Wrath of the Sea Queen

by Cynthia Woods

  Caeli noticed one young man in particular, who she estimated to be around twenty five, sitting three rows ahead of them on the opposite side of the aisle. Upon closer inspection, she discovered that it was the same rude guy who nearly knocked Salma over when they were boarding. His seat was reclined and he appeared to be asleep like several of the other passengers. His dull, red hair fell away from his face, yet she could not see his features because his head was turned. Still, Caeli got the impression that she might have met this man before. Something about him seemed distantly familiar, but she could not place the connection.

  Finally, Caeli gave up and was just shutting her eyes to catch up on her sleep. She wanted to be well rested when they landed, and sleep was definitely overdue. Sleep had been elusive to Caeli the last few nights. As she turned her head to the side, Caeli noticed a thin, little boy in the aisle seat across from her. He could not have been more than four or five years old, with shortly cropped, sandy blonde hair, slightly tanned skin, and a tight lipped grin on his face. He was staring at her with large green eyes. She could tell that he was trying not to fidget too much so that he would not disturb the man sleeping in the seat next to him. Caeli assumed the boy was traveling with the man, who appeared to be in his late twenties or perhaps thirty, around the same age as she and Vin. The man possessed the typical features you would expect to see of someone native to the islands, including his dark brown hair and deep tan. The boy, however, did not share such a prominent heritage. Perhaps he inherited his mother's looks.

  Caeli smiled politely at the boy and waved across the aisle. He returned the wave with his tiny hand. She leaned her head back against a small, white pillow and closed her eyes to relax, comforted by the air blowing on her from the overhead vent. It reminded her of Vin, and her thoughts turned pleasantly in that direction as her arm rested across her stomach. A few minutes later, Caeli was startled by a slight tug on her hair. A tiny, tanned hand reached out and stroked her long hair, unintentionally snagging it in the process.

  "Ow!" she whispered as she jumped slightly, reflexively reaching up to grab her hair where it had been pulled. Caeli quickly realized that it was the young boy, now standing in the aisle beside her seat. She did not intend to scare him with her sudden reaction, but it was too late. He quickly pulled his hand back and dashed over to his own seat. He placed both of his hands between his knees and pressed his legs together, then ducked his head, refusing to look up at her.

  "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you. You just startled me." Caeli tried to reassure the boy that she wasn't mad at him. "Honest, you didn't hurt me. My hair gets full of tangles sometimes." She tried her best smile, but it was lost on the boy as he continued to stare at his knees.

  "Well, ok then. If you won't talk to me, I will be so bored. I suppose I will fall sleep."

  Caeli closed her eyes and leaned her head back, but this time she listened carefully. In a few minutes, she heard him moving. He scooted out of his chair and worked his way forward until he managed to obtain a new location in the seat directly in front of her, which was previously unoccupied. Caeli was good with kids and loved to play games. Children seemed to sense her kindness and often found themselves drawn to her. She knew right away that this little guy was already bored on such a long flight. Unlike most adults, who didn't like to be bothered by someone else's kid, Caeli did not mind entertaining the boy for a while.

  She opened her eyes a little bit and watched him sitting backward in the seat with his hands holding onto the top. He was peeking over the edge with those bright, green eyes and a small smile that she could barely see. Caeli opened her eyes suddenly and wiggled her fingers at him without making a sound. He giggled happily and popped a little further up in the chair.

  "Hello, pretty Lady. You're funny," the boy said a little too loudly.

  Caeli placed her finger over her lips.

  "Shh. Use a quiet voice. We don't want to wake the others."

  "No, Papa wouldn't like that. Can you teach me how to use a secret voice like you did with your friend? Then nobody would hear," the boy whispered as he looked over at the man still sleeping next to his former seat.

  Then he turned back to Caeli and tilted his head in an exaggerated extension to look over at Salma sleeping in her seat. The young child did not notice the stunned look on Caeli's face. How could he possibly have heard us? Caeli wondered to herself. Before she could respond to his request, the boy continued with his own question.

  "She is almost as pretty as you. Is she a Mama, too?"

  At first, Caeli was confused by the inquiry. Then she thought she understood what the boy was incorrectly asking.

  "No. She is not my Mama. She is my aunt, and she's a doctor."

  At this, the young boy scrunched up his face and leaned away.

  "What's the matter? Don't you like doctors?" Caeli asked.

  "No. They always give me shots. They say it won't hurt, but it always does. And the doctor said he would make my Mama better, but he didn't," the boy answered seriously.

  "Well, my Aunt Salma is a very good doctor. She hasn't given me a shot yet that has hurt more than she said it would. If she tells you she is going to do something, she will do it. You can count on it. I think you would like doctors if she was your doctor," Caeli explained.

  The boy seemed to think about that for a minute.

  "Maybe; she is pretty."

  "She is pretty, but that has nothing to do with it. She is very smart and a very good doctor."

  "You are pretty, too, Lady. Is it time for lunch yet?"

  Caeli just shook her head, which turned out to be a bad idea as it generated a strong wave of nausea.

