More than Magic: Semester Aboard (56 page)

Then he left. He was halfway down the
corridor when I called after him. He turned back and looked at me
curiously. I almost wanted to mention the kiss, but now wasn't the
right time. If he didn't remember, or if it didn't mean anything,
it would be an awful way to say goodbye. But if it had meant
something, I didn't think that saying goodbye and then telling
someone you had a crush on them would be any better.

"I'm glad I met you," I said softly. I
half-hoped he wouldn't hear me.

He smiled and called, "Same here!"

There was nothing left to do in my room, so I
went down to Mariana's. There was a stack of four, huge bags
outside the door. All four were a bright shade of lavender. They
looked brand new, but were so full they were almost ripping at the
seams. Before I could knock the door opened and Mariana was there,
dragging out another matching bag.

"Hey!" she said happily.

"Need a hand?"

"Please!"

Together we heaved the bag onto the top of
the pile.

"What's in this?" I asked.

"Souvenirs. I'm glad my mom bought me all
these bags. I needed every inch." She frowned at the pile. "I
should have taken the time to get them spelled."

Dani appeared in the doorway. "Heard that!
Told you so."

Mariana sighed.

"Hey, Jen!" Dani said with a grin. He was
holding a plastic bag with a toothbrush and tube of toothpaste in
it. His grin turned into a frown and he looked around. "Did they
take my bag already?"

"Guess so," Mariana said.

She said it almost too quickly. Dani tilted
his head thoughtfully and regarded the pile. He forced his foot
under the bags and a moment later pulled it out. A frayed,
army-green strap was hooked around his toes.

"That's funny...this one isn't pretty, pretty
purple," he said. He gave it another tug and a few more inches of
the strap slid out, then the pile of bags started to wobble.

"Careful!" Mariana cried.

"Says the girl who just turned my bag into a
pancake."

Mariana rolled her eyes and went back into
the room.

"Sorry, I crushed your stuff with all my
crap," Dani said in Mariana's voice. "Maybe I should have listened
to your sage packing advice." He unzipped the top bag and crammed
his toothbrush in. It just barely fit. "What did you pack, the
Titanic or something?" Mariana didn't answer. Dani just laughed and
turned to me. "You all set?"

"Yeah."

"Why so glum?" he asked.

"I'm not glum."

He slung an arm around my shoulders. "Come
on." We hadn't gone far down the hall when he said softly. "So,
what will we do?"

"Do?"

He moved his hand to my head and fluffed my
hair. "About you and one, Thomas D. Clark."

"Dani!"

"What?" he asked innocently.

I sighed. "There's nothing to do. It wouldn't
work. I don't even know if he likes me! And he's already off the
ship! There's no point. Who knows when I'll even see him
again."

Dani turned and planted both hands on my
shoulders. "Listen carefully; I'm only saying this once. Ok?"

"Ok."

"First, you don't know if it won't work until
you try it. Second, Tom has been one of my best friends for thirty
years. Trust me when I say he does like you. I mean, he couldn't
take his eyes off you during the formal dinner," Dani laughed. "And
you're thinking in mortal terms again. We've all gotten pretty
attached to you. It won't be long before you see Tom, just a blink
of an eye when you're not aging. Magics don't move that fast when
we date. Now, cheer up. It's sad enough that the voyage is over
without you pining over Tom."

"I'm not pining!"

"Good. Cause there's no need to."

He started walking again. I followed,
grudgingly feeling a bit better at the thought that Thomas did like
me. We went up to Charlie's room and had just closed the door when
there was a shout.

"Uncle Dani!"

We both turned in surprise and saw a little
girl race across the room. She jumped up into Dani's arms and gave
him a big kiss. I was glad that Dani looked as shocked as I was.
The little girl was adorable. She had deep blue hair and skin a bit
lighter than Dani's. Bright blue waves swirled in her eyes and she
beamed at Dani.

"This is a surprise," Dani laughed.

"We got here early and she wanted to see her
favorite uncle before he flew home." The speaker was lounging in a
chair. He looked almost exactly like Dani.

"I'm not flying home," Dani said in
confusion.

