More than Magic: Semester Aboard (16 page)

"Ok, what's the plan?" Dani asked.

"The port is going to be under surveillance
and the ship will be searched," Thomas said. "They'll let us know
if they find anyone."

Dani hummed. "You've got your badge with you,
right?"

"Yeah," Thomas said. "Doesn't matter, Teth
and I are getting on the bus pretty soon."

"Where are you going?" I asked.

"Galapagos hotel," TS answered. "I think you
mentioned you were going there too, right?"

"I'm on one of the yachts."

He wrinkled his nose. "I couldn't take being
on another boat. I've felt ill since we left the states."

"Guess everyone's going there but me,"
Charlie said. He grinned. "Quito and dry land, here I come!"

As he spoke one of the buses honked its horn.
The trip number plastered on the windshield was mine.

"I've gotta go," I said. "See you guys."

"Do you still have my number?" Thomas
asked.

"Yeah."

"Make sure you save it, just in case."

"I will," I said.

"Have a good trip, we'll see you in a few
days."

I sat down in a window seat and heaved a
sigh. With the ride to the airport and the flight all the way to
the Galapagos, I'd have way too much time to think about the
vampire. What if he was still on the ship when we got back?
Everyone was laughing and talking and shouting across the bus. None
of them had any idea that there was magic in the world. Not a
single other person on the bus knew that we shared our ship with
people who weren't even human. And none of these people knew a
vampire was hunting them. The bus started to pull away and to my
surprise I didn't get any more time to think about it. Even though
everyone on the bus was signed up for one of the yacht trips we
were all mixed up. People started changing seats, trying to get
everyone on the same yacht together. Nine other people from my
yacht were on the bus and we all moved to sit together. I knew
three of them from my classes, but I only recognized the others. We
spent the entire bus ride getting to know each other, talking about
previous ports, and going over our itinerary. The chatting about
very unmagical things was so distracting that by the time we got to
the airport I had practically forgotten all about the vampire.

Our flight was waiting at the gate and we
rushed through the airport in minutes. According to the itinerary
our yacht had a sixteen person capacity and we found four more
students and two chaperones on the plane. All sixteen of us sat
together and the conversation from the bus was repeated. Time
rushed by in a blur and I hadn't given the vampire, or magic at
all, a second thought by the time we landed. There was a little
harbor by the airport and we grabbed our bags, met our guide, and
took a bus down to the port. There was so much to see I hardly had
time to take it all in. After we got off of the bus a small
motorboat picked us up and shuttled us through a bunch of yachts to
ours. The back of the yacht had a platform just inches above the
water that the motorboat pulled right up to. We climbed out and
went up a couple of steps onto the main deck. Our guide gave us a
quick safety talk, assigned rooms, and then set us free to
explore.

The yacht was bigger than it had looked from
the water, but had to be a fraction of the size of our ship. The
lowest deck was totally underwater and had nothing but cabins. The
main deck had a small area on the bow where we could sit, more
cabins, a dining room, and the small place where we had boarded. It
took me a while to figure out how to get up to the third and
highest deck where my cabin was. I eventually found a ladder on the
back and climbed up, hauling my bag behind me. The top deck was so
small that there were only four cabins and small benches in the
front and back. The walking space between the cabin doors and the
railing was so narrow that even though I rested one shoulder on the
wall I was still afraid of dropping my bag into the water. I bumped
into a girl going the opposite way and she had to turn around and
go back! I found my room and opened the door. Whitney, my roommate,
was already inside and had to back up into the bathroom just so
that I had room to enter and close the door.

"I'm never going to complain about the size
of our rooms on the ship again," she laughed.

"Neither will I!" The room was probably a
quarter of the size of the cabins on the ship.

"We're going to be cozy," Whitney said,
throwing her stuff on one of the extremely narrow bunk beds.

