“You don’t,” Penn admitted with a shrug of her shoulders. “But who else are you going to believe? Who else knows anything about being a siren?”

Gemma realized bitterly that Penn was right. For better or worse, she’d been put in a situation where she didn’t have a lot of options. This hadn’t been her choice. This wasn’t what she wanted. But she had to make the best of it. She could still do the right thing, even if Penn had backed her into a corner.

A commotion in the nearby cypress trees distracted both of them. Urgent voices echoed through the bay, along with the static sound of a radio. It was far enough away that Gemma couldn’t see a lot, but she could see movement and blue uniforms, like those of the police.

“What’s going on?” Thea called, drawn closer to the shore by the noise in the woods.

“Are those the police?” Lexi asked, floating next to Thea.

“We should go,” Penn snapped and walked toward the ocean. “You should come with us, Gemma.”

“Um…” Gemma pulled her eyes away from what was happening in the woods and looked back to where Penn had stopped at the edge of the water. “No. At least, not yet.”

Penn pursed her lips. “Suit yourself. But we’ll only be here a few more days. Then we’re gone.”

“Come on, Penn,” Thea called to her, swimming away from the shore. “We need to get out of here.”

“’Bye, Gemma!” Lexi waved to her.

“’Bye.” Gemma waved back, but Lexi had already ducked under the water.

Gemma watched as Penn waded out into the water. She stopped when it was just about to her waist, and Gemma could see her tan skin changing to iridescent scales glittering up over her hips.

“For what it’s worth, I was telling the truth,” Penn said, then she dove in the water and swam off.

Gemma stayed on the shore for a little longer, watching the waves, but the sirens didn’t surface again. The watersong nearly drowned out the sound of the men in the woods, but she didn’t really want to hear them anyway.

Eventually she pulled herself away from the bay and walked back to her house. She still wasn’t sure exactly what she should do. Die or join them. Neither option sounded acceptable.

Just as she made it to her house, a police car pulled up in front. Her heart pounded, and she stared wide-eyed as a police officer got out and opened the back door of the car. Harper and Alex got out of the backseat, and that completely dumbfounded her.

Harper had her arm around Alex, and his face was stark white.

“What happened?” Gemma asked, rushing over to them.

“We found Luke,” Harper said quietly.