Wake (Watersong Novels)

by Amanda Hocking

  Just before she hit the bottom, she flipped her tail and began swimming toward the shore. Since she didn’t seem to have much of a choice right now, she decided to take Lexi’s advice. She’d go home and figure things out from there.

  She didn’t want people to see her, so she swam to the far end of the bay that was covered in rocks. Because of the tail, she had to pull herself up onto the rocks on her belly, scraping her skin and arms. Once she was far enough out of the sea, she waited and watched with amazement as her scales once again turned back to skin.

  Thankfully, she’d kept on the dress, so she didn’t have to go home in the nude. She walked the several blocks to her house. Calling Harper or Alex for a ride would’ve been an option, but Gemma wanted time to clear her head. It was probably almost midnight by now, so she had the streets to herself.

  Instead of going straight home, she cut through the alley into Alex’s backyard. She snuck as close to his house as she could, afraid that Harper would catch sight of her if she looked out the window. She nearly pressed herself against his house as she knocked on the back door, hoping Alex was still awake.

  Her heart pounded in her chest as she waited. She wanted to see him, and yet a part of her was afraid to.

  Thea’s words hung in her head, the true curse of the siren. No man would ever really be able to love her. Gemma remembered the forceful way Alex had kissed her the other day with the dazed look in his eyes. That wasn’t the Alex she was falling for. That was a boy under the spell of a siren, a boy who was incapable of really loving her.

  Gemma continued to wait outside Alex’s house. She’d nearly decided to go home when the door opened.

  “Gemma!” Alex sounded both surprised and relieved.

  “Shh!” She held her finger up to her mouth, quieting him before Harper or her father heard.

  “What are you doing?” Alex asked. “Are you all right? You’re soaking wet.”

  Gemma glanced down at her dress. It had started to dry on her walk home, but she’d walked fast, so she hadn’t given it much time.

  “Yeah, I’m fine.”

  “You look cold. Do you need a coat or something?” Alex started to move back inside the house to get something to warm her, but she grabbed his arm to stop him.

  “No, Alex, listen. I just need to ask you something.” Gemma glanced around, as if she expected Harper to be lurking around a corner. “Can we talk for a minute?”

  “Yeah, sure, of course.” He stepped closer to her and put his hands on her arms, feeling strong and warm against her bare skin. “What’s going on? You look frantic.”

  “I’ve just had the most amazing, terrible night of my life,” Gemma admitted, and she was surprised when she felt tears stinging her eyes.

  “Why? What happened?” Alex’s brown eyes filled with concern.

  His worried expression made him look older, more like the man he would someday become, and Gemma’s heart ached when she realized that she would probably never see that. Already he was almost painfully handsome, made even more attractive by how oblivious he was to it.

  He was much taller than she was, almost towering above her, and his muscled frame only made her feel safer. It was his eyes—a deep mahogany that conveyed so much warmth and kindness—that let her know he’d never do anything to hurt her.

  “It doesn’t matter.” She shook her head. “I needed to know … do you like me?”

  “Do I like you?” His worry changed to bemused relief, and he smiled crookedly at her. “Come on, Gemma, I think you know the answer to that.”

  “No, Alex, I’m serious. I need to know.”

  “Yeah.” He brushed back a damp lock from her forehead, and his eyes were solemn. “I like you. A lot, actually.”

  “Why?” Her voice cracked when she asked that, and she almost wished she hadn’t said anything.

  His admission had made her stomach swirl with butterflies and her heart soar, but then both her heart and her stomach clenched with fear. She wasn’t certain that Alex would know why he liked her.

  If he was under the spell of the siren, he’d only know that he lusted after her, with no discernible reason for it.

  “Why?” Alex laughed at that. “What do you mean, why?”

  “It’s important to me,” she insisted, and something in her expression convinced him how grave this was.

  “Um, because.” He shrugged, finding it hard to find the words. “You’re so … so pretty.” Her heart dropped at that, but he went on, “And you have a wicked sense of humor. You’re sweet, and you’re smart. And impossibly driven. I’ve never met anybody as determined as you. Anything you want, you’ll get. You are way, way too cool for me, and you still let me hold your hand, even when we’re in public.”

