The Hunt Read Online Free PDF Page A

felt like he was the protector of her .
    ‘I guess my parents aren’t the only ones who’ve jumped to Code Red,’ Dave said. He downed a giant spoonful of his mudslide sundae.
    ‘I think your parents were right to make you cancel your camping trip,’ Vic told him. ‘Walking two blocks on the sidewalk in the middle of the day is one thing.Camping in the woods overnight – that’s something else. Something crazy stupid else.’
    ‘There’s nothing out there I can’t handle,’ Dave insisted.
    ‘Yeah, don’t forget Dave has his trusty potato gun,’ James said. Everyone laughed for about two seconds, then suddenly fell silent, as if they’d all remembered at the same moment that Kyle was dead.
    ‘Potato gun?’ Luke asked. He’d only moved to Deepdene a few months ago, while almost everyone else had lived here their whole lives. There was still a lot of inside stuff he didn’t get.
    ‘Dave really wanted a BB gun for his eighth birthday. That’s all he talked about for six months beforehand,’ Jenna Barton explained.
    ‘And then he got one of those guns that shoots potato pellets instead,’ Luke guessed.
    Jenna shook her head.‘No, he got the BB. Shot himself in the foot less than a half an hour after he unwrapped it.’
    ‘It could have happened to anyone!’ Dave protested.
    ‘So of course the BB got taken away,’ Jenna went on, ‘and he got the tater gun as a replacement. No replacement for that bit of toe though.’
    Everyone laughed again. Softly. Funeral-reception laughter.
    ‘I heard some people are planning to buy real guns – at least until the animal that … that got Kyle is caught,’ Vic commented. Luke noticed she’d had trouble coming up with a more accurate word, like ‘killed’ or ‘mauled’.
    Phoebe, one of the regular Ola’s waitresses, stopped by. She had to be almost thirty years old, but she looked just as spooked and upset as the kids from school. Luke ordered a vanilla shake with a shot of espresso. As she stepped away he heard the bells on the front door ring out. He immediately looked over, and a smile spread across his face. Eve and Jess.
    He got up and hurried over to them. ‘Gossip exchange,’ Jess commanded, instead of saying hello.
    ‘Victoria can’t walk home without an escort, Dave can’t go camping this weekend and on my way here I heard that Mr Groshart has Helena locked in her room on suicide watch,’ Luke answered obediently.
    ‘We saw Helena’s father while we were on our way here. He’d just gotten a couple of frappuccinos from Java Nation to take home for him and Helena,’ Eve said. ‘He said Helena’s upset, and that she’ll probably take some days off school until she’s had time toadjust. But he was out buying coffees for them, and didn’t seem worried that she was alone, so I think the suicide watch thing definitely falls into the “false rumour” column.’
    Luke nodded. ‘Oh, I forgot: there may be a spike in gun buying.’ Luke knew that when Jess asked for gossip, she wanted it all.
    ‘You know, if I wasn’t afraid of guns, I might get one,’ Jess said.
    ‘A gun would ruin the line of every outfit you wore,’ Eve teased gently.
    ‘Also, and admittedly much less important than the outfit thing, it would be illegal. You’re still a minor,’ Luke pointed out. He pushed his blond hair out of his face. He liked it long, but it had been a while since his last haircut and it was almost to the point where there would be vision impairment.
    ‘But I need some protection against the mountain lion. Maybe a knife in a little sheath strapped to my thigh?’ Jess said. ‘With that plaid Catholic-schoolgirlesque miniskirt of mine, it could be hot.’
    Eve nodded. ‘In a badass anime-heroine way.’
    ‘Exactly,’ Jess agreed.
    ‘Back up. Mountain lion?’ Luke asked.
    ‘On our way over we heard it was a mountainlion that killed Kyle,’ Eve said, exasperated. Luke noticed that Eve hadn’t had any trouble saying the word