wrath of the Sea Queen (200 page)

"
Max,
please
tell
us
the rest of the story.  What happened when the pretty lady did not want to be a
S
ea
G
oddess anymore?
"
  C
a
eli said.

Max looked at her with surprise.

"
I thought you didn't know this story,
"
he said.

"
I guessed. 
Please, t
ell me what happened
, Max
.
  I need to know what happened to the pretty lady,
"
C
a
eli pleaded softly.

Vin squeezed her hand in support.  He made the obvious correlations from the first half of the story.
  If this story corresponded to C
a
eli's struggle with Rika, then C
a
eli was
searching
for a solution; a way to beat Rika.

"
The pretty lady
went to talk to the
S
ea
Q
ueen
.  The
S
ea
Q
ueen
was very mad and sent the man in black to take away the pretty lady's baby.
"

Vin's grip on C
a
eli's
hand unconsciously
tightened as he
listened
.  C
a
eli knew
that Vin
now understood wh
o attacked her and wh
y they lost their son,
but she could
n
o
t
offer him the
specific
details
yet.  She
desperately
needed
to know how the story ended.

"Why did the
S
ea
Q
ueen
take her baby
, Max?"
  This time it was Ben who voiced the question.

"Because s
he thought that would make the pretty lady change her mind, but it didn't. 
The Sea Queen was mad.  When
the water turned r
ed, the
S
ea
Q
ueen
took the pretty lady
away
, too.
"
 

Silence followed the end of Max's story.  Looks of puzzlement rested on every face, except for Max and C
a
eli.  They understood.
  They both knew why the man in black was sent to visit C
a
eli a second time.

"
Thank you, Max.  You
'
re a good storyteller
, and you're very brave
. 
Your Mama would be very proud of you. 
You
a
re right, though, I don't like that ending,
"
C
a
eli agreed
.

"
Me either
.  I miss my Mama
,
"
Max sighed, and
C
a
eli
reached out to pull him into a hug.

"
It
i
s a very sad
story
.  C
a
eli and I are
,
indeed
,
going to
do our best
to make a
different
ending,
"
Vin added
, for C
a
eli's benefit as well as Max's
.

He
thought he now understood
C
a
eli's interest in the tale
.  Vin believed he
understood
the
entire
correlation
,
and he did
n
o
t like where it led.
  It did not provide the answer C
a
eli sought.
  It did not offer her any hope of success.

There was another knock at the door
as
Apela
came
looking for Max.  They invited him in
to join them
and talked
of more pleasant topics
for a
while
.  Then C
a
eli
decided to
let
Salma go ahead with her treatment on Pete.

"I told you that we needed to wait until you were stronger,"
Salma
tried
to object
.

"That was before.  I'm better now, and I want to do this
while
I'm still we
ll
enough to help
.
"

"
What
exactly
does that mean?
"
 
Vin wondered if C
a
eli had reason to believe that she might not be well at a later time.

"
It's nothing specific.  I just want to do it now because I'm not certain what may be waiting around the next corner for me or Pete.  Please
,
let me do this, Vin.
"

"And you're sure you're up for this?"
Vin asked quietly, while Salma and Ben were across the room rummaging through Salma's medical bag, which she had brought along when C
a
eli called.
 
The water
had
worked wonders on
C
a
eli
, but she was still in a
delicate
condition
and not fully healed
. 
Vin
found it difficult to overlook
the sense of
urgency in
C
a
eli’s
request; almost like she
was up against a deadline
.  He did not want
her to risk too much
.

"
Yes, I'm sure.  It's just a little blood.  Give me some water and some food, and I
'
ll be fine.  Now that I think about it, I
a
m
hungry
,
"
C
a
eli said with a smile
and a
n
enticing kiss
, "for food, too
.
"
  It was the first time
her appetite had resurfaced in
days.
 

They sent Apela and Max off to get things set up in the lounge.  Max was excited that he would get to
see pretty Dr. Salma fix Pete. 
Salma g
athered
everything needed
from her bag
and drew a large vial of C
a
eli's blood.  When she
placed a small
bandage
over the
puncture
on C
a
eli's arm and
packed away the
equipment, she and Ben excused themselves to go take care of Pete
who
wait
ed
in the lounge
after a summons from
Max
.  Vin assured them th
at he and C
a
eli
would be out
to join them
as soon as C
a
eli got dressed. 

When they were alone, C
a
eli donne
d a pair of lightweight, pale blue
pants and an airy,
pale
blue and green
, off the shoulder
blouse.  It was a flattering outfit, though incomplete.  Vin could not convince
C
a
eli
to
wear any
shoes
since they were not going outside
.  By way of compromise, she slid on a pair of thin, ankle-high
white
socks.  C
a
eli stood up in front of the bed, brushing out her hair, letting i
t
fall free
beyond her shoulders
.  V
in appreciated how lovely she looked.  Much of the color
had
returned to her pale skin.  If he hadn't known better,
C
a
eli’s
appearance might have been able to convince
Vin
that none of the wrenching events of the p
ast three days
had
ever t
aken
place
.