Dash had a nightmare. He sat up in bed so fast that the clasp of his Virtual Facial Disguise collar popped open. He felt a little better until he fastened the collar again. Instantly he felt like a forsaken freak. He opened and closed the collar a few more times; the effect was the same each time.
He climbed to the top bunk and shook his sister awake.
"Violet, wake up," Dash said.
"Huh? What? Let me sleep!" said Violet.
"I found out something about the collars," Dash said. "They make you feel bad. I think we should take them off when we don't need them for disguises."
Dash flipped open the clasp of Violet's collar before she could react.
"Oh," said Violet in surprise. "I see what you mean. Maybe that's why everyone was acting so strange tonight."
"We should tell Mom and Dad," Dash said.
"Yes, but not now," Violet said. "They may need privacy."
"Why?" said Dash. An instant later he blushed and said "Oh."
But in the morning it turned out everyone had overslept. They had to rush to put on costumes and get ready for the show.
As they walked past the fortune-telling tent on the way to the freak-show they saw that Count Buddy was back, and no longer in disguise. He was talking in a loud voice with Madame Lulu.
"I'm paying you, all right?" Syndrome said. "I'm just having a bit of a cash-flow problem with my bank accounts frozen. So I brought you a new attraction for your carnival instead."
"But lions, my Buddy?" asked Madame Lulu. "How am I to feed them, please?"
Syndrome glanced over at the freaks, but he gave no sign of recognition.
"I have an idea about that," Syndrome said. "I'll tell you after the reading."
Syndrome and Madame Lulu disappeared into the tent.
Working in the freak show was even more horrible than the Parrs imagined it would be. People laughed, jeered, and threw things at them as they did their acts. They performed for one group after another for two hours; it felt like two days.
At the noon break, Beverley/Elliot and Chabo the Wolf Baby went into the fortune-telling tent. It was deserted.
"Let's check around inside anyway," said Dash. "Maybe we can find out what Everseer is doing for Syndrome."
"Graawl!" agreed Jack-Jack, which meant "Let's try to find out about the lions, too!"
Dash and Violet separated and unfastened their collars in order to search more easily. They found a motorized device for producing fake flashes of magical lightning, a glass crystal ball, and a whole research library of papers and notes hidden under the crystal ball table. There were tickets, old newspapers, a positive reply to an invitation to a masked ball (from Beatrice, alas), and many other papers.
"Look at this," said Violet, "A list of new students going to Prudence Preparatory School, with our names circled."
"I found Super Relocation Agency notes about sending us to the V.F.D. village," said Dash. "Madame Lulu has been helping Syndrome find us!"
"Why are freaks spying on me, please?" came the angry voice of Madame Lulu.
The children jumped up, startled. They jostled the table and the crystal ball fell. It would have shattered except that Dash's speed allowed him to grab it before it hit the ground.
"Why are you spying on us for Syndrome?" Dash retorted. "And you're supposed to be clairvoyant, but you cheat!"
Seeing they were undisguised, Everseer turned off his own collar.
"Yes, as a fortune-teller I'm a bit of a charlatan," he admitted. "My clairvoyance is unreliable, so I supplement it with intelligence and research. As for helping Syndrome, I help everyone. If I don't give people what they want I don't get paid."
"Did you tell him about us being here?" Violet asked angrily.
"No, I didn't do that. I said that I had picked up vibrations from the Mortality Mountains," said Everseer.
"Did you know these collars would make us feel bad?" Dash asked.
"That's merely a minor emotional side-effect," said Madame Lulu. "In time you'll get used to it, or resist it as I do."
"Grawwl?" said Jack-Jack, meaning "What was that business about lions?"
"That was Syndrome's idea to spark more business. This afternoon, we will announce that we are going to throw a random freak to the lions. People will pay anything to see something like that."
"That's horrible!" said Violet. "Are you out of your mind?"
"Since you're all supers, I'm sure that you can find an amusing way to defeat the lions," Madame Lulu said complacently. "But people will keep coming back and paying, hoping to see you fail, the way some people secretly hope that tightrope walkers will fall."
"You monster!" Dash charged at Everseer, but he wasn't standing where he appeared to be. The tent was deserted again.
"Come on, Jack-Jack and Dash," said Violet. "Let's get Mom and Dad and get out of here."
The re-disguised themselves and ran back to the freak caravan. Kevin, Hugo, and Colette were all there, talking among themselves.
"You just missed meeting Esmé Sansweet," Kevin told them. "She made us an offer. She said Madame Lulu plans to throw us to the lions. If we throw Lulu to the lions instead, we can join Count Buddy's group."
"Some offer," said Dash. "What has she got against Madame Lulu, anyway?"
"She says it makes her nervous to have a mind-reader around," said Hugo.
The children thought that was no wonder, since Esmé had secret plans to revenge herself against Syndrome for the death of Frozone, her former husband.
"We've been talking, and we think we might take her up on that offer," said Colette. "Are you with us?"
"What?" gasped Violet.
"It's my only chance to be somebody other than an ambidextrous freak," said Kevin.
"You're already somebody," said Dash. "You're Macroburst the superhero!"
"Did Madame Lulu tell you that?" Kevin asked. "Telling people what they want to hear is her stock-in-trade. Imagine me, an ambidextrous freak, as a super!"
"Maybe she wanted to fool you into thinking this carnival is a great deal," said Colette. "Did she tell you we were famous supers, too?"
"You are," said Violet. "Elastigirl and Mr. Incredible."
"You sure are rubes to believe that," said Hugo with a bitter chuckle.
"Gollers!" yelled Jack-Jack, which meant, "It's the collars!"
"You've got to take off those collars!" Violet said. "They're making you forget who you are."
Violet reached for the collar on Colette's neck, but her mother's elastic hand slapped her away.
"I'm not giving up this collar," said Colette. "It's the nicest thing I own."
Dash was about to make his move when both he and Violet were grabbed from behind by one powerful arm. The other arm grabbed Jack-Jack.
"I'm not going to let you trick us and mess up our chances," said Hugo. "The lion show starts in a few minutes."
The young Incredibles were helpless in the powerful grip of a man they didn't want to hurt because he was their father. What could they do now?