“That’s so obnoxious,” Penn said as the display finally finished and the crowd on the beach erupted in applause. “Humans are so stupid.”

“They are,” Lexi agreed, and took her spot on the other side of Penn.

“So what was going on here?” Penn motioned to the blood all over the dock. “Whose is that?”

“That’s Sawyer’s,” Lexi said, then she made a pouty face. “He was going to leave us, so I killed him.”

“Lexi.” Penn sounded genuinely irritated, then shook her head. “Fine. Whatever. Great. I’m sick of all of this.”

“If you just let me go, you can be rid of all of this,” Gemma said.

“I can’t let you go,” Penn snapped. “Why won’t you get that through your thick skull? If you want to be free of this curse, I’ll be more than happy to set you free, but I’ll have to kill you. Is that what you want? Do you want to die?”

“Penn,” Thea said, gently interjecting. “It was so hard to find a replacement for Aggie. It’ll be just as hard to replace Gemma. Don’t do anything hasty.”

“I’m not being hasty!” Penn shouted.

“Wait,” Gemma said. “You guys were wrong.”

“Seriously?” Penn raised an eyebrow. “This is how you plan to plead for your life? Telling me I’m the one that’s wrong?”

“No, I’m saying that you were wrong about something, so you might be wrong about other things,” Gemma said. “There might be a way to break the curse.”

“Do you know what that is?” Thea asked.

“No, but…” She took a deep breath. “Alex loves me.”

“Boys lie, you’re an idiot, blah blah blah,” Penn said, waving her hand.

“No, he’s really in love with me! Ask him!” Gemma motioned to Alex, and he took out his earplugs. “Alex, tell them how you feel about me.”

“That I love you?” Alex asked, confused.

Penn rolled her eyes. “Oh, my god. Just for that, I’m going to kill you both. I was only going to kill you, Gemma, but because you wasted my time, I’m taking him out, too.”

“No, Penn, wait!” Thea held up her hand to silence Penn.

“What now?” Penn groaned.

“Alex,” Thea said, and walked over to him.

“Don’t hurt him,” Gemma said, making her voice as firm as she could.

“I’m not going to hurt him,” Thea told Gemma, but her eyes were on him. She stared at him directly in his eyes, then sang, “Alex, tell me the truth. Do you love her?”

His pupils dilated and mouth slacked, and for a second Alex didn’t say anything. Gemma waited with bated breath until finally he spoke.

“Yes,” he said, his voice sounding dreamy. “I’m in love with Gemma.”

“That doesn’t prove anything,” Lexi said.

“Yes, it does!” Gemma insisted. “He loves me, and you said that wasn’t possible.”