I looked over at Dani in concern. He frowned in concentration, and little splashes of gray churned in his eyes.

"Dani?" Mariana prompted.

Dani held up a hand. "Hang on..." It looked like he was listening to something. "There's a pod of leviathans nearby. I can't figure out if they're coming or going."

"What's a leviathan?" I asked.

"A whale the size of an aircraft carrier," Mariana said.

Dani went out on the balcony, and we all followed and crowded out onto it with him. I had my wand and quickly cast my night vision spell. I couldn't see anything but open ocean. Dani looked around, still frowning.

"They're close," he muttered.

"Keen. I've never seen leviathans," TS said.

"You better hope you don't," Dani said.

"Why not? Are they dangerous?"

"Not on purpose. They're the very definition of gentle giants."

"Then, why don't we want to see one?" Thomas asked.

Another concerned splash of gray crossed Dani's eyes. "When a leviathan breaches, the waves it causes could be taller than the ship." He hesitated and then added, "If a wave that big hits us..."

"Is that a possibility?" TS said.

Dani nodded.

"How likely is it?"

"Leviathans breach more often at night... and when it's raining." Dani looked back out at the water and frowned. "They're getting louder, too. Drought, I don't think they'll be far enough away when they surface..."

"It's okay if they surface," Mariana said, "just as long as they don't breach."

"True," Dani said. "But I'm not very happy that they're so close. If just one does breach..."

We all went back inside in a much different mood. The movie was still on, but nobody watched it, anymore. Tension was high as we all sat quietly. Even if I had wanted to watch the movie, my night-vision spell had made the TV so bright I could hardly look at it. Several nerve-wracking minutes went by. All of a sudden, Dani jumped to his feet and whirled around to face something none of us could see.

"No, no!" He backed up, eyes wide with horror. "Oh my God..."

That was the only warning we had. I heard a horrible crash, and we were all thrown off of our feet. Thomas caught me before I slammed into the wall. The ship turned almost completely sideways, and I found myself practically lying on top of Thomas on the wall. For a few agonizing seconds, the ship hung there. Then, just as suddenly as it had gone up, it rocked the other way. We were both thrown onto the bed. Thomas kept himself from landing on me too hard. The ship rocked back and forth, but none of the jolts were as violent as the first. The TV flicked off, and the bright beam of light I had been able to see under the door to the hallway vanished. Then, everything was still.

It was a ridiculous time to be embarrassed that Thomas was on top of me, but I was. My hands were pressed against his chest, and I could feel all three of his hearts pounding wildly. His face was inches from mine, and he pulled back slightly and looked at me.

"You okay?" he gasped.

I nodded.

"Danio? Could that happen again?"

"Not likely. The only other ones that breached were far enough away, and the pod's already moving off. They won't surface again for another hundred nautical miles."

Thomas sighed in relief. As he sagged against me, I noticed that I could actually feel his ribs under my palm. I knew he was really skinny, but I couldn't believe how prominent they were. He eased himself off of me and stood. I sat up and looked around. TS had changed into a wolf, and his legs were spread almost comically far apart. Mariana sat on the other bed, looking slightly stunned. Dani and Charlie were in the narrow hall by the door, which, in hindsight, was probably the safest place to be.

"Is it going to sink?" Charlie asked. He sounded absolutely terrified and looked like he was clinging to Dani with no intention of letting go.

Dani already had his arms around Charlie, but tightened his grip. "Of course not."

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My breath hitched, as a new thought struck me. I had been scared, but somewhere in the back of my mind, I hadn't been worried. We were with a water elemental and a mermaid; I wasn't worried about drowning. But Charlie was a fire elemental. He couldn't even go out in the rain. The odds of a fire elemental surviving a shipwreck were probably slim, at best. Even if he didn't drown, it would be impossible to keep him dry.

"Something's... wrong," TS said. "I can't quite figure it out. It's... It's quiet."

"The engines," Thomas gasped. "It isn't just the lights. I can't hear any engines at all."

The ship pitched to one side, and everyone staggered.

"These are not the conditions to be without engines," Dani said grimly.

Even as he spoke, I realized that the ship was rocking far more violently than it usually did. Almost everything in the room had overturned, and half of it still rolled around, as the ship pitched back and forth. Dani beckoned us over, and all six of us crowded into the hallway. We still slid around, but were able to brace ourselves against both walls and each other. Nobody spoke as the minutes went by. Thomas kept an arm around me, and I couldn't help but snuggle closer to him. And then, at last, I spotted a dim light coming in from under the door. A familiar, welcome chime echoed, and the loudspeakers crackled to life.

