Her wide eyes had gone dark, and Gemma realized dourly that Liv knew exactly what kind of monster she was. Gemma had never learned how to transform on command because she never wanted to risk even letting a little bit of the monster out, but Liv already seemed to understand and embrace it.

If Liv took Aiden up to that hotel room, Gemma was certain that he wouldn’t come back alive. And if Gemma stood in her way, she wasn’t completely sure that she’d stay alive, but she had to do something.

“You had your chance, and you weren’t into it,” Aiden said. “You don’t need to be a cock block.”

“Aiden may be a huge jerk, but I can’t let you do this,” Gemma said, her eyes fixed on Liv. “I won’t let you hurt him or anybody.”

Liv stepped closer to her. “You think you can stop me?”

“I think you need to get yourself under control, or I won’t need to stop you,” Gemma clarified. “Penn will take care of you the same way she took care of Lexi.”

“Please.” Liv scoffed. “She hates you, not me. And I can get rid of you without lifting a finger.” She smiled, then commanded, “Aiden, get rid of her.”

Aiden grabbed Gemma’s arm, but she instantly got free and glared at him.

“Get your hands off me, Aiden,” she snapped. “I am doing this for your own good, but if you touch me again, I will break your arm.”

“Is everything okay here?” Daniel asked, approaching them.

“Yeah, it’d be great if Gemma could just get out of the way,” Liv said.

“Well, she’s not going to.” Daniel stood behind Gemma and crossed his arms over his chest. “But more importantly, Penn wants to see you over there.”

“She does not,” Liv insisted with a whine in her voice, and Gemma glanced back to where Penn stood on the other side of the room. She had that devious smile, the one she got whenever she seemed to enjoy watching Gemma suffer.

“She does,” Daniel assured her. “And she asked me to come over here to get you, and if she has to come over here herself, well … that wouldn’t be good at all.”

“Ugh.” Liv groaned. “She’s worse than my mother.”

Aiden tried to follow as she walked away, but Daniel put a hand on his chest and stopped him.

“Dude,” Aiden said, giving him a hard look.

“I think it’d be better if you stayed back and cooled off,” Daniel said, and he let his arm drop when he was sure that Aiden wouldn’t follow him.

Gemma glanced back, watching, as Liv pouted to Penn. For her part, Penn looked annoyed and not at all happy to see Liv, then she turned and trudged toward the door, with Liv trailing behind her.

“This is the worst party ever,” Aiden muttered, and walked off in the direction of the bar.

“It totally is,” Gemma agreed, and ran a hand through her hair. Then she turned to Daniel. “Penn didn’t send you over to retrieve Liv, did she?”

“No, she didn’t,” Daniel admitted. “Actually, she told me that Liv was your problem, and she hoped that Liv ate Aiden’s heart in front of everyone.”

“Well, that’s pleasant,” Gemma muttered. “I can’t believe she let you come over.”

“She was too busy exchanging insults with Harper to really notice that I was even leaving until it was too late. If she had, she probably would’ve threatened me with dismemberment or death.”

“Probably,” Gemma agreed, and glanced around. “Do you think I can get out of here now? The sirens are gone, and I made an appearance, right?”

Daniel smirked. “You certainly did.”

“I think I’ll just grab Marcy and get out of here.”

“And I’ll get back to Harper.” Daniel took a deep breath and headed back over to his girlfriend.

Marcy was still standing near the appetizer table, talking with Kirby. He was smiling, so it couldn’t be going that bad.

“How do you feel about turtles?” Marcy was asking Kirby when Gemma walked over, and she was really sorry that she hadn’t heard the beginning of the conversation.

“Like the reptile?” Kirby asked.

“You know they are reptiles.” Marcy nodded her approval. “That’s good. Some people think they’re amphibians.”

“Who thinks that?” Kirby arched his eyebrows in confusion.

“Too many people,” Marcy replied wearily.

“Hey, Marce, sorry to interrupt, but I think we’re heading out now if you wanted to join us,” Gemma said.

“Oh, cool,” Marcy said. “I guess we’re heading out then.”

“Okay,” Kirby said, but when Marcy started to walk away, he stopped her. “Um, did you want to exchange numbers, then? So we could watch the Finding Bigfoot marathon together?”

“Yeah, yeah.” Marcy smiled and pulled out her phone. “That’d be great.” They exchanged numbers, with Kirby fumbling a bit as he tried to type it into his phone.

“Wow. I’m impressed,” Gemma said as they walked away.

“Why?” Marcy asked.

“You got his number and made a date.”

“What can I say? I’ve got mad game,” Marcy said.

TWELVE

Musings

Brian dropped a pancake onto Harper’s plate, and she mumbled an offhanded thanks. While she appreciated his making her breakfast, her attention was focused on Thalia’s journal.