More than Magic: Semester Aboard (33 page)

"Don't you...never mind." I had asked enough
stupid questions.

"What?"

I shook my head. "Forget it."

Thomas shrugged. "I'm going to wait a bit to
let you recover, you might as well ask."

"I read too much. I figured that vampires
would like the taste of blood."

Thomas looked down, like he couldn't meet my
eyes. "That's why I avoid it."

"Oh." I wasn't sure what to say to that.
"This might sound stupid," I began nervously, "but if you have to
drink it anyway...why not enjoy it?"

I was worried that I'd upset or offend him,
but to my surprise he laughed. "That wasn't stupid. Actually it was
maddeningly insightful." He sighed and leaned against the back of
the couch. "I do. Rarely, but I do. The thing is, I'm not human.
Don't get me wrong, I've accepted that I'm a vampire. If my turning
had been...different and if I didn't have to drink blood I'd
probably even enjoy it. I mean, I'm by no means unhappy, it's
just...tough sometimes. But regardless of how I feel about it, I'm
still not human. That means I have instincts that aren't human.
There are some situations, feeding being one of them, where my
reactions are a bit...well for lack of a better word, inhuman."

I thought of his voice when I had interrupted
him right before he bit me and nodded. "That makes sense. I'm
sorry. I feel like I keep asking you all sorts of awful questions.
I just..." I shrugged helplessly. "There's so much I don't know
about magics. It's just fascinating and I've..." He waited
expectantly. I bit my lip nervously, hoping I wasn't blushing.
"I've always liked vampires." I didn't think he could possibly have
looked more shocked. "I just want to learn everything I can," I
added. It sounded lame as soon as I said it.

Thomas laughed, still looking shocked.
"You're something else, Jennifer. You really are."

I blushed even more. "Thanks," I mumbled.

"No, thank you," he said softly. He put a
hand on my knee. "For everything. I...I really needed that. And I
really, really appreciate that you did this for me."

"Of course. Let me know when you need
more."

He actually looked surprised that I was
willing to let him do it again. "I...thank you. Ready to go to
sleep?"

"Yeah." I didn't feel light-headed or
anything, but I was pretty tired.

Thomas took my hand and helped me to my feet.
I felt a bit unsteady and he held me up until I got my balance.
"You ok?" he asked.

I nodded. "Just a little wobbly."

Everyone in the bedroom was ready for bed
too. TS was curled up on the floor and looked sound asleep. Charlie
was sitting in bed reading. Dani and Mariana were nowhere to be
seen.

"Fishing?" Thomas asked.

Charlie nodded. "They'll be back soon. How
are you, Jen?"

"Fine."

Thomas got me the other smoothie
.
I had just settled into bed with it and I was nearly
finished when I heard a thump. Mariana flung open the door to the
balcony and stormed into the room. She was still soaking wet and
looked mad. Dani was right behind her. He whistled something.

"Can't understand you anymore," Mariana
snarled.

"I said-" Dani began.

"And I said I don't want to hear it! You're
overreacting!"

Dani threw up his hands. "I am
not
overreacting! All I said was I wish you had told me!"

"That isn't what you said!"

"It's what I
meant
! At least let me
dry you off before you soak the entire room."

Mariana stopped, back still to Dani, and
crossed her arms. "Fine."

Dani held a hand a few inches from her back
and I watched as Mariana's hair and clothing started drying.

"It isn't a big deal," Mariana grumbled.

"It's not a big deal," Dani said. "But it
still shouldn't be a spur of the moment thing. You should
have-"

"Oh my God, Dani!
You
have five!"
Mariana said. She turned to Charlie. "Tell him he's
overreacting!"

"About?" Charlie asked.

Thomas waved to me, then hurried into the
other room. He had apparently woken TS too. TS stood, shook, and
then trotted into the room after him.

Dani pointed at Mariana's stomach.
"That!"

Mariana tugged the waistband of her
swim-skirt down a couple of inches. "This." There was a small black
tattoo on the side of her stomach.

"Oh," Charlie said. "What exactly is it?"

"It's a fish petroglyph from Easter Island,"
Mariana said proudly.

"So you
just
got it?"

Mariana nodded.

