She kissed him, and she could taste the salt from her tears on his lips. “I love you. Please come back to me.”
Daniel didn’t say anything to that. He didn’t even look at her again. He just turned and walked away, moving through the crowd and disappearing off the dance floor, but Penn didn’t follow right away.
“Liv, Thea!” Penn shouted, and they turned to look at her. “Make sure nobody follows or interferes. You hear me?” Then she smiled and did a small wave. “Bye-bye, Harper.”
As Penn left, the crowd parted for her like the Red Sea, and she could see Daniel again. Penn’s convertible was at the edge of the park, and he was standing beside it, waiting for Penn to come and take him away, and the only thing Harper could do was watch.
FORTY
Sacrifice
Gemma had been dancing with Alex when she saw Penn talking to Daniel and Harper. Initially, she didn’t want to intervene since Harper had insisted that whatever was going on with them was between her and Daniel.
But when she saw Daniel go, leaving her sister crying in the middle of the dance floor, Gemma ran over to her, with Alex hurrying after her.
“What’s going on? Why did he just leave with Penn?” Gemma asked.
Harper was hugging herself. “He did what he had to do.”
“What the hell is going on?” Gemma asked, just as Thea walked over to her, apparently deciding to follow Penn’s orders to keep an eye on them. “Thea?”
“Ask your sister.” Thea held up her hands. “I’m trying to stay out of this one.”
Gemma glared at her, then turned back to Harper. “Is Daniel going to sleep with Penn?”
“He’s doing what?” Alex asked, sounding appalled.
“Yes.” Harper took a deep breath and stared straight ahead, at the spot where Penn’s car had been parked even though she’d already sped off. “And then she’s gonna turn him into a siren.”
“What?” Now it was Thea’s turn to look appalled, her green eyes widening in surprise. “I knew she was up to something, but that’s her plan?”
“She can’t.” Gemma shook her head, thinking that Harper must’ve misunderstood. “He’s a guy, and there are already four sirens.”
“She says she’s killing Liv to make him, and apparently guys can be sirens,” Harper explained. A tear slid down her cheek, but her voice was flat, like she’d gone numb.
“You are so annoying!” Marcy shouted behind them.
Gemma looked over her shoulder to see her yelling at Liv. She stood between her and Kirby, trying to defend him from Liv’s attempts at seduction. Gemma wanted to help Marcy, but she had much bigger issues to deal with first.
“You can’t let him do that,” Gemma told Harper.
“I don’t want to. But it’s his choice, and I don’t know if it’s the right thing or not.” She pursed her lips. “If he doesn’t do it, she’ll kill you and me and probably Alex and Dad.”
“Not if I kill her first,” Gemma growled.
Her gums began to itch, as her fangs wanted to grow, and she balled up her fists to keep her fingers from extending. There had been so much she’d been willing to tolerate in Penn, but she could never stand for that.
Not only was this hurting her sister, but this would destroy Daniel. He’d been nothing but a good friend to her, and he’d already sacrificed far too much. She couldn’t let him do this even if it meant that she would die stopping him.
Being a siren took away bits of her soul, eating away at it every day. She was clinging to it, fighting for her humanity, but eventually, if she lived long enough, she would lose it all. And that fate sounded worse than anything she could ever imagine, and she wouldn’t let Daniel endure it.
Harper finally turned to look at her. “Gemma, you’re not strong enough.”
“I don’t care,” Gemma said, and she meant it. After her fight with Penn yesterday, she knew she probably couldn’t win, but if she was dead and gone, it didn’t really matter to her just then. It was her fault everyone was in this mess, and she couldn’t let it go on anymore. “I’m not gonna stand by and let this happen. Give me the keys to your car.”
“No.” Her keys were in the small clutch purse around her wrist, and Harper held it to her chest. “I won’t let you go in there alone.”
“Harper.”
“He’s my boyfriend. If you go, I go,” she insisted.