"Yeah." I tossed my bag onto the top bunk. It
was so low I could see over it. We heard a loud bell ring and went
back down the ladder and into the dining room. Our guide pulled out
a whiteboard and started telling us our itinerary for the evening.
Then we were off! We went straight to a little bay, anchored, and
took the motorboat out wildlife spotting. I couldn't get enough of
it. I knew that my best friend and cousin, Shannon, would kill me
if I didn't take a million pictures; she loved animals as much as I
did. We had just enough time on the yacht for a snack and then we
had anchored at another island. We went hiking and snorkeling until
the sun started going down. I started feeling nauseous during
dinner and took some medicine. I climbed up into bed insanely early
and was out for the night.

The following day was just as packed. We ate
breakfast at the crack of dawn and got out to explore an island we
had anchored at during the night. We spent the entire day hiking,
swimming, snorkeling, and taking pictures. I didn't feel seasick
that night but, like everyone else, I was exhausted. The third day
was more of the same. I was just drifting off to sleep, amazed at
how fast the trip had gone, when my phone beeped. I was using it as
an alarm clock, so it was easily within reach. I grabbed it and
frowned. It was a text message from a number I didn't know.

u up? come out

It was a New York area code. I quickly texted
back, asking who it was.

sry its mariana

Curious, I slid down from my bunk, trying not
to wake up Whitney. I eased open the door and stepped out onto the
narrow walkway. The lights from our yacht hardly illuminated
anything. I couldn't believe how dark it was. There was movement
right in front of me and all of a sudden I realized that there was
a face inches from mine. I was too shocked to do anything other
than jump back and gasp. I didn't get very far. Half a step slammed
my back into the door behind me and only took me a few more inches
away from the face.

"It's ok, it's me," laughed a familiar
voice.

"Dani?" I gasped.

"Yeah. Having a good trip?"

"Yes. How did you..." I realized that he was
standing on the other side of the railing with no way to have
climbed up from the water. "How did you get up here?"

He chuckled. "I jumped of course. Get your
wand, let's go for a swim."

Well, why not? "One sec." I slipped back into
my room, grabbed my wand, and went back out.

"Ok." Dani held out his hand. "Come on."

"Whoa, you want me to jump off from this high
up?" I said. I wasn't afraid of heights, but it was a long way down
to the water.

"Would you rather jump from downstairs?"

"I think so."

"Meet you there." Dani kicked off of the side
of the ship without even turning around, flipped once in the air,
and dove right into the water with hardly a splash. It was too dark
to see if he surfaced again. Shaking my head in amazement, I
tiptoed to the ladder and climbed down. Dani was sitting on the
platform behind the yacht dangling his legs in the water like he'd
been there for ages. I went down the steps and crouched next to
him.

"You can get me back to the yacht, right?" I
asked.

"Absolutely. Got your wand?" I held it up.
Dani stood and offered a hand to me. "Ready?"

I couldn't believe I was about to leap off of
a moving boat and into the middle of the ocean. "I guess."

Dani counted to three and we jumped. The
water was chilly, but not terribly cold. The yacht kept right on
going. Mariana's head popped out of the water a few feet away.
There wasn't enough light to tell what color her hair was, but it
looked a lot darker than normal.

"Hey, Jen," she said.

"Hey." I realized that she must have sent her
text from the water. "Isn't your phone wet?" I asked.

She shook her head. "It's waterproof.
Magically, I mean."

"Neat." She looked exactly the same, aside
from the hair. "Are you all mermaid now?"

As an answer she leaned back a bit and the
end of a large, dolphin-like tail curled up out of the water.

"Wow," I breathed. "That's so cool."

Mariana giggled and lowered her tail.
"Thanks."

It was getting darker and darker as the yacht
pulled away. I had almost forgotten that Dani and Mariana could see
in the dark. "I'm not going to be able to see soon," I
admitted.

"I hate to say it," Dani began, "but you've
got a fire wand."

Oh, yeah. TS had said I could use it to give
myself night vision. I held it up and nervously pointed it at my
eyes. I couldn't blind myself, could I? I hesitated. No, Thomas had
said be confident. I took a deep breath and stared at the wand as
best as I could in the fading light. I could do this. I imagined
the light turning on in a dark room and took another deep breath.
"
Mar
," I said loudly.

