More than Magic: Semester Aboard (28 page)

"If you say so..." To be fair, that did seem
true so far.

"Trust me. You'll just have to get used to
age gaps. They're usually pretty large. I mean, the fact that
Thomas and I are only two years apart is extremely rare. Most
magics don't have friends that close to them in age. I suppose it's
odd to someone who isn't used to it, but eventually you won't give
it a second thought."

We caught up to the group and fell silent as
we boarded the bus. It was so full we weren't able to sit together.
I sat quietly, staring out the window. I felt a little overwhelmed
again. Magic. I watched the dunes and distant mountains fly by as I
thought. The fact they had neglected to mention that they were all
immortal was annoying, but I could actually see why they hadn't.
For one thing, I was having a bit of a hard time accepting it. This
was exactly the sort of thing Thomas had been talking about.
Finding out about magics and the fact my friends were immortal all
in one night would have been too much. When the world outside began
to darken and fade I remembered that I had cast my night vision
spell. Nobody else could even see out of the windows like I could.
It was amazing to think that I was already taking magic for
granted. That was exactly what they had been trying to tell me. It
was possible they had forgotten to tell me they were immortal
because they were too used to it. It wasn't something they thought
about and it didn't occur to them that I didn't know. I sighed and
stared at the blackness outside the bus, already wishing I could
cast my spell again. I almost laughed out loud. It really was
amazing just how far I had come since the night I met Jon.

Jon.

I jerked upright in my seat. The guy next to
me looked at me in surprise.

"You ok?"

"Y-yeah," I managed. "Just uh...I'm
fine."

But my head was spinning. Thomas had said
that Jon had taken in him after his parents died. Jon was like his
father. But Thomas was sixty-two and Jon didn't look a day older
than I was. Jon was immortal too. My heart was pounding. Jon was a
wizard. If he was immortal then...then so was I. The bus stopped at
a small restaurant for dinner. I ended up, much to my dismay, at a
different table than Charlie. I hardly tasted the food. I was
vaguely aware that it was good, but all I could think of was the
possibility that I was immortal too. By the time dinner was over I
was so convinced that I honestly wasn't sure if I had started
making up reasons to support my theory or if the clues had been
there all along. Charlie and I walked together back to our room,
but there were too many people around us.

"You look like you're about to combust," he
commented. "You ok?"

I nodded. He let me into the room first and
the door had barely shut when I whirled to face him. "Am I immortal
too?" I demanded.

Charlie's jaw dropped. For a long moment he
just stared at me. "W-what?"

"Am I?" I repeated uncertainly.

"Thomas...Thomas said he told you."

I shook my head. "He told me that
he
was. He didn't mention anything about the rest of you or...or
me."

Charlie's face turned bright red and his eyes
flared furiously. After a moment he took a deep breath and the
flickering in his eyes slowed and dimmed from red to orange. "I
don't even know what to say," he said with a helpless shrug.
"Ashes, I'm sorry. Here I am going on and on about how we're all
immortal and you're sitting there with no idea that I was including
you. I'm sorry this must be...this is probably a pretty big
shock."

"So I am?"

"Yeah."

I sat down on the edge of the bed, heart
still pounding. Charlie sat next to me. We sat in silence for a
while. I was immortal. I almost couldn't believe it, and yet I felt
like I should have realized it sooner.

"I can't believe I didn't figure it out," I
said. "I noticed that Jon looked really young, but never gave it
another thought."

"You didn't know we were immortal then."

"How old is Jon?" If Thomas saw Jon as a
father then Jon would have to be a lot older than Thomas. Was he
eighty? Ninety?

"Oh, man...I think he's...two-hundred
and....fifty....something. Eight?"

"He's over two-hundred years old?" I
yelped.

Charlie nodded.

"So, when you say immortal you mean...."

"Yeah. Immortal. We don't age and we don't
die."

"But I'm aging."