Gemma didn’t want Harper getting more involved in this than she already was, but maybe if Harper went with her, she could get Daniel out of there while Gemma distracted Penn. Besides, Harper had driven here, and it would take her far too long to get to the sirens’ house without it.
She didn’t feel comfortable flying. Gemma had been practicing her wings, but she didn’t have quite the same skill at using the siren song. She couldn’t risk taking off in front of a crowd, and she wasn’t about to attempt the siren song to scramble their perception on her own.
“Then let’s go,” Gemma said.
“Gemma.” Alex grabbed her hand. “You can’t go up there to get yourself killed.”
“I have to stop Penn. This can’t go on any longer.” Gemma squeezed his hand and looked him in the eyes, begging him to understand. “I can’t live like this anymore. I can’t let anybody else get hurt. Not when I’m strong enough to do something.”
“I’m supposed to stop you from going up there, but I don’t care. But Liv, she might care.” Thea interrupted the moment to motion to where Liv and Marcy were exchanging obscenities. “Not because she listens to Penn but because she hates you and really likes killing things.”
“Alex, I need you to stay here and help Marcy keep Liv from following us,” Gemma said. “You know I’ve been practicing. I can fight Penn, but I don’t think I could handle Liv, too.”
He glanced back at Liv, then turned back to her. “Gemma.”
“I can do this, okay? But you have to help me.”
Reluctantly, he nodded and let go of her hand. “Okay.”
“I love you.” She kissed him, and she’d wanted it to last longer because she knew this might be the last time she ever kissed him, but she didn’t have time to linger. “Be safe.”
“I love you, too,” Alex said. “Now go kill that bitch and come back safe.”
Gemma looked to her sister. Harper looked as pale and nervous as Gemma felt, but her gray eyes had a steely determination.
They turned and pushed their way off the dance floor, nearly running under the twilight sky as they left. Behind them, Gemma heard Liv shouting at them, telling them to stop, and she hoped that Alex would be okay against her.
FORTY-ONE
Onus
Alex watched his girlfriend leave, but when he heard Liv swearing at her, he looked back. She’d been standing a few feet away, arguing with Marcy, but her brown eyes shifted into an odd green that reminded him of some kind of bird or maybe a lizard.
Since Gemma hadn’t listened, Liv must’ve decided that she’d better catch her, so she started sprinting ahead, gliding easily on her high heels.
“Where you going, Teenage Mutant Ninja Mermaid?” Marcy shouted, and took a few steps after her. “Too chicken to fight me?”
In the few interactions that Alex had had with Liv, pride had seemed to be a sticky subject for her, so as soon as Marcy had called her out on it, she stopped. She turned around and walked back toward Marcy.
Alex didn’t stop her, but he trailed behind her like a shadow. Liv stopped right in front of Marcy, smiling down at her, and Marcy readjusted her glasses but met her gaze evenly.
“Oh, Marcy,” Liv said with that syrupy voice she used too often.
Since she was a siren, it should’ve been hypnotic to Alex, but it had always rubbed him the wrong way, and it made the hair on the back of his neck stand up.
“If there weren’t a crowd of people around, I already would’ve ripped out your liver and swallowed it whole,” Liv went on cheerily. “But I’ve got better things to deal with.”
She turned a
round, preparing to stalk away again, but Alex blocked her path, and she almost ran right into him.
“Where are you going?” Alex asked.
“Move,” Liv commanded. Her voice lilted to a singsong, and he felt the fog creeping in around the edge of his thoughts.
But he’d felt that before, and he’d fought against it when Gemma used her song against him. That month when he’d been under her spell had been the hardest of his life, but at least now he knew how to keep it at bay. Not completely, and not if Liv really gave it her all, but he could keep himself together long enough to put up a fight.
He shook his head. “I can’t let you do that.”
“If you don’t get out of my way, I will sing a song that makes you want to kill Gemma, then you can help me finally get rid of her.” She smiled sweetly at him. “How’s that sound?”
