THIRTY-THREE
Iniquity
Lexi pushed Sawyer off her arm, his body, sliding over it, making a sickening slippery sound before he fell face-first on the dock. Almost casually, she kicked his body, and it rolled off the dock and splashed into the water.
Gemma had wanted to scream, to do something, but she merely watched in shock and horror. Some of his blood had splattered on her, and it still felt warm on her skin. She’d been trying to save him, and Lexi had ripped out his heart.
“That bitch means business,” Alex said, sounding almost as dazed and horrified as Gemma felt. “We need to get out of here. Like now.”
“Right,” Gemma agreed.
Lexi was busy licking the blood off her hand, so Gemma thought this would be the perfect time to make her escape. She grabbed Alex’s hand, and they turned to make a run for it.
But Lexi rushed around them, moving at a speed so fast it would’ve been impossible for Gemma to match. She ran so quickly, it was like a blur of color, and then she was standing in front of them.
“I’m really fast,” Lexi told them, smiling brightly. “That’s what happens when you eat a lot, Gemma. You get faster and stronger and just plain better. Too bad you didn’t take my advice when I told you to eat, huh?”
“It doesn’t make you smarter, though, does it, Lexi?” Gemma asked. “Or if it does, you must’ve been really stupid before you became a siren.”
“Those are big words coming from someone who’s about to die,” Lexi said. “Here. Let’s make it fair. You eat this.” She held out Sawyer’s heart toward Gemma, who struggled not to gag.
“I’m not going to,” Gemma said. “I’m not going to be one of you.”
“I don’t really have time to eat it, either.” Lexi stared down at the heart and sighed. “Oh, well.” She tossed it over her shoulder and it landed on the dock, bouncing once before splashing into the water. “It’s probably time for you to die anyway.”
Alex charged at Lexi first. Gemma wasn’t sure if he’d heard what she’d said, or if he’d just had enough. He swung at her, but Lexi knocked him down, and he fell back on the dock.
“You know what would be so fun?” Lexi sounded excited as Gemma ran over to help Alex. “Since you two like each other so much, it’d be way fun if he killed you. Or at least tried to. I doubt he’d be able to finish the job, but it’d be fun to see him try.”
“You are so messed up, Lexi,” Gemma said. “Like, seriously. You are one sick bitch.”
“Aw, thanks.” Lexi winked at her, and when she spoke again, her voice came out as a song: “Alex, my weary wanderer, my voice is the way. Alex, my young love, do as I say.”
Alex, in an apparent daze, let go of Gemma’s hand and walked toward Lexi. Gemma called his name, but he ignored Gemma, following the song into Lexi’s arms.
She smiled at Gemma as she embraced Alex. One of her arms was around his shoulder, and the other was stroking his hair back. She leaned in to him, like she meant to kiss him, and when Alex leaned closer, she pulled away and laughed.
“Oh, this is almost too easy to be fun,” Lexi said, watching Gemma from the corner of her eye.
“No, Alex, don’t listen to her,” Gemma said. He’d wrapped one arm around Lexi’s waist, and she saw him reaching into his back pocket for something. “Alex. Don’t listen to her. I love you.”
“Alex, my love,” Lexi said as seductively as she could. “I want you to kill Gemma.”
Just before Lexi’s lips touched his, he reached up, pulling his pocketknife out and stabbing it right into Lexi’s heart. He pressed her close to him, so he could stab the knife in deeper.
“What the hell?” Lexi asked, her eyes wide with shock.
“Earplugs,” Alex said simply, and walked back to where Gemma was standing.
Lexi stepped back, holding her hands in front of her, and she still looked dazed and shocked. She started coughing, and Gemma grabbed Alex’s hand, squeezing it hopefully.
“You stupid bitch.” Lexi spat blood, and then ripped the knife out.
“Okay, so I guess that doesn’t kill them, then,” Gemma said.
“Of course it doesn’t kill me!” Lexi shouted, and her voice started changing, losing its silky quality and sounding more like a demon’s. “It only pisses me off!”
Her eyes changed, shifting from their usual bright blue to an eerie green, and they grew larger, almost too large for her face. Her teeth became more pointed. Several rows sprang out from behind the others and protruded jaggedly from her still-human lips. The last thing to change was her arms, growing longer and sprouting taloned fingers.
