| Superhero Academy |

Chapter 4

My eyes widened and I rose my eyebrows.

How could HE get onto MY team? 

I cringed as everyone stood up to shake his hand and welcome him to the team. Mr. Peterson looked at me so I reluctantly stood up and shook Blake's hand.

We all sat down and Mr. Peterson started to talk again. "As you may already know, This is Blake Turner. He transferred here a couple days ago, and I thought he would be a good addition to the team seeing as he preforms well in class."

"I'm looking forward to working with you guys." Blake said and I rolled my eyes. 

"You must hate him a lot huh." Lucas whispered. "Yep." I said, popping the p.

"First we have to do a team exercise, to make sure you can work together." Mr. Peterson said and I sighed.

He led us to the escape room filled with fake traps and clues. We walked in and he set the traps, telling us to start.

"Okay so first we have to look for clues. Lucas use your speed." I said and Lucas took action, lightning whizzing past as he ran.

"Found it." He said and read the clue aloud. "The key is in the shadows." He said.

"Maybe the key to the next room is in a dark spot in the room?" Tessa suggested and I agreed. "Check under every table and in every dark corner." I said and we got to work, searching for the key.

Blake disappeared and I scoffed. I was checking under the table when Blake appeared again.

"Found it." He said and I groaned. "How?" I asked and he shrugged. I took the key and put it into the lock.

We got into the next room and dodged traps placed in every secret spot. Like under a patch of carpet, or even hidden in plain sight, like a trip wire.

At one point, Aura was walking and she leaned against a wall, causing a trap to set off. I pushed her out of the way and she barely missed the laser, which would have resulted in a fail.

I sighed in relief and we reached the end of the hallway. We walked into the next room and Lucas searched for another clue. 

I started to think about the fact that if I failed on purpose, Blake wouldn't be on my team. 

I smiled to myself, plotting in my head.

Wait no. Taylor you aren't a bad person calm down.

I shook it off and paid attention to Lucas, who was having trouble finding the next clue. "Okay guys let's search everywhere." I said and we split up into different sections of the room.

I was with Tessa, so we looked in every box and corner. I pressed on the wall and heard a sound. I knocked on it and found out it was hollow.

I took a deep breath in and punched the wall, causing my hand to hurt like a bitch. We got the clue though.

Wasn't worth it. I regret everything.

"They key to the end is inside the mind." Blake said as he read the clue.

"Tessa." I said while cradling my hand. "Try making Blake hallucinate and maybe that will reveal where the key is."

"Why me?" He scoffed and I laughed. "It would be funny." I said.

"Fine." He said and I smirked. "You so owe me for this." He said and I raised my eyebrows. 

"Yeah right." I said and Tessa began to do her thing.

Blake's eyes went black and he stood there in a trance like state. Tessa was focused on trying to control the illusions.

Once she couldn't take it anymore, her hands fell to her sides and Blake woke up.

"It's in the floor." He said and I smiled. My plan worked!

"Do you know where in the floor?" Lucas asked.

"Over here." Blake said and he led us to a place in the carpet. 

"I'll do it." Lucas said, and he ripped the carpet off of the floor. It revealed a secret chest, with a pass code. I froze.

"Any chance you know the password?" I asked Blake.

"Didn't see anything." He said briefly and I sighed. I stood up, pacing around the room. 

Inside the mind. Maybe he was talking about an object in the room too? I checked every drawer until I found something.

I picked up a book called "The Mind" and skimmed through, looking for numbers. Once I got to the last pages, the sequence "68209" was written on the book. I smiled and ran over to the chest.

I put in the numbers and got out the key. 

"Yes!" I squealed and jumped. I quickly put myself together though, because Blake started chuckling.

I rolled my eyes and put the key in the lock. The team and I walked out and pressed the buzzer, completing the escape room.

I smiled and high fived everyone. (I always do that.) I even tried to high five Blake but he wouldn't. 

"Weirdo." I said and we all left.

We walked toward Mr. Peterson and he congratulated us, giving us smiles. 

"Blake is now a member of your team! You all worked great together!"

I expected this but hearing it out loud was worse than I thought it would be.

Blake turned to me and smirked. 

"So Snow, what's it like?" He said.

"What?" I questioned.

"Losing."

"Losing at what?" I said, looking at my nails.

"Oh come on. Everyone in the world could tell you didn't want me on the team. Yet, here I am." He said, trying to get on my nerves.

It was working, but I'm not going to show him that.

I laughed, and patted him on the shoulder. "I'm looking forward to working with you." I said and smiled. 

I walked away, and joined Aura in the hallway, leaving him to stand in the room to talk to Mr. Peterson.