The rest of the day was tense. Nobody left the room. Charlie and I spent a little time doing homework from our Plants class. It was strange to think that all over the ship, people were going about their day as usual. Everyone else wandered the ship, sat in class, or lounged on deck. The fact that we couldn't leave the room made it harder to stay put. The afternoon announcements came and went with no hint that something out of the ordinary was happening. Then again, the six of us and the vampire were the only ones who knew what was going on. Shortly before sunset, Thomas and TS volunteered to get dinner. I felt bad that they risked themselves to get me food, but realized that both TS and Mariana had to eat real food, too. But the minutes ticked by, and they didn't return. I started to get worried. Thomas came back alone and set a tray of food on the desk.

"The sun's down," he said. "I don't want anybody leaving the room, now. I figure sleeping space is sort of at a premium in here, so I'm heading back to my room."

"Call me when you get there," Dani said.

"I will."

I opened my mouth to ask where TS was and snapped it shut as the answer suddenly clicked. The sun was down. Thomas must have fed from TS already. Even as I realized it, Mariana called to Thomas before he could leave.

"Thomas? Do you need to..." She hesitated.

Thomas looked incredibly reluctant, but nodded. He and Mariana went into the bathroom. I understood that he probably wanted privacy, but I couldn't help but be curious. It only took a few minutes. Thomas, still not looking very happy about the situation, said goodnight and quickly left. When Mariana came out of the bathroom, she looked a bit pale, but otherwise fine. Her hair was wet, and I wondered if water healed her like it did with Dani. It was still early, but she went straight to bed. Charlie, Dani, and I only stayed up for a couple more hours, as well. Nobody had gotten much sleep last night. Even though it was much earlier than I normally went to bed, it felt like I fell asleep the moment my head hit the pillow.

It wasn't until I woke up to the sound of voices that I realized I had forgotten to set my alarm. It was way too dark to see who was talking, so I flicked the light on and heard cries of surprise. I sat up and looked around. Dani was lying on the couch with an arm flung over his face. TS was blinking rapidly, and Thomas was rubbing his eyes. Charlie sat on the couch laughing. The bathroom door opened, and Mariana stuck her head out.

"What just happened?" she asked.

"Jen just blinded everyone," Charlie said, still chuckling.

TS smacked him. "Everyone but you and your bloody heat vision."

Thomas looked at me, and to my surprise, his eyes were actually watering. "In the future, please warn us before you do that."

It probably should have occurred to me sooner that turning on a light in a pitch black room would have blinded anyone, even regular humans. The fact that they all could see in the dark probably made the sudden change even worse.

"Sorry," I said, embarrassed.

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"No problem," Charlie said with a grin.

Dani groaned. "It's too early for this much light."

I checked my phone; it was 8:17. We were already late for LA History. "Are we skipping class again?"

"It's Sea Day," Thomas said.

"Oh, yeah." I had forgotten all about Sea Day. Today was the last day that the ship would be traveling south. After we docked in Chile tomorrow, the ship would turn around and we'd head north again. The voyage was almost half over. To celebrate, classes had been cancelled for Sea Day. It was supposed to be a day full of games, contests, and movies. "Are we going to miss Sea Day?"

"That's what we've been trying to figure out," Thomas said.

"I think the biter would risk too much by even being out and about today," TS said. "If anybody he fed from sees him, there's a chance their memories of the incident will return. Plus, he's much weaker with the sun up, and he didn't strike me as reckless."

"We should be fine if we stick together," Dani said.

"Like I said," Charlie answered, "I'm for it. He'd have to be incredibly stupid to try anything in broad daylight in front of a hundred non-magics. Half of us could take him alone during the day. He wouldn't stand a chance if we run into him, and I'm sure he knows it."

Dani cracked his knuckles. "I hope we do see him. I owe him a few more broken bones."

"Well, if there are no objections, I say we get out there and try to enjoy ourselves," Thomas said, standing. "We'll play it by ear, and if anyone gets uncomfortable, we head right back here. And we stay together, no splitting up." He picked up a bag and held it out. "I want everyone armed."

Dani, Charlie, and TS all reached into the bag and pulled out stakes. Mariana looked nervous, but pulled one out as well and tucked it into her purse. Thomas held the bag out to me. I hesitantly pulled out a stake of my own. In spite of everything that had happened last night, not to mention over the past week, it felt slightly absurd to hold it.

"Am I really supposed to use this?" I asked.

"If you have to," Thomas said. "Make sure you have your wand on you, too."

I raised the stake and felt not just silly, but awkward. "So, I just..." I made a stabbing motion. "In the heart?"

"Both hands." Thomas made sure I held it correctly, and then, to my surprise, pressed the tip of the stake against his chest. "Right here, as hard as you can. It's better to angle it down a bit, it gives you more momentum."

He angled the stake and adjusted my hands a little. I felt a tiny, tiny stab of disappointment when he removed his hands and realized in horror that I was starting to like him. Really like him. I lowered my gaze like I was studying the stake.

"Got it," I said, hoping I wasn't blushing or anything embarrassing like that. Of all the people to have a crush on, why on earth had I picked Thomas? A vampire? Seriously?

"You want to stake him hard enough to hit the middle heart. If he doesn't drop, then the stake didn't go in deep enough. If that happens, run. If he goes down, and you're sure you've got another shot, drive the stake in deep enough to hit all three." Thomas didn't seem to notice my jaw had dropped. "That will kill him as quickly and... well, as painlessly as getting staked can be. Anything less than all three hearts is just needless suffering." He paused and looked at me curiously. "You okay?"

"Did you just say three hearts?"

"Oh," he chuckled weakly. "Yeah. We have three."

"Three..."

"Well, one is more of a stomach than a heart," Thomas added. "That's the middle one. It holds all of the blood we consume, which, back to my original point, is why you have to get the stake deep enough to pierce it. Anything less and we have enough blood stored to heal."

A lot of what I thought I knew about vampires had turned out to be fiction, but at least some of it had a ring of truth. I was pretty sure I had never heard anything about vampires having more than one heart. I reached out curiously and paused with my hand a few inches from Thomas’ chest.

"Go for it," he said.

I rested my palm right where the stake had been and waited. There was something odd about his heartbeat. I couldn't really discern three separate heartbeats, like I had imagined, but even if I hadn't known he had more than one heart, I would have been able to tell that there was something different. No, I never read anything about vampires with multiple hearts. In fact, most didn't even have a heartbeat. I studied Thomas. I hadn't thought about it before, but weren't vampires usually portrayed as dead?

"So, you aren't dead?"