wrath of the Sea Queen (244 page)

Max was
very
upset.  Vin knelt down to speak with him. 

"I don't know
how to get to her
,
Max
, b
ut I will figure it out.  I will bring her bac
k," Vin assured the young boy.

As he spoke, Vin glanced up the beach to locate the source of the
raised
voices he heard
,
curious to
know
who
was arguing.  Apela and a
blonde
woman
were
walking toward the parking lot.
  Neither looked very happy.

"Vicki?  What is she doing here?"
 
Vin
thought
perhaps
his eyes were playing tricks on him
through the rain
.  It couldn't really be Vicki, could it?

"She
wants to take me away
.  She said Papa is not my Papa," Max answered Vin's un
intentional
query.

The wind stirred, slightly
more
agitated around Vin. 
Vicki
was the last person he expected to see.  Vin certainly did
n
o
t want her anywhere near Max, especially not now.

"
What are you up to Vicki?
"  Vin wondered
to himself.

"
She says there are papers in her car that prove I don't belong to Papa
.  She is going to get them
so she can take me away,
" Max explained
in response to Vin's unvoiced question
.

"
C
a
eli would not be happy if I let that happen.  Let's go
see about th
ose papers
."  Vin got up and
took Max's hand in his, realizing
t
hat Max
was not distinguishing between vocal and mental communication; but, because he was so upset, Vin did not reprimand the boy
.

"
Wait, Brother.
"

The voice stopped Vin in his tracks.

When the
beach was clear of protestors
and there was a momentary slack in the rain
, Apela, Max, and Vicki left the lounge and headed
toward
the parking lot to retrieve the paperwork from her car.  Vicki caught a glimpse of Vin
pacing
on the beach below and whistled to herself.  She
had not known
he
would be
at this hotel.  The sight only made her more impatient for the time when he would be
free of his wife.  Perhaps he
was
already.  Though she
had
never met Vin's wife, in Vicki's mind, C
a
eli was all that stood between her and Vin. 
Vicki knew she had to
be patient and wait until Vin returned home
;
but seeing him now made that very difficult
. 
The
i
r last parting
had not been
on good terms. 
Vicki
wanted to remedy that as soon as possible.  Yet
,
she refrained from running down to him. 
If Lorrie accomplished what she promised, Vin would
be
return
ing
home
alone.
  That's when she would act.

With difficulty, Vicki pulled her eyes away from Vin and returned her attention to the matter at hand.  She
went to get
the
papers out of her car.  As they walked, Max wriggled his hand free of Apela's and took off down the beach.  Apela tried to stop him, but the boy was
as
quick as lightning.  Apela stopped about halfway down the beach, when he
noticed
where Max was headed.
  He waited there,
watching Max from a distance
.  He cast a few unpleasant words at Vicki when she insisted that he retrieve Max, eventually convincing her to
continue
on to her car alone
. 
M
eanwhile, M
ax
had
reached the water's edge a
nd threw himself around Vin's legs
. 

Vin
stopped at the sound of Michael's voice.  However,
he
still fac
ed
the parking lot when, without warning, a
huge
flash of lightning struck the car Vicki was
approaching
.  The vehicle exploded in a
gigantic
ball of flame, and Vicki was thrown
fifteen feet
down the beach by the force of the blast.  Vin thought he
also
heard a gunshot a few seconds
after the blast
, but could not be certain.

He
stared at the wreckage and then at Vicki's unmoving body in the sand.  A strong feeling of satisfaction suddenly flowed through him, but it did not come from him.  It came from C
a
eli.  Somehow,
unbeknownst to Vin,
she
had
still
been
drawing on their link. 
She
was
angry
and let that anger overflow
now
. 
Vin realized that
C
a
eli
was
, somehow,
responsible for the lightning
strike
.

Vin
continued to stare at the flames as Vicki's car burned, not knowing how to react.  He could hardly believe what he witnessed.  C
a
eli
's
ang
e
r
was
specifically
directed
at Vicki
, but w
as
she
defend
ing
Max or
him
?  Vin found that idea
oddly
exciting,
though he
quickly pushed such inappropriate notions to the back of his mind.  Perhaps
he was completely misreading it.  Maybe
C
a
eli was angry with him for letting the situation
with Vicki
get this far out of hand
.
  Either way, there was a lot of anger in that bolt.  The feeling of connection with C
a
eli once more faded away. 
Vin simply didn't understand.

For a moment, Max stared wide-eyed at Michael, but then recovered his wits.  Max ran forward, kicked Michael in the leg, and then
returned to stand beside
Vin
, staring defiantly at Michael
.

"Shame on you
!  You should be
nice to pretty C
a
eli
.  She
i
s always nice to me.  Why did
you hurt her and ma
k
e her cry
?
"
Max stood with his
tiny fists
on his hips, d
aring
Michael
to challenge his
accusation
.

Vin turned
his gaze away from Max to find the source of a new sound.  The
soft
laughter was coming from Michael
.  It was a
completely
unexpected
and unnerving
sight from the usually stoic figure
, especially under these circumstances
.  However, it was then that Vin noticed the resemblance. 
This is what
had
b
other
ed
him about Max all along. 
The boy
bore very little resemblance to his parents, yet
Max looked
a lot
like Michael.  They even shared a few
fiery
personality traits. 
W
as that possible? 
Could Max be related to Michael? 
Surely, Vin was mistaken.

"
No, you are not mistaken.  His heritage was my gift to Apela.  His birth was Rika's gift to his mother.  She and I agreed to help Apela and his wife
conceive
a child.  We met them in the cave that night and, with their permission, joined with them for the experience.  Thus were they able to have Max,
" Michael answered Vin's unspoken thought.

"That explains a lot.  He is an exceptional boy," Vin replied
with less surprise than he would have thought
.

"
Yes,
he is that.  Al
though
,
I
could not predict how
talented he would be, nor how jealous Rika would become as she watched him grow in the care of another.  That is the reason I
a
m here.
"