01_-_The_Alchemyst

CHAPTER THIRTEEN
“Turn here,” Nicholas Flamel instructed.
Josh eased his foot off the accelerator and turned the battered and
scarred SUV down a long narrow track that was barely wide enough to
accommodate the car. They had spent the last thirty minutes driving north out
of San Francisco, listening to the increasingly hysterical radio reports as a
succession of experts gave their opinions about the bird attack on the bridge.
Global warming was the most commonly cited theory: the sun’s radiation
interfering with the birds’ natural navigation system.
Flamel directed them north, toward Mill Valley and Mount Tamalpais,
but they quickly left the highway and stuck to narrow two-lane roads. Traffic
thinned out until there were long stretches where they were the only car in
sight. Finally, on a narrow road that curved and turned with sickening
complexity, he had Josh slow almost to a crawl. He rolled down his window
and peered out into a thick forest that came right up to the edge of the road.
They had actually driven past the unmarked path before Flamel spotted it.
“Stop. Go back. Turn here.”
Josh looked at his sister as he eased the car onto the rough, unpaved and
rutted track. Her hands were folded in her lap, but he could see that her
knuckles were white with tension. Her nails, which had been neat and perfect
only a few hours previously, were now rough and chewed, a sure sign of her
stress. He reached over and squeezed her hand; she squeezed tightly in
return. As with so much of the communication between them, there was no
need for words. With their parents away so much, Sophie and Josh had
learned from a very early age that they could only really depend on
themselves. Moving from school to school, neighborhood to neighborhood,
they often found it difficult to make and keep friends, but they knew that
whatever happened, they would always have each other.