Tidal (27 page)

Thea nodded. “She had it in a box buried at the bottom of the river. Normally we hide it in the ocean, but Penn thought a river named after our father was a sign.”

“Doesn’t that seem dangerous?” Gemma looked up at her. “Someone could find it.”

“Nobody has gone looking for it so far,” Thea said. “Until you, of course.”

Thea was called back out onstage a few seconds later, and Gemma was happy for it. She didn’t know how well she’d be able to lie to Thea, but Gemma had no intention of making nice and trying to play siren.

But she couldn’t exactly tell Thea what she was up to. Thea had already told her she wouldn’t let her have the scroll, so from here on out Gemma was on her own. She couldn’t let Thea know her plans.

Practice went on fairly well, with Gemma remembering all her lines properly. She didn’t have as much stage time as Thea or Aiden or even Kirby, and she found herself backstage watching them.

Toward the end of the night, she heard the back door slam. Daniel had been coming and going throughout most of the rehearsal, apparently working on sets outside so he wouldn’t interrupt them. But every time he came in or out, he’d been careful to close the door quietly.

At the very back of the stage were steps that led down to a narrow hallway. One end went right to the back door, and the other led down to the basement and the dressing rooms.

Gemma left her post at the curtains to peer down the steps to see if Daniel needed help, since it was unlike him to be loud or disruptive.

She’d expected to find him struggling with a large piece of the set or something, but he was only talking to Penn. He leaned away from her, with one of his hands reaching for the door.

Her fingers were knotted in the sleeve of his shirt, and her nails had shifted into black talons that tore through the fabric. Her black eyes were locked on his, and she refused to let go of him.

They were having some kind of hushed discussion, but Gemma couldn’t make out the words. Daniel’s jaw was set firmly, and his eyes were stormy as he glared at Penn.

Daniel leaned down low and whispered something to her. Gemma wished she could hear it, because whatever it was he said, it seemed to make both of them angrier.

“Don’t play games with me, Daniel,” Penn hissed, finally loud enough for Gemma to hear.

“I think you know me well enough to know that I don’t play games,” Daniel said. Then he glanced up and spotted Gemma eavesdropping. “Gemma.”

Penn turned to look up at her, and her expression instantly changed from frustration to her usual sultry smile. She released Daniel’s sleeve, and he moved away from her.

“Sorry, I heard a noise, and I wanted to see if everything was okay,” Gemma said quickly.

“Everything’s fine,” Daniel said. “Penn was just checking to see if rehearsal was over, but since it’s not, she’ll wait out in the car.” He gave Penn a hard look, then attempted a smile at Gemma. “You know how Penn hates to be disruptive.”

“That I do.” Penn smiled at Gemma, then winked at Daniel. “See you around.” As she left through the back door, she purposely slammed it behind her.

“Sorry.” Daniel offered a remorseful smile. “I didn’t mean to interrupt rehearsal.”

“No, it’s fine.” Gemma walked down the steps. She stopped when she was two steps up from the bottom, so she was at eye level with him. “It’s almost over anyway.”

“Good.” He moved toward the door. “I should get going now.”

“What was all that about? With Penn?” Gemma asked, stopping him before he left.

He rubbed the back of his neck and gave a hollow laugh. “You know Penn. She’s always…”

“No, Daniel, something’s going on,” Gemma insisted. He seemed reluctant to answer, so she pressed, “We agreed to tell each other everything. Remember?”

“No, actually, the deal was that
you
tell
me
everything,” he reminded her, and his hazel eyes were grave when they met hers.

“Yeah, so that you can help me keep Harper safe,” Gemma said. “And so you can have my back. It goes both ways, though. I can help you.”

Daniel smiled bitterly. “Not this time, kid.” He leaned back against the wall. “If you really want to help me, you just need to find that scroll and destroy it. That’s the only way we’re all getting out of this okay.”

“I’m doing everything I can,” Gemma said. “Lydia’s looking for someone that will know how to destroy it, so once the scroll is in my hands, this is over.”

“Good.” Daniel rubbed his eyes and fell silent. “Do you want me to walk you home after rehearsal?”

“No, I think I can handle it. You just go home and get some rest,” Gemma said. “You look like you need it.”

“Can do.” He gave her a half wave as he headed out the back door. “Stay safe, Gemma.”

