“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. She 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.
“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.”
“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 put 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.”
“Well, tell your friend not to come back here if he’s going to be starting fights,” the guy said.
“Will do,” Harper promised him with a smile, and the two guys went back into the bar, leaving Daniel and Harper to handle Alex.
“I don’t need your help,” Alex muttered, then turned to look at Harper.
He smelled faintly of alcohol. His jeans had holes in them, and his dark bangs kept falling into his eyes. Not to mention that he’d hit his head pretty hard on the sidewalk, and Harper could see the blood through his dark hair.
“Alex, you’re bleeding,” Harper said. “We should take you to the hospital.”
“I’m fine,” he said and managed to push Daniel off him.
“At least let me look at it,” Harper insisted. Alex looked like he was about to protest, so she added, “If you don’t let me look at it, I’m calling 911, and they’ll look instead. And I’m certain they wouldn’t approve of your underage drinking.”
Alex groaned but walked over to a nearby bench. He sat down with a heavy thud and repeated, “I’m fine. I don’t need your help.”
“Alex, you’re clearly not fine,” Harper said, sitting down next to him. “You’re fighting, and I’ve never known you to drink before. How did you even get into the bar? You’re only eighteen.”
He waved her off. “If you work down at the docks, they let you drink. That’s the only thing that matters.”
She parted his hair to get a better look, but he appeared to have only a small cut. It was bleeding some, but it wasn’t serious enough to warrant stitches.
“Alex.” Harper dropped her hands back into her lap and watched him. “You should really go get checked out. You might have a concussion or something.”
“Oh, like you even care?” Alex sneered at her. “All you care about is that stupid bitch sister of yours.”
A couple with a small child and a dog walked by just as Alex was swearing. They gave him a wide berth, and Daniel apologized and offered them a polite smile.
“Alex!” Harper snapped. She leaned back on the bench. “I know that’s not your fault and you don’t mean that, but you can’t talk about Gemma that way. Not around me.”
“Harper, maybe we should continue this conversation somewhere else,” Daniel said, motioning to more people across the street. It wasn’t late, and it was a nice night, so Capri was still somewhat busy.
Harper rubbed her temple and looked over at Alex. He had hunched forward, burying his hands in his thick hair. Despite his attempts to cover it up, Harper didn’t think she’d ever seen him in more pain. Whatever was going on with him, it looked like torture.
“We can’t leave him alone,” Harper said at last and looked up at Daniel. “If he has a concussion, we need to keep an eye on him. And I definitely can’t take him back to my house.”
“My place it is, then,” Daniel said.
“Why should I go to your house?” Alex asked.
“Because you just got thrown out of the only bar in Capri that would serve you drinks, and I have beer at my house,” Daniel said.
With that, Alex got to his feet. “Let’s get going, then.”
“My car’s parked down there.” Harper pointed to it, but lingered behind to whisper to Daniel, “He shouldn’t be drinking any more.”
“That’s okay, because I don’t really have beer.” Daniel smirked at her. “But once he’s out on the island, what is he gonna do?”
“Thank you.” She smiled up at him. “I’m really sorry about this. I know this wasn’t what you had planned for tonight.”
“I really didn’t have that much planned,” Daniel said. “But your friend needs you. You should take care of him.”
“Thanks for being so understanding.” She kissed him on the cheek.
“Are we going or what?” Alex shouted from beside her car.
Alex hadn’t been that drunk in the first place, so the boat ride seemed to sober him up. With Daniel up front, steering The Dirty Gull across the bay, Harper and Alex sat down on the benches in the back. He leaned over the rail, letting the cool breeze and ocean spray blow over him.
“I’m sorry for being such a jerk tonight,” Alex said finally. He turned back toward her, and even in the fading light she could see the pained expression on his face.
“You’re not being a jerk,” Harper said.
&nb
sp; “Yeah, I’m drunk, and I’m an idiot.” He grimaced. “I’m sorry I called you a bitch earlier.”
“You didn’t call me a bitch,” Harper corrected him. “That was Gemma.”
“I’m so sorry.” Alex rubbed his forehead. “I don’t know what I’m saying. I don’t even know who I am anymore.”
“What is going on with you?” Harper asked, realizing that now might be her chance to get to the bottom of things.
“I don’t know.” His voice caught in his throat. “I swear to God I wish I knew, but I don’t. Everything’s so messed up lately.”
She’d been sitting across from him, so they both had to speak loudly to be heard over the engine. Harper got up and sat next to him on the bench. Alex struggled to hold it together, and she rubbed his back, attempting futilely to comfort him.
“Something happened, and I know it did.” Alex shook his head again. “But I don’t know what it was. Like I’ve forgotten something major.”
“What do you mean?” Harper asked. “What do you remember?”
“I know about the sirens, if that’s what you’re asking.” He stared down at his hands, absently picking at a callus on his palm. “I still remember them, and everything that happened with them.”
“Everything?” Harper had stopped rubbing his back and folded her arms on her lap.
“Yeah, they turned Gemma into a siren, and then we found them and they came back here,” Alex said. “I remember the fight at the docks. They killed this guy, and Gemma and I fought them. But they decided to let her live and stay here.”
“Do you know why they let her stay?” Harper asked.
She knew, of course, but she wanted to figure out how much Alex remembered. Gemma had told Harper that she’d used the siren song to get Alex to break up with her and stop loving her. But he’d barely talked to anybody since then, so Harper had no idea what Alex really knew or felt anymore.
“No.” His brow pinched in frustration. “No, I don’t. I remember that … I loved her.”
“Yeah, you did,” Harper admitted quietly.
“I don’t know why.” Alex looked up at the sky, as if searching for answers. “The thought of even caring about Gemma is repulsive. When I think about how I used to kiss her, it makes me want to throw up.”
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