wrath of the Sea Queen (86 page)

"
It feels like your fever
finally
broke.  Are you feeling any better?
"
 

For t
he
l
ast ten minutes
C
a
eli
had been
awake, she
appeared to
be
free of
any strong pain.

"
A little
;
I wish it was gone for good.  I don't know h
ow much more of this I can take,
"
C
a
eli replied feebly.

"Hopefu
l
ly, you won't have to wait much longer. 
T
hose tests results will give us some answers
by breakfast
.
 
Then
I will
get you
fixed up
and this will all be a bad memory before you know it
,"
Salma
assured her.

"
Do you think I could have another glass of water please?
"

"
Sure
." 
Salma
refilled the water bottle
, and then s
h
e helped
C
a
eli
sit up and
sip at the
cool liquid.

It reminded her of the time that
Kent drugged C
a
eli.  The effects
of the drug
were
diminished when she dr
ank water and again when Salma
bathed C
a
eli's arms and face with water.  Salma
had
figured out
the solution
back then and saved C
a
eli's life. 
Now,
C
a
eli again turn
ed
to water as a curative. 
Salma
understood
that
it was more than coincidence; it was part of
C
a
eli's
gift.

"C
a
eli, since you seem to be doing better, I don’t want to give you any more medicine."

"
Thank goodness
.  I don't like being forced to sleep like that.  It's frightening.  Waking up is like trying to crawl out of an oil-coated swimming pool with mittens on your hands and feet.  Doing that when you
a
re already in pain is like having a tiger slice out your guts while you're
making
t
he
climb.  It is not a pleasant experience
, and I prefer not to repeat it
," C
a
eli
replied with
a modicum of determination.

"I know how much you dislike strong medic
ation
, but it was necessary.
  The water you
were drinking was countering
what I had already given you. 
I had to give you much more than I normally would have.
"

"
I understand, but I don't have to like it
.  Do you think Vin is
a
sleep?"  C
a
eli wondered.

She missed the comfort of having him at her side.  He had always been able to put her at ease no matter if she was sick, upset, scared, or otherwise troubled.  Vin was always her cure.

"I hope so.  He has to get up soon to go to the levee with Apela," Salma answered.

"
I did promise to help with the levee, but I am going to tell Apela to go without me.  You need me
here
, and Salma is probably going to have you hauled off to a hospital at some point.  I want to go along with you.
"

Vin had not been sleeping.  As he lay on the couch resting
his eyes
, Vin maintain
ed
an open connection to C
a
eli so that he would know
immediately
if she needed him.
  He had been listening to her conversation with Salma, but h
e
respon
d
e
d
so that only C
a
eli heard him this time.

"
Don't do that, Vin. 
They need your help
.  This storm is going to be
very
bad
. 
I can
sense
it. 
I
wi
ll be all right
with Salma
for a few hours, and you won't be too far away
. 
I already feel
much
better than I did.
 
Besides,
I
doubt Salma
will
even
let me out of bed.  She will likely have me resting
and
will
hover over me
most of the day
.
"

"
That may be true, but
saying that you're feeling
better
after
you were hurting
so
severely still leaves you in a lot of pain.  I can feel it, C
a
eli. 
And that
brings me to another issue.  You
called
for
Salma
,
instead of me
,
at the arena
. 
I assume that y
ou
were trying to keep me from worrying about you
again
.  I appreciate what you were trying to do, but please don't do
that
again. 
My heart felt
the pain of being crushed
in a vice
when I saw you
in such distress
on th
at
floor, especially after the intensity of the pain that Salma
described
.  It nearly knocked her over.
"  Vin gently chastised C
a
eli
out of a deep concern for her.

"
I'm sorry.  I didn't mean to scare you
, but I did
n't call Salma at all.  I
call
ed
you, twice
. 
Salma arrived after the second call. 
S
he
said you didn't hear me
,
" C
a
eli answered.

"
Really?
"

"
Yes.  And
when I called both of you
earlier,
wh
ile Salma
was out of the room, neither one of you heard me.  S
alma
said
my mind
must be playing tricks on me; that I am not really calling out.  I'm sorry
, Vin
.  I really thought I
called you.  I
did
try
.
"

"
In that case, I forgive you
,
and
I
apologize for not hearing you.  T
here is nothing more important to me than you. 
I would have responded if I had known you call
ed
.
"

"
I know
you would
, Vin.
"

"
C
a
eli, do you have any idea what caused this?
"  Their conversation in the van had been interrupted before she
could
tell him
about the problem.
 

"
Salma said she couldn't find anything.  She drew blood to test for a virus or toxin.  Maybe it really was bad fish.
"

"
Food poisoning?  No
, definitely not. 
That wouldn't be nearly this bad. 
Besides, y
ou hardly ate any of that fish.  Are you sure there isn't anything else you can think of, anything else you want to tell me?  Honestly, C
a
eli, I was certain something else was weighing on your mind
earlier
,
" Vin prompted her and tried to ease into the topic so C
a
eli would tell him whatever it was that she
had been trying to tell him earlier.