Tidal (23 page)

When she’d talked to Daniel the night before, he said he’d be working at the theater on the sets, so she decided to go downtown to see him. Maybe they could grab lunch together, but even if they didn’t, it would be nice to see him after the morning she’d had.

But as she approached the Paramount and heard Penn’s unmistakable laugh, she realized dourly that her day was only going to get worse.

“I told you it’s not that hard,” Daniel was saying as Harper rounded the corner.

His back was to her, his bare skin glistening with sweat, and Penn stood next to him. They were both leaning over a piece of wood, but Penn was leaning much too close to him for Harper’s comfort.

“I’ve never worked a day in my life.” Penn laughed again. “How was I supposed to know?”

“It’s just holding a board,” Daniel said. “Anyone can handle it. Even a pampered princess like you.”

“You think I’m a princess?” Penn teased.

“Working hard, I see,” Harper said loudly, interrupting their conversation.

Penn glared back at her, her dark eyes looking even more menacing than normal. Daniel turned around more slowly, but he broke out in a broad grin when he saw her.

“Hey, Harper,” he said. “I didn’t expect to see you today. I thought you were visiting your mom.”

“I was.” She folded her arms over her chest. “And I thought I would stop by and say hello, but I can see you’re busy, so I’ll go.”

“Good, ’bye!” Penn said happily and waved to her.

“She’s not going anywhere.” Daniel shot Penn a look, then walked to where Harper stood at the edge of the lawn. “What’s going on? Are you mad at me?”

“Why would I be mad at you?” Harper asked. “Just because I had one of the worst days of my entire life and you’re flirting with my mortal enemy? And she is literally a monster that wants to kill you and me and everyone we know, and you’re just chatting with her like old friends?”

Daniel shook his head. “That’s not at all what’s happening here, and you know it. You’re too smart to be jealous over something like this.”

“I’m not jealous,” Harper scoffed, and Penn snickered from where she stood by the sawhorses. “I’d feel about the same right now if I saw you helping Hitler redecorate. She is pure evil, and you shouldn’t be nice to her or hang out with her.”

“I hope you’d be a little more freaked out if I was helping Hitler, because he’d be a zombie,” Daniel said.

“Just never mind.” Harper turned and walked away from him.

“Harper, wait.” Daniel went after her, but she didn’t stop until she thought they were too far away for Penn to eavesdrop. Even then she only stopped because he took her arm. “Harper.”

“I told you to stay away from her,” Harper said. “And I did it for your own good. She’s going to kill you if you spend too much time with her. And you know it. Is it so wrong that I don’t want to see you end up dead?”

“No, but is it so wrong that I want to keep her happy so she doesn’t hurt you or Gemma?” Daniel asked. “Because that’s all I’m trying to do. I’m just keeping the peace, Harper.”

“I know, but…” Harper pushed back her hair. “Maybe it was a bad idea getting involved with you.”

“No.” Daniel shook his head. “I absolutely refuse to do this. Not today. Not ever. You can’t just go into that mode again.”

“What mode?” Harper asked.

“The one where you say you can’t see me to protect me or some crap like that.” He waved it off. “We discussed it before, remember? You don’t have the right to tell me what I choose to do.”

“What am I supposed to do?” Harper asked. “I’m supposed to let you flirt with the devil?”

“I’m not flirting,” Daniel corrected her. “And yes, you’re supposed to let me do what I need to do to keep
us all
safe. And I let you do the same.”

“I don’t know if I can do that, Daniel,” Harper admitted.

“Look, it’s really hot out,” Daniel said. “Why don’t you go to Pearl’s, get yourself something to drink, and cool off? I’ll be down in a little bit, and you can tell me about your awful morning.”

“What about Penn?” Harper asked.

“What about her?” Daniel asked. “We’re out in broad daylight. She’s not going to eat my heart today.”

“Okay,” Harper relented. “I’ll meet you at Pearl’s in a few minutes.”

“Fifteen minutes, tops.” Daniel was already backing away. “I just have to put my tools away.”

Sighing, she took his advice and walked the few blocks down to Pearl’s. Part of her wanted to go back and help Daniel clean up his tools, but that was just to be sure that Penn left him alone.

Harper hadn’t really thought Penn would hurt Daniel, not in the middle of the afternoon in public, nor did she think that Daniel had any attraction to Penn.

