wrath of the Sea Queen (89 page)

"
You look tired, Vin.  Didn't get
any
sleep?
"

"
Not much.  As silly as it sounds, I felt
as if
closing my eyes would allow the pain to set in on
C
a
eli
again.
"

"
How
i
s she
really
doing?
  I know you can check on her differently than Salma can.
"

"
I think Salma is correct.  I believe C
a
eli is doing better
,
for the time being
.
"
  Vin qualified his statement.

"
How are you doing
, Vin
?
"

Vin stop
ped to consider the question
.  How did he feel?  He worried for C
a
eli and
harbored an unknown
ang
e
r.  For reason
s
he couldn't
pinpoint,
Vin
's gut was telling him
that someone was responsible for doing this to
C
a
eli
.  Of course, that couldn't be right.  He did
n
o
t even know what was wrong
with her
yet.  What could caus
e
her such intense pain?  Did it have anything to do with using her gift?  Is this what Urim warned him about
or was it something from
the plane crash? 
Had
Vin
misunderstood the angel's
warning
? 
Why hadn't C
a
eli come to him sooner?  Did she
even
know what was
really
wrong
or was she as scared as h
im
?  What more could he do to help her?  After struggling with a dozen questions he could not answer, Vin finally re
sponded
.

"
I'm confused.  I have
to
o many questions.
"

"
And there are no
answers
to be had, not yet
anyway
.  You want to know what C
a
eli needs, so you can get it for her,
"
Ben noted.

"
Exactly! 
I
ha
ve never
been
so useless.  I want to help her, but there is nothing I can do until she can tell me what's wrong.
"

"
B
e patient. 
She
cannot
give you
answer
s
that she doesn
'
t
have
," Ben counseled.

"
There you go a
gain with the patience.  I
ha
ve about used up what little I could muster. 
Ben, you have to tell me.  Is this what
C
a
eli
wanted to talk to me about
, her illness
?
"

"
I can't answer that, Vin, because I don't know any more than you do what
is causing her symptoms at the mo
ment
.
"

Vin was quick to catch the implication in Ben's statement.  If Ben knew
the
current diagnosis
, he would know if it was the same problem or not.  That meant that there
had been
something wrong with C
a
eli before all
of
this started; something Ben
had
figured out.

"
Then tell me
about
the original problem.  What was wrong with C
a
eli before
she got so sick
?  Did she talk to you about it?
"

"
Vin, please don't get
bogged down
on this.  I
made a few simple observations
.  I can assure you that you don't want to discuss this with me.  If it's related to what is happening now, then you
wi
ll know soon enough.  If not, then wait for C
a
eli to tell you.
  It's not my place.
"

"
If it
is that
simple,
then
why
didn't I see it?  Why
can't I see it
now
? 
I
just
want her to be all right, Ben.
"

"
Of course you do
, Lad
.  Let Salma help
C
a
eli
find the answer to this mystery, and you will know it, too.  In the meantime, occupy your mind with something else.  Going to the levee this morning will do you good.
  It will let you be helpful instead of sitting around here feeling useless.
"
 

Vin turned to look at Ben,
grateful
for his
insight.  He was constantly amazed by Ben's ability to see the full scope of a situation.  It was one of the traits that made him such a good
cop
and a good friend. 

A
bout that time, A
pela walked into the lounge carrying a tray full of fruit
and
bagels, and a pitcher of orange juice.  At his heels, Max followed quietly.  When Max saw Vin, he moved to the other side of his father, where he
kept himself
hidden from
Vin's direct line of sight.  Max stayed that way throughout most of the meal, reaching around his father to grab a bite of fruit and then duck quickly back into hiding.

"
We won't bite you, Max,
"
Ben laughed lightly at the boy's antics.

"
Mr. Vin will be mad at me.  He won't let me
play with
pretty C
a
eli again
,
"
Max
was
genuinely upset.

Vin looked over at the boy with a puzzled look on his face, and then turned to Apela
for an explanation
.

Apela sat a half-eaten bagel down in front of him and
tugged
Max out from behind his chair.  He sat Max on his lap and made the boy sit still.  Max tucked himself up as tightly against his father, and as far away from Vin, as he could.  Vin was horrified to think that the kid was afraid of him.  He couldn't remember doing anything that
might
have frightened Max, unless it
had been
when he was pacing outside the room last night.  But
,
Max
should have been
asleep in his room at the time.

"
I'm sorry, Vin.  I must clear the air between us before we leave or I will feel even
worse
than I do now,
"
Apela began.

"
What do you mean?
"

"
Has C
a
eli told you anything ab
out what happened on the plane
?
"

"
Very little; w
e haven't had a chance to talk about that yet.  There has been so much going on…
"

"
Well, then I
must
tell you part of it, but I
wi
ll keep it brief.  You see, I tend to fall asleep when I travel and Max wanders off to make new friends.  He took quite a liking to your wife, and she to him. 
To hear them
chatting, you would think they ha
d been
friends since
the day
Max
was born.
"

"
C
a
eli
is
good with kids,
"
Vin commented flatly.

"
Well,
on the first plane, Max asked to color a picture of her.  He has a shoebox of crayons that he takes everywhere.  He even has a special crayon that Maku made for him to draw in the sand on the beach."

"Ok, but what has that got to do with C
a
eli?"

"I'm sorry.  I
am
getting to that.  A
s the
second
pl
ane was going down, I thought my hold on
Max
was secure
.  At the last minute,
a moment
before we hit the water, he wiggled free.  Max was terrified and ran over to your wife.  Rather than risk sending him back to me, she used her own body to shelter him.  On impact, C
a
eli was thrown from her seat and landed
up
against the
dash
of the plane
.  I think she
might have been
knocked out for a few minutes.  Thankfully, I was not
; t
hough, I did have some trouble getting out of my seat
belt
.  As soon as I was able, I rushed to help her and Max.  I found him cradled across her midsection, not a scratch on him. 
He did, however, have
some
blood on his clothes.  I
could
not
determine
where it came from at first.
  It turned out not to be his.
"