"Yeah. You said you knew this stuff really well and I'd like to make an A on the test. What do you think?"
He rubbed the back of his neck nervously—clearly a habit since he seemed to do it so frequently. "You sure you want me to study with you ?"
"Yes."
He smiled sheepishly, but refused to meet her gaze. "Sure, I guess that would be okay." Cassandra sat back with a satisfied smile as Dr. Mitchell came in and commanded everyone to silence.
She'd spent hours on the Dark-Hunter.Com Web site after her last class, going through every part of it. On the surface, it appeared to be some kind of role-playing group or book site. But there were entire sections of it that were password protected. Secret loops and areas that she couldn't access no matter how hard she tried. There were many things about it that reminded her of the Apollite site.
No, this wasn't a gaming group. She had stumbled upon the real Dark-Hunters. She knew it. They were the last great mystery of the modern world. Living myths that no one knew about.
But she knew they were there. And she was going to find a way into their society and find some answers even if it killed her. Sitting through that class while the professor droned on about Hrothgar and Shield was the hardest thing she'd ever done in her life. As soon as it ended, she packed up and waited for Chris.
As they neared the door, she saw the two men dressed in black who immediately flanked them while eyeballing her. Chris let out a disgusted sound.
Cassandra laughed in spite of herself. "Are they with you?"
"I really wish I could say no."
She patted his arm in sympathy. She jerked her chin to indicate down the hall where Kat was standing up and tucking away her book. "I got one myself."
Chris smiled at that. "Thank God, I'm not the only one."
"Nah, don't worry about it. I told you I understand completely."
The relief on his face was tangible. "So when would you like to study?"
"How about now?"
"Okay, where?"
There was only one place Cassandra was dying to get into. She hoped it would hold more clues about the man she'd met last night. "Your place?"
His nervousness was back instantly, confirming her suspicions. "I don't know if that's a good idea."
"Why?"
"I just… it's just… I, um, I just don't think it's a good idea, okay?"
Stymied already. Cassandra forced herself to hide her irritation. She'd have to tread carefully if she was to get past his defenses. But then she understood that. She had her own secrets to hide.
"Okay, you pick the place."
"The library?"
She bristled. "I can't ever get comfy there. I'm always afraid of being told to hush. Want to come back to my apartment?"
He looked totally stunned by her offer."Really?"
"Sure. I mean, I don't usually bite or anything."
He laughed. "Yeah, me either." He took two steps off with her, then turned to the men trailing them. "We are just going to her place, okay? Why don't you guys go get a doughnut or something?"
They didn't acknowledge him in the least. Kat laughed. Cassandra led the way to the students' parking lot and then gave Chris directions to her apartment. "See you there?"
He nodded and made his way toward a red Hummer. Cassandra dashed to her gray Mercedes, where Kat was waiting in the driver's seat. They headed home, while Cassandra hoped Chris didn't wait too long or, worse, change his mind.
Not until she had a chance to search his backpack, anyway. It took her two hours of boring Beowulf study and a pot of coffee before Chris left her alone with his backpack while he went to the bathroom. Kat had long since retired to her bedroom, claiming the dead language and Chris's enthusiasm for it was giving her a migraine.
As soon as Chris vanished, Cassandra went searching. Luckily, it didn't take long to find what she was looking for…She found the day planner in his backpack where she had seen it earlier. The binder of it was hand-tooled leather with a strange emblem on the front: a double bow and arrow that was tilted up with the arrow pointing to the right.
Just like the one she had seen on Wulf's shoulder in her dream…
She ran her hand over the brown leather, then opened it to find that everything was written in Runic. The language was similar to Old English, but she couldn't read it.
Old Norse, perhaps?
"What are you doing?"
She jumped at Chris's sharp question. It took a few seconds for her to think of anything to say that wouldn't make him even more suspicious. "You're one of those gamers, aren't you?"
His blue gaze narrowed on her and turned sharp. "What are you talking about?"
"I… um, I went to this site called Dark-Hunter and found all these teasers about a book series and game. Since I had seen your book earlier, I was wondering if you were one of the members who plays there."
She could tell he was searching his mind and her face to see what, if anything, he should say.
"Yeah, my friend Nick runs the site," he said after a long pause. "We have a lot of interesting people who play there."