He laughed. "For now. We stop in our early
twenties. You're probably already slowing down."

"Wow." I thought of the other half of what he
had said. "We don't die?"

"Not naturally." Dark red sparks flashed in
his eyes as he answered.

I realized then just how serious the other
night had been. It would have been horrible if Dani had died, but
that went without saying. Now that I knew they were immortal I
realized that in a way it would have been even more of a tragedy.
They'd been dating for a length of time that humans considered a
milestone and had every reason to expect to be together forever. I
shivered at just how close they had come to losing each other. No
wonder they had both seemed so shaken. I felt bad for reminding him
and wasn't surprised when he changed the subject.

"I heard some people say they were going to
explore the town a bit. Want to?"

"Sure, why not?" I said.

It seemed that everyone on our trip had
decided to go exploring. Every time we entered one of the little
shops in the town someone on our trip was already inside. The town
was packed with tourists, but all it took was one look down the
busy street to see
Semester Aboard
emblazoned across shirts.
It was quite late when we got back to our room, but I wasn't tired.
Even as I shopped, immortality hadn't been far from my mind. After
I was ready for bed I grabbed a textbook I had brought and settled
in to study. Just for the novelty of it, I cast my night vision
spell so I could read with the light off. After Charlie finished
brushing his teeth he grabbed a book and settled in next to me. The
bed was almost instantly warmer.

"Mind if I turn on the light?" he asked,
holding up his book.

"I thought you could see in the dark too."
He'd been making his way around without any trouble so far.

He shook his head. "Not exactly. I have
thermal vision. It's essentially night vision, but it has a few
limits, one of which is reading. The words are the same temperature
as the page they're printed on, which means they show up as the
same color to me." He opened the book and shrugged. "So, these
pages could be blank for all I know."

"Oh. Sure, you can turn on the light." He
reached right for the lamp without hesitating. I wondered just what
the world looked like to him at night.

Then he turned on the light and I squeezed my
eyes shut a split second too late. For a moment it was painfully
bright, like looking directly at a light bulb. I blinked a few
times to get used to the light. Even once I was used to it the room
was unusually bright. The light, even through the lampshade, was so
powerful it almost stung.

"Is there a way to turn off spells?" I
asked.

Charlie frowned. "I think so, but I'm afraid
I have no idea how. Do you want me to turn off the light?"

"No, my spell will wear off soon anyway."

We both started reading and I looked up when
I was done with a chapter and saw that everything was a normal
brightness again. Not long after that, we both went to sleep. Once
again the night was nice and warm, and when I woke up Charlie,
thankfully, was entirely on his side of the bed. We spent the day
taking the bus all over the area again. We hiked through a canyon,
ate a delicious lunch in a tiny restaurant, saw ruins and a museum,
and spent the evening shopping and exploring. After dinner Charlie
and I returned to our room for the last night in Chile. We hadn't
really talked about magic at all during the day, which was a
relief. I was still letting it all sink in and it was nice to just
mull it over in the back of my mind. We were just about to go to
bed when someone knocked on the door. Charlie frowned at the door
and stood.

"Huh. It's another fire," he said softly.

"How can you tell?"

"Ask me later." He walked over to the door
and paused. I expected him to call out something like "who's
there?" but instead he started hissing and clicking his tongue. I
had been right; his hissing was a language. After a pause, he
opened the door. The girl on the other side looked Chilean, except
for her hair. It fell nearly to her waist and was a beautiful mix
of red, orange, and blonde streaks. At first I assumed she was my
age, but then I realized that if we really didn't age, she could be
even older than Charlie! I edged closer and realized that they were
both hissing and clicking softly. It almost sounded like a campfire
popping and crackling. The girl, or old woman for all I knew,
handed an envelope to Charlie and then left.

"What was that about?" I asked.

"Letter for you."

He held it out. I took it in surprise and
opened it. It was from Jon!

