by Jody Morse
“Hey, do you want to take a walk?” Jackson asked, motioning to the beach. “This area’s pretty private, for the most part.”
“Sure, let’s go,” I nearly blurted out. Anything to escape from his sisters sounded like a really good idea to me right now.
I followed Jackson down his sandy yard until we were away from the house. “So, Abby, Kiersten, and Carson look nothing like you,” I commented.
“No, they don’t,” Jackson replied, looking down at the ground. “If I tell you a secret, do you promise to keep it to yourself?”
“Of course.”
“Nora and Phoebe are my only full biological sisters,” Jackson said. “Kiersten, Carson, and Abby all have different fathers.”
“Oh, are they older than Nora?” I asked. I was surprised that I hadn’t made the connection myself; it certainly explained the difference in their looks.
“No, they’re younger than Nora, but older than me,” Jackson replied. “My mom cheated on my dad.” Before I could say anything in response, he quickly explained, “It was a long time ago, and my mom’s actually kept it a secret for all of these years. Only Phoebe and Nora know the truth. They’re the ones who told me. The rest of my sisters don’t know. My dad doesn’t even know.”
“Wow,” I murmured. Jackson got quiet, and I got the feeling that he didn’t really want to talk about it anymore, so I changed the subject. “I haven’t met Phoebe yet. Where is she?”
“She’s not home right now,” Jackson replied. “I don’t know when she will be. You’ll meet her eventually. If you stick around.”
“Well, I have a few hours before I need to go home,” I began to say, but Jackson interrupted me with a laugh.
“I don’t mean if you stick around tonight. I mean if you stick around.”
This time, I understood what he meant: if I stuck around for the long haul . . . if I didn’t just disappear like Tyler had done to me.
Jackson stopped walking and turned to look at me, waiting for an answer. His blue eyes penetrated through mine, and it felt like my heart was going to beat through my chest.
“I plan to stick around,” I whispered quietly. Jackson moved closer to me; his face was so close to mine that I could feel the warmth of his breath against my neck, and I breathed in the scent of his musky cologne.
“I’d like that,” Jackson whispered back. He wrapped his arms around my waist, and I allowed my tense body to relax at his grip. His arms were strong and muscular, and I felt protected.
When his eyes locked with mine, I felt captivated by them. It was as though they were the ocean tide, pulling me into the sea.
I tilted my chin slightly and closed my eyes, just as I felt his lips lock with mine. His lips were warm against my own and, when he bit down lightly on my bottom lip, I tried to contain the feeling of ecstasy that washed over me. I had never known that a first kiss was supposed to be this good.
When Jackson pulled away from me after a few moments, I glanced at him. One look in his eyes told me that the kiss was just as good for him as it had been for me.
“I’m falling for you, Felicia,” Jackson whispered.
“I’m falling for you, too,” I whispered back. As soon as the words left my lips, I immediately realized what they meant . . . and I wished that I could take them back. “I just remembered something,” I said. “I have to go.”
“Now? I thought you said you were staying for a few more hours,” Jackson called to me as I turned away from him.
“I forgot,” I replied as though it were self-explanatory. I hoped he thought I was talking about some sort of family emergency, when really I had forgotten that I wasn’t supposed to fall for anyone because there was a chance that I could kill them.
“Wait!” Jackson called after me. “Was it the kiss? Can we talk about this?”
I glanced over my shoulder at him, and I saw the pain that had crossed over his face. It made me feel guilty, so I stopped running from him. “It’s not you, I promise. And it wasn’t the kiss. The kiss was amazing,” I said breathlessly, remembering how it had made me feel all over again. “We can talk later. I just have to figure something out.”
“Okay,” Jackson replied; the look on his face told me that he wasn’t fully convinced. “I’ll call you later, okay?”
I nodded before running again. I didn’t stop until I ran halfway across town to Angelica’s house. I pounded on the door, but there was no answer. I rang the doorbell four times and waited for ten minutes. No one was home.
I was going to have to figure this all out on my own.
