He’d even started working with storm chasers this past spring, tracking thunderstorms, tornadoes, and even hurricanes, which Harper was actually surprised to learn. She’d always thought that Alex would prefer analyzing things from the comfort of his home, but apparently he didn’t mind danger as long as he was passionate about what he was chasing.
“What are you doing?” Harper asked when she walked up behind him.
“Oh, hey. ” Alex turned around, looking surprised to see her, and gave her a half smile. A gust of wind came up, blowing his hair back. “I didn’t see you there. ”
“I didn’t mean to sneak up on you,” she said. “I just came to see what you were up to this afternoon. ”
Alex shrugged. “Not a whole lot. ”
“It seems like a storm is coming,” Harper said, hugging her arms to her chest to shield herself from the chill of the wind.
“Yeah, but the worst is going to be farther west. ” He pointed to the line of clouds. “We’ll get rain and wind, but I’m thinking there might be hail farther inland. ”
“Are you gonna go out and chase it, or whatever it is you do?” Harper asked.
“Nah. ” He shook his head. “Some of the people I’ve gone with before are out. They think there might even be a tornado, but I don’t think it’s likely. ”
“So why aren’t you with them?” Harper asked. “I know you love that kinda thing. ”
“I do,” he agreed. “It just doesn’t feel right. Not with Gemma still being gone. ”
“Oh. ” She let out a deep breath. “Have you heard anything new on that?”
“Not really,” he said, then corrected himself. “Nothing useful, anyway. ”
“That sucks. ”
“I went to the police today,” Alex admitted, sounding sheepish about it.
“Did you really?” Harper asked. “What for?”
“I just wanted to know what they were doing to find Gemma. ”
“What are they doing?” Harper asked.
“Not a whole lot,” Alex said. “I mean, I can’t really blame them. They’re still looking into the murders of Luke and those other boys, and Gemma just ran away from home. She’s not exactly their top priority. ”
“Yeah. ” Harper hadn’t really expected any different, but she’d hoped for more than that. “Do they have any leads on the murders?”
“I don’t think so. ” He shook his head. “They asked me a couple more questions about Luke, but I didn’t tell them anything. ” He paused for a minute, thinking. “The sirens killed him and the others, right?”
Harper hesitated before answering him, then nodded. “Yes, they did. ”
“But I can’t tell the cops that. ” Alex sounded exasperated. “They’d think I was crazy, and if they didn’t, they’d think Gemma was involved. And she wasn’t. ”
Harper swallowed hard when Alex said that, but she didn’t respond. Not for the first time, she wondered exactly what Gemma’s involvement with the sirens was.
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“You should go, then,” Harper said.
“What?” Alex turned to look at her, confused.
“If there’s nothing new on Gemma, you should go,” Harper told him. “I’m home, so I’ll be here if she gets back. There’s nothing more you can do. You can’t sit cooped in your house all the time, waiting for her to come back. You need to do something. ”
He hesitated before asking, “Are you sure?”
“Yeah. ” She nodded. “Go on. Go track your storm. Have fun. I’ll be here. ”
“You’re right. ” He gave her a small smile. “I’ll have my cell phone if you need me. ”
He hurried back in the house to gather his things, and it was almost as if he’d been waiting for permission. Harper knew he cared about Gemma a lot and didn’t want to do anything to betray her, but he couldn’t stop living just because she was missing.
Thunder boomed in the distance, and Harper watched the approaching storm. She thought back to what Alex had said about the sirens, and she couldn’t shake her new fears.
She didn’t believe that Gemma had hurt anybody. At least not yet. But if the sirens were monsters, how long would it be before her sister acted like a monster, too?
TWELVE
Compulsion
“Today is the first day of the rest of my life,” Gemma told her reflection. It was her attempt at a pep talk, but it wasn’t that effective.
What Penn had said to her the other day had finally gotten through to her. Gemma had made a choice to be with the sirens, and since they were immortal, it was a very long commitment. She couldn’t spend the rest of eternity moping because this wasn’t what she’d wanted. She’d been living with them for nearly a week, and that was enough sulking.
Admittedly, she’d had to leave behind everything she cared about, her friends, family, boyfriend, and the swimming career she’d worked so hard for. Those were plenty of reasons to be heartbroken, but she’d given herself time to grieve. Now it was time to make the best of things.
