“I really don’t want to deal with them again,” Penn said, and turned back to Lexi and Thea. “Let’s get out of here.”

“Gladly,” Lexi said, and dove into the water.

“Wait,” Gemma said, stopping Penn before she followed Lexi. “What do you want me to do?”

“Go home, play house with your little friends,” Penn said. “I’ll find somewhere to live, and when I want you, I’ll come get you.”

Before Harper and Daniel reached them on the dock, Penn and Thea dove into the water, disappearing in the waves. They swam out as far and as fast as they could, and Gemma knew they had to be careful to avoid being spotted by people who were in all the boats in the bay.

“So we’re just gonna stay here and let Gemma do what she wants?” Lexi asked Penn, once they’d gotten far enough away from the docks that they could speak. Thea was swimming on ahead of them, but Lexi had slowed to talk to Penn.

“No, of course not,” Penn said. “We find a replacement first, then we kill her. And we need to find out what the hell is going on with the boys in this town. There’s something strange about this place, and I want to find out what it is, so I can rub it in Demeter’s face.”

34. Tomorrow

THIRTY-FOUR

Tomorrow

Gemma knew what she had to do. After everything that had happened tonight, she had no other option. While Gemma had told Harper what she planned to do, she couldn’t tell if Harper approved or not. In the end, it didn’t matter. Gemma had made up her mind.

Once the sirens had gone, Gemma had explained to Harper why the sirens had spared her and let her stay in Capri. That had actually been relatively easy compared to explaining to Brian what she’d been up to when they got back home. She lied and told her dad that she’d just snuck out to watch the fireworks with Alex, but that still left him pretty pissed off.

Brian stayed up really late that night, maybe because he was so angry, but the second Gemma was certain he was asleep, she snuck outside. She’d made sure to tell Harper what she was doing before she left, so Harper wouldn’t freak out when she saw Gemma’s bedroom empty.

As she crept across the yard and climbed up the trellis to Alex’s window, Gemma could almost feel Harper watching her from her bedroom window. That was the condition. Harper would let Gemma sneak out to talk to Alex without telling their dad as long as Harper could see her the entire time.

Crouching on the roof outside his darkened bedroom window, Gemma knocked sharply on the glass. After the night they’d had, he was probably sound asleep, and she wanted to be sure she woke him.