“It doesn’t matter if I would’ve agreed with his choices or not,” she explained. “It’s that he made such a drastic choice, one that really affected him and me and our relationship, and he didn’t consult me at all. He snuck around.”

“I think he just didn’t want to worry you,” Gemma said.

Harper scoffed. “You do that, and he does that, and it’s ridiculous. I am eighteen years old. I am your older sister, and his girlfriend. You don’t need to treat me like a little kid and keep hiding things from me. Stop trying to spare my feelings. I’m with you in all of this.”

“I know. And I’m trying to include you in everything,” Gemma said, allowing a defensive note in her tone. “I just don’t want to interfere with your life more than I have to.”

“You’re not interfering!” Harper was nearly shouting, and she hurried to lower her voice so as not to wake her dad. “You are my life. You and Mom and Dad. And Daniel. You’re the most important things in my life.”

Gemma smiled at her. “I’m sorry, and I’ll do better. I promise.”

“Thank you.” Harper ran a hand through her hair and tried to shake off her feelings. “And I’m sorry for being all teen angst right now.”

When there was so much going on, so many things that were vastly more important than her and her relationships, Harper felt selfish and ridiculous getting so upset over them. Losing Daniel felt immense to her, but there were bigger problems at hand. Like the fact that the sirens had killed someone tonight.

“Liv killed Aiden Crawford,” Harper said, and her sister lowered her eyes.

“I know.” Gemma sounded so weary just then, but when she spoke again, her voice was stronger, more confident. “That’s why it’s so important that I work even harder. I’ve been practicing more, trying to harness the siren powers, and if Penn doesn’t get Liv under control, I think I might have to take care of her myself.”

“You’re planning to kill Liv?” Harper asked, forcing herself to keep her words even.

Gemma nodded. “If I need to, yeah. If we don’t break the curse soon, I can’t let her keep running around like she is now. She’ll kill everybody if she has the chance.”

“But are you ready for something like that?” Harper asked.

“I don’t know. But I’m getting myself ready. I’m not gonna go after her right now. But … soon.”

Naturally, Harper wanted to yell at Gemma and tell her she couldn’t do any of that. It was way too dangerous going up against another siren like that, especially one as crazed as Liv.

But deep down, Harper knew that Gemma was right. Liv couldn’t be left to run loose, terrorizing everyone in Capri like some kind of sexy Godzilla. Gemma was much stronger than Harper, and if she got a handle on her siren strength, then she would be able to take Liv out much better than anybody else could.

For the first time, Harper truly realized that she couldn’t fight Gemma’s battles. She would help her every chance she got, and she’d always have her back. But some things, Gemma would have to take care of herself.

“Don’t do anything that will get you hurt,” Harper said. “I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

Gemma leaned over and hugged Harper. It had been a long time since Gemma had initiated a hug with her, and for a moment, Harper just let herself linger in the moment, letting her little sister comfort her.

“Anyway, I’ve had a very long night, and it seems like you have, too. We can talk about all of this in the morning.” Gemma stopped and looked over at Harper. “Will you still be here in the morning?”

“For a little bit. I’ll be up kinda early to get back to school.”

“I’ll be up.”

Just before Gemma left the room, Harper asked, “Gemma, you don’t … Do you think Daniel wanted to have sex with Penn? And that’s why he didn’t tell me?”

And it wasn’t until she said it aloud that she realized that she’d been afraid it was true. Some small part of her believed that Daniel lied to her because he secretly found her lacking and wanted to spend the night with someone far more experienced and beautiful than her.

“No.” Gemma shook her head emphatically. “He seemed genuinely upset about it, and when I’ve talked to him about Penn, he’s never expressed anything but disgust for her. Sleeping with her would have been as terrible for him as it would have been for you.”

After Gemma left, Harper climbed under the covers and curled up in her bed. She was still wearing Daniel’s shirt, and it smelled sweetly of him. As she cried softly into her pillow, Harper had no idea if she’d done the right thing with Daniel. The one thing she did know was that she still loved him desperately.

TWENTY-NINE

Divergence

It was still dark out when the doorbell rang. Gemma trudged down the stairs, cursing under her breath as she went to answer the door.

“Who’s here?” Brian asked as he stumbled out of his bedroom, still half-asleep.

“Not sure. I’m getting it now,” Gemma called up to him.

Whoever it was had stopped ringing the bell and resorted to pounding incessantly on the front door. Gemma opened the door midpound and found Marcy in a weird, owl pajama jumper and acid-wash jean jacket combo.

“Marcy. What the he—”

“Lydia found her,” Marcy said, sounding more excited than Gemma had ever heard her sound before. “She’s found Diana.”