Read Online The Veil by Cory Putman Oakes - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Cory Putman Oakes
Ads: Link
I’d ditched him on purpose? Had he found someone to give him a ride home?
I was so deep in thought I didn’t even notice when Lucas got on 101, and we were passing by Tiburon before I looked up at the unexpected sound of his voice.
“Happy birthday.”
“What?”
“I heard yesterday was your birthday,” he explained, with a small frown. “Did I hear wrong?”
“No. You’re right.”
“Well, I’m sorry I’m a day late wishing you a happy one.”
That plunged me deep into thought again. The idea that Lucas Stratton would feel in any way inclined to acknowledge my birthday, much less feel badly about failing to do so in a timely manner, made my head spin. Somehow, his concern about missing my birthday was even weirder to me than the fact that he was, at this very moment, driving my car. And that he had some strange connection to Gran he was now about to explain to me.
“Where are we going?” I asked him finally as we passed by Sausalito and entered the tunnel I had always referred to as the “rainbow tunnel” because of the design painted on the opposite side.
“Not too much farther,” he said.
Lucas exited 101 just before the Golden Gate Bridge, turned sharply to the right, and then headed up before I could protest. Suddenly, I knew where we were going; I had been there just once before, on a field trip in sixth grade that had since lived on in my mind as the absolute
worst
field trip of all time. The road we were on led up to the Headlands, the hills on the very edge of Marin. From the top, you get a beautiful view of the Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco Bay, and the city itself. It’s a very popular tourist spot, but one I preferred to avoid.
Just like the last time I’d been driven to the top, my stomach began to clench as soon as I felt the car start to angle upward. I closed my eyes, knowing it was the view straight down the mountainside and into the churning waters of the bay that was making me reactlike this. With my eyes closed, maybe I could pretend we were at sea level, that there was not a giant drop underneath our feet, and that a careless step or a failed set of brakes couldn’t send us careening over the edge because there
was
no edge. We were on the ground. The solid, solid ground.
Except I knew we weren’t. The car was still climbing, and I could feel myself sliding backward, pressing up against the back of my seat. And even though my eyes were closed, I’d passed by this road enough times to have a perfectly clear picture in my head of the way it twisted its way up the face of the mountains and ended abruptly at the very top. The top, where tourists took pictures and the wind gusted fiercely, and you could look straight down, way down—
The car had stopped. I opened one eye.
We’d reached the top, and Lucas was staring at me again.
“Are you okay?” he asked. He was frowning slightly, perhaps with concern. Or maybe he just thought I was odd.
I took a deep breath. I had to be rational about this. I was on a mountain, yes, a very
high
mountain, but there was absolutely no reason to think I was going to fall off. The wind was not strong enough to pick me up and blow me off, and I wasn’t going to go near enough to the edge to do anything stupid, like trip and fall off. I was
fine
. I’d survived the trip here in sixth grade, and there was no reason to think I wouldn’t survive it now.
I slowly let my breath out. “Yes,” I answered. “I’m fine.”
He didn’t look convinced but said nothing further as he undid his seatbelt and exited the car.
I followed him, bracing myself for the icy wind. I was pleasantly surprised when I discovered that although it
was
pretty cold up here, the breeze was light and nowhere near strong enough to pick me up and toss me over the edge.
It was also pretty dark by now, which made it much easier to pretend there wasn’t a perilous drop off of the side of the cliff less than thirty feet to my left.
Much
better than in sixth grade,
I was so deep in thought I didn’t even notice when Lucas got on 101, and we were passing by Tiburon before I looked up at the unexpected sound of his voice.
“Happy birthday.”
“What?”
“I heard yesterday was your birthday,” he explained, with a small frown. “Did I hear wrong?”
“No. You’re right.”
“Well, I’m sorry I’m a day late wishing you a happy one.”
That plunged me deep into thought again. The idea that Lucas Stratton would feel in any way inclined to acknowledge my birthday, much less feel badly about failing to do so in a timely manner, made my head spin. Somehow, his concern about missing my birthday was even weirder to me than the fact that he was, at this very moment, driving my car. And that he had some strange connection to Gran he was now about to explain to me.
“Where are we going?” I asked him finally as we passed by Sausalito and entered the tunnel I had always referred to as the “rainbow tunnel” because of the design painted on the opposite side.
“Not too much farther,” he said.
Lucas exited 101 just before the Golden Gate Bridge, turned sharply to the right, and then headed up before I could protest. Suddenly, I knew where we were going; I had been there just once before, on a field trip in sixth grade that had since lived on in my mind as the absolute
worst
field trip of all time. The road we were on led up to the Headlands, the hills on the very edge of Marin. From the top, you get a beautiful view of the Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco Bay, and the city itself. It’s a very popular tourist spot, but one I preferred to avoid.
Just like the last time I’d been driven to the top, my stomach began to clench as soon as I felt the car start to angle upward. I closed my eyes, knowing it was the view straight down the mountainside and into the churning waters of the bay that was making me reactlike this. With my eyes closed, maybe I could pretend we were at sea level, that there was not a giant drop underneath our feet, and that a careless step or a failed set of brakes couldn’t send us careening over the edge because there
was
no edge. We were on the ground. The solid, solid ground.
Except I knew we weren’t. The car was still climbing, and I could feel myself sliding backward, pressing up against the back of my seat. And even though my eyes were closed, I’d passed by this road enough times to have a perfectly clear picture in my head of the way it twisted its way up the face of the mountains and ended abruptly at the very top. The top, where tourists took pictures and the wind gusted fiercely, and you could look straight down, way down—
The car had stopped. I opened one eye.
We’d reached the top, and Lucas was staring at me again.
“Are you okay?” he asked. He was frowning slightly, perhaps with concern. Or maybe he just thought I was odd.
I took a deep breath. I had to be rational about this. I was on a mountain, yes, a very
high
mountain, but there was absolutely no reason to think I was going to fall off. The wind was not strong enough to pick me up and blow me off, and I wasn’t going to go near enough to the edge to do anything stupid, like trip and fall off. I was
fine
. I’d survived the trip here in sixth grade, and there was no reason to think I wouldn’t survive it now.
I slowly let my breath out. “Yes,” I answered. “I’m fine.”
He didn’t look convinced but said nothing further as he undid his seatbelt and exited the car.
I followed him, bracing myself for the icy wind. I was pleasantly surprised when I discovered that although it
was
pretty cold up here, the breeze was light and nowhere near strong enough to pick me up and toss me over the edge.
It was also pretty dark by now, which made it much easier to pretend there wasn’t a perilous drop off of the side of the cliff less than thirty feet to my left.
Much
better than in sixth grade,
Similar Books
