“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.
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“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.
“The boat flipped. I don’t know what happened exactly, but I was under the boat, and the propeller got me. ” He gestured to his scars again. “John got knocked unconscious, and I couldn’t find him…”
“I’m sorry,” Harper said quietly.
“Both of the girls survived, but John…” Daniel shook his head. “It was over a week before they found his body washed up on shore two miles down.
“And no, I’m not happy that he died. I never will be. I loved my brother. ” He looked at Harper then, his eyes deadly serious. “But nothing I did that night stopped him from drinking or getting on that boat. None of my begging or pleading or fighting with him saved him. All it did was nearly get me killed. ”
“Gemma’s not like that. ” Harper looked away from him. “She’s going through something, and she needs my help. ”
“I’m not saying give up on her or stop loving her. I’d never even suggest that, especially not for Gemma. She seems like a good kid. ”
“Then what are you saying?”
“It took me years to accept the fact that it wasn’t my fault that John died. ” His shoulders slacked. “I don’t know if I’ll ever truly forgive myself for what happened. But that doesn’t mean you should feel the same way.
“I guess what I’m trying to say is that you can’t live somebody else’s life for them. They have to make their own choices, and sometimes all we can do is learn to live with them. ”
“Hmm. ” Harper let out a long breath. “When I stopped by today, I didn’t realize I’d get such a profound life lesson. ?
??
“Sorry. ” Daniel looked embarrassed and laughed a little. “I didn’t mean to like go all … dark on you. ”
“No, it’s good. ” She scratched her head and smiled at him. “I think … I think I needed to hear that. ”
“Good. Glad I could help,” he said. “So, what did you stop by for anyway?”
“I…” She briefly considered lying, but after he’d been so honest with her, she couldn’t. “I don’t really know. ”
“You just wanted to see me?” Daniel asked with a small smirk.
“I guess so. ”
“Are you hungry?” Daniel got up before she could answer.
There wasn’t much of a walkway in the boat, so just the act of standing up brought Daniel disconcertingly close. He moved closer so he stood right in front of her, mere inches from touching her.
“You want anything?” Daniel asked as she stared up at him.
“What?” Harper asked, and she had no idea what he’d even asked her. She found herself strangely mesmerized by the flecks of blue in his hazel eyes.
To open his fridge, he had to bend over and lean to the side, and he brushed up against her as he did. Even when he opened the door, he kept his eyes on Harper as he pulled out a couple of cans of soda.
“You want something to drink or eat?” He straightened up, holding out a can to her.
She took it, smiling thinly at him. “Thanks. ”
Daniel didn’t move, though, instead staying right in front of her. When a boat sped by, causing a wave to rock his boat, he fell forward a bit. He caught himself by putting a hand on either side of Harper. As he pressed up against her, she could feel the warmth of his bare chest through the thin fabric of her shirt.
“Sorry,” Daniel said, his voice low, but he still didn’t move away from her.
His face hovered right above hers, and Harper could feel him leaning in to her, as if she were pulling him into her orbit. His eyes searched hers, and she didn’t know how she’d never noticed how beautiful his eyes were before.
He smelled of tanning lotion and shampoo. Somewhere in the back of her mind she’d been expecting him to smell sweatier and muskier. Instead, it was strangely sweet.
Through her shirt, she could feel the smooth muscles of his chest and stomach, and suddenly an intense urge to throw her arms around him took hold of her.
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Daniel closed his eyes, and with his lips about to touch hers, Harper finally acted on her impulse. Or at least she tried to.
She moved her hand, meaning to wrap her arm around him. Instead, she only managed to shove the ice-cold can of soda into his side, making him jump back from her.
“Sorry. ” She grimaced and shook her head. “I forgot I was even holding the soda. ”
“No, it’s okay. ” Daniel smiled. “It was just cold. ”
He stepped back toward her, like he meant to go in for the kiss again, but the moment was broken, and Harper once again remembered how stupid it would be to get involved with him.
“I should probably get back to work,” she said, moving away from him and toward the door.
“Sure. ” He put his hands on his hips and nodded. “Of course. ”
“Sorry,” Harper mumbled, feeling apologetic.
“Don’t be. You can stop by anytime you want. My door is always open for you. ”
“I know. ” Harper smiled. “Thank you. ”
Harper headed back up on deck. After being in the dim light of the cabin, the sun was blinding. She squinted up at it and walked over to the railing.
Since Daniel refused to use the plank, he had to help her down onto the dock again. He wrapped an arm around her so he could lift her up over the rail, but before he did that, he held her to him for a moment. Harper already had one arm around his shoulder, bracing herself for when he lifted her.
“I’m glad you stopped by. ”
Then he lifted her up and dropped her gently down on the dock. He stayed out on the deck of his boat, watching her as she walked away.
SEVENTEEN
Falling
For the first time in her entire life, Gemma skipped swim practice.
She wasn’t sick, and she didn’t call. She simply didn’t go. Thanks to her new siren abilities, she was already crazy fast in the water. Besides that, Penn had told her she needed to leave soon, and while Gemma wasn’t sure if she’d go along with that or not, it did seem like she’d probably have to quit the swim team.
Despite all that, she felt guilty about it. Gemma had missed practices only when she absolutely had to. Coach Levi would be so disappointed, and she never wanted to let him down.
When she woke up in the morning, she’d gotten ready for practice like she normally would, but instead of going, she rode her bike around to the other side of the block and hid in the small patch of trees there until Harper and her father had both left for work.
