I wasn't with any of the others in Nicaragua, and it was a bit odd. Even though I wasn't seeing much magic now, I was at least talking about it when I was with the others. It was almost a shocking difference to spend a few days with people without ever once being able to mention magic. From time to time, people brought up the rogue wave, with no idea what the true cause had been. None of them had any idea how close they had come to being turned into dhampirs. Or worse. It was a relief to return to the ship and fall back into my daily routine. I spent my trip in Guatemala, our final port, with Thomas and TS, again. It was similar to Peru, but our conversations were much lighter, and we didn't spend nights together.

One of the best parts of the end of the voyage was the formal dinner. Everyone dressed up, and we were spoiled with a delicious four-course meal. Mariana and I took advantage of the spa package we had won and spent the afternoon getting ready together. It was fun seeing everyone on the ship in suits and dresses. Dani, naturally, looked too good to be true in a suit. I was pretty sure that every girl on the ship shot Mariana a jealous glare. Dani clearly got a kick out of the attention and was even more amused that Mariana was irritated by it. Charlie, who also looked really good, maintained a smug grin all evening. He had to struggle not to laugh every time a girl came up with a flimsy excuse to walk by Dani. TS had shaved a bit closer than usual and made a token effort to tame his hair. He'd even gone so far as to put on a button down shirt and nice pants. He made it very clear that he had never worn a suit and never planned to.

But I nearly did a double take when I saw Thomas. I'd always thought of him as cute. If I was honest with myself, he was more than cute. He was actually really good-looking, handsome even. I had never really gotten the appeal of guys in suits, but I took one look at Thomas, and suddenly every time I heard 'Oh, I love guys in suits!' made perfect sense. I had to force myself not to stare at him all during dinner. Every once in a while, I stole a quick glance at Thomas and, given his smirk, I was sure that Dani caught me every time. Thomas told me I looked really pretty, and I gave myself a moment to be silly and imagine that his reaction to me in a dress was similar to how I felt about him in his suit.

The remainder of the voyage would have been perfect. It almost was, but there was one, tiny problem. Thomas. Well, not Thomas himself; he'd been a problem since I'd admitted I liked him. The problem was that he never once brought up our kiss. And that drove me crazy. He didn't act any differently, and I was relieved that he hadn't distanced himself after the kiss, but he acted like it never even happened. I wasn't sure how to bring it up, either. Even worse, I still wasn't entirely sure why he had kissed me in the first place. The answer I wanted, of course, was that he liked me. But the circumstances had been too extreme, and there were way too many possibilities. Thomas had been sure that he was going to die any minute. Maybe he just wanted one last kiss before he did, and I was there. Or maybe it hadn't been that sort of kiss at all. Maybe it had been to comfort me. What did you say to someone you had just told to run away and leave you to die? A kiss could say a lot. Or he could have done it as one last thing to remember him by. They were all plausible. Had our kiss been under better, more normal circumstances I would have confronted him the very next day. But it hadn't been, and the worst scenario, alone, was reason enough to not say anything. What if he was acting like it had never happened because he didn't remember? Charlie said he remembered seeing the vampire kick Dani, and then had a vague recollection of me pulling him out of the rain, but he didn't remember anything in between. Nothing. Thomas had been hurt and scared, and probably hadn't felt very well to begin with. Maybe kissing me had just been a pure, gut reaction to the situation. Some brief vampire instinct. Or normal guy instinct, for that matter. For all I knew, Thomas had no idea that he kissed me. Even worse, I knew that the more time I let go by, the more awkward bringing it up would be. So, I didn't say anything at all.

All too soon, the voyage ended. Laurie and I packed up everything and tossed our suitcases out into the hall. Then, we stood there, looking around an empty room. It was weird. I felt like the voyage had taken years. I had been through so much I couldn't believe it had all happened in a couple of months. It had been almost a month since I had staked Nathaniel, but sometimes it seemed like years ago and other times, like hours. And then there was the voyage itself. I felt like I had just set foot on the ship for the first time yesterday, but at the same time, I felt like I had been sailing forever.

"Weird, isn't it?" Laurie said.

I'd overheard enough conversations to know that I wasn't alone. "Very," I agreed.

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Someone knocked on the door. Laurie answered it and giggled, "It's for you."

It was Thomas. "Hey," I said in surprise.

"So, uh..." He shrugged. "I guess this is it."

"Yeah." We'd gotten a memo that listed all of the assigned disembarkation times. "Your Sea gets off at one, right?" It was half an hour before my Sea, which meant we'd get almost two hours together.

He shook his head. "I won that thing, remember? I'm getting off now."

