Lullaby

by Amanda Hocking

In fact, most of the information she’d read would contradict information she’d read earlier. A lot of the texts seemed to assume that the sirens were already dead, having been killed when a ship sailed past without stopping to hear the siren song.

  None of it made sense, and none of it brought her any closer to Gemma. In the end, everything she’d done felt like busywork. The hard truth was that she wasn’t helping her sister, and she had no idea how to.

  “So, what?” Marcy asked. “Are you just giving up, then?”

  “Of course I’m not giving up. ” Harper roughly shoved a book onto the shelf. “I’ll never give up. ”

  “Then what’s the plan?” Marcy asked.

  “Why do you even care?” Harper snapped.

  Her legs ached from the way she’d been crouching, so she stood and turned back to face the desk. The bookcases in the kids’ section only came up to Harper’s waist, and she stared over them at Marcy, who blinked at Harper from behind thick-rimmed glasses.

  “You’re my friend,” Marcy said, sounding surprised by Harper’s tone. “She’s your sister. I want to help. ”

  “So your plan to help is to bitch about everything we do all the time?” Harper asked. “Because that’s all I ever see you doing. ”

  “What’s your problem?” Marcy sat up straighter. “I know I’m not the greatest in these situations, but at least I’m trying to help. I’m doing the best I can. ”

  “So am I, Marcy!” Harper yelled. The few library patrons turned to look at her, but she didn’t care. “I’m trying and I’m trying, and it doesn’t matter! I’m not doing anything to help anybody!”

  “I am sorry that you can’t find her,” Marcy said. “I truly am. But it’s not my fault. ”

  “I know!” Harper started shouting again, then softened. “I’m sick of all this. ” She let out a deep breath to fight back a sob. “I just want to know that she’s okay. I want her to come home. ”

  The fight had gone out of her, and she leaned back against the shelf behind her. She fought back tears, and wiped at the few that managed to fall.

  “I feel like this is the time I’m supposed to come over and hug you,” Marcy said from where she sat behind the desk. “But I’m not really the hugging type. Plus, the sunburn. ”

  “It’s okay. ” Harper sniffled and forced a smile at her. “I think I just needed to let off some steam. ”

  A couple of patrons were still staring suspiciously at her, so Harper offered them an apologetic smile.

  “Sorry about my outburst, folks,” she told them, and straightened up. “It won’t happen again. You can go back to your browsing. ”

  She crouched down to pick up the books she’d left on the floor, the ones she still had left to put away. She’d honestly meant to pick them up and go about her work, but as soon as she was safely hidden behind the shelves, it hit her.

  Gemma might never come back, and even if she did, Harper had no idea if Gemma would even still be her sister. No matter what happened from here on out, the little sister Harper had always known and loved was gone. And nothing Harper could do would bring her back.

  She put one hand over her mouth to keep quiet as tears spilled down her cheeks, and she put her other hand on the shelf to steady herself. Her whole body shook as she cried, but she managed to stay relatively silent.

  “Hello?” a voice said behind her.

  She turned her head to the side, hiding her face as best she could from whoever stood behind her.

  “Um, Marcy’s at the desk,” Harper said, swallowing back tears. “If you need help finding a book, check with her. ”

  “Harper, I don’t need help finding a book,” he said. She glanced back over her shoulder to see Daniel.

  Page 34

  “Daniel. ” She turned away from him and rushed to wipe her face as inconspicuously as possible. “Of course you would come here now. ” He didn’t need to see her all snot-nosed and sobbing.

  “Are you okay?” he asked.

  “Yes, I’m fine. Everything’s fine. ” She sniffled, grabbed the books, and stood up, realizing that she probably looked the best she could hope for, and turned to face him. “What can I do for you?”

  “Were you crying?” he asked, his voice warm with concern.

  She lowered her eyes, refusing to look up at him, but she could feel his eyes searching her. He moved even closer to her, so he was mere inches away, but Harper just hugged the books to her chest and stared down at her feet.

  “I’m working, Daniel, so if you don’t need anything from me, I should probably get back to it,” she said.

