Ooh ooh ooh, Mousey is a little illiterate.
By the time Ollie Blake's fan army poured into the livestream, the chat was practically united in laying into their own kid.
"You wanna punish Ollie? Super easy—sneak a pic of him eating snacks and send it to Caleb Ross, teehee. From one mom-fan to another."
"Are you trying to ruin the kid? If Caleb sees this he'll bawl like a baby again (I have the photo)."
Ollie, riding on his motorized suitcase and slowly eating an ice cream, sneezed loudly enough to make the crew glance over.
"Mr. Blake—are you getting a cold? Should I fetch some cold medicine?"
Ollie fluffed up. "I am not! I'm not getting sick!"
The staff all understood at once—he was terrified of Caleb seeing him with ice cream and blaming himself for catching a cold.
"All set here for Mr. Blake. Aside from the guest who's already with you, everyone else has arrived."
Whether Julian North would become a regular was still being kept as a surprise by the production. His return had sparked so much heat, it was a golden opportunity for the show to squeeze every drop of publicity out of it.
"OMG, can someone post a link to that suitcase? As a lazy college kid I NEED that for travel."
"+1. This is peak millennial travel gear. So smooth-looking, looks comfy!"
"Ollie's so performative—he's 21 and still putting on this baby act, ew."
"He's only 21, okay? I'm 25 and I also travel like a toddler, so back off."
"Wait, 21? He didn't even go to college—how do these no-education kids become famous? I just don't get it. Our faves' fans aren't spamming like this; you guys are the loudest."
"Hey, if you want to come at Ollie, don't drag us into it. Aren't you from Mason Yu's camp? Now that Ollie and Julian are under the same company, you gotta pile on? All the other fans are chatting normally—why do you have to pick a fight?"
"Mason Yu's fans are wild. The chat was chill and they had to come stir the pot. Why did the show even invite them? And Shane Keane—this is obviously to stir up drama between him and Julian. They literally brought enemies together, lol."
"Hold up—didn't Julian retire from the industry? Why are you all still talking about him? Is that confirmed?"
"We're not the ones overreacting—someone else is, LOL. Don't act like your guy's business skill is any better. He's been leeching off Julian for attention for ages. Being infamous is still fame, right?"
"Guys! Except for the mystery guest, everyone's here. We're boarding now. Once we land at the first outpost cabin the mystery guest will join us and then we'll kick off our romantic getaway!"
As the host finished, the sunglasses-and-stylish-outfit crew in the VIP lounge stood, hoisted their luggage, and Ollie finally hopped down from his electric case.
This episode of Traveling with Memories had a seriously stacked cast: two rival camps, the recent breakout actress Tessa Gray, singers Jenna Young and Dylan Moore, and Annalise from one of the top girl groups—eight people in total.
Usually the show favored odd-numbered guest lineups so they could force a "left out" pairing for drama. This time, though, they'd been told to behave. Starline Entertainment had leaned on things after a conflict with Mason Yu and Shane Keane; they'd even replaced another investor with their own money and thus seized control of the show's direction. No theatrics this time—or so the prod team was forced to promise.
Ollie went quiet once aboard. He hugged the airplane pillow, curled into a corner of empty seats, and scrolled his phone, oblivious to how many eyes were on him.
His thumbs flew. If you didn't know better you'd think he was gaming, but he was actually using the weird little signals spirits could send to tattle to Captain Harper.
"Don't Peck the Tail": Madam, I'm reporting—this guy's karmic stain is so black I can barely see his face! Save me!
"Next Time I'll Be a Woman": Why are you calling SpiritLine? Aren't you a little monster yourself? Don't call me.
"Don't Peck the Tail": No… I'm too scared to go to the Bureau. I'm a little illiterate—my Riverside University exam has been two years and I still haven't gotten in. That serpent's gonna laugh at me!
"Next Time I'll Be a Woman": Omg I forgot, you're the little illiterate—hahaha, okay okay, Madam will save you. Send me the address. Do you know anything about this person?
"Don't Peck the Tail": [location]
"Don't Peck the Tail": I don't know! But he messed with me before—back when I was still a small-time spirit. He tried to push me off a building to get resources, I had zero guard up and he shoved me from the third floor. I was lucky and landed on my feet, but I sprained my ankle and couldn't walk for a week! He's weirdly dangerous.
