More than Magic: Semester Aboard (11 page)

"Hey," I said. I noticed that he had a tattoo
around his upper arm and almost laughed; I was pretty sure it was
tribal style flames. The dark ink accentuated his arm muscles and I
quickly averted my eyes, hoping he hadn't noticed the once-over.
Instead, I looked at Dani. He arched an eyebrow at me and smirked.
Embarrassed, I quickly held up the reject wands before he could say
anything. "Brought you something."

"Toasty! Thanks!" Charlie said. "Those will
be great. I love wand wood and it's usually really hard to come
by." He came into the room and started digging through a
drawer.

"Oh slack tide, those were all folded!" Dani
cried. He groaned and flopped back onto his bed. "You're killing
me, C."

"Do you have any more night shirts?" Charlie
asked. As he turned I saw a second tattoo. There was a small,
simple outline of a triangle and another shape, which looked like a
square without a bottom, on his chest.

"Top drawer," Dani growled.

Charlie successfully found a ratty looking
college shirt and pulled it on. "Thanks. Mark didn't give me a
chance to get a change of clothes." He held up one of the shirts he
had unfolded. "You want me to fold these?"

"No, I'll do it," Dani sighed. "And I
couldn't help but notice you bogarted my boxers too. What am I
supposed to do?"

"You have a pair on and I only need them for
one night," Charlie said.

I realized that the couch must have been
turned into a bed for Charlie. If his roommate had kicked him out
then Dani and Mariana's couch would have been a perfect place to
crash for the night.

"So," Charlie said to me. "Where's the
wand?"

"Here," I said, pulling it out from under my
sweatshirt. "Thomas said I should keep it nearby, but I might just
hide it in my room, I'm not sure how I'd carry it all day."

"I'd keep it," Dani said. "You never know
when you'll need it."

"Will I need it? We're surrounded by norm- I
mean, non-magic people. What would I need it for?"

"Well, in my experience the one time you
don't have something to defend yourself with is the one time you'll
actually need it," Dani said. I must have looked worried because he
quickly added, "Not that you'll need anything to defend yourself
with! I just like to swim with the ‘better safe than sorry’
current."

"That does make sense," I said. I'd gotten
the impression that MES did some police sort of stuff. It seemed
logical that Dani liked to have something just in case. He didn't
have a wand though, so I wondered what he considered a weapon. I
couldn't resist a quick glance around the room for something like a
trident and immediately felt embarrassed.

Charlie held out his hand. "Well? Give me
some sparks. Let's see you in action."

"In your hand?" He nodded and I hesitated.
Thomas had said I couldn't hurt anybody but... "I don't want to
burn you."

All three of them laughed. A ball of fire the
size of a tennis ball flared up in Charlie's hand and then went
out. "You couldn't if you tried."

Yeah, I probably couldn't burn a fire
elemental. I really had a lot to learn. Flushing, I aimed my wand
at his palm and pictured sparks. "
Mar
," I said. Only a few
weak sparks appeared. They flashed and vanished. "Oh, that wasn't
very good." I was disappointed, but none of them seemed to think I
should be.

"You'll get better," Charlie said. "You're
probably tired anyway."

"I'm impressed," Mariana said.

"Looked pretty good for a new witch to me,"
Dani said. He put a hand on my head and ruffled my hair with a
grin.

"The sparks were better earlier," I said.

Dani chuckled. "Remind you of anyone?" he
asked.

Charlie grinned. "Sure does. My niece," he
added for my benefit. He frowned. "I still haven't found a good
birthday gift for her and she spent a lot on me this year."

"That's right," Dani said. "We better find
something, I don't want to get set on fire."

"We're not getting back until the end of
August, there's time," Mariana said. "And, while we're on the
subject of time, I still need to use the bathroom."

Charlie laughed. "Yeah yeah."

"I'm next!" Dani protested.

"There's room for two," Charlie said.

"There's hardly room for one," Dani said.
"And, you're using
my
toothbrush!"

"Goodnight, Jen," Charlie said. He went back
into the bathroom and the lock audibly clicked.

