Chapter 9

Act 2

Scene 2

Kimber was the first to stir. She groaned and put her hands to her aching head, barely able to open her eyes against the glare. Everything was too bright for her to open her eyes fully, but through her slitted, tear-filled eyes, she could make out the unconscious forms of her husband, daughters and their friends slumped in a pile on the deck. Urgency shot through her. She reached out and shook her husband's shoulder. When he didn't awake, she tried her oldest daughter, then her youngest. When none of them moved, she clutched Belle to her breast, and choking back a sob, gently shook her and tried to rouse her.

"Belle? Wake baby! Oh please wake up and be all right."

When nothing woke her youngest, she caressed her daughter's hair with trembling hands. Her tears ran down her face to drip off of her chin. Her despair fed her uncertainty. Her uncertainty fed her despair, until she was so wrapped up in her own misery to notice when Belle finally did shift in her arms.

Belle put her own arms around her mother's neck and pulled up to kiss her on the cheek before Kimber finally knew that she was no longer alone. Kimber sobbed in relief and rained kisses all over Belle's forehead, laughing and drying her eyes. By the time Kimber had cleared her eyes, she could see the others stirring as well. She gently set Belle back onto the seat and said, "Baby, can you check to see if your daddy needs anything? I'll see what I can do for the other girls."

"Ok mommy," said Belle. That said, she stepped over to her daddy's recumbent form, and reached down to squeeze the index finger of his right hand. "Daddy? Wake up daddy!"

Evan's eyes flickered open, and he tried to gather his thoughts. His mind swirled with questions. What happened? What was that ring of purple fire? Damn! That hurt! What time is it? How long was I out? Where are we? What happened to the storm? But focused on the worried look on his youngest daughter face, he waved her off, and he said, "I'm fine Belle. Why don't you see about the others?"

Evan glanced at his watch, an expensive gift from his wife Kimber, it was self-winding and dive rated. He frowned at the time that had passed. He wasn't sure exactly when they'd hit the purple fire, but he knew for sure that at least an hour had passed. If they'd all been out that long, this was serious. Very serious, indeed, and where was the Dragon Lady?

Evan saw Kimber seeing to the girls' comfort, so he scanned the horizon, looking for any sign of the Dragon Lady. There was no sign of her, but several things did catch his eye. First, he had to see about his boat. He checked the tiller, sails and rigging. They all seemed fine, but when he checked his automated weather station and GPS unit, both displays were only error messages. The big spherical compass still seemed to be working, and the mechanical speedometer, so he could still navigate.

Kimber seemed to be getting the girls settled down, and got them all busy, preparing a late lunch, and getting painkillers and drinks for anyone that needed them. Kimber caught Evan's eyes in silent question. He shook his head minutely in reply and asked, "Belle, could you get me my big binoculars from under the under seat storage in the galley?"

Now that they had gotten the last of the girls below, each assigned a task; Kimber moved close and whispered an urgent question, "Evan, what happened?"

Keeping his answer a low murmur, Evan answered, "I have no idea! But whatever it was knocked out the GPS and weather electronics." A thought struck him and he asked, "Is your watch working? Mine is, but it's that self-winding diving watch and yours is that expensive, battery-powered, electronic Rolex I got you for Christmas, two years ago. Is it still working?"

Kimber glanced at her beautiful white gold watch and frowned. Then she answered, in annoyance, "No, it's dead."

Evan kept his eyes roving along the horizon, and said, "I don't see the Dragon Lady anywhere. I hope Paul and the kids are all right. Why don't you get on the radio and try to raise them?"

Belle hopped up on deck, and handed over the binoculars with a flourish and a wide grin. She said, "Here you go daddy. I found them! Amazingly, they were right were you told me to look!"