Since she’d started swimming every day, she felt much better. Not great, but better. She was no longer nauseated, which made the hunger more intense, but she was managing it so far.
Thea had told her that Aggie had been kind, and Thea herself didn’t seem so bad. That meant that while being a siren might not be a choice, being evil was. So Gemma would simply choose not to be evil, and try to make the best of everything else this life had to offer.
She woke up determined to have a new attitude about the whole thing. She got up, showered, got dressed, and went downstairs to see what the sirens were up to for the day.
Gemma found all three of them and Sawyer in the living room watching Splash on the giant flat-screen. Thea was sprawled out on her belly with her chin propped up on her hands, while Lexi and Penn were sitting on the white sofa with Sawyer between them.
Lexi kept laughing at what was happening on-screen, but Gemma couldn’t tell if it was because she thought the movie was funny or because of the way mermaids were portrayed.
“Hey, guys,” Gemma said.
Penn turned to her. Her eyes were as dark and sinister as ever, but a seductive smile played on her lips. “Look, girls, it’s alive!”
Sawyer looked confused for a minute, but when Lexi laughed, he joined in.
“Since you slept all morning, Penn thought you might be dead,” Lexi explained with a giggle.
“Well … I’m not. ”
“What do you need?” Penn propped her elbow on the back of the couch so she could face her.
“Nothing. ” Gemma tried to smile widely. “I just wanted to see what you were up to today. ”
Penn narrowed her eyes. “Why?”
“I wanted to see if maybe I could join you,” Gemma said.
Thea turned to look at her for the first time, and for a few moments all three of the sirens just stared at her. Sawyer was too busy watching the movie to notice.
“We’re just watching a movie,” Lexi said finally, breaking the staring contest. “That’s probably what we’re going to do all day, if you want to hang out with us. ”
“Sure, that sounds fun. ”
Gemma planned on sitting on the other couch in the room, but Lexi scooted over, sliding up right next to Sawyer. He’d been sitting closer to Penn with his hand on her thigh, but when Lexi moved over, he smiled and slid his arm around her.
“Here you go. ” Lexi tapped the empty spot on the couch. “You can sit by me, Gemma. ”
“There’s not enough room,” Penn said, and glared at Lexi.
“Penn, there’s plenty of room. ” Lexi gestured to the spot next to her, and really there was more than enough room for Gemma. In fact, Lexi hadn’t even needed to slide over, and there would’ve been room for her.
“No, there’s not,” Penn growled.
“Fine. ” Lexi sighed and turned back to Gemma. “Sorry, I guess—”
??
?No, Lexi, there’s no room for you,” Penn corrected her.
Lexi’s head snapped back around so she could look at Penn. “What?”
“You know, I’m fine sitting over here,” Gemma interjected as she edged back to the empty couch on the other side of the room. “I can see the TV great from here. ”
“Sit on the floor, Lexi,” Penn commanded, ignoring Gemma.
“Penn,” Lexi tried to protest, but Penn just kept glaring at her. “Whatever. ” Lexi rolled her eyes, then got up and flopped down on the floor next to Thea.
With Lexi banished to the floor, Penn smiled sweetly up at Gemma. “Why don’t you sit with us on the couch?”
“Uh, sure?” Gemma sat down tentatively on the couch, careful to put as much room between her and Sawyer as she could manage.
Truthfully, she didn’t care where she sat. But this was obviously some sort of power play on Penn’s part, and she didn’t want to get caught in the middle of it. Especially not when she’d just decided to make the best of the situation. She didn’t want to start by pissing off Penn or Lexi.
“Oh, my god. ” Sawyer laughed and pointed to the TV. “She thinks the video cameras are trapping her in the box. That’s so funny. ”
Eventually, in large part to Sawyer’s oblivious commentary on the movie, the tension in the room seemed to ease. Gemma settled into the couch, and she ended up kind of enjoying the movie. She’d never seen it before, and it had its moments.
The funniest parts probably were Sawyer’s reactions. Most of the time, when Thea, Lexi, and Gemma were laughing, it was at something he’d said. Penn never laughed once, though.
