wrath of the Sea Queen (81 page)

"
Do you mean a puncture? 
C
a
eli,
can
you give me more details
?
  I need to know what injuries you sustained."

"I bumped my head
, and t
hen pulled out the metal rod."

"What metal rod?  Where did you pull it from?"  Salma
considered the
puzzle
as she tried to put C
a
eli's words into a coherent frame of reference
.

"
The circle; t
he water stopped the
bleeding
.  T
hat's how I knew I could help Ben," C
a
eli continued.

"Wh
at water
? 
What does that have to do with Ben
?  C
a
eli, you're not making any sense."

"
The rod was
the
circle," C
a
eli
offered what she thought was a
co
herent
explan
ation
as she rubbed her fingers over the area, remembering
the strange occurrence
.

Salma was confused, but she did not want to continue to press C
a
eli
for details.  She could tell that
C
a
eli was trying her best
and
having a difficult time
ordering
her thoughts well enough to answer even simple questions
.  Whatever
she was trying to explain
,
Salma
would be able to see it when they
ran
some imaging
tests
on her
later
. 
The actual details of how it happened
could wait, especially if C
a
eli insisted that it was
n
o
t an issue.

"Ok. 
It is
so
strange th
ough.  It almost feels like you
a
re
struggling with more than one
problem
.  Regardless
, I can't discover the cause of either one
yet
.  I will give you a little more pain medicine
…"

"
No
more medicine, please
.  My head is clouded enough already
.  She bothers me when I'm too drowsy to ignore her
," C
a
eli interrupted
,
suddenly clear
and insistent.

"
It's not as strong
as the last dose
.  I
t
will merely supplement it and
should help lessen the s
everity
of the spasm
s
.  It
will
definitely
knock you out again
. 
At least, I hope it will.  I thought that last round would have worked better than it did, but don't you worry about any of that. 
You just try to rest."

"
It's because you are weak!  You require all this medicine, and you will kill your child with it,
" Rika taunted her further.

"
No
, Salma. 
The baby;
I need
to talk to
Vin.
  Where's Vin?
"  C
a
eli
noticed Vin's absence.

Salma refrained from comm
enting
and approached C
a
eli with a newly filled syringe.  C
a
eli began to panic.

"No!  Please, Salma."  C
a
eli tried to scoot away, but was overcome by another wave of pain.

"I'm sorry,
Dear,
but I have to insist.  It's for your own good.  Don't fight me. 
There you go. 
Now,
I'm going to draw some blood
for
test
ing
, and then I
wi
ll let you rest
.
 
I'm going to stay with you w
hile the test is running
.  I will
find out about the local hospital and
make arrangements to get you
treated
a little later
,
"
Salma
said as she
prep
ped
the materials to draw C
a
eli's blood
.

"
Salma,
you shouldn't have…ow!  Medicine will hurt…
, I need Vin.
"
C
a
eli
had to
grit her teeth to bear another wave of pain.

"
Don't worry
, Dear. 
The medicine will not hurt you
or your baby
in any way
. 
You know better than that.  We've already had that discussion. 
You worry too much.  L
ay as still as you can
please
.  If you behave yourself, I might even tell Ben to let Vin
come
back
in
side
in a
little while
.
"

"
Salma, you didn't?
"
  C
a
eli was initially shocked, but then realized that she shouldn
'
t
have
be
en
.  It was
exactly
the type of thing that Salma
was known to
do if she
believed
it was necessary to help a patient.

"
I
most certainly
did.  I knew
Vin
would hover. 
I knew he would want you to answer all of his questions
.  And you would want to talk to him
when what you should be doing is resting. 
What I did not know was how I was going to get him to leave. 
I made Ben promise to keep
Vin
out there if I could
make it happen
.  I never
imagined
that
you would send him out.
"

"
Oh, I like her!  That's a great idea.  I believe I will help her,
" Rika added for C
a
eli's ears alone.

"
Ow
!
"
C
a
eli
flinched at
the unexpected pinch in her arm
as Salma
began to draw her blood
.  She hadn't been paying attention to what Salma was doing
. 
The needle surprised her more than it actually hurt. 
C
a
eli
was
, instead,
thinking about Vin standing outside, probably pacing. 
What did Rika intend to do to help Salma keep him there?

Vin
must think th
at she did
n
o
t want him to come back.  Oh, but she did.  Now that C
a
eli was no longer
c
ertain of
her
possible pregnancy
as the cause of her nausea
, she
desperately
wanted
Vin
by her side
. 
His steadfast support helped ease her fear; a
nd
C
a
eli
really did want th
e
water
he
w
ent
a
fter
as well
. 

"
I
wil
l call him
,
"
C
a
eli
grinned
weakly
in
defiance
.

She did
n
o
t want Vin to think
that
she
couldn't
beat this illness, whatever it turned out to be. 
C
a
eli wanted him to know that she was determined to do exactly that. 
She closed her eyes and fought with all her remaining strength, through the haz
iness
in her mind, to find her special connection to Vin.  It
took
all of her
concentration
to manage it
, but she
succe
eded
in poking a tiny hole
through her
pain
so that she could call
him
. 
C
a
eli
did
n
o
t have the strength or inclination to prevent
Salma and Ben
from
hear
ing
her
this time
. 
She
didn't care.  She just wanted Vin
. 
She needed Vin.