He grinned, and I could tell that he knew what I was thinking. And that I was right. "Eighty-one."

My jaw dropped, and Dani started laughing. Charlie punched him in the arm. "Quit laughing. She's still getting used to it." He went back inside and closed the door.

Still chuckling, Dani sat down and flipped open his notebook. I looked out at the water and watched him out of the corner of my eye as he went back to studying. I had sort of come to terms with everyone being a lot older than me. Even though it was still strange to think of Charlie and Thomas as being sixty, it was easier to accept than Dani being eighty. As I watched him, I tried to figure out why it bothered me so much. Eventually, I managed to put a finger on it. I'd seen a shirt or something recently that said Sixty is the new Forty. It was still a good generation or two removed from me, but eighty was more than that. Grandparents were eighty, not friends. Honestly, I wasn't sure how many people Dani's age I had ever spoken to. Rachel's parents were in their seventies, but we never spent much time together, and none of my biological grandparents were still alive. And I had interviewed an eighty-something-year-old woman for a class once. Aside from her, I couldn't think of anyone even close to eighty that I had spent much time interacting with. Suddenly, curiosity struck the history major in me.

"What year were you born?"

"Hm? Oh, 1928."

Wow. "What's your memory like?" I couldn't even begin to imagine all of the things he had lived through. The interview I had done had been neat, but the woman's memory hadn't been very sharp, and she seemed confused about some facts. Someone like Dani was the sort of primary source that history buffs would die to talk to.

He looked up and studied me for a moment, looking amused. "I'm not senile if that's what you're getting at."

I blushed and tried to defend my question. "Well, I mean... eighty years is a long time."

Dani chuckled. "Why do I have a feeling that you're about to start interrogating me?"

I shrugged helplessly. "I'm a history major."

"Mm." He leaned back in his chair and propped his legs up on the table. "I do have to finish this essay. But I'll give you a minute or two to satiate your curiosity."

I tried to think of all of the moments of historical note he'd lived through. "Do you remember World War Two?"

He laughed. "You're asking the guy who lived in a Nazi occupied country if he remembers World War Two?" I was pretty sure my jaw dropped. "I was eleven when Italy invaded Greece. And Germany was right behind them. Then, one war wasn't enough, so we had a Civil War too."

I felt like a bad history major. Then again, I hadn't taken any classes on modern-day Greece. "I didn't realize there was a Greek Civil War. What happened?

"Communism." Dani practically spat the word, and a streak of black rippled through his eyes. He was quiet for a moment, but before I could answer, he stretched and then grinned. "Honestly, I'm not the best person to ask about World War Two. I was a just dumb teenager who thought war was neat. Plus, I spent most of the forties underwater."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

That sounded like he'd spent the entire decade underwater! He was a good swimmer, and I was pretty sure he could breathe underwater, but that still seemed like a stretch. "How long can you stay underwater?"

Dani chuckled. "How long can you stay on land?"

Charlie slid the door open and leaned out onto the balcony. "Thomas just called. He and TS are on their way back, and they've got Mariana with them."

"Splashy!" Dani said.

"And your mother called."

Dani groaned. "I'm in the middle of a huge paper. I don't have several hours to waste listening to my Ma talk at me about God-knows-what."

Charlie looked down at the table with a smirk. "Too bad you didn't start your essay when it was assigned."

"Yeah. No matter. Next time I go back to school, I won't procrastinate."

"Funny, that's what you said last time." Charlie went back into the room and closed the door before Dani could respond.

Dani whistled and picked his notebook back up. For the first time, the absurdity of an eighty-one-year-old doing homework and dreading phone calls from his mother hit me.

"You're eighty-one," I said.

Dani looked at me with an amused smirk. "I am."

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

"Your mother still calls you?"

He rolled his eyes. "Unfortunately."

"But you're eighty-one!"

"Mm-hmm. Which, by magic standards, is still a young adult, and, as my Ma is so fond of reminding me, I'll always be her little boy." He added the last part in a female voice that I assumed was an impression of his mother. He rolled his eyes again. "You'd think her new granddaughter would distract her, but no. She still finds the time to call me."

He started writing again, and I leaned closer to see his notebook. He had a few paragraphs of an essay started. "You're writing your essay by hand?"

Dani laughed. "Archaic, isn't it? I prefer handwriting it to start with, but I'll type it up when I'm done. In my opinion, spell-check is one of the greatest inventions of the last century. I don't know how I got along without it." He looked up at the door and into the room with a grin. "Actually, I do know, and I'm sure Charlie is glad I've stopped making him proof-read my essays."

"So, you've been to college, before?"

"Mm. I'm about to finish up my fourth bachelor's."

His fourth? I liked college, but I couldn't imagine going four times. Then again, if magics never looked any older than college students, what else could we do? "Doesn't it get boring pretending to be a college student?"

"I am a college student."

"You know what I meant."

Dani grinned. "Believe it or not, I wasn't being a dick, there. I got a couple of my degrees just for fun, but this one is actually for work."

