Neither Penn nor Bernie was anywhere to be seen, so Gemma crept around the cabin to another window, hoping she could see more from there.
“I’m glad you decided to join us,” Penn said, and Gemma jumped back. Penn had somehow come up right beside her, and Gemma hadn’t heard her.
Penn smiled at her, and Gemma hurried to compose herself. The last thing in the world she wanted was for Penn to know how much she’d scared her.
“I haven’t decided anything yet,” Gemma replied coolly, and Penn only smiled wider.
“Oh!” Lexi exclaimed inside the cabin. “Is Gemma here?” The music stopped short, so the only sounds came from the ocean around them and the wind through the trees.
“Come inside. ” Penn took a step backward, then turned around and went into the cabin. Swallowing hard, Gemma followed her.
Lexi had gotten down off the couch, but Thea continued her searching. She crouched in front of the sink, pulling out containers of Comet and drain cleaner.
“Thea, I think it’s safe to assume there’s nothing valuable under the sink,” Penn said as she carefully stepped over all the things Thea’d tossed on the kitchen floor.
“This is a waste of time anyway. ” Thea sighed and got to her feet. “Gemma’s here. Can we go now?”
“I don’t know. ” Penn faced Gemma and leaned on the back of the couch. “Gemma says she’s not sure if she’s coming with us or not. ”
Thea groaned and rolled her eyes. “Oh, please. ”
“Where’s Bernie?” Gemma asked.
“Who?” Lexi asked.
“Bernie. ” Gemma brushed past them to check out the bedroom in the back. She pushed open the door, but only found more of the mess she’d seen in the rest of the cabin. “Bernie? Mr. McAllister?”
When she didn’t see him, she turned back to the sirens. Penn and Thea just watched her, but Lexi played with her hair and looked at the floor.
“Where is he?” Gemma asked. “What did you do to him? Did you hurt him?”
“He gave us the place. ” Penn shrugged. “You know how persuasive we can be. ”
“Where is he?” Gemma repeated, her voice getting harder. “Did you kill him the way you did those other boys?”
“I’d hardly call that old man a ‘boy,’” Penn said, her tone teasing.
“Stop it!” Gemma yelled, and Lexi flinched. “You said you told me the truth, but you didn’t. I know you’ve been killing people, and you didn’t tell me that. ”
“I didn’t lie,” Penn scoffed. “I never said, We don’t kill people, Gemma. ”
Her stomach dropped. “So you admit it. ”
“Yes. I admit it. ” As she stepped closer to Gemma, she smiled and tilted her head, her voice silky and sweet. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. But it’s only one little detail. ”
“One little detail?” Gemma stepped back. “You’re murderers!”
“We’re not murderers!” Lexi said defensively. “At least, not any more than a hunter is, than you are when you eat a hamburger. We do what we have to do to live. ”
“You’re cannibals?” Gemma’s jaw dropped, and she kept stepping back. She wasn’t looking where she was going and nearly tripped over a book, but she caught herself on the wall.
“That’s why we don’t lead with that,” Penn explained in a way that sounded so reasonable, so logical that it sent chills down Gemma’s spine. “We have eternal youth and unmatched beauty. We can change form into magical, mythical creatures. So we survive on mortal blood. What’s that one little thing, when we get so much in return?”
“One little thing?” Gemma asked, laughing darkly. “You’re monsters!”
“Don’t. ” Penn pursed her lips and shook her head. “I hate the word monster. ”
Gemma stood straight and moved away from the wall so she wasn’t leaning on it anymore. She met Penn’s dark eyes. “I just call it like I see it, and right now, standing in front of me, all I see is a monster. ”
“Gemma,” Lexi said, her voice quavering slightly. “Don’t push her. ”
“You really have no idea what you’re messing with,” Thea agreed.
“It’s okay. ” Penn held up her hand toward Thea and Lexi but kept her eyes locked on Gemma. “She’s just forgotten her place. She’s forgotten that she is one of us now. ”
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“I’ll never be one of you. ” Gemma shook her head. “I will sooner die than kill anyone. ”
“I’ll be more than happy to arrange that for you. ”
“Then do it. ” Gemma raised her chin defiantly. “You said if I don’t go with you, then I’ll die. And I’m not going with you. ”
Penn’s jaw clenched, and Gemma could see something happening underneath her skin. Almost like a current running over her face. Penn’s eyes even changed color, shifting from dark brown to a yellow-green.
