wrath of the Sea Queen (39 page)

Pete
was not affected as severely as the others, and had not shown symptoms as quickly.  He
barely
start
ed
to display hints that he was sick when his father died
; but h
is condition
was
now
deteriorating rapidly
. 
He and Maku had
researched every conceivable treatment, alternative cure, and homeopathic remed
y
, but
came
up with nothing that
helped
.  Pete's hopes were stretched thin, but he
refused to
give up.

Pete had been
sitting at home watching the news when he heard about the medical conference being hosted the same week as the Sea Goddess Festival. 
The
politicians
would
allow
a
nything to bring in a few more tourist dollars. 
The islanders were preparing for the Sea Goddess Festival
,
more recently known as the Festival of the Sea due to political influence on the folks who controlled the
monetary success of the event. 
This week long celebration took place once every five years.  It was the largest celebration on the island and
generated
more
tourist income
than any other event during the years in between.

People traveled from around the world to participate.  Reservations were made as much as a year in advance.  During the week of the festival itself, restaurants were always booked and retail shops were constantly refilling their shelves.  Of course, the tourists had no idea what the true festival really
meant
.  They
simply
knew it was the event to see or be seen at, and they were rich enough to get there.  They typically stayed at the fancy resorts, spent their days playing golf, and enjoyed evenings watching the natives perform cultural shows for their amusement.

The week prior to the festival, all the arrangements and preparations were finalized.  Then, on Sunday of the festival week, all flights arriving on the island were formally greeted as the kickoff to the festivities.  Anyone flying into Hilo, the heart of the true festival, received a specially designed lei and a genuine, island greeting.  Most of the other airports greeted their Sunday arrivals in a similar manner, in order to support the financial benefits of the celebration.

The real festival, however, unknown to many of the outlanders, grew out of a religious beginning.  Early islanders worshipped the Sea Queen as the giver and taker of life. 
Her
whim
determined whether
they flourished or her ire
sealed their death
.  She controlled the water from which they harvested the majority of their food.  Feast and famine were at her fingertips.  The Sea Queen could also manipulate the rain and waves which could
w
reak havoc on or deliver bounty to their communities.  In more recent generations, she also adopted the mantle of fertility for couples who wanted to start a family.

As with
characters in
most fairy tale
s
, the Sea Queen had
endearing attributes
as well as
reason to be feared
.  She could grant rain when needed, stop tides from destroying
seaside communities
, make a fisherman's catch abundant, and bring the joy of parenthood to marri
ed couples.  T
he Sea Queen
was
highly discerning
about those she chose to help
and
always demanded payment for her services.  Nobody knew what
form
that payment
took
except the person who paid it.

Over the generations,
many
people on the island
accepted modern
science and lost their adherence to
ancestral
mysticism; but, they still held a healthy respect for the
power of the
sea and its
blessings as well as its curses up
on their livelihoods.  Therefore, the festival continued out of tradition and cultural heritage.  But, long since anyone could remember, the Sea Queen and her chosen human servants, the Sea Goddesses
, who walked the island in human form
, devolved into a mere bedtime tale for small children.

Pete hadn't really been interested in the
news
story until they flashed the doctor's
video clip
on the screen. 
Her silky, long dark hair, sparkling smile, and beautiful features
kept
Pete's
eye
s glued to
the screen
.  By the end of her brief interview,
Pete
was hooked. 
He
learned that this doctor
had
recently
developed
a
new
treatment for blood diseases
that
was currently being tested in trials throughout the country
. 
A
quickly scribbled
n
ame on
the back of a napkin and Pete had what he needed to do an internet search
.  He wanted
to find out more about
the
pretty
doctor
and her work.

When Maku came home, Pete
rattled off
everything he
'
d
learned about Dr. Erickson and
he
r
breakthrough work
. 
Maku did not seem overly surprised or excited by the news.  Pete
also
told
his brother
that
Dr. Erickson
actually
developed the med
icine being tested in the drug trial here on the island
; a trial to which he had been
denied
entry
.
 
Pete went on to exp
lain that
Dr. Erickson
would be speaking
at the conference
during the
week
of the festival
and receiv
ing
some kind of award. 
He had it in his mind that perhaps they could find a way to talk to her
about his illness
while she was in town
and
, with any luck,
she could
help
get him into the trial
.

Maku
,
being the more
pragmatic
of the two, cautioned Pete not to get his hopes up.  Physicians at that level usually didn't see patients, but
more often
wrote papers and gave speeches. 
However,
Pete was excited and insisted that Dr. Erickson would be different
.  H
is
certain
ty was unwavering
.

Unfortunately, Maku already knew better.  Dr. Erickson never responded
when he discovered her bio
a few months earlier
and sent her a
letter
, without Pete's knowledge,
asking for help when
their
father first took ill. 
Then
,
pleading his brother's case
, Maku
had
tried again.  After
Pete
went to sleep
one night
, he penned
yet
a
nother
letter to Dr. Erickson.  This time, Maku made a call to someone he knew
o
n the
mainland
and located her home address. 
Maku
mailed the letter, hoping
that sending
it
to her directly might
brin
g better results.

CHAPTER
11

The storm
was
regaining its momentum.  The winds were stronger now and the waves were getting larger.  C
a
eli looked up, trying to figure out h
er
options
. 
E
veryone else
was
already aboard the ship.  She could
n
o
t climb with
her wrist wrapped in the rope due to
the weight of the pilot
's body
tugging
heavily
from below. 
The pressure o
f the rope wrapped around
her
wrist
was
causing her a
g
ood
deal of pain.
She n
eeded to find a way to free her wrist
from the now useless lifeline
.  While C
a
eli
could not stomach the idea of releasin
g the pilot's body
, she also could not pull her wrist clear without gaining some slack in the rope
.  The rope
,
however, had sna
gged in the net a little distance above her head
.
  

Vin
, seeing her struggle,
tr
ied
to reach
C
a
eli
from above, but was
still too far away
.  He twice attempted to discard his safety line, with the intention of climbing down to her
;
but Ben would not permit
such a
dangerous
move
.  Vin could not help C
a
eli if he
carelessly tossed his own life away
in the process.  This
thought and Ben
's physical intervention
w
ere
the only thing
s
that
kept
Vin
leashed
impatiently by
the railing.  C
a
eli
remained
beyond his
reach
.