“I think they broke up on Monday. ”
Harper scoffed and slouched back in her seat. “God, she never tells me anything. ”
“She doesn’t want to worry you. And you tend to react like this when she tells you stuff. ” Daniel motioned to her.
“I’m not reacting any way,” she said quickly, but she sat up straighter and tried not to look as upset. “But you were saying something about Aiden. Are you sure he wasn’t just flirting with her?”
“No, guys flirt with her a lot. She usually ignores them. This time she was definitely flirting back. ”
“Is this a bad thing?” Harper asked. “I mean, worse than her getting involved with any guy right now?”
“No. ” Daniel stared down at the table and pursed his lips. “I don’t know. ”
“What does that mean?”
“I don’t know anything. ” He paused and glanced around the diner before continuing. “Well, Aiden used to be really good friends with my brother. ”
“Your older brother? So you’re saying this Aiden guy is older than me and you and way, way older than Gemma?” Harper was going into high alert, but she did her best to keep her voice even so Daniel couldn’t accuse her of overreacting.
“Yeah. But…” Daniel scratched his scruff and hesitated. “After John died, I didn’t really have any reason to talk to Aiden anymore, so it’s been, like, five years since we’ve really spoken. ”
“But?”
“But when he did run around with John, Aiden was not the nicest guy, and he had a really bad track record with the ladies. ”
“Like how bad?” Harper asked.
“I don’t know. ” He lifted one shoulder in a half shrug and looked up at Harper. “I mostly heard about it from John, so I don’t know how true any of it is. But I saw one of his girlfriends, and she had a pretty nasty shiner. ”
“She got it from Aiden?”
Daniel nodded. “That’s what John said. ”
“And now Aiden’s dating Gemma?” Harper asked, and by now she didn’t care at all how Daniel or Gemma thought she should react.
“‘Dating’ is probably too strong a word. And you have to keep in mind that Gemma is, you know…” He gave her a knowing look, trying to remind her that Gemma was a mythological creature capable of enslaving men. “She can handle herself. ”
Harper shook her head. “I don’t want her to have to handle herself. ”
“I know. But…” Daniel trailed off when he noticed Harper digging in her purse on the booth seat next to her. “What are you doing?” Instead of answering, she pulled out her cell phone. “No. Harper, you can’t call her. ”
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“Why not?” Harper asked, but she’d already hit the call button and held the phone up to her ear.
“Because she’ll know that I told on her, and she’ll be pissed at both of us. ”
“I don’t care. ” She listened to the ringing and hoped Gemma would hurry and pick up.
“This is why she doesn’t tell you stuff,” Daniel said. “You act like her mom. ”
Harper froze for a second. That was about the worst thing Daniel could call her. She’d been trying really hard to act more like a sister and a friend than a parent. It wasn’t good for either of them if Harper kept smothering Gemma.
She was just about to hang up when Gemma finally answered.
“Gemma?” Harper said. “Sorry. Pocket dial. ” She paused as Gemma said something. “Yep. I’ll see you when I get home. ” She hung up and shoved the phone back in her purse, then looked at Daniel. “There. Was that better?”
He smiled. “A little bit, yeah. ”
“Why did you even tell me this?” Harper asked. “You knew how I’d react. ”
“I thought you should be aware of the situation, so you can kinda keep an eye out for stuff,” he said. “But you have to let her live her own life, make her own choices. And right now all she’s done is flirt with a guy. It’s not time to sound the alarm. ”
Harper swallowed hard and shook her head. “I don’t know how I’m supposed to act or what I’m supposed to do. If I see her in danger, I’m just supposed to let her be in danger?”
“If Gemma was standing in front of a moving bus, I would expect nothing less than for you to run and push her out of the way,” Daniel said. “But she’s not standing in front of a bus. And we’re on a date. ”
“I know. ” She took a deep breath. “I’m trying. ”
“I know. ” He reached across the table, taking her hand in his. “And I think it’s sweet that you have to work so hard at caring less. You’re like the exact opposite of the Grinch. Your heart is three sizes too big. ”
She smiled and blushed a little. “That was really cheesy. But also sweet. ”
“That’s what I was going for. ” Daniel grinned. “I like to think that I walk the fine line between cheesy and sweet, and I always come out on top. ”
“Most of the time, you do. ”
Pearl brought them their dinner shortly after that, and the rest of their meal went well. Both of them made a point of not talking about Gemma or the sirens or college—any of the big three downers that consumed Harper’s life.
