wrath of the Sea Queen (22 page)

Before they boarded
at two o'clock
, C
a
eli rummaged through her carryon bag for her cell phone.  She used the autodial feature to call Vin
's cell
.  It went straight to his voicemail, which meant he probably forgot to turn it on, as he often did.
  She left him a quick message.

"
Hey
,
Vin. 
I'm sorry I missed you. 
D
espite a few bumpy moments
and a rough landing
due to a patch of bad weather
, we made it safely. 
You
wi
ll probably hear about it on the news
. 
Salma and I
a
re fine
, though
it delayed us
so that
w
e only
have
a few minutes to catch our connecting flight. 
We
a
re getting ready to
board
a
really small plane
. 
It looks like a toy.  They said something about diverting further out to sea to get around the storm, but
they assure us
it should be perfectly safe.  It
is supposed to be
a relatively short trip
, only ninety minutes or so
. 
Salma is on edge and want
s
to take a bus
.  I
t took every ounce of persuasion to
convince her to stick with the
original
flight
plans
.  After all, what are the chances of having two bad flights on the same day
, right
?
 
I
wi
ll call you once we get
to
the hotel. 
Have you figured out my note yet? 
I can't wait to
explain
it in person
.
 
I miss you already. 
I love you, Vin.
"
 

The
message made C
a
eli miss Vin
even more
.  Her guilt about being
parted
from him so soon after her last trip resurface
d
, but s
he quickly buried it beneath thoughts
of what awaited their upcoming reunion
.  C
a
eli thought, I will see him on Friday, and we
wi
ll have the entire weekend to walk on the beach
and enjoy the surprise
together
.

"
Salma
, d
o you want to call Ben?  I'm sure he must be missing
his new bride
by now,
"
C
a
eli laughed.

She
offered
Salma her phone, but when Salma tried to make the call, she was unable to get a signal.  After two attempts,
Salma
gave up and
returned the phone.

"
Flight 903 to Hilo is now boarding.  All passengers please report to Gate 6B for Flight 903 to Hilo.
"

This plane was tiny compared to the one they left behind. 
In fact, it was too short for the jetway.  When they reached the end, they
went
down a set of stairs, walk
ed
across the
Tarmac
in the light rain
, and climb
ed
the
plane's stairs in order
to board. 
There were
three s
eats in each of the four rows, separated by a narrow aisle down the middle of the plane.  Salma and C
a
eli sat across from each other in the second row.  Ahead of her, a familiar face pop
ped
up over the back of the seat.

"
Hi, pretty C
a
eli.  Are you going to
my
house, too?
"
  Max grinned broadly at the
idea
.

Salma glanced over at C
a
eli with a questioning look on her face.  She
had been
asleep when C
a
eli met Max.

"
No,
but
we
a
re going to the same airport.
"

"
Max, turn around and buckle in.  I'm sorry again.  Max seems to think you
a
re his new best friend,
"
the boy's father added.

"
I don't mind, really. 
Apela, t
his is my aunt, Dr. Salma Erickson.
"
  C
a
eli introduced Salma to the man she
met earlier
.

"
I’m
Apela, and
that is
my son
,
Max.  We
a
re on our way home after a vacation on the mainland.  I run a small hotel on the east side of the island, away from the tourist crowds, but still close enough to be convenient.
"

"How did you get into the hotel business
?
"
Salma asked politely.

"
It
ha
s been in my family for generations. 
It came to me when my father died, but I
had
already
been
runn
ing it for several years
. 
With all the unusual weather we've been having, business
h
a
s
been
a little slow
er than usual
.  Plus, Max is fascinated with the festivities
planned for t
his week.  I decided that we would close the hotel and spend some time together.  We haven't done that since his mother passed away last year.
"

"
Oh.  I'm sorry for your loss,
"
C
a
eli said
sincerely
.

"
Thank you.  So
,
what are you here for, business or vacation?
"

"
Both.  Salma is going to be speaking at a medical convention this week.  I decided to tag along and keep her company.  Our husbands will be flying down to join us a bit later in the week.
"
 

As Salma talked to Apela about her work, C
a
eli saw the redhead from the
ir
first flight board and take the seat directly behind Salma.  T
hree
businessmen occupied the
seats in the very
back,
and a few other passengers boarded.  T
he seat
s
beside and
directly behind C
a
eli
remained
empty.  The flight took off without incident and flew for fifteen minutes before the storm returned, more aggressively than before.
  At one point, as crazy as it sounded, it almost appeared that the storm was chasing their plane.

Nearing the halfway point of the flight,
about fifty minutes later,
the small plane was forced further away from land in order to avoid the majority of the storm's effects.  As if on
cue
, the storm clouds turned to follow the plane, and the ride began to get bumpy. 
Salma gave C
a
eli a look that let her know they would
definitely
be
returning home by a
different method of travel.

"
Don't worry, Salma.  I know we are going to be
all right
.  Call it intuition or whatever, but I know
everything will be fine
.
"

C
a
eli continued to watch out the window, hoping
desperately that
he
r prediction
was right.  She looked back at the other passengers in time to see
the redhead
fidgeting with something
that she could not identify
in front of him.

A loud, sizzling sound suddenly engulfed the plane.  Within a few seconds, all of the electronic equipment
, except the lights,
stopped working and the engines stalled. 
A few m
inutes
later,
almost as an afterthought,
the lights went out
, too
. 
C
a
eli thought the plane must have been struck by lightning.  What are the odds of that happening a second time to a plane
on which
she
and Salma were
passengers
? 

Everyone on board
realized
the plane was going down.  Thankfully, they were already flying low,
very
near the water.  The waves could be seen out the window, reaching up as if to pull the aircraft down into the frothy waters below.  Salma held tightly to C
a
eli's hand across the aisle.