djinn wars 01 - chosen Read Online Free PDF Page A

her temperature first, that the water might make the reading inaccurate. Since there wasn’t anything I could do about it at the moment, I sat down in one of the armchairs, figuring if I waited a few minutes, it would probably be safe to try the thermometer.
    Waiting was bad, though. If all I was doing was sitting there and watching my mother shake and shiver on the couch, then I had plenty of time to think…and thinking was the last thing I wanted to do. My thoughts chased one another around and around, worrying at each other, fretting, biting. What if my father never came home? What if Devin had fallen sick at Lori’s? What if they were both sick?
    And above all, Why isn’t anyone helping us?
    I could feel myself starting to shake, but I didn’t think it was from a fever. No, I guessed it was just good old-fashioned fear with an extra helping of uncertainty. Clenching my hands together, I willed them to stop trembling. My mother was probably too out of it to really notice, but I didn’t want my fingers shaking when I finally did take her temperature.
    Since I couldn’t think of anything else to do, I picked up the remote for the TV and switched it on, quickly lowering the volume so it wouldn’t disturb my mother. As I flipped from channel to channel, I didn’t see anything that was remotely reassuring. More talking heads, discussing self-quarantine procedures and dispensing advice how you shouldn’t go out or come into contact with anyone if you had any symptoms, and if you did come down with a fever, to make sure you wore a mask or tied some kind of barrier over your nose and mouth when it came time to go to the emergency room. And all of them looked pale and strained, and were giving the side-eye to one another when they thought the others weren’t looking, as if trying to detect signs that one of their fellow newscasters might be starting to show symptoms. On one channel, I caught a pretty young woman who didn’t look much older than I sending furtive glances somewhere off-camera, as if at someone who was standing by and monitoring what they were all saying. That couldn’t be good.
    With all the people being sent to emergency rooms, hospitals had to be overwhelmed. I wondered how many people were sick, and how many were like me, exposed but still asymptomatic. Maybe fifty-fifty? I couldn’t even begin to guess. All I did know was that I didn’t see how hospitals could even begin to keep up.
    Annoyed that all the stations were repeating the same useless information, I turned off the television and picked up the thermometer. My mother really didn’t want to take it, but after a bit of wrestling, I got it shoved between her lips and more or less under her tongue. Her skin felt clammy and hot at the same time, which I doubted was a good sign. Maybe two ibuprofen weren’t enough. Maybe I should have given her three, or even four.
    Or maybe I could have poured the whole damn bottle down her throat, and it still wouldn’t have done a bit of good.
    Clenching my jaw, I sat and looked out the window at the trees moving in the gentle September breeze, at the sparrow who landed on one branch and cocked his head in my direction, almost as if he could see me sitting inside, watching him. The window in the family room faced out onto the side yard and the fence that separated us from the Montoyas next door. I didn’t see any movement over there, which most days wouldn’t have been that unusual. It was the middle of the day; both the Montoyas worked full-time, and their kids were in grade school. But the schools were closed, and it seemed as if most places of business were shutting up and sending their employees home as well.
    Were they home, but ill? Or well enough, but hiding, not wanting to take the risk of being exposed? I didn’t know, and I had my hands full here. If my father came home, I’d probably go over and check on them, but until then….
    The thermometer beeped at me, and I gently drew it from my