Charlie shrugged. "Well, first of all, it's
cute. I'm not sure what Dani said, but a tattoo
isn't
exactly something to rush into."

"You didn't give Ember a hard time when she
got hers," Mariana said.

"That's because we talked it over. And I went
with her," Charlie said. "You don't want to just go out and get a
random tattoo. The potions to remove them are incredibly expensive,
not to mention they don't always work."

"A potion isn't going to work on
this
one," Dani grumbled.

Charlie's eyes flared and his jaw dropped.
"You got a non-magic tattoo?" he cried.

Mariana pulled her skirt back up over it.
"There aren't exactly a ton of magics doing tattoos on Easter
Island."

"That's completely different!" Charlie cried.
"Ashes, Mariana! That might never come off! Not to mention the
risks! You could get an infection and-"

"It's already healed," Mariana said.

The flames in Charlie's eyes were wild. He
took a deep breath and, to my surprise, Dani rushed forward and
clamped a hand over Charlie's mouth.

"You know what, it's done," Dani said. "We
don't want to say anything we'll regret." He turned to Mariana. "I
wish you'd told me first. I would’ve even gone with you if you'd
wanted. And I would have at least liked to talk it over and make
sure you were sure about it. Go get ready for bed."

Mariana hesitated, then glanced at Charlie
and hurried into the bathroom. Dani removed his hand and Charlie
sighed. His eyes were still bright, but the flames were
slowing.

"Thanks for that," Charlie said softly. "I
was about to erupt there."

"I know." Dani hopped into bed and grabbed a
book off of the nightstand. "It is a splashy looking tattoo. She
has taste, I have to give her that." He looked up at me. "How was
it?"

I shrugged. "It was ok."

He winked. "Good."

I studied him as he settled back to read. I
remembered the star I had seen on his wrist. "Dani? Do you have a
tattoo on your wrist?"

"Which wrist?" he asked. Charlie smacked his
shoulder. Dani chuckled. "Sorry, yes, I do. Why do you ask?"

"Just curious. I saw it and..." The way he
was holding his book gave me a perfect view of his wrist. "Wait...I
don't see it now."

Dani grinned and grabbed a bottle of water
from the nightstand. He poured some over his right wrist and I
watched in awe as a green and black star appeared. "They only show
up when they're wet."

"So, it's magic? That's so cool!" Magic
tattoos. I'd toyed with the idea of getting a tattoo from time to
time, but I'd never settled on something I wanted for the rest of
my life. A tattoo that only appeared underwater would be kind of
neat. It wouldn't be limited by places I'd have to cover.

"You think that one's cool," Dani chuckled,
"Check out this one." He held up his right hand. There was a tiny
black tattoo on his palm, about an inch below his ring finger. It
looked like a little arrow.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Northwest."

"Northwest?" I asked, confused. "Why
northwest?"

He grinned. "Because that's the direction
we're going."

It took me a moment to figure out what he
meant and my jaw dropped when I did. "You have a tattoo that's a
working
compass?"

Dani nodded.

"That's..." I couldn't even finish. I really
wasn't ever going to get used to magic.

Dani grinned and went back to reading. I
studied him again and thought of what Thomas had told me. Even
though I seemed to have a bad habit of asking awful questions, I
knew better than to say anything about it to Dani. I had a million
questions and I was sure that Thomas didn't want to answer them
either. I realized that I could at least narrow down how long ago
it had been. Thomas had said it was before he met Dani.

"Dani? How long have you known Thomas?"

"Hm, that's a good question." Dani stretched
and hummed thoughtfully. "Wow. I've known Thomas for thirty
years."

"God help me," Thomas yelled from the other
room.

Dani laughed and then studied me. "Why do you
ask?"

"No reason," I said innocently. I didn't
think he'd figure out why I was really asking. As I had hoped, Dani
came to the wrong conclusion and smirked.

I settled back in bed and started to wish I
hadn't asked. The answer hadn't really helped me figure out how
long ago it had happened and had only reminded me of how old
everyone was. The only one close to my age was Mariana and they
obviously thought of her as a child. Dani and Charlie had reacted
to her tattoo like parents, not friends. I wondered what they all
really thought of me. As I got lost in thought Mariana came out of
the bathroom. She got in bed and after she was settled I heard her
hum. Dani flashed her a smile and I wondered what she had said to
him.