"I meant him." Dani's double aimed a thumb at
Charlie. Even his smirk was the same.

Dani laughed, set the girl down, and then
crossed the room to the guy who must have been his brother. They
hugged and spoke quietly in Greek for a moment. Then Dani gestured
to me.

"This is Jen. Jen, this is my brother,
Pike."

"Nice to meet you," I said. I held out my
hand for him to shake, but to my surprise Pike hugged me
instead.

"The pleasure is mine. I know what you did
and I can never thank you enough for saving my baby brother."

"It really wasn't-" I froze and stared at
him. "Your
baby
brother?" I looked back and forth between
them. They could have passed for twins if they wanted to. I knew we
didn't age, but I still hadn't gotten used to it. Dani was eighty
and this guy referred to him as his baby brother?

Dani grinned. "Pike's got a couple of decades
on me." He looked down; the little girl had wrapped herself around
his leg. "And this is my niece, Catalina." He glanced at her again
and added, "She wants to be a barnacle when she grows up."

"No, I don't," she giggled. Then she squealed
with delight. Mariana had just come in. Catalina threw herself into
Mariana's arms.

"Hey there," Mariana said in surprise.

"Ma's not here, is she?" Dani asked. He
peered nervously into the living room.

"I told her you were disembarking about five
hours after you really are," Pike said. "Figured we'd go get dinner
or something first. Will you be able to join us, Charlie?"

Charlie shook his head. "I'm afraid my flight
leaves pretty soon."

"Fin-rot. You're the only one I wanted to
see."

The door opened again and TS came in. "Whoa,
it's busy in here. How are you, Pike?"

"Doing good." They shook hands. "Got time for
dinner?"

TS shook his head. "I'm meeting my brothers
after I get off. We're going to road-trip back home. It's gonna be
grand, but we're on a tight schedule. So, we want to leave as soon
as possible. Rugby's already started and the coach won't let me
miss too many practices."

At that moment an announcement came on.
Charlie's Sea was allowed to disembark.

"I'm afraid I have to kick you all out,"
Charlie said. He gave everyone a hug and got a lick from TS. Then
he gave Dani a big hug. "Be safe, don't do anything I
wouldn't."

"You mean like staying underwater for a few
days?" Dani asked with a grin. "Call me when you land. I'll see you
in a week. And send the family my love."

"Will do." They kissed and then Charlie threw
his arms around me. "I'm really going to miss you, Jen," he said,
giving me a tight squeeze. "There's too much to even say. But, keep
in touch. Have a safe flight and all that."

"I will."

Pike gave me another hug and then he and his
daughter jumped off of the ship. The rest of us left Charlie's room
and went up to Deck Seven for the last time. It wasn't long until
it was TS' turn to go. He hugged, and licked, Dani and Mariana. I
was a little envious that they were all going to see each other
again in a few days. Then, TS picked me completely up off of the
ground and licked both of my cheeks.

"I'm going to miss you so, so, so much!" He
set me down and looked at me with sad, puppy eyes. "You have to
drop me a line now and again, alright?"

"I will. And I'll miss you too."

He gave me another hug. "One more thing," he
whispered in my ear. "Tom doesn't kiss just anyone. Remember
that."

I was too stunned to even reply. Then, with a
final wave, TS headed down the stairs to the gangway. And then, it
was our turn. Dani, Mariana, and I all got off the ship together.
We reclaimed our bags and then stood together in silence. I had
been using the fact Mariana needed help with all of her luggage as
an excuse to stay with them. But, I knew I'd have to go to the
airport soon.

"You shipping your bags, Jen?" Dani
asked.

I looked over at the long line of people
waiting to mail their suitcases. We had all returned with a lot
more than we had left with. "I don't think so." I had a new bag,
stuffed with souvenirs, but it wasn't terribly heavy. "But I'll
stick around if you are."

"Not with them," Dani laughed. "Come on."

Mariana and I followed him. We walked along a
row of kiosks filled with knick-knacks and soon came to a fairly
barren one. There was a guy sitting on a stool. I instantly knew he
was a magic; his hair was pure-white and his eyes were moving like
an elemental's. I realized with a start that he was the same kind
of elemental as the one with Nathaniel.