  “I know you’re working, and I wouldn’t bother you if it wasn’t important,” Daniel said. “Can you take, like, five minutes to go somewhere and talk with me?”

  On her list of wants, being with Daniel right now only came second to finding Gemma. What Harper really wanted to do was go someplace dark and quiet with him, to give in to the warmth of his voice and the strength of his arms. To have him hold her and kiss her until she couldn’t feel anything but him, until she’d forgotten about the ache inside, all the pain she felt about losing her sister and disappointing her family.

  And that was exactly why she shook her head. She wanted to use Daniel as an escape, and that wasn’t fair to him or to her. She needed to deal with the mess of her life instead of hiding from it, even if hiding sounded far more pleasant.

  “I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Harper said.

  She wanted to lift her head, to steal a look at his expression, but she settled for looking up from his battered Converse shoes to his torso. He wore a T-shirt today, the dark black lines of his tattoo traveling out from underneath his sleeve down to his elbow.

  Ever since he’d helped her at Bernie’s house on Sunday, Harper had a weird urge to trace her fingers along the dark lines of that tattoo. Last night, she’d even dreamt about it.

  She and Daniel were lying in a bed, probably the largest bed she’d ever seen. It nearly took up the whole room. The room itself was white. Everything was pure, stark white.

  Harper could hear the ocean outside, and she could smell it in the breeze. French doors that presumably led out to the beach were wide open, and sheer curtains billowed in the wind.

  Daniel was lying next to her in the bed, shirtless, with the sheets up to his waist. He wasn’t facing her, but instead had his head turned toward the ocean. Harper rested her head on his bare shoulder and ran her fingers along his tattoo, tracing the dark lines that ran along the scars. He said nothing, but Harper sang him a sweet lullaby.

  Then she heard her sister’s voice, coming from everywhere and nowhere at all. Gemma simply said, “Wake up,” and then she did. Harper had opened her eyes to find herself lying in her own bed, alone.

  Maybe that was why everything was hitting her so hard today. It was as if Gemma were telling her that she was running out of time, and that Harper needed to stop wasting her time on a silly crush and get back to what mattered.

  “Harper. ” Daniel sighed, frustrated. “We need to talk. It’s about Gemma. ”

  Her eyes shot up then, and she finally met his gaze. His face was solemn, but there was something hopeful in his eyes, like he might have good news. But really, almost any news about Gemma would be good at this point.

  “What about her?” Harper asked. “Have you heard from her?”

  “Not exactly. ” He reached behind his back and grabbed a rolled-up copy of USA Today that he’d jammed into his back pocket. “But you should take a look at this. ”

  “What?” She dropped the books she’d been holding on top of the bookshelf and snatched the paper from him before he could explain further.

  The cover story was about some politician being caught in a tawdry affair with a celebrity, and the smaller features on the bottom half were about the economy and how people were planning to spend Independence Day this upcoming weekend.

  “What does thi
s have to do with Gemma?” Harper demanded.

  “It’s not—here, just give it to me. ”

  Daniel took the paper from her and laid it out on top of the bookshelf. He opened it to the third page and smoothed out the crinkles as best he could before pointing to a small column on the side of the page.

  “Boys Don’t Die” was the headline, with a subhead reading “Why the Media Doesn’t Care When Boys Are Killed. ”

  “This is about sexism in the media?” Harper scoffed, and looked at Daniel.

  “Will you just keep reading?” Daniel asked.

  She stared at him uncertainly before turning her attention back to the paper. As soon as she started reading, she saw the connection, but didn’t completely understand how it would help find Gemma.

  The reporter had picked up on the dead boys in Capri and wrote a little about the brutal murders of four teenage boys. But the story wasn’t about the murders so much as why nobody was covering them.

  Even Harper had to agree that the story had been largely ignored. Other than a few local reporters, she hadn’t seen much in the way of media. Which seemed odd, especially since they were labeling it as the work of a serial killer.

  The article went on to name several high-profile murder cases that all involved beautiful young women, then speculated why this case, which consisted of multiple murders, garnered so little attention. The writer of the article clearly thought there was some kind of gender bias involved.

  Harper was just about to ask Daniel why he wanted her to read this when she realized the answer was in the last few paragraphs.

