"Hola," Dani called as he passed me. "Doin’ alright?"
"I’m bueno," I giggled to him. He laughed and headed for the stairs.
After Spanish, I joined the throng of people gathered on Deck Seven. I found a lounge chair and pulled it over to the rails so I could watch the water while I studied.
The next day was pretty much the same, but it started raining early in the afternoon and turned into a bad storm by the time I went to bed. I woke up in the middle of the night and stumbled over to our bathroom, feeling awful. A bit of quality time bent over the toilet didn’t help at all, and I decided to try for some fresh air. I pulled a sweater on over my pajamas, hung my ID card strap around my neck, and slipped out of the room. I made my way down the corridor to the door that led outside. For the first time since getting on the ship, I needed to keep one hand on the railing. The halls were well lit, even though it was the middle of the night, and it was almost disconcerting to step outside into the darkness. But the moment the cool, damp wind hit my face, I felt better. I hadn’t been seasick since our first night, but sometimes I felt nauseous if I stayed in our room too long; being out on the deck always helped.
I assumed that I’d be the only one crazy enough to go out in the rain in the middle of the night, but to my surprise I wasn’t. There were people on the other side of the deck. It was too dark to see them well, but the lights from the deck above us illuminated them a little. One of them was Charlie. He was standing under the overhang where Deck Five extended out above Deck Four. He was just wearing a t-shirt and jeans, and I shivered in sympathy. A guy I recognized, not surprising since we all lived on a ship, was sitting on the bottom steps of the outdoor stairway that led to Deck Five. He was probably a football player back home or something. He had shaggy, dark brown hair and a fairly large nose. I’d heard a few girls giggling about him, but I didn’t think he was that good-looking. I wasn’t sure what his name was. Another guy sat in a chair, probably pilfered from Deck Five, with his back to me and his feet up on the rails. Mariana was near him, wearing only a bikini top and a short skirt. I couldn't believe she wasn't cold.
"I didn’t scream!" she said.
"You totally did! You freaked out!" Dani laughed.
It was too dark to notice Dani until he spoke. My jaw dropped in shock. Dani was sitting on the railing of the ship. Messing around on the rails was one of the first things they’d told us not to do when we got on board. Even sitting on them in the middle of a calm day was suicidal, at best. But to sit there in the middle of a stormy night was nothing short of a death wish.
"I was not!" Mariana cried.
"You were all like, 'Oh, Danio, save me Danio!'"
"Well, I... I... Don’t be such a jerk!"
As Mariana spoke, she spun to face Dani and shoved him hard. Dani’s laugh turned into a yell of surprise, and he tumbled backward off of the railing! I gasped in horror. Every second was critical. If someone went overboard, we were supposed to immediately throw them a life preserver and run to tell a crew member. But not a single one of them did anything! The one in the chair uncrossed his legs and re-crossed them with a different one on top. The guy on the stairs threw back his head and laughed! Charlie quickly stuck his head over the railing, pulled back, and shivered. It was as if Dani hadn't gone overboard at all.
"Oh my God!" I gasped. They must have been in shock, and that was the only reason they weren't rushing to save Dani. I ran across the deck. At the very least, I could throw the life preserver in and hope he was still alive to use it.
They all jerked around to look at me. They acted more surprised to see me than they were about Dani falling overboard. Mariana gasped and backed against the rail. Charlie stepped to the edge of the overhang, and Football Guy jumped off of the stairs and to his feet. The guy in the chair was on his feet in an instant. I hardly even saw him move; one second he was sitting and the next he was up. He stepped in front of the others, almost protectively.
"That's Jennifer," Charlie spoke softly, like he didn't want me to hear, but the wind carried his words right to me. "She's in one of my classes."
The guy in front smiled. "You're up late."
They were acting like nothing had happened! This was insane!
"What's the matter with you?" I cried. "We have to do something!"
"Do something?" He almost looked genuinely confused. "About what?"
"She just..." I gestured to Mariana. "She just pushed Dani overboard!"
He had the audacity to laugh. "It's raining, you know. And dark. You're mistaken."
"Jeez, Mariana, if you wanted a divorce you should've just-" My jaw dropped as Dani reappeared at the rail. He caught sight of me and froze.
My mind reeled. He was soaking wet, it was obvious it wasn't just from the rain. He fell into water that had to be well over fifty feet below us, and we were really moving, too. Even an Olympic swimmer couldn't have kept up with us. Dani had fallen all the way down into the ocean and, not only had he not drowned, he'd gotten back on the ship.
This was impossible.
