This wasn’t the first time Harper had caught Alex gazing up at the sky. He’d always been fascinated by the weather and the stars. In recent years, his fascination had turned into career aspirations.
He’d even started working with storm chasers this past spring, tracking thunderstorms, tornadoes, and even hurricanes, which Harper was actually surprised to learn. She’d always thought that Alex would prefer analyzing things from the comfort of his home, but apparently he didn’t mind danger as long as he was passionate about what he was chasing.
“What are you doing?” Harper asked when she walked up behind him.
“Oh, hey.” Alex turned around, looking surprised to see her, and gave her a half smile. A gust of wind came up, blowing his hair back. “I didn’t see you there.”
“I didn’t mean to sneak up on you,” she said. “I just came to see what you were up to this afternoon.”
Alex shrugged. “Not a whole lot.”
“It seems like a storm is coming,” Harper said, hugging her arms to her chest to shield herself from the chill of the wind.
“Yeah, but the worst is going to be farther west.” He pointed to the line of clouds. “We’ll get rain and wind, but I’m thinking there might be hail farther inland.”
“Are you gonna go out and chase it, or whatever it is you do?” Harper asked.
“Nah.” He shook his head. “Some of the people I’ve gone with before are out. They think there might even be a tornado, but I don’t think it’s likely.”
“So why aren’t you with them?” Harper asked. “I know you love that kinda thing.”
“I do,” he agreed. “It just doesn’t feel right. Not with Gemma still being gone.”
“Oh.” She let out a deep breath. “Have you heard anything new on that?”
“Not really,” he said, then corrected himself. “Nothing useful, anyway.”
“That sucks.”
“I went to the police today,” Alex admitted, sounding sheepish about it.
“Did you really?” Harper asked. “What for?”
“I just wanted to know what they were doing to find Gemma.”
“What are they doing?” Harper asked.
“Not a whole lot,” Alex said. “I mean, I can’t really blame them. They’re still looking into the murders of Luke and those other boys, and Gemma just ran away from home. She’s not exactly their top priority.”
“Yeah.” Harper hadn’t really expected any different, but she’d hoped for more than that. “Do they have any leads on the murders?”
“I don’t think so.” He shook his head. “They asked me a couple more questions about Luke, but I didn’t tell them anything.” He paused for a minute, thinking. “The sirens killed him and the others, right?”
Harper hesitated before answering him, then nodded. “Yes, they did.”
“But I can’t tell the cops that.” Alex sounded exasperated. “They’d think I was crazy, and if they didn’t, they’d think Gemma was involved. And she wasn’t.”
Harper swallowed hard when Alex said that, but she didn’t respond. Not for the first time, she wondered exactly what Gemma’s involvement with the sirens was.
“You should go, then,” Harper said.
“What?” Alex turned to look at her, confused.
“If there’s nothing new on Gemma, you should go,” Harper told him. “I’m home, so I’ll be here if she gets back. There’s nothing more you can do. You can’t sit cooped in your house all the time, waiting for her to come back. You need to do something.”
He hesitated before asking, “Are you sure?”
“Yeah.” She nodded. “Go on. Go track your storm. Have fun. I’ll be here.”
“You’re right.” He gave her a small smile. “I’ll have my cell phone if you need me.”
He hurried back in the house to gather his things, and it was almost as if he’d been waiting for permission. Harper knew he cared about Gemma a lot and didn’t want to do anything to betray her, but he couldn’t stop living just because she was missing.
Thunder boomed in the distance, and Harper watched the approaching storm. She thought back to what Alex had said about the sirens, and she couldn’t shake her new fears.
She didn’t believe that Gemma had hurt anybody. At least not yet. But if the sirens were monsters, how long would it be before her sister acted like a monster, too?
TWELVE
Compulsion
“Today is the first day of the rest of my life,” Gemma told her reflection. It was her attempt at a pep talk, but it wasn’t that effective.
What Penn had said to her the other day had finally gotten through to her. Gemma had made a choice to be with the sirens, and since they were immortal, it was a very long commitment. She couldn’t spend the rest of eternity moping because this wasn’t what she’d wanted. She’d been living with them for nearly a week, and that was enough sulking.