The Hunt by L. J. Smith Page B

injury. “Are you sure you’re okay? You aren’t hurt?”
    Cassie nodded. “I’m fine. I think we got out just in time. Where’s Adam?”
    â€œRight here.” Adam walked up to the group, looking pale. His hands were trembling slightly and they were empty of Mr. Boylan’s relic. “Cassie,” he said. “Have you been out here long?”
    â€œI’m okay,” Cassie said to reassure him.
    Adam appeared more shaken than she was. His breathing was heavy and his forehead was soaked with sweat. He scanned the surrounding area with apprehension.
    â€œScarlett’s nowhere to be found,” Chris called out as he and Doug exited the gym to rejoin the group. Deborah and Suzan were alongside him.
    â€œThe lights are still out, but everyone in the gym is back to normal,” Doug said. “Which is too bad, really. I kind of liked the idea of them all being zombified.”
    Cassie looked at Nick, happy he was okay. He was so quick to react, and he’d saved her life, but she never intended for him to be in danger like that. Especially with Mr. Boylan and Max around.
    Nick returned her gaze. He seemed to understand exactly what she was thinking and he smiled reassuringly for her. It was just then that Cassie saw something glisten on the sleeve of his leather jacket. It was dim at first, butonce she noticed it, it appeared to shine more clearly. It was the hunter symbol.
    â€œNick,” she said, but that was the only word she could get out.
    He registered Cassie’s expression and then watched everyone else’s face fall into the same shock.
    â€œWhat?” he asked. “Why do you all look like you’ve seen a ghost?”
    â€œYour sleeve,” Diana said. “You’ve been marked.”
    Cassie went to him, but Nick shook her off. He searched his jacket and located the mark. He concentrated hard on it, squinting as if trying to understand it, but had no other reaction.
    â€œSo I have,” he said, in a voice as still and cold as stone.
    Adam barely said a word the whole car ride home to Cassie’s. Cassie didn’t take it personally; she didn’t feel much like making conversation either. What was there to say after an evening like this? But when Adam parked in front of her house, he cut the engine and turned to her like he had something to get off his chest.
    â€œAre you sure you don’t want me to stay on your couch for the night?” he asked. “Scarlett might still be coming after you.”
    There was a chill in the air that made Cassie shiver. “Thank you,” she said. “But I’ll be okay. Faye and Laurel are there, and Faye wouldn’t miss the chance to act on some of her anger if Scarlett showed up.”
    â€œThat’s true, I guess.” Adam tapped his fingers on the steering wheel.
    Cassie was wearing his suit jacket draped over her shoulders to keep warm. She went to take it off and give it back to him, but he stopped her.
    â€œKeep it on a little longer,” he said. He made no motion to restart the car’s engine. Something else was obviously on his mind.
    Cassie feared she knew what it was. Adam was concerned that Nick being marked would mean he’d have to start spending the night in Cassie’s basement. The two of them would be sleeping under the same roof.
    She decided to help him along. “Adam,” she said. “About Nick staying here …”
    Adam stared straight ahead. “It’s not that,” he said. “Can I ask you one more time what happened when the lights went out in the school?”
    â€œI told you,” Cassie said. “Nothing happened with Nick while you were gone that you need to worry about.”
    â€œI just need to hear it again.”
    Cassie had already given Adam a detailed account of her and Nick’s every move from the moment they spotted Scarlett to their escape. But she repeated the story