Once she was certain they were gone, she went back to her house. She had to see Alex again.
After they’d kissed last night, she’d gone home and had gotten yelled at quite a bit by Harper and Brian. They were both dumbfounded and furious at her recent behavior. Gemma wished that she could explain it all to them, but it would just come off as insanity. Nobody would ever believe that she was a siren, let alone understand it.
Eventually they’d let her go to bed, but she lay awake for a long time. She knew she needed to talk with Penn more before she could really fathom what she was. But that wasn’t even what kept her mind spinning late into the night.
They had told her that nobody could love her, that was part of their curse. Maybe Alex didn’t love her yet, but he could. If she had enough time with him, Gemma was almost certain that Alex would fall in love with her.
If the sirens were wrong about that, then maybe they were wrong about other things. Like maybe she didn’t have to leave her family or her life. Even as much as Harper and her dad had yelled at her the night before, it broke her heart to even think of leaving them. She knew how much they loved her.
Last night, when she’d kissed Alex, she’d been about to give up. But she couldn’t. Maybe it didn’t mean anything that Alex liked her, but she had to try. He’d told her she was the most determined person he’d ever known, and he was right. She would try everything before she’d go off with the sirens.
Gemma knocked on Alex’s back door, but when he didn’t answer, she had to take more drastic measures.
His mother had a trellis covered in flowering vines that grew up the side of the house. It probably wasn’t strong enough to support her weight, but Gemma climbed up anyway.
One of the boards snapped under her feet, but she regained her footing quickly. A vine gave her a small cut on her finger, but other than that the climb up went surprisingly well. By the time she’d pulled herself up on the roof outside Alex’s second-story window, the cut had already healed.
Gemma peered in through his window, and it was just as she’d expected. Alex was sitting in front of his laptop at his desk with his headphones on, bopping along to some song. Based on the state of his hair sticking up all over and his attire of only boxers, she guessed that Alex hadn’t been up that long.
For a few minutes she was content to just watch him: the geeky and totally offbeat way he moved, and how every now and again he would spout a few lyrics from what sounded like an old Run-DMC song.
The silliness of his behavior was juxtaposed with how surprisingly sexy he looked shirtless. When he moved, she could see the muscles in his back and his arms beneath his tanned skin.
“Alex. ” She rapped her knuckles on the glass, and the noise scared Alex so much, he leaped out of his chair.
“Gemma!” he gasped and tore off his headphones. “What are you doing on my roof?”
“You weren’t answering the door. Can I come in?”
“Uh…” He scratched his eyebrow, staring at her for a moment as if he d
idn’t understand what was happening. “Yeah. Sure. ”
He came over and opened the window for her, but that wasn’t exactly the response she was hoping for. Maybe she’d made a mistake by coming here uninvited.
“Sorry,” Gemma said as she climbed into his room. “I didn’t mean to disturb you. ”
“No, you didn’t. ” He shook his head, then rushed around to straighten up his room.
“You don’t need to do that because I’m here. ”
Alex ignored her and continued to pick up the dirty socks and tech magazines that littered his room. It actually wasn’t that messy. He was a relatively neat guy. Other than the stack of Xbox games and empty Mountain Dew cans, it was a fairly clean room.
“You know what, Gemma, I’m sorry. I can’t do this. ” Alex abruptly stopped what he was doing, holding an armful of dirty clothes. He rubbed his eye and shook his head. “What are you doing here? What’s going on with you?”
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“I wanted to see you,” she said simply.
“No, I don’t mean just right now, but…” He set down his clothes in a pile by the door and turned back to face her with his hands on his hips. “What was last night about? Harper said you just took off with those weird pretty girls, and then you come to my house soaking wet because you need to know if I like you. ”
“I’m really sorry about that,” Gemma said, but he was on a roll.
“And the other night, when you disappeared, again with those weird pretty girls! Harper thought you were dead. You know you’re scaring the hell out of your sister, and that’s not like you.
“And then when I came over on Tuesday and…” He lowered his eyes, and his cheeks colored lightly. “And we made out. That was hot and all, but that was … not you at all. I don’t even know if that was me. ”
“I know, I know. ” Gemma sighed. She wanted to tell him everything, but how could she? How could anyone possibly believe what she had to say?
“What’s going on?” Alex asked, and the desperation in his voice pulled at her heart.
“Do you trust me?”
“Honestly?” He lifted his head and looked her in the eyes. “A few days ago, I would’ve said unequivocally yes. But after what’s been going on lately, I don’t know. ”
“I’ve never lied to you. ” Then she shook her head. “I mean, maybe I did when I was a little kid. But since we started seeing each other, I haven’t. And I won’t. And I know how crazy everything is, and I don’t know how to explain it to you. ”
“You could at least try,” Alex suggested.
“I don’t think I can. ”
“Is it me?” he asked. “Or, I mean, is it us?”
“No, no!” Gemma shook her head emphatically.
“Because that’s the only thing that’s really changed. You were normal until we started getting involved. ”
“No. ” She stepped closer to him, putting her hands on his chest to convince him. “No, it’s absolutely not you. You’re the only thing that’s keeping me sane. ”
“Why?” He looked down at her, but he didn’t reach out and touch her the way she’d hoped he would. “How did I suddenly become your grip on normalcy?”
“Because. I think you’re the only person who sees me for who I really am. ”