Read The Veil for Free Online Page B

curiously.
    “Addy?” Nate asked finally. “Your face is white.”
    “Can you see it?” I breathed.
    They looked at each other.
    “See what?” Olivia asked.
    Before I could answer, a movement out of the corner of my eye caught my attention. I looked up and watched as a half-dozen hazyfigures, with wings like bats but as big as eagles, glided overhead and turned around in a lazy curve. Circling us.
    I don’t remember falling over, but I vaguely recall Nate diving forward to catch me as the ground rolled and knocked my feet out from under me.
    ——
     
    “No more sugar for you, little girl.”
    I blinked. I was flat on my back. My neck was bent up at a strange angle, and my head was resting against something hard, which I realized, as I blinked again, had to be Nate’s knee.
    There was a light overhead. For a moment I stared up at it, afraid my hallucination was continuing. But when my eyes adjusted, I realized I was looking at a street lamp—just an ordinary, everyday street lamp—and the harsh, yellowish light it gave off was entirely different than the blazing silver walls of light I’d just seen.
    Behind the light, I could see the clock tower—red with lacy white trim. Not silver. And there was nothing flying around overhead except seagulls.
    There was a loud bang as Olivia burst through the doors of the Ghirardelli Ice Cream and Chocolate Shop, holding a paper cup in each hand. She dropped to her knees next to me and handed me one of them. “Here, drink this,” she said. Reaching into her back pocket, she produced a napkin and dunked it into the second cup. “Sit her up, Nate.”
    He hauled me up into a semi-sitting position and wedged himself behind me so I wouldn’t flop back over.
    I sipped the cold water and felt instantly better. Olivia bent my head forward and pressed the water-soaked napkin to the back of my neck. After a moment, I sat up by myself. Olivia removed the napkin and took the empty cup out of my hand.
    “Wow,” I said.
    “Yeah, wow,” Nate scooted to the side of me, concern all over his face. “Are you okay? You just keeled over.”
    “I feel better now,” I said. I did, although the idea of crawling into my bed and sleeping for a year was starting to sound like the best plan in the history of the world.
    “Just sit for a minute,” Olivia suggested, dumping the two cups and the napkin into a nearby trash can.
    After another minute of sitting, I felt well enough to try walking. Leaning heavily on Nate, I managed to make it back to Olivia’s car, where I was able to stretch out in the dark backseat. “Sorry,” I mumbled. “I don’t think I’m being very fun on my birthday.”
    “You’re a blast,” Nate said from the front seat. “Fainting, seeing things, what’s not to love?”
    “Nate . . .” Olivia warned.
    I shivered, thinking about what I’d seen. Not just that night, but all throughout the day. Multiple hallucinations in a twelve-hour period couldn’t possibly mean anything good.
    I fell asleep on the way home but woke up just as Olivia exited the freeway. By the time she pulled up in front of Gran’s house, I was sitting up. I was able to get out of the car, through the iron gate surrounding the house, and up the front stoop all by myself.
    “I’ll call you tomorrow!” Nate yelled from the car.
    “Rehearsal at noon!” Olivia reminded me with a wave. “Happy birthday, Addy!”
    Happy birthday, indeed. I was just relieved the day was finally over. Or it would be, just as soon as I could roll into bed and close my eyes.
    I let myself in the front door, just as the clock on the mantle let out eight quiet chimes. Not even close to curfew, but I went right to bed, pausing only to pat the heads of the two cats sitting, sphinxlike, on either side of my bedroom door.
    Just before I fell asleep, I had a strange thought: the cougar in my math class and the frog on Sully’s shoulder had both been the exact same shade of silver as the building of light at