Read King Of Bad [Super Villian Academy Book 1] for Free Online Page B

his lungs.
He blew slowly onto his hands and a crystalline frost coated his fingers. He
giggled giddily in relief. “Oh man, thanks, Pyro.”
    “Su…”
    “There they are, officer!”
    For a second time, Pyro and Jeff swung around in surprise.
Two police officers walked toward them. One had his hand resting on his holster.
    Pyro and Jeff looked at each other and understood
that it was time to bolt. Pyro bobbed her head ever so slightly to the left and
they ghosted to the fence surrounding the neighboring backyard. Pyro cleared
the six foot fence in one jump, but Jeff vaulted over less gracefully. They
heard the amazed cries behind them as they jumped the fence on the far side of
the yard and raced off through the baseball field of the Lutheran school.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
    Chapter 8

 
    “So now you see what a benefit training can be,” Pyro
said after downing the tall glass of water the waitress had set in front of
her.
    “Did you have trouble controlling your fire?” Jeff
stared at his fingertips. They were a pleasant fleshy pink with no sign of
swelling, but he imagined them as the purpled throbbing masses of not long ago.
    “Yeah, umm hmm.” Pyro
drummed her fingers on the table and craned her neck, looking around for the
waitress. She waved at her when she finally caught her eye and pointed at her
empty water glass.
    Jeff drained his glass too before the waitress came
to refill them.
    “I caught my little sister’s stroller on fire. That
was when I admitted to myself that it was me setting the fires and not an
unusually high amount of spontaneous combustion.”
    “How old were you?” Jeff asked.
    “I was only fifteen when my fire came. I didn’t get
any official training for about six months though. Maybe you can appreciate
that I thought I had it all figured out by that time. Of course I hadn’t, but
it took me a while to really listen. I was really into some big time arson by
then, had figured out that I was faster than most people and could change
people’s minds for them.”
    “What? You can make people change their minds?” Jeff
gawked at Pyro.
    “Yeah, well, not always a cool thing.” Pyro stared
out the window; the look on her face was so haunted that Jeff didn’t dare ask
for details. “And not everyone can do it.”
    “What about the invisibility thing? When did you
figure that out?”
    “I learned that in training.” Pyro looked at Jeff and
smiled. “Don’t get all excited, not everyone can do that either.”
    “Where does it come from?” Jeff asked.
    Pyro squinted at him. “You have to believe it.”
    “Huh?”
    She shook her head. “I don’t know how else to explain
it.”
    The waitress set plates in front of them heaped with
the burgers and fries they’d ordered. “Anything else?”
    “Mustard and
honey,” Pyro said. After the waitress left, she said to Jeff, “The real benefit
to training is that they teach you how to feel where the abilities come from so
if you’ve got it in you, they’ll help you discover it and develop it.”
    “Well, after losing control today, I definitely need
help. But isn’t it kinda strange to you that the
academy develops villains? I just feel like there is something really wrong
with that.”
    Pyro sighed. “Jeff, you’re going to be bad whether
the academy teaches you or not. That’s how you’re made.”
    * * * *
    The next day a letter came in the mail addressed to
his parents announcing that Jeff had been identified as a prime candidate to
attend an exclusive boys’ school on the east coast geared toward helping at
risk youth learn to channel their abilities to their greater good.
    His parents ate it up. They researched the place
online. They called the dean of students to ask how they’d identified Jeff as a
potential student and to learn more about the school. They made arrangements to
fly out east to visit the school.
    Jeff and Sandra
and their parents visited that following weekend. Jeff was amazed at