Destined Read Online Free PDF

thousand miles away. She stopped next to a small black sedan parked under a flickering streetlamp. She pulled out her keys and pressed the unlock button. A quick mechanical chirp echoed in the thick spring air. She threw her things into the back and slid into the driver’s seat, slightly startled by how quickly Corinthe appeared beside her.
    The car growled to life and Sylvia maneuvered it onto the street. “So. Which way?” she asked.
    Corinthe pointed. Sylvia eyed the girl, then turned, zigzagging the car right onto Church, left onto Dubcoe, right onto Castro Street, each time in response to a silent gesture from Corinthe. The pendant hanging from her rearview mirror swayed back and forth with each turn. Corinthe, Sylvia noticed, kept looking at it with a slightly troubled expression.
    “It’s St. Jude,” Sylvia explained. “The patron saint of lost causes. Kind of a sad saint, when you think about it.” She half laughed. “Still, everyone could use a miracle, don’t you think?”
    “Sure, I guess,” Corinthe said neutrally, the first words she had spoken since she’d gotten into the car. After another minute, Corinthe raised her hand as Castro merged with Divisadero. “Keep straight here, all the way toward the water.”
    “You live near the Marina?” Sylvia wasn’t surprised. “How do you like it?”
    “It’s okay for now.” Her voice cracked just a little as the car smoothly rounded the slight curve.
    Some emotion seemed to pass over Corinthe’s face: Anxiety? Guilt? The expression was gone too quickly for Sylvia to decipher.
    Suddenly, Sylvia wanted to reach out to Corinthe, to reassure her that things could be different if she only believed—if she
tried
. Sylvia knew that behind every student there was a story. That was why she kept doing this job day after day. There were moments—flashes, briefly held, like the light of a firefly—when she understood that this was the job she was
meant
for. If she could convince just one girl that her life was worth living, that she wasn’t a lost cause … that there was someone who hadn’t forgotten, who really
saw
her.…
    “So, Corinthe,” she began. “Where did you—?”
    Corinthe braced her hand on the dashboard and closed her eyes. She’d already seen it happen, knew what the outcome would be, but sitting there, waiting for the car to swerve, a tiny shiver of fear had gone up her spine.
    There will be no miracles today
.
    The car dipped into a rut and the steering wheel jerked from Sylvia’s hands, spinning them into oncoming traffic. Horns blared, tires screeched, and for a split second everything froze.
    Sylvia never even had a chance to finish her question.
    Bright headlights illuminated the inside of the car and reflected off Sylvia’s terrified face; then an enormous SUV slammed into the driver’s side of the sedan. There was a loud, long howl, followed by a boom of crumpling metal. The impact sent the car spiraling wildly out of control across traffic. Corinthe threw her hands up as she was thrown forward violently. The windshield flew toward her face before her seat belt locked and she jerked back. Red-hot pain flashed through her chest.
    The car glanced off a white compact that had swerved too late and finally came to rest in the opposite lane.
    Then there was nothing but silence.
    White powder filled the small cabin and Corinthe coughed, fighting to catch a breath. Smoke billowed from the front of the car, and the pungent aroma of burnt rubber permeated the air.
    Corinthe felt a brief moment of dizziness.
    Sylvia’s head was resting against the steering wheel, twisted unnaturally far to the right. A tiny trickle of blood ran down her cheek from a gash in her temple and soaked into the deflated air bag. Her eyes were open so that she stared at Corinthe, unseeing.
    Corinthe felt a sudden swelling in her throat. Where had she been going? Who would mourn for her? Corintheshook her head as though to clear away the questions. Recently,