  “You like me for me?” Gemma asked, staring up at him.

  “Yeah, of course. Why else would I like you?” Alex asked. “What? Did I say something wrong? You look like you’re going to cry.”

  “No, you said everything just right.” She smiled up at him, tears swimming in her eyes.

  She stood on her tiptoes and kissed him. Tentatively, he wrapped his arms around her, and as she kissed him more deeply, he lifted her off the ground. Her arms were around his neck, and she was practically clinging to him.

  “Gemma!” Harper shouted from her bedroom window, and Gemma’s heart sank when she realized they’d been spotted.

  Alex put her back on the ground, but they were slow to untangle from each other. His forehead rested against hers, and she kept her hand on the back of his neck, burying her fingers in his hair.

  “Promise me you’ll remember this,” Gemma whispered.

  “What?” Alex asked, confused.

  “Me, as I am right now. The real me.”

  “How could I ever forget you?”

  Before Alex could ask anything else, Gemma left, running over to her house without looking back.

  SIXTEEN

  The Dirty Gull

  Harper chewed her lip and stared at The Dirty Gull. Her father’s crumpled lunch sack in her hand, she’d been pacing the dock in front of Daniel’s boat for the past few minutes. This had never happened before, and she didn’t know what to do.

  Nearly every time she took her father his lunch, Daniel would inevitably be outside in some capacity so she’d run into him. Every other time it had happened, she’d tried to avoid him, but now that she actually wanted to see him, he wasn’t out here.

  He didn’t exactly have a front door, so she couldn’t knock, and it seemed too dramatic to stand on the dock shouting his name. Harper supposed she could climb onto the boat, but that seemed awfully presumptuous.

  In truth, she didn’t even really know why she wanted to see him. Part of it was because everything was so messed up with Gemma, and Harper couldn’t talk to her or Alex about it. Those were the people she usually went to with her problems, since Marcy wasn’t exactly known for her listening skills.

  That sounded so horrible. Harper wanted to see Daniel because she had nobody else to dump her problems on.

  But then Harper realized that wasn’t exactly true, either. She didn’t want to vent to Daniel. That was just an excuse. She wanted to see him just because … she wanted to see him.

  Her stomach twisted in knots, and she decided to simply move on. She needed to bring her dad his lunch, and she didn’t have time for Daniel. It’d be better if she just left.

  “So that’s it, then?” Daniel asked as soon as Harper started walking away.

  “What?” She stopped short and turned back to his boat, but she didn’t see him. She spun around, thinking he must be on the dock, but he wasn’t anywhere. Confused, she turned to his boat again. “Daniel?”

  “Harper.” He stepped out from the cabin’s shadowy doorway and onto the deck. “I’ve been standing there watching you go ’round and ’round on the deck, and after all the debate, you’re just going to leave?”

  “I…” Her cheeks flushed with embarrassment when she realized that Daniel must’
ve been standing just inside the door, where she couldn’t see him but he could see her. “If you saw me, why didn’t you say anything?”

  “It was too much fun watching you.” He grinned broadly and leaned against the railing, resting his elbows on the bar. “You were like a little windup toy.”

  “Nobody has windup toys anymore,” Harper argued lamely.

  “So. What brings you out here?” Daniel propped his chin up on his hand.

  “I was bringing my dad his lunch.” She held up the crumpled brown paper sack.

  As she waited, she had been unrolling and rerolling the bag about a dozen times. By now the sandwich at the bottom had to be completely smashed.

  “Yes, I can see that. I hope he didn’t have anything in there that he might actually want, because it all has to look like baby food at this point.”

  “Oh.” Harper looked down at the bag and sighed. “I’m sure it’s fine. He eats anything.”

  “Or maybe he can just get something at the dock,” Daniel suggested. “They have a hot dog stand right by the boats. Your dad can get a lunch for under three dollars when he forgets his lunch.” He paused and tilted his head. “But you already knew that, didn’t you?”