"Did you just lock me out of my own
bathroom?" Dani demanded. He banged a fist on the door and stood
back glaring. His eyes were still a cheery blue and he was
smirking. "Well," he sighed, turning to me. "Have a great night,
Jen. I'll see you bright and early."

"Goodnight, Dani. Night, Mariana!"

"Sleep well, Jen," Mariana said. "Good luck
with your wand!"

I ended up hiding my wand in the drawer right
by my bed, hoping it was close enough to make a difference. I was
asleep seconds after my head hit the pillow.

Chapter 8

As it turned out, I didn't see Dani, or
anyone else, bright and early. When Laurie got back from her
workout she informed me that our Latin American History professor
was sick and class was canceled. I gratefully slept in an extra
hour and then met up with Charlie in our Plants class. Carrie was
out sick too and the professor spent a while discussing medicinal
herbs to prevent seasickness before he turned the lecture to our
upcoming test. I spent more of my next class in dismay, looking
over the huge study guide I had gotten. Spanish, thankfully, went
quickly and I went up on deck for a smoothie. TS was already up
there. He abandoned his table to join me in line and ordered a
smoothie with an immune system booster. After we got our drinks he
shoved some papers aside and I sat down with him.

"Do you like smoothies?" I didn't think he
liked fruit at all.

"Not really." He picked up a pen and a
notebook and started writing.

"Are you getting sick?" The immune booster
bit had caught my attention. Thomas had said we didn't get sick
often and TS had looked a bit off more than once. I worried that
maybe he did have some sort of magical disease.

He shook his head. "I'm grand." He turned a
page in his book and started writing again.

I pulled out my own study guide with a
sigh.

TS chuckled. "Got a test too?"

I nodded and pulled out a pen. He capped his
own pen, picked up another, and wrote something else.

"Color coded?" I guessed.

TS nodded and held it out for me to see.
"Blue is what I don't know, black is what I keep mixing up, and
probably red is what I already have down. Feel free to steal my
pens if you need them."

"Thanks. Wait, probably red?" That was an odd
way of putting it.

He held up the red pen he was currently
using. "Well, for all I know, or care for that matter, it's green.
I just find that red is usually a safe bet with pens." He scribbled
something with it and switched colors again.

I hesitated and, hoping I wouldn't offend
him, carefully asked, "Are you colorblind?"

TS looked at me like I was crazy. "I'm a
werewolf."

When it seemed like he wasn't going to say
anything else I asked, "So?"

He frowned and then laughed. "Sorry! I think
you might be the first magic who hasn't, you know, known all about
magics, that I've ever hung out with. I haven't really stopped to
think about how much you don't know."

"Oh...are all werewolves colorblind?"

TS nodded. "Makes seeing at night super easy
though."

"You can see in the dark too?" I was a bit
jealous that Mariana and Dani had been able to sit in the dark and
read.

"You could too," he laughed. "You have a
wand."

I grinned; I hadn't really taken the time to
think about what exactly I could do. "Like a flashlight!"

TS chuckled. "I was thinking you could just
give yourself night vision, but I suppose that works too."

Wow, that sounded even better. I reached into
my sweatshirt pocket and felt my wand. I couldn't wait to try. The
thought of night vision gave me an idea.

"Aren't there any spells that could let you
see colors?

"Been there, done that," TS said. "It was
em...interesting. It was nice to get an idea of what something like
red actually is, but it was a bit disorienting too. And a little
overwhelming." He shrugged. "In my opinion, I'm not missing
anything."

"Wait," I said, confused. "You're human now
though, right? If werewolves are colorblind, can't you see colors
during the day?"

"I may be human right now, but I'm still a
magic. And more importantly, a werewolf." To prove his point, he
leaned across the table and licked my cheek. It was both disturbing
and adorably dog-like at the same time.

He went back to his studying and I tried to
do the same. But I couldn't concentrate, all of the plant names and
species on my study guide kept swirling together and I couldn't get
over the fact I was sitting at a table with a
werewolf
. My
thoughts wandered back to how Thomas had mentioned familiars. I was
curious about them. I'd never had a pet before and the thought of a
talking animal was exciting. I was also worried about what had
happened to Thomas' too.

