01_-_The_Alchemyst

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
It was late in the afternoon when Josh finally turned the Hummer down
the long, curving road that led into the small city of Ojai. The stress of
driving four hundred miles in one long trip was etched onto his face, and
although the computer had estimated that it would take around six and a half
hours, it had taken close to nine. Driving the big Hummer on the highway was
surprisingly easy: he’d simply put on the cruise control and let it go. It was
boring, but off the highway and on any other type of road, the Hummer was a
nightmare to control. It wasn’t like any of his computer games. It was just so
big, and he was terrified he was going to run over something. The huge jetblack
vehicle also attracted a lot of attention—he’d never thought he’d be so
happy to have tinted windows. He wondered what people would think if they
knew it was being driven by a fifteen-year-old.
The road curved to the right, and Ojai’s long, straight main street
appeared before him. He slowed as he passed the Psychic Boutique and the
Ojai Playhouse; then the lights changed at Signal Street and he stopped,
leaned across the steering wheel and peered through the smeared, bugspattered
windshield. His first impression as he looked down the empty
street was that Ojai was surprisingly green. It was June in California, that
time of year when most things had turned brown and withered, but here there
were trees everywhere, contrasting with the white stone of the buildings.
Directly in front of him, to his right, a low, ornate white stone tower rose
over the post office into the brilliant blue sky, while on the left, a row of
shops was set back from the road, sheltered beneath a row of white stone
arches.
Glancing in the rearview mirror, he was surprised to find Scatty’s eyes
on him.