Lexi had begun shifting into the bird form, but she stopped changing mid-shift. The whole beast was probably a bit cumbersome for being in public, but even this smaller shift would make her stronger. Gemma had felt it when she’d been fighting with Sawyer. Just the little change had enabled her to break away from him.
Alex charged at Lexi while Gemma ran over and grabbed a heavy rope that had been left on the dock. When Alex ran at Lexi, she knocked him back, but that was what Gemma had wanted. He lay on the dock, and while Lexi hunched over him, Gemma ran and jumped on her back. She wrapped the rope around Lexi’s neck, choking her, and wrapped her legs around the siren’s waist to get a better grip.
Lexi squawked and tried to buck Gemma off, but that only made her hang on tighter. Alex kicked Lexi in the stomach, and she fell to her knees. She reached back behind her head and grabbed Gemma’s hair.
She yanked on it hard enough to make Gemma scream, but Gemma refused to let go of the rope. Alex kicked Lexi in the face, probably afraid that if he punched her, he might accidentally rip his hand off on her incisors.
“Will you stop screwing around?” Penn snapped, and all three of them turned to see her standing on the dock with her hands on her hips. Thea was right beside her.
Lexi squawked again, trying to speak but unable to, since Gemma had the rope so tight around her neck.
“Gemma, let go of her,” Penn said wearily. “If you don’t, I’ll come over there and rip your boyfriend’s head off. It’s as simple as that. I’m sick of fighting, so do as I say, or I’ll kill you all.”
Reluctantly, Gemma let go of the rope and got off Lexi. As soon as she did, Lexi turned to her like she meant to attack in some way, but Penn hissed at her.
“Lexi,” Penn commanded. “I said I was sick of all this fighting, and I meant it. Clean yourself up and get off the ground.”
“Sorry,” Lexi said awkwardly through her mouthful of teeth.
The fireworks were finishing up, and they ended on a noisy, rapid-fire note, with lights exploding every second in the sky. Lexi shifted back to her normal self and stood up. Gemma and Alex had gotten to their feet, and they stood together, holding on to each other.
“That’s so obnoxious,” Penn said as the display finally finished and the crowd on the beach erupted in applause. “Humans are so stupid.”
“They are,” Lexi agreed, and took her spot on the other side of Penn.
“So what was going on here?” Penn motioned to the blood all over the dock. “Whose is that?”
“That’s Sawyer’s,” Lexi said, then she made a pouty face. “He was going to leave us, so I killed him.”
“Lexi.” Penn sounded genuinely irritated, then shook her head. “Fine. Whatever. Great. I’m sick of all of this.”
“If you just let me go, you can be rid of all of this,” Gemma said.
“I can’t let you go,” Penn snapped. “Why won’t you get that through your thick skull? If you want to be free of this curse, I’ll be more than happy to set you free, but I’ll have to kill you. Is that what you want? Do you want to die?”
“Penn,” Thea said, gently interjecting. “It was so hard to find a replacement for Aggie. It’ll be just as hard to replace Gemma. Don’t do anything hasty.”
“I’m not being hasty!” Penn shouted.
“Wait,” Gemma said. “You guys were wrong.”
“Seriously?” Penn raised an eyebrow. “This is how you plan to plead for your life? Telling me I’m the one that’s wrong?”
“No, I’m saying that you were wrong about something, so you might be wrong about other things,” Gemma said. “There might be a way to break the curse.”
“Do you know what that is?” Thea asked.
“No, but…” She took a deep breath. “Alex loves me.”
“Boys lie, you’re an idiot, blah blah blah,” Penn said, waving her hand.
“No, he’s really in love with me! Ask him!” Gemma motioned to Alex, and he took out his earplugs. “Alex, tell them how you feel about me.”
“That I love you?” Alex asked, confused.
Penn rolled her eyes. “Oh, my god. Just for that, I’m going to kill you both. I was only going to kill you, Gemma, but because you wasted my time, I’m taking him out, too.”
“No, Penn, wait!” Thea held up her hand to silence Penn.
