Free The Haunted Air by F. Paul Wilson Page A

sniffles. She looked around and noticed she wasn’t the only one with moist eyes on this sultry summer morning.
    She decided to walk back. It wasn’t far and the exercise would do her good.
    Besides … she had a stop to make along the way.

    Half an hour later Gia stood at the antique white porcelain sink in the upstairs bathroom and stared at her third pregnancy test in fifteen minutes.
    Negative. Just like the other two.
    But she felt pregnant. That was why she’d stopped and picked up three different brands of home test kits, just to be sure.
    They all told her the same thing, but that didn’t change how she felt.
    The phone rang. Thoughts of a bus accident, Vicky hurt, flashed through her mind and she snatched it up.
    â€œGia!” said a familiar woman’s voice. “It’s me, Junie!” She sounded excited, all but burbling.
    â€œOh, hi. Did you find—?”
    â€œThat’s why I’m calling! When I got in last night I went
straight to the big blue vase by the door and turned it upside down. Want to guess what dropped out?”
    â€œDon’t tell me—your bracelet?”
    â€œYes!” She laughed. “Right where Ifasen said it would be! I couldn’t believe it! I hardly go near that vase. I don’t know how it got in there but I was so happy I cried. Isn’t he just so amazing?”
    Gia didn’t respond, thinking about what Jack had said last night, how he’d explained Ifasen’s billet-reading trick. All fine and good, but how could he explain this? Gia wouldn’t buy that it was an educated guess like when Ifasen told her she’d have …
    Oh, God! He’d said she’d have two children … and here she was, feeling pregnant.
    â€œHey, Gia,” Junie said. “You still there?”
    â€œWhat? Oh, yes. Still here. I’m just wondering how this can be possible. How could he have known something like that?”
    â€œHe didn’t. The spirits did. They told him, and then he passed it on to me. Pretty simple, don’tcha think?”
    â€œHmmm,” Gia said. She felt a crawly sensation in her stomach that had nothing to do with morning sickness. “Right. Simple.”
    She ended the call as quickly as possible without being rude, then wandered to a front window and stared out. Her eyes fixed on the townhouses across the square from hers without really seeing them.
    Maybe that was all this was … the power of suggestion. She’d screwed up her pills, a psychic said she’ll have two children, and then her subconscious went to work, making her feel pregnant.
    The tests—three of them, no less—said otherwise.
    But home kits weren’t all that accurate in the very early stages of a pregnancy. The labels did warn about false negatives.
    A blood test … that was supposed to be extremely accurate, positive within days of conception.
    She found her Daytimer and looked up her gynecologist’s
number. No way Gia expected Dr. Eagleton to see her on a Saturday, but no reason she couldn’t order the test for her, maybe at someplace like Beth Israel, and Gia could run up there, have her blood drawn, and wait for the results.
    Yes, she thought, punching in the number. Let’s get this settled once and for all.
    As much as Gia loved Jack, she did not want to be pregnant.

2
    Lyle awoke hot and sweaty. He could hear the air conditioner in the window running like a bandit, yet the room felt like a steam bath. Damn thing was only a month old. Couldn’t be going south already.
    He opened his eyes and lifted his head. Someone had pulled up the blinds and opened all his bedroom windows.
    Lyle rolled out of bed. What was going on here? Had Charlie done this?
    He had no intention of cooling the rest of Astoria so he slammed his windows shut and stalked down the hall to the rear bedroom. He barged in and found Charlie sprawled on his sheets, both windows wide open, and his AC going