wrath of the Sea Queen (205 page)

"
Spare me thirty minutes of your time, and I will not bother you further.  Is that so much to ask?
"

"
No.  Thirty minutes?  And you will go away for good?
"

"
And this struggle between us will be finished; I give you my word.
"

Vin
looked down at
a tug on his pants leg and
saw
Max at his side.  C
a
eli was not with him.

"She won't
come with me, Mr. Vin.  She's sleeping
again
," Max said
dejectedly
.

"Sleeping? 
I think you're mistaken
, Max.  C
a
eli's
still walking," Vin glanced over at her on the treadmill.

"
She probably didn't hear you because of the headphones. 
G
o
sit down.  I'll
get her."

He
walked over and tapped C
a
eli on the shoulder.  She didn
'
t respond.  He pressed the stop button on the treadmill and leaned in to kiss
her
.

"
Come on,
Honey. 
You must be starving. 
L
et's get
someth
ing
…C
a
eli!
"
  Vin whispered harshly.

Not only wasn't she responding to him, her eyes were closed.  Max was right
.  S
he appeared to be walking in her sleep. 
With treadmill off,
she was
now
walking in place
.
  Vin deftly freed C
a
eli's hands from the
wrist
restraints, and then turned her so that she would step down off the treadmill.
 
As soon as C
a
eli's feet hit the floor, she began to walk
toward
the beach.  Vin s
topped her and tried to rouse her without drawing the attention of the others at the table
.

"C
a
eli
, wake up.
"  Vin gently shook her and
very
lightly smacked the side of her face
with two fingers
in order to draw her out of the trance-like state.
  It took several attempts before she finally came around.

"What's wrong?  What are we doing over here?"  C
a
eli noticed that they were standing by the door leading out to the beach.

"It happened again, C
a
eli."

"But, I was awake.  I was walking.  I wasn't near any water.  How is that possible?  Are you sure?  What happened exactly?"  C
a
eli wanted to know.

"Everyone is waiting on us for dinner.  I think we should talk about this later.  Let's get through the meal first," Vin suggested.

"I'm not hungry.  Vin, this has got to stop.  I can't keep going like this."

Vin did not miss the edge of anger and determination in her voice. 
C
a
eli wanted to put a stop to it.  She was finished worrying about what might happen next.  She
made up her mind right then
and there
that she
was going to face this problem head on
. 
As
soon as she figured out how
, C
a
eli intended to call Rika
out
and bring this
matter
to an end
once and for all
.  Vin was
n
o
t going to like it, but C
a
eli knew that she
was going to have
to deal
directly
with
Rika
soon.

"
On second though
t
, maybe y
ou
a
re right. 
Perhaps w
e should talk about this
after dinner
.
"

"I
woul
d be lying if I said your sudden change of mind doesn't worry me.  I don't know what you just talked yourself out of, but ok.  Let's eat
;
then
we will
talk
this out
. 
You did promise to eat.  A
re you really not hungry?"

"
Starv
ed
,
"
C
a
eli
kissed
him
and winked
, playfully jogging his memory of
exactly what she was craving
.

"
You know we can't have dessert first," Vin
returned, maintaining the lightheartedness she had quickly adopted.

They joined the others at the dinner table
where t
he guys endeavored to impress the ladies with their
own culinary specials.  Vin
prepared
baked macaroni.  It was a simple dish that C
a
eli loved
; one that he could cook without her assistance
.  Ben made baked beans with a touch of curry, one of Salma's favorites.  Apela
knew
that Max would eat
almost
anything you put in front of him, but made a chocolate cake for dessert that his son particularly enjoyed.  The rest of the meal included steamed broccoli, baked salmon, and dinner rolls.  Everything
tasted
delicious.

To Vin's relief, C
a
eli ate
slightly
more of this meal than she
did
of Ben's soup.  She also
drank two glass
es
of water.  Ben was pleased that Salma
’s
appetite
had not been
affected by
her ordeal
. 
If anything, it had increased. 
She really enjoyed Ben's dish
.  S
alma commented
that
the
second helping
was
equally
as tasty as the first
. 
Even Pete seemed to have more of an appetite than Maku had seen in a while. 
The
ladies
, Max,
and the two guests
compl
i
mented the men on a
wonderful meal, and e
veryone left the table satisfied.

"
It seems that she has finally made her decision.
"

"
She cannot possibly win on her own
terms
.  The cost will be high
either way
.  Michael, what will you do?
"
 
Urim asked, as they watched unobtrusively while the people at the table enjoyed their
meal
.

"
C
a
eli cannot defeat
Rika
in a
direct battle of their special skills
.  Rika has more experience and resources.  However
,
C
a
eli
can master herself. 
Given what she has been through, t
hat will be
enough of a challenge
.  Yet
, it is all that's
required
of her,
for now
.  The rest is not C
a
eli's fight. 
Rika
will have to
be
deal
t
with, though I
had
hoped to avoid
such an outcome.
"

"
Can you speak to her?  Try to turn her from this course? 
And w
hat about the boy?  Will he ever be free of her?
"

"
My words
to Rika
have
fallen on deaf ears
.  She
refuses to
l
i
sten
. 
T
he boy will remain with Apela
, as I
promise
d
;
though she is furious with me because of it.
"