"I'm sure you're all wondering what's going on." I sighed in relief at the sound of Dean Dave's voice. "There's nothing to worry about. Our ship has been struck by a rogue wave. It's a pretty uncommon phenomenon, but we're certainly not the first ship to be hit by one. There's a little damage, but nothing serious. And the engines got some water in them, but our crew is working hard to get them back up and running. Just as a precaution, we'd like everyone to get their life jackets and make their way to Purser's Square. Again, there's nothing to worry about. We just want to get everyone into one place to make sure there were no injuries."

There were four life jackets in the room, which worked out, since Dani and Mariana wouldn't need them. Charlie looked less than happy putting his on, and I knew it was because floating wouldn't help him; he'd freeze to death with or without it.

"Here." Thomas held out a stake to me, and I froze in horror.

"Shouldn't we stay here?" I gasped. "What if Nathaniel is out there?"

Thomas sighed. "They'll take attendance. If we're missing, they'll come looking for us, and we'll be taken out there, either way."

"And if Nathaniel is out there, then I don't want innocent people wandering the ship alone because of us," Dani added.

We grimly went into the hall and followed other people toward Purser's Square. The emergency lights spaced along the hallway were probably dim, but looked as bright as normal lights with my night vision spell. I felt a little safer in a group. I hoped Nathaniel wouldn't try anything while everyone else on the ship surrounded us. Getting to Purser's Square was easier said than done. The storm was pushing the ship around so much that we had to cling to the rails and practically drag ourselves down the hall. There were several times when we had to stop and just hang on until a lull in the rocking. It was chaos once we were all packed into Purser's Square. Unlike the hallways, the floor wasn't carpeted, and people slid back and forth across the floor.

The six of us sat against a wall near a hallway. Thomas locked an arm around my waist and braced us against a doorframe. We slid a few inches with every rock, but not nearly as far as some people. Dani was barefoot and had his feet planted firmly on the floor, which kept him, Charlie, and Mariana nearly as stationary as Thomas and I were. TS just slid back and forth, clearly wishing he were still in wolf form. As we had expected, they took attendance, and then Dean Dave and some of the professors and crewmembers went to talk. They went down the hall far enough that nobody could hear them. Except for Thomas.

"Damn," he said suddenly. He tightened his grip on me. "They're going to split us up. And I don't think we can get out of this either."

"What?" Dani snarled. "How are they splitting us?"

"Alphabetically."

"Alphabetically, how?"

Before Thomas could answer Dani, our Dean slid his way into the center of the room and clapped his hands. Everyone fell silent.

"Okay, thanks for your patience everyone," he said. "We've decided that, just in case, we want to keep everyone together. But clearly it's not going to work if we all stay here. With any luck, we may even be able to sleep tonight. If your last name begins with A through I, please go to the Deck Five dining hall."

I swallowed nervously. That meant I was separated from Thomas and TS. Even without the threat of Nathaniel, I wouldn't have liked it. But the idea of being without Thomas and TS with Nathaniel at large was terrifying. I clutched my purse, and with it my wand and stake, closer.

"If your last name begins with J through R," Dean Dave continued.

Dani cursed.

"Please go up to the Student Union. That's A to I, Deck Five dining hall and J to R, Student Union. And everyone else, that's S through Z, make your way to the Deck Six dining hall. Deck Six."

"We're on different ends of the ship?" Dani demanded. He stood, keeping an arm around Charlie. "You've got to be shitting me."

"I'll be fine," Charlie said. He still looked worried. "It won't sink, right?"

"And we will be taking attendance again at the doors," Dean Dave added. "Please remember that this is for your own safety. We need everyone to stay together."

We stood reluctantly. Thomas hugged me tightly.

"Be careful. After they take attendance, we'll figure out a way to meet back up safely."

"Okay."

We split up. Thomas, TS, and Mariana all went one direction, and Dani, Charlie, and I went the other. We went up the stairs, and Dani and Charlie hugged. Dani and I went one way, while Charlie headed off alone. Dani's eyes churned, and I knew he was furious about being separated from Charlie. But to my surprise, he put an arm around my shoulders.

"Got your wand?" he asked softly.

"Yeah."

"Stake?"

"Yes."

"Good. Not that you'll need them." He gave me a weak smile and tightened his arm around me.

Most of the chairs in the student union were bolted down, but the ones that weren't had tumbled all over the room. After everything had been secured, everyone in the room found a spot and settled in. Shortly before the first hour was up, Dani got a call from Thomas. He tucked his phone away and didn't look happy.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

Dani looked over at the doors, and I followed his gaze. There were professors by the door. "Tom says the doors down there are being blocked, too. They aren't letting anyone out."

"What do we do?"

He shrugged. "For now, we're not going to call attention to ourselves. If any of the doors do clear, then we're meeting back at the room."