

"Thank you, Miss Scarlett, but I'm good. You don't need to stay beside me," Blake said with a friendly smile.

"Hey, Which cream do you use? Your skin is spotless, smooth, and shiny. It even makes me jealous. His crush is falling for you," Scarlett replied with an off-topic question while winking at Blake, which made his cheek spasm for a second.

'What did you expect from someone who slept at the bottom of an icy ocean without sunlight for millennia?' Blake thought.

"What's your name? I can't keep calling you, 'hey'," Scarlett asked with raised eyebrows.

"Chris Jones," Blake called the name of one of the characters he once played.

"Why are you sitting at the back? And why don't I know you?" Scarlett asked nonchalantly while picking her nails. But Blake felt his heart skip a beat.

"I'm a new student. As for why I'm sitting at the back, I'm a loner," Blake said with a straight face, but there was a raging storm in his heart.

Although she said she was protecting him, her real intentions were vague.

Right at that moment, Blake saw Lily standing up, and the train halted at the same time.

She turned and gave a wink in the back direction, and walked away.

Blake stood up, only to be questioned by Scarlett, "Where are you going?"

"I need to ease myself. I'm catastrophic," Blake bluffed with a straight face.

"Are you not aware of the rules? Leaving your seat is prohibited until the final destination of the train," Scarlett said with raised eyebrows.

"What about her?" Blake asked with a frown, pointing at Lily, who just got off the train.

"Didn't you see her golden belt? She's a teacher," Scarlett said, which caused Blake's face to contort into a nasty grimace. No wonder he felt something was off.

Blake turned to Scarlett, already anxious.

"But—" Just as he opened his mouth to talk, the train continued its journey.

"Come and sit down," Scarlett said with her mesmerizing smile that irks Blake.

"But I need to—" Blake wanted to argue, but was cut by Scarlett, "jump off the moving train?"

Blake had no choice but to sit while perspiring heavily. His condition is turning for the worst. He just closed his eyes, no longer talking or listening to Scarlett. Scarlett also ceased talking.

After an hour, the train finally halted and all the students got off the train in an orderly fashion. However, when Blake got down, and did not see Scarlett following him, he turned and walked away in the opposite direction.

When he got to the surface from the underground train station, he breathed in relief.

"That stalker is nerve-racking," Blake muttered, remembering Scarlett.

"So, who are you? Because you are not my student," Scarlett's voice, who was just a few inches from Blake, asked.

Blake's face turned ugly, and he turned around slowly. When he finally faced her, his breathing stabilized, and he returned to his calm state.

"I told you I was claustrophobic. The underground makes me uncomfortable," Blake said with a poker face.

"Woah, you deserve an Oscar award. You aren't a student. You don't know the rules. For example, nobody is meant to sit at the back. For your information, I'm the principal of the Basic Academy, Brooke's branch. Do you know the penalty for the crime of posing as a student of Basic Academic? Death," Scarlett said coldly, with scarlet lightning beginning to occasionally flicker around her arms. The atmosphere became tense.