Then all at once the shifting stopped, and her eyes went back to their usual soulless black. When she opened her mouth to speak, her teeth were visibly sharper.
“You’ve given me no choice. I’m going to have to show you exactly who you are. ” Penn looked back over at Thea and Lexi. “Call for him. ”
“Who?” Lexi asked.
“Whoever answers,” Penn replied.
Lexi glanced uncertainly at Gemma, then back at Thea. Thea sighed but began singing first. Her voice was beautiful in its own husky way, but it wasn’t until Lexi joined in that Gemma felt the full enchanting power of their music.
They were singing the song that Gemma had heard before, the one she herself had sung in the shower. As soon as they opened their mouths, Gemma knew all the words, and she wanted to join in. She actually had to bite her tongue to stop herself.
Thea and Lexi turned and walked out of the cabin, standing on the porch to sing their siren song, calling for someone to come join them on the island.
TWENTY-FIVE
Poor Voyager
“Harper!” Alex shouted, and she snuggled deeper into her bed. “Harper!”
“What?” Harper muttered into her pillow, but by then she was awake enough that she heard the panic in his voice. She sat up, looking around her dark bedroom in confusion. “Alex?”
“I’m outside!” Alex yelled, and Harper looked out her window to see him standing there, shouting up at her.
“What are you doing?” Harper asked. “What’s going on?”
“Gemma ran away. I tried to stop her…” He trailed off for a moment, then continued. “I think she went down to the bay, but I don’t know for sure. ”
“Dammit. ”
Harper lunged out of bed, scrambling around in the dark to put on her clothes. Alex kept talking outside, but she hadn’t really heard much of anything after he said that Gemma was gone. She was pulling on her sweater as she ran out the front door, and Alex was still standing below her now-empty bedroom, talking up to it.
“Alex, come on!” Harper ran around to the side of the house to flag him, then hurried over to her Sable parked in the driveway and got in. As soon as Alex hopped in the car, she asked, “You’re sure she went to the bay?”
“No,” he admitted. “She wouldn’t tell me where she was going. But knowing Gemma, where else would she go?”
Harper put the car in reverse and floored it, making it squeal out of the driveway. Alex didn’t say anything, but he put on his seat belt.
“What did she say to you? Are you sure she’s running away? Maybe she just went for a swim. ”
“No, I tried to go with her because the killer’s on the loose. ” He pressed his arm against the window glass, steadying himself as Harper flew around a corner. “But she wouldn’t let me go with her. ”
“Dammit. ” Harper hit the steering wheel. “I knew she was acting weird today. I knew it, and I didn’t…” She shook her head, remembering all the things Gemma had told her. “She was saying good-bye. ”
“But why?” Alex asked, pulling her from her
thoughts. “Why is she doing this?”
“I don’t know. It’s not like Gemma. She never runs from a fight. Whatever she’s running from has to be pretty terrible. ”
Harper got to the bay in record time. She didn’t stop soon enough and actually skidded out onto the dock, making the wooden planks quake under the car. As soon as the car came to a complete halt, she leaped out and started yelling for Daniel.
“Who’s Daniel?” Alex asked, chasing after Harper.
“He has a boat,” she explained quickly.
The docks were dimly lit, and when she couldn’t see his boat, she had this horrible moment of panic, realizing he might be gone. It was a boat. He could leave at any time.
Then the lights flicked on inside the cabin of The Dirty Gull, and she ran toward it. He still wasn’t on the deck when she reached it, so she slapped her hands against the side of the hull, trying to hurry him.
“Daniel!” Harper yelled.
“First your car wakes me up, now you’re hitting my boat. ” Daniel finally emerged from the cabin, rubbing his eyes. He’d managed to put his jeans on, but they were still unbuttoned. “What’s the emergency?”
“Gemma’s gone. ” She leaned over the dock as far as she could, hanging on to the railing of the boat to keep from falling in the water. “She ran away, we think she’s out in the bay. I need your help. ”
“She ran away?” Daniel ran a hand through his hair and shook his head, trying to shake off the sleep. “Why?”
