wrath of the Sea Queen (80 page)

Salma looked across the bed at Vin, knowing that he must be feeling
a
heavy,
emotional pain of his own having to watch C
a
eli go through this
and not be able to do anything
.  Yet
,
Salma also knew that he would not be able to
restrain
his impulse to help
. 
H
is efforts
, unfortunately,
were
only making it
more difficult
for Salma to do her job.  Salma needed Vin to leave the room.

"
I'm sorry, Salma.  I
don't mean to interfere
.  I just want her
to feel better
,
"
Vin answered Salma's look with a near match to her thoughts. 

"
I know, Vin. 
I
t would be easier for me to focus
on C
a
eli
if you would step outside.  Give me
time
to find out what is going on and how to fix it.  I will call you back when your help won't disturb me.
"

"
I can't do
that
, Salma. 
Even if I wanted to,
I promised
C
a
eli
that
I wo
uldn't
leave
her
;
and I won't
.
"

"
Vin.
"

He looked down upon hearing C
a
eli's tired
yet
determined voice. 

"
Yes C
a
eli?
"

"
It's ok. 
Would you mind getting me a glass of water?
"
  C
a
eli struggled over her pain to get each word out.

Vin looked down at her and smiled slightly. 

"
Even when you're sick, you still try to keep me out of trouble. 
Yes,
I
wi
ll get you some water, but I have to go find a glass.  There
we
re none in the kitchenette
when I looked a few minutes ago
.
"
  Vin leaned over and kissed
C
a
eli
before walking heavily out of the room, glancing back once.  The cool breeze remained even after he
was
gone.

Out in the open hall, Vin was
met
by Ben and Apela.  Apela helped him locate a bottle
of
water, but when they returned, Ben was casually leaning against the door frame, blocking the doorknob.  He asked Vin to stay and talk with him for a few minutes.  Vin
re
cognized
Salma’s attempt
to keep him out of the room a
while
longer.  He decided to give Salma
the time she requested
, for C
a
eli's sake.  Vin paced
b
ack and forth in the span of about
fif
t
e
en steps.  There was
absolutely
nothing
more
he could do.  His tension would not be eased until he knew what was wrong with C
a
eli.

"
I can't tell you not to worry,
L
ad, but she
i
s in good hands.  Salma will take care of her.  Nobody is better equipped to figure this out.
"

"
I know,
"
Vin replied flatly, not missing a step in his pace.  Ben dropped the
fruitless
attempt at
conversation and let Vin continue his
therapeutic
pacing
in silence
.

"
Apela, I noticed when Max cried out earlier, it looked like
something that
ha
s
happened before.  How often does he hear the thoughts of other
s?  Or does he feel their e
m
otions
?
"

"
He hea
r
s th
oughts
.  How did you know?
"
  Apela was surprised that Ben
had
noticed.  Most folks generally dismissed Max as an unruly kid.

"
Did you happen to notice my wife's reaction?  She has both gifts.  She can hear and feel the emotions of others.  It is part of what makes her such a great doctor.  She can feel another person's pain and figure out where it is coming from.  It
i
s very useful for her, especially when the patients cannot tell her,
"
Ben explained.

"
That's incredible.  Perhaps
theirs
was not a chance meeting after all.  Max might have sensed the
kindred
gift in your wife.  Perhaps he mistook her gift as coming from Vin's wife, since she
has a
similar, though
different
,
talent," Apela let slip his awareness of C
a
eli's gift.

Vin interrupted, but did not stop his pacing. 

"
Doubtful. 
C
a
eli
does have
a special talent of her own
,
but she can also hear as Salma can;
and k
ids
are
often drawn to her.  Max probably
sensed
both.
"
  Until Vin's reply,
Ben
had
not realize
d
that
he
was listening.

"
Both of the
ladies
are gifted
in such a way
? 
Incredible!
I
ha
ve never met anyone, aside from Max's mother, who even knew about the real gifts.  Most people only know the ceremonial stuff they hear about during the festival.  And both of your ladies have such gifts? 
This is truly a
mazing!  Yet here you stand talking about it as if it is a
perfectly
natural occurrence.  Is this more common on the mainland?
"

"
It is n
o
t more common
;
but
rather a family trait
that the ladies share
and
perfectly natural
.  It
i
s familiar to us
;
that's all. 
Don't worry about Max's
secret
.  It i
s safe
with us
.  I wanted you to know that we understand.  You don't have to hide Max's ability from us,
"
Ben explained.

"
Thank you both.  That will be a nice change.  I usually have to keep Max away from the guests for that very reason.  He frequently pick
s
up on things that my guests
a
re not so happy to have shared
a
loud.
"

Ben and Apela continued to chat idly while Vin paced.  Vin intentionally left his own ability out of the conversation.

Nearly fifteen minutes
went by
before Salma finally removed her hands. 

"
C
a
eli, I can't sense anything physically out of place
, but there is definitely something going on inside of you
. 
It's odd. 
Everything seems to be functioning correctly
, albeit severely strained.  That's
good, but also
what I feared.  That means it has to be
a virus or
toxin running through your system.  It's much worse than the flu.  Unfortunately, I can't detect
the specific details of
that sort of thing with my gift.  All I can tell is that your pain is centered
near
your midsection, which we already knew, and that your body is trying to fight it.
  And,
what
exactly
is this white circle on your skin?  How
did it get there
?"  Salma asked.

"
From
t
he crash
,
"
C
a
eli
seemed to be falling asleep again.  Salma thought that perhaps the
full force of the
medicine
had
merely
been
delayed.  She wanted to learn what she could before
C
a
eli
succumbed to its effects again.

"What is it?"

"
It used to be a
hole.  It
'
s
almost
healed."