"Really? Why do you need that many?"

Dani hummed thoughtfully. "Let me put it this way, you've got two non-magics with almost identical resumes, okay? The only difference is that one of them has a few credits toward another degree. Who gets the job?"

"Well, if the extra credits relate to the job, I'd say that one."

Dani nodded. "Exactly. Now, if that were magics, it wouldn't come down to a few credits here and there, it would be an entire degree. What's a few years in school once in a while if you're immortal?"

I hadn't thought of it that way, but it made sense.

"Plus," Dani continued, "a non-magic with a fifty-year-old degree is probably, what, seventy-something? He's not going to need another degree. I, on the other hand, have a few degrees that are more than fifty years out of date." It was really strange to know he probably wasn't exaggerating. "Those are going to start doing more harm than good on my resume. Magic employers are going to wonder why I've never bothered to get new ones."

I nodded. The thought of going back to school didn't seem that bad. I did feel sort of a pressure to finish my degree, start working, and become an adult all in my early twenties; it was odd to know that that pressure wasn't there anymore. When I didn't say anything else, Dani went back to his essay. I kept watching him while he wrote, trying not to feel too overwhelmed.

"Whales," he said suddenly.

"What?"

He tilted his head like he was listening. "I hear whales. Pilot whales, I think." He pointed into the distance. "Over that way a bit. I think they're too far to see, though."

"You can hear them?"

"Yeah." He went back to his essay, as if hearing whales was no big deal.

A few minutes later the door the door slid open, and Thomas joined us. "We're back."

Dani grinned and started gathering up his essay. "Thanks for getting Mariana."

"Not a problem."

"How was your trip?" Thomas asked me.

"It was good."

Dani went into the room and then practically slammed the door shut. The lock clicked into place, just as Thomas dove for the handle.

"Really?" Thomas demanded. "Really?"

Dani blew him a kiss and closed the curtain.

"I should have pushed you off a ski slope when I had the chance!" Thomas yelled. Then, he frowned. "I what? Why?" He paled and threw a guilty look my way. A moment later, he heaved a sigh and leaned against the rail next to me. "So... it appears I owe you an apology."

"For what?" I asked in surprise.

He chewed his upper lip for a moment and sighed again. "I am so sorry, Jennifer. I can't believe I didn't tell you that you're immortal. I was sure I did. I just..." He laughed weakly. "I don't think 'it slipped my mind' is a valid excuse for something that important. I'm sorry you had to find out the way you did."

"It's okay. I mean... I'm a little overwhelmed," I admitted. "I am okay, though."

"Good." He took my hand and gave it a squeeze. I couldn't decide if he let his hand linger on mine for an extra second or not. I hoped I wasn't blushing. "So, your trip was good?"

"Yeah." I somehow managed to sound casual. "Yours?"

"I always have a good time skiing."

The following silence was almost awkward. "What are you doing in Peru?" I asked.

"Machu Picchu and a lodge in the Amazon. Sounds like sort of a whirlwind trip, but I'm looking forward to it."

"I am, too!" I practically cried. I should not have been that excited about it. I hoped that Dani was right about Thomas not being very observant. God, I'd be so embarrassed if he realized I had a crush on him.

Thomas smiled, and I couldn't help but wonder if his smile had always been that warm. "Keen! We'll have fun." He looked suddenly at the door. "Oh, good. It's unlocked now."

We went inside and joined the others. Mariana and TS were both unpacking, and Charlie was sitting on his bed. Thomas glared at Dani and crossed the room to the other bed.

"Sorry for locking you outside alone with Thomas," Dani said with a wink. I stared at him in disbelief, but he chuckled and sat down next to Charlie.

TS and Mariana both sat down, and I joined them. Thomas, who I hoped hadn't caught Dani's emphasis on alone, sat down on the other bed.

"Right," TS said grimly. "The local authorities spotted the biter in the port shortly after we docked. They've been following him, because, despite the fact we reported him feeding, they won't take action without physical evidence. Which, to be honest, is, em..."

"Progressive," Thomas supplied.

"Very," Charlie agreed, sounding surprised.

"Unfortunately, it doesn't work out for us, because they lost track of him. Your sighting today was the most recent one."

"So, they have no idea where he is now?" Dani asked.

TS shook his head. "They're going to set up a perimeter around the port to make sure he doesn't get back on the ship. They'll call me after we leave the port with an update." He frowned. "But, once we leave the port, we're no longer in their jurisdiction, and that's that."

Dani sighed. "Well, better than nothing, I suppose."

"I figure we'll play it safe for now," Thomas said. "I'll run and get dinner for everyone, and we'll figure out what to do about classes tomorrow."

Charlie and Dani ended up going with him, while the rest of us waited nervously. Mariana and I sat down and shared our pictures from Chile. It didn't take long before the others were back. We ate dinner and then unpacked. When it was my turn to shower, I eagerly hurried into the bathroom. It was going to be nice to finally take a good, hot shower without Charlie in the room with me.