*
When I got back to Gram’s house, she was sitting at the table drinking a cup of tea and reading a book.
“Hi, Bumblebee,” she said when I came into the room.
“Gram, I need your advice,” I told her, sitting down across from her.
She pulled her reading glasses off and looked up at me. “Okay, I’m all ears.”
“Did you ever have feelings for someone, even though you weren’t supposed to?” I asked.
A look of recollection flashed through Gram’s eyes. “Before I met your grandfather, there was this boy. His name was Joseph Levy, and he was stunning. He had the biggest blue eyes you’d ever seen! All of the girls in town wanted to date him. One summer, when I was working at my father’s deli, he asked me on a date. So, I said yes.
“I told all of my friends about the date that Joseph was planning for me, and everyone seemed really excited for me—even my parents. Mom just wanted to see me settle down, and she was happy to hear that I had been asked out by such a fine young gentleman. My father was a little hesitant at first, but he came around to the idea . . . Until Joseph showed up on our front doorstep the night of our date, carrying a bouquet of roses.”
Gram paused and looked up at me. “You know, Spinelli’s?”
“That really good deli on the boardwalk?” I asked. “I love their pickles.”
Gram nodded and smiled. “That’s the one. Well, when Joseph came to fetch me for our date, my father threw a fit. It turned out that Joseph was Robert Spinelli’s grandson. Robert Spinelli was the owner of Spinelli’s, which was our biggest rival. My father forbade us from seeing each other ever again.”
“So, what happened after that?” I asked.
“Joseph and I continued to see each other behind my parents’ backs,” Gram replied, and my eyes widened. It surprised me that she had done something to disobey her parents; it was easy for me to forget that my grandmother had been a teenager at one point, too. “We talked about running off and getting married. We hated that my parents were so against us seeing each other. Eventually, it just became too difficult for us to date, and I had to end it. It was a good thing, because I met your grandfather shortly after that.”
“Oh,” I replied. I was kind of sad that there hadn’t been a happy ending for my grandmother and Joseph. Of course, it was hard to imagine her with anyone except for my grandfather, but I wondered how differently her life would have turned out if she’d ended up with Joseph instead.
Since there wasn’t a happy ending for Gram and Joseph, did that mean there wouldn’t be a happy ending for me and Jackson? The idea that I might not be able to stick around like I’d told him I would made me feel sad. I understood why Angelica thought I shouldn’t date, but what made her a relationship expert? She was only marrying George for his money, not because she actually cared about him.
“The moral of the story is that Joseph and I weren’t meant to be,” Gram continued, meeting my eyes. “But that doesn’t mean that you’re not meant to be with whoever you think you shouldn’t be falling for. You just need to let your heart guide you.” She paused before asking, “Is there something you want to talk about?”
I shook my head. “No, I’m fine. I think you helped me solve the problem. Thanks for your advice, Gram.”
“Anytime, Bumblebee.”
Chapter 27
Sometime around ten o’clock, my phone rang. Lifting it off of my n
ightstand, I found that it was Jackson. I knew I had upset him by leaving so suddenly, but at least I had finally been able to figure things out. With my grandmother’s advice, I now knew that seeing Jackson—and even falling for him—was the right thing.
“Hello?” I said into the phone on the third ring.
“Hey, Chair Thirteen.” Jackson’s voice sounded even deeper on the phone. “Is everything okay?”
“Yes, I promise,” I replied. “Everything’s fine. I’m really sorry about earlier. I wasn’t planning to just leave like that. Something important came up.” If only he knew that the important thing—getting advice from my grandmother—actually worked in our favor.
“Well, I’m glad you weren’t around to see what happened after that,” Jackson replied. “It was pretty scary.”
“What happened?” I asked, flopping down on the bed.
“A dead body washed ashore,” Jackson replied. “We had to have the cops come, and it was just a big mess.”
“A dead body?” I asked, my voice merely a whisper.