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Every now and then Gemma would glance over to see Penn’s eyes fixed blankly on the screen. Despite that, Gemma couldn’t shake the feeling that Penn was watching her out of the corner of her eye, making sure that Gemma was behaving herself.
After the movie ended, the girls argued about what movie to watch next, and finally Lexi put in Mannequin.
Gemma started to relax then. So what if Penn was watching her? It wasn’t like she was doing anything wrong. She was watching a movie, same as everybody else.
Seemingly out of the blue, Gemma’s hunger flared up. The ravenous one that seemed to radiate from her belly all the way through her. She bit her lip and struggled to swallow the feeling down.
Then Sawyer laughed, and Gemma turned to look at him. But it was almost as if she’d never seen him before. He had to be the most attractive person she’d ever seen. His smooth tanned skin, the hard contours of his chest, the strong line of his jaw, even the way his blond hair just touched the nape of his neck.
Her whole body tingled as intense heat spread through her. A kind of primal lust that started in her belly traveled down her thighs.
Gemma wanted nothing more in the world than to touch him and kiss him and taste him. Her hands trembled at the thought of it, and she licked her lips.
“You okay, Gemma?” Penn asked, barely breaking the trance that Gemma was under.
“What?” Gemma asked.
She blinked, trying to clear her head, but all her thoughts still involved kissing Sawyer and ripping off his shirt. He was so close to her that she could nearly do it, and that was when Gemma realized she’d somehow moved closer to him. She was nearly touching him, the smooth, warm skin of his arm.
“Gemma,” Penn repeated, her tone harder this time. “Are you enjoying the movie?”
“Uh, yeah. ” Using all her willpower, Gemma forced herself to scoot away from Sawyer. To be on the safe side, she tucked both her hands underneath her so she was sitting on them. “It’s a good movie. ”
The next few minutes seemed to stretch on for hours. All Gemma could think about was Sawyer. He was so gorgeous and so close, and she was certain that she’d never wanted anyone more. She tried to think of Alex, but just then she could barely even remember his face, let alone how she felt about him.
Without warning, Penn leaned over and started kissing Sawyer. And not just a gentle peck on the lips. Penn climbed over, straddling him between her legs, as she kissed him deeply. She pushed her body against him, and he moaned.
“Holy crap,” Gemma muttered to herself, and then stood up.
Watching Penn make out with Sawyer was messing with her head. It somehow managed to both increase her lust and repulse her at the same time.
Fortunately, the logical part of her won out, and she backed away from the couch.
“I think I’m going to go for a swim,” Gemma said, and for some reason she was nearly shouting.
“I’ll join you,” Thea said, jumping to her feet.
Lexi was still on the floor, but she’d turned around to watch Penn and Sawyer make out, which Gemma thought was rather creepy.
Thea walked with Gemma through the house and out the back door. As soon as Gemma felt the ocean breeze, she felt like she could think again. The bizarre lust had retreated, leaving behind confusion and shame as she tried to make sense of her feelings.
She’d never felt like that before, or had such extreme thoughts before. It had to have something to do with being a siren. It definitely wasn’t Gemma. She loved Alex and thought he was a super fox, and yet she’d never wanted to attack him the way she had wanted Sawyer.
“I’m so glad you’re swimming now,” Thea said as they walked down the beach toward the water. “I was getting sick of watching you sulk. ”
“How come Lexi didn’t join us?” Gemma asked when they reached the water. “What is she doing in there with Penn and Sawyer?”
“Honestly?” Thea turned to face her so she walked backward into the waves. “I don’t even want to know what Lexi and Penn do when I’m not around. ”
“Gross,” Gemma said, and Thea laughed in agreement.
THIRTEEN
Sanitize
Harper stared at what had become of Bernie’s house and tried not to let it overwhelm her. She put her hand on her hip and took a deep breath.
“It’s really not that bad,” Daniel said from behind her, sensing her unease and trying to calm her. “It’s mostly junk thrown around. We can pick that up, no problem. ”
“Yeah, you’re right. ” She nodded to convince herself.
Daniel brushed past her, carrying a box of cleaning supplies she’d brought from home. “Do you want to start with the living room, since that looks a bit easier than the kitchen?”