Evan ignored her teasing tone. He had other, more important things on his mind, then defending the honor of his gender. He pulled the huge 150mm spotting binoculars out of their rigid case, braced his elbows on the hull and picked out a target of interest. Off in the distance, maybe a mile away he could see a dozen low dark shapes in the water. He put the two-foot long binoculars to his eyes, swung the field of view until he could see the objects, then started to adjust the focus.

Kimber turned at his startled gasp. She strode over and leaned down to ask, "What is it? What do you see?"

Evan let the binoculars fall away from his eyes, turned to her and answered, in puzzlement, "Whales. Not a species I've ever seen, not that we've ever seen whales in the coastal waters inside the outer banks."

"Whales?" Kimber repeated in wonderment, then she went on excitedly, "I don't think any of the girls have ever seen whales. Let's get closer so they can see them!"

Evan considered her request for a moment. Then he raised his best possible objection, asking, "Did you raise Dragon Lady?"

She answered in the hurried tones she'd used on him a thousand, no ten thousand times, to blow through his objections, "No. But Paul is the best sailor I know. He'll be fine! Besides, if the GPS and weather electronics are out, what makes you so sure the radio is working? This is the opportunity of a lifetime for the girls!"

Evan wanted to point out the holes in her reasoning, but the pleading look in her eyes convinced him to bite his tongue. He just nodded and took the helm, watching her back as she went below to tell the girls. With no steerage, the Topaz Fire had sought her own equilibrium, which brought the least force from the wind. Thus, she was pointed into the wind, her sails flapped idly, and drifted slowly astern. Evan simply turned the tiller the opposite direction that he wanted to go, the stern followed, and then when the wind began to catch the sails, pulled the tiller about to point her further away from the wind as they started forward once more. Within seconds, Evan had Topaz Fire merrily churning after the pod of whales.

Of course with no one else on deck to help trim the sails, Evan had to tie off the tiller, and then move to adjust the sheets himself.

"Of course", Evan chuckled in wry amusement, as the first one back on deck was Belle. She fairly flew to the bow, leaning far out holding the stays. Belle's shadow, Jenny was right behind her, shyness forgotten in their excitement. Beth and her friend Sarah came out wearing their brightly colored bikinis and carrying big colorful fluffy beach towels. Shades and floppy straw hats completed their sunbathing ensemble.

Safely behind the lenses of his own shades, Evan enjoyed the flex of their taut bodies as they laid their towels out on the deck just in front of the mast, and settled in to catch some sun. Somewhat transfixed by the view between the swell of their breasts, he didn't notice his wife's approach until she smacked him reproachfully in the arm.

In a severe tone Kimber said, "Stop that! They're barely legal, and young enough to be your daughters! Oh, my! Wait a minute! One of them is your daughter! You shithead!"

Evan flushed, but before he could stammer out any feeble excuse for his behavior, Belle called from the bow.

She cried, an odd timber in her voice, "Daddy?"

Grateful for the interruption, Evan raised his voice to answer, "Yes sweetie?"

"What is the largest sea turtle in the world?"

"The Leatherback Sea Turtle, I think baby."

"How big does it get daddy?"

"Uh, let me think. About six feet long, I guess. Why do you ask?"

"Um, how big exactly is six feet daddy?"

"Oh, a bit taller then I am."

"Uh, well then you better look behind you."

Dutifully, Evan twisted around to look over his shoulder, so he could see over the port side. There, lolling in the water was a sea turtle. Evan could hardly believe his eyes. The head was at least three feet across, and the shell no less then twelve! An eye as large as his head blinked slowly at him with a complete lack of concern.

Turning swiftly back to his wife, he saw her still giving him the evil eye, arms crossed and jaw set. Evan held up his hands, as if to ward her off, and said, "Look, settle down. You can be pissed at me later, but right now we have bigger problems. Look at that turtle!"

Her eyes followed his vague wave in the direction of the giant sea turtle. He could tell the moment she spotted it, and took in its enormous size, because her eyes widened in sudden shock. She snapped her eyes back to meet his and then hissed under her breath at him, "What the hell is that thing? Where did it come from?"