More than Magic: Semester Aboard (2 page)

"I was not!" Mariana cried.

"You were all like, 'Oh, Danio, save me
Danio!'"

"Well, I...I-don’t be such a jerk!"

As Mariana spoke she spun to face Dani and
shoved him hard. Dani’s laugh turned into a yell of surprise and he
tumbled backward off of the railing! I gasped in horror. Every
second now was critical. If someone went overboard we were supposed
to immediately throw them a life preserver and then run and tell a
crew member. But not a single one of them did
anything
! The
one in the chair uncrossed his legs and recrossed them with a
different one on top. The guy on the stairs threw back his head and
laughed! Charlie quickly stuck his head over the railing and then
pulled back and shivered. It was as if Dani hadn't gone overboard
at all.

"Oh my god!" I gasped. They must have been in
shock and that was the only reason they weren't rushing to save
Dani. I ran across the deck. At the very least, I could throw the
life preserver in and hope he was still alive to use it.

They all jerked around to look at me. They
acted more surprised to see me than they were about Dani falling
overboard. Mariana gasped and backed against the rail. Charlie
stepped to the edge of the overhang and Football Guy jumped off of
the stairs and to his feet. The guy in the chair was on his feet in
an instant. I hardly even saw him move; one second he was sitting
and the next he was up. He stepped in front of the others, almost
protectively.

"That's Jennifer," Charlie spoke softly, like
he didn't want me to hear, but the wind carried his words right to
me. "She's in one of my classes."

The guy in front smiled. "You're up
late."

They were acting like nothing had happened!
This was insane!

"What's the matter with you?" I cried. "We
have to do something!"

"Do something?" He almost looked genuinely
confused. "About what?"

"She just..." I gestured to Mariana. "She
just pushed Dani overboard!"

He had the audacity to laugh. "It's raining,
you know. And dark. You're mistaken."

"Jeez, Mariana, if you wanted a divorce you
should've just-" My jaw dropped as Dani reappeared at the rail. He
caught sight of me and froze.

My mind was reeling. He was soaking wet, it
was obvious it wasn't just from the rain. He'd fallen into water
that had to be well over fifty feet below us and we were really
moving too. Even an Olympic swimmer couldn't have kept up with us.
Dani had fallen all the way down into the ocean and, not only had
he not drowned, he'd gotten back on the ship.

This was impossible.

Dani vaulted easily over the railing and
landed on the deck. He walked quickly across the deck and stopped
right behind the guy I'd been talking with. Dani was quite a bit
taller than him and leaned down to put his mouth near the guy's
ear. "I think it would be better if I went in. You got this?" he
whispered.

"Yeah. Take Mariana with you." The wind was
still in my favor and I could just make out what they were
saying.

Dani grabbed Mariana by the arm. "Come
on."

"Dani, I'm so sorry."

"It happens. Let's go."

Dani glanced at me as he and Mariana went
inside.

Football Guy edged toward the stairway he'd
been sitting on. "Right, I'll call Jon."

The other one nodded. "Wait," he said when
Football Guy was halfway up the stairs. "It's late, email him. We
can handle this until he gets it." Football Guy nodded and ran up
the rest of the stairs to Deck Five and, probably, the computer
lab. Then the not-so-forthcoming one turned back to me. "Jennifer,
right? I'm Thomas. What brings you out on deck?"

I glared. "Dani just fell overboard and
you're going to stand there like nothing happened?"

"Nothing did happen."

"Dani fell off the ship, into the ocean, and
climbed back up again! I saw it with my own eyes!" He looked
uncomfortable and I realized that he was trying to cover up what I
had just witnessed. "So don't lie to me! What just happened?"

"Nothing," Thomas said firmly. "Forget about
it."

"If nothing happened, then what is that guy
going to email Jon about?"

Thomas looked surprised for a second, and
then sighed. "Alright, tell you what. I'll explain things after I
hear back from Jon."

No way. He was just stalling. "Explain now,"
I insisted. He glared. I got the feeling that if they were going
through this much effort to cover things up then they clearly
wouldn't want me going around talking about it. "Explain now, or
I'm going to start asking around until I find someone who
will."

