I hadn’t had much sleep, but I didn’t care. I’d see Leo at school.
Maybe we could get some time alone.
To what?
Set off the sprinklers?
I shook my head. The first guy I really like and he’s forbidden. And possibly truly dangerous. Not just the banishment either. What if we spontaneously combusted while making out?
With a grin, I grabbed my school clothes.
What a way to go.
I jingled the keys in my hand. “Move it, Sean. I’ve got to get to school.”
Ian slowly raised the spoonful of cereal to his mouth, pausing to torture me before finally sticking it in his mouth.
God, I hated him.
“What’s the matter with you, Jen?” Ian asked as I roared into the school parking lot. “It’s just school, you freak.”
I wrinkled my nose and ignored him.
As I pulled into a space, I unbuckled my seatbelt. I’d had enough delays this morning.
I was just grabbing my backpack when my phone started buzzing.
Oh crap!
Ian smiled maliciously and slammed his door. “So much for your hurry, Sis.”
I stuck out my tongue.
Then I climbed back into the car. Stupid genie visit. I picked up the cell and pushed the button. Maybe it wouldn’t take long.
When I opened my eyes to see the John Lennon poster on the wall, my stomach plunged. The orange shag carpet under my feet made me wince.
The elderly woman in the recliner sported two long gray braids and, I kid you not, a tie-dyed nightgown. The décor in the room consisted almost exclusively of peace symbols and candles. A framed needlepoint read “Give peace a chance.”
I was doomed.
One cat hissed at me from her lap while the other studied me from the couch.
Maybe she’s just a total poseur.
A framed photo of a younger version of her carrying a “No Nukes” sign at a rally caught my eye. Yeah, I didn’t think so.
“Lily,” I said in a soft voice, suspecting she’d hate me calling her Mrs. Barrett. “Can you wake up?”
She opened her eyes.
Deathbed wishes were often the hardest to get. Making sure the person was lucid could be a real problem.
“Down with Social Security,” I said in a firm voice. “No medical benefits for the poor.”
Lily’s head snapped as if I’d slapped her. “Bite your tongue, child,” she said.
“Three wishes, Lily. What will they be?”
She smiled a toothless smile. “World peace.”
I sneezed immediately.
“An end to world hunger.”
A headache split through my temple.
“And somebody to take care of my cats.”
I nodded. “Your cats will be fine.” At least she hadn’t wasted all of her wishes. The U.N.I.V.E.R.S.E. would hire someone to pamper them. They’d dine on silver platters of fresh fish.
“Thank you, Lily,” I said, before I sneezed once more.
I grabbed the Karmic cold supply kit from the pantry. The first two days were usually pretty awful, but with two forbidden wishes, who knew how long I’d feel like crap.
After snatching a bottle of OJ from the fridge and a box of Kleenexes from the kitchen counter, I headed upstairs.
My cell rang as I hit my bedroom.
“Hi, Mom.”
“I’m so sorry honey. You really got hit hard. I’ll call the school. You go on to bed.”
“Already there,” I said as I plopped down on my comforter.
“I hope you don’t miss the whole week,” Mom said.
“I better not,” I said. I was dying to see Leo.
A hacking cough gripped me and I almost coughed up a lung. I was dying all right.
“Call me if you can’t sleep,” Mom said. “Maybe I should come home.”
“No, Mom.” She’d just wake me every five minutes to see if I was okay. “I’ll be fine.”
“Rub some mentholatum on your chest,” she said.
“Okay. Bye.”
“Bye, hon.”
I clicked end and tossed the phone onto the floor. The OJ and Kleenexes fit nicely on my bedside table. I swallowed two Tylenol and opened the tub of mentholatum.
I blew my nose. Gross.
So much for seeing Leo today.
I couldn’t exactly kiss him again with my nose full of nastiness.
Poor me. My bones ached as I waited for sleep to come.
After a few hours of restless sleep, I stumbled to the bathroom. I blew my nose for about five minutes. Then I grabbed the Leo cell, just in case, and gulped some Nyquil and crawled back into bed. I jammed the cell under my pillow and went back to sleep.
Next thing I knew, Alex and Bree were standing in my room.
“You look horrible,” Alex said.
“Thanks.”
“We let ourselves in,” Alex said. “Hope you don’t mind.”
Bree, wearing one of her vintage lace dresses, held up a stack of books. “We brought your homework. For today and tomorrow.”
“Your mother called the school.”
“Big surprise,” I said. She always did.
“Since she does it every time you’re sick, I called to tell her we’d pick them up.” Alex smiled. “We knew you wouldn’t want Ian in your locker.”
“Thanks, guys.” I didn’t want Ian anywhere near my stuff.
“You look like hell,” Bree said. “Maybe you should see a doctor.”
With the mention of a doctor, the memory of Bree’s latest misadventure flashed into my mind. Oh no. I had to keep a straight face. My eyes met Alex’s, and I almost lost it.
“I’m sure her mother will take care of getting her to a doctor,” Alex said in an obvious attempt to cut me off. “Well, we should go and let you sleep.”
She turned to Bree. “Just dump the books on her desk. She probably won’t look at them until tomorrow anyway.”
My coughing fit kept me from agreeing.
Bree set the books down. “Hope you feel better, Jen.”
“Call when you’re better,” Alex said. Then she gave me a private glare.
I giggled softly which triggered more coughing. Poor Bree. I’d take a cold anytime over a mistaken STD diagnosis.
Chapter Thirteen
Mom’s hand on my forehead woke me sometime later. “I think you’ve got a fever.”
“Mmm,” I moaned.
“I’ll be right back with the thermometer, Sweetie.”
I heard her leave the room and then the strange sound of someone else coming in.
“Jen,” Sean said tentatively. “Are
you awake?”
Sean?
I rolled over to see my brother. He usually yelled something about germs and ran the other way when I was sick.
“Mom said you were sick, so, um, I got you an icee.” He held out the cup.
“I love you, Sean,” I said as I reached for the cool drink that would ease my sore throat.
“Hold it!” Mom yelled coming back in. “I have to take your temperature first.”
“Just one sip,” I begged.
“Not yet.” She took the icee from me and set it down. “Thanks, Sean. I know Jen appreciates your newfound feelings of filial compassion.”
“Huh?” Sean said.
“Out,” Mom ordered.
“Uh, he’s probably just glad my immunity to illness helps everybody in the house.” He should be. Genies didn’t get sick except from Karmic colds, and we kept our families from getting sick very often too.
She ignored my explanation and handed me the electronic thermometer. I stuck it under my tongue.
When it beeped, Mom snatched it and read, “103.”
Wow. That was high.
“You are really sick, Jen.” She handed me the icee and some Tylenol. “Drink up. I’ll be back in an hour with some soup.”
Mom shut the door and I heard the muffled ring of a cell phone.
Leo.
I reached under the pillow.
“Hey,” I said struggling to sound healthy and normal.
“Jen. You okay?”
“Fine. Just a little Karmic cold.” I got that out pretty well.
“You sound horrible.”
Maybe not. “I feel like crap,” I admitted.
“I missed you at school today.”
I couldn’t help smiling. “Sorry.”
“Will you make it tomorrow?”
I tried to lift my head and it pounded in anger. “I don’t think so. What’s going on? Did you find out anything?”
He sighed. “We keep coming up with dead ends. I did check into Richard Williams, but from what I can tell, he works for the cell phone company and not the U.N.I.V.E.R.S.E.”
Uggh. “Nothing ties him to the U.N.I.V.E.R.S.E.?” I didn’t think my mother would get that intense about a cell phone employee, and I thought I remembered that my mother’s coworker, Bob, was not on the cell phone side.