wrath of the Sea Queen (243 page)

She
pulled her thoughts into
action to support
th
at
single-minded effort. 
No more! 
Summon
ing
every ounce of anger and
strength
that
she could muster
, C
a
eli
poured
everything
into her gift.  When Michael leaned in to grab C
a
eli's arm and Raphael's grip loosened so that he could move around
from behind
to tend her wound, C
a
eli was
momentarily
freed from the
enforced
paralysis
.  In
stantly,
she reacted
.
 
Her anger sparked a flash of lightning that struck Michael's hand as he reached for her.  Her gift responded immediately by engul
fing them all in a huge wave. 
When the wave retracted, C
a
eli
remained where she
was
standing, but the angels were on the other
side of the island.

Michael star
ed
at her
across the
fifty
feet of sand and newly formed pools of water
. 
From that
distance, she could not tell if she was seeing anger or astonishment
in his expression
.  Either way,
her effort
had been
successful
, and she
managed to slip away from them.  Now, all she had to do was find a way to get
off the island
and pray they would
n
o
t follow her.

"
Brother, we have another issue.  I must attend
to
Rika as she crosses
.  I leave
C
a
eli
in your hands.  She cannot leave this island
unless she is healed
.
"  Michael disappeared. 

"
Sister, you must permit me to heal your wound.
"
  Raphael walked slowly toward C
a
eli.

"No!  I don't have to let you do any such thing.  Stay away from me." 

L
ightning flashed dangerously close to the place where Raphael stopped, but he didn't flinch.  Instead, he stood there, watching her.  The look on his face was one of concern
, which
only served to disturb
C
a
eli
further.  How could he possibly be concerned for her after what he and Michael
did
? 
C
a
eli called up her gift and stepped toward the water.  To her surprise, she could not enter.  She moved both left and right.  She tried to bring the water to her.  Nothing worked. 
They had her
trapped
.

A thought occurred to her
suddenly
, and
C
a
eli
made a
dash
for the cave entrance.  Raphael did not move to stop her.  He
merely
continued to watch. 
Her hopes were
shattered
as she ran into
a
barrier
of white light
when she tried to ente
r the cave.  With her arm
covering the wound on her stomach, C
a
eli
at last
gave up.  She sat down in front of the rocky wall
and began to cry.  They took her child.  They
imprisoned
her
on this island
.  She could not use her gift.  If she did
n
o
t get this cut on her stomach tended, she would soon lose too much blood.  She
c
ould not
endure
exposure to
th
e storm out here.  She would not survive
.

C
a
eli watched Raphael across the distance, but he did
n
o
t move any closer.  He seemed to be waiting.  He probably expected her to give in and allow him to heal her
,
but that was not going to happen.  She would never allow him to touch her, not wh
ile she could prevent it. 
She leaned back against the coolness of the rock, realizing that she was sweating profusely.  It reminded her
vaguely of how
terrible
she felt when the poison r
a
n through her body. 
C
a
eli
closed her eyes to rest.  She thought about Vin, longing for the security of his embrace
, wishing she might see him one more time
.

"
I'm so sorry, Vin.  I hope that one day you will forgive me for my mistakes
and understand my choices.  Please remember that I love you; I always loved you
.
"

Resigned to her fate,
C
a
eli
tried to call him, but something prevent
ed
Vin
from hearing her.  She
assumed
it was probably the same thing that was preventing her from leaving th
e
island.  However,
C
a
eli discovered that
, though the connection was one-sided,
she could
actually
see through Vin's eyes. 
It was a strange sensation
as she looked out at his surroundings
. 
He was
standing
outside in the rain
,
looking down at
Max
, who
was
beside
him on the beach
. 
Then he looked up
toward the hotel
at a lady walking
beside
Apela.  C
a
eli thought she recognized the woman's face
, and then she was certain of it
.  Her
already boiling
anger flared a
new
. 
The rain
became a
sudden
downpour
a
round Vin
.

What was she doing here?  When
C
a
eli
heard Vin ask the same question aloud, it confirmed her suspicion
that this was the lady in
the photos.  This was the woman who wanted
to take another precious thing from
her.  C
a
eli
’s singular
feeling about that
was so intense that it bled through to Vin
's
awareness.

"
Vin, help me!
"

Vin heard C
a
eli cry out and grabbed his chest
in pain
.  She was desperate beyond
reason
.  The agony and anger in her voice caused him a strong physical pain. 
Vin
gasped to catch his breath. 

"
C
a
eli
!  I hear you
.  What can I do?  Please, how can I help?
"

But
, the connection was
already
gone.  Vin no longer
sensed
C
a
eli's presence.  He tried for several minutes to reach her through their link, but she did
n
o
t respond.  Vin glanced out toward the small island
where
the storm clouds
were
thickest
. 
L
ightning
now
flickered throughout the storm instead of
only
around the edges.  Something
had
c
hanged drastically when she cried out.

Before he could consider it further, something
latch
ed
on
to his legs
and remain
ed
clinging there
. 
Vin
looked down to see Max.

"Max, what are you doing out here
?
  You should be inside where it's safe
and dry
," Vin started to send the boy away.

"Mr. Vin, don't let them be mean to pretty C
a
eli."

"Who
is being mean to her
?  Who is with C
a
eli?  Wh
at happened,
Max?"

"The
S
ea
Q
ueen
was with her, but she
is gone
now.  P
retty C
a
eli is
very sad, and I think she is
lost. 
You said she gets lost.  Can we go find her?
  Can we bring her back now?  Please, Mr. Vin.
"