"Go ahead," Charlie snarled. "Dani's safe and
dry by now. You've got no proof and none of us are going to back up
your story." As he spoke something weird happened. His eyes, which
were a very reddish-brown, seemed to change. It must have been the
rain or the lights or something, but bright reds and oranges flared
in his eyes, almost like flames.

"Char!" Thomas snapped.

Charlie closed his mouth and took a step
back. He looked pissed, but Thomas had shut him up.

"You're just going to let him boss you
around?" I asked incredulously. Charlie stuck up his chin
defiantly, but stayed quiet.

Thomas stepped closer and more into the
light, allowing me to finally get a good look at him. He was a few
inches taller than me and pretty thin. The rain had plastered his
bangs across his forehead and over one eye. It struck me as a sort
of emo haircut. He looked fairly pale and I could see circles under
his eyes, like he didn't sleep enough. His cheeks were a bit hollow
and he looked like he might have been a bit seasick. He was wearing
a retro looking band t-shirt and I stifled a groan; he probably
was
one of those emo kids.

"If you want an explanation at all, you'll
wait until I hear back from Jon. And in the meantime, you'll keep
quiet."

"Is that a threat?" I laughed.

Thomas leaned forward and actually curled
back his upper lip. "Don't. Tell. Anyone," he snarled. This time I
didn't feel like laughing. For an instant my entire body froze and
I almost couldn't move. This was absurd. He was just some emo
college guy acting tough, what did I have to be afraid of?

I sucked in a deep breath, squared my
shoulders, and glared at Thomas. "Fine! If you promise that you'll
explain everything after this Jon guy talks to you, then I won't
say anything."

He looked surprised. More than surprised, he
looked shocked.

"Man, she's got some spice," Charlie said
softly. "I felt that from here."

"Deal," Thomas said. "We'll talk tomorrow
then. Goodnight." With that he turned and swept across the deck,
heading up the stairs in the direction football guy had gone.

"Don't say anything, Jennifer," Charlie said.
"Please." He opened the door to go back inside and started in. I
followed. Halfway down the corridor he turned and glared at me.
"Are you following me or something?" he snapped. I saw the strange
red flare in his eyes again.

"My room is this way!"

"Oh…" Charlie turned back and kept
walking.

He paused outside of Dani and Mariana’s room
and knocked. I knew that I’d make things worse if I stopped, so I
kept going. But I slowed down. By the time I got to my room Dani’s
door had opened. I quickly opened mine and waited in the doorway. I
peered out around the doorjamb and yanked my head back as Dani’s
appeared in his.

"You better have good news," I heard Dani
whisper to Charlie. "Mariana is beside herself."

I heard the door close and then closed my own
and leaned against it. What on earth had I just witnessed? I lay
down and played it over and over again in my mind. I was convinced
that I had seen something very, very strange. The fact they were
all trying to cover up made it even more confusing. When I finally
fell asleep I still couldn't for the life of me figure out what had
happened.

Chapter 2

The following morning started like any other.
I woke up and traded showers with Laurie, then went to breakfast.
Ordinarily I would have chosen a table with people at it - I liked
to eat meals with people from all over the ship - but my thoughts
were still whirling from the night before. I chose an empty table
by a window and sat down. I ate slowly, looking out at the water.
It was still raining lightly and the sky was darker than usual, but
it was all so different from last night that I started to wonder if
maybe I had just been dreaming. It all seemed even more ridiculous
and impossible than it had last night.

A mug thumped down next to me and I turned to
greet whoever had joined me. I was shocked to see that it was Dani.
He looked tired, but otherwise showed no sign that he had fallen
into the ocean less than twelve hours ago. "I can’t believe you
lied to me," he said.

I realized that he wasn't talking to me and
looked up and saw that Mariana was settling in across from us.

"I didn’t lie; they had plenty of melon when
I came up earlier. If you could get out of bed at a reasonable time
you could have had some." Mariana looked at me and smiled. "Good
morning, Jen. I’m Mariana by the way."

"Hi..."