"Oh... right." I'd forgotten. Just like that, it got awkward. This was goodbye, and I was wholly unprepared.

Thomas seemed nearly as nervous as I was. "Have a safe trip. You'll keep in touch, right?"

"Of course."

"Sorry that, uh..." He glanced at Laurie. "Sorry things weren't always... ideal."

I smiled. "We lived." I knew Laurie would have no idea just how serious I was being.

Thomas studied me for a moment, then hugged me. "I'm not sure if I ever actually thanked you for... well, everything. You saved my life, not to mention everyone else's." Then he whispered in my ear, "I owe you."

"I think we're even, after all that."

He tightened his grip for a moment, and then stepped back. He smiled, and I could almost have talked myself into believing that he was considering kissing me again. "How long is your break after this semester?"

"Uh... almost a month." I hadn't expected that question.

Thomas grinned. "Great. Keep it open?"

"Yeah! I will!"

"Good. Well, I'll write if you will."

I nodded. Neither of us moved, and I wondered if Thomas was as reluctant to part as I was. We hugged one more time; his ribs were still too prominent.

"And you'll eat better?"

"Don't worry about me, I'll be fine."

"Have a safe trip," I said, as he stepped back.

"You, too."

Then, he left. He was halfway down the corridor, when I called after him. He turned back and looked at me curiously. I almost wanted to mention the kiss, but it wasn't the right time. If he didn't remember, or if it didn't mean anything, it would be an awful way to say goodbye. But if it had meant something, I didn't think that saying goodbye and telling someone you had a crush on them would be any better.

"I'm glad I met you," I said softly. I half-hoped he wouldn't hear me.

He smiled and called, "Same here!"

There was nothing left to do in my room, so I went down to Mariana's. There was a stack of four, huge bags outside the door. All four were a bright shade of lavender. They looked brand new, but were so full, they were almost ripping at the seams. Before I could knock, the door opened, and Mariana was there, dragging out another matching bag.

"Hey!" she said happily.

"Need a hand?"

"Please!"

Together, we heaved the bag onto the top of the pile.

"What's in this?" I asked.

"Souvenirs. I'm glad my mom bought me all these bags. I needed every inch." She frowned at the pile. "I should have taken the time to get them spelled."

Dani appeared in the doorway. "Heard that! Told you so."

Mariana sighed.

"Hey, Jen!" Dani said with a grin. He held a plastic bag with a toothbrush and tube of toothpaste in it. His grin turned into a frown, and he looked around. "Did they take my bag already?"

"Guess so," Mariana said.

She said it almost too quickly. Dani tilted his head thoughtfully and regarded the pile. He forced his foot under the bags and a moment later pulled it out. A frayed, army-green strap was hooked around his toes.

"That's funny... This one isn't pretty, pretty purple," he said. He gave it another tug, and a few more inches of the strap slid out, then the pile of bags started to wobble.

"Careful!" Mariana cried.

"Says the girl who just turned my bag into a pancake."

Mariana rolled her eyes and went back into the room.

"Sorry, I crushed your stuff with all my crap," Dani said in Mariana's voice. "Maybe I should have listened to your sage packing advice." He unzipped the top bag and crammed his toothbrush in. It just barely fit. "What did you pack, the Titanic or something?" Mariana didn't answer. Dani just laughed and turned to me. "You all set?"

"Yeah."

"Why so glum?" he asked.

"I'm not glum."

He slung an arm around my shoulders. "Come on." We hadn't gone far down the hall, when he said softly. "So, what will we do?"

"Do?"

He moved his hand to my head and fluffed my hair. "About you and one, Thomas D. Clark."

"Dani!"

"What?" he asked innocently.

I sighed. "There's nothing to do. It wouldn't work. I don't even know if he likes me! And he's already off the ship! There's no point. Who knows when I'll even see him again."

Dani turned and planted both hands on my shoulders. "Listen carefully; I'm only saying this once. Okay?"

"Okay."

"First, you don't know if it won't work until you try it. Second, Tom has been one of my best friends for thirty years. Trust me when I say he does like you. I mean, he couldn't take his eyes off you during the formal dinner," Dani laughed. "And you're thinking in mortal terms again. We've all gotten pretty attached to you. It won't be long before you see Tom, just a blink of an eye when you're not aging. Magics don't move that fast when we date. Now, cheer up. It's sad enough that the voyage is over without you pining over Tom."

"I'm not pining!"

"Good. Cause there's no need to."

He started walking again. I followed, grudgingly feeling a bit better at the thought that Thomas did like me. We went up to Charlie's room and had just closed the door when there was a shout.