Ann Cristy - Enthralled

ENTHRALLEDby Ann Cristy

Teel lay face-down on the hot, moist earth. Ants and other insects began tocrawl over her cheeks, stinging her, and she knew she had to move, though herbody screamed in protest. Sweat dribbled into her burning eyes. The buzz offlies was loud in the fetid heat. Groaning, she pushed herself to a sittingposition. Cross-legged, swiping at the flies that swarmed over her the momentshe was still, she tried to take stock of her situation. She refused to acceptthe thought that she could, indeed, be utterly lost.

Somehow she had toretrace her steps to the mission and Aunt Tessa. For the hundredth time shecursed the folly of having given in to her aunt's pleas and journeyed with herto the mission outpost in Central America that was run by Aunt Tessa's friend,Sister Mary Mark. When the formidable sister had informed them that they shoulddon nuns' habits as a safety precaution against the unwanted advances ofpatrolling soldiers, she should have insisted that they leave at once.

Teel's forehead burned withfever. Her lips were cracked and sore from lack of water. Still, she wasdetermined to get herself out of thisthis stupid situation.

She had only gone a shortdistance outside the mission area, in order to give Aunt Tessa a chance to talkalone with her old school friend. She had not meant to wander beyond theperimeter. Now she cursed her stupidity and the density of the jungle that hadmade her take a wrong turn, away from the mission instead of back toward it.

She stood up slowly, swayingin the heat. "You're going to get out of here, Teel Barrett," shesaid aloud, the sound of her hoarse voice startling some birds into flight. Sheblinked at an orange and blue parrot and wished she had its vantage point. Sheslapped at a mosquito on her cheek. "I never thought I would find a nun'shabit useful" she muttered, "but it sure is a buffer againstyou." She blinked at the dead mosquito in her hand, then took her bearingsas best she could and began walking.

An hour later she knew she wasweakening from the effects of the stifling heat. She no longer spoke out loudto herself. It took too much energy.

She squinted up through thethick curtain of trees to the cloudless blue sky, listened to the cawing andsqualling of the jungle creatures, and wondered if she had really heard thesound of the surf or if it was just another jungle noise.

Barely able topush the light branches aside, Teel staggered through the underbrush toward thesound, then stared mouth agape at the sand and sea in front of her. The Pacific Ocean! It had to be the Pacific. She knew that the beaches on the Pacific side of Central America often consisted of black sand like this one. She felt a shaky sense oftriumph. She didn't know exactly where she was, but she did know she was facingthe Pacific Ocean. She reeled out onto the beach, trying to shade her eyes fromthe blinding sun, seeing nothing but beach and ocean shimmering under itsflaming disc. Then, suddenly overcome by heat and fatigue, she fell forward onher face and slept.

When she awoke itwas dark and she was cold, the cold that comes to anyone who has had too muchexposure to the sun. She shivered and looked around her, hungry and frightened.

Sometime later shesaw lights moving on the water and stared at them in disbelief. "You'rehallucinating, Teel," she told herself through cracked lips. But a small,g motorized dinghy came ashore. She watched two men I and a woman beach thecraft and shine a flashlight across the sand in a great arc. "You'reseeing things, Teel," she : said firmly, not bothering to lower her voicebecause she knew figments of her own imagination would pay no attention to her.

But the manholding the flashlight jerked his head up and said, "Hey, I heard a voice.We better get out of here. Chazz will be madder than hell because we took thedinghy. He said the repairs would be finished in an hour and we were to stay onboard." He swung the flashlight across the beach again, but the beam oflight kept missing Teel.

"Come on, stop it,Zack," the woman said in a high, wheedling tone to the other man, who wasnuzzling her. ' "I don't want Chazz mad at me. You know how he gets."

"Damn you, Elise, Ithought you wanted a little beach party: a fire, a little wine..." The mancalled Zack lowered his voice to a seductive hiss as he moved closer, to thewoman.

Teel watched them, her armsand legs like lead, her voice a dry croak in her parched throat. She had to gettheir attention. They were her only hope.

"I don't want to staynow," Elise continued. "Jim said he heard someone talking. What if werun into revolutionaries?" She shuddered, her exaggerated shadow quiveringin the beam of the flashlight.

"He didn't hearanything," Zack protested.

Just then a shoutreached them from the direction of the lights on the water. Teel couldn'tunderstand the words, but the tone was angry. She watched the three peoplescramble toward the dinghy. They were leaving her! Desperate, she forcedherself up from her knees. Her body trembled with the effort. Slowly,erratically, using every last vestige of strength and will she had left, sheshambled forward, watching in mute horror as they pushed the dinghy into thewater. The woman was already in the boat. Then one of the men jumped aboard. Asthe second man prepared to follow, Teel's feet splashed into the water. Thelast man let out a startled shout, but she didn't stop. She headed straight forthe dinghy.

"Who the hell areyou?" the man called Zack demanded from his vantage point at the motor."Where did you come from?"

Without answering, Teel justfell forward, clutching the gunwales. She heard a woman's shriek, a shoutedoath, and then blackness closed over her head.

Teel awoke to turquoise. Shewasn't surprised, but she hadn't expected the afterlife to be turquoise. Longago she had stopped practicing the religion that was so sustaining to her auntand her friends, but Teel had retained the idea of an afterlife. She had justnever thought it would be turquoise.

"So you're awake." Aman's face loomed over hers, with strong planes and amber eyes. Lion's eyes,Teel mused, thinking he looked rather stern for an angel. Did angels have firmmouths that appeared to have been whittled and cheeks faintly shadowed with abeard? Angels didn't have coal black hair, did they? Perhaps this was a devil,Teel thought, too tired to really care.

"Aren't you going tospeak?" the voice asked.

"No." The one wordmade her dry lips feel as if they'd been split. She had no idea where her voicehad come from, but it was like sandpaper on raw wood.

"Who are you?" theman asked her, leaning closer.

Teel flinched andtried to pull the sheet over her head, but her hands wouldn't do her bidding.

Irritation flashedacross the man's austere features. "Listen, I have to know who youare."

Teel closed her eyes to makehim disappear. Sleep came as a welcome gift.

She woke again to the sameturquoise, but this time she was able to turn her head and see that she was ina bedroom. It hurt to move, but she forced herself to look as far as she wasable. She was incapable of lifting herself but realized she was on a boat ofsome kind. A large window revealed a patch of blue sky, and she felt the motionof the ship under her body even though she could not see the water from whereshe lay.

The door opened, and she turnedher eyes to see the man who'd spoken to her earlierthe one she thought of asthe deviland another man, who looked like a leprechaun and carried a tray withcovered dishes. They stared down at her for a long time.

Every instinct told Teel torun, but she was thoroughly immobile. Every nerve ending stood at full alert.The hair on her arms prickled like tiny antennae receiving danger signals.

The larger manbent toward her and lifted her easily. All at once Teel realized that she wasnaked under the silk sheets. Her fingers moved futilely, unable to grasp theslipping material. The devil held the sheet around her and lowered her to acluster of pillows the other man had provided. "Darby, get her that robefrom Clare's cabin, the short one with the long sleeves." He grinned atthe smaller man, making ' dimples form on either side of his mouth.