When they left the diner, the sun was still up, but it was beginning its descent below the horizon. The day had been bordering on overly hot, but as it grew later it managed to hit that perfect spot of just warm enough.
Harper had parked almost a block away, which was the closest spot she’d been able to find next to Pearl’s. She and Daniel began walking to her car, neither of them really speaking, just enjoying each other’s company and the beautiful evening.
“What did you want to do now?” Daniel asked when they reached Harper’s old Sable.
“I don’t know. ” She leaned back against the passenger door and stared up at him. “Did you have anything in mind?”
“I was thinking maybe you could come back out to the island with me. ” He leaned in toward her, putting one hand next to her on the car.
“Yeah? What will we do out there?”
He pretended to think about it, his expression comically serious, and it made Harper laugh a little. When he looked back down at her, he was smiling, but it fell away to something more intent.
“I could think of a few things,” he said, his voice low, and he leaned down to her.
His lips had just brushed against hers when a commotion down the street pulled her attention from him.
EIGHTEEN
Slip
Penn lay stretched out on the sofa of her living room, languidly flipping through a tabloid as Lexi paced in front of her.
“Isn’t it time for Thea to come home?” Lexi asked.
Penn lifted her eyes to peer at the clock over the top of the magazine. “Play rehearsal isn’t even done yet. ”
“But this is ridiculous. You brought Liv over last night, and everything went great with her!” Lexi sighed. “She needs twenty-four hours before she’ll even discuss it with us?”
“She said she needed time to ‘gather her thoughts. ’” Penn let go of the magazine long enough to do air quotes with one hand.
Lexi stopped in front of the fireplace and turned back to Penn. “You should just go down and pick her up. ”
“I let her take the car, remember?” Penn asked.
“Why?” Lexi demanded, her tone taking on a grating whine that made it very hard for Penn not to smack her. “You always drive her. ”
“I didn’t feel like it,” Penn said as evenly as she could. “And I suggest you calm the hell down before I make you. ”
“Whatever,” Lexi muttered and stormed upstairs.
Within a few minutes music came blasting out of the stereo, and Lexi sang along with it. Penn thought about yelling at her, but listening to Lexi sing was far better than listening to her complain.
It seemed to take Thea far too long to get home, mostly thanks to Lexi’s choice of songs. Sh
e seemed content to put Katy Perry on repeat, and while Penn had liked the song in the beginning, by the fifteenth time in a row it began to wear on her.
Fortunately, Lexi shut it off the second Thea walked in through the front door.
“So did you make your decision?” Lexi leaned over the banister in the upstairs loft and shouted down at Thea. “You totally love her, right?”
“Is it okay if I shut the door before you start interrogating me?” Thea asked, pushing her oversized sunglasses onto the top of her head.
“Relax, Lexi,” Penn said, all but begging her. She sat up on the couch and tossed the magazine aside. “We don’t need to make any decisions this instant. ”
“Well, it wouldn’t hurt for us to make it now. ” Lexi jogged down the stairs, but she tried to quiet the insistence in her voice. “So? What did you think?”
“Rehearsal was fine, thanks for asking,” Thea muttered and sat down in a chair.
“You know nobody cares about your play,” Penn said matter-of-factly, and Thea just sighed.
Lexi sat on a chair across from her, and she was literally on the edge of her seat, staring at Thea expectantly.
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“I don’t know how I feel yet,” Thea admitted finally. She put her feet up on her chair and wrapped her arms around her knees. “It’s too soon to say. ”
“Oh, come on!” Lexi groaned and flopped back in her seat. “You told us you would know by now! We spent the whole evening with Liv last night. She was perfect, and you know it!”