“What now?” Penn groaned.
“Alex,” Thea said, and walked over to him.
“Don’t hurt him,” Gemma said, making her voice as firm as she could.
“I’m not going to hurt him,” Thea told Gemma, but her eyes were on him. She stared at him directly in his eyes, then sang, “Alex, tell me the truth. Do you love her?”
His pupils dilated and mouth slacked, and for a second Alex didn’t say anything. Gemma waited with bated breath until finally he spoke.
“Yes,” he said, his voice sounding dreamy. “I’m in love with Gemma.”
“That doesn’t prove anything,” Lexi said.
“Yes, it does!” Gemma insisted. “He loves me, and you said that wasn’t possible.”
Thea swallowed hard and lowered her eyes. Her expression had become pained, but Gemma couldn’t read it exactly.
“Thea, this doesn’t change anything,” Penn said, trying too hard to sound calm and reassuring.
“This changes everything,” Thea said, then turned back to face Penn. “We’ve believed something for thousands of years, and it’s not true. What else are we wrong about?”
“Maybe it’s a fluke.” Penn shrugged. “But we can figure it out later. I still think we should kill Gemma. She’s more trouble than she’s worth.”
“No, I don’t think so.” Thea shook her head. “We should keep her alive.”
“She’ll just keep running away!” Penn gestured to Alex. “Her being in love is all the more reason that we should kill them!”
“Then we stay,” Thea said.
“What?” Lexi asked, appalled. “We can’t stay here. This town sucks.”
“Just for a while,” Thea said. “Until we figure out what’s going on.”
Penn sighed and seemed to think it over.
“We can’t!” Lexi insisted. “We wouldn’t be able to feed whenever we wanted. We’d have to use discretion so the humans wouldn’t chase us out of town with pitchforks and torches. That means we might have to go, like, weeks without eating.”
“That’s true,” Penn agreed. “But there’s something really weird going on with the boys in this town.”
“What do you mean?” Thea asked.
Penn just shook her head in response. “Fine. We’ll stay. And Gemma can live. For now.”
Lexi groaned loudly, and Gemma tried not to let out a sigh of relief.
“But you will do as I say.” Penn stepped around Thea and walked right up to Gemma. “None of this running off shit or doing what you want. I’ll let you stay here, live with that hideous sister of yours, and run around with this idiot boy. But if you disobey me, if you act out against me or the other sirens, I will not hesitate to kill you all. Do you understand me?”
“I do.” Gemma nodded.
“Do you?” Penn asked. “Because I don’t think you do. We made a similar deal before, and you broke it. In fact, I should be tearing out lover boy’s heart right now just to punish you.”
“Penn, please, I’ll do what you say,” Gemma insisted in a hurried breath. “I’m sorry. I won’t do it again.”
“I know you won’t do it again,” Penn said. “Because I’ve given you more chances than I’ve given anyone else. And you screw up one more time, one more time, and I will destroy everyone you care about. I’ll kill everyone in this entire bullshit town if I have to.”
Gemma swallowed hard. “I understand.”
“Gemma!” Harper shouted as she raced down the embankment toward the docks. “Gemma!”
“I really don’t want to deal with them again,” Penn said, and turned back to Lexi and Thea. “Let’s get out of here.”
“Gladly,” Lexi said, and dove into the water.
“Wait,” Gemma said, stopping Penn before she followed Lexi. “What do you want me to do?”
“Go home, play house with your little friends,” Penn said. “I’ll find somewhere to live, and when I want you, I’ll come get you.”
Before Harper and Daniel reached them on the dock, Penn and Thea dove into the water, disappearing in the waves. They swam out as far and as fast as they could, and Gemma knew they had to be careful to avoid being spotted by people who were in all the boats in the bay.
“So we’re just gonna stay here and let Gemma do what she wants?” Lexi asked Penn, once they’d gotten far enough away from the docks that they could speak. Thea was swimming on ahead of them, but Lexi had slowed to talk to Penn.
“No, of course not,” Penn said. “We find a replacement first, then we kill her. And we need to find out what the hell is going on with the boys in this town. There’s something strange about this place, and I want to find out what it is, so I can rub it in Demeter’s face.”