“Yeah, someone must have gone out into the sea earlier tonight and drowned,” Jackson replied. “At least, that’s what the cops think happened. It reminded me of why I’m so grateful to be a lifeguard. If I can prevent that from happening to someone else, it’s well worth it.”
“I know what you mean,” I agreed. Pausing to choose my words carefully, I asked, “Was it a man or a woman?”
“A man,” Jackson replied. “It was actually the strangest thing. It’s going to sound kind of morbid, but . . .” He trailed off. “I found the body, and I could have sworn the guy had a smile on his face. It was disturbing, but I’d like to think he was at least happy swimming before he drowned.”
A wave of nausea flooded my stomach. This definitely wasn’t just a drowning incident. That man had obviously been lured. It surprised me that Jackson didn’t think anything of the smile on the guy’s face, aside from the fact that it was disturbing, but I’m not sure that I would have either, before I knew sirens existed. “Let’s hope he was happy,” I replied quietly. “And let’s hope he doesn’t have a family that he’s leaving behind.”
“That would be tragic,” Jackson agreed.
I wanted to tell him that it wouldn’t just be sad, but that it would also be scary, too. If he had any daughters, it would mean that they would also be tagged to become sirens. I didn’t want to see someone else go through what I’d been through.
“So, on a lighter note,” Jackson went on. “Am I a good kisser?”
I laughed. “Yes, a very good kisser.” Just mentioning the kiss again made my heartbeat quicken.
“I’ve gotta be honest. That was the best kiss I’ve ever had.”
Hmm, so it had been unusually good for him, too. I wondered if it had something to do with me being a siren. Was physical chemistry just that much heightened when humans fell in love with sirens? I’d have to ask someone—preferably not Angelica. “Um, Jackson,” I began, remembering the question I’d been wanting to ask him. “What do you see in me?”
“What do you mean?” Jackson asked.
“I mean, earlier you said that you’re falling hard for me. Why?”
Jackson paused as though he hadn’t been expecting the question. “You’re beautiful. Inside and out. I have fun when I’m with you, and I can’t explain it. I just feel different about you. I’ve never felt this way before.”
I hoped that the reason he had never felt this way before wasn’t because I was a siren. And then he said what I had been hoping for him to say. “I’ve never been in love with anyone before, but I believe it could happen with you.”
*
Around two o’clock in the morning, my phone rang again. Groggily, I reached over and answered the phone without looking to see who it was. “Hello?”
“Felicia? It’s Gabby.” She sounded like she was out of breath, and there was a worried tone in her voice. “Did you lure someone?”
“No, it wasn’t me,” I replied with a yawn. “I went to a barbeque and then came home.” I decided to leave out that I had gone to Jackson’s house for the barbeque. The last thing I needed was Angelica lecturing me about how I shouldn’t date.
There was a muffled sound in the background, and I heard my sister’s voice say, “Felly? The body was found at a barbeque. Are you positive it wasn’t you who caused it? Just be honest. No one will be mad at you. We know it’s not your fault.”
“It was found at the barbeque that I went to, but I wasn’t the one who did it. I swear,” I replied, sitting up in bed alertly. “Couldn’t it have been another siren in the area?”
“I don’t know,” Scarlett said slowly. “We’re the only sirens I know of around here.” She paused for a long while before saying, “Maybe it was just a coincidence. Maybe someone actually drowned.”
“No,” I replied. “Someone definitely lured him. I talked to the person who found the body. He said that he had a smile on his face when the body was washed ashore.”
Scarlett sighed. “I—I think I need to go tell Angelica this. I’ll talk to you later.”
Before I could say anything else, the call was lost. My sister had already hung up.
*
The next day at the beach, I sat in my lifeguard chair and glanced over at the chair where Jackson normally sat. The brunette girl who had been guarding his area of the beach since his absence was still there. I was anxious for him to come back, but nervous about him seeing me every day at the same time.
I had just climbed out of my lifeguard chair to buy a few bottles of water and steal a few packets of salt (which held me over until I could swim in the ocean) from the hot dog stand, when I heard the bark coming up from behind me. Bruno . . . and Tyler.
