wrath of the Sea Queen (110 page)

"B
ut B
en, the ambulance won't get there in time. 
They are notoriously slow on this side of the island. 
I can be there and get you to the hospital much faster.  If time is important to saving
Vin
, then let me drive you.  I will leave Max with C
a
eli and call one of my friends to come and watch them.  You can trust him to keep you
r
location a secret. 
I will call him as soon as we get to the hospital. 
I will
see you
in a few minutes," Apela told him.

"All right," Ben agreed.  He did not
entirely
like the idea, but
he had to make
do with
the
choices provided by
the
current
circumstances.
  Vin appeared to be seriously hurt, and their
options
were limited.

"Ben, I don't know if we have time. 
You made the right choice. 
I can feel the internal bleeding.  It
i
s bad."

"
Show me, Salma.  I can
help him.  I know I can, but I don't know what needs to be fixed
.  Please, let me help him,
" C
a
eli pleaded.

"
How?
"

"
P
lace one hand on Vin's head wound and the other on his chest. 
Co
ncentrate on his injuries.  I will follow you.  Tell me what needs to be fixed.
"

"
C
a
eli, I don't know if we can do that.  Does your gift work like that?
"
  Salma hesitat
ed
.

"
Please, Salma.  It's
like I did with Ben on the ship.  I couldn't ex
plain it
even if we had time
.  We have to hurry.  Please
,
help me save Vin
.  I can't lose him.
"

Salma closed her eyes
and concentrated on
the location of Vin's internal bleeding.  She located a web of small blood vessels that had been ruptured by the impact of
the back of
Vin's head on the concrete.  One
larger blood vessel
in particular pump
ed
out blood at an alarming rate.  Salma
recognized
C
a
eli
's presence
riding along with her
as she mapped Vin's injuries.  C
a
eli
stopp
ed
the flow of blood
as she had done with Ben's wound
, except where Salma instructed her otherwise.
  It took
C
a
eli
several minutes before she finally succeeded
in completing the repairs to Salma's satisfaction
. 

However,
C
a
eli
was not done. 
She
kept her
gift flowing through Salma
and worked on the
rapidly growing
knot on the back of Vin's head, hoping that fixing this would wake him. 
He was still lying unconscious on the ground. 
C
a
eli remembered from Salma's recent accident that it would be better if Vin woke quickly. 
When th
e knot was gone
, she
fixed Vin's
arm as well. 
Though the wounds were still visible, the damage was nearly healed. 
The women worked together for several minutes
more
.  The
ir
combin
ed
gifts worked a miraculous feat. 
Unfortunately,
there was only so much
their gift
s
could do.  At last,
after almost fifteen minutes,
Salma
looked up at Ben and
announced that they were finished
.  Vin would live
. 
C
a
eli
, however,
was
still
not satisfied.

C
a
eli
was not a doctor and
could
n
o
t see anything else wrong with
Vin
. 
Yet, h
e still
wasn't moving
. 
C
a
eli
tried
again
to reach
Vin
through their special link
.  H
e
did not respond. 
She
desperately wanted to be there beside him so that she could reach out and hold his hand, talk to him, let Vin know that she was there for him
as he always was for her
.

"
Salma
,
what else
c
an
we do?
"
C
a
eli
cried
.

Salma
,
still awed by
C
a
eli's
newly-developed
skill
and her ability to work through another person
from a distance
,
took a moment to gather her thoughts
before
respond
ing
.  As much as C
a
eli
could
do, her limited medical skills
had been learned
on the fly
.  She did not have Salma's
medical
knowledge or experience. 
C
a
eli relied
solely
on Salma's expertise to
provide
her
with an
answer.  Unfortunately, Salma did not have a good solution to offer her.

"
I'm not certain
that there is anything else we can do
, Dear
, except wait
for a change
.  Vin is out of immediate danger, but we won't know anything f
or certain
until he wakes.
"

"
I watched you walk that road before, and I don't like it. 
There has to be another way.  Wait! 
I have an idea.  Salma, can you place your hand on Vin's chest again
,
please?
"

Out of
curios
ity
,
Salma
did as C
a
eli requested
.  A
nother flow of energy
move
d
from C
a
eli
,
through
Salma's
hand
,
and into Vin.  What was C
a
eli up to now? 
It felt like s
he was feeding energy to Vin. 
This must be
similar to what C
a
eli
did
on the ship wh
en she reduc
ed
the large wa
ves
. 
C
a
eli siphoned the energy
from the water
and transferred it to Vin, whose depleted
vitality
had been
renewed.  At least, that was how Vin
had
explained it. 
C
a
eli must be trying to restore him in the same manner
now
. 
But
,
where was C
a
eli drawing the energy from
this time
?  Salma knew th
at
answer
, too
.  C
a
eli
pulled
it from herself. 
Salma's own gift allowed her to feel it now that she understood what C
a
eli was attempting to do.  C
a
eli
was giving
all that
she
could
to help Vin
;
and
Salma suspected it would
have a negative effect on her
recovery
.

"
C
a
eli,
Dear
, that's enough. 
Give him a few minutes. 
He is coming around. 
Vin
is going
to
be
fine,
"
Salma tried unsuccessfully to g
ain
C
a
eli's attention
, but
her
mind was focused
elsewhere.
  She did not respond to Salma
.