wrath of the Sea Queen (122 page)

As Vin mentioned C
a
eli, he noticed that she had been out of his line of sight for several minutes.  He nodded across the room to Max, and the boy got up and skipped into the kitchen.  He returned a few minutes later chewing on a small slice of apple.  Max walked over to Vin and handed him a slice as well.  Vin thanked Max, grinned, and ate the apple slice.  He did not offer an explanation to Ben and Salma.

"Salma, what did you find out from the tests you ran?  C
a
eli is doing much better.  Was it really just a bad flu?  C
a
eli didn
'
t seem worried at all."

"I have not shared the test results with
her
yet.  I have treated her, but she does not know the cause of her symptoms," Salma replied quietly.

Vin wa
nted
to
know
what Salma discovered, but
something in Salma's words struck a
n ominous
chord in him.  H
e was
suddenly
too upset to listen
,
instinctively
kn
owing
that he was not going to like what he was about to hear.  Vin could feel his tension rise.  The draft blowing through the lounge responded in kind.  He could not stop it.  Vin had learned
a
n unforgettable
lesson
regarding the need
to reign in his emotion
s before he did anything else.

He excused himself and
went
into the bathroom
in his room
, closing the door.  Vin stood there in the dark leaning heavily against the sink for nearly half an hour before the world stop
ped
spinning around him. 
C
a
eli
was his world.  Without her,
his
life would have no meaning and serve no purpose. 
Even t
hough she was sick, C
a
eli had
risked her own health
to heal his gunshot
wound.
  Vin knew that she would not hesitate to do it again
. 
He could
still
see
the lingering weariness
in her eyes
as well
.  She was put
ting
up a good front, but Vin
easily
saw through it. 
He
needed to
find a way to
ensure that she would finally get the rest she needed.  And, of course,
Salma's diagnosis
awaited
his return
. 
Vin
would
find out
why C
a
eli
had been so
sick
and
whether
her recovery was permanent or temporary
.  For some reason, this scared him more than anything
else
. 
He feared what Salma was going to tell him.

Vin
,
his emotions
finally
under control
,
believed himself
ready to deal with the situation
calmly and
rationally. 
He
left the
bath
room and rejoined Ben and Salma
in the lounge
.

"What is it, Salma?  What did you find?"

"Vin," Salma whispered, "I want you to listen to everything.  Don't go getting upset out of the gate. 
As you can see, s
he
i
s going to be fine
."

"I
am thrilled to
see
her improvement
.
  But, I
ha
ve seen that before.
"

"Take my word for it. 
We caught it in time. 
C
a
eli will recover."

"Recover from what?"

"
She
w
as accidentally poisoned."

S
alma
and Ben still had a slight disagreement about the accidental
part
, but Vin did
n
o
t need to know that
just then
.

"What?!"

The air around them, only recently calmed,
now
stirred quickly back to life with Vin's reaction.  Though he thought he
had
prepared himself to handle bad news, Vin was
rattled
by the completely unexpected
findings
.
  Nonetheless, he did not want Max to overhear any of this.  Vin nodded again and sent Max happily hopping toward the kitchen.

"Vin
,
calm down
.  I said accidentally. 
Please
, listen
to me
.  I was looking at the results of
C
a
eli's
blood work, and I found a combination of harsh chemicals that should
n
o
t have been there.  They are the kind of drugs you would expect to find in a cancer patient undergoing
intensive
treatment. 
If y
ou put these drugs into a normal, healthy body, they will break it down and tear it apart.  That
i
s what C
a
eli
ha
s been fighting.  That
i
s why she has
been sick and
experiencing
such severe pain.
  The symptoms she has had over the past sev
eral weeks make perfect sense now
, including the nausea, fatigue, lack of appetite, and all of the allergy and flu-like
symptoms
.
  It actually accounts for what she believed
to be the
caus
e of
he
r
problem
s.  Sadly, s
he found out a few hours ago
it
was not the case,
" Salma
accepted
with disappointment
that C
a
eli's illness
only
made her think she was pregnant until her
monthly
cycle returned.  She
agreed with C
a
eli that there was no need to
share that part with Vin
now
, but
gave
him
a moment to digest th
e rest of the
news before she continued. 

"Thankfully, C
a
eli's body craves water when she's sick.  And, though your wife can be as stubborn as you at times, she has been actively trying to satisfy th
at
craving. 
C
a
eli
has been drinking water
at e
very
opportunity.
  It has been keeping her
condition from accelerating more rapidly.  It has kept her healthier
than she
should
have been.  C
a
eli's illness got
drastically
worse the
l
ast two days because
, in addition to overexerting herself,
she was
stressed,
dehydrated,
and
near exhaustion
.  Her body could not rally
fast
enough to
put up a
proper defen
se
.  So, it shut down
instead
."

"I don't understand, Salma.  How did this happen?  How do you know it was an accident?"  Vin stared
toward the kitchen from which Max return
ed
.  This time he had a small, sweet pickle impaled on a plastic fork.  He
handed
a second one to Vin
before
he returned to his coloring.  Vin caught a glimpse of C
a
eli
. 
T
he color
had already
returned to
her
cheeks, though perhaps that was
more
wishful thinking on his part.

Ben picked up the next piece of the explanation
.

"Salma and I were discussing that very question,
and
I happened to be holding on
e
of C
a
eli's energy bars
at the time
.  Salma explained the strange results of the blood work, and the length of time it would take
for the chemicals
to
reach th
o
se
level
s
.  It occurred to me that the only significant change
I noted
in C
a
eli's habits was he
r
frequent
munch
ing
on th
ose
snack bars.  I h
e
ld the answer right there in my hand.
  Salma test
ed
the bar
to confirm it
.
"