The Vigilante's Handbook (Misfits #1)

Twenty One: Please Stop Trying to Kill Me

Then Stitch laughed. "You're a really bad liar, Anna."

"Am not!"

"I wouldn't call it lying." Lucia had an almost impressed smile on her face. I could have mistaken it for respect if it hadn't been on her face. "Just selective information telling. You didn't answer my question. Did you learn anything?"

"That wasn't your question. Because I did figure out a few things, but it's purely speculation."

"Go on."

With only a hint of guilt, I told them about the details of mine and Julien's date. Not the argument and fake name and unwanted kiss details, but the important ones.

He had plenty of cash on him, which raised a few eyebrows. We were already getting strapped for cash and had only been living off of canned foods since we found the RV. I voiced my opinion that they had found a side hustle to make extra money, an action that we should duplicate, but it was all speculation.

For all I knew, the academy could have given them more cash from the very beginning. Paramount Lake could be betting on Julien and his cohorts to win, however that was done. There was a hissing voice in the back of my mind that suggested Lucia had socked a large part of our team money away, but I knew that wasn't true. Not because I trusted that she had moral qualms with it, but because that didn't seem like something she would do. She was here to win and hiding money would only make that objective more difficult to achieve.

So went on the discussion until the sun had set and nearly all of the details of my date had been revealed. And this time I mean all of the details. Foster was a sneaky interrogator, especially with Cody's help. He would whisper something to Cody, who would then ask me in my own voice. Suddenly I was telling everyone about how angry I was that Julien had tried to kiss me because Foster had worded the question in such a way that I thought it would provide important information.

The most it provided was some sort of pity for me.

The crescent moon had risen, providing very little light to our forest home. It made the flashlights in our RV all the more bright. It felt like we were visible to everyone hiking between the town and here.

Lucia ordered them off and everyone to bed except for Ariana who was set to take the first watch. She sat in the front, more alert than I had ever seen one of the watchmen. I hadn't realized how much Julien's visit had affected everyone. They fully expected an attack by sunrise.

But I knew better. Julien wasn't like that. He may be an idiot, but he was caring. He wouldn't do that to us. And whoever said anything about an attack? At some point, we had started waiting for the enemies to pop out from behind the trees, but that had never been part of the instructions.

Winning didn't mean attacking.

Stitch, Miguel, and I hadn't proved ourselves enough to be put in the night watch rotation, so I snuggled up with a blanket on the bed above the cab and kicked Stitch away from the edge. I swear the kid had a death wish. In his sleep, he naturally gravitated toward the drop that made up one side of our bed.

Because I hadn't been on watch before, I was surprised when I was woken up in the middle of the night with a hand covering my nose and mouth. It was effective in the way that it woke me up without a scream. It was also effective in suffocating me. I began to squirm under the firm pressure, trying to get away and not contemplate the possibility that this was the end for me.

Then Lucia pulled her hand back and gave me a disapproving look. There went any respect I might have earned earlier in the night.

I was breathing hard. "What gives?"

She shushed me. Again. It was becoming a favorite pastime of hers since the captain symbol appeared on her super suit. "Shut up unless you want to wake everyone else up."

"Then stop trying to kill me."

"Please, that's not the closest I've come to killing you since you came to the academy."

"Doesn't mean being suffocated in my sleep is a pleasant feeling." It was then that I noticed the sun had not risen and no one else was stirring awake for their shift in the watch. "Why are we having this discussion?"

To Lucia's credit, she understood what my question meant without me having to explain myself. "You're on last watch with me. Put on a coat, we're going outside." I was too dazed to argue. Perhaps I had garnered some respect by overanalyzing my date with Julien.

What are your thoughts on Lucia? Obviously I have my own opinion on Paramount Lake's Hulk but I want to know what you think of her. 

And fair warning: this is the start of my camp nano writing so I wrote most of these chapters in one sitting which means they're a little wonky. Be kind to them.

m nicole