Gemma wanted to hit her, but she kept her hands at her sides. She had a feeling that Penn was a lot more dangerous than she looked, and she didn’t really want to ignite her wrath. At least not yet.

“I don’t think you know as much as you think you know.”

“Like what?” Penn laughed drily.

“You said that it wasn’t possible for guys to really love a siren,” Gemma said. “But Alex cares about me, the real me.”

Penn’s eyes flashed hard and her smile vanished.

“That just shows how young and stupid you are,” she hissed. “Alex is what, seventeen? Eighteen? He’s a teenage boy with raging hormones. You think he gives a damn about you?” She laughed darkly. “Look at you! You’re gorgeous, and that’s all that matters to him.”

“You don’t know him, and you don’t know me.” Gemma glared at her. “You picked the wrong girl. I will find a way out of this. I will undo your stupid curse, and I’ll set myself free.”

“You are so ungrateful!” Penn shook her head, tossing her long black hair around her. “A curse? This is everything you’ve ever wanted, Gemma. I saw you. The water has been calling to you your whole life.” She stepped so close she stood right in front of Gemma. “I gave you everything you wanted. You should be thanking me.”

“I didn’t ask for this!” Gemma shot back. “And I don’t want it!”

“Too frickin’ bad.” Penn turned away from her, walking back toward the boulder. “You can’t undo it! You drank the potion, and now you’re a siren until the day you die.”

“Potion?” Gemma shook her head. “What potion? What was that?”

“The blood of a siren, the blood of a mortal, and the blood of the ocean,” Penn recited.

“The blood of the ocean?”

“It’s just water. Demeter always had a flare for the dramatics, especially when it came to composing the rules of the curse.”

“So what is the blood of a mortal?” Gemma asked. “Is that like tears?”

“No, that’s blood.” Penn looked at her like she was a moron. “It was Aglaope’s blood and human blood.”

“I drank blood?” Gemma’s stomach clenched, and she put her hand on her belly. “You tricked me into drinking blood? What kind of freaky monster are you?”

“It’s called a siren, remember?” Penn rolled her eyes. “You are so much dumber than I thought. Maybe I made a mistake with you. Maybe you’re right, and I should let you just go ahead and die.”

“Who’s blood?” Gemma asked, doing her best not to gag.

“Aglaope’s. I already told you that.”

“No, the human blood.”

“Oh, does it even matter?” Penn shrugged. “It was some human.”

“How did you get it?” Gemma asked.