"Good evening, Jennifer," Thomas said pleasantly.

"Hiya, Jen," Charlie said, grinning from across the table.

TS grunted a hello from around a bunch of food and speared another forkful. Dani waved but kept his eyes on the notebook he was holding.

Mariana smiled at me too. "The sea bass is really good."

"Great." I grabbed a fork and cut off a chunk to try.

Then, they all returned to what they had been talking about before. I was content to eat quietly and observe the strange group. TS had a big pile of fish and International Choice on his plate, and there was a large pitcher of the evening’s juice next to him. Thomas grabbed it and refilled TS’s glass. TS said nothing, but started drinking. He looked sort of sick. He was pale and seemed more quiet than usual.

"Eat up," Thomas said to him.

TS snorted softly in Thomas’ direction, but shoved another forkful of International Choice into his mouth. He wrinkled his nose and took another long drink.

"Spicy isn’t it?" Charlie asked with a big grin. He took another big bite and chewed happily. "What country was this from again?"

"Ethiopia," Dani said absently. "Thomas, you're killing me." He shoved the notebook away from him.

"What class is that for?" I asked.

"Climate," Thomas said. "And what? Is it wrong?"

"It's a disaster," Dani laughed. "I'm getting a headache just looking at it."

"Excuse me for not having a Master's Degree in Environmental Science," Thomas said.

Dani rolled his eyes and picked the notebook back up. I frowned. Was Thomas implying that Dani had a Master's Degree? Less than ten minutes ago, I read that he had another semester to go before getting a B.S. and was only turning twenty-two in the fall. Even if he had already graduated, there was no way Dani could have a Master's.

"Are you just making stuff up?" Dani demanded. He flipped through a couple of pages. "This entire page is wrong too!"

"What?" Thomas yelped. He frowned at the page in confusion. "How is this wrong?" Dani started to smirk and Thomas narrowed his eyes at him. "You're such a dick! Is any of this wrong?"

"Nope."

Thomas glared. "I might kill you."

"Come on, Tommy. You know I only tease you because I have a secret crush on you."

"God help me," Thomas muttered. "And don't call me that."

"He gets to." Dani jabbed his thumb in TS’s direction.

Thomas glared. "That's because he isn't referring to the rock opera."

"Can't prove that I am," Dani said.

Thomas sighed and rolled his eyes. "Except I know that you are."

"For a deaf, dumb, and blind kid, you really are observant," Dani said.

Thomas groaned. "Charlie, do something, please."

Charlie held up his hands helplessly. "Don't drag me into this; I'm innocent."

"I’m knackered. I'm going to bed," TS announced. He stood slowly, grabbed his tray, and headed off.

"Is he sick?" I asked.

They all exchanged a strange look.

"It’s a boat," Thomas said. "We’ve all been sick."

"Actually, it’s a ship," Dani corrected.

"I will murder you in your sleep," Thomas told him.

"I'll leave the door unlocked for you," Mariana said.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

"Well, if you’ll excuse me, I’ll make sure Teth finds his way to bed," Thomas stood and nodded to me. "Night, guys." He turned to me. "Sleep well. I’ll keep my promise if you will."

I nodded. I couldn’t meet this Jon guy fast enough. Charlie returned to his food, and Dani pushed the fish bones on his plate around. I followed their lead and quickly finished eating. The Ethiopian food was so spicy that I kept refilling my water. The pitcher ran out, and I looked around for more.

"Can have mine." Charlie pushed his glass toward me. He kept eating, and I realized he hadn’t once taken a sip of water.

"Aren’t you thirsty? This stuff is really spicy."

"I like it hot," Charlie said with a wink. He winced and glared at Dani, who looked smug, and I assumed he had kicked Charlie under the table.

Dani slid out his chair and stood. "I should get going. I still have that essay for L.A. History."

"I’m done too," I said.

"Yeah, me too," Mariana agreed.

The four of us took up our trays and headed down to Deck Four. Dani, Mariana, and I peeled off into the corridor, and Charlie continued down the stairs to Deck Three.

"Night," Dani said, stopping at his room.

"Sweet dreams," Mariana added.

"Goodnight."

I curled up on my bed with a textbook and read. When Laurie came back to the room, she asked me to proofread her Latin American History essay. I offered her mine in exchange. When we were done reading and correcting, we turned on the TV. The first channel was the Ship channel. We watched for a moment, as the little icon of the ship sailed closer to Panama. When the screen changed to a display of announcements, we changed channels again; a special on the Panama Canal, a movie, and another movie. The second movie was just starting, so we put that on and laid back.