Jennifer,

I have been briefed on the situation. First,
I must thank you for what you did. I think of Danio as a son and
for saving him you have my eternal gratitude. I also must apologize
for putting you in danger. As a MES official all of you are my
responsibility and I regret that you have been placed in such
difficult circumstances.

Because you are involved in MES business, and
for what you have done for us, I have placed you on my payroll as a
summer intern. I took the liberty of opening an account with the
MCU for you, which you would have found necessary upon returning
home. Enclosed you will find your new debit card.

I saw to it that you received a hiring bonus,
as well as pay for your time since you left Panama. I understand
that Thomas is instructing you in magic and so billed it as
official field training. As, again, you are working with MES, you
will be reimbursed in full for your tuition and other costs.

Take care and thank you again for all that
you have done and are doubtlessly still doing.

Jon Kiyosugi

Wordlessly I picked up the debit card that
had fallen out of the envelope. I held the letter out to Charlie
who quickly read it.

"Toasty!" he said.

"I can't accept this!"

"Why not?"

"It's generous enough to pay for my tuition!
I can't accept money too! And making me an intern is just insane!
I'm not doing anything!"

Charlie shrugged. "You're spending more than
enough time mixed up in MES business to be an intern. And, to be
fair, you're probably learning more than Mariana is seeing as
you've only just found out that you're a magic."

"But..."

"Not to mention MES summer intern will look
great on your resume."

"Really?"

"Oh yeah. Pretty much everyone works with MES
in some capacity at one time or another. No matter where you work
you'll probably find someone linked with MES and a little MES
involvement on your resume will be handy."

I turned the debit card over in my hands. I
really hadn't expected this. "It's just...so generous."

"It's like the letter says," Charlie said,
handing it back to me. "Jon thinks of Dani like a son and Thomas,
for all intents and purposes,
is
his son. He's always
extremely generous with both of them and anyone they care about.
Plus this way you get a good insurance..." He trailed off and
cleared his throat.

"Insurance?"

"Spoke before I thought," he said with a
wince. "If you're...injured. MES will pay the medical bills. And if
something...worse happens, there's also life insurance. You know,
for your family. But," he quickly added, "nothing is going to
happen to you."

I swallowed nervously. Life insurance. I
couldn't imagine how Rachel would feel if she got the news that I'd
been killed. Suddenly, an awful thought occurred to me. "Charlie?
If...if the vampire kills me what will they tell my stepmother?
She's not magic."

Charlie chewed his lower lip nervously for a
moment. "They'll make something up," he admitted softly. "You don't
have to worry about that though, I promise, you'll get home safe
and sound."

I sighed and looked down at my new magical
debit card again. I had known that I'd never be able to tell
Rachel, or any non-magic, about any of this, but it was awful to
think that if I was killed by something magical Rachel would never
know the truth. On the bright side, if it was a bright side, she'd
at least get money to help pay for funeral costs. I wondered if
that had been part of Jon's reasoning when he signed me up as an
intern. I thought of what Charlie had said about Jon being generous
with people that Thomas cared about and felt a small smile. I
immediately felt a bit silly. I started digging through my purse
for my wallet and tried to think of a way to change the subject.
Charlie had said that Thomas basically was Jon's son.

"Does Jon have any kids?" He was certainly
old enough. He could probably have great-grandchildren older than I
was.

Charlie shook his head. "His wife's a
dryad."

"What's a dryad?"

"Wood elemental."

I couldn't help but smile a little at the
thought of another kind of magic. I wondered what dryad's looked
like. "And wood elementals can't have children?" I guessed.

"They can with other wood elementals. But
not, for example, with a wizard."

"Oh." They all looked so human it was
sometimes hard to remember that they weren't. It hadn't occurred to
me that different types of magics would be so different. "Can you
and Dani have kids?"

Charlie smirked. "Not unless there's
something he needs to tell me."

I realized how my question had sounded and
blushed. "I meant because you're different elementals."