“She was not perfect!” Thea shot back. “She’s a sycophant, and when you told her that we were sirens, she was barely fazed by it. She’s probably insane. ” Thea turned her attention to Penn, giving her a hard look. “That was a big risk, by the way. ”
“I used the siren song on her. ” Penn brushed it off. “Liv won’t be able to tell anyone, even if she wanted to. But I doubt she would anyway. There’s no way she’d go back on her promise to me. ”
“You don’t know that, Penn,” Thea insisted. “You don’t know her. And I still don’t think you’ve given Gemma enough of a chance. ”
“We’ve given her plenty of chances!” Lexi yelled. “You’re being ridiculous. This is so dumb. Liv is perfect, and you’re an idiot, and we need to leave this stupid town. ” She stood up and crossed her arms over her chest. “Penn and I don’t care what you say. We’re doing what we want. ”
Penn shot her an icy look. “We aren’t deciding anything. I’ll make a decision. Why don’t you go upstairs and let Thea and I talk, since you can’t stop throwing a tantrum?”
“I’m not throwing a tantrum,” Lexi snapped. Penn continued to glare at her, so she scoffed before turning and stomping upstairs to the bedroom loft.
Penn leaned forward and rested her arms on her knees, turning her attention back to Thea. “Forget Gemma. She’s out of the picture. We’re not keeping her, no matter what you say or what she does. Okay?”
“I think you’re being a bit premature, but it’s your call. ” Thea shrugged and kept her eyes fixed on the floor.
“When we take Gemma off the table, how do you feel about Liv?” Penn asked.
“There’s just something about her that I don’t trust,” Thea said. “Liv rubbed me the wrong way. ”
“But you have to admit that she’s going to follow orders much better than Gemma does,” Penn said. “When I told her we were sirens, she was so excited to become one of us. ”
“That’s just it, Penn!” Thea looked up to meet her sister’s gaze. “This is a curse. She shouldn’t be excited about it. ”
“It’s an awesome curse,” Penn countered, and Thea shook her head.
“You chose Lexi because of how submissive she was,” Thea reminded Penn. “I wanted a different girl, but you kept going on and on about the handmaiden that worshipped your beauty. And Aggie sided with you to keep the peace. ”
“Yeah, so?” Penn asked. “That turned out great. ”
“Did it?” Thea arched her eyebrow. “Or is Lexi constantly getting on your nerves?”
“I can hear you, you know!” Lexi shouted from upstairs.
“No matter what you think of Lexi, you have to admit that she’s worked out way better than Gemma,” Penn said, ignoring Lexi. “She’s been part of our group for nearly three hundred years, and she may be obnoxious, but I haven’t killed her yet. So that’s something. ”
Thea leaned closer to Penn, and when she spoke, she’d lowered her voice to just above a whisper. “I know you’re not ready to leave. Whatever you have going on with Daniel, I know you’re not about to give that up just yet. ”
Penn considered this, but didn’t say anything.
“And I want to finish the play I’m in,” Thea said. “I know you don’t care about it, but maybe you can spend more time with Daniel, and everyone can spend more time making sure that Liv is the right choice instead of just jumping into a hasty decision again. ”
“You’re suggesting that I wait to kill Gemma until after the play?” Penn asked.
“Yeah,” Thea said. “It’s only a couple more weeks. ”
“We don’t have that much time,” Lexi said, leaning over the railing of the upstairs loft so she could see them.
“We have as much time as I say we have,” Penn snapped at her.
“No, we don’t. ” Lexi shook her head. “I did something bad. By accident. ”
“What did you do?” Thea asked, her voice a low growl. “You didn’t kill anybody, did you?”
“No, I just…” She sighed. “I may have let it slip where the scroll is. ”
“What scroll?” Penn asked. Her nose wrinkled in confusion, but then realization hit her, and she stood up. “The scroll? Who did you tell about the scroll?”
“Gemma,” Lexi admitted sheepishly. “She tricked me last night. She said she’d already found it, and I told her that it was with Achelous, and so I think she put the pieces together. Or at least she probably will. ”
“You stupid wench!” Penn shouted, and Lexi cringed. “Thea’s right! You are the biggest mistake I have ever made! You are so dumb and useless!”
Thea stood up, moving between Penn and the staircase as if preparing for Penn to run upstairs and attack Lexi. Penn wanted to do just that, but she stayed where she was, seething.
Her temper was barely under control, and she felt her fingers begin to elongate. Her gums had begun to itch as her teeth shifted into fangs, and her vision had already become clearer as her eyes changed into those of a bird.
