wrath of the Sea Queen (46 page)

"
Vin, what's going on?  C
a
eli
obviously
left
, but
why, and
where
di
d she go?
"
Ben
asked
.

"
S
he did, and I don't know
where she went
.
"

"
But you do know why,
and
that's why
you're upset
.
 
F
ill us in,
"
Ben persisted.

Vin stopped pacing and sat down backward in the single, high-backed chair, facing Ben and Salma
,
who
seated
themselves
on the bunk.  Vin laid his hands across the top of the chair and rested his
fore
head on them for a minute before beginning.

"
It's complicated.  I
won't go into all the detail
s
, but I can tell you that the odd behavior Salma noticed before was
caused by
C
a
eli's
gift," Vin began.

"Her gift?  Vin, does that mean
Urim was right
?"  Ben asked
with concern
.

"
Yes. 
C
a
eli
has
become aware of her
gift
and has
discovered how to use
it
. 
That's exactly what she
'
s been doing.  Her gift
is
similar to my ability with the wind, only hers is with water.
  In retrospect, it seems obvious.  She has always loved the water.
"

"
Oh…that explains
what we saw with the plane's wing
and why the water did not flood the cabin,
"
Ben remarked as he quickly made the connection
between C
a
eli's gift and recent events.

"
And the change in the
waves?  I thought I was going to be seasick there for a while. 
I couldn't have been more pleased when everything settled. 
Dear Lord,
is that what
C
a
eli
was doing
when she stayed behind
?  D
id she
manipulate the waves? 
That was a huge undertaking in her condition."

"Condition?"  Vin asked with a raised eyebrow.  It was an odd choice of words
just to s
tate
that
C
a
eli
was sick.
  For another moment, Vin thought that there might be something more to the story and that Salma might be privy to the details.

"She's sick.  I'm sorry.  I thought I mentioned it; but I believe she might have the flu."

"That's right.  You did say that."

"
Did she break up the storm, too?
"
  Salma asked incredulously.

"
Yes for the waves, but it took both of us to lessen the storm winds. 
She needed to channel off the excess energy from the waves, and used her gift
and our link
to
pass
that energy to me.  I
used my gift
and
th
e
influx of
energy
to
lessen
the wind, there
by scattering the
storm.  Combining our gifts to that end was a
n exhilarating
experience.  Unfortunately, while the abundant energy restored me, the process
overwhelmed
her. 
C
a
eli
could
not
disperse all of the excess energy she collected. 
I wasn't aware of that when I
noticed
that she
stopped
moving. 
I pulled her on board before she could
recover and
finish
the process
," Vin explained.

"Is that why you called me?"  Salma asked.

"Yes.  A
ll of that
remaining
energy is still running unchecked through her system.  It
is too much for her to control.  She needs to release it. 
She called me while I was below with you and told me that she
found
an answer.  She asked me to wait for her here. 
I think C
a
eli is trying
to
deal with it
now.  She asked
for
my
trust, and
I
do
trust her
...
"
  Vin
continued
as succinctly as he could
, leaving the last remark hanging in the air
.

"
Then why are you so upset?
"
  Salma asked
,
confused.

"
Doll
, isn't it obvious? 
C
a
eli
made a decision and
then
took off
by herself
without
telling
him
where she w
ent
.  Vin
's upset because he cannot help C
a
eli if he does not know where she is or what she is doing.  I would feel the same way if you
did such a rash thing
,
"
Ben replied on Vin's behalf. 

CHAPTER
12

A camouflage-painted helicopter flew beneath the storm clouds shadowing the coastline.  It flew low enough to allow the occupants a clear view of the scene on the ground below.  A large crowd of
protestor
s gathered as soon as they heard the plane crash survivors
had been
rescued and that Dr. Erickson was among them.  The mob traveled from the hotel
where
they
had been
picketing to the dock where the ship was scheduled to make port in the next half hour.  For some reason, the doctor and the events surrounding her attendance at this conference w
ere
inspiring a
media circus
that was
rapidly growing out of control.  Already, the
National
Guard
team patrolling this section of coastline had been
forced
to
escort
four news helicopters back over land.  They
kept
remind
ing
the civilians that they were not permitted to fly over the water when
storm alerts had been issued or when
the military was patrolling
; both
of which
were
currently
true
.

The demonstrators, always led by
a
dark haired lady, did not look like a particularly bad lot.  The colonel
had
faced much worse
during his military career
and wasn't really expecting any trouble from the group as a whole.  Yet, you never knew when some nut would latch onto the group and use it to make a scene.  That was the real danger in this type of situation.  Colonel Franks
had seen
many peaceful demonstrations turn angry and violent
from the spark of one lone voice
. 

The colonel was a
career soldier.  He was
average height
, average build, and
wore his
white hair closely cropped in typical military fashion.  H
is most distinguishing feature was
a
n inch long
scar running through his right eyebrow; a memento of his first exposure to war
in
his late teens. 
He was
now
in
his mid
-
fifties.

Colonel Franks continued to scan the crowd below as he listened to
the
reports
coming in from
his team
over the radio
.  They were
stationed
along
the
dock, handling crowd control.  He
had
already
spoke
n
with
the ship's captain and
determined
that Dr. Erickson travel
ed
with three others in her party.  It was his job to see that they all mad
e it safely to their hotel.  H
is failure
record
, to date, was zero,
and
t
he
colonel
intend
ed
to
keep it that way
.