“We don’t know, but something’s really wrong. ” She looked up at Daniel, her eyes pleading with him. “Please, Daniel. I need you. ”
Without missing a beat, he asked, “How can I help?”
“The bay is the only place she really loves. She couldn’t have gotten far yet, and with your boat, we could find her. ”
“The Gull isn’t as fast as it used to be, but I’ll do what I can. ” He reached over the side of the boat and grabbed Harper to pull her up. “Who’s that?”
“What?” Harper asked when Daniel put her down. She glanced back to see Daniel pointing to Alex. “Oh, that’s Alex. He’s Gemma’s boyfriend. ”
“Oh. ” Daniel extended his hand to Alex. “Nice to meet you. ”
“Uh, likewise. ” He took Daniel’s hand uncertainly, and Daniel helped pull him up on the boat. He didn’t quite embrace him the way he’d lifted Harper, but he got Alex onto the deck.
“Can you help me unhook the boat?” Daniel asked Alex, gesturing to the ropes that tied it to the dock.
“Yeah, sure. ” Alex hurried to help Daniel.
Harper went around to the front of the boat. A cold wind whipped over the water, and she wrapped her arms around herself, trying to stay warm against it. She stared out at the bay, hoping against hope that her sister was safe.
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“Do you want me to take a pass around the bay?” Daniel asked, coming over to where Harper stood. He’d done up his pants and put on a shirt since untying the boat.
“Maybe. ” She glanced back at him, then stared out at the water.
“What about the cove?” Alex suggested and pointed to it. “She’s running away, which means she needs a place to camp out. The cove would give her shelter but still keep her near the bay. ”
Daniel looked to Harper for confirmation, and she nodded. Daniel went around to the back of the boat to drive it while Alex went to the very edge, hanging on to the railing, staring out at the night sea. Harper thought about staying with him, but she felt more in control staying with Daniel, telling him where to go.
When Daniel turned the key, the boat chugged but didn’t immediately start. Harper cast him a look, and he gave her an apologetic smile.
“I haven’t taken her out in a while. ”
“What’s the point of having a boat if you don’t take it out?” Harper asked, sounding more hostile than she’d meant to.
“The point is that I get to have a roof over my head. Gas is expensive, and I don’t really have anywhere I wanna go. ” He turned the key, and the motor finally purred into life. “There she goes!”
When they pulled away from the dock, moving toward the cove, Harper relaxed a little bit. Not completely, but she felt better knowing that they were doing something, that they were moving toward something.
“Thank you. ” She smiled gratefully at Daniel as he steered the boat.
“You’re welcome. And thanks to you for waking me up all the time, I’m learning to live without sleep. ” He smiled at her, and she lowered her eyes.
“I’m sorry for always bothering you, and I really owe you. But I didn’t know where else to go. ”
“Hey, I know. ” He reached out, touching her arm gently. “It’s okay. ”
“I just hope we find her. ” Harper breathed in deeply and looked back out at the water.
“The water’s pretty choppy,” Daniel commented as the boat bobbed erratically. Alex gripped the railing tightly to avoid sliding on the deck.
“The boat can handle it, though, right?” Harper asked.
“Yeah, yeah, but it’s just so windy. ” He bit his lip and watched Harper from the corner of his eye. “It’s a cold night for swimming. Are you sure Gemma went out to the bay tonight?”
“Yeah. ” She nodded. “I know I seem crazy and overzealous, and maybe I am. But I just know something’s wrong. ” She put her hand over her stomach, pressing against it. “I can feel it. Gemma’s in trouble, and she needs me. ”
“If you say she’s in trouble, then I believe you. ”
“Thank you. ” Harper stepped forward, straining her eyes to see in the dark as they got closer to the cove. “Can this thing go any faster?”
“I’m pushing her as fast as she goes,” Daniel said. “I knew any slower than that wouldn’t be good enough for you. ”
When they finally got close enough to the cove to really see it, Daniel turned on the boat’s spotlight, shining it inside. He had to slow the boat way down to keep it from crashing into the rocks, but even from that distance they could see it was empty.
“No, she has to be there,” Harper insisted, shaking her head. “She has to. ”
“Do you want me to pull in closer, so you can check it out?” Daniel asked.
