The Vigilante's Handbook (Misfits #1)

Thirty Four: I've Been Messing with You

I jerked out of his reach before he could touch me. From the way his eyes sprang open, I could tell he knew.

"You're freezing," he whispered. I hated the way he caught my attention when he spoke. It still made me feel special and stupid all at once. Now more than ever. "When did you get here?"

"After Mona set my grandma's house on fire with me in it." The sniffle at the end of the sentence was unintentional. If Miguel had been anyone else, I would have tried to win some pity and the sniff would have been perfectly timed. I knew that wouldn't work with him, and I could feel my real emotions bubbling up inside me. "I'm fine. Just leave."

"Green." And I felt special and stupid all over again.

I took everything in me to meet his eyes. "Miguel. Please. I'm warning you."

He tried to reach out again. I wasn't fast enough this time. His skin barely made contact with me before he jerked away like I had burned him. More like I had frozen him.

If he knew, then it didn't hurt to tell him. Eleanor would find out either way. When the words stuck in my throat, I just showed him my hands. They were still showing the obvious signs of being exposed to flames. That would leave scars. But over the blisters and raw skin was a delicate layer of frost that still gave off the faint blue light that always accompanied my Gift. "I don't know what's happening to me."

And after everything, I just wanted to hug him. I wanted to find that reassurance that everything would be alright. But he couldn't touch me because I would hurt him and I didn't want him to touch me because he was working for Eleanor like everyone else I knew.

There was only the sound of breathing. He was sucking in deep breath after deep breath. Maybe it was because I had caused him more pain than I thought, maybe he was trying to compose himself. "You'll be fine. Let me help you."

"Let you help me?" I asked, anger rising in my voice. "I can't trust you or anyone else anymore. You watched as Mona tried to burn me alive! You probably walked back to the apartment with her, laughing because of a job well done!" The louder my voice grew, the darker and more frantic the light around my hands grew. "I can't trust anyone and you very well know that."

His face said everything, and I couldn't pretend to not know what he meant.

"You know what you did."

Miguel gulped, thought for a good long while, opened his mouth. "That's what Eleanor wants you to think." He took his time to form the sentences. "Mona said Eleanor set a trap for the two of you. I was so busy with Elliot that I trusted her. She told us to run for help. But it didn't take me long to realize she was lying. I ran for you, and the cabin was in ashes. You were gone. We've been looking for you since Mona disappeared. I knew where you would be." Each of his sentences were punctuated by heavy silence as he worked out the words before he spoke.

If he was trying to spin the perfect lie, then he was failing miserably. Lies should be natural. Not stumbling over each word hoping it's good enough.

"Why should I believe you?" That was the real question. I wanted to trust him because we were friends and friends tell the truth. "I just need one reason."

He looked miserable. My frozen chest folded in on itself. I was the one making him feel awful, but I needed this answer. I needed his reassurance, and if I had to pry it out of him word by word, he would understand later.

He went on in that halting grammar that I expected from him. "I don't talk to anyone but you and Elliot. I only talk to him when he can't understand me any other way. The words stick in my throat like swallowing paper. It started because my English wasn't good when I first got to the academy."

I didn't want to, but I interrupted him. I need to be sure that he was telling the truth. If that meant this would be an interrogation then so be it. "What about Lucia and Diego?"

"I don't speak Portuguese."

"What?" That was a lie if I had ever heard one. There were plenty of times that I had seen Miguel wandering around with his cousins, nodding along to their conversations that I couldn't understand.

"I don't speak Portuguese."

"You're from Brazil."

He let out a little bit of that sunshine kind of laughter that he usually held back. "I was born in Albarracín." When he realized that the word meant nothing to me, he continued, "It's a small town in Spain. I speak Spanish."

"But-" I cut myself off. The more Miguel spoke, the less sense he made.

And that misery his features had been sporting broke into a smile. "Diego and Lucia aren't my cousins. We're not related at all."

"I knew it!" Years of crack theories and attempting to spread the rumor had been right. Everyone had laughed at me. Lucia had scoffed and called me an idiot countless times when I attempted to broach the subject with her. She had been lying the whole time. "Why didn't you tell anyone?"

"Eventually everyone assumed we were all cousins. It was easier than explaining, and no one ever asked if we really were cousins"

"I did!"

His smile grew, and his unused voice took on a teasing tone. "I just liked messing with you."

On instinct I punched him in the upper arm. My punches had never really packed a punch. Not unless I was pulling out every stop during Mr. Forrest's class. Today it sent Miguel tumbling backwards while he clutched at the spot my fist had landed.

I know this might now have been the mostly thrilling chapter but we all need more Miguel and Anna scenes, right? 

Should Anna trust him or is this another one of Eleanor's tricks? But the bigger question is do you still ship Miguel and Anna and what's there ship name?

m nicole