"Next Time I'll Be a Woman": Huh…yeah, that sounds off. Mr. Blake's got protective seals on him. For someone to get past them, they'd have to be way stronger than him—or carrying some kind of weird artifact. The first is unlikely—we would've noticed if someone that powerful had been around. So he must have something strange on him. Be careful. I'm heading out.
Ollie sent Captain Harper everything he could find online about Shane Keane. He didn't have to—Captain Harper, head of Precinct One, could have pulled a professional file in minutes—but Ollie was nervous.
Since that incident they'd never confronted Shane in person. Without hard evidence, they couldn't send him away, and Caleb worried Shane might snap and hurt Ollie. Normally they'd just cut ties forever, but of all times the producers decided to seat both of them on the same show.
Caleb had been calmed by two things: the show would be livestreaming for most of the plane ride, and Jenna Carter was assigned to stick with Ollie the whole time. Between practical and supernatural protections, Caleb figured Shane wouldn't dare make a scene.
After the episode aired, Starline would step in to help Julian and Ollie break their contracts. To the public it might look like a publicity ploy—old news in this business—but to the people involved it wouldn't be so simple.
Having tattled, Ollie's eyelids grew heavy. Getting up this early was killing him. Just as sleep was about to take him, Jenna poked him and pointed at the attendants to get him a blanket.
A flight attendant hurried over with a blanket and a cup of warm water. Tessa Gray, who'd only waved at him at the airport, hesitated for a moment and then, under everyone's curious stares, sat down next to Ollie.
Jenna had already melted into the background the moment anyone approached Ollie—bumping into him could've made a normal person sick.
"Kid… *cough cough* Mr. Blake."
Ollie: …Don't think I didn't hear that!!!
"Tessa can just call me Ollie~ Tessa, what's up~"
Great. Lovely service.
Tessa, of course, could tell Ollie wanted to sleep, but some things wouldn't wait—once the live cameras started, chances to talk would disappear.
She dropped her voice to a near-whisper. "Um…could I borrow your study notes for the Riverside exam? I heard you only started appearing publicly three years ago and you almost made it in last year! Come on, brainiac—help me pass!"
Ollie: …Who even are you?
Wait—Tessa isn't human? Did that just…check out? No one had mentioned that.
Come to think of it, maybe it made sense. Most spirits were handsome or pretty. Maybe they'd go into show business.
Tessa hesitated. She'd long suspected Ollie's true nature and had used backstage connections at The Agency to try to line up this meeting. The answer made her a little embarrassed.
"I'm…a raccoon spirit," she confessed. "I've been trying for five years and I still haven't gotten in—ugh, why is getting a university degree so hard?"
Tessa was twenty-five outwardly and did graduate from film school in human terms, but for young spirits, graduating from Riverside University was the one that really mattered. If you couldn't get into Riverside, you were stuck taking the test over and over—maybe for centuries.
Usually, when a spirit left Northridge, there were people who arranged a full set of human-life experiences for them—make them a few years younger, send them through high school and college the normal way. Then, once they'd spent time in human universities, they could sit for the Riverside entrance exam. Tessa had been arranged like that.
Ollie's situation was different. He slipped down from Northridge on his own and still didn't have a stable human form. By the time The Agency noticed, it was too late—he'd already made a splash in entertainment. If it weren't for someone vouching for him, he'd have been forcibly sent back home to continue his cultivation.
He'd become a public figure too fast, and the Agency couldn't arrange the full human-life timeline they normally would have. So Ollie really was a "no diploma" kid, which trolls loved to mock.
Caleb hadn't actually wanted to treat Ollie like a cash machine—he'd once tried to hire tutors to prep Ollie for the human college exams while Ollie's body was still in peak condition so he could earn a degree legit. But The Agency then told Ollie to prepare specifically for the Riverside exam, which covered a lot more than any human test. Caleb's tutoring plans had to be shelved.
Riverside University's entrance exam had always been brutal. The fastest anyone had done it was the fox clan's current patriarch, who took two years. After him, the next genius was Ollie.
Although this was Ollie's third round applying, he'd missed last year's cutoff by only eight points. For someone who'd only been down two years, getting that close was impressive.
[Author's note omitted]
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