The Vigilante's Handbook (Misfits #1)

Twenty One: Please Stop Trying to Kill Me

I hated returning to the RV. And not just because it was an RV in the middle of the woods during the cold part of spring. I hated it because I knew the others would be looking at me. I had spent ten years at Paramount Lake Academy growing a thick skin so their sideways glances would bounce off of me. I hadn't been successful.

The best I could do was pretend that it didn't bother me that they would all know my boyfriend was the enemy and that he had only come to visit so he could use me.

That's why I purposefully trailed behind Miguel and tried to make the trip back to camp as long as possible.

If Miguel noticed, and I'm sure he did, he didn't say anything. I could be grateful for that at least.

My solitude lasted long enough to get Miguel and me to the tripwires we had strung up the other day. It was just out of sight of the RV. But not out of earshot from the tripwires Miguel and I had rigged. So when Miguel stumbled over his own work and took me down with him, the attached bell alerted everyone to our presence.

It worked as a sort of fire drill. We hadn't as of yet had any intruders besides the captive Julien, so I had no clue what my teammates' reactions would be to the alarm. As it happened, they appeared almost immediately, all five of them, powers on full display.

Lucia was running in the distinct form of a football player ready to sack the quarterback, Stitch smelled of ozone but wasn't sizzling yet, and Ariana had a bronze statue of a dog in her hand like she was going to throw it at us before she made it come to life. Foster was standing mostly in a tree with only his eyes peeking out. Beyond terrifying. Cody was mostly standing behind the crowd trying to look menacing.

I started clapping to diffuse the tension. "Well done. If anyone stumbled upon our camp they would not only know we're freaks but they might figure out that we're all superheroes. Way to blow our cover at the ring of a bell."

"We thought you were Julien and the others," Ariana explained as if I were stupid.

"And why would you think that? Did you expect me to divulge all of our secrets and switch sides? Do you trust me that little?"

The silence was my only answer. It was more telling than if they had all shouted, "Yes!"

Stitch at least looked apologetic and attempted to explain himself. "I thought they knew where we were and used Julien as a distraction."

He was too smart to have actually believed that the other team would send their captain to distract the least powerful member of our group, but I appreciated the effort of his lie. At least he cared about what I thought of him.

"Did you get any information?" Lucia cut in before anyone else could make a fool of themselves. Before I could open my mouth to answer her, she thought better of her question and motioned for me to shut up and follow her back into the RV.

We congregated in the main living area. Sitting cross legged three people fit on the kitchen table turned bed with two in the mouse eaten, stuffed chairs across the narrow walkway. Lucia and I opted for the ground at the head of the group.

She repeated her question, but I didn't need her to. I was still trying to rein in the righteous anger that was bubbling up in my chest. First, they thought I led the enemies straight to us, and now this? How little faith did they have in me? "I didn't spend my date playing this game we've been forced into."

"Julien did," Cody piped up. I sent him a scathing look, but there was no use arguing the point.

Julien had been trying to use me. "I didn't tell him anything and didn't ask anything." Their stares lingered.