“Yes. Please. ”
Daniel got the boat as close to the cove’s shore as he could, then tied the boat to a cypress tree leaning out over the water. Alex got the landing plank. It barely reached from the boat to the shore, but it just made it. Alex ran down first, with Harper right behind him.
The spotlight on the boat was still shining on the cove, so they could see everything inside it, but there was nothing much to see. A circle of rocks in the center for a fire pit. Footprints in the dirt. That was about it.
“I found something!” Alex yelled and held up a bag.
“Is it her stuff?”
Harper ran over to him and yanked the bag from his hands. She tore through it, but it only took a few slutty tops and thongs for Harper to realize that these weren’t her sister’s clothes. Still, this bag was the only thing they’d found, so she clutched it to her chest and stared vacantly in front of her.
“It’s not hers, is it?” Alex asked, watching a red thong tumble from Harper’s grip.
“What’d you find?” Daniel asked. He’d gotten off the boat after them, and he was just coming up behind Harper.
“I think it’s those girls’. ” She turned to face him and held the bag out to Daniel, as if he’d know what to do with it. “Those horrible girls have done something to her. ”
“You don’t know that. ” Daniel tentatively took the bag from her. “Just because somebody else crashed here doesn’t mean that she has anything to do with them. ”
“But where is she?” Harper asked, tears filling her eyes. “She’s not here. Where could she be?”
“Gemma!” Alex resorted to yelling her name since he didn’t know what else
to do. He stood at the edge of the cove, shouting out at the bay. “Gemma!”
“Maybe we beat her here,” Daniel suggested. “We got here pretty fast, right?”
“Do you think?” Harper stared up at him, her frantic eyes searching his.
“Maybe. ” He shrugged. “Or is there anywhere else you can think of that she might go?”
“No, I…” Harper trailed off, her face twisting with confusion, and she tilted her head, listening. He opened his mouth to say something, and she silenced him by putting her hand on his chest. “Do you hear that?”
“What?” Daniel asked, but then he heard it, too.
Very faintly at first, but the wind was carrying music out to the cove. A song unlike anything Harper had ever heard before, but it was one that Alex was all too familiar with.
“It’s Gemma,” Alex breathed.
“What?” Harper asked, but now without the incessant panic that had been gripping her only seconds before. Her entire expression changed, the tension melting away to a bizarre serenity.
“Harper?” Daniel asked. When she started walking toward Alex at the shore of the cove, he put his hand on her arm to stop her. “Harper? Are you okay? What’s wrong?”
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“Nothing’s wrong. ” Her brow furrowed momentarily at that, as if she realized that what she was saying wasn’t quite right, and she turned to Daniel. “Were we looking for something?”
“Yeah. Your sister. ” He took both her arms and made her face him. “What the hell is going on with you?”
“She’s calling me,” Alex said to no one in particular, and then he dove into the water, swimming out of the cove.
“Alex!” Daniel yelled. “Alex! What are you doing? We have a boat!” He ran to the shoreline. Alex was furiously swimming away, and Daniel wasn’t about to jump in after him. “Alex! Just get back here in the damn boat!”
“Something’s wrong,” Harper whimpered, and Daniel turned back to see her looking as if she were about to cry.
“No shit, something’s wrong. ” He went back over to her, apparently deciding that Alex was a lost cause, at least for the time being. “Do you know why Alex just took off?”
“No. ” She ran her hand through her hair and looked up at him. “Gemma is missing, and I can’t…” She shook her head and covered her ears with her hands. “It’s that song, Daniel! It’s trying to make me forget about her, but I won’t!”
“The song?” Daniel certainly could still hear it, but he sounded as if he didn’t know what Harper was talking about.
“Can’t you hear it?” Harper asked, shouting because she’d plugged her ears.
“Yeah, but I’m fine,” he assured her.
“We need to go towards the song!” Harper told him. “That’s where Gemma is!”
Daniel thought about arguing with her, but something really, really bizarre was happening, and they probably didn’t have time to question things anymore. He took Harper’s hand, dragging her over to the boat so they could go after Gemma while they still had a chance.
All the while, the song floated through the air. Come now, weary traveler, I’ll lead you through the waves. Worry not, poor voyager, for my voice is the way.
TWENTY-SIX
True Form
“What are you doing?” Gemma asked, still struggling against her urge to join in the song with Lexi and Thea.