She’d been meaning to tell Daniel about her plans to go up against the sirens after Harper left for college, but after seeing him tonight, she knew she couldn’t. He was already going through enough for them.

TWENTY-NINE

Photographs

“So, how are we gonna celebrate?” Marcy asked, hopping on the desk next to the computer where Harper was working.

“Celebrate?” Harper asked, looking away from the monitor to Marcy.

“Yeah. This is your last day of work,” Marcy reminded her. “We have to do something to celebrate.”

“It’s a Tuesday night, Dad’s making supper, and Gemma’s skipping play rehearsal tonight so we can have a family dinner,” Harper said. “Does that count as celebrating?”

“Hardly.” Marcy scoffed. “We have to go out and get buck-wild. Rock our socks off. Paint the town red. That kinda thing.”

“I don’t really feel like painting the town any color.” Harper pushed the keyboard away and leaned back in her seat. “I have all my packing left to do.”

“When do you officially leave?” Marcy asked.

“Classes start Thursday, so I have to leave by tomorrow so I can get slightly acquainted with the campus before getting thrown into things.”

“I thought you already were acquainted,” Marcy said. “Or that’s what you hyped up when we made the road trip to Sundham.”

“Not acquainted enough.” Harper shook her head. “From what I understand, most of the other students were arriving over the weekend or yesterday. They have an orientation going on.”

Marcy scooted back farther on the desk and folded her legs underneath her. “Do you have your classes all picked out?”

“Yep. I registered online. Everything on the college end is all ready. It’s just everything here that feels so messed up.”

“How are things with Gemma?” Marcy asked cautiously.

Harper swiveled the chair back and forth and groaned.

“I don’t know.” Harper shook her head. “She got into some kind of fight with Alex on Sunday night. She won’t really talk about it, and what little I do know I got from Dad.”

“That at least sounds like something normal and adolescent,” Marcy said. “That’s gotta be a good thing.”

“I guess.” She stopped swiveling in her chair to face Marcy. “I had the weirdest conversation with Thea the other day. She basically said she’s looking out for Gemma and wants her to stay a siren.”

“Yeah?” Marcy shrugged. “Didn’t you already know that?”

“Kind of. But she said a few things that made me think.” Harper chewed the inside of her cheek. “Do you think it would be better if Gemma stayed a siren?”

“Better in what way?” Marcy asked.

“If the only two options are death or siren, maybe she should pick siren.” Harper stared up at her. “Right?”

“Right,” Marcy agreed.

“But she hasn’t found the scroll yet.” Harper leaned forward on the desk so her elbows were on it. She rested her head on her hands and peered up at Marcy. “So I shouldn’t go, right?”

“What are you talking about?” Marcy asked.

“With everything going on with Gemma, I should be here supporting her.”

“She’s here now and you still go to work,” Marcy said. “You can’t sit holding her hand every minute. If you go to college, you can still be home every night if you want. It’s not that far away. You’re really making this out to be a bigger deal than it is.”

“I just … I want to make sure I’m doing what’s best for everyone.” Harper scowled. “And I feel like the worst sister ever.”

“Or the most obsessive.”

“Probably both. Obsessive
and
terrible.”

“You don’t need to be so dreary,” Marcy said. “Me and Daniel and even
Thea
have Gemma’s back. How many people do you really need babysitting your sister?”

“I know.” Harper sighed. “I just wish we were closer to figuring this all out.”

“Well, I’ve been talking to Lydia.”

Harper dropped her arm and sat up straighter. “Does she know anything more?”

“Not really. I asked if she could keep an eye out for Demeter or Achelous or really any Greek-type figure. She said she would, but she doesn’t know where to find them. Her specialty is shifters, which is why she’s so intrigued by the sirens. She had no idea they could shift.”

“‘
Shift’?
” Harper repeated.

“Yeah, like shapeshifters.” Marcy wiggled her body, like she was attempting to change form or having a mild seizure, and then she stopped. “Like how a siren transforms from pretty girl to mermaid to bird thing. They’d be called transformers if the robots hadn’t already stolen the title. Stupid Optimus Prime, always ruining everything for everybody.”

“So we’re basically at a dead end now?” Harper asked, slumping forward again.

“Not completely. Lydia said that she heard some things about the muses, but she thinks they’re all dead now.”