  "Vin, I need to tell you soon. I won't be able to keep this a secret much longer if this keeps up. I didn't expect it to be this bad. Then again, maybe I am sick after all."

  Of course, she was certain that Vin could not hear her at this distance. And, if Vin were on the plane, she would have thought that he put the kid up to this playful banter. Vin knew she would be embarrassed at the flattery, and he would do it just to see Caeli's face turn red.

  "No. It is not lunchtime quite yet. What's your name?" Caeli asked to change the subject.

  "I'm Max, pretty Lady, and that's my Papa over there." The boy pulled himself as far up in the chair as he could while sitting on his knees and extended his hand over the top of the seat so that Caeli could shake it.

  She obliged him with an introductory handshake.

  "Well, Max, my name is Caeli. If you want to continue our talk, you are going to have to use my name, ok?"

  "Ok, pretty Caeli."

  Caeli couldn't help laughing at the innocence of the response. Obviously, someone the boy thought was pretty, probably his mother, made quite an impression on him. Now it seemed that was how Max assessed people. Apparently, there would be no avoiding it.

  "So, where have you been, Max?"

  That was all the prompting the boy needed. Max moved around to her seat and boldly plopped himself into Caeli's lap. He commenced a wordy tale about his trip to a big amusement park where he rode lots of rides, ate tons of food, and played fun games with his Papa. Each of these things he described in lengthy and vivid detail. Well, at least, as vividly as a child can describe them. Caeli pulled one of her energy bars out of her bag to nibble on while she listened, offering the boy a bite. He declined. After maybe fifteen minutes, Max's adventure story was interrupted by another masculine voice.

  "Max, I think you have taken up enough of this nice lady's time."

  "Pretty Caeli; her name is pretty Caeli, Papa. You have to use her name if you want to talk to her," Max repeated the instructions that he had been given.

  "Leave Ms. Caeli alone then. Come over here to your own seat and color for a while." The man produced a sketchbook and box of crayons and placed them on the tray for Max to use. Max reluctantly climbed down from Caeli's lap.

  "Can I have a picture of you, pretty Caeli? Did you bring one with you?" Max asked her before l
eaving.

  "You want a photo of me? I think I have one in my bag. Why do you want it?"

  Caeli tugged her bag out from under the seat in front of her and rummaged through it until she found her small coin purse that also held some photos in a side compartment. She removed one of her swim team pictures. In it, everyone was wearing their white school jackets adorned with the school's mascot swimming across a large letter W for Washington. Caeli was seated in the center of the front row, a place she had not wanted to be. She would have much preferred to hide anonymously in the back, but the coach insisted that his star swimmer needed to be the center of the photo. Her protests had not changed his mind.

  She stared at the image and smiled. It had turned out to be one of her favorites. Not because of the swim team, but because it always reminded her of the incident that first introduced her to Vin. She had stayed after school to practice that Friday, which she often did. Typically, Caeli would have the pool to herself for about an hour. She was climbing out of the water when Vin came rushing by on an errand of his own. His nose was buried in the pages of a notebook as he cut through the pool area. Someone called out to him from behind. Vin turned suddenly to respond at the exact moment that Caeli stepped onto the edge of the concrete. Neither was aware of the proximity of the other. His elbow knocked her off balance and sent her flailing toward the water. Vin's quick reflexes allowed him to catch her around the waist and pull her to safety. He tugged her forward with enough force that she fell forward against his chest and into his strong embrace. She remembered the moment she looked up into his sparkling blue eyes and how her heart had skipped a beat. It was one of the best mishaps of her life, and Caeli recalled it vividly.

  Caeli finally emerged from her pleasant memory and handed the photo to Max.

  "Here you go. You can borrow this one as long as you promise to take good care of it and return it when you're done."

  "I will. I'm going to color a picture of you. It will be as pretty as you are." Max smiled and returned to his own seat.

  "It was nice talking to you, Max."

  "I'm sorry if he bothered you, ma'am." The boy's father apologized sincerely.

  "It was no bother at all. Max and I had a very nice chat. I'm Caeli," she introduced herself to the boy's father.

  "I'm Apela. Thank you for keeping my son out of mischief." He smiled at her then returned his attention to his son, who was already working on his masterpiece. Max proudly showed Caeli's photo to his dad, who recognized her team jacket.

  "Did you attend Washington High?" Apela asked her.

  "Yes, high school and State University. Both my husband and I are from that area. In fact, high school is where I first ran into Vin. How did you know?"

  "Your jacket in the photo is familiar. My sister, Lorrie, also attended school at Washington."

  After a brief chat with Apela, including a synopsis of her first encounter with Vin, Caeli finally laid her head back and closed her eyes, but she still could not fall asleep. She continued watching the other passengers.

  A few hours later, Salma placed her hand on Caeli's shoulder, pulling her attention away from studying the redhead in the forward seat.

  "Caeli," Salma implored in a tense voice, shaking Caeli lightly.

  "What's the matter?" Caeli asked as she placed a hand on her churning stomach to help ease the discomfort. She wasn't feeling very well and thought she might be sick again.

  "Are you all right? You look a little flushed." Salma inquired after noting the redness in Caeli's cheeks, the dark circles forming under her eyes, and the generally haggard look on her face. Caeli looked like she might have the flu.

