Ethan- The Rise Of A Villain Or A Hero?

High Creek Academy

Ethan’s P.O.V.

“Are you sure that we…… we can afford this school, Ethan?” Walter asked me anxiously.

I didn’t pay attention to them as I was also busy staring at the enormous gate of High Creek Academy, the school where the system provided admission for all of us.

I still had to finish high school this year.

I expected somewhere far away from the city and in a modest school.

Not in the High Creek Academy….

The most prestigious school in the state.

“Let’s go,” I spoke to them softly.

I tightened my grip on the strap and then slowly walked towards the guard room.

The guard looked at us with a calm and questioning gaze.

“Hi, we have been transferred to this school,” I said to him calmly while producing the transfer letter, with recommendation letters, and other credentials.

The guard was in his mid-thirties and looked experienced.

The good thing that I noticed about his approach to us, he didn’t seem judgmental, as he didn’t look at us from head to toe with that knowing judgmental gaze that we got almost all the time when we go to any established establishments.

He took the file from me and politely asked us to wait.

I looked at Iris, who was still silent since I came back.

And now her silence was bothering me. I wanted her to talk to me, ask whatever she wanted to know, instead of choosing this silence.

“We should have worn better clothes than these,” Walter muttered anxiously, getting my attention.

“We are okay, Walter,” I spoke to him in a low voice, watching students going inside the school.

Some are walking, but most of them went inside in their cars or on bikes.

I had never seen so many expensive cars and bikes in one place.

No one paid attention to us, and it made the situation a bit better for us.

“Mr. Croft.” I looked at the guard when he called me politely.

“This way, please.” He asked, gesturing towards a small gate at one corner of the enormous gate.

I just nodded and looked at Walter and Iris. They were still anxious but kept their expression as calm as it was possible for them.

“Please, don’t take it wrong, Mr. Croft.” The guard started talking with me in the same polished manner.

This gate led straight to the other building of the school, where all the administration departments and other non-teaching departments are. Taking the main gate means you have to walk almost a mile to get to the other building.” He explained, but I raised my brows in surprise.

“Exactly how much is the total area of the school?” Walter asked him in a surprised tone.

The guard chuckled while looking at Walter with an amusing smile dancing on his lips.

“Almost two hundred acres, Mr. Croft.” He answered, a hint of pride evident in his voice.

Walter choked on his voice and was about to say when I shut him up with a hard glance.

The least I wanted right now was getting attention.

We are here to hide ourselves from the danger following us, not to get the attention of all these people from the most prominent families across the state.

After entering the gate, I noticed that the guard was really telling us the truth. The thin wall between the two gates, which was invisible from outside, created two different walkways.

The cobblestone walkway was bordered by well-maintained hedges followed by a series of trees planted on the other side of the hedge in a planned manner, giving the path a slight canopy overhead. The lawns were perfectly manicured.

We almost walked for five minutes before we reached the main building.

I stopped for a second when I felt a prick on my nape.

As if we were being watched.

I immediately looked around, my eyes scanning the whole area for any hidden danger around us, but I found nothing.

Still, the nagging feeling didn’t go.

“What happened?” Walter asked me in a hushed tone.

“Nothing,” I muttered, still following the guard inside the building.

As soon as I set foot inside the main entrance of the building, the feeling of being watched intensified.

The feeling was still subtle but sharpened with every step I took forward.

I looked around and noticed all the surveillance cameras all around the hallway and the corridors.

Advanced, well-hidden, almost embedded in the wall structure, and too tiny to be noticed at one glance.

Yet I noticed them.

I calculated their coverage areas while walking calmly behind the guard.

With angles overlapping, the coverage was too promising for a normal school.

“You okay, bro?” I snapped my head towards Iris when she asked me in a very low voice.

Her eyes were on me.

Iris was always a good observer, and right now, she wasn’t observing our surroundings but me.

“I am fine, kiddo,” I replied with a faint smile, putting my hand on her shoulder protectively.

I didn’t know if she believed me or not, but she just nodded and looked at the guards’ backs.

My eyes flickered to a glass panel on the other side of the open area in the middle.

I clenched my jaw when I caught a fleeting reflection there, but it disappeared before I could register it.

I didn’t stop or flinch, though.

In this state, I had no other option but to trust the system with our safety.

The system promised a safe place for my siblings. There is no way that it would put us somewhere where we could be traced easily.

“Please wait here, Mr. Croft. The admission counselor will soon join you. I am taking your file with me to give it to her.” The guard asked us and raised the file in the end.

I nodded and took Walter and Iris inside the reception room.

“This place is insane, Ethan. How did you get our transfers here?” Walter asked me in a hushed tone, still looking around in amazement.

“Just sit here,” I muttered, trying to suppress my urge to go out and look for that reflection.

I looked at Iris, who sat down on the couch beside me, but there was no expression on her face like Walter's.

It seemed that she wasn’t bothered or amazed by this sudden change of school or by how we got here.

Even though I had money now, that was still not enough to provide education for one in this school, let alone three.

This school was not that expensive.

Suddenly, my eyes went still when a flicker appeared.

{Same fingers with rings drumming on his thigh, not on a surface……. He was walking…. The room was familiar…. But where}

Two seconds later, the scene changed.

{This laptop is nothing but junk now, boss}

My heart skipped a beat.

Of course, I recognized the place….

But the problem was the voice…… too familiar to have the name of the voice’s owner on my tongue, yet strange.

But why did I have this flicker now?

Almost all the flickers warned me of the coming danger. What danger could we be in here?

“Mr. Croft.” I snapped out of my trance when a soft but firm female voice called my name.

I saw a woman, most probably in her early thirties, with blue eyes inside golden-rimmed glasses and golden hair tied in a professional bun, wearing a professional black business skirt suit, walking into the room, clicking her heels sharply against the marble floor.

She stopped right in front of me with a professional smile plastered on her lips.

I was about to greet her when my gaze fell on the left corner of the glass.