More than Magic: Semester Aboard (18 page)

"How was the Galapagos?"

"It was amazing! One night Dani and Mariana
took me to an island and there were water sprites!"

"Oh, how neat."

"It was. I had to get a ride from Dani, which
was sort of awkward at first," I laughed, "but it was so much fun.
I can't believe how fast he swims. Or glides, whatever he
does."

"That would be fun." Charlie looked oddly
wistful. "I'd love to do that."

"You haven't?"

"I'm a fire elemental," he reminded me.
"There's no way I'd be able to go swimming. I could do hot water,
but it would have to be almost too hot for Danio for me to be in it
for any length of time. And if it's too hot for him to swim
comfortably, what's the point?" Charlie shrugged. "Plus, where are
you going to find water hot enough for me with enough room to
really swim anyway?"

"I'm sorry," I said. I felt bad that I could
go swimming with Dani, but Charlie couldn't. I wished I hadn't
brought it up.

"No big deal. I'm the idiot who fell for a
water." He looked over my shoulder. "Look who we have here."

I turned and saw Thomas and TS heading our
way. They both looked fairly pleased. They stopped further away
from the crowd than we were and beckoned us over.

"Good news," Thomas whispered when we joined
him and TS. "They found a dhampir on the ship and nothing else.
It's all clear."

"That is good news," Charlie said. "Anything
else?"

"Got in touch with some officials in Panama,
apparently they've had a few reports of dhampirs showing up on
ships. The problem is that the dhampirs don't cause a problem until
they're out of the Panamanian jurisdiction and haven't been
reported enough to be caught before they disembark," Thomas
said.

"Where are they coming from then?" Charlie
asked.

TS shrugged. "Busy vampire in Panama I
guess." He looked up at the sky with an odd expression. "I don't
know what I would've done tonight if they hadn't caught him."

Charlie looked as confused as I was for a
moment, then his eyes widened in shock. "God, new moon's tonight,
isn't it?"

TS nodded. "I feel sick."

"You're fine," Thomas said. "It's only one
night and there's no threat now."

"Easy for you to say," TS grumbled. He rolled
his shoulders like he was sore. "I hate new moons."

"What exactly is wrong with a new moon?" I
asked. They all looked at me in surprise and I sighed. "Let me
guess, it's common knowledge?"

"Sorry," Thomas said. "It sort of is."

"Werewolves are human during new moons,"
Charlie said.

"You mean they can't turn into wolves or
they're totally human?"

"Human human," TS said.

He looked fairly upset about it and I decided
not to push the issue. We made our way back into line and soon they
inspected our bags and let us board. We made plans to meet up later
in the evening and then headed back to our rooms. Charlie and I
ended up on the same stairway.

"Is it really so awful to be human at night?
I mean, TS is human half the day anyway."

"Yeah, and he hates it. Even though he still
looks human he gets stronger and faster once the sun goes down,
whether he's in his wolf form or not. Werewolves generally aren't
very thrilled about being weak during the day, but they're used to
not worrying about it at night. New moons are sort of hard on
them." He shook his head. "I feel bad, I totally forgot about the
new moon. Poor TS has probably been dreading it for days."

We reached my room and said goodbye. I took a
nice long, hot shower; the water on the yacht had been lukewarm and
it was the first time I had felt clean in four days. I traded
Ecuador stories with Laurie and we went up for dinner together. I
spotted Thomas and TS across the dining room. The sun was down and
TS didn't look very happy. However, he looked completely healthy.
It seemed like he really did only get sick when he was a werewolf.
My theory of a magical disease was getting more and more likely. I
wondered if they were ever planning on telling me what was wrong
with him.

Shortly after dinner everyone started
gathering on deck. I spotted Charlie, TS, and Thomas and joined
them at the rails. People cheered and booed at the runners as the
all-aboard time ticked closer. At last the crew started hauling in
the mooring lines and we began to pull away from the dock.

"Where are Dani and Mariana?" I asked.

"Still swimming," Charlie said. "Less chance
of being spotted if they hop back on later tonight."

"Oh, wow. When will they get here?"

"Probably around one."