"Hey, TS?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you think there are things you could tell
me that Thomas can't?"

TS set his pen down and looked at me
curiously. He tilted his head, exactly like a confused dog, and if
he hadn't looked so worried I would have laughed. "What
things?"

"Like, about familiars."

Understanding flashed across his face and he
sighed. "I can do that."

"So," I said, glad he was going to answer my
questions, "what exactly is a familiar? I mean, I've read about
them."

"Oh?" I could just see the tip of his tongue
and realized he was trying not to laugh.

"What?"

"You've read about them. In fantasy books?"
TS laughed and closed his notebook. "This might take a while," he
said, ignoring my indignant look. "Humor me; what have you
read?"

"Well..." I thought of all of the different
books familiars were featured in and tried to summarize them.
"They're like an animal or a spirit or something and a wizard
summons them and then they help the wizard?"

TS burst out laughing. "This is why I stick
with Sci-Fi," he said, shaking his head. "Right, shall I assume
that up until a couple of days ago you didn't believe any of the
nonsense you read?"

I nodded.

"Keep it that way. To be fair, sometimes,
very rarely, there are a couple of things that someone gets right.
However, if I were you I'd keep a healthy dose of skepticism about
all of that. In fact, if you ever have a question about something,
please don't just assume that what you read was right, just ask
it."

"That's sort of what Thomas said."

"Then we're both right." TS scooted his chair
a bit closer to me and leaned forward. "Back to your question:
familiars," he said softly. "Familiars, first of all, aren't just
an animal. They're just as intelligent as you and me. Fend is a
raven, but he's a magical one. Comparing Fend to a non-magic raven
would be like comparing me to a Chihuahua. A familiar is a person.
They become your friend. You and your familiar will be partners,
equals, and probably closer than friends."

Less than a week ago it would have sounded
impossible. Now it was hard to imagine, but I knew it was real and
it sounded incredible.

"How does someone become your familiar?"

"You bond."

"Bond?"

TS chewed his lip in thought. "I'm not sure
how to explain it...Werewolves have our own different type of bond,
so I've just sort of always had an idea about it. It's a magical
bond that allows you to sense each other."

"Sense each other?"

"Emotions, feelings, pain, things like that,"
TS said. "Even if Fend had stayed in New York when Jon came here
they would have been able to sense each other. They'd know if the
other was alright and everything. That's why your familiar becomes
closer than a friend. Hell, you'll end up closer than family."

"That sounds amazing."

"Yeah," he laughed. He leaned forward and
said softly, "So, if your familiar dies..."

I wasn't sure what to say. I couldn't imagine
how awful it must have been for Thomas, no wonder he didn't want to
talk about it. "How old was Thomas when his died?"

TS sighed and was quiet for a moment. "He was
nineteen."

Oh my god. That was what, only two, maybe
three years ago? I had assumed it wasn't that recent; Thomas had
acted like it had been ages. Suddenly, an awful thought occurred to
me. "When did he lose his magic?"

"Same time."

"Is that-" I paused, wondering how to word
it. "Is his magic gone because he lost his familiar or is it the
other way around?"

"Neither. It's not em...it's not quite
related like that. Usually if you lose your familiar you get
another. And if you do have a familiar, you're normally not going
to lose your magic."

"But Thomas did."

TS nodded. "Don't worry though. What happened
to Tom was a...a freak thing. It won't happen to you."

"But my familiar could die, right?"

"It's possible. I'm afraid it happens, but
you'd be able to get another if you wanted."

I wondered what it would be like to be that
close to somebody and then to share the same bond with someone
else. "It isn't like replacing them though, right?"

"No." The chair next to me scraped out and
Thomas sat down. He set a smoothie on the table and tapped a straw
absently on the lid for a moment, then spoke. "A new familiar is a
completely different person. Just because you get a second familiar
doesn't mean you love the first one any less. Or any more, for that
matter. They both have their own personalities, likes, dislikes."
He smiled sadly. "Who knows, you might even get lucky the second
time around and have an even stronger bond. But, it still doesn't
change how you felt before."