It wasn't quite the bright light I had
imagined, but suddenly everything was lighter. It was like being in
a dimly lit room. I could see curious looks on Dani and Mariana's
faces. Mariana's hair was still dark, but now I was fairly sure it
was green.

"Did it work?" Dani asked.

"Yeah," I said in awe. This was so much
cooler than setting paper on fire.

He ruffled my hair. "Well done." I couldn't
help but smile.

"Let's go!" Mariana said.

She dove and vanished. A few moments later,
several yards away, she erupted out of the water like a dolphin.
She looked just like the mermaids I had been picturing. She
splashed back down and a few moments later was up again, further
away. Dani dove too, but unlike Mariana didn't resurface. I
hesitated, wondering if I was supposed to swim after them.
Thankfully, he popped back up a moment later, grinning.

"Just kidding." He struck me as the practical
joker of the group and I was glad that he was joking around with
me; it made me feel like one of them. But now that I was the target
of the jokes I could see why Thomas never seemed amused by them.
Dani turned his back to me. "Hop on."

"What?"

He wiggled his shoulders. "Like a piggy-back
ride. Unless you'd like to swim by yourself." I could actually hear
the smirk.

I hesitantly swam forward, put my arms around
his shoulders, and held onto his hips with my legs. "Like
this?"

"That's fine."

All at once I realized that we were moving.
He wasn't swimming, but we were very obviously gliding through the
water.

"How exactly..." I began.

"I'm a water elemental," he said simply. I
noticed that he was swimming, or gliding, or whatever he did a bit
faster. "I'm going to speed up."

Then he ducked his head under and started
going a lot faster. The wind whipping my face reminded me of skiing
and I leaned forward over his shoulders. I wasn't sure if being
more aerodynamic helped in this situation until he rolled a bit and
stuck his head up.

"Good girl," he said as he rolled back
over.

We sped along for just a few minutes. He
stopped and I realized that he was standing. I slid off of his back
and went totally under. I yelped in surprise and then kicked off
the bottom and back up to the surface, spitting out water.

"You ok, shorty?" Dani was smirking, but he
grabbed my arm and held me up steady until I stopped spluttering.
He backed up into shallower water until I could touch the bottom.
Even then, my toes were just touching and his head and shoulders
were well above the surface.

I waded until I was able to stand
comfortably. Mariana came to stand next to me and, judging from her
posture, she had her legs back. Her hair still looked green in the
dim light. I looked out in the direction we had come. I couldn't
even see the lights from the yacht anymore. In the distance I could
just see the outline of another island. I had never seen the stars
so bright. They stood out against the pitch-black sky and reflected
off of the dark water.

Dani raised his arm and pointed at something
in the sky. With his arm up I was able to see something on his
wrist. It looked like one of those two-colored nautical stars. But,
it couldn't have been a tattoo, I had never noticed it before.

"Southern Cross," he said.

I immediately turned my attention from his
wrist to the famous constellation. "Wow," I breathed. "I've never
seen it before."

"Neither have I," Mariana said.

"I just pointed it out to you the other
night," Dani said.

"I meant on this trip. This
trip
is
the first time I've seen it."

Dani laughed. "Yeah, yeah. First time I've
seen it too."

"Really?" Mariana sounded shocked.

"Really. Why is that so surprising?"

"You've been
everywhere
!"

"I've never been this far south," Dani
said.

"Oh. I guess I just feel like you've lived
all over the place," Mariana said, looking embarrassed.

Dani shook his head. "This is the first time
I've ever been to the southern hemisphere."

"Greece, Vietnam..." Mariana continued.

Dani burst out laughing. "I never helped you
with geography homework, did I? Cause, unless they moved them
without telling me, I'm pretty sure Greece and 'Nam are
north
of the equator."

"I know where they are! I just meant you've
lived in a lot of exotic places!"