Tidal (18 page)

Thea waited to speak again until after Lexi had gone out the back door. They watched through the window as she dove off the cliff behind the house, where she’d land in the water crashing below them.

“What’s your plan if Gemma doesn’t have the scroll?” Thea asked.

“We’ll stay for now,” Penn said, still staring out the back window as the setting sun reflected off the bay. “I don’t want another Gemma
or
Lexi on my hands, and the more time I spend being sure that Liv is the right choice, the better off we will all be.

“But we can’t stay that much longer.” Penn turned back to Thea. “It’s only a matter of time before your precious Gemma finds the scroll, so we’ll have to kill her first.”

NINETEEN

Inebriated

Two doors down from Pearl’s Diner was a bar frequented by the dockworkers. Harper had never been inside before because she wasn’t yet of the legal drinking age, but judging by how it looked on the outside, she assumed it was a dive. Her dad had gone there from time to time, and everything he’d said about it had confirmed her suspicions.

When three men came tumbling out of the battered front door of the bar, yelling and swearing, Harper hadn’t thought much of it. They made enough noise to disrupt her kiss with Daniel, but that was all.

Or it would’ve been, if Harper hadn’t seen the source of all the trouble. Two of the men were there just to pull the third one out of the bar. They tossed him onto the sidewalk, where he’d hit his head on the cement, and that was when Harper saw who it was.

“Alex?” Harper asked. She put her hands on Daniel’s chest to push him back a bit, but he’d already started stepping away.

“I’m fine!” Alex had gotten to his feet and was yelling. “That other guy was being the dick, not me!”

Harper rushed over to him, getting there just in time to catch him from falling back again. Unfortunately, he was too heavy for Harper, so he nearly took her down with him, but Daniel grabbed his arm and hoisted him back up.

“Is this a friend of yours?” one of the guys from the bar asked.

“I don’t have any friends.” Alex tried to push Daniel away, but Daniel kept his grip firmly on Alex’s arm. “I don’t need any friends.”

“Yeah, we’re his friends,” Harper said, ignoring Alex’s protests. “And we’re sorry about any trouble he’s caused. He’s just been going through some things.”

“Well, tell your friend not to come back here if he’s going to be starting fights,” the guy said.

“Will do,” Harper promised him with a smile, and the two guys went back into the bar, leaving Daniel and Harper to handle Alex.

“I don’t need your help,” Alex muttered, then turned to look at Harper.

He smelled faintly of alcohol. His jeans had holes in them, and his dark bangs kept falling into his eyes. Not to mention that he’d hit his head pretty hard on the sidewalk, and Harper could see the blood through his dark hair.

“Alex, you’re bleeding,” Harper said. “We should take you to the hospital.”

“I’m fine,” he said and managed to push Daniel off him.

“At least let me look at it,” Harper insisted. Alex looked like he was about to protest, so she added, “If you don’t let me look at it, I’m calling 911, and they’ll look instead. And I’m certain they wouldn’t approve of your underage drinking.”

Alex groaned but walked over to a nearby bench. He sat down with a heavy thud and repeated, “I’m fine. I don’t need your help.”

“Alex, you’re clearly not fine,” Harper said, sitting down next to him. “You’re fighting, and I’ve never known you to drink before. How did you even get into the bar? You’re only eighteen.”

He waved her off. “If you work down at the docks, they let you drink. That’s the only thing that matters.”

She parted his hair to get a better look, but he appeared to have only a small cut. It was bleeding some, but it wasn’t serious enough to warrant stitches.

“Alex.” Harper dropped her hands back into her lap and watched him. “You should really go get checked out. You might have a concussion or something.”

“Oh, like you even care?” Alex sneered at her. “All you care about is that stupid bitch sister of yours.”

A couple with a small child and a dog walked by just as Alex was swearing. They gave him a wide berth, and Daniel apologized and offered them a polite smile.

“
Alex!
” Harper snapped. She leaned back on the bench. “I know that’s not your fault and you don’t mean that, but you can’t talk about Gemma that way. Not around me.”

“Harper, maybe we should continue this conversation somewhere else,” Daniel said, motioning to more people across the street. It wasn’t late, and it was a nice night, so Capri was still somewhat busy.