  "I'm not feeling well, but I'm sure it will pass. What's wrong?" Caeli fluidly changed the subject so that Salma would not worry about what was probably nothing more than a little nausea or perhaps a twenty four hour stomach bug. She could tell that Salma was concerned with a more pressing matter.

  "Look out the window," Salma whispered. When she woke twenty minutes earlier, what Salma saw out the window disturbed her. Yet she waited before bothering Caeli until she was certain that the weather condition was not improving and others were beginning to notice as well.

  Since Salma occupied the seat closest to the window, Caeli had to turn and lean her head forward in order to see whatever was troubling her. What she discovered instantly brought her out of her lethargy. No matter which direction she looked, the entire sky around the plane was pitch black. Thick, dark clouds were rolling ominously in a circular motion around the plane. Caeli's first thought was of being inside the eye of a tornado, which forced her to recall a terrifying memory and escalated her fear. Yet, they were over the ocean. Something like what she and Vin experienced in the forest should not be possible here. Should it?

  "Has anyone asked the stewardess about the weather?" Caeli asked Salma quietly so that she would not alarm any of the nearby passengers. All of the people in their section, except the rude redhead, conveniently had their window shades pulled down. Most were sleeping. Caeli could see the same turmoil through the redhead's window, though he appeared not to notice.

  "Not that I’ve noticed, but I have seen her go into the cockpit at least four times in the last twenty minutes, and she does not look happy. I watched the stewardess with one of the passengers from the section behind us about ten minutes ago. Apparently, a few of the passengers back there started to panic. It took several minutes for the attendants to get them calmed down."

  "How long has it been like this? I didn't notice when we flew into it. My mind has been elsewhere." Caeli asked perplexed.

  "It has been dark for at least half an hour. When I first work, the sky was clear, not even a single cloud visible. And then all of a sudden, not two minutes later, we were surrounded by darkness. There wasn't even any turbulence. I checked our time, and we have been in the air for five hours. It's eleven o'clock. There is still another hour before we reach Honolulu. I wanted to make you aware of the situation," Salma explained with a controlled edge to her voice.

  Caeli suspected that Salma also wanted some active company to help distract her from her own fear.

  "Thanks, Salma. It is a bit disconcerting if you continue to look at it for too long. This is certainly some of the weirdest weather I have ever seen, but let's not assume the worst yet. It might be nothing more than a fast moving thunderstorm. Wait a bit and see what the pilot has to say. He will have to make an announcement soon."

  Caeli no sooner finished those words when the sound of static crackling over the intercom could be heard for several seconds prior to the pilot's monotone voice.

  "Ladies and Gentlemen, this is your pilot, Captain Wakahiro. As you may have noticed, we have run into a bit of unexpected weather. I want to assure you that there is no cause for alarm, but it may take us several minutes to reach the edge of this cloudbank. In the meantime, we will be deploying your oxygen masks as a precautionary measure to help you breathe easier while we are in the midst of these dense clouds. Please stay in your seats with your safety belts fastened. We should be able to detour around this storm very soon. As soon as we return to clear air, your flight attendants will begin beverage services again."

  As the pilot completed the announcement, the plane hit a new pocket of turbulence. The aircraft was forcefully rocked by the wind, the oxygen masks automatically popped out of their overhead storage areas, and a stomach wrenching drop in altitude added a tint of green to Salma's already pale complexion. Caeli's churning stomach protested further, but she made sure that her unnerved aunt got the oxygen mask fitted properly before donning her own, despite instructions to do otherwise. Staving off the need to run to the restroom and be sick, Caeli watched as the thick clouds continued to billow outside the window. She said a prayer as the plane dropped altitude twice more within a few short minutes.

  Panic was beginning to spread amongst the passengers, and the attendants were barely able to maintain order with intermittent assurances over the intercom. Before long, even the atte
ndants were forced to seek the safety of their seats. Nothing except the darkness of the clouds was visible outside the window for the next half hour. Hopefully, the pilot's radar was having better success seeing where they were and what was around them. Caeli's ears were popping with each drop, so she surmised that the plane must still be losing altitude.

  "Ladies and Gentlemen, this is the Captain again. We are having a bit of trouble getting out of these clouds, so we are continuing to decrease our altitude until we reach the edge of this storm. As a precaution, we would like you all to assume crash positions. Please, remain calm. We do not anticipate any problems, but it could be a very bumpy ride for the next several minutes. We want to ensure your safety during this procedure. Please assume your crash positions now and remain that way until I make another announcement. Thank you."

  "Caeli, do you think he was sugar coating that?" Salma was visibly upset, and Caeli could feel her own tension rising. For her aunt's sake, she put on her best optimist's face.

  "It's ok, Salma. I'm sure he will get us around the storm. As a matter of fact, we should be close to landing soon. It will probably be nothing more than heavy turbulence. I know you're not fond of those bumps, but that should be the worst of it. Try not to worry. Think of something pleasant to pass the time. I know! Tell me about Ben's proposal again. Where did he take you? How did he propose?"