wrath of the Sea Queen (101 page)

"
You are persistent
, b
ut I will not give myself over to you. 
You claim to want fri
endship, yet you plot against m
y
family
and friends.  You say you can cure me, yet you
amplify
my pain.  You bother me now when I a
m
clearly not feeling well.  You are
too
fickle
to be a friend
, and I do
n
o
t trust you.  I
refuse
to
negotiate
with you. 
Please g
o away.
"

"
I tried to warn you about th
is
, but you would
n
o
t
heed
my council.  Now it is not
only
you who is suffering
, and you
will
bring pain on many more
if you continue to resist m
e
.
  Can you not feel the storm brewing?  I will not stop it.  I will
let it
destroy this entire island
and everyone on it if that
i
s what it takes
.
"

That single statement
turn
ed
C
a
eli
's irritation to
ang
e
r.  She would not allow such idle threats to go unanswered.  Momentarily ignoring her pain, C
a
eli
rebuked Rika's threat with an assertion of her own.

"
I know what you tried to do to Vin.  If I hadn't noticed, what would you have done with him? 
Would you have let him drown? 
Did you think that would change my mind? 
Don't
you dare
threaten me
or try to force my hand
.  It won't have the effect you
intend
.  I won't let you hurt Vin or anyone else
.
  I promise that
I will find a way to make
you regret any such action.
"

"
Oh h
ow
quaint
!
  You think I
'm
referring to your
precious husband
.
  He is much too interesting to harm. 
I have no doubt that
once
we b
ond
, I will enjoy his company immensely. 
No. 
You misunderstood
my actions
. 
I was merely attempting to learn more about him
while I
had the opportunity to
reach him
.
"

"And how did he end up in the water?  What did you do to arrange that?"

"
I was not the one who caused the damage at the levee, but there is much I can tell you about the one
s
who did.  Would that be helpful?  Would you trust me then?  No?  Well, just remember, Vin jumped in of his own accord; and i
t was you who jumped to the wrong conclusion.
"

"
Stop this
!
  Leave me alone,
"
C
a
eli did
n
o
t have the strength
or inclination
to
continue
arguing with Rika.  She wished Rika would move on to someone else and le
ave
her
alone
to
deal with her illness
. 
Her
last bit of endurance
rapidly
wan
ed
.  With all of her remaining determination,
C
a
eli
made her way
unsteadily
out of the bathroom
, unaware that her portion of the conversation had been
overheard
. 

Ben still wait
ed
for her.  Out of curiosity, he
had
moved closer to the bathroom door when he heard C
a
eli talking. 
From the tone, Ben
determined that it was more of
an argument
than a conversation
. 
He almost decided to
go in and find out
who was on the other end of it
when C
a
eli
opened the door
. 
There was no one else in
side
. 
Ben
noticed
C
a
eli's
deteriorating
condition immediately.  He reached
her
just in time to catch her as she fell unconscious.

"
Salma!
"
  Ben yelled loud enough to get Salma's attention from the other room.  S
he
had
finished the last round of tests
when Max found her
and was already on her way to C
a
eli's room when she heard Ben shout.  She ran the short distance
that remained
and r
ushed to help
.

"
Ben, what happened?
"

"
I don't know.  She was outside and got sick.  I helped her get back to the room.  She
ha
s been in the bathroom for
the past
ten minutes.  When she came out just now, she passed out,
"
Ben explained.

"
Put her on the bed. 
I know how to treat her now.  That last test was successful. 
I
wi
ll get
some medicine to calm her immediate pain, and then get her hooked up to an IV. 
If I
a
m right about this, she
wi
ll respond rapidly. 
I only hope we have
caught it in time
.  If so
, she
wi
ll be
fine.
  If not, the damage could be considerable
and perhaps irreversible
.
"

"
For her sake and Vin's, l
et's hope
for the better
, Love," Ben said.

Ben placed C
a
eli on the bed and backed away to give Salma room to work.  Salma instructed Ben on a few tasks to help her get the treatment started
.  After the IV was in place
,
Salma bathed C
a
eli's arms and face with a wet washcloth, which she left across C
a
eli's forehead.  Then Salma
moved to the other side of the room where she could talk to Ben without disturbing
her
.

"
It was the
energy
bar
s
, wasn't it?
"
  Ben asked.

"
Yes.  It seems we were both right. 
C
a
eli
was being poisoned, and those bars
were
the
source
.
"

CHAPTER
23

"Vin
, a
re you all right?"  Jeremy's voice interrupted his thoughts.

"Yes, I'm fine. 
Y
ou?" 

"Only my pride is hurt. 
Listen,
I wanted to thank you for jumping in after me like that.  I would
not
have made it if you hadn't been there.  Thank you
.  From the bottom of my heart, thank you
," Jeremy was grateful for Vin's quick reaction
and admired his new friend's heroic heart
.

"You're welcome
, Jeremy
.  It's the least I could do.  Without your help,
I
might not have reached
C
a
eli
in time
.  Besides, if we
ha
d lost you, who would Apela and Maku have to tease?
"
  Vin
joked to dispel his lingering tension regarding
C
a
eli
.  He
was rapidly forming a bond with Jeremy that he likened to what he imagined it
would
be like to have a younger brot
her, and it helped distract him
.