More than Magic: Semester Aboard (4 page)

I rolled my eyes. "It has my name in it.
You’re far from the first person to make that joke. It is a catchy
song though."

"Most 80s songs are." He turned serious
again. "Anyway, no, he's not going to call you. He's coming to
Panama."

"What?" We'd be in Panama in two days. Why on
earth would the head of the agency or whatever come all the way to
Panama? "Let me get this straight," I said. "The Big Boss is coming
here just to talk to me?"

"Well, I assume he wants to see me too."

"Why?" There was no way this supposedly
high-up guy was going to come all the way to Panama to talk to one
girl and see a random employee.

"He's...sort of like my father."

"Sort of? He either is or he isn't."

Thomas shrugged and looked uncomfortable. "He
took care of me after my father died."

I felt embarrassed for pushing the issue. My
first instinct was to say I was sorry, but I knew from experience
that people offering sympathy about a dead parent didn't always
mean much. Instead I said, "My father's dead too."

He looked surprised that we had something
like that in common. "I'm..." he hesitated and I had a feeling he
felt the same way I did.

"Thanks," I said softly.

He nodded and we shared a small smile. Then
he sighed and after a moment spoke again. "I'm not entirely sure
when Jon will be here, sometime after we get to Panama."

"What exactly is he talking to me about?"
Thomas obviously didn't want to talk any more about his father.
But, that was all right with me, I didn't want to talk about mine
either.

"About...the other night," Thomas said. Just
like that, my empathy from our last topic vanished. I had guessed
that much. More dancing around the truth.

"Is he going to explain things?"

It seemed like he hesitated. "Yes. And," he
added quickly, "until he does, you have to continue to keep
quiet."

"And then?" It seemed like I really did have
to wait at least two more days until they stopped hiding things
from me.

"Then uh..." Thomas paused in thought. "Well,
then you'll know. And you'll still keep quiet. 'Secret's are no
fun, unless I am a part of one', right?"

That was, I hated to admit, true. All I
really wanted was to know what I had seen and get my questions
answered. If I knew what was really going on I probably would keep
it a secret.

"Yeah. I won’t tell anyone," I said. "If you
promise that it’ll all be explained."

"Oh, it will," Thomas said with a smile. He
stood. "I should go."

"Are you guys going to keep stalking me?"

"We’ll ease up a bit."

"Fine."

Thomas let himself out and I sat on my bed,
replaying our conversation. Maybe this was bigger than I had
thought. Had I really seen something so important that this "boss"
was going to come all the way to Panama to talk to me? I took
another moment to entertain the idea that they were working for the
government. Had I stumbled onto some secret government experiment?
They wouldn't be using a bunch of college kids on a cruise ship,
would they? I lay back with a sigh and thought for a while. Even
though they were going to give me my answers in two days, I decided
that I wanted to try and figure it out first. I liked a good
mystery and I had just found myself smack in the middle of a very
odd one.

I put off going to dinner for as long as I
could to puzzle it out, but finally decided to go up before they
started putting the food away. On the way there I stopped by the
Student Life Desk. The wall across from it was covered in pictures
of every student on the ship
,
like a giant
yearbook page. It listed our names, birthdays, schools, majors, and
expected graduation dates. I didn't know their last names, which
was how the wall was organized, so I knew it would be a challenge.
The pictures were all too small to be useful, so I had to scan
every single name and squint at the corresponding picture. It took
a few minutes, but I found them all. Mariana Bar - she must have
kept her last name - was majoring in International Affairs at a
school in New York. Thomas Clark and Tethys - which explained why
he went by TS - Conall were majoring in International Affairs too.
My breath caught. They went to the same school as Mariana. A minute
later I found a bio for Daniel Pelagos and then I spotted one for
Charles Smith. A chill ran up my spine. There was
no way
that this was a coincidence. All of them went to the same school
and
had the same major?

