The Color of Jade (Jade Series Book 1) Read Online Free Page A

for a second. My brow furrowed with worry. A lump rose in my throat and I swallowed hard to force it away. He spoke softer as he diverted his attention to me.
    “I know. I called, several times... The hospital didn’t answer.”
    My awareness flipped repeatedly from the television to the clock over the next two hours as newscaster continued to report. “People…stay in your homes.” We watched through the late hours of the night. “Six hundred and fifty eight dead… Mexico… Europe… a staggering three thousand… U.S…. numbers around the world… still unknown.”
    “Do they have to keep those sirens on?” I asked. Neither of my brothers responded.    
    With my eyes heavy, I fought to stay awake but the drone of the anchor’s voice made me sleepy. The billowy cushions called me as I slid deeper into the couch and let my eyes close. I couldn’t fight sleep anymore and drifted off in spite of the constant screech of the sirens. At some point, I must have fallen asleep because I woke instantly by the ring of the phone…
     
    ***
    Emery shook me awake from my hellish nightmare. My dreams about that day, still as vivid and horrifying as the day it happened.
    “Jade, wake up,” Emery said, “wake up, I hear something.”
    Puzzled at first, I quickly sat up. “What?” I said, startled. Goose bumps crawled across my skin with chills as I scanned the room and focused on my surroundings.
    “Someone’s downstairs,” she said, panic threaded in her voice, worry evident in her wide hazel eyes.
    “It’s Trey,” I said, as I heard the familiar sounds of him working on his project. I headed to the basement, the usual scrap metal and equipment, strewn across his worktable against a wall in what used to be our family room. Trey had brought his project in from the barn. Not because he didn’t want to go out, but so he could stay close to Emery and me.
    “Was he the guy from the truck?” I asked, curious about what he found out.
    “He left with him, I followed them into the subdivisions,” he said, as his eyes averted mine.
    “Did you find out anything?”
    “Not sure, I need to talk to Kane about it,” he said, then looked at me with a stern glare, which meant stop asking questions. I changed the subject.
    “How’s the windmill coming?”
    “Just about to put it together… We really need it going, we need more power, eventually, we’re going to run out of fuel and the generator will be useless,” Trey said, as he talked about my dad’s rather large fuel supply. Once a convenience for the farm became a rare commodity.
    “Is it actually going to work?”
    “Yeah… I wish I could get my hands on some solar panels, but this will do,” Trey replied, he stood with his back straight and his shoulders squared in confidence and gave his work an approving glance. He stretched as he clasped his hands behind his head and stopped to take a break as he moved over to the couch.
    “Will we be able to have hot water again?” I asked, as I sat next to Trey. He probably regretted ever telling me our water heater ran by electricity and not by natural gas since I’ve badgered him over needing hot water ever since.
    “The windmill won’t power everything. We’ll have to decide what’s most important.” He gave me a sidelong glance, his eyes apathetic.
    “Hot water,” I said, almost pouting.
    “And the freezer and the fridge… The pump so we can have water in the first place, I doubt we’ll get to heat the water.”
    The idea of a nice hot bath without having to boil water on the wood burning stove seemed important enough. I slid into the cushions of the couch as I wished for hot water. Out of everything we had to go without, no phone, no internet, no TV, no heat, no lights, that simple luxury of hot water, I’d missed the most.
    “Maybe we can on really windy days,” he said, as he conceded to save my anguish.
    He sounded hopeful and my spirits perked up some as I gave Trey a half-hearted smile. His