Title Page

Copyright Notice

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Contents

CONTENTS

Title Page

Copyright Notice

1. Aftermath

2. Metamorphoses

3. Revelations

4. Withdrawals

5. Searching

6. Sisters

7. Assiduous

8. Ungrateful

9. Funeral

10. Sirensong

11. Runaway

12. Compulsion

13. Sanitize

14. Cravings

15. Superstitious

16. Wanderlust

17. Repercussions

18. Lost

19. Warning

20. Complications

21. New Hope

22. Reunion

23. Admissions

24. Today

25. Dinner

26. Restraint

27. Logic

28. Fireworks

29. Instincts

30. Lyrical

31. Defiance

32. Immune

33. Iniquity

34. Tomorrow

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Also by Amanda Hocking

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Copyright

1. Aftermath

ONE

Aftermath

Harper woke up when the sun was just beginning to set, and squinted at the dim orange light streaming in through her curtains. For one moment—one brief, glorious moment—she’d forgotten about the night before, the night when her little sister had been attacked before turning into some kind of mermaid and disappearing in the ocean.

Then it all came back to her. Her head throbbed at the memory, and she squeezed her eyes shut.

After Gemma had swum away, leaving Harper alone on the dock at Bernie’s Island, Daniel had checked on Alex to make sure that he was all right. When they’d arrived at the cabin, Alex had been lying unconscious on the floor. Harper hadn’t seen what had happened, but it wasn’t hard for her to imagine.

A horrible bird-creature stood over him. Its mouth was filled with razor-sharp teeth, and massive black wings stretched out behind it. Then it had shifted, changing form into a different kind of monster—the beautiful Penn.

It was almost impossible for Harper to wrap her mind around. When Alex had come to, he’d been certain the things he remembered were a bizarre dream brought on by head trauma. But Harper and Daniel had been forced to tell him that it was all true. The monsters were real, and Gemma was gone.

Then, after all of that, Harper knew she had to go home and attempt to explain to her father what had happened, even though she didn’t understand it herself. Not that she could tell him the truth—there was no way any sane person would believe it unless he had witnessed it for himself.

So Harper told Brian that Gemma had run off with Penn and her friends. It was something close to the truth, but even that was still hard for him to comprehend. Harper stayed up all morning convincing her father that Gemma wasn’t coming home, and that was one of the hardest things she’d ever had to do.

But she knew things were only going to get harder. Harper didn’t even know what Penn and the other girls were, let alone how to stop them or how to get Gemma back.