That was only a couple of hours away. I
wondered when they had left the Galapagos; it was a long, long way
to swim. The port itself was fairly far up a river, which probably
would have been harder for Dani and Mariana to swim through unseen.
It did, however, make for a neat view; we could see the lights from
houses lining the river as the ship sailed by. It was a strange
contrast from the open ocean I was used to. People lingered on
deck, but soon started heading inside. I groaned when one of them
mentioned our early morning class. I hadn't needed a reminder.
Getting up at the crack of dawn to explore an island had been much
easier, and more pleasant, than getting up for class.

"I have to go study," Charlie said. "I'll be
back when Dani and Mariana are due."

"Yeah, I'll see you then," Thomas said.

"Where will they get back on board?" I asked.
I had a feeling that Dani jumping back up onto the yacht wasn't
nearly as exciting as jumping back onto the ship would be.

"Deck Three, aft," Charlie said.

"That's crew-only, isn't it?" Curiosity had
taken me a few steps down from Deck Four to Deck Three, right up to
the rope that blocked it off from students. I had seen a bunch of
equipment and machinery on the deck.

"Best place for not being seen."

That was true. If you stood at the rails on
the back of Deck Seven you could see the staggered decks all the
way down to the fourth. Deck Three, however, was entirely concealed
by Deck Four, if Dani and Mariana jumped on there, nobody would be
able to see them.

"At one?"

"Right," Charlie said. "See you there?"

"Yeah."

"Catch you later, then."

Charlie headed back inside and not long after
that Thomas, TS, and I did too. With less than two hours to kill I
didn't bother going back to my room. I went into the library and
checked my email. I sent a quick "Ecuador was amazing and I'm back
on the ship!" note to my stepmother and another to Shannon. After
that, I browsed the public folders for pictures of me. A lot of
people were uploading their group shots onto the computers in case
other people wanted them. When I was done it was still only a
little after 12:30. I decided to take a long, winding way down to
Deck Three. I thought the others might appreciate if I scouted
ahead to make sure the coast was clear for Dani and Mariana.

I went up to Deck Seven and out. Nobody was
there; even the snack bar was closed. Most people were probably
already in bed, trying to get as much sleep as they could before
class started. The crew had already stacked the chairs and lounge
chairs against the rails and covered the pool for the night. I
glanced over the rail at the decks below and didn't see anybody. I
went down a set of stairs to Deck Six. It was just as empty as Deck
Seven; nothing but stacked up chairs and tables. Deck Five was just
as empty and Deck Four was even more barren. There wasn't even any
furniture, just a big empty space. I tiptoed down the steps and
stopped by the rope. A little sign that read:
Crew Only - Do Not
Enter
hung from the middle of it. The deck looked empty, so I
ducked under the rope and continued down the stairs.

Deck Three was filled with massive coils of
rope and all sorts of machinery bolted to the floor. The ceiling
was so low I could almost reach up and touch it. It was sort of
dark and creepy. I realized that my wand was still in my room and
groaned. It would have been nice to cast my night vision spell. I
supposed I needed to get in the habit of always having it with me.
I went over to the rail near the stairs and looked down at the dark
water. It looked really far down and even though I knew he could, I
couldn't imagine Dani being able to jump this high out of the
water.

"Good evening."

I nearly jumped a mile at the voice and spun
around. A crewmember was standing behind me.

"Oh, uh...hi."

"It's dangerous to be wandering around here
alone at night."

"Sorry, I'll just go back up to Deck Four." I
couldn't believe I'd gotten caught. I hoped I hadn't just made it
harder for Dani and Mariana to get back on. This guy might decide
to stick around in case I tried to come back.

"What's your hurry?" He stepped forward and
put his arms on either side of me, pinning my back against the
rails. "You don't have to run off." He looked and sounded
Hispanic
.
Alarms started going off in my
head. The crewmembers were all European and Asian. This guy wasn't
a crewmember. He eyed me curiously. "You
smell...strange...mouth-watering..." Then he opened his mouth and
two of his teeth slid down further, out of his gums. He had
fangs
! He chuckled and leaned down toward my neck.

I lunged to the side and tried to duck under
his arm, but he caught me and pulled me back, laughing. I knew it
was useless, but I screamed and kicked at him. All at once he went
flying to the side and slammed into some equipment with a loud
clang.

"Are you ok?" Thomas!

