“It’s on the way,” Marcy said and turned down the stereo.
An eight-track of Carly Simon had been the soundtrack for their forty-minute drive from Capri, with the last fifteen minutes almost on full blast because Gemma had requested it to drown out the watersong.
Harper didn’t exactly know what the watersong was, and Gemma hadn’t really articulated it. All she knew was that the farther Gemma got from the ocean, the more obnoxious the song would get. This was apparently the farthest Gemma had gone since she’d become a siren.
“It’s really pretty,” Gemma said, leaning forward from the backseat.
“Yep, it looks the same as it did in the brochures, and it even looks the same as it did when I went to a college visit last year before I applied to go here,” Harper said. She turned away from the campus to glare at Marcy and Gemma. “I know what the school looks like.”
“Just thought it wouldn’t hurt to remind you,” Marcy said.
Marcy exchanged a look with Gemma and shrugged.
“Nice try, Marcy,” Gemma told her and leaned back in the seat.
“So you guys have been conspiring?” Harper asked, looking from one to the other of them.
Neither of them replied, and Marcy put the car in gear. It sputtered angrily and jerked backward, then drove forward.
“This isn’t going to turn into a tour of Sundham, Delaware, is it?” Harper asked. “You’re not going to try to show me all the sights in hopes I’ll come here?”
Marcy glanced up at the rearview, apparently meeting Gemma’s eyes for some kind of confirmation. Harper leaned over the seat to look back at her, and Gemma sighed and stared out the windows.
“Just take her to the bookstore,” Gemma told Marcy.
“Seriously?” Harper groaned and laid her head against the headrest. “You guys know that my issue with going to college has nothing to do with the town itself or even the college? I think Sundham and the university are perfectly fine. That’s why I picked here in the first place.”
“We were only trying to remind you how good your choices were.” Gemma faced her. “We thought maybe if you saw how awesome things were here, you’d be more enticed to go.”
“How did you even get involved with this?” Harper asked, turning her attention to Marcy. “You don’t want me to leave. Then you’ll have to spend all your time with Edie.”
“Yes, it’s true, it would benefit me if you lived in Capri forever, doing all the work that I don’t want to do,” Marcy admitted. “But it may surprise you to learn that I’m not the most selfish person on the planet. I know it’s in your best interest to go to college, so when Gemma asked me to help her convince you, I said sure.”
Of course Harper wanted to go. She’d worked her entire life for this. But it was for the same reason that Gemma was trying to convince her to go that Harper didn’t want to go—she loved her sister too much to stand by and let her destroy her life.
“The drive went by so fast, didn’t it?” Gemma asked when it had been a few minutes since Harper had said anything. “If you were speeding, I bet you could make it back to Capri in less than a half hour. That’s really not much time. If something happened, you could be back like that.”
“Let’s just go to the bookstore,” Harper said. “Maybe we’ll figure out a way to break the curse, and then this will all be a moot point.”
Marcy did as she was told, driving through town. If Harper had been looking around, she probably would’ve thought it was quaint—wide streets with potted flowers hanging from old-fashioned lampposts.
But she didn’t look. She just slouched in her seat while Marcy sang along absently to “Take Me as I Am.”
The car jerked to a stop abruptly, and Harper had to brace her hands on the dashboard to keep from flying into the windshield.
“What happened?” Harper asked as the Gremlin fell silent. “Did your car just die?”
“No, my car didn’t die. She would never die.” Marcy glared over at Harper. “My dad bought her used when he was sixteen, and he gave her to me when I turned sixteen, and she hasn’t died once in the past twenty-nine years.”
“Twenty-nine years?” Gemma asked. “How is that even possible? My car is, like, fifteen years old, and I can’t keep it running.”
“It’s all about proper maintenance and love,” Marcy said. “I love Lucinda, and Lucinda loves me.”
“Your car’s name is Lucinda?” Harper asked.
“My dad named her. Now get out of the car. We’re here.” Marcy opened the driver’s-side door and got out.
Harper looked out the window to see where it was that they were. They’d parked in front of a quirky little place nestled in between a flower shop and craft store.