Before I knew it, Laurie’s alarm was going off. I rolled over and waited the twenty minutes until mine went off, before I got up to shower. I got out just as she got back from the gym. We went up to breakfast together and grabbed a table with Carrie from my Plants class and a girl from one of Laurie’s classes. TS walked by and nodded to me. I smiled and nodded back. He sat down with a couple of Professors nearby, but true to Thomas’ word, not at my table. Maybe they really were going to ease up. He looked a lot better this morning and dug right into what looked like nothing but bacon and sausage.

During Latin American History, Dani sat a couple of rows behind me, but once again not close enough to be a pain. Charlie walked near, but not with, me to our Plants class. I sat down next to Carrie, and Charlie sat on her other side. Nobody showed up to my other two classes. After Spanish, I got a smoothie and stretched out on deck in the sun. I noticed Thomas settle into a nearby lounge chair with a book a couple of minutes later, but he didn't talk to me. They left me alone during dinner as well. I noticed that TS, Thomas, and Charlie ate alone and wondered where Dani and Mariana were. I still didn’t see them when everyone gathered in the Latin American History classroom for an evening lecture about docking in Panama.

Later that night, I crept into a classroom to find a quiet place to study. A few people were studying, but most were finished and wandered the ship, being loud. About an hour went by before I heard voices outside the door. I recognized Charlie’s voice and closed my book to listen. It sounded like a study-group. I was about to return to my book, when a loud song started to play. I looked in the direction of the door curiously; it was Part of Your World from A Little Mermaid. A silhouette outside of the frosted glass door stood and started for the door.

"Excuse me," Charlie said.

I could see his shadow moving toward the classroom door. Before I realized what I was doing, I dropped down out of my desk and slid behind a couch. Was I seriously hiding from Charlie? The door opened, and he stepped in, Part of Your World still blaring. He closed the door again, and I felt my heart beating wildly. This was ridiculous. Charlie was part of some strange secret, yes, but I felt almost scared. From the way my heart was pounding at the thought of him finding me, I could have been hiding from a murderer or something. I closed my eyes and pressed my back against the couch. Too late to stand back up. I'd look like a total idiot. The song stopped abruptly.

"Hey," Charlie said. "What’s up?... Danio? Why are you calling me on Mariana’s phone?"

A cell phone ringtone, of course. I almost laughed at myself.

"Toasty," Charlie said with a laugh. "Well, I guess it’ll end up part of a coral reef or something... Of course, I’m laughing at you… What? You aren’t seriously considering looking for it. Do you realize how hard it would be to find a phone in the ocean?... I thought as much. Anyway, did you get there alright?... Of course I was worried! You know how I feel about water."

I frowned, what on earth was he talking about? I was pretty sure he was talking to Dani, I'd heard them call him "Danio" before. But where was he? Why would he call Charlie from somewhere else on the ship?

"Yeah, yeah. Hey, what’s all that noise?... Oh, it’s Fend? Hi Fend! So Jon’s already there, then?"

I froze. Jon?

"Yeah, sure… Hey, Jon!... Nah, everything’s toasty here. What’s the plan?... Dinner tomorrow?... Yeah, I’ll tell her. I think we dock at nine... Oh, I don’t know what her trip is tomorrow... No, it won’t be overnight; there aren’t any of those in Panama, but my trip will be out late… Hot! I’ll see you then... Hi, Mariana… Swim was good?... Toasty, toasty... Yeah, I heard... Where are you and Dani staying?... Oh, okay... Tell me there's a sauna there!... Keen!... Yeah, yeah... Why not, put him on... Hiya! So where’s dinner?... Right on the dock, huh? Do they have hot wings?... Phew! I miss spicy food. That’ll be great... Yeah, TS’ll be thrilled! Can’t get him to shut up about rare meat... Okay, so burger place on the dock at eight. What is that, fifteen-hundred?... I was kidding! Twenty. I know… Yeah, I don't think I'll make it, but I'll tell Jen... Right, I love you too. See you tomorrow."

Charlie left the room. I sighed and leaned against the couch. More mysteries. How was the swim? He couldn’t mean… Mariana and Dani couldn’t have swum from the ship to Panama! I went over to the window and looked out, no shore in sight. We had a good twelve hours of travel left to go. Swimming was impossible. And yet I had a feeling that Dani could have done it. He must have, and Mariana too! Then, there was that ‘I love you’. Charlie couldn’t have been talking to Jon. Maybe, what was the name, Fend? I heaved another sigh. I had hoped his conversation would clear things up. Now I was even more confused.