Lullaby (A Watersong Novel) - By Amanda Hocking Page 0,86
sucks.”
“Just for a while,” Thea said. “Until we figure out what’s going on.”
Penn sighed and seemed to think it over.
“We can’t!” Lexi insisted. “We wouldn’t be able to feed whenever we wanted. We’d have to use discretion so the humans wouldn’t chase us out of town with pitchforks and torches. That means we might have to go, like, weeks without eating.”
“That’s true,” Penn agreed. “But there’s something really weird going on with the boys in this town.”
“What do you mean?” Thea asked.
Penn just shook her head in response. “Fine. We’ll stay. And Gemma can live. For now.”
Lexi groaned loudly, and Gemma tried not to let out a sigh of relief.
“But you will do as I say.” Penn stepped around Thea and walked right up to Gemma. “None of this running off shit or doing what you want. I’ll let you stay here, live with that hideous sister of yours, and run around with this idiot boy. But if you disobey me, if you act out against me or the other sirens, I will not hesitate to kill you all. Do you understand me?”
“I do.” Gemma nodded.
“Do you?” Penn asked. “Because I don’t think you do. We made a similar deal before, and you broke it. In fact, I should be tearing out lover boy’s heart right now just to punish you.”
“Penn, please, I’ll do what you say,” Gemma insisted in a hurried breath. “I’m sorry. I won’t do it again.”
“I know you won’t do it again,” Penn said. “Because I’ve given you more chances than I’ve given anyone else. And you screw up one more time, one more time, and I will destroy everyone you care about. I’ll kill everyone in this entire bullshit town if I have to.”
Gemma swallowed hard. “I understand.”
“Gemma!” Harper shouted as she raced down the embankment toward the docks. “Gemma!”
“I really don’t want to deal with them again,” Penn said, and turned back to Lexi and Thea. “Let’s get out of here.”
“Gladly,” Lexi said, and dove into the water.
“Wait,” Gemma said, stopping Penn before she followed Lexi. “What do you want me to do?”
“Go home, play house with your little friends,” Penn said. “I’ll find somewhere to live, and when I want you, I’ll come get you.”
Before Harper and Daniel reached them on the dock, Penn and Thea dove into the water, disappearing in the waves. They swam out as far and as fast as they could, and Gemma knew they had to be careful to avoid being spotted by people who were in all the boats in the bay.
“So we’re just gonna stay here and let Gemma do what she wants?” Lexi asked Penn, once they’d gotten far enough away from the docks that they could speak. Thea was swimming on ahead of them, but Lexi had slowed to talk to Penn.
“No, of course not,” Penn said. “We find a replacement first, then we kill her. And we need to find out what the hell is going on with the boys in this town. There’s something strange about this place, and I want to find out what it is, so I can rub it in Demeter’s face.”
THIRTY-FOUR
Tomorrow
Gemma knew what she had to do. After everything that had happened tonight, she had no other option. While Gemma had told Harper what she planned to do, she couldn’t tell if Harper approved or not. In the end, it didn’t matter. Gemma had made up her mind.
Once the sirens had gone, Gemma had explained to Harper why the sirens had spared her and let her stay in Capri. That had actually been relatively easy compared to explaining to Brian what she’d been up to when they got back home. She lied and told her dad that she’d just snuck out to watch the fireworks with Alex, but that still left him pretty pissed off.
Brian stayed up really late that night, maybe because he was so angry, but the second Gemma was certain he was asleep, she snuck outside. She’d made sure to tell Harper what she was doing before she left, so Harper wouldn’t freak out when she saw Gemma’s bedroom empty.
As she crept across the yard and climbed up the trellis to Alex’s window, Gemma could almost feel Harper watching her from her bedroom window. That was the condition. Harper would let Gemma sneak out to talk to Alex without telling their dad as long as Harper could see her the entire time.
Crouching on the roof outside his darkened bedroom window, Gemma knocked sharply on the