Tyler looked different from the last time I’d seen him; his skin was sunburnt, and it looked like he may have lost some weight, but when he saw me, a smile crossed his face. “Hey, Felicia.”
“Hi,” I replied, hoping that I didn’t sound as awkward as I felt.
“Look, I got your text, but I was wondering, can we get together tonight? I have to talk to you.” There was a pleading look in Tyler’s gray eyes that made me feel guilty. Maybe I had been too harsh. I should have listened to him. It may not have mattered now; I had feelings for Jackson, anyway. Still, I felt like I should at least act like I cared enough to listen.
“Sure, that’s fine,” I replied. “When and where do you want to meet?”
“How about at the lighthouse?” Tyler asked. “Ten o’clock?”
I didn’t even bother to question why he had chosen such a weird place and time to meet. Instead, I simply agreed to be there.
Carrie came to the beach around two thirty, with a pouty look on her face. When she climbed up and sat on one of the steps of my lifeguard chair, I immediately asked her what was wrong.
“Donnie hasn’t called me back,” Carrie replied. “It’s been days, Felicia! Days.”
“I’m sorry,” I replied sympathetically, unsure of what else to say. “Maybe he’s just busy or something.”
“No, I don’t think it’s that.” Carrie shook her head, her long caramel highlighted hair moving with it. “I think I scared him away.”
I raised an eyebrow at her. “How?”
“I told him I was in love with him,” Carrie replied. “He—he didn’t really say anything back to me. Actually, he brought you up, which annoyed me. No offense.” She rolled her eyes. “Since then, I haven’t heard from him at all.”
“Well, if you want me to be honest, I will be,” I told her, glancing at a couple, who were holding hands as they walked towards the ocean. Why did they make it look like it was so simple to be in love?
“Okay,” Carrie replied with a sniff. Glancing down at her, I found that her eyes were glassy-looking due to tears. “Be honest.”
“I think Donnie’s a creep. And he’s an insensitive jerk. I don’t know why he cares to ask you so much about me, but he has no reason to. I’ve barely said two wor
ds to him. You can do better.”
Carrie sighed. “You’re right, but . . . I don’t want better. I want Donnie.” She shook her head. “It doesn’t matter right now. I think I’m going to go home. I’m just too depressed right now. I called out of work, too.”
“I hope you feel better. If you need anything, just let me know,” I told her.
“I will,” Carrie replied before climbing off my chair and walking away from me. I had wanted to tell my best friend she was right for trying to set me up with Jackson all along, but now definitely wasn’t the right time.
As Carrie walked away, I realized that love wasn’t even simple for most humans—let alone sirens. Things could work out for Jackson and me. As long as I let them.
Chapter 28
That night, Scarlett texted me to ask if I would meet her at Scoops. I had three hours before I was supposed to meet Tyler, so I agreed to go.
When I arrived at Scoops, I saw them—the four of them—sitting in a booth, and I realized that I wasn’t only meeting my sister. I was meeting Angelica, Gabby, and Jasmine, too.
“I still wonder why we can eat ice cream,” I heard Jasmine say as I sat down in the booth next to Scarlett and Gabby. She shoveled a pile of mint chocolate chip into her mouth. “It doesn’t make any sense.”
“Just one of life’s little mysteries, I guess,” Angelica replied with a shrug. She flashed a tight smile at me. “It’s nice of you to join us, Felicia. I have something I need to talk to you about.”
“Okay,” I replied, guessing that it had something to do with the person who had drowned. She probably thought that I was responsible for the death and wanted to lecture me about being honest with her.
“I need you to bring a date to my wedding,” Angelica said. When I stared back at her, confusedly, she explained, “Scarlett and Jasmine both refuse to bring a date, since, well, they refuse to go out with anyone. They don’t want to put lives at risk. Gabby doesn’t really have anyone to invite. It’s going to look strange to our many guests if none of my family or friends bring a date, so you’ll have to be the one to do it.”