He was right, and in the long term it would be good to stay in Penn’s good graces. But Harper just couldn’t believe that any good could come from being friends with Penn.

As soon as she pushed the door open to Pearl’s, the air-conditioning sent a refreshing chill over her, and she already felt a bit better. The idea to take a walk in the suffocating heat had been a bad one, but the cooler temperature of the diner was well on its way to correcting her mistake.

Harper pulled up a stool at the counter, sat on the cracked vinyl, and ordered a glass of ice water. When Daniel came in, she’d probably order something more, but for now, rehydrating and cooling off were her main priorities.

“You should take a swim,” a husky voice said from beside her.

With her glass of ice water pressed to her cheek, Harper hadn’t been paying attention to who was coming or going in the diner. She lowered the glass and glanced over to see Thea climbing up on the stool next to her.

“I don’t like swimming,” Harper replied. She sat up straighter and stirred her water with the straw.

“You really are the exact opposite of your sister.” Thea set her purse on the counter. She rummaged through it for a second before taking out a hair tie. As she spoke, she leaned back and pulled her long red hair up into a ponytail. “The two of you are night and day.”

“What about you?” Harper gave her a sidelong glance. “How much are you and your sister alike?”

“What can I get for you today?” Pearl asked Thea, interrupting their conversation.

“Just a cherry malt.” Thea smiled sweetly at her.

Pearl smiled back at her, but seemed to flounder for a minute, like a starstruck teenager meeting her idol. Even without using her song, Thea still had the power to captivate men and women alike.

“The bonds between sisters are very complex things,” Thea said once Pearl had left to fill her order. She rested her arms on the faded counter and looked over at Harper. “You must understand that better than anyone.”

“I suppose I do,” Harper agreed.

“You and I really have a lot in common,” Thea went on. “Like you, I’m the oldest.”

“Penn is younger than you?” Harper asked, glancing over at her.

“Yeah,” Thea said. Pearl brought her the malt, and Thea politely thanked her. She took a long sip before speaking to Harper again. “Most people think that Penn is older. It’s a common misconception.”

“She’s pretty bossy,” Harper said.

“That’s my fault.” Thea smiled sadly. “Our mothers weren’t around when we were children, leaving me to essentially raise Penn and Aggie. Penn was the youngest, and I overindulged her.”

“I can understand that.” Harper propped her chin up on her hand and watched Thea. “But that was a very long time ago. If Penn turned out to be a spoiled brat, why haven’t you corrected it?”

“If you really stand up to Penn and tell her no…” Thea trailed off. “Well, let’s just say you don’t get a chance to ever tell her no again.”

“Lovely,” Harper muttered. “And I’m sure that Gemma is already in the habit of telling her no.”

“Don’t worry about Gemma,” Thea said. “She’s your sister, but she’s my sister now, too.”

Harper looked at her dubiously. “You’re saying you’re protecting her?”

“Something like that.” Thea took another long drink of her malt. “Gemma reminds me a bit of Persephone.”

“The girl that you let get murdered before?” Harper asked.

“There’s one good thing about making mistakes.” Thea turned to her with a smile. “You learn not to make them again.”

“Why are you telling me this?” Harper asked. “What are you hoping to gain?”

“I like Gemma, and I’d like her to stay with us for a very long time,” Thea said. “Lexi is annoying, and Penn is … well, Penn is Penn. I want someone on my side for a change.”

“And you think that’s Gemma?” Harper asked.

“I think she could be, yes,” Thea said. “And I think the biggest thing holding her back from really committing, from really joining us, is you.”

Harper shook her head. “The biggest reason she doesn’t want to join you is because you’re evil and Penn is a monster.
You
are a monster.”

“If Gemma really commits to us and really tries, I can assure you that I’ll do everything in my power to keep her safe and alive and happy,” Thea said. “But if she keeps going against Penn and keeps trying to break away, I can’t protect her.”

Harper swallowed hard. “I can’t make this choice for her.”

“Maybe not, but you can let her go.” Thea pulled a few dollars out of her purse and left them on the counter. “I’ll see you around.”

“Yeah, I’m sure you will,” Harper said as Thea slid off the stool.