Dani vaulted easily over the railing and landed on the deck. He crossed it swiftly and stopped right behind the guy I'd been talking with. Dani was quite a bit taller than him and leaned down to put his mouth near the guy's ear. "I think it would be better if I went in. You got this?" he whispered.
"Yeah. Take Mariana with you." The wind was still in my favor, and I could just make out what they were saying.
Dani grabbed Mariana by the arm. "Come on."
"Dani, I'm so sorry."
"It happens. Let's go."
Dani glanced at me as he and Mariana went inside.
Football Guy edged toward the stairway he'd been sitting on. "Right, I'll call Jon."
The other one nodded. "Wait," he said when Football Guy was halfway up the stairs. "It's late, email him. We can handle this until he gets it." Football Guy nodded and ran up the rest of the stairs to Deck Five and, probably, the computer lab. Then, the not-so-forthcoming one turned back to me. "Jennifer, right? I'm Thomas. What brings you out on deck?"
I glared. "Dani just fell overboard, and you're going to stand there like nothing happened?"
"Nothing did happen."
"Dani fell off the ship, into the ocean, and climbed back up again! I saw it with my own eyes!" He looked uncomfortable, and I realized that he was trying to cover up what I had just witnessed. "So don't lie to me! What just happened?"
"Nothing," Thomas said firmly. "Forget about it."
"If nothing happened, then what is that guy going to email Jon about?"
Thomas looked surprised for a second, and then sighed. "Alright, tell you what. I'll explain things after I hear back from Jon."
No way. He was just stalling. "Explain now," I insisted. He glared in response. I got the feeling that if they were going through this much effort to cover things up, they clearly wouldn't want me going around talking about it. "Explain now, or I'm going to start asking around until I find someone who will."
"Go ahead," Charlie snarled. "Dani's safe and dry by now. You've got no proof, and none of us are going to back up your story." As he spoke, something weird happened. His eyes, which were a very reddish-brown, seemed to change. It must have been the rain or the lights or something, but bright reds and oranges flared in his eyes, almost like flames.
"Char!" Thomas snapped.
Charlie closed his mouth and took a step back. He looked pissed, but Thomas had shut him up.
"You're just going to let him boss you around?" I asked incredulously. Charlie stuck up his chin defiantly, but stayed quiet.
Thomas stepped closer and more into the light, allowing me to finally get a good look at him. He was a few inches taller than me and pretty thin. The rain had plastered his bangs across his forehead and over one eye. It struck me as a sort of emo haircut. He looked fairly pale, and I could see circles under his eyes, like he didn't sleep enough. His cheeks were slightly hollow, and he looked like he might have been a bit seasick. He wore a
retro-looking band t-shirt, and I stifled a groan; he probably was one of those emo kids.
"If you want an explanation at all, you'll wait until I hear back from Jon. And in the meantime, you'll keep quiet."
"Is that a threat?" I laughed.
Thomas leaned forward and actually curled back his upper lip. "Don't. Tell. Anyone," he snarled. This time I didn't feel like laughing. For an instant, my entire body froze, and I almost couldn't move. This was absurd. He was just some emo college guy acting tough. What did I have to be afraid of?
I sucked in a deep breath, squared my shoulders, and glared at Thomas. "Fine! If you promise that you'll explain everything after this Jon guy talks to you, then I won't say anything."
He looked surprised. More than surprised, he looked shocked.
"Man, she's got some spice," Charlie said softly. "I felt that from here."
"Deal," Thomas said. "We'll talk tomorrow, then. Goodnight." With that, he turned and swept across the deck, heading up the stairs in the direction Football Guy had gone.
"Don't say anything, Jennifer," Charlie said. "Please." He opened the door to go back inside and started in. I followed. Halfway down the corridor, he turned and glared at me. "Are you following me or something?" he snapped. I saw the strange red flare in his eyes again.
"My room is this way!"
"Oh…" Charlie turned back and kept walking.
He paused outside of Dani and Mariana’s room and knocked. I knew that I’d make things worse if I stopped, so I kept going. But I slowed down. By the time I got to my room, Dani’s door had opened. I quickly opened mine and waited in the doorway. I peered out around the doorjamb and yanked my head back as Dani’s appeared in his.
"You better have good news," I heard Dani whisper to Charlie. "Mariana is beside herself."
I heard the door close, closed my own, and leaned against it. What on earth had I just witnessed? I lay down and played it over and over again in my mind. I was convinced that I had seen something very, very strange. The fact they were all trying to cover up made it even more confusing. When I finally fell asleep, I still couldn't for the life of me figure out what had happened.
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Rise of the Arcanist Series: Books 1 - 6 Page 78
