"Christopher Pike - The Immortal" - читать интересную книгу автора (Pike Christopher)

She was already wide awake and staring at me.
CHRISTOPHER PIKE

"Are we there yet?" I asked.

"Fifteen minutes," Helen said.

"How long have I been asleep?"
"Hours. You snore."

"I don't snore," I said quickly.

"It must have been the soul that occupies your body while you sleep that snores," Helen replied.

My mouth tasted like the last thing I had eaten before I passed out, which I think was old peanuts. I sat
up straighter, heard my neck crack, and swore to myself that I must be getting old. I was stiff as a
corpse.

"Do we get breakfast?" I asked.

"We just had breakfast," Helen said.

"Why didn't you wake me?"

"You didn't look hungry." Helen made a face. "You need a breath mint, Josie."

"I need a shave and a shower," I said--and my name is Josie Goodwin, and I'm a girl.

"Brush your teeth and ask a flight attendant for some orange juice. He might take pity on you. The Swiss
are very polite."

We were flying Swiss Air, nonstop from L.A. to Athens. Helen and I were in coach, my father and his
new babe, Sylvia--or "Silk," as she preferred to be called--up front in first class, where they could
stretch their legs as far as they wished. Not only were their seats as big as ones at home, but all the
champagne they wanted was on the house. I wondered if Daddy and Silk were stewed. He was drinking
more
THE IMMORTAL

since he'd met his latest. My dad was a Hollywood screenwriter. He was one of the best. I didn't know
what Silk was other than a pain in the ass.

"All right," I said, grabbing my carry-on bag and lurching to my feet. "Don't let anybody take my seat."'

"It's not as though you can wait outside until we land," Helen called after me.

My skin was the color of wet plaster in the bathroom mirror. My blond hair was matted to my head. The
veins in my eyes were the color of whiskey. And I was supposed to be pretty--really, somebody
somewhere had told me that. I think it was my last boyfriend--Ralph. I had really liked him, Ralphy Boy.
So had Helen, for that matter. But Ralph had moved away, and Helen and 1 were still friends.