  The murders no longer appear isolated in Maryland. Just yesterday, in a small seaside community 45 minutes south of Myrtle Beach, a young man was found murdered in much the same fashion as the previous victims in Capri.

  Thirty-three-year-old Jason Way was found with his chest cavity ripped open in an alleyway outside a busy restaurant. Despite the heinous nature of the crime, no witnesses have come forward as having heard or seen anything.

  With this fifth murder of a young man, perhaps the media will start giving these serial killings the coverage they deserve. So far, however, that seems unlikely. Local authorities in South Carolina are hesitant to connect this murder with the previous ones in Maryland.

  Jason Way also has a long history of domestic violence, sexual harassment, and a rape conviction, so retribution from previous victims hasn’t been ruled out, a representative for the police force has said.

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  For now, mothers need to watch out for their sons, because it seems that nobody else is going to.

  “Oh, my gosh,” Harper said, exhaling shakily after she finished reading. “That’s them, isn’t it? This has to be the sirens. ”

  Daniel nodded. “I think so. I mean, that guy sounds like he might have been a douche, so it could be some kind of copycat killing. But it’s worth checking out, at least. ”

  “When is this paper from?” Harper flipped to the front with shaking hands to check the date.

  “It’s from today,” Daniel answered.

  “So that guy, he was really killed yesterday?” Harper pushed her bangs back from her forehead and tried to think, but her mind was racing too fast. “They might still be there. Gemma might be there. How far away is it?”

  “Myrtle Beach is about a ten-and-a-half-hour drive from here,” Daniel said. “So a little over eleven hours, if we hurry. ”

  “Do you know what town that was?” Harper looked back at the paper, scanning the article to see if it had named the exact town where the body had been found.

  “I Googled it on my phone before I came here,” Daniel said. “It’s right on the coast. We should have no problem finding it. ”

  “Good. ” Harper nodded, then she realized what he had said. “You’re coming with?”

  “Well, duh,” Daniel said, like it should be obvious. “I saw what those sirens are capable of. There’s no way I’m letting you go up against them alone. ”

  She wanted to argue with him, but he had a point. She needed all the help she could get if she wanted to rescue Gemma.

  She smiled gratefully at him, but that was all she had time for. They needed to hurry if they wanted to catch the sirens before they moved on.

  “I’m taking off, Marcy,” Harper said as she walked toward the front door.

  “Wait!” Marcy stood up, and when Harper turned back to her, she saw Marcy holding her purse outstretched toward her. “You probably need your car keys and stuff. ”

  Harper ran back and grabbed her purse. “Thanks, Marce. And sorry about earlier. ”

  “Don’t sweat it. ” Marcy shrugged it off. “Just go get her. And be careful. ”

  NINETEEN

  Warning

  Gemma hated how good she felt when she woke up. The effects of feeding yesterday hadn’t worn off. If anything, they’d only grown stronger. Her body was like liquid. Every movement she made was smooth and fluid, and she felt like she was gliding everywhere she went.

  When she got out of bed, she actually danced around the room, unable to help herself. And while she’d never had any formal training of any kind, she moved like a ballet dancer. As if elegance had suddenly become part of her DNA.

  She didn’t have to look in the mirror to know that she was glowing. She could feel it. Her skin was positively luminous.

  And despite her best efforts to feel guilty and mourn the loss of the man she’d murdered yesterday, her sirenness was at full blast, and happiness radiated through her.

  The sadness was still there, because she had done something absolutely horrific and could never forgive herself for it. But it was buried down deep inside her, hidden with the rest of her negative emotions that the new siren powers didn’t want her to feel.

  She went down the stairs two steps at a time, simply because she felt like it, and nearly bumped into Sawyer, who was standing at the bottom.

  “Good morning, Gemma,” he said, sounding even more dazed than usual. He looked almost awed by her beauty, and Gemma felt a sharp pang of self-loathing that she had that effect on him. Or any guy, for that matter.

  “Morning,” she replied, smiling at him anyway.

  She was pleased to find that the insatiable lust she’d been feeling for him had disappeared. Sure, she still thought Sawyer was attractive, but she had absolutely no urge to jump him.

