wrath of the Sea Queen (140 page)

"
Max!
"

She
sprinted
up the beach.  He must have gone after Max once she reached the safety of the water.  But how could he know about her gift? 
T
hat
wasn't important
at the moment
.  She had to get back to Max.  He could not defend himself.  C
a
eli r
a
n about
fifty
feet when she caught movement off to her right
and saw
the man in black again
.  S
he
was horrified to see that M
ax
was with him
.  They were both standing on top of the circular ridge
s
of
the cave. 

C
a
eli
changed direction
and
ran
toward
them.
 
She made her way up the side of the
cave wall
and
moved forward
until she was about five feet away from them
.  There,
she stopped cold.  They
were
nearly
at
the end of the
cave
and were standing within jumping distance of the water.  Max
's
tears
flowed
unfettered
as the man held him by the throat, but
the boy
did
not mak
e
a sound.  He looked up at C
a
eli, and she could see that he was trying to be brave
despite being
terribly frightened.

"
It's ok, Max.  I'm right here with you.  I'm not going to let him hurt you.
"
 
C
a
eli
tried to help sooth
e
Max's fear
.

She began to slowly inch her way closer.
  The man
continued to
stare at her.

"
What
do
you want?
"
  She
asked
calmly
of the man who
back
ed
closer to the edge and dragg
ed
Max along with him.  C
a
eli moved
,
too
, maintaining the
short
distance between her and Max. 

The man in black stared at her and then looked down at the torn section of her blouse. 

"
You refuse
.  S
he demands payment. 
I take
your
boy
.
"

His voice sent chills
down
C
a
eli
's spine
.  It
sounded
like mud being sucked through a straw
to
drown the person on the other end.

"
I don't want to go with him
, C
a
eli
,
"
Max
shook
with fear.

It was the only time he
had ever
called her
solely
by her name.
 
If she didn't
act soon
,
Max would be severely traumatized
and perhaps
worse
.  The thought of Max suffering any further fright made C
a
eli angry.
  The distant storm clouds replicated the intensity of her emotion.
 
Yet,
the man's few words
gave
her
a vague idea of
who sent him and
what he
really came
to retrieve. 
Her initial assumption had been at least partially incorrect. 
C
a
eli
formulated a plan that should allow her to
save Max
because
he wasn't her
son
.

"
The boy is not mine to give, nor yours to take.  You cannot collect him
as payment
for a debt
that Rika
wants to collect from me.  Let him go
!
"
C
a
eli demanded.  She hoped her voice sounded as confident as she needed it to be.  She was not at all
certain
that this
tactic
was going to work.

"
You cannot decide.  She decides
,
"
the man replied somewhat hesitantly.

C
a
eli noticed the hesitation and did not miss the opportunity.  Putting as much authority into her voice as she could muster, and standing with a posture that implied
power
,
C
a
eli
offered what she hoped was an appropriate reply.

"
It is my debt
.  I
t is my decision. 
I have decided that you cannot take Max.  He is not m
y boy
. 
Release him
now or I will
t
ear you into so many
piece
s that she will not be able to put you back together again
.
"

C
a
eli
reached out her hand to Max
, inching a bit closer to him.  H
e tentatively lifted his small hand toward
C
a
eli
.  The man in black seemed to consider her words for
another
moment.  C
a
eli
maintained
her
unflinching and ang
r
y
stare
at the man.  In her mind, she prayed the gamble would work. 
She
had
to convince him that she was not only capable of hurtin
g him, but also
that Rika could not protect him
.

Unbelievably, s
he succeeded
.  The man
finally released Max and pushed him forward into C
a
eli's waiting arms.  She quickly s
cooped
him up and held him tightly
, whispering in his ear
.

"
Max,
you're ok. 
I've got you. 
You
were very brave.
 
It's ok
now
. 
I'm going to put you down, and I want you to run
up to the hotel
and hide in your closet, ok?  Don't come out for anybody.  You wait there until your Papa gets home
. 
C
ome out when he opens the
closet
door.  Only
come out
then
and only for your Papa.  Don't come out
before.  Do you understand?
"

Max nodded. 
C
a
eli
set the boy down,
relieving
the increas
ing
pain
caused by
his legs wrapping around her injured stomach.  Max
took off running
through the sudden downpour
as fast as
his legs would carry him
.

C
a
eli, keeping her eyes on the man, took a step or two closer to him, but did not get close enough for him to
physically
threaten her
again
.  She watched as the man stood there
assessing her
, uncertain what to make of her.  Apparently, he had never
before
been challenged by his victims. 
P
erhaps
he
had
never dealt with someone of C
a
eli's special heritage
or perhaps Rika had given him limited instructions
. 
The man didn't seem all that bright, so he could be having difficulty deciding what to do next. 
Either way, the man
in black
was temporarily uncertain how to deal with
C
a
eli
now that she was not running scared.  C
a
eli did
n
o
t know how long it would take for the man to recover his wits or get new instructions from his boss, but she did
n
o
t want to wait around to find out. 
She took advantage of the brief window of opportunity. 
On a whim, C
a
eli leaned forward and shouted at
the man
.