“Did he talk about it often?” Harper asked.
“No. Actually, he only mentioned it a few times when we were at the bar, and even then, it was only a sentence or two in passing. Usually just a drunken warning about being wary of the singing temptress.
“There was one time, though,” Brian went on. “Me and your mom went out with Bernie, for his birthday or New Year’s or something. You and Gemma were really young at the time. In fact, I think Nathalie was still breast-feeding, so she wasn’t drinking.
“Bernie really got to talking about Thalia and the sirens and muses and nymphs, because your mom kept asking him about it. She was really interested in that kind of thing. But I wasn’t paying that much attention, and I was drinking, and I don’t remember much about it anymore.” Brian lowered his eyes. “But your mom, she would know … if she could still remember anything.”
“Did he actually call them sirens?” Harper asked, eager to pull her dad’s thoughts away from her mom. Thinking about Nathalie only ever made him sad.
“Yeah, he did.” Brian nodded. “Usually, he’d call them temptresses or vixens or harlots, but he did use the word ‘sirens.’ But the only thing I really remember him saying was that they sing, they were beautiful, and they were deadly.”
“He didn’t tell you how to handle them or anything?” Harper asked.
Brian chewed the inside of his cheek, thinking. “No, he just told me to avoid them.”
“But you said he knew they were coming for him. Why did he think that?”
“I’m guessing it’s because of that book right there.” Brian pointed to the journal lying on the table. “But he didn’t really specify. He implied that it had something to do with his wife.”
“They didn’t kill Thalia, right?” Harper asked.
She’d read in a newspaper clipping that Thalia had fallen off a ladder and died, and earlier, Lydia had confirmed that she’d died of natural causes. But Harper just wanted to be sure that Bernie didn’t suspect foul play. If he had, and he was afraid of the sirens, he might have covered it up.
“No, no, I don’t think so,” Brian said. “Bernie talked to me in depth about her death after your mom got hurt since Thalia had an accident, too. He blamed himself for it because he wasn’t there when she fell. He really loved her.”
“And she really loved him.” Harper stared down at the pages, covered in Thalia’s delicate handwriting and lovely scrawls. “Their story would be romantic if it weren’t so tragic.”
“Why?”
“They met in England in 1960 and instantly fell in love. Thalia goes on for pages and pages about how much she loved him and describes every intricate detail of their first meetings.” Harper flipped through the pages to demonstrate. Portions of the journal were nothing more than sonnets, all dedicated to Bernard. “I think some of it might help Gemma, but I’m not sure if it will help break the curse.”
Her dad tilted his head. “What do you mean?”
“When Thalia met Bernie, she was a muse, but he fell in love with her, deeply and passionately, and it wasn’t because of her supernatural abilities. He really loved her for her.”
“How does that relate to Gemma?”
“Well, her and Alex,” Harper explained, and Brian’s mouth turned down in a deep scowl. “Dad, I know this is tough for you. But she really loves him, and I think he really loves her.”
“Then why haven’t I seen him around lately?” Brian asked.
When Harper and Gemma had told their dad about everything, Gemma had glossed over the part where she had used a siren song on Alex. It wasn’t that she was trying to keep it from him, but it was still painful for her to talk about. She’d rather leave it unsaid.
“Things are complicated between the two of them,” Harper said, brushing over it for Gemma’s sake. “But Thalia offers a glimmer of hope.” She flipped through the journal, looking for the right page. Then she found it, near the front, right after the passage where Bernie asked her to marry him.
“Perhaps it is the heart that is the most supernatural thing of all,” Harper read aloud. “Not just because of the power it wields over mortals and gods but its ability to remain unchanged even in the face of peril or temptation. No curse, no spell, no creature on earth or in heaven can reroute its true course. What the heart loves, the heart will always truly love.”
When Harper looked up from the faded pages of the journal, her dad had fallen silent. Though he tried to hide it, she could see the pain in his eyes, and she knew he must be thinking of Nathalie and how he still loved her.