It was satisfying to have confirmed that they
must have known each other before the voyage, but the student bios
had left me with more questions than answers. I headed for the
dining room, mulling over the new information. There was no line at
the buffet so I grabbed a plate and started loading up. Most of the
lettuce had already been taken and it looked like they weren’t
going to replace it. I piled some veggies on my plate and moved on
to the hot foods. The pasta looked rubbery and cold; I had waited
too long to go up. I scooped out of a spoonful of the International
Choice, some beef dish it looked like, and grabbed a fillet of
tonight's fish. I grabbed a couple of rolls out of the basket at
the end of the buffet and looked around the dining room for a
seat.

The professors had been and gone and it
looked like most of the students were finishing up. A table over by
a window caught my eye and I watched the occupants carefully.
Charlie, TS, and Mariana were sitting next to each other and
talking. Dani and Thomas were sitting next to each other with a
textbook between them. There was an empty place next to Dani.
Thomas glanced up from his book and his eyes met mine. He tilted
his head at the empty spot and smiled. I squared my shoulders and
walked over. I sat down and braced myself.

"Good evening, Jennifer," Thomas said
pleasantly.

"Hiya, Jen," Charlie said, grinning from
across the table.

TS grunted a hello from around a bunch of
food and then speared another forkful. Dani waved but kept his eyes
on the notebook he was holding.

Mariana smiled at me too. "The sea bass is
really good."

"Great." I grabbed a fork and cut off a chunk
to try.

Then they all returned to what they had been
talking about before. I was content to eat quietly and observe the
strange group. TS had a big pile of fish and International Choice
on his plate and there was a large pitcher of the evening’s juice
next to him. Thomas grabbed it and refilled TS’ glass. TS said
nothing, but started drinking. He looked sort of sick. He was pale
and seemed more quiet than usual.

"Eat up," Thomas said to him.

TS snorted softly in Thomas’ direction, but
shoved another forkful of International Choice into his mouth. He
wrinkled his nose and took another long drink.

"Spicy isn’t it?" Charlie asked with a big
grin. He took another big bite and chewed happily. "What country
was this from again?"

"Ethiopia," Dani said absently. "Thomas,
you're killing me." He shoved the notebook away from him.

"What class is that for?" I asked.

"Climate," Thomas said. "And what? Is it
wrong?"

"It's a disaster," Dani laughed. "I'm getting
a headache just looking at it."

"Excuse me for not having a Master's Degree
in Environmental Science," Thomas said.

Dani rolled his eyes and picked the notebook
back up. I frowned. Was Thomas implying that Dani had a Master's
Degree? Less than ten minutes ago I had read that he had another
semester to go before getting a B.S. and was only turning
twenty-two in the fall. Even if he had already graduated, there was
no way Dani could have a Master's.

"Are you just making stuff up?" Dani
demanded. He flipped through a couple of pages. "This entire page
is wrong too!"

"What?" Thomas yelped. He frowned at the page
in confusion. "How is this wrong?" Dani started to smirk and Thomas
narrowed his eyes at him. "You're such a dick! Is
any
of
this wrong?"

"Nope."

Thomas glared. "I might kill you."

"Come on, Tommy. You know I only tease you
because I have a secret crush on you."

"God help me," Thomas muttered. "And don't
call me that."

"He gets to." Dani jabbed his thumb in TS'
direction.

Thomas glared. "That's because he isn't
referring to the rock opera."

"Can't prove that I am," Dani said.

Thomas sighed and rolled his eyes. "Except I
know that you are."

"For a deaf, dumb, and blind kid, you really
are observant," Dani said.

Thomas groaned. "Charlie, do something,
please."

Charlie held up his hands helplessly. "Don't
drag me into this, I'm innocent."

"I’m knackered, I'm going to bed," TS
announced. He stood slowly, grabbed his tray, and headed off.

"Is he sick?" I asked.

They all exchanged a strange look.

"It’s a boat," Thomas said. "We’ve all been
sick."

"Actually, it’s a ship," Dani corrected.

"I will murder you in your sleep," Thomas
told him.

"I'll leave the door unlocked for you,"
Mariana said.

"Well, if you’ll excuse me, I’ll make sure
Teth finds his way to bed," Thomas stood and nodded to me. "Night,
guys." He turned to me. "Sleep well. I’ll keep my promise if you
will."

