Veined (A Guardian of the Angels Novel) Read Online Free PDF

breath, I peered into the cloud, thick as drapes blanketing the r oad. Three shapes moved. I could only see outlines, but two of the three were enormous, at least eight feet high.
    A fountain of red sprayed out one of them.
    It’s fall , I reminded myself, it’s just red leaves swaying in the wind . Blurry because of the cloud. And although reason told me it was my overly creative imagination, both my arms and legs exploded in goose bumps. “It’s just distorted fall leaves,” I said more sternly.
    Looking away from the shapes, I grabbed for the keys.
    A thundering thwack shook my car, jerking me forward in my belt. Freaking hell.   I whipped my head up.
    Something—correction, some one —had just landed on my hood.
    “Are you all right?” I shouted, fumbling to find the door handle, my eyes still glued to the figure. They rolled over , and my hand dropped to the driver’s seat. Those gloves I would recognize anywhere.
    The air whistled as I sharply inhaled. As if he’d heard me, he looked up. His sky blue eyes were wild, his jaw hard. A long scratch ran under one eye and blood dripped down his face like tears. Although the moment was fleeting, when our eyes locked onto each other, one corner of his lips twitched ever so slightly. My back tingled like it was on fire, but the feeling stopped as soon as he looked away.
    Through the glass I heard him speak, and it was so clear there may as well have been nothing between us. “Get the hell out of here.”
    He jumped off the car and disappeared into the low cloud.
    What the—? How? Why? And only a thousand other questions.
    I didn’t dare look in the direction he’d run. Instead, I revved the engine. Cloud or no cloud, I was getting out of there as fast as I could. Stupid, stupid car. Always bad luck.
    As soon as I drove into the driveway, I parked and scrambled out, still shaking. Stickiness, a little like congealed glue, brushed the side of my palm as I slammed the door. The roof of my car was covered in splotches, like burst bubbles.
    It’s just tree sap.
    I shivered and ran inside. No one but Mottle was home. She trotted after me as I rushed up to my room. I didn’t know what to do with myself. What the hell was going on? I paced the length of my room, my sneakers squeaking against the wooden floor at every turn. This couldn’t have really happened. Was it possible I’d hallucinated back there? A post-coma side-effect?
    I collapsed onto the bed and stared at the cracks in the ceiling. Mottle jumped up next to me, butting her head on my upper arm. I stroked her back. “So, what now?” I asked her, as if she’d be able to tell me the answers. “Mom and Dad aren’t going to believe me if I tell them what just happened.” And Dad would drive me to school for the rest of my senior year.
    I groaned, squeezing the cat so she gave a short meow. “Sorry, Mots.” I lessened my grip, but it didn’t lessen my confusion any. Who else was I going to talk to? It wasn’t as if I could rock up to Albelin and tell him what I’d seen. He might suggest more radical experimental treatment.
    Electro-magnetism was enough.
    I sat up suddenly. Maybe I can ask my transition buddy if hallucinations were normal. And when they’d stop.

CHAPTER 4
    MONDAY COULDN'T HAVE come quick enough, and I was relieved to get to school . Over the weekend, I’d been a temperamental mess. Only Jeffrey kept me grounded, clinging to my side, asking if I was all right the entire time. Or if I needed anything. When I was with him, I tried to mask my worries, stuffing the image of Gloved Guy landing on the hood of my car as far to the back of my mind as I could.
    At night, though, when there was nobody to hide my feelings from, it was all I thou ght about. Flashes of red spurting through thick cloud, and Gloved Guy’s face streaked with blood. It taunted me every time I shut my eyes.
    I rested my forehead against my cold locker door. The pressure of the metal on my brow seemed to relieve some