When they got back to Capri in the evening, Harper decided to drop Daniel off at his boat before heading to their house. She pulled up to the docks to let him out.

“Thanks,” Harper said, and she seemed to avoid looking directly at him. “For coming with and helping look for Gemma, and for everything, really.”

“Yeah, it was no problem,” Daniel said. He sat in the car for a moment, then opened the door. “Well. I’ll see you around.”

“Yep,” Harper said.

“’Bye, Daniel,” Alex added, and Daniel waved at him as he got out.

“Wait a sec,” Gemma told Harper, and then she hopped out after him. He was walking away, so she called after him, “Daniel. Hold up.”

“Yeah?” He turned back around to her.

Gemma threw her arms around his waist, hugging him. It took him a second to hug her back. It was short and slightly awkward, but she smiled up at him when she took a step back.

“I just wanted to thank you properly for helping me out and for being concerned and all that,” Gemma said.

“It’s really not a problem,” Daniel said, waving it off.

“And I wanted to thank you for Harper,” Gemma said.

“For Harper?”

“Yeah,” Gemma said. “She needs you more than she thinks she does, and I’m really glad that you can see that.”

“Uh…” Daniel looked like he didn’t know how to respond to that. “Um, you’re welcome?”

“Yeah, anyway.” Gemma waved at him as she stepped back. “See you later.”

She ran back to the car, and Harper asked her what that was about. Gemma just shrugged, and Harper drove them back home.

TWENTY-TWO

Reunion

Being in her own room again felt so strange. Gemma stood in the doorway for a long time, just staring at the mess of things she’d left behind. It gave her a weird sense of being in a time warp. She hadn’t been gone that long, not really, but with the insanity of the past few weeks, it felt like it had been a lifetime ago that she’d been the girl who lived in this room.

It was also a bit weird to see so much color. The pale blue of her walls, the bright colors of her bedspread, even the Michael Phelps poster on her wall. It all seemed so vivid after the constant whiteness of Sawyer’s house.

She flopped back in her bed, a twin-size that felt so much better than the empty space of the big bed she’d been sleeping in. Everything about here felt so much better, even though the house was small and worn down and completely lacked the grandeur of the beach house.

But that didn’t matter. This was home.

She looked over at her bedside table, expecting to see the picture of herself, her mom, and Harper that had occupied that space for years. When she saw it was gone, she sat up in a panic, but then remembered that she’d taken it with her when she left. She’d left it at the sirens’ house, hidden in the top drawer with her clothes.

Harper knocked gently on Gemma’s open bedroom door, and Gemma turned to look at her. Once they got back, Alex had gone home. Gemma hadn’t really wanted him to leave, but Harper pointed out that they had spent the last eleven hours together, and their father would be home from work soon. He’d picked up overtime to compensate for his time off the previous week, and wouldn’t get done until after seven.

“How does it feel to be back?” Harper asked.

“It’s pretty strange, actually,” Gemma admitted. “But I’m glad to be here.”

“And I’m glad you’re back.” She smiled a little at that and walked into the room.

“What’s the plan now?” Gemma asked. “Did you have one, beyond finding me?”

“Not really.” Harper leaned back against the wall next to the closet. “I was kind of hoping that you might have some ideas. Alex and I have been doing tons of research on sirens, but we can’t find anything.” She paused. “You are a siren, right?”

“Yeah, I’m a siren,” Gemma said with a heavy sigh. “So are Penn, Thea, and Lexi.”

“So what does that mean exactly?” Harper asked. “You turn into a mermaid, and then there’s that bird-monster thing that Penn changed into. You can sing and enchant people.”

“It’s kind of a lot of things.” Gemma lowered her eyes. She didn’t want to explain it all to Harper, at least not right now. That would mean telling her about the whole curse, and about how she had to kill to survive.

“We’ve got time to talk about it later,” Harper said, apparently noticing Gemma’s hesitance. “If you want to shower and relax a bit before Dad gets home.”

“Thanks.” Gemma smiled wanly at her.

“We do have time, right?” Harper asked. “How long do you think we have before the sirens come after you?”

“I honestly don’t know,” Gemma said.

She thought back to when she’d gone into town the other day and killed Jason. She’d been gone for several hours, after basically stealing Sawyer’s car. But when she came back, the sirens and Sawyer were all there, looking nonplussed.

Since Gemma hadn’t taken anything with her, they probably wouldn’t think she’d run away, so it would be a little while before they began a search for her. And even when they did, they wouldn’t know where she’d gone. It wouldn’t be too hard for them to figure out she’d gone back to Capri, but it might take them a few days before they went after her. They would probably expect her to come back to them, since she knew what it meant if she left.