Harper rubbed her temple and looked over at Alex. He had hunched forward, burying his hands in his thick hair. Despite his attempts to cover it up, Harper didn’t think she’d ever seen him in more pain. Whatever was going on with him, it looked like torture.

“We can’t leave him alone,” Harper said at last and looked up at Daniel. “If he has a concussion, we need to keep an eye on him. And I definitely can’t take him back to my house.”

“My place it is, then,” Daniel said.

“Why should I go to your house?” Alex asked.

“Because you just got thrown out of the only bar in Capri that would serve you drinks, and I have beer at my house,” Daniel said.

With that, Alex got to his feet. “Let’s get going, then.”

“My car’s parked down there.” Harper pointed to it, but lingered behind to whisper to Daniel, “He shouldn’t be drinking any more.”

“That’s okay, because I don’t really have beer.” Daniel smirked at her. “But once he’s out on the island, what is he gonna do?”

“Thank you.” She smiled up at him. “I’m really sorry about this. I know this wasn’t what you had planned for tonight.”

“I really didn’t have that much planned,” Daniel said. “But your friend needs you. You should take care of him.”

“Thanks for being so understanding.” She kissed him on the cheek.

“Are we going or what?” Alex shouted from beside her car.

Alex hadn’t been that drunk in the first place, so the boat ride seemed to sober him up. With Daniel up front, steering
The Dirty Gull
across the bay, Harper and Alex sat down on the benches in the back. He leaned over the rail, letting the cool breeze and ocean spray blow over him.

“I’m sorry for being such a jerk tonight,” Alex said finally. He turned back toward her, and even in the fading light she could see the pained expression on his face.

“You’re not being a jerk,” Harper said.

“Yeah, I’m drunk, and I’m an idiot.” He grimaced. “I’m sorry I called you a bitch earlier.”

“You didn’t call me a bitch,” Harper corrected him. “That was Gemma.”

“I’m so sorry.” Alex rubbed his forehead. “I don’t know what I’m saying. I don’t even know who I am anymore.”

“What
is
going on with you?” Harper asked, realizing that now might be her chance to get to the bottom of things.

“I don’t know.” His voice caught in his throat. “I swear to God I wish I knew, but I don’t. Everything’s so messed up lately.”

She’d been sitting across from him, so they both had to speak loudly to be heard over the engine. Harper got up and sat next to him on the bench. Alex struggled to hold it together, and she rubbed his back, attempting futilely to comfort him.

“Something happened, and I know it did.” Alex shook his head again. “But I don’t know what it was. Like I’ve forgotten something major.”

“What do you mean?” Harper asked. “What do you remember?”

“I know about the sirens, if that’s what you’re asking.” He stared down at his hands, absently picking at a callus on his palm. “I still remember them, and everything that happened with them.”

“Everything?” Harper had stopped rubbing his back and folded her arms on her lap.

“Yeah, they turned Gemma into a siren, and then we found them and they came back here,” Alex said. “I remember the fight at the docks. They killed this guy, and Gemma and I fought them. But they decided to let her live and stay here.”

“Do you know why they let her stay?” Harper asked.

She knew, of course, but she wanted to figure out how much Alex remembered. Gemma had told Harper that she’d used the siren song to get Alex to break up with her and stop loving her. But he’d barely talked to anybody since then, so Harper had no idea what Alex really knew or felt anymore.

“No.” His brow pinched in frustration. “No, I don’t. I remember that … I loved her.”

“Yeah, you did,” Harper admitted quietly.

“I don’t know why.” Alex looked up at the sky, as if searching for answers. “The thought of even caring about Gemma is repulsive. When I think about how I used to kiss her, it makes me want to throw up.”

Harper didn’t say anything to that. She didn’t know how to respond. Alex didn’t say anything for a while, either. He just lowered his eyes, his jaw clenching and unclenching as he thought.

“I was in love with her, and now I can’t stand the thought of her,” Alex said. “And I don’t know why. I don’t know what changed. You can’t just wake up one day hating the person you used to love. But
I did
.”

“People change,” Harper said in a lame attempt to support her sister’s siren-song-enforced lie.

She wasn’t sure if she agreed with what Gemma had done, but she couldn’t do anything about it now. Gemma had done what she thought she needed to in order to protect Alex, and Harper could understand that.

