“I’m fine,” Gemma insisted. “Please take me home. I just want to sleep.”

Harper still wasn’t thrilled about it, but Gemma was probably right. Since Harper’d had the chance to release some of her anger, she decided to let it go. If Gemma was sick, she didn’t need Harper yelling at her. So for now Harper would just take care of her.

When they got home, Gemma went into the kitchen and got herself a glass of cold water from the tap. She proceeded to drink glass after glass, gulping it down so fast that water spilled down her chin.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Harper asked, watching her sister uncertainly.

“Yeah.” Gemma nodded and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. “I’m just really thirsty. But I’m better now.” She set the glass down in the sink and forced a smile at Harper.

“Sit down, then. You need to get cleaned up.”

Gemma pulled out a chair from the kitchen table and eased herself into it. Harper went into the bathroom and got a wet washcloth, antiseptic, and Band-Aids. When she came back, she knelt on the floor in front of Gemma, inspecting her cuts and scrapes.

None of them looked too deep, which was the only good part. When Harper washed off a gash on her thigh, Gemma winced. Harper gave her an apologetic look and dabbed more carefully at it.

“You don’t remember how you got any of these?” Harper looked up at Gemma, searching her expression for any clues about what had happened.

“No.”

“So you don’t know if the girls did this to you?” Harper asked, and Gemma shook her head. “Penn could’ve beat you up, then? And even if they didn’t, they left you to die in the bay, and you don’t even know why?”

Just thinking about it made Harper so angry, she didn’t realize how hard she was scrubbing at Gemma’s cuts.

“Harper!” Gemma grimaced and pulled back her leg.

“Sorry.” Harper stopped cleaning the cut, and when she put a bandage over it, she was much more careful. “Maybe we should call the police on those girls.”

“And tell them what? I accidentally drank too much and don’t remember what happened?” Gemma asked wearily.

“Well…” Harper shrugged. “I don’t know. I feel like I should do something.”

“You’re doing enough,” Gemma tried to reassure her. “And right now I just need to get some sleep.”

“Don’t you want to shower first?” Harper asked as Gemma stood.

“After I wake up.”

Gemma gripped the table for support and slowly rose to her feet. Her hair was sticky from salt and dirt, and as Gemma walked past her, Harper plucked a bit of seaweed from the tangles of her hair.

Gemma managed to get up the stairs, but Harper followed close behind, in case she slipped. Gemma changed quickly out of her bathing suit into clean underwear and a T-shirt, then collapsed into her bed.

Once Gemma was tucked in safe and sound, Harper went to her room to make phone calls. She kept both their bedroom doors open, keeping an eye on Gemma, and she spoke softly on the phone so as not to disturb her.