"Hey, Jen," Dani said. He turned back to
Mariana. "There is nothing reasonable about seven in the morning!"
He chugged his entire mug of steaming coffee in a few gulps.

"I get up every morning at six for swim
practice," Mariana said.

"So? I get up at five for crew. You don’t see
me bragging."

Mariana stabbed a pineapple slice with her
fork and glared at Dani. "You get up at five at home, but complain
when I try to wake you at seven?"

"Crew only takes two hours. I’m in bed before
eight and I never have class before noon. If you wake me up at
seven here then I have to stay up all day."

Mariana pointedly turned away from him. "So,
how are
you
?"

"I'm fine," I said. Seemed like their
honeymoon wasn't off to a harmonious start.

Dani mumbled something about coffee and got
up with his empty mug.

"You swim on your school team?" I asked. I
had been so occupied with Dani I had forgotten that Mariana had
been dressed for swimming last night. Maybe she had been planning
on diving off of the ship too.

"I did. I was actually doing a little kid
coaching thing this spring. Kids are fun." Well, she was perfectly
willing to talk about that. I had a feeling she'd be a lot less
forthcoming if I asked about last night.

"Kids are a pain," Dani said. He sat back
down and took a sip of coffee.

"You love little kids, don't even lie,"
Mariana said. I hoped I hadn't started another argument.

"Ember and Catalina? Yes. Random brats on the
street? No."

"Ember doesn't count as a little kid anymore,
you know."

"Don't remind me," Dani groaned.

I ate slowly, hoping to learn more about
them. Dani seemed content to drink his coffee quietly while Mariana
ate. I looked out the window, the rain was picking up and the sky
was darkening. The waves looked a bit ominous.

"Very
Poseidon Adventure
, isn't it?"
Dani asked.

I turned and saw that he was looking out the
window over my shoulder.

"Very what?" Mariana asked.

"
Poseidon Adventure
," Dani said, like
it was obvious. "With Roddy McDowall?" Mariana shook her head. "How
have you never seen...oh forget it."

The two argued about Dani's apparent bad
taste in old movies until the bell for Latin American History
sounded. I left the table before them, but heard them behind me all
the way to the classroom. I sat next to Laurie in our usual place
and was relieved when Dani and Mariana veered off toward the other
side of the room.

"Mind if I join you?" asked a deep, gravelly
voice.

Laurie and I turned toward the speaker. It
was Football Guy. Up close I could see that his eyes were dark,
dark brown and his hair wasn’t just shaggy, but messy.

"Sure," Laurie said. "I’m Laurie, this is
Jen."

"Cheers," he said, sitting down. "You can
call me TS." He had a slight accent that I couldn't place.

Laurie giggled at him and I rolled my eyes
and pulled out my notebook. We didn’t talk during class. When it
was over Laurie lingered behind to talk to a friend.

"Gotten a reply from Jon?" I asked TS as we
walked toward the door.

He looked surprised, but then laughed. I
noticed that the very tip of his tongue poked oddly out of the
corner of his mouth when he did. Instead of answering me he just
turned out of the classroom and headed down a nearby stairway. I
considered going after him, but decided I didn’t want to be late
for class. Tardiness was a bit harder to get away with when your
classes were all on a ship. I turned away from the stairs and
started toward the back of the ship. My next class was on the same
deck, but all the way aft, while the Latin American History
classroom was all the way forward. I had only just started walking
when someone fell into step beside me.

"Picked a plant to study in Panama?"

I suppressed a groan. Charlie.

"Not yet," I grumbled.

"Me neither. I’m just going to see what
plants spark my interest once we get there."

I grunted in agreement and we continued in
silence. I sat next to Carrie in class, but to my dismay Charlie
gave up his usual desk near the door in favor of one closer to me.
And here I'd woken up this morning wondering if it really had been
a dream. The fact that they were all practically stalking me proved
I really had seen something strange, something they didn't want
other people to know about. An hour and a half later I hurried out
of the classroom, only to have him walking right next to me
again.

"What’s your next class?" he asked.

"Ancient Latin American Cultures," I
snarled.