“My friend?” Alex questioned. “You mean Luke?”
“Right.” Marcy finished her necklace, and she dropped it around her neck. “Both Bernie and Luke were murdered by the sirens. At least one of them has to be a restless spirit, haunted by the fact that their murderers got away with it, and I bet they’re keeping tabs on the sirens, too.”
Harper rolled her eyes. “Oh, come on, Marcy. That’s ridiculous.”
“You really think that Luke would know where Gemma and the other girls are hiding?” Alex asked, oblivious to Harper’s comments.
“Probably.” Marcy nodded. “I mean, if Penn had killed you and ripped out your heart, then run off to frolic in the ocean, wouldn’t you be pissed off and stalk her?”
“I probably would,” Alex reasoned. “So how do we go about this? How would we try contacting them?”
“Alex!” Harper said in disbelief. “You can’t really be buying into this.”
“Your sister is a siren,” Alex said, looking back at her. “She can turn into a mermaid. But ghosts seem unbelievable to you?”
Harper crossed her arms over her chest and leaned back against the copier, but she didn’t say anything. Alex had made a point she couldn’t really argue with, but that didn’t mean she still didn’t think this was all stupid.
“Do I need to get like a Ouija board or something?” Alex asked.
Marcy scoffed loudly. “Ouija. Pfft. That’s all hokum.”
“Okay,” Alex said. “So how do we contact the spirits?”
“Why don’t I meet you at your house after work, and I’ll bring everything we need?” Marcy suggested.
Even though Harper thought it was dumb, she didn’t have any better ideas, so she went along with it. Alex went home, and after work Marcy went home to get her stuff, then was going to meet them at Alex’s house.
Harper waited outside with Alex, sitting on the front steps of his house. He wasn’t sure what to bring, if anything, so he’d grabbed the video camera he used to record storms and a pocketknife in the shape of Batman’s batarang.
“You really think this will work?” Harper asked, watching him as he flipped the blade in and out of the pocketknife.
“I don’t know,” Alex admitted. “But I don’t know what else to try. I’ve got to do something, and I’m running out of options.”
“Can I ask you something?”
Alex shrugged. “Sure.”
“Why do…” Harper tried to choose her words carefully. “You’re really passionate about finding Gemma, and I’m glad. It’s just … it’s a little strangely intense, since you and Gemma haven’t been together that long.”
“Is that your question?” Alex asked, looking over at her.
“Kinda. I just don’t fully understand why you care so much.”
“But I’ve known her practically my whole life,” Alex pointed out. “And it’s not like I suddenly started having feelings for her the day we started dating. I mean, I’ve liked her for…” He trailed off, as if realizing he’d admitted more than he wanted to.
“When did you start liking her?” Harper asked.
He shifted uneasily. “I don’t know the exact date.”
Harper had known that Alex and Gemma liked each other for a little while, possibly longer than the two of them knew themselves. Alex would be over watching a movie with Harper or doing homework with her, but as soon as Gemma came in the room, he could barely pay attention to the task at hand.
That eventually had put a strain on her friendship with Alex. She didn’t mind so much that he liked Gemma. It just weirded her out that they’d be hanging out in her room, and Gemma would be across the hall in hers, and Alex would suddenly get up and go hover in Gemma’s doorway. It was obnoxious, so Harper had stopped hanging out with him as much.
“I think I noticed it a few months ago,” Harper said. “You kept making eyes at her.”
“I did not,” he said quickly. “I don’t even know what that means.”
“There’s nothing wrong with it,” Harper said. “I’m just curious about how long you’ve had a crush on my sister.”
“I don’t know.” He sighed, and when he spoke, his voice got quieter. “Maybe years.”
“Years?” Harper asked loudly, thinking she must’ve heard wrong.
“I don’t know.” He lowered his eyes and looked uncomfortable. “I mean, it wasn’t like a crush. It was just I really liked her, and she always thought I was such a dork. But then in the last year or so, something changed, and she started looking at me like I was a person, and not some geeky guy running around with her older sister. And then I think … I don’t know.”
“So you’ve been into Gemma for a really long time?” Harper asked, still trying to process what he was saying.
“I guess so,” he admitted. “Sorry.”
“Why are you sorry?” Harper asked.