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 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 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 it. Even once I had adjusted, 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 to see that everything was a normal brightness again. Not long after that, we both went to sleep. Once again, the night was nice and warm. 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. 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!

Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

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 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 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."

He chuckled. "I know. Logistical issues aside, no, different types of elementals can't procreate together. The same holds true for a lot of magics actually. Which is partially why there aren't too many of us running around."

"Oh."

He stretched and flopped down on the bed. "Well, I'm ready to get some sleep. We've got a nice, early flight back tomorrow. That is, if you're done picking my brain. But it's fine if you're not, I'm sure you've got plenty of questions smoldering away in there."

His use of the word smoldering reminded me of our visitor. "Just the one you didn't answer before. How were you able to tell that she was a fire elemental before you opened the door?"

"I could sense the heat. The only thing it could be was another fire."

"Neat." Another thought struck me. "Would you be able to tell that someone is a vampire without having to see their fangs?"

"I wish. But they run at the same temperature as a human. So do dhampirs."

For the first time, I wondered if there might be physical differences between vampires and dhampirs. I knew they were different in terms of strength. Maybe there were more differences. "Are there any differences between vampires and dhampirs? Ones that I'd be able to see."

"Nothing big. The only foolproof one that I'm aware of is the size of their fangs. Dhampirs have much shorter, thinner fangs than vampires. Although, I'm afraid that one's hard to spot until you've seen both. Another, less reliable, is age."

"Age?"

"Remember what I told you earlier? We stop aging in our early to mid-twenties."

I nodded.

"Well, that holds true of all magics. Vampires have to be witches or wizards to begin with. So, in most cases they've already stopped aging by the time they're turned. They'll look the same age that you and I do, even though we're decades apart."

"But Thomas was only nineteen," I protested. I never thought about it before, but he looked older than nineteen. Then again, I hadn't put much thought into our ages, anyway. I just assumed we were all close to twenty-one.

"All magics. Vampires who are turned early keep aging until they stop naturally. But dhampirs aren't magics to start with. That's the difference. If a non-magic has already aged beyond the magical stopping point and gets turned, they'll just stop where they are. So, if you've got someone with fangs who looks fifty, it has to be a dhampir. But, as I said, that way isn't as reliable."

I was able to figure it out this time. "Because a non-magic who is turned early will keep aging like Thomas did?"

Charlie nodded. "Unless they look noticeably older than a normal magic, you can't be sure if you've got a dhampir or a vampire. Not without being able to see their fangs." He yawned. "Excuse me. Anything else?"

"I got it. Thanks."

I decided to reread the letter from Jon to take my mind off vampires again. It worked. I was a summer intern for MES, with a brand new debit card and my tuition was being paid. And so were 'other costs.' "Charlie?" I asked as I joined him in the bed.

"Yes?"

"What did Jon mean by ‘other costs?'"

He clicked his tongue in thought, and I wondered if he was mumbling to himself like Dani did. "Probably the port excursions, textbooks, technology fee, things like that."

"So... the entire voyage?"

"Yeah."

I stared wide-eyed at the ceiling. I hoped my night vision spell would wear off soon. Otherwise, I'd never fall asleep. The voyage was really, really expensive. Rachel had done it years ago, and assured me it was worth every penny. It certainly had been so far, but I still felt guilty she spent so much. I couldn't believe we were going to be reimbursed. I shivered when I remembered the other 'perk' of being an intern: life insurance.