The Vigilante's Handbook (Misfits #1)

Thirty Eight: The Conspiracy

It was good to know my team could handle an ambush. Our teacher didn't step a foot in the apartment before almost every Gift came out in full power. Ice up her legs, Valentine started shrieking, and shadow filled the hall behind Miss Freyson. Even Giftless Lucia was lunging toward her. Elliot thankfully restrained himself from blowing up the doorway, but lightning circled his arms.

Miguel and Diana were the only ones who hadn't jumped into immediate action, but I couldn't imagine how a two hundred pound wolf or computers would be helpful in this situation.

We would have been able to restrain our old tactics teacher with no trouble had she not been faster than us.

My ice slowed to a glacial pace as it wound around her feet. Aleksei's shadows were only just beginning to blossom in the space behind her. Val's voice was stuck in her throat--thankfully. The electricity that was emanating from Elliot gently pulsed instead of flashing. Lucia was stuck mid tackle.

We were easily defeated.

Before she dropped her Gift, Miss Freyson spoke at a normal speed. "I'm here to help. I'm not working with the Academy. And I've dealt with superheroes that have years of experience on you, so don't try anything funny. Just stop." With a very teacher-like look at each of us, she allowed time to speed back up to its normal pace. There was a brief darkness as the glow of our Gifts faded.

The moment I felt the relief of living in realtime, my ice froze around her feet. This time she didn't stop our barrage of Gifts.

"You've been teaching us for years. You should know better than to trust us," Lucia said as she caught Freyson in a hold. After all this time trying to convince my classmates that I wasn't a bad influence, I had been wrong. My goody-two-shoes classmates from the Academy would never have defied a teacher's order.

I had never been more proud of my ragtag team.

"What are you doing here, Miss Freyson?" Lucia continued. Maybe my corruption wasn't complete. Lucia still addressed her properly, if not awkwardly.

"I told you I'm here to help. I would have shown up months ago, but the school board did a nearly flawless job of hiding your location. Even after the Conspiracy raided Paramount Lake, we couldn't find any information on your whereabouts."

I made a noise of objection when Lucia released Freyson from the headlock, but she shushed me. "None of those words mean anything to us." She turned to me. "If you were Miss Freyson and wanted to trick us, what lie would you have come up with, Anna?"

I was both proud and ashamed of how quickly I answered. "I would wear my Academy cardigan and tell us that we beat the other team. That this was all a part of our final test and we had passed. If I wanted to be a little over the top--and you are over the top, no offense, Miss Freyson--I would hand out diplomas."

"Did she do any of that?"

"There's always more than one way to tell a lie, Lucia."

"But as the Queen of the Misfits and liar extraordinaire, you think your lie is the best?"

I felt like I was walking into a trap, but I cautiously continued. "Off the top of my head? Yeah. It might have worked on us. Especially two nights ago before Eleanor showed up."

That caught Freyson's attention. "She's here?"

Lucia acted like she couldn't hear her. "Why would she come to us with an unbelievable lie that none of us understand?"

"Because she's bad at lying. You said that I'm the best. She can't keep up."

"She was our tactics and espionage teacher. She taught us to lie," Lucia argued.