“Harper?” Daniel asked. When she started walking toward Alex at the shore of the cove, he put his hand on her arm to stop her. “Harper? Are you okay? What’s wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong.” Her brow furrowed momentarily at that, as if she realized that what she was saying wasn’t quite right, and she turned to Daniel. “Were we looking for something?”

“Yeah. Your sister.” He took both her arms and made her face him. “What the hell is going on with you?”

“She’s calling me,” Alex said to no one in particular, and then he dove into the water, swimming out of the cove.

“Alex!” Daniel yelled. “Alex! What are you doing? We have a boat!” He ran to the shoreline. Alex was furiously swimming away, and Daniel wasn’t about to jump in after him. “Alex! Just get back here in the damn boat!”

“Something’s wrong,” Harper whimpered, and Daniel turned back to see her looking as if she were about to cry.

“No shit, something’s wrong.” He went back over to her, apparently deciding that Alex was a lost cause, at least for the time being. “Do you know why Alex just took off?”

“No.” She ran her hand through her hair and looked up at him. “Gemma is missing, and I can’t…” She shook her head and covered her ears with her hands. “It’s that song, Daniel! It’s trying to make me forget about her, but I won’t!”

“The song?” Daniel certainly could still hear it, but he sounded as if he didn’t know what Harper was talking about.

“Can’t you hear it?” Harper asked, shouting because she’d plugged her ears.

“Yeah, but I’m fine,” he assured her.

“We need to go towards the song!” Harper told him. “That’s where Gemma is!”

Daniel thought about arguing with her, but something really, really bizarre was happening, and they probably didn’t have time to question things anymore. He took Harper’s hand, dragging her over to the boat so they could go after Gemma while they still had a chance.

All the while, the song floated through the air. Come now, weary traveler, I’ll lead you through the waves. Worry not, poor voyager, for my voice is the way.

26. True Form

TWENTY-SIX

True Form

“What are you doing?” Gemma asked, still struggling against her urge to join in the song with Lexi and Thea.

“What needs to be done,” Penn told her. “I’ve tried to reason with you. I’ve given you everything you wanted. And you still won’t see logic. So now I’m going to make you see.”

“I don’t understand.” Gemma glanced through the doorway where the other two sirens sang. “What do you have to make me see? Why can’t you just let me go?”