  “Three dollars here and there adds up, especially as often as he forgets his lunch,” Harper explained.

  “Not to mention you wouldn’t get to see me.”

  “I wasn’t…” She trailed off, since she’d obviously been waiting for him today. “That isn’t why. I do bring his food out to save him money. Okay, so today, this one time, I was hoping to run into you, but is that so terrible?”

  “No. That’s not terrible at all.” He stood up straighter and gestured to his boat. “Do you want to come up and talk, then?”

  “On your boat?” Harper asked.

  “Yes. On my boat. It seems much more civil than talking down to you, doesn’t it?”

  Harper glanced toward the end of the dock where her father worked. She had probably ruined his lunch anyway, and Brian could easily grab a hot dog. But she still wasn’t that sure she wanted to hang out on Daniel’s boat with him.

  Yes, she wanted to see him, but going up on his boat—it felt like admitting something that she didn’t want to admit.

  “Oh, come on.” Daniel leaned over the rail and extended his arm to her.

  “Don’t you have like a landing plank or anything?” Harper asked, just staring at his hand.

  “Yes, but this is quicker.” He waved his hand at her. “Take my hand and come on.”

  Sighing, Harper took his hand. It was strong and rough, the hand of a guy who’d spent his whole life working. He pulled her up easily, as if she weighed nothing. To get her up over the rail, he had to pull her into his arms, and he held her there for a second longer than he needed to.

  “Don’t you own a shirt?” Harper asked when she pushed herself back from his bare chest.

  He wore only a pair of shorts and flip-flops, and Harper purposely wouldn’t look at him once she’d stepped away from him. She could still feel his skin on hers, warm from the sun beating down on them.

  “My shirts have hit you in the face before, remember?” Daniel asked.

  “Yeah. Right.” She glanced around the deck, and then, since she had nothing else to do with it, she held out the lunch sack to him. “Here.”

  “Thanks?”

  He took the bag from her and opened it. He rooted around inside, finding a smooshed ham sandwich, apple slices, and a pickle.

  “Apple slices?” Daniel asked, holding them for her to see. “Is your dad a first-grader?”

  “He has high cholesterol,” Harper said defensively. “The doctor wants him to watch what he eats, so I make his lunch.”

  Daniel shrugged, as if he either didn’t believe her or didn’t care. Carefully, he took everything out of their plastic Baggies, which was more difficult for the sandwich, since it had been so severely mashed.

  Once he was done, he threw all the food out onto the dock and balled up what was left of the garbage.

  “Hey!” Harper yelled. “You didn’t need to waste that!”

  “I didn’t.” He gestured to the dock, which was now covered in seagulls fighting over the food. “I fed the birds.” Harper still didn’t look pleased, so he laughed.

  “I guess.”

  “Let’s go belowdecks and talk,” Daniel suggested. “It’s cooler down there.”

  He went down without waiting for her protests. She paused for a minute, reluctant to follow him. But it was hot outside, and the sun wasn’t making it any better.

  When Harper climbed down, she noted that the boat wasn’t dirty so much as messy, and that surprised her. He did have stuff strewn all about, but that was in large part because it was such a small space he didn’t really have places to put anything.

  “Have a seat.” He gestured around him.

  His bed was the most cleared-off spot, but she didn’t want to give him the wrong idea. She leaned against the table instead, preferring to stand.

  “I’m fine.”

  “Suit yourself.” Daniel sat on the bed and crossed his arms over his chest. “What did you want to talk about?”

  “Uh…” Harper was at a loss for words because she didn’t really know what she wanted to talk about. All she knew was that she’d wanted to talk to him. It didn’t matter what it was about.

  “Gemma hasn’t been around lately, if that’s what you’re wondering,” Daniel said, and she was grateful that he’d brought up an actual topic so she wasn’t left gaping at him.

  “Good. She’s not supposed to be going anywhere, since she’s grounded. But that hasn’t really been stopping her.” Harper shook her head.

