“Then why isn’t he here?” Sawyer asked. “I don’t think I could stand to be away from you if I was your boyfriend.”

“He, um…” Gemma licked her lips and looked down at the beach below her. “He had to stay back home. It’s safer for him there.”

“Oh. You mean ’cause of Penn?”

“Yeah.” She nodded once. “Because of Penn.”

“Do you love him?” Sawyer asked.

“Yeah, I love him.” Gemma laughed again, this time to keep from crying. “I love him so much.”

“Does he love you?” Sawyer asked.

Gemma thought back to the last kiss she’d shared with Alex in the cabin before she’d left with the sirens. It had felt real and true, shooting through her like electricity. Penn insisted that Alex wouldn’t be capable of loving her now that she was a siren, but Gemma knew Alex, and he couldn’t fake the way he felt about her.

“Yeah,” Gemma said finally, with tears in her eyes. “I think he does.” She sniffled. “Sorry for getting so emotional.”

“It’s okay. I probably won’t remember this conversation anyway,” Sawyer said, displaying a surprising bit of self-awareness.

Gemma wiped at her eyes and looked at him. “What do you mean?”

“I can’t seem to remember much of anything anymore.” He shook his head. “Everything’s a blur of images.”

“I’m sorry,” she said sadly. “For all of this. I’m sorry that the sirens are doing this to you. You seem like a nice guy, and you deserve better than this.”

“I don’t know. I’m not sorry. It’s kind of fun.” He smiled, but the smile seemed sad. “Four beautiful girls in my house, and I’m in love with Penn. Some things are strange and my memory isn’t so great, but it’s still … fun.”

“I hope that’s true,” Gemma said.

Sawyer let out a long breath. “Me, too.”

11. Runaway

ELEVEN

Runaway

“Where is she?” Nathalie shouted, her voice taking on a feverish pitch.

“She’s not here, Mom,” Harper said, and rubbed her forehead.

This was not at all how she imagined their weekly visit going. She’d actually considered not coming today, but her father was busy meeting with Bernie’s lawyer, Dean Stanton. Harper had even thought about hanging out with Daniel, but he was busy working on a job repairing someone’s fence.

So Harper had mistakenly thought seeing her mother at the group home would be better than spending the day alone at the house.

But things had been rough from the start. As soon as Nathalie ran out of the house to greet Harper and saw that Gemma wasn’t with her, she’d gotten agitated, demanding to know where her younger daughter was.