But no matter how fast she went, the dark shape in the water stayed behind her. Gemma had swum out past the bay, but now she circled back, heading toward land. She didn’t glance back, but she felt it gaining on her. An electricity in the current, the subtle shifts of the approaching predator, spurred her on.

The land was too far, but a large rock jutted out of the bay. Gemma raced toward it, and she pushed herself out of the water and gripped crevices in the stone. Her torso was completely above water, but her fish tail was submerged. It would be slippery, deadweight if she tried to haul herself out, and she finally looked back before beginning the climb up the rock.

Penn surfaced from the water, laughing in a way that sounded like the cackling of a crow. “Oh, Gemma, you’re so funny when you’re scared.”

Gemma relaxed, but she still hung on to the rock. “I thought you were a shark.”

“You’re lucky I’m not,” Penn said as she floated next to her. “Or I’d be devouring you right now.”

“Why were you following me?”

“I wanted to find out how things went yesterday.” Her full lips were pressed into a blood-red thin smile. “How was your little adventure?”

Gemma looked toward the shore and pushed her wet hair out of her face. The sky above them had really started to lighten, turning purple and pink in anticipation of the sunrise.

“What are you talking about?” Gemma asked at last.

“You went somewhere yesterday, somewhere away from the water.”

“How do you know?”

“We can feel it. We know whenever anyone gets too far away,” Penn said. “You could die, and I’ll have to come up with another replacement.”

Gemma rolled her eyes. “And I know how you’d hate to replace me.”

“Where were you?” Penn asked, but it sounded more like a demand.

“I told Thea. I went to Sundham to visit Harper.”

“Sundham’s not that far inland.” Penn narrowed her eyes as her black hair pooled in the water around her. The water was at her chin, and Penn had never looked more like a sea monster.

Gemma shrugged. “Well, that’s where I was, so I don’t know what to tell you.”

“I don’t know what you’re playing at, Gemma, but it’s a very dangerous game. You don’t want to mess with me.”

“I’m not,” she insisted.

“So then tell me where you went?”

Meeting Penn’s gaze defiantly, she said, “No.”

Penn pushed herself above the waves, balancing on her tail so her entire torso was showing and she could stare imposingly down at Gemma. “I am so sick of this. I have enough going on with Liv, and this whole rebellious act of yours is getting old. You need to learn your place.”

Gemma’s fangs were itching in her mouth, and she decided not to try to contain them. She might not be strong enough to kill Penn, but there was only one way she’d know for sure. And she was sick of dealing with Penn, sick of being a siren, sick of dreading the next time she’d have to feed, so even if she couldn’t stop Penn, at least Penn would stop her.

One of them would die today. It almost didn’t even matter to Gemma anymore which one it was, as long as this was over.

Gemma smiled as she spoke, revealing her jagged fangs. “Maybe it’s time for you to learn your place.”

“You little bitch,” Penn said, smiling wider. “Bring it.”

THIRTY-FIVE

Hostile

Gemma lunged at Penn, who didn’t move or even try to block her. As she wrapped her fingers around Penn’s throat, she felt them lengthening, the bones crackling as they grew. As Gemma tightened her grip around Penn’s neck, they both plummeted underwater, falling toward the bottom of the ocean.

Penn’s lips pulled back, stretching around her fangs, and her face began to change shape. Her cheekbones grew more pronounced, her eyes receded farther back, and her charcoal hair thinned. Her face had shifted into the full monster, reflecting the same changes that were happening to Gemma’s.

Within a few seconds of their going underwater, Penn decided she’d had enough of Gemma’s talons around her throat. She bared her teeth, letting out a low, guttural laugh, and gripped Gemma’s arms.

Gemma’s arms had lengthened, stretching the skin tight around the bone, so when Penn grabbed her, digging her sharp talons through her flesh, they actually pierced the bone. Gemma cried out in pain, and Penn pushed back, sending her crashing into the stone wall of the bottom of the rock Gemma had been clinging to.

Penn’s mermaid tail had been pumping with such ferocity that when she slammed Gemma into the rock behind her, Gemma was surprised that the massive stone didn’t give way behind her. Reflexively, she let go of Penn’s neck, then, quickly, Penn pulled her back and slammed her into the rock again, cracking Gemma’s skull against the stone.

Pain shot through Gemma’s head, and for a second, she saw white. But when that cleared, Penn’s cackling face hovered in the water in front of her, her wispy black hair floating around her like a dark halo.

That evil Cheshire grin was all the motivation Gemma needed. She’d always wanted to smack that hideous smile right off Penn’s face, so she finally did.

Before Penn could slam her into the rock again, Gemma slapped her hard, letting her claws rake across her face as she did. When one of her talons pierced Penn’s eye, she cried out in pain as blood reddened the saltwater around her.