“Um…” Gemma thought for a second. “I’ll tell Thea I’m gonna go visit Harper in Sundham. That way, if they see that I’m gone or something, it will seem less suspicious.”

“Is it safe for you to go? With the watersong and the sirens, maybe you should stay behind,” Brian said with a mixture of vulnerability and worry in his expression that tore at Gemma’s heart.

Her dad wanted to tell her not to go, to forbid her, but to do that would only make things worse. As dangerous as he might fear this would be, he understood that this might be Gemma’s last hope at breaking free.

“Dad, I have to go.” She smiled at him and shrugged helplessly. “Diana might be the one who can break the curse. I have to be there.”

“I should come with you,” he said firmly.

“No, you don’t need to. I’ll have Harper, and Lydia is an expert at these things,” Gemma assured him.

“I’ll also be there,” Marcy added.

“See? I’ll be totally fine,” Gemma said, but Brian didn’t look completely convinced.

Truth was, she wasn’t completely convinced either. She really had no idea for sure who Diana was or what they’d be walking into. Gemma was willing to try just about anything by now, but she didn’t want to get her dad more mixed up in all this mess than he absolutely needed to be.

“There’s a flight leaving from Salisbury airport at 6:52,” Harper said. “That’s in … just over two hours, and the airport is a half hour away. We can make it, but only if we hurry.” Without waiting to see if anyone agreed with it, she got up and grabbed the house phone off the cradle. “I’ll call and see if I can get tickets. Dad, let me have your credit card.”

“What?” Brian asked, startled by her abruptness.

“Sorry, Dad.” Harper smiled sheepishly at him and held out her hand. “I’ll pay you back, but any money I have right now is in my savings account, and we kinda need these tickets now.”

“No, don’t worry about it. You do what you need to do.”

While Harper dialed the number for the airport, Brian left to get his wallet.

“I should go get dressed,” Gemma said. “Do I need to bring anything?”

“The scroll, probably,” Marcy suggested, looking down at herself. “I’ll run home and change, ’cause I can’t exactly meet a deity in my PJs, and I’ll be back in like twenty minutes to pick you guys up. I’ll text Lydia and have her meet us at the airport, since that’ll be quicker than going up to Sundham to get her.”

“Sounds good,” Gemma said, just as her dad returned with the credit card for Harper.

“All right. See you all later.” Marcy pushed open the screen door, then looked at Brian and winked. “Nice undies, Mr. Fisher.”

THIRTY

Inland

The farther they got from the ocean, the more intense Gemma’s headache became. Harper sat in the window seat, flipping through the book on Roman mythology Gemma had brought, because Gemma’s head hurt too much to concentrate. She’d had to read the same sentence over and over, and she still didn’t even really understand what it was about.

The morning sun only made her migraine worse, so Gemma reached over and closed the shade.

“Your head’s really bothering you?” Harper asked quietly.

“Not too bad,” Gemma lied, and forced a smile.

And then, as if to somehow prove she wasn’t in agonizing pain or maybe to distract herself, she decided to make conversation. Marcy and Lydia were sitting across the aisle of the plane from her, so she looked over at them.

For most of the flight, none of them had spoken much. Harper was reading the book, Gemma was trying futilely to sleep, Lydia had some of Audra’s notes laid out on the tray and was going through them, and Marcy was typing feverishly on her phone.

“Are you texting someone?” Gemma asked.

“No, I’m using Twitter.”

“You paid, like, twenty dollars for in-flight Internet so you could tweet?” Gemma asked, and for a second, she was too stunned to notice that it felt like a swarm of mosquitoes was trapped inside her brain.

“Wait.” Harper looked up from her book. “You have Twitter?”

Marcy shook her head. “There’s so much you don’t know about me.”

“What’s so important that you have to tweet en route to Charleston?” Gemma asked.

“I’m just talking to Kirby,” Marcy replied noncommittally.

“Kirby Logan?” Harper closed the book and leaned forward in her seat, so it was easier for her to see Marcy. “Are you guys like dating now?”

“What are you doing?” Marcy looked over at them, narrowing her eyes behind her glasses. “Why are you interrogating me about my love life? I never do that to you.”

Harper scoffed. “You ask me about my love life all the time!”

“Yeah, but I just do that to be polite,” Marcy said. “I don’t actually care.”

“That makes it so much better.” Harper rolled her eyes.

“Doesn’t it?” Marcy asked.

“Have you ever had a boyfriend, Marcy?” Gemma asked, since keeping this conversation going really did seem to take her mind off the pain. At least a little bit. “I’ve never heard you even talk about going on dates.”

“Ladies don’t kiss and tell.” Marcy turned her attention back to her phone. “And I’m a lady in the streets and a freak with the beats.”