Read Online Glimpse (The Tesla Effect Book 1) by Julie Drew - Free Book Online Page A

his ear. It was so dark now that his face was in shadow, though the lamplight from behind him had turned his wild hair into a shimmering halo around the edges. She wondered if this story made her seem even younger or sillier than he already thought her.
    “I know this is crazy,” she said. “It sounds crazy, doesn’t it?”
    “Actually, it sounds like an incredible experience,” Finn said.
    “No, it sounds crazy,” she corrected him. “I’ve only told Keisha what happened that night, and never all of it, even to her. I mean, how could I know perfectly well that I had a concussion—which definitely messes with your head—and simultaneously believe that what I thought and felt were real?”
    “Not everything can be neatly explained,” Finn said. He reached up and absently caught one long tendril of her hair that had been caught by the breeze and blown toward him. He held onto it, tethered her to him.
    Breathe , Tesla reminded herself. She wondered why he had such an effect on her, and then Finn released her hair, their connection broken.
    “What happened then?” he asked.
    Tesla closed her eyes. Remembered. She had peeled back her covers and sat up, slowly, looked toward the half-closed door of her hospital room where the bright light of the hallway sliced into the darkness. The light had looked strange, diffused. “I put on my favorite robe—”
    “I thought you came in an ambulance straight from school. You had your favorite robe?” Finn asked, and Tesla saw that he was, indeed, a journalist.
    Unexpectedly, she grinned. “Keisha brought it to me from my house the second she got out of school. She said some perv designed hospital gowns so that sick and doped-up people, who maybe wouldn’t notice, would have horrifying wardrobe malfunctions all over the hospital for the amusement of the interns.”
    “That’s Keisha, alright,” Finn said, his affection for his cousin apparent in his voice.
    “Anyway, I wanted to get out of that room, but I didn’t want to get caught. I was supposed to stay in bed.” When Tesla’s feet had touched the icy, polished floor that night, the cool, solid texture against the soles of her bare feet braced her. It had felt marvelous just to be upright again. She took hold of the pole with the heart monitor and made her way to the door.
    “I peered around the doorjamb and saw that the nurses’ station was pretty far down the hall to the right,” she said, “but just a few feet from my room on the other side was the elevator and, across from that, the door to the stairwell. I didn’t see a soul, except for the bent head of someone who sat at the nurse’s station.” Tesla felt again the excitement of that moment, the thrill of escape. The beep of her heart monitor had been so soft she had felt certain no one would hear it.
    “I made my way toward the elevator, but just before I pressed the Down button I realized that when the elevator arrived it would ping , and the nurse at the station would probably look up. So I decided to take the stairs.”
    “Pretty impressive presence of mind with a concussion,” Finn commented.
    “I know, right?” said Tesla, clearly proud of her Jason Bourne moment, despite the fact that she had already characterized the escapade as stupid.
    “I got the door open and closed again behind me,” she continued. “Then it was just me and my machine in the stairwell. That soft beep echoed around in the narrow space, and down I went. I was a little confused by how much of the building seemed to be underground. I mean, there are usually only one or two basement levels, right? But I walked down two hundred and eighty steps with my monitor before I started messing up the count. And by then my feet were really cold and I had to hold onto the railing. I was tired. I lost track of time, which is unusual for me.” Unaware that her voice had changed tone, that she sounded anxious, even afraid, Tesla didn’t notice Finn’s intense look, she just stared