“That sounds great. Except for one thing.” He held up a finger with one hand, telling her to wait, and with the other he dug in his pocket. When he retrieved two wax earplugs, he held them out to show her for a second, then popped them in his ears. “I never go anywhere without them.”
Liv rolled her eyes. Then, without warning, she pushed him. But it wasn’t the way a normal person would shove someone. It was a lot more like getting hit by a bus.
He went flying back, and he could feel himself pushing people out of the way, like a wrecking ball. When he crashed into the refreshment table, sending punch flying everywhere, he finally came to a stop.
The spot where she’d pushed him on his chest throbbed, and his back didn’t feel so hot either, but he was mostly fine, and he got up quickly. He was just in time to see Liv, who had apparently decided she didn’t have any more time to waste, run off the dance floor like she was the Flash.
“Are you okay?” Marcy asked as she rushed over to him.
Or at least that’s what he thought she said, since he couldn’t hear her that well. He pulled out his earplugs and shoved them back in his pocket, then he took Marcy’s hand and let her help him to his feet.
“Yeah, I’m fine, but we have to go stop her,” Alex said.
“Did you see how fast she was?” Kirby asked, since he’d followed Marcy over to check on Alex. “She’s probably halfway to Memphis by now.”
“She’s not going to Memphis.” Alex stepped over strewn-about glasses and finger sandwiches as they walked away from the overturned table. “They’re going up to the house on the cliff. Did you have a car?”
“Yeah,” Marcy said. “Lucinda’s parked like two blocks away, though.”
“Lucinda?” Alex asked.
“Yeah. My car.”
“Run and get it. I’m gonna see if we can get backup.”
“Okay.” Marcy nodded, then turned to Kirby. “You can stay here.”
“No.” Kirby shook his head. “You’re my date. I go where you go.”
“But it’s dangerous,” Marcy protested.
He smiled. “Danger is my middle name.”
“God, you’re hot,” Marcy said, then rather abruptly, she kissed Kirby on the mouth.
When she’d finished, she took his hand and ran off in the direction of the street, presumably to retrieve her car.
Alex scanned the crowd for Thea, which was easier since the dance floor had started clearing out. When Liv had pushed him into everyone, it kinda put a damper on things. The music hadn’t stopped, though, and he discovered Thea standing by the DJ.
“Thea,” Alex said. “Aren’t you gonna do anything? I know you hate Liv way more than you hate Gemma.”
Thea hesitated, looking toward the cliff, but then she shook her head, her red hair swaying on her shoulders. “I’m just trying to stay out of these things.”
“Staying out of it still puts you in it,” he insisted. “You know that Gemma can’t fight Penn and Liv, so if you just stay here, you let them win. You’re killing her.”
Thea wouldn’t meet his eyes, and her words sounded weak when she said, “She’s not my problem.”
Alex moved, stepping into her line of sight so she’d have to look at him, and he looked her right in the eyes. “You are worse than Penn. You act like you’re so above this and that you’re all moral and superior, but you’re not. You’re cold, and you have just as much blood on your hands as Penn does.”
“I never said that I was better than her,” Thea replied coolly. “And I never pretended to be good. If I somehow gave you or Gemma that impression, then I’m sorry.”
He shook his head in disgust, and a car horn honked loudly.
“Alex! Let’s go!” Marcy shouted.
He had nothing left to say to Thea since she’d made her position crystal clear, so he left. There was no parking on the street right in front of Bayside Park, where the dance was being held, so Marcy had pulled right up over the curb and sidewalk onto the lawn.
The passenger-side door of her tiny little Gremlin was open, and Kirby was in the backseat. Alex ran over to it and hopped into the car since he didn’t have time to question the fact that they were trying to catch up with a supernaturally fast siren and using a car that had been discontinued over thirty years ago.
Before he’d even shut the door, Marcy threw the car into drive. Instead of going forward, it lurched backward, making an awful chugging sound, before finally moving in the right direction.
“Is this thing even gonna make it?” Alex asked, as it bounced down off the curb, and he heard an awful scraping sound of metal against concrete.
