wrath of the Sea Queen (259 page)

Apela left C
a
eli and Salma in the kitchen and joined everyone else in the lounge. 
Max convinced
hi
s father
to let him open his birthday presents before dinner,
now that all his friends and family were there
. 
Within minutes, shreds of green paper were flying in all directions.  Apela made a vain attempt to collect them, but Max
unwrapped
too quickly for him to keep up.  In less than ten minutes, Max
had opened
all
of
his gifts
a
nd wa
ited
anxious
ly
to play with th
ose that wer
e
toys
.

Vin hooked up the
laptop
computer that he and C
a
eli bought for him. 
Vin had
phoned in the order to a local retail store
earlier
, and Jeremy was kind enough to pick it up for them on the way back to the hotel. 
They wanted Max to be able to call them
using
the web phone after they returned home.  C
a
eli insisted that
they
w
ould keep in touch.  Jeremy
volunteered to hook up the
game console
Apela gave Max.  Before long, almost
everyone was occupied with the video
game
competition
s
.

Colonel Franks walked up beside Vin as he stood at the back of the room watching a car race between Max and Jeremy.

"
I never got the chance to thank you,
"
the colonel stated.

"
For what
?
"
  Vin asked.

"
Thank you f
or saving Jeremy
's life
.
  When I spoke to you that day, I didn't realize you were the one who dove in after him.  It was a brave and foolish thing to do, and I
truly
thank you for it.
"

"
Don't give it another thought.  It was the least I could do.  Besides, I
sh
ould thank you
as well
.  If it weren't for you and Jeremy watching our backs this week, things
w
ould have
turned out
a lot worse
than they
did
.  So, thank you, Colonel.  I believe I'm in your debt,
"
Vin responded sincerely.

"
Then let
'
s clear that
balance
right now. 
Agree to d
o one favor for me, and I
wi
ll call it square,
"
Colonel Franks
'
unexpected reply caught Vin off guard.

"
What favor?
"

"
I want to see that young lady
of yours
happy just once before she leaves.  Maku tells me that you turned down his offer for tomorrow night.  I
woul
d like you to reconsider.  Now wait, hear me out.  I understand your argument against it, and you make
a
valid point.  But, have you weighed that against how it might make her feel
once she gets there
?  It might be
exactly
what she needs.  She should not be
crying
alone
in dark
shadows
.
"

Vin looked over his shoulder where the colonel indicated
with a nod
.  C
a
eli
was no longer in
the kitchen
.  She
stood
halfway down the hall
,
lean
ing
against the edge of a
window
and
looking intently at something in the distance. 
The merriment of the party
was completely lost
in her tears
.  Vin
was aware that
she had been
diligently masking
her sa
dness
.  While she was genuinely happy for Salma and Ben,
their happiness made
C
a
eli's loss
all the heavier
.

"
C
a
eli has already made it clear that she does
n
o
t want to leave the hotel until it's time to go home. 
Nearly everyone she has met on this trip has
either taken
something from her or caused her harm
;
besides,
C
a
eli
has always
been
shy in crowds
.  A
t the moment
,
she is
even skittish around her friends and family.  A room full of strangers would overwhelm her
. 
This is the only place
C
a
eli
feels safe right now. 
I'm afraid it w
ould
be
asking
too much
of
her
. 
After what she has been through,
I
just can't do
that to her
.
"

"
Do
you think staring at that grave
yard
is doing her
any good?"  Colonel Franks inquired bluntly
.

That struck a ch
ord in Vin.  The colonel's question made Vin stop and
put the matter into a different perspective
.

"
I see your point
. 
Perhaps
a c
hange of scenery
would
do her some good
,
"
Vin conceded.

"
Why don't you b
ring her in here with everyone else
?"

"
C
a
eli
won't come in here with all the noise and commotion. 
As I said, s
he
ha
s been extremely nervous ever since she
returned from the island
.
  It
i
s difficult for her to be around anyone
very long
, and s
he
i
s entitled to a few moments to herself. 
However, I will go over and keep her company. 
She has been alone long enough. 
I will ask her to come
out
with me tomorrow
evening
, but
I
can't make you any promises
,
"
Vin finally agreed to
attempt
the outing.

"That's good enough," Colonel Franks answered
, moving
over to join the other party guests
just
as Max's race car crossed the finish line
mere
inches ahead of Jeremy's.

Ben sat at the end of the
dinner
table with Salma to his left and C
a
eli and Vin to his right.  At the other end of the table, Max
sat in
the head
chair
, where he enjoyed all the attention
of
his birthday
celebration
.  Max kept looking down the table at Ben and smiling
.  T
he look was beginning to make Ben squirm.

"
What is
going through
that boy
's mind
?  The way he keeps looking at me, you
woul
d think I had a big clown painted on
my face
,
"
Ben wondered aloud.

"
I suppose he
might
be
waiting
to find out what you get for your birthday
,
"
Salma answered, a mischievous smile of her own playing at the edges of her mouth.

"
Well,
that does it
then
. 
I
wi
ll go and have a talk with him.  Perhaps he can tell me what you ladies will not.
"
 

Ben picked up his napkin to wipe his mouth before getting up from his
chair
.  As he did, a rolled up piece of paper
tied
with a
pink
ribbon
fell out onto his lap.  Ben retrieve
d
the paper and noticed that everyone at the table suddenly
became
qui
e
t.  Everyone was looking at him
and waiting
.  It was simple for Ben to determine that this must be his birthday present,
cleverly concealed
in his napkin.