“Does she have the scroll?” Thea asked Lexi, her voice calm.
“I don’t know. ” Lexi shook her head, and Penn could see tears pooling in her eyes. That only enraged her more, and it took all her strength to keep from flying up there and ripping off her head.
“You’re going to get us all killed!” Penn roared. The monster had taken over her voice, shifting it from silk to something much more demonic.
“Nobody’s dead yet!” Thea held up her hands to calm her sister. “Gemma might not have the scroll yet. Lexi will go look for it, and if it’s there, she’ll bring it here for us to guard personally. If it’s not there, then we’ll go kill Gemma. ”
“Why don’t we just go kill her now?” Lexi suggested. “Then it won’t matter if she has it. ”
“You did this on purpose, didn’t you?” Penn asked, narrowing her eyes at her. “You wanted to leave now, so you’re trying to make it so we have to. ”
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“No, Penn, I swear, it was just an accident,” Lexi said.
“Penn, stop,” Thea said, her words as sweet and melodic as she could make them. “Think. You don’t want to kill Lexi right now. It’s hard enough finding the replacement for one siren, let alone two. ”
Penn knew she was right, so she took a deep breath and pushed the monster back down. Slowly she felt her fangs pull back, but her eyes stayed changed. She couldn’t p
ut her anger completely to rest, nor did she want to.
She kept her power with the sirens by letting them know she’d do whatever it took to keep the power. She’d had no problem destroying anyone who stood in her way or went against her, and she wasn’t about to stop now.
“Lexi, go find the scroll,” Penn commanded, and her voice had returned to its normal saccharine tone. “If it’s there, bring it back to me. I will take care of it. ”
“What if it’s not there?” Lexi asked.
“You better pray it is, but if Gemma finds that scroll, you’ll be the first one to die,” Penn warned her. “Do you understand?”
Lexi nodded. “Yes, I understand. ”
She ran down the stairs, and when she raced by Penn, she gave her as much room as she could. Penn was tempted to give chase and attack her, but it would be better if Lexi retrieved the scroll sooner rather than later.
Thea waited to speak again until after Lexi had gone out the back door. They watched through the window as she dove off the cliff behind the house, where she’d land in the water crashing below them.
“What’s your plan if Gemma doesn’t have the scroll?” Thea asked.
“We’ll stay for now,” Penn said, still staring out the back window as the setting sun reflected off the bay. “I don’t want another Gemma or Lexi on my hands, and the more time I spend being sure that Liv is the right choice, the better off we will all be.
“But we can’t stay that much longer. ” Penn turned back to Thea. “It’s only a matter of time before your precious Gemma finds the scroll, so we’ll have to kill her first. ”
NINETEEN
Inebriated
Two doors down from Pearl’s Diner was a bar frequented by the dockworkers. Harper had never been inside before because she wasn’t yet of the legal drinking age, but judging by how it looked on the outside, she assumed it was a dive. Her dad had gone there from time to time, and everything he’d said about it had confirmed her suspicions.
When three men came tumbling out of the battered front door of the bar, yelling and swearing, Harper hadn’t thought much of it. They made enough noise to disrupt her kiss with Daniel, but that was all.
Or it would’ve been, if Harper hadn’t seen the source of all the trouble. Two of the men were there just to pull the third one out of the bar. They tossed him onto the sidewalk, where he’d hit his head on the cement, and that was when Harper saw who it was.
“Alex?” Harper asked. She put her hands on Daniel’s chest to push him back a bit, but he’d already started stepping away.
“I’m fine!” Alex had gotten to his feet and was yelling. “That other guy was being the dick, not me!”
Harper rushed over to him, getting there just in time to catch him from falling back again. Unfortunately, he was too heavy for Harper, so he nearly took her down with him, but Daniel grabbed his arm and hoisted him back up.
“Is this a friend of yours?” one of the guys from the bar asked.
“I don’t have any friends. ” Alex tried to push Daniel away, but Daniel kept his grip firmly on Alex’s arm. “I don’t need any friends. ”
“Yeah, we’re his friends,” Harper said, ignoring Alex’s protests. “And we’re sorry about any trouble he’s caused. He’s just been going through some things. ”
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