“You gotta have faith in Lucinda,” Marcy said. “When she has to get up and go, she frickin’ gets up and goes.”
Alex remained dubious, but not for long. Marcy had her foot pressed all the way down, and though it took the car a little longer to get up to speed, once it did, it hauled. It also helped that Marcy didn’t stop for anything, not even stop signs or traffic lights.
As she ran a red light, they were nearly sideswiped by a Jeep, but Marcy jerked the wheel in the nick of time, and the car squealed and got out of the way. Then she floored it again, driving the wrong way into oncoming traffic for a few seconds before she moved back over to the right side.
In the backseat, Kirby was flying all over, and Alex heard him banging around as he flew from side to side.
“Kirby, honey, you gotta buckle up back there,” Marcy said. “I don’t want you getting too concussed to make out later.”
Though Marcy had nearly gotten them in about fifty accidents, they made it to the edge of town in record time. The sirens’ house was located at the top of a cliff, and the winding road through the cypress and pine trees was steep.
Marcy took the turns much sharper than Alex would’ve liked, but they were only about a third of the way up when he saw the icy blue color of Harper’s Sable through the trees.
“That’s Harper’s car!” Alex shouted, and when they rounded another bend, they were right behind her. “How’d we catch up to them?”
“Because Harper’s driving. Even in a life-or-death situation, do you think she disobeyed a single traffic law?” Marcy asked.
“Probably not,” Alex said. Being in a car accident when she was a kid made Harper kinda OCD about driving. “But where’s Liv? She flew out of the dance like a bat out of hell.”
“She’s probably already at the house, trying to lay some kind of trap for Gemma.”
Alex was just about to agree with Marcy, when the roof of the car came crushing in on top of them, sending the windows shattering outward.
FORTY-TWO
Ensnared
The convertible was still running when Daniel got out and walked into the house. No candles were lit this time, and it was rather dark inside, but he could see well enough to walk into the kitchen.
Penn came in a few seconds later and flicked on the overhead light while Daniel opened the cabinets near the fridge until he found the one containing alcohol. He grabbed a bottle of brandy and a large glass tumbler and proceeded to fill it.
“Sure, make yourself at home,” Penn said dry
ly. She pulled off the black stilettos she’d been wearing and tossed them absently on the couch before walking into the kitchen.
Daniel didn’t respond to her. He just downed the glass in one long gulp and slammed it down on the counter. Grimacing at the taste, he shook his head. Beer was usually his choice of alcohol, and he’d never been that much of a drinker.
Growing up with an alcoholic father and older brother had made him leery of substances, but since he was about to throw his life away to be a siren, he figured why the hell not get a little smashed first? It would probably make the whole experience go a lot easier if he didn’t know what he was doing or couldn’t remember having sex with Penn.
“Why tonight, Penn? We had a deal. Everything was all set.”
“You changed the date twice.” She put her hands on the counter and leaned forward. “It was my turn to change it.”
“The first time I changed it was because Lexi tried to kill me, and the second time was because Liv did kill someone. So these things sound like your fault,” Daniel pointed out as he poured himself another drink. “You’re the one who delayed the proceedings.”
“I’m sensing some hostility, Daniel.”
“No shit.” He drank this glass much slower, sipping it more than chugging it. “It was because I was happy, wasn’t it? You saw me with Harper and couldn’t stand it.”
“Well, obviously, that pissed me off.” She switched her tone from angry to sultry and kittenish. “You’re supposed to belong to me now.”
“I don’t belong to anybody. All right?” He’d finished the drink, so he set it down on the table and walked around the island, meaning to confront Penn more directly. “Not to Harper, not to you. Not now, not ever.”
She smiled, undeterred by his anger. “You’re really gonna have to change that attitude if you want me to sleep with you.”
Penn put her hands on his chest, and, gently, she pushed him back against the island. Then she slid her hands down, running them across his abdomen. He turned his head, looking away from her, so she put her arms around his neck, and she leaned in, pressing her lips against his neck.
Elegy w-4 Page 33