  “Do you need anything?” Sawyer asked, following her into the kitchen.

  “Dear God, Sawyer, stop drooling on the poor girl,” Penn said with an exaggerated eye roll. “She doesn’t need to deal with you acting like a dog in heat first thing in the morning. ”

  Penn was sitting on a stool at the kitchen island. A trashy magazine was spread out before her, showcasing the best and worst beach bodies, and a half-empty glass of orange juice sat next to it.

  “Sorry. ” Sawyer stared down at his feet, looking ashamed.

  “I see you slept well,” Penn said, turning her attention to Gemma as she languidly flipped the pages in the magazine.

  “I slept fine,” Gemma replied noncommittally, and opened the fridge. There wasn’t much in the way of food, but she grabbed an apple, then shut the door.

  “Well, you look radiant,” Penn said without looking at her. “Being a siren obviously suits you. ”

  Gemma leaned against the fridge and bit into the apple, ignoring its unpleasant taste, because she didn’t know how else to respond. That was obviously some kind of compliment, but Gemma really didn’t want to take it that way. She still didn’t want to be a siren.

  The house was suddenly filled with the sounds of music as Lexi turned on a stereo in another room. Adele came wafting out, and Lexi joined in, somehow managing to sound even lovelier than Adele when she sang.

  Sawyer had still been staring down in shame, but as soon as Lexi started singing, he turned toward her. He even started walking toward her, moving slowly, like he was
drawn to her song.

  “Shut the hell up, Lexi!” Penn shouted, with an unsettling undercurrent to her normally sweet voice. When she was angry, she had a monstrous tone that she couldn’t seem to control, sounding like some awful creature from a horror movie. “Nobody wants to hear you squawking!”

  “Ugh!” Lexi groaned loudly, and the music fell silent. Not just Lexi, but the stereo that played along with it. “I’m going out for a swim since you’re being a killjoy!”

  “Can I go swim, too?” Sawyer asked, looking over at Penn.

  “Did you get all the blood out of the convertible last night?” Penn asked, still staring down at the glossy pages in front of her.

  “Um, no?” He furrowed his brow as he thought now. “No. You told me not to worry about it and just to come to bed with you. ”

  “Well, you’re up now. ” She smiled thinly at him, not even attempting to hide her contempt. “Go clean out the car. ”

  “Sure, yeah, of course. ” He nodded quickly, then left the kitchen to do her bidding.

  Page 36

  “So how did it feel?” Penn asked, resting her hand on her chin as she flipped a page.

  Gemma swallowed the bite of apple in her mouth before answering her. “What?”

  “Taking a human life. ” Penn kept her head tilted down, as if she were still examining the beach bodies, but she lifted her eyes to meet Gemma’s. Penn’s were black as usual, but they were dancing at the thought of murder.

  Gemma forced herself to take another bite, even though she felt nauseated at the talk of murder, and she refused to answer Penn’s question.

  “You really are one of us now,” Penn went on, smiling as she spoke. “You’re a monster now. Just like me and Lexi and Thea. You’ve had a taste of the human heart, and you won’t be able to stop yourself. ”

  “I’ll never be like you. ” Gemma shook her head and stared down at the apple in her hands. “I made a mistake last night, but I’ll never let myself be out of control like that again. I’ll never be a monster. ”

  Penn laughed. “You said you’d never kill anyone in the first place. These little moral compromises you keep making with yourself. You’ll find that eventually morality will mean nothing to you. We chose you for a reason. ”

  “You chose me because you were running out of options,” Gemma pointed out. “Thea told me that I was your last chance. ”

  “You were my first choice, though,” Penn said, but her smile had faltered. “Do you know why I wanted you?”

  Gemma toyed with the fruit in her hands, not wanting to admit to Penn that she didn’t really know, and she actually wanted to.

  “I saw the evil in you,” Penn said.

  “That’s not true. ” Gemma shook her head. “I’m not … There’s no evil in me. Or at least there wasn’t before I became a siren. ”

  “Whatever you say. ” Penn threw up her hands as if it were of no concern to her. “You’re not evil. You killed that man last night out of the goodness of your heart. ”