I nodded. I couldn’t meet this Jon guy fast
enough. Charlie returned to his food and Dani pushed the fish bones
on his plate around. I followed their lead and quickly finished
eating. The Ethiopian food was so spicy that I kept refilling my
water. The pitcher ran out and I looked around for more.

"Can have mine." Charlie pushed his glass
toward me. He kept eating and I realized he hadn’t once taken a sip
of water.

"Aren’t you thirsty? This stuff is really
spicy."

"I like it hot," Charlie said with a wink. He
winced and glared at Dani, who looked smug and I assumed he had
kicked Charlie under the table.

Dani slid out his chair and stood. "I should
get going. I still have that essay for L.A. History."

"I’m done too," I said.

"Yeah, me too," Mariana agreed.

The four of us took up our trays and then
headed down to Deck Four. Dani, Mariana, and I peeled off into the
corridor and Charlie continued down the stairs to Deck Three.

"Night," Dani said, stopping at his room.

"Sweet dreams," Mariana added.

"Goodnight."

I curled up on my bed with a textbook and
read. When Laurie came back to the room she asked me to proofread
her Latin American History essay. I offered her mine in exchange.
When we were done reading and correcting we turned on the TV. The
first channel was the Ship channel. We watched for a moment as the
little icon of the ship sailed closer to Panama. When the screen
changed to a display of announcements we changed channels again. A
special on the Panama Canal, a movie, and another movie. The second
movie was just starting, so we put that on and laid back.

Before I knew it Laurie’s alarm was going
off. I rolled over and waited the twenty minutes until mine went
off before I got up to shower. I got out just as she was getting
back from the gym. We went up to breakfast together and grabbed a
table with Carrie from my Plants class and a girl from one of
Laurie’s classes. TS walked by and nodded to me. I smiled and
nodded back. He sat down with a couple of Professors nearby, but
true to Thomas’ word, not at my table. Maybe they really were going
to ease up. He looked a lot better this morning and dug right into
what looked like nothing but bacon and sausage.

During Latin American History Dani sat a
couple of rows behind me, but once again not close enough to be a
pain. Charlie walked near, but not with, me to our Plants class. I
sat down next to Carrie and Charlie sat on her other side. Nobody
showed up to my other two classes. After Spanish I got a smoothie
and stretched out on deck in the sun. I noticed Thomas settle into
a nearby lounge chair with a book a couple of minutes later, but he
didn't talk to me. They left me alone during dinner as well. I
noticed that TS, Thomas, and Charlie ate alone and wondered where
Dani and Mariana were. I still didn’t see them when everyone
gathered in the Latin American History classroom for an evening
lecture about docking in Panama.

Later that night I crept into a classroom to
find a quiet place to study. A few people were studying, but most
were finished and were all wandering the ship
,
being loud. About an hour went by before I heard some
voices outside the door. I recognized Charlie’s voice and closed my
book to listen. It sounded like a study-group. I was about to
return to my book when a loud song started to play. I looked in the
direction of the door curiously; it was
Part of Your World
from
A Little Mermaid
. A silhouette outside of the frosted
glass door stood and started for the door.

"Excuse me," Charlie said.

I could see his shadow moving toward the
classroom door. Before I realized what I was doing I had dropped
down out of my desk and slid behind a couch. Was I seriously hiding
from Charlie? The door opened and he stepped in,
Part of Your
World
still blaring. He closed the door again and I felt my
heart beating wildly. This was ridiculous. Charlie was part of some
strange secret, yes, but I felt almost scared. From the way my
heart was pounding at the thought of him finding me I could have
been hiding from a murderer or something. I closed my eyes and
pressed my back against the couch. Too late to stand back up, I'd
look like a total idiot. The song stopped abruptly.

"Hey," Charlie said. "What’s up?...Danio? Why
are you calling me on Mariana’s phone?"

A cell phone ringtone, of course. I almost
laughed at myself.

"Toasty," Charlie said with a laugh. "Well, I
guess it’ll end up part of a coral reef or something...Of course
I’m laughing at you…What? You aren’t seriously considering looking
for it, do you realize how hard it would be to find a phone in the
ocean?...I thought as much. Anyway, did you get there alright?
...Of course I was worried! You know how I feel about water."