“I’m magic,” Marcy said matter-of-factly, and closed the book. “So it’s all set. We should be able to talk to Luke now.”
“Really?” Alex asked. “I can just … talk to him?”
“Yeah. I would start by saying his name and seeing if he’s around and wants to talk.”
“How will we know if he wants to talk?” Alex asked. “Will he just talk back?”
“The stones will vibrate if something’s present.” Marcy motioned to the black rocks. “And then we talk to him and decide how he’s going to answer. It’s usually stuff like, Knock once for yes, twice for no.”
“How will he be able to name a place, then?” Alex asked. “If we say, Where’s Gemma? it’s not like he can knock once, and we’ll go, Oh, right, Toledo.”
“Let’s just see if he’s here, and we’ll take it from there,” Marcy suggested. “You start, Alex, since you were closest to him.”
“Okay. Um…” He took a deep breath, then cautiously said, “Luke? Uh, Luke Benfield? It’s me, your friend Alex. Um, I wanted to know if you wanted to talk.”
They waited a few minutes, and when there was no response, Alex tried again. Even Harper joined in, and eventually Marcy retried the incantation. But no matter what they said, they got no response.
All afternoon the three of them tried communing with Luke. The hot sun beat down on them, and Marcy grumbled about the heat a few times, but she stuck with the séance. The stones ended up vibrating twice, but Marcy could never make any contact beyond that.
“So that’s it?” Alex asked when Marcy began packing up her stuff. “We’re giving up?”
“Sorry, loverboy,” Marcy said as the sun began to set. “There’s nothing more I can do. We’ll just have to go back to looking the old-fashioned way.”
SIXTEEN
Wanderlust
Gemma reached a town about a half hour after leaving Sawyer’s house, but she drove around in it for a long time before she stopped. She needed to be sure that her head was clear and her hunger was under control.
That was actually what made her finally decide to stop. She figured that eating people food would at least do something about her appetite.
The only thing Gemma knew about what sirens were supposed to eat was what Lexi had told her back in the cabin on Bernie’s Island. Penn had wanted her to eat Alex, and Lexi had tried to convince her that eating him would be delicious.
But Gemma wasn’t sure exactly how much truth was in that. Based on the way the sirens spoke, she assumed that they needed to feed on humans somehow, but she wasn’t sure what that meant. Maybe they just drank blood like vampires. Or maybe they swallowed an entire person whole.
The only thing Gemma knew for certain was that she didn’t want to find out. She wasn’t yet at the point where cannibalism was an option, and she hoped she never got to that point.
But she still had to eat something, so she parked behind a restaurant. She’d wanted to park in front, but it was packed. Like Capri, this was another seaside resort, only much larger. The restaurant was a steakhouse, and that was why she’d picked it. She thought maybe eating a rare steak would be the best substitute for eating a person.
Before getting out of the car, Gemma checked herself in the mirror. She’d driven here with the windows open, and even though her hair had been blowing around for more than an hour, it still looked great. Gemma had to admit that she looked stunning. The glow that had grown dull the last few days had brightened up.
She wondered if maybe her kissing Sawyer had something to do with it. It occurred to Gemma that that was maybe what the sirens meant. Maybe they didn’t eat boys literally, but it was a figure of speech. Maybe they were like a type of succubus that fed on lust and sex.
Honestly, Gemma wasn’t too thrilled about that, either. She felt guilty enough just kissing Sawyer. She couldn’t imagine how awful she’d feel if she had to sleep with him. She was in love with Alex, and even if she never saw him again, being with someone else would always feel like she was cheating on him.
Besides that, she’d always imagined her first time as being romantic, with someone she loved, not because she’d die if she didn’t have sex.
But if it came down to killing someone or having sex with him, Gemma would pick the latter.
Of course, she had no idea if it would even come to that. She’d seen the kind of monster Penn had turned into, all fangs and claws. She doubted that that form was just for fun. Those teeth probably served a purpose, like devouring boys.
Gemma’s stomach rumbled, and that spurred her into action. She wasn’t wearing any shoes, but at least she’d put on a sundress over her bikini, otherwise she’d have real trouble trying to get a table at the restaurant.