He startled her again and easily managed to evoke more growls from Mattie. She'd jumped and she'd jump hard, and now she was both trying to look unfazed and struggling to understand what Jacob had just told her. Why the hell wouldn't Nicholas be there?! He practically had a hole in his back! 

She turned around and crossed her arms, backing away as she responded because she felt it unwise to be still––to start to loosen up––around Jacob. 

"Oh, yes, I obviously know what happened," she said venomously. "Because clearly I know the most of the three of us, right? No, I didn't know he was gone 'till now. He couldn't have gone far though with that gash, though." 

She wanted to look for Nick, she truly did––not out of love (which required trust), necessarily, but out of loyalty–– but she didn't want to speak to Jacob more than she absolutely had to. [i]Think, think, think.[/i] It hit her that if a mutant could see far enough into the future to lay a poisoned rock in the exact right spot beforehand, they could probably also sense when Nick would be alone. 

"Fucking––fucking cat piss champagne," she muttered under her breath, her face going pale. Why hadn't she thought of that before she'd stormed outside? Stupid stupid stupid Mattie! She slowed and stopped her walking backwards, then ran past Jacob back toward the motel. [i]You goddamn idiot.[/i]