Once Thea was gone, Harper rested her head in her hands. For the first time, she wondered if it might really be in Gemma’s best interest to remain a siren. It was a very high price to pay, but if she was alive and happy, that had to be a better choice than being dead.

TWENTY-FIVE

Pursuit

Visiting their mom the day before had completely drained their dad. In truth, it had drained all of them, but it hit Brian the worst.

The rest of the day he was out in the garage supposedly working on a project. But when Harper sent Gemma out to get him for supper, he’d just been leaning against his workbench, drinking a beer and staring off into space.

To make matters worse, the air-conditioning broke on the hottest day of the year. They only had a window unit, in the living room, so the upstairs never cooled off anyway. The air conditioner did a fairly good job on the main level, since the house was so small.

Instead of going out and buying a new AC, Brian insisted that he was going to fix their old one. He took it out to the garage, where he’d spent all Sunday morning tinkering with it, but so far there had been no results.

While Harper was out in the garage trying to convince their dad to drink water instead of beer so he didn’t get dehydrated, Gemma put her plan into motion. She’d already texted Marcy and made sure it was a go. Now all she had to do was keep Harper preoccupied.

“Hello?” Daniel answered his cell phone on the third ring.

“Hey, Daniel, what are you doing?” Gemma asked in a hushed voice. She stood in her bedroom doorway, watching the stairs and listening closely for the front door.

“Why are you whispering?” Daniel instantly sounded tense. “Is something wrong?”

“No, I just don’t want Harper to hear me,” Gemma said. “Listen, can you do me a favor?”

He hesitated before saying, “Possibly.”

“I need you to keep Harper busy today.”

“What for? What are you doing?” Daniel asked.

“I’m going with Marcy out to Sundham to visit her friend at the bookstore,” Gemma explained. “We’re going to see if we can figure out where the scroll might be or see if we can find Demeter or the muses or something.”

“And why don’t you want Harper to know about this?” Daniel asked.

“I don’t want her to know about anything anymore,” Gemma said. “I’m trying not to tell her anything about the sirens at all.”

“So you want me to get Harper to come over so you can sneak off with Marcy?” Daniel asked. “Won’t Marcy tell her what’s up?”

“No, I already swore Marcy to secrecy. She likes sneaking around anyway.”

Daniel sighed. “All right. I’ll do it. But this isn’t dangerous or anything, right? You’re not going to get hurt or anything?”

“Nope. I’m just going to a bookstore,” Gemma replied. “How dangerous could that be?”

After she got off the phone with Daniel, it only took a few minutes for Harper to come in the house and say she was going out to Daniel’s. She invited Gemma to join, tempting her with promises of air-conditioning, but Gemma managed to decline without raising suspicion.

With Harper gone, Gemma just told her dad that she was going out to swim for a while, and he told her to stay cool and be safe. She texted Marcy, who came to pick her up in the Gremlin, and they were off to Sundham.

“This really isn’t that long of a trip,” Marcy said as they parked in front of the bookstore. “I don’t know what your sister is so worried about.”

“Well, you know Harper,” Gemma said as she opened the car door. “If she’s not worrying about something, then she’s not alive.”

Marcy led the way into the bookstore, entering underneath the perpetually creaking sign that said
CHERRY LANE BOOKS.
The last time Gemma had been here, they’d found Lydia back in a dark, hidden corner of the store, but today she was waiting right inside for them.

“Hey, guys,” Lydia chirped. She sat on the front counter next to an antique cash register. A glittery deck of cards was in her hand, with a few cards laid out beside her.

Sitting perched at the edge like that, wearing tangerine tights with a flowered jumper, Lydia reminded Gemma even more of a pixie. She was so petite and cheery, and pink clips held her short black hair out of her face.

“Hey, Lydia,” Marcy said as they walked over to the counter.

“Thanks again for letting us come in,” Gemma said. “I know you’re usually closed on Sundays.”

“It’s no problem at all.” Lydia waved it off and winked at Gemma. “I make exceptions for supernatural beings. I can’t expect them to live on normal mortal time, can I?”

“I really appreciate it anyway,” Gemma said.

“Sorry. I was just doing a quick tarot reading.” Lydia peered down at the cards next to her for a minute, tilting her head this way and that before shaking her head and scooping up the cards. “This week looks like it’s going to be busy.”