"Yeah," I gasped.

Thomas stepped protectively in front of me
and pushed me back, closer to the stairs. Hands grabbed my
shoulders and I nearly screamed before realizing that it was TS. He
pulled me up a few steps and then moved in front of me. I felt
useless. Cowardly even. Thomas and TS, at the moment, were just
normal humans yet they were protecting me from the vampire. Then
again, even if I had my wand with me I didn't know any spells that
would have been useful. I didn't think he'd feel very threatened by
a couple of sparks. The vampire climbed to his feet and regarded
Thomas for a moment. He looked confused.

Thomas reached a hand under his t-shirt and
pulled out a stake, then the vampire hissed furiously at him. It
was the scariest sound I had ever heard. I felt a chill shoot up my
spine and was sure that my heart skipped a beat. The vampire lunged
at Thomas. They grappled over the stake and for a moment I felt a
surge of hope. Thomas seemed to be holding his own! Maybe they had
been exaggerating about how fast and strong vampires were. It was
probably better to over-estimate them than be unprepared. They
broke apart and the vampire snarled. I heard a soft growling and
realized that it was TS. The vampire rushed toward Thomas again and
this time it was over in an instant. I stared in awe as Thomas
tackled the vampire and then pinned him down. He pressed the stake
against the vampire's chest and for a moment nobody moved.

"I'm a Special Agent with MES," Thomas said
to the vampire. "This ship is under our jurisdiction and you are
under arrest for feeding without permission. If you come quietly
we'll hold you until we can turn you over to the authorities in
Chile. If you resist I am authorized to use deadly force. Do you
understand, dhampir?"

Dhampir
? My jaw nearly dropped. This
guy was just a dhampir? He snarled at Thomas, but Thomas clearly
had him immobilized. Suddenly, Thomas jerked his head up and looked
to the side. That was the only warning I had. There was a blur of
motion and the next thing I knew Thomas had slammed into the rails
a good twenty feet from where he had been. A blonde man was
standing over the dhampir. He was wearing a crew uniform too. He
sneered at the dhampir and said something in Spanish, then turned
his attention to Thomas. Thomas was back on his feet, stake ready.
The newcomer curled back his upper lip and hissed. It was nothing
like the sound the dhampir had made. It was a mix between a snarl
and a hiss, and was utterly inhuman. For a moment I actually
couldn't breathe. I felt like my entire body was literally frozen
in terror. I knew then that this was no dhampir. This man was a
real vampire.

Then he moved and I found out just how fast
vampires really are. One second he was standing over the dhampir,
the next he was across the deck trying to wrestle the stake out of
Thomas' hand. To my amazement Thomas was actually fighting back.
They struggled for a moment and then Thomas broke free from the
vampire's grip and slammed the stake down. The vampire cried out in
pain as the stake lodged, not into his chest, but into his upper
arm. Thomas cursed, yanked the stake back out, and dodged a furious
punch from the vampire. The vampire hissed again, clutching his
injured arm. Then he laughed.

"Special Agent, you said? And how many of us
did you stake to climb your way through the ranks? You make me
sick."

Thomas actually laughed too. "I really don't
think
you're
in a position to question
my
morals."

The vampire snarled and lunged at Thomas
again. The fight was a blur. No wonder Thomas was a Special Agent,
he must have had tons of training to be able to fight like
this.

"God, there are two of them?"

I turned and saw Charlie behind us on the
steps.

"One's a dhampir," TS growled.

As he spoke the dhampir climbed to his feet,
watching the fight with wide eyes. He looked like he was
considering joining in. Charlie pushed past TS and me and ran until
he was between the dhampir and Thomas. Fireballs erupted in his
fists and the dhampir took a startled step backward. Charlie
grinned and moved closer, forcing the dhampir further away from
Thomas and the vampire. Then, the vampire got the upper hand. I
heard a cry of pain and watched in horror as the vampire knocked
Thomas to the deck and stabbed the stake into his chest! Thomas,
miraculously, had caught the vampire's wrist in both hands and
stopped him from bringing the stake all the way down. But the tip
was clearly embedded in his chest. I could see a dark bloodstain
spreading out across his shirt from where the stake was. TS let out
a furious growl and raced toward them.