Free The Hunt by L. J. Smith Page A

caught him by surprise, causing him to stumble backward.
    Chris, in his struggle to climb out of the dumbwaiter before Cassie could reach him, slipped out headfirst and hit the floor with a thump.
    A few silent seconds passed before he screamed out in pain, clutching his left arm.
    â€œNow you’ve done it,” Doug said. “You broke my brother.”
    â€œSeriously, Cassie,” Sean said. “You didn’t have to humiliate him like that.”
    â€œI barely touched him,” Cassie screamed out.
    â€œHe’s in pain,” Diana said.
    â€œDuh.” Doug helped Chris to his feet. “I think his arm is broken.”
    â€œI guess Nick isn’t the only one with anger issues.” Deborah glanced at Cassie and then went to Chris’s other side for support.
    â€œHe’s in pain,” Diana shouted out again. “Do you understand what this means?”
    Cassie thought back to her car accident a few weeks ago, when she walked away unscathed, and she suddenly comprehended Diana’s shock. “The protective spell is broken,” Cassie said.
    A spine-chilling quiet fell over the room as everyone realized what this meant for their safety.
    â€œScarlett in the gym last night,” Diana said. “She wasn’t there to ruin our dance. She was destroying the only thing keeping us alive.”

CHAPTER 10
    â€œI figured out a way to open my father’s book,” Cassie said to Adam, pulling the gunmetal chest out from under her bed and the key from its hidden compartment in her jewelry box.
    She had asked Adam to stay while the others accompanied Chris to the hospital. Now that the protection spell had been broken, they didn’t have a moment to waste. They needed to end these hunters, once and for all.
    â€œHow?” he asked.
    Cassie showed him the obsidian crystal and explained how it worked as a buffer to the book’s dark energy. Cassie and Adam settled down on her bedroom floor, the bookin front of them. Cassie opened it, knowing it would singe her fingers a bit before she could get the crystal in place, and it did. But once the rock had been set down, weighing upon the book’s spine and clearing its energy, the book’s first two pages were visible.
    â€œThis is incredible.” Adam leaned over the book on his hands and knees, closely examining each brushstroke before him. “I recognize a few familiar symbols here. From my hunt for the Master Tools a while ago. Some of these same inscriptions were on Black John’s map.”
    Cassie couldn’t keep herself from smiling. “I was hoping you’d say something like that.”
    â€œI’ll look back through my old research and see what I can find. Do you think we can take the book to my house?”
    The idea of the book leaving her bedroom rattled Cassie and she faltered. “I don’t think so,” she stuttered. “You’re better off bringing your research here.”
    â€œYou know, Cassie,” Adam said. “Now that the protection spell is broken, and Scarlett is getting closer, I think it’s time we looped in the rest of the Circle.”
    Cassie shook her head before he could say anything more. “We’ve already discussed this. I told you, I need some time before I tell the Circle I have the book. I’m not going to say it again.”
    â€œThis is some really dark stuff, Cassie.” Adam pointed at the text’s ominous squiggly lines. “Look at it. Decoding this is going to require as many of us working on it as possible. I think it’s worth a shot.”
    â€œOh, is that what you think? You think it’s worth a shot?” Cassie realized she was shouting, but she couldn’t stop herself. “Well, here’s what I think,” she said. “I think it’s my book, not yours. And it’s my issue to deal with, not the Circle’s.”
    â€œYou don’t have to yell at me,” Adam said