"Shipping?" he asked.

Dani slung the first of Mariana's bags onto
the counter. "Please." He added his as well and the guy handed him
a sheet of paper.

"Fill that out please." He looked at me.
"Shipping too?"

"Sure." I filled out my own form and handed
it back to him. I decided to go ahead and ship both of my bags. I
could wait a few days for my clothes and souvenirs. We left our
bags with him and walked away.

"What was he?" I asked.

"Air elemental," Dani said. Then, he sighed.
"And I'm afraid this is goodbye. I've got to go track down my
brother."

"I need to get to the airport anyway," I
said.

He and Mariana went with me until I found a
cab. Mariana gave me a big hug.

"It's been great. Mostly," she laughed.
"Email me whenever you like. And just as a heads-up, these idiots
want you to
write
letters."

Dani chuckled. "Hey now, I just go with the
flow. You're more than welcome to email me too."

"Ok," I laughed.

Dani hugged me. "Thanks. For everything.
You're something, you know that? Out of everyone on the ship, I'm
glad you're the one who ended up a magic." He grinned, but I could
see a serious splash of gray in his eyes. "Not sure if we'd be here
if you hadn't." Then, he ruffled my hair one last time. "I'll see
you around, Jen."

And then I was alone. I almost couldn't
believe it as I walked through the airport and boarded my plane. I
was going home. The voyage was over.

Chapter 31

I had a book to read on the plane, but
couldn't concentrate on it. I really was happy to be going home,
but at the same time I was sorry the trip was over. I wouldn't have
minded a few more ports. All of the traveling and non-magical
things I had seen had been fantastic. Saying goodbye to everyone,
magic and non-magic alike, had been hard. The fact that I was
saying goodbye to the only other magics I knew made it even
harder.

I'd noticed something in the final days of
the voyage: magic had shaped every aspect of their lives. After
everything that had happened with Nathaniel, I knew that I had
changed. I was a lot different from the person I had been when the
voyage started. Yet, I was still pretty much the same. All of the
things that the others liked and disliked, and even their
personalities were affected by the fact they were magics. They
referenced things from before I was born and I was frequently
reminded of just how old they were. I figured that I'd start doing
that eventually, but being magics changed them in more ways than
just giving them outdated reference points.

In addition to giving him perfect pitch,
being a water elemental gave Dani an incredible memory. Charlie had
listed off all one hundred Latin plant names that were on our final
and Dani memorized it in one go. He said he didn't actually
memorize the words he was saying, but the tone and cadence. He
claimed he'd forget it in a few weeks if he stopped reciting it,
but he was able to flawlessly repeat it every time Charlie and I
wanted to study.

I learned that Charlie had taken up
blacksmithing as a hobby when he was a kid. It had been hard enough
to accept that his great-great-great-grandfather, who had been one
of the first blacksmiths in America, had personally taught him.
Then, as Charlie talked, I realized that he held the metal with his
bare hands and didn't need a forge to heat it.

TS liked to go hunting with his family. It
hadn't taken me long to figure out that he literally meant hunting.
As in turning into a wolf and stalking and chasing deer. He was
always absently gnawing on something too. I had never owned a dog,
but I had been around enough of them that I sometimes couldn't
believe that people didn't realize TS was a werewolf. He had a lot
of, usually amusing, dog-like habits.

Even Thomas was affected. I learned that he
didn't like cold drinks because the temperature was so different
from blood. He frequently chuckled at overheard conversations or
commented on scents. None of the others ever acted surprised by his
heightened senses, they just took them for granted. So did
Thomas.

Mariana wasn't nearly as bad with the
references I didn't get, but I was sure her personality would have
been different if she weren't a mermaid. I still had never seen her
in anything but a skirt. I noticed she never bothered to dry her
hair after a shower, even though it always soaked the back of her
shirt. She seemed to share Dani's penchant for going barefoot
whenever possible and I wondered if that was because they spent so
much time in the water. We were watching a horror movie one night
and Mariana commented that she thought scenes with something
lurking in the dark were the scariest, because she couldn't imagine
opening her eyes at night and not being able to see.