“You think the muses literally being dead is not a dead end?” Harper asked, raising a skeptical eyebrow.

“Lydia knows people who knew them. So at least there’s some kind of six-degrees-of-Kevin-Bacon connection,” Marcy insisted.

“That would be more helpful if we were playing a trivia game instead of trying to find a way to break a curse.”

“Okay, we’re like Hansel and Gretel right now.” Marcy turned to face her, getting more excitable as she told her story. “But instead of being abandoned in the woods and getting fat on gingerbread houses, we’re following a trail of fragmented clues. And these clues will lead us to a muse or Demeter or somebody who can actually fix this shit, and that’s way better than going back home with Hansel and Gretel’s lame parents.”

“You really suck at analogies,” Harper said.

“Nah-ah,” Marcy disagreed. “You suck at getting the point I’m trying to make.”

“No, I get it. And you’re right. I know we can do this.” She sighed. “But it feels like we’re running out of time.”

“It’s ’cause summer’s ending and you’re going to school,” Marcy said, trying to cheer Harper up. “But you’ll be home all the time, I’m sure. It’ll be almost like you never left. Except that I’ll have to actually start doing my job. Which is kinda lame.”

“Yeah, it’s gonna be you and Edie all the time until they find a replacement for me. Do you think you can handle it?” Harper smiled up at her.

“Well, it helps that she takes incredibly long lunch breaks now. Do you think she’s having quickies with Gary?”

“Ew.” Harper wrinkled her nose. “And she’s been gone for an hour already. I wouldn’t exactly call that a quickie.”

“Oh, Harper, gross. Way to take it up a notch.”

“Anytime.”

“Hey, look.” Marcy pointed at the door. “It’s your handsome steed.” Harper lifted her head to see Daniel walking toward the library, an old brown box under one of his arms.

She was a little surprised to see him. Yesterday she’d called him a few times, but hadn’t heard from him, other than a text confirming that he was okay—just busy.

“Steed?” Harper asked, glancing back at Marcy. “You do realize that a ‘steed’ is a horse.”

“Really?” Marcy asked, but she didn’t sound swayed. “I thought it meant, like, knight in shining armor.”

The chime above the door jingled, and Daniel strode over to the front desk.

“No, that’s what knight in shining armor means,” Harper informed Marcy.

“You must be talking about me,” Daniel said. “Continue. Pretend I’m not here.”

“I don’t know if you noticed, but we’re working, Daniel.” Marcy did her best to sound bitchy, which was hard to do when she was so monotone. “This is Harper’s last day, and I need her to focus and finish all the work she’d ordinarily be doing over the next nine months. So we’re pretty swamped.”

“
Marcy
,” Harper chastised her, but she was laughing.

“Sorry, Marcy,” Daniel said. “I’ll only take a couple minutes. I promise.”

“Fine.” Marcy sighed dramatically and got off the desk. “I’ll just go back in the office and eat Edie’s snacktime yogurt.”

“Why are you doing that?” Harper asked.

“Because when she eats it, she gets really graphic with the spoon, and it’s gross. Do you think I like peach yogurt? No. I don’t.” Marcy shook her head emphatically as she backed toward Edie’s office. “But I eat it for all the patrons of this fair library. They should thank me. I am a hero.”

Harper turned her attention back to Daniel. “Anyway, what can I do for you?”

“I know that you have that dinner with your family tonight, and I don’t want to intrude on that.” He’d been holding the box so it was hidden from Harper on the other side of the counter, and now he lifted it up and set it down in front of her. “But I wanted to get this to you before you left.”

“You didn’t have to get me anything,” Harper said.

Daniel laughed and looked ashamed. “Now you’re making me feel bad, because I didn’t get you anything. I found this.”

“What is it?” Harper asked, but she was already lifting off the top to peer inside.

“I’ve been cleaning out the cabin, and I found this little secret attic compartment in the top of my closet,” Daniel explained. “There were a few mice living up there, and then this box, containing some memorabilia.”

On top were stacks of old pictures. Some of them had been chewed at the corners, probably by the mice that Daniel had mentioned, but most of them appeared to be in fairly good shape.

“I thought we’d gotten all of Bernie’s stuff out of the cabin. I was wondering why he didn’t have any pictures of his wife in his old photo albums,” Harper said as she sifted through the pictures.