"By the way, Mariana," Dani said.

"Yeah?" She sounded nervous.

"When you tell your parents, make sure they
know I wasn't involved. I'd hate to be murdered by your
father."

"Ok," Mariana giggled. "What should I tell
Hope?"

Dani wrinkled his nose and didn't answer.

Mariana leaned over to me. "My sister has a
huge crush on Dani."

"Your sister is insane," Dani muttered.

They laughed and I went to take my turn in
the bathroom. The moment the door shut I leaned forward to look in
the mirror. There were two spots on my neck, right over my jugular.
They weren't quite the tiny pinpricks I had been expecting. In
fact, they were really large. They almost hurt to look at and I
couldn't believe I hadn't felt anything. I wondered how deep
Thomas’ fangs had gone. Then I noticed that they weren't scabs,
they were already scars. Fresh scars, but if I had had to guess I
would have thought they were a couple of weeks old. Thomas hadn't
been exaggerating when he had said he could speed up healing.

I was dead tired by the time I finished
getting ready. I double-checked my alarm and then climbed into bed.
We were going to go to class again in the morning and then we just
had to get through one more night before we arrived in Peru. With
that in mind, I drifted off to sleep.

Chapter 19

The day started off without a hitch. We went
to our classes, had lunch, and never spotted any evidence of the
biter. Thomas seemed different. I wasn't sure how to describe it.
There was just something different about him. During lunch I
realized that he seemed happier, more relaxed. He didn't look as
serious and wasn't as quiet as he usually was. I wondered if he was
feeling better now that he'd gotten more blood. It even looked like
there was a bit more color in his cheeks. When our afternoon
classes were over we stayed in our room, just to be on the safe
side.

There was still no sign of the biter when we
went to the pre-port lecture. I was starting to hope that he had
stayed in Chile. The lecture ended a little after ten and we
decided to swing by our old rooms to get fresh clothes and pack for
our next port. We were all in fairly high spirits. In less than
twelve hours, most of it spent asleep, we'd be safely in Peru. I
couldn't decide if I was nervous or excited at the prospect of
being on a trip with Thomas. We split up on Deck Four. Thomas and
TS stayed with me in my room, while the others went to Dani and
Mariana's room. After fifteen minutes we met back up and, suitcases
in hand, headed down to Deck Three. We stopped in Thomas and TS’
room while Dani and Mariana went with Charlie.

We hadn't been in the room for more than a
minute when TS dropped his suitcase and looked around.

"Did you hear that?" he asked. "It sounded
like a dog whistle or something..."

He and Thomas looked at each other, eyes
wide. "Danio!" they both gasped.

Then they dove for the door and out into the
hall. I followed, glad that I had my wand with me. Thomas was off
like a shot and was already in Charlie's room by the time I was
halfway there. The moment Thomas vanished into the room TS
transformed into a wolf and tore down the hall after him. I crammed
into the tiny entryway in Charlie's room behind them. Someone was
shouting and flailing in the middle of the room. It took me a
moment to realize that it was Dani and Charlie's roommate Mark
fighting. Growling, TS lunged forward and Mark whirled around in
shock. Dani tackled him and after a brief struggle had him in a
headlock with one arm wrenched so far behind his back I was
surprised it wasn't broken. Charlie's roommate stopped
struggling.

"You got him?" Thomas asked.

"Yeah." Dani glanced up at Thomas, eyes black
and churning furiously. He adjusted his grip and Mark gasped in
pain. "Hurry up before I typhoon."

"Are you ok?" Thomas said.

"I'll be fine." I hadn't even noticed Charlie
until he answered Thomas. He was leaning heavily against the wall,
looking significantly redder than normal. Thomas went over to him
and I was able to get a better look. I gasped in horror; Charlie
had a hand pressed to his neck and blood, too orange to be human,
was running down his arm. Mariana was standing next to him, holding
a stake and looking terrified.

"Let me see," Thomas said softly.

Charlie lowered his hand. Fresh blood welled
up in two gashes in his neck and wisps of smoke rose from them.
Thomas spat into his hand a couple of times and then pressed it
against Charlie's neck.