She just couldn’t imagine how painful and confusing it would be if she woke up tomorrow hating Daniel. Part of her wanted to believe that it wasn’t even possible. The way she cared about him couldn’t be changed by any siren song or spell.

But seeing the way this was obviously tearing Alex up, and knowing how much he’d loved Gemma, Harper had to believe that anything was possible. If a siren song could get Alex to loathe Gemma, it could probably do anything.

“It’s like part of me is missing.” Alex gestured to his chest. “Like something inside me has been erased. Whole chunks of me are just … gone.”

“What do you mean?” Harper narrowed her eyes.

Gemma had been very clear that her siren song was meant only to get him to stop loving her. She loved Alex and didn’t want to change anything about him. All she wanted was to keep him safe.

“Everything I used to care about, I just…” Alex shrugged helplessly. “I don’t anymore.”

“What about video games?” Harper asked. “Or storm chasing? Or your comic books?”

“No.” He shook his head. “I don’t hate them, but I have no urge to do anything with them. I just … I stopped caring. It’s like everything I loved disappeared.” He swallowed hard. “It’s like I’m incapable of loving anything anymore.”

“I don’t think that’s true,” Harper said, but her words lacked conviction. “You just went through a really bad breakup. It takes time for these things to heal, for hearts to mend.”

“I hope you’re right. I don’t know how much longer I can go on like this.”

Once they reached the cabin, Harper gave Alex a glass of water and set him up in front of the TV. Alex seemed to be doing all right, so Daniel suggested that Harper head home for the night.

“Are you sure?” Harper asked. She stood at the doorway, talking quietly with Daniel, and glanced over at where Alex sat on the couch. “I don’t want to make you take care of my friends.”

“Nah, it’s no problem.” Daniel shrugged it off. “Besides, I think he could use some male-bonding time.”

“Okay.” She relented, then smiled over at Alex. “I’ll see you later, Alex. Take care of yourself, okay?”

“I’ll try.” He forced a smile at her. “Thanks, Harper.”

“I’ll be back in a few minutes. Don’t fall asleep while I’m gone,” Daniel told him, then he walked outside with Harper.

“I won’t,” Alex replied.

In the moonlight, they started walking down from the cabin toward the boathouse. Daniel shook his head and let out a long whistle.

“What was that for?” Harper asked.

“Your sister really did a number on him,” Daniel said.

“Yeah, she did,” Harper agreed. “But Gemma had no idea what she was doing. She couldn’t know that it would screw Alex up so badly.”

“You can’t go messing around with people’s hearts,” Daniel said simply. “It never ends well, no matter how good your intentions might be.”

They reached the boathouse, and Daniel stopped. Harper walked a few more steps toward the dock, where Daniel’s boat was tied up, until she realized that he wasn’t with her. She turned around and looked back at him.

“What are you doing?” Harper asked.

“You can drive a little speedboat, can’t you?” Daniel asked.

“Yeah,” Harper said cautiously, walking over to where Daniel stood. “What does that have to do with anything?”

“Well, I was thinking, why don’t you take Bernie’s boat?” Daniel suggested. “It’s technically yours anyway, since Bernie left it to you. And I don’t really need two boats.”

“What would I do with Bernie’s boat?” Harper asked.

“You could come and go as you please.” He shrugged, trying to seem nonchalant. “You could come see me whenever you wanted.”

“So … this is kinda like giving me the key to your place,” she said.

“I think your dad already has a key to my place,” Daniel reminded her. “He
is
my landlord.”

“You know what I mean,” Harper said. “This is like a step. A bigger commitment.”

“Yeah.” He smiled down at her. “But I’m ready for it.”

Harper glanced back at his house, where Alex was waiting. He’d turned into a total mess after getting involved with the sirens, and it was only a matter of time before something horrible happened to Daniel.

Not to mention the fact that their date had turned out the same way they always seemed to anymore. They’d hardly spent any time together since they’d been dating, and with Harper leaving for school soon, they probably wouldn’t have that much time left.

Those were all the reasons that Harper knew she should say no, that she should turn Daniel down and end things before they got any more complicated.

But somehow she found herself smiling up at him and saying, “Okay. I’m ready, too.”