A Fistful of Sky by Nina Kiriki Hoffman Read Free Book Online

was heading for the van, I went in the bathroom and threw up.
    Beryl knocked on the bathroom door. “Aren’t you ready yet? Mama’s getting snippy.”
    I swished water in my mouth to get rid of the bile taste. “I’m sick, Bere.”
    She came in. “Sick sick?” She’d been sick that week, too, but not like this, though she’d missed a big history final. Somebody had muffed a health-protect spell.
    I leaned on the sink, still holding the cup with some water in it, and measured how I felt. I thought about the pita pocket I’d had for lunch, and lurched back to the toilet so I could throw up again.
    “Uh-oh,” said my little sister. She reached for my forehead.
    “Don’t touch me. It’s probably the flu. It’s a twenty-four hour bug. Everybody else at the Center already got it. I’ve heard all the advice: lie in bed. Sleep lots. Drink 7Up and lots of water when you can keep liquids down. Rest. Aspirin if there’s a fever.”
    “I’ll go tell Mama I’m staying home with you.”
    “It’s nothing, it’s just the flu. You feel bad for a little while and throw up and then it’s over. Go on. I’ll be okay.”
    “But Gyp—”
    “Beryl?” Mama called from below.
    Beryl shook her hands, then ran out. I heard her footsteps cross the sitting room, then run down the hallway to the top of the stairs. She explained things to Mama. While she was doing that, I threw up one more time, and started feeling better right away. I washed my mouth out again
    and brushed my teeth. I gave the toilet a quick scrub, washed my hands, then headed back to my bedroom. Flannel nightgown, that was the ticket. Heap a couple extra blankets on the bed. The pillows looked like heaven. I lay down and wrapped up. My stomach felt sore.
    A little while later, Mama came up to see me, even though she was terrible in the sickroom. She was wearing a shield; I saw glints around her edges, and I was glad. If she caught anything from me she would be upset, and when Mama got upset everybody felt it.
    “Will you really be all right?” she asked.
    “It’s mild,” I said. “Everybody else already had it. I’ll be fine by tomorrow.”
    She went to the bedside table. “Here’s my cell phone number.” She wrote it in my dream journal. She went out in the hall and got the upstairs phone, brought it in and set it on the table. Next she brought in a pitcher of water and a glass. “This pitcher will refill itself.” Then two two-liter bottles of 7-Up. “I put a spell on these so they’ll stay nice and cold, okay, honey?” She set a big box of saltines there too. “I wouldn’t let your father come up. I don’t want him catching this. But he asked if you want him to stay home with you.”
    “No, no,” I said. “Go on.”
    “Call if you need help. One of us will manage to get to you.” Instant travel was taxing but possible for Uncle Tobias and Mama, and easy but unreliable for Flint. Jasper had trouble with it.
    “I will,” I said.
    She blew me a kiss. It marked my cheek with warmth. “We really have to go, you know. What if Opal’s in love with this Gerry guy? We have to find out whether he’ll make a good addition to the family.”
    “Go,” I said.
    “We’ll be back tomorrow afternoon,” she said.
    The plan was to stay with Opal all weekend, only coming home late Sunday night. We didn’t get down to L.A. very often, even though it was so close. Besides seeing Opal and meeting Gerry, the family had plans: the Huntington Museum; the Getty; Beverly Center… .
    ‘I’ll be fine. Don’t change your plans on my account.”
    If they skipped everything to rush home and I wasn’t even sick, people would be mad at me.
    For a second she looked anxious. Then she formed a spell in the palm of
    her hand and tossed it over my bed. I pulled the covers up to my chin. “It’s just a little guardian spell,” she said as I stared up into the blank air. “Something to give you strength if you need it.” Her voice sounded hurt.
    “Thanks,