wrath of the Sea Queen (251 page)

"Hi, pretty C
a
eli. 
Did they make you better
now?"

C
a
eli was astonished to see the
physical
change in Max
,
though she made no
comment
;
not knowing what happened
while she was gone
.  Vin
could
tell by her
expression
that she
was curious
.

"It was a gift from his
u
ncle," Vin explained succinctly
, purposely avoiding the use of his uncle's name
.

"Do you like it, pretty C
a
eli?  Don't I look grown up now?  Why are you sad?  Uncle Michael
said you would be
better.  Aren't you better?"  Max fired off the succession of questions; the last ones nearly choking C
a
eli
with thought
s
of
Michael
.
 
Yet,
she finally answered.

"I
a
m better
, Max."

"Are you coming in
side
? 
You can eat with me if you want. 
Papa fixed
a good
lunch.
"

"Not right now, Max. 
Please go back inside
," C
a
eli replied.  She was not ready to face anyone else; not while this tension remained between her and Vin.
  She
desperately
wanted to fi
nd a way to fix it if
she could.

Max was not deterred
by her brisk dismissal
.  He tugged on C
a
eli's arm until she leaned down where he could whisper in her ear.  She listened politely
without any response
except to repeat her previous request that he return to the hotel
.
 
Afterward,
Max sulked back to the lounge.  He
ignored
Ben, who was still standing at the door, and went to crawl up beside Salma on the couch.

"
They are no
t any
fun
right now
.
"

"Why don't you go and eat your lunch," Ben suggested.

"I'm not hungry until pretty C
a
eli is hungry.
  P
retty Dr. Salma
, w
ill you play with me?  Please?"

S
alma
would
have
much
preferred to
take a nap after her
traumatic
morning
.  N
ow that her
own
belly was full
, her eyelids were already drooping
.  B
ut
, she
couldn't refuse Max's sweet request. 
She managed to stall him for a while, but then h
is boredom began to get the better of him
. 
Thankfully, Ben stepped in to re
lieve
her
.

"Max, why don't you find your cards
or a board game
, and then we
wi
ll sit here and play for a while.  Salma is going to get some rest.  She
ha
s had a
harrowing
morning
and needs
some
sleep so she
will
feel better
," Ben answered.

"
Sleep will make her better?"  Max perked up at the idea.

"Yes," Ben confirmed.

"
Ok
, then
.  You should
definitely
sleep
, pretty Dr. Salma.  That way you can
feel better enough
before the
party.  Shouldn't Mr. Vin and pretty C
a
eli
sleep
also
?  They had
a
heralding
morning
, too
."

"
Harrowing
;
y
es,
you
a
re
absolutely
right
, Max
.  T
hey should
rest
.  I think I will go and te
ll them
just
that while you fetch your
game."

Ben
had been
watch
ing
them
for almost half an hour.  Neither Vin nor C
a
eli moved and
they
didn't appear to b
e speaking to each other
.  From Ben's observations, it looked as if this w
as
probably the first time they
had
ever let somet
hing come between them
,
and
neither one had
a clue how to begin to
close
th
e
gap.
 
He could tell they were
each
standing on th
e
precipice
,
searching for th
e bridge that would reunite them
.  Ben
finally decided to give them a little nudge
in the
proper
direction
.  As Max ran off in search of a deck of cards, Ben quickly retrieved a shirt
from V
in
's closet
and
a throw blanket off the end of their bed
, and walked down the beach.

"Vin," C
a
eli hesitantly began.
  The silence was
finally
too much
to bear
.  She
at last
worked up the courage to interrupt his thoughts.

He looked over
with great relief
at the
sweet
sound of her voice. 
Vin wasn't certain how much longer he could stand this gulf between them without any hope of spanning it until
she was willing to talk to him. 
Unfortunately, s
he had no sooner spoken his name when someone approached them from the hotel.  C
a
eli took a few steps further away, and Vin took a step
over
to
intercept
Ben
before he could
mov
e
any
closer to her.

"Vin, C
a
eli.  Are you two ok?"  Ben handed Vin the shirt
he carried
.

"Fine," Vin replied and
thanked him for his shirt as he
donned
it
.

Ben briefly explained about Scott and the recovered Book of Elements.  Though Vin said very little in his distracted responses, Ben was more disheartened that C
a
eli would not even acknowledge his presence.  Whatever happened must have hurt her deeply.  Vin was not ready to share that story yet.

"
Ben, I appreciate you coming out here, but your timing
couldn't be worse
.  Not to be rude, but could you give us some privacy
for a while longer
please?
"

"
Of course; I didn't mean to interrupt.
"  Ben handed Vin the blanket and nodded toward C
a
eli, hoping it would give him a starting point.  Then he left the couple alone to work through their problem.  If anyone could bring C
a
eli back from whatever dark place she was
in
, Vin could.

Vin
moved over to stand
next to
C
a
eli.  He
could not
decide
what to say first.  He
thought
of a dozen things that he needed to
tell her
, but couldn't
bring himself to say them
.  Instead, he sent a
warm,
comforting breeze to wrap around her,
taking the opportunity to place the
short
blanket around her shoulders as well. 
Vin
hop
ed
she might
continue whatever she was going to
say
before Ben showed up and
help him out, though he
was certain he
didn't deserve it.

"Thank you," was the only reply she
could form
as she pulled the blanket tighter around her shoulders.

C
a
eli
glance
d
over at him, not knowing what
to say next
.
 
C
ould
Vin
ever understand that she
did not
mean
a single word of
the hurtful things she said?  How could she explain the
extremity of the
struggle she
was
fac
ing when h
e
showed up?  She didn't try because
there
was no excuse.
 
Instead,
C
a
eli
subtly
called up her gift.  Within moments, a dark-colored blob washed up near her feet. 
Vin moved to see what C
a
eli was doing as s
h
e reached down to pick it up.  A
fter wringing
it
out, she
placed it in Vin's hand
. 
It was the only thing she could think of to
express how
grateful
she was
for the personal risks he took on her behalf. 
As h
e accepted the w
et shirt, stained with her blood
,
C
a
eli tentatively took
hold of
his other hand.  It was
the break Vin had been hoping for and
more than
enough to break the ice.