wrath of the Sea Queen (130 page)

She
decided to go for a
short
walk on the beach as the sun
began to color the horizon with hues of
pale
pink and orange
.  She did
n
o
t want to go far, but wanted to stretch her legs and take in the fresh morning air
. 
C
a
eli
had
already lost two days of this vacation and did not
intend
to waste another minute
.  Besides, s
he could feel the storm brewing
out of sight
in the darkness
.  It would likely hit the island later th
at
evening. 
She
wanted to enjoy a few peaceful moments before that happened.

As she walked o
ff the
porch and away from the building,
a small shadow
detached itself from the darkness and
followed at
her right
side
.  As she walked,
it
fell into step beside her.

"
Good morning, Max.  What are you doing up so early?
"

"
I wanted to walk with you.  I have to help Mr. Vin keep an eye on you.
"

"
Really?  Did Vin ask you to do that?  Well, I
wi
ll
see if I can get you released from th
at
duty
when I get back.  You don't need to give up your free time to hang out with me.
  In fact, you should probably still be sleeping.
"

"But I want to help.  I'm a good helper," Max protested.

"
All right, but h
ow did you know I was going for a walk?
  Vin isn't even up yet.
"
  C
a
eli asked, surprised
t
o find
Max
awake
this early
.

"
My Mama always
went for
walks with my sister.  She said
that being near the water m
ade her feel better.
"

C
a
eli couldn't
quite
figure
the boy
out.  Max was incredibly perceptive.  She didn't think that Max realized the correlations he
instinctively
ma
de
between her and his late mother.  She didn
'
t mind.  Max obviously loved his mother very much.
  It was just a bit unsettling to know that he was capable of such observations.
 

"
Come along then.  I wouldn't mind the company.
"

They walked down to the water, and C
a
eli kicked her shoes off so that she could feel the water on her feet.  It was still
quite cool
.  Max ran a few steps ahead of her, collecting shells and bringing th
em back for her to hold
.

About ten minutes later, as the sun beg
a
n to
brighten
the distant horizon, C
a
eli noticed a strange, tingling sensation in the water at her feet.  She looked down, but did
n
o
t see anything
that might have caused it.  It reminded her of the tingling she
experienced
right
before Rika joined her in the cave
. 

In the next moment,
C
a
eli
saw a man on the beach, not too far in the distance.  He might have been dressed in a black suit or it could have been a heavy shadow playing tricks with the
early
morning light.  He was walking in her direction.  She could not tell who the man might be or what he looked like because the sun was not yet high enough to reveal his features.  For some reason, C
a
eli
did not feel comfortable meeting
him alone on the beach.  She called for Max, and they turned back
toward
the hotel. 

"
Pretty C
a
eli,
do you know
that man?
"
  Max asked as he reached up and took her hand.

"
I
doubt it.  I
cannot say for certain at this distance;
but I think we should not bother him.  He is out for a walk by himself, and I think we are done with our walk. 
Let's
go back to the hotel and see what we can find for breakfast.  Do you like pancakes, Max?
"

C
a
eli urged Max to walk quickly up the beach with her.  They
made it to
the lounge and
stepped
inside
as
the man reached the spot where the
ir footprints turned toward the hotel
.  The man
stopped.  C
a
eli moved
further
inside so that neither she nor Max could be seen from the shore below.  Something about the man
in black
sent
chills
down her spine
.  He
stood there looking up
toward
the hotel for
several
minutes before continuing on his way.  C
a
eli sent Max to his room
to wait
until
time for
breakfast
.  He ran
by
Salma
as she
entered
the lounge. 
Salma was pleased to see
C
a
eli
up and
feeling well
, but was feeling a little guilty.  S
alma had been
beset by
a shocking realization during the night
.

"
C
a
eli,
I'm glad you're up.  Feeling better?"

"Yes, much better.  Thanks, Aunt Salma." 
C
a
eli
beamed.

"Good.  C
an
I talk to you for a minute
?
"
Salma whispered.  She did not want
anyone to
overhear
their
voices in the lounge.

"
Sure
.  I want to talk to you, too.  I have a great idea for breakfast,
"
C
a
eli said
with a smile that almost let Salma believe her niece had fully recovered
. 
Of course,
Salma knew better. 
Until most recently,
C
a
eli
had
always
been
good at putting on a pleasant face no matter how she felt
.

"
Before
we talk about food
, I need to apologize to you.
"

"
W
h
y would
you
need
to apologize?
"
  C
a
eli was truly baffled.

"
Come over and sit with me for a minute, and I
wi
ll explain.  You see, I received some letters a while back.  Without getting into all the details,
I will just
say they were unpleasant and threatening.
"

"I know about the letters," C
a
eli told her.

"
Who told you?  Was it
Ben or Molly?"  Salma was not surprised that C
a
eli found out
about them
.

"You
told me
.
  Don't you remember?  You said the government should keep its nose out of your research.
"

"
Oh, those were a different set of letters.  The letters I'm referring to were sent by a
young lady
who
was upset because I wasn
'
t able to help a particular patient.  The letters began arriving right after the patient
died
.
"

"
I'm sure you did everything you could. 
Did
the lady blam
e
you
out of grief
?
"
  C
a
eli asked.

"
It's complicated, but I did not
actually
treat the man.  I wasn
'
t even permitted to respond to the letter his son sent requesting my help. 
However
, t
hat's not the point.  In these letters, the lady threatened to hurt me by forcing me to watch those I
care about suffer and die.
"