The kitchen wouldn’t have been so bad if the sirens hadn’t emptied the fridge. Apparently there wasn’t much in there, but a jug of milk had been spilled on the floor for nearly a week, along with some fresh veggies that had begun to rot in the heat.
“Why don’t you take the living room?” Harper suggested. “I’ll start with the kitchen. ”
“I can help you,” Daniel offered. “I mean, that is why I came out here today. ”
“I know. ” She smiled at him. “But you’re already helping me enough. I think I can handle scrubbing up some sour milk. ”
Harper’s father had gone to see the lawyer yesterday to sign the papers. The lawyer had made a special point of meeting Brian on a Saturday since it was hard for him to get off work during the week. The house wasn’t theirs yet, not officially, but it was only a matter of the papers being processed. So Harper thought she’d get a jump start on cleaning the place. She’d asked Daniel to help her, since she needed a boat to get out to the island and they were working on being friends.
The police had released the crime scene a few days before, but there was still yellow tape stuck to the door and around the trees where they’d found the body. Other than that, the place didn’t look like it had been disturbed much since Harper had seen it last, so she wondered how much digging around the police had even done.
If they did any fingerprinting, Daniel and Alex would have to make up a story. Gemma and Harper had plenty of reasons to have fingerprints there, since they’d both been out to Bernie’s
many times.
But Harper wasn’t too worried about that. She, Alex, and Daniel had come up with an alibi for that night, which they’d already told the police: they were arguing with Gemma, and then she ran off with Penn, Lexi, and Thea.
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Alex and Daniel could easily come up with logical reasons for being at Bernie’s place. Alex had visited with Gemma once, maybe. And Daniel delivered groceries to Bernie.
Both of those excuses would work, and the police would probably go back to pursuing the three unidentified sets of prints in the cabin. Harper seriously doubted the sirens had ever been fingerprinted.
“So are you moving out here, then?” Daniel asked, drawing Harper from her thoughts as she scrubbed milk off the kitchen tiles.
“What?” She glanced back to see him picking up all of Bernie’s books and putting them on the shelves.
“Now that you own the place, I was wondering if you’re going to move out here,” Daniel said. “Is that what we’re cleaning it up for?”
“No, I’m not moving out here. ” She’d gotten the milk off the floor, so she stood up and wrung out her washcloth in the sink.
“Why not?” Daniel asked. “It’s a nice place. ”
“No, I know. I just…” A strand of hair had come loose from her ponytail, and she tucked it behind her ear. “I’m leaving for college soon. And even if I wasn’t, there’s too many memories here. ”
“Too many memories?” Daniel had finished putting all the books back on the shelf, and he moved on to uprighting the coffee table. “Aren’t they mostly good memories?”
“Well, yeah,” she said. “But that last night was…”
She grabbed a garbage bag so she wouldn’t have to talk about the last time she’d been here, when she’d seen Bernie’s dead body and the horrible monsters attacking her and her sister.
“So what are you going to do with this place?” Daniel asked.
“I don’t know,” Harper replied as she filled the bag with spoiled food and the garbage strewn about the floor. “Sell it, I guess. ”
“Sell it?” Daniel scoffed. “Why would you do that? Why wouldn’t your dad just move out here?”
“He can’t,” Harper replied. “I mean, I guess he could, but he can’t sell his house, and he can’t really afford the upkeep on two places, especially on an island like this. ”
“Why can’t he sell his house?” Daniel asked.
“He has, like, three mortgages on it,” Harper explained. “Nine years ago my mom and I were in a car accident, and she had a ton of medical bills. It was a drunk driver with no money or insurance, so all the bills fell on my dad. ”
“Wow. ” He grimaced. “I’m sorry about that. ”
“It’s not your fault. It’s just the way things are. ”
She’d filled the garbage bag, so she stopped to survey the house. They hadn’t even been cleaning that long, and it already looked so much better. It almost looked like when Bernie had lived here.
“It will be so weird to think of somebody else living here,” Harper said, more to herself than to Daniel. “I mean, this is Bernie’s Island. ”
“It’ll always be Bernie’s Island,” Daniel assured her. “No matter who lives here, this will always be Bernie’s. ”
They spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning up the place as best they could. If Brian did sell it, they would eventually have to get rid of all Bernie’s possessions, but Harper didn’t want to do that right now. She just wanted to get it clean.