Chap Five

I paced around my room, my footsteps and Jake's panting, the only audible sounds.

"I can't believe, so soon into the plan and they're going to catch us." Jake whined and I glared at him.

We both had our lower lip in my mouth and our fingers fiddling each other, I had to look away quickly. I never planned for this, I was really stupid, even in Arion we had ability users who could detect a lie and here I was once again, being a victim of bad judgement. The school was on lockdown and no one was allowed to leave the dorm house, the boys and girls gathered in the various hallways gossiping like their lives depended on it.

"Ugh… I'm going die the moment they find out I work for the enemy, I should have ratted on you and they're going to kill me tomorrow." I walked over to the sitting figure and slapped him hard across his face.

"You need to be chill boy, you're… how old are you?"

"Sixteen." Jake said, raising a brow, and I knew my age would probably be sixteen.

"What a step down." I mumbled, my eyes on the floor before looking at Jake.

I felt the obligation of having to look after him, I was the only person who knew the harshness of his future and I was the only one that stood of the painful death ahead of him. I knew I was an anomaly, I was meant to be dead but in truth, I was brought back to help Jake and I wouldn't let him kill me till he was safe. Although, it would be easier to kill him in order to save my skin since I doubted he had the ability to make a convincing lie.

The guide had helped me navigate the internet the previous night and I knew for a fact that they preferred using people with advanced hearing abilities. The abilities were used to detect an abnormal shift in the heartbeat which was what happened when a person lied, I was more than capable of hiding shifts in heartbeat but I doubted Jake's ability to do it. I felt however, that if I found myself together with Jake during the interrogation, everything would be alright.

"Student 253 and 254, report to the founder's office immediately."

A wave of relief washed over me and as Jake and I locked gazes, I slapped the worried look off of his face.

"I guess we're going together."

He mumbled and I pulled him up from the chair and dragged him to the hallway towards the founder's office. It was a lengthy distance considering the teachers had a separate dormitory house. Jake had managed to calm himself down and the opened the door instantly to find Hero Black, another person, Rogue witch and a brunette who slightly resembled Hero Black.

I eye rolled, Hero black was so cocky he let his daughter or close-knit relative handle lie detecting in order to show off. Her cheeks were slightly red and she stared at Jake with lovesick eyes, making me grin. I didn't know why things decided to go in my favour but I was going to enjoy the perks of it, hopefully it included her keeping our secrets.

"Ricky…um…" The rogue witch started, fumbling with the last name I didn't have

"Just Ricky." She nodded.

"And Jake Baxter… we would appreciate honest answers to all our questions and as you can see," she paused, gesturing to the brunette. "We will catch you if both of you try to lie."

I nodded in response and Jake tensed up slightly

"Where were you the minute of Shadows attack?" Rogue witch asked me, her eyes scanning me.

"I was on school grounds with the rest of the students."

It wasn't a complete lie, or even a lie at all. Shadow had attacked the school which contained the students.

"And you swear you have no idea of Shadow's intentions?"

To this, I nodded again, I honestly didn't know the reason for being Shadow besides living long enough without people's problem on my shoulders and constant pressure.

"What was your purpose of coming to this school?"

"To train my ability."

"Which is?"

"Water." She sighed, leaning back on her chair.

I shook my head, these people actually thought I could be Shadow's guy in a chair, and I wanted to scoff. She looked at the brunette.

"Brianne, did you hear anything off."

"No." Rogue witch sighed and I felt satisfied.

"You," she said turning to Jake. "You we're the same boy Shadow had abducted after immobilising the student body, did he say anything to you or better yet, see his face?"

He was quick to shake his head, too quick.

"I woke up in my room with no memory of anything after Shadow's appearance."

The brunette's face scrunched up a bit and she opened her eyes, looking at Hero Black and Rogue witch."

"Is everything alright?"

"Yes uncle."

The hero duo frowned and I scowled, the brunette had figured us out and even though she was infatuated with Jake, she was a threat, one that needed to be eliminated as quickly as possible."

"Ricky, Brianne, you're both dismissed. As for you Jake, we need to conduct a thorough scan to make sure you weren't bugged."

I nodded, slightly bowing and exiting the room before Brianne came outside as well. I tried to ignore her as I walked back to my dorm room, hoping Jake was fine and thinking of ways to eliminate Brianne.

I felt worried, constantly thinking of what Jake was going through. He was only a child and could blurt out my secret at any time, someone knocked and I tensed up as I opened the door. Jake walked in and I breathed in relief, if he was in any trouble, rogue witch would have been the one to drag me here herself.

"How did it go?" I asked in a nervous mumble and he smiled.

"It was nothing really, they dismissed me the second they couldn't find bugs on me," I raised a brow and he hummed a tune as he sat on my bed. "It's a good thing Brianne has a crush on me or we both could have been dead meat."

'Crush, an informal way of referring to infatuation.' I nodded slightly in response to the guide's voice.

"Huh… I thought you were some naïve child with no idea of human emotions." He chuckled, making me shudder. It sounded just like my old one.

"You underestimate me boy." I kept quiet, trying not to tell him I was older.

"To be fair, I overestimated you just yesterday."

"You overestimated your plan as well."

"I don't understand how that relates to what we are currently saying." He grunted and looked at me with a dead serious expression.

"So, what are we going to do about our little situation?" I cocked my head to a side.

"What are you talking about?"

"Brianne, she knows about us, it's too risky."

"Uh… Oh right, I forgot about that." I sighed, sitting on the bed.

"While I am trying to grow my army, Brianne is too much of a risk considering her feelings for you and her relationship to Hero Black, killing her on the other hand is riskier. So…" I locked eyes with Jake "You choose."