“Hello?” Harper answered the phone, and that’s when Daniel finally rolled back, allowing her to sit up. “Gemma? Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, everything’s fine,” Gemma said. “I just woke up, and you weren’t here. Alex said you had an errand to do or something. When are you coming back?”

“Um, I’ll be back in a few minutes.” Harper stood up and walked away from the bed, away from Daniel. “I’m just leaving. Did you need anything?”

“No, I just…” Gemma paused. “I wanted to make sure you were okay. I’m just feeling a bit edgy, I guess.”

“Yeah, I understand,” Harper said. “I’ll be home really quick, though, and we can talk more then. Okay?”

“Yeah, sounds good,” Gemma said, and she did sound a little relieved. “I’ll see you soon.”

Harper hung up the phone and stood with her back to Daniel for a minute, thinking. She was right at the bottom of the steps leading out of his boat. When she turned back around to face him, he was still sitting on the bed, watching her.

“If I don’t talk to you anymore, I want you to know that it’s not because I don’t like you,” Harper said carefully. “Because it’s pretty obvious that I do.”

He lowered his eyes then, probably knowing that whatever was coming next wasn’t good.

“I can’t have you as a part of my life, because I need to take care of my sister,” Harper said. “And I do like you, so I don’t want you to end up getting your heart ripped out.”

“When you say you don’t want me to have my heart ripped out, do you mean that metaphorically or literally?” Daniel asked.

“Maybe both,” she admitted. “’Bye, Daniel. And thank you in advance for understanding.”

He gave her a small wave before she turned and darted out of the boat. She had to climb over the rail to get back to the dock, and she practically fell in the water again, but there was no way she was asking for his help.

Once she was safely on the dock, she walked quickly back to her car, nearly jogging, and the entire time she had to fight not to cry.

TWENTY-FOUR

Today

Harper sat on her bed, watching intently as Gemma spoke. Gemma sat curled up at the other end of the bed, holding Harper’s worn-out old teddy bear in her arms. If they hadn’t been talking about monsters and murders, it would’ve reminded Gemma of the late-night girl talks that she and Harper used to have.

When Harper came home a few hours ago from whatever errand she’d done, she’d looked rather sad. Gemma had tried to talk to her about it, but Harper wouldn’t have it. Harper sent Alex home and insisted that the two of them really talk about what was going on. Not just because Harper wanted to understand what Gemma had been through, but because she was hoping it might help them figure out a way to break the sirens’ curse.

Gemma had been happy to tell Harper, even if it hadn’t been necessary for giving her more information. It was such a relief to be able to talk to someone about the crazy stuff that had been going on. It was like a giant rock had been lifted from her chest, and Gemma could finally breathe again.

Gemma started from the beginning and told Harper everything she knew. About how the sirens had tricked her into drinking out of the flask, and how turning into the mermaid form felt amazing. When she told Harper exactly what was in the flask, Harper paled, but Gemma pressed on.

She explained the curse as best she could—about why Demeter had punished the girls, so now they were stuck together, shifting between mermaid form and bird-monster. She told Harper why she’d left, about what had happened at Bernie’s Island, how she didn’t know Bernie was dead then, but she knew she had to do whatever it took to protect Alex and Harper.

She told Harper about the way things had been at Sawyer’s house, and how she’d been so sick at first that her hair had been falling out. She even told her about the weird hunger lust she’d felt, and how she’d lost control for a moment and kissed Sawyer.

There were only two things she left out of the story. Gemma just couldn’t bring herself to tell Harper about feeding and that she’d killed someone. Nor could she tell her that the sirens needed to eat boys’ hearts to survive. And thankfully, Harper didn’t ask.

Gemma knew that Harper had to have suspicions. She’d seen the bodies, so Harper had to know the sirens killed boys and tore them open for a reason. But it must have been one of those things that Harper didn’t really want to know, the way sometimes parents suspect their kids are having sex but never ask. Sometimes not knowing is better.

The other thing Gemma couldn’t tell her was that she might die. Harper was hoping the sirens would wait as long as possible to find Gemma, but what she didn’t know was that they couldn’t wait too long. If they didn’t find her within a couple weeks, Gemma would be dead.

The reason Gemma didn’t tell Harper this wasn’t so much that she didn’t want to worry her, but that she didn’t want Harper to prevent it. Gemma didn’t want to die, but right now it was the only way she knew how to break the curse. It might be better if they didn’t find her: if she died, so would the sirens.

“I’m sorry,” Harper finally said. Her knees were pulled up to her chest, and she rested her chin on them.

“Why are you sorry?” Gemma asked, tilting her head to look at her sister.

“I’m sorry that you had to go through all this,” Harper said. “And you had to go through it alone. So much of this happened when you were at home, and you didn’t feel like you could tell me or Dad any of this.”