  “So she’s still sneaking out to the bay?” Daniel asked, but he didn’t sound surprised. “You can’t keep that girl away from water. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say she was part fish.”

  “I wish she was just going to the bay,” she admitted wearily and leaned back. “That I could deal with. But I don’t even know what she’s doing anymore.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “It’s so bizarre. Those girls came over last night to get her, and—”

  “What girls?” Daniel asked. “You mean Penn?”

  “Yeah.” She nodded. “They came to get her, and I told them to get lost. But Gemma insisted on going with them. She pushed right past me, and then they just left.”

  “She willingly went with them?” His eyes widened. “I thought she was afraid of them.”

  “I know! So did I!”

  “So what happened?” Daniel asked. “Did she come home last night?”

  “Yeah, she came back a few hours later.” Her face scrunched in confusion, and she shook her head. “But it doesn’t make any sense. She’d left the house in shorts and a tank top, and she came back in a dress I’d never seen before, and she was soaking wet. I asked what she’d done, but she wouldn’t tell me.”

  “At least she came home okay,” he said.

  “Yeah.” Harper sighed, thinking. “She didn’t come home right away. She stopped at Alex’s first—that’s the neighbor kid, and he’s her sorta boyfriend, I think. I asked him if he knows what’s going on, and he says he doesn’t. I believe him, but I don’t know if I should.”

  “I’m sorry,” Daniel said, and Harper looked up, surprised to see that he meant it. “I know that it’s hard having someone you care about doing reckless things. But it’s not your fault.”

  “I know.” She lowered her eyes. “And it doesn’t feel like my fault, but … I have to protect her.”

  “You can’t, though.” Daniel leaned forward, resting his arms on his knees. “You can’t protect people from themselves.”

  “But I have to try. She’s my sister.”

  Daniel licked his lips and lowered his eyes. When he wrung his hands together, a thick silver band on his thumb caught the light. He didn’t say anything for a moment, and Harper could see he was struggling with something.

  “You
’ve seen my tattoo on my back?” Daniel asked finally.

  “Yeah. I can’t really miss it.”

  “Do you see what it’s covering up?”

  “You mean your back?”

  “No. The scars.” He turned away from her, so his tattooed shoulder and back angled toward her.

  Whoever had given him his tattoos had done a very good job. The ink was thick and black, and it wasn’t until she looked closely that she saw the branches weren’t shadowed to look gnarled and twisted. They had been drawn that way, along the lines of several lengthy scars.

  Not all the branches covered scars, and the long, thick trunk that followed his spine didn’t appear to have scarring underneath. But there were enough to show he’d been through something.

  “And right here.” He turned his head to the side and moved his hair. An inch or so into his hair, buried underneath his shaggy haircut, was a thick pink scar.

  “Oh, my gosh,” Harper gasped. “What happened?”

  “When I was fifteen, my older brother John was twenty.” Daniel moved so he was sitting normally on the bed again, and he stared out the window. “He was wild and reckless, never looking before he jumped. He would just drive right into everything.

  “And I’d follow him. At first because I thought he was cooler and bold and brave. But then, the older I got, I was following him so I could catch him.

  “My grandfather had a lot of boats, this being one of them.” He motioned around them. “He loved the water and thought kids should be free to roam about it. So anytime we wanted to, we were allowed to take the boats out.

  “The night I got these”—Daniel gestured to his scars—“John had gone to a party, and I’d tagged along. He got drunk, I mean totally shitfaced drunk. That wasn’t unusual, because John was almost always drunk.

  “There were a couple girls at the party he was trying to impress, and he got it in his head that if he took them out on a boat, that would do it. I went with because he was so drunk I knew he couldn’t drive. If I was there, I could take control. That would make everything okay.

  “So it was John, these two girls, and me on a little speedboat.” He sighed and shook his head. “John kept going faster. I told him to slow down. The girls were screaming, and I tried to get the controls from him.” He swallowed. “He drove right into the rocks at the end of the bay.