“What do you mean, the potion doesn’t always take?” Gemma asked.
“After you drink it, one of two things will happen. One, you’ll turn into a siren, as you did.” Penn gestured to her. “Or two, you die.”
“What? Why?” Gemma asked. “How come I turned and other girls didn’t?”
“We don’t know exactly. A siren needs to be strong, beautiful, and connected to the water.” Penn shrugged. “Some of the girls we picked just weren’t strong enough.”
“But … you’re running out of time. If I died, you would all die?” Gemma narrowed her eyes at Penn. “What’s stopping me from killing myself?”
“You don’t know how to, for one thing. Sirens aren’t mortal. You can’t just drown or throw yourself off a building,” Penn said. “And the other thing is on its way right now.”
Before Gemma could respond, Lexi shouted from the porch, “He’s coming! I can see him! He’s already on the dock!”
“Good.” Penn smiled. “You can stop your singing now, before we summon every man near the bay.”
Penn stood in between Gemma and the doorway, but now she stepped to the side, allowing Gemma to get by.
She ran to the doorway, rushing past Lexi and Thea. She didn’t know whom they’d called or what exactly they planned to do with him, but Gemma knew whatever it was couldn’t be good. She had to send him away before the sirens sank their teeth in him.
When she saw him coming up the trail, walking like he was still asleep, she stopped cold in her tracks. It was worse than she’d feared.
“Alex.”
As soon as his name escaped her lips, Lexi was on him, putting her arm around him and leading him up the trail. Thea grabbed Gemma, holding her arms behind her back so she couldn’t fight.
“Alex!” Gemma shouted, but he barely glanced over at her. His gaze was too focused on Lexi, who hummed a song in his ear. “Alex! You have to get out of here! Alex, run! It’s a trick! They’re going to kill you!”
“Shut up,” Thea growled and started dragging her up the path to the cabin. “If you would have just come with us, none of this would be happening. It’s your fault we’re in this mess.”
“Please!” Gemma begged. “Please, just leave him alone.”
Penn was laughing when they entered the cabin. Gemma fought and kicked at Thea, but it was like fighting against granite. Thea was a three-thousand-year-old demigoddess, and it showed in her strength.
Alex had followed Lexi willingly into the center of the room, and he couldn’t take his eyes off her. She circled him slowly, and he turned his head, following her. Lexi stopped in front of him, caressing his face, and he leaned in to kiss her.
“Alex!” Gemma shouted, but he still tried to kiss Lexi. If Lexi hadn’t moved her head away at the last second, he would’ve. “What have you done to him?”
“Actually, you did it.” Penn stood off to the side of the room, watching Gemma’s misery with a look of intense satisfaction. “He wouldn’t have gotten here so quickly if you hadn’t already put him under a siren spell once before.”
“What are you talking about?” Gemma asked. “I never did anything to him.”
“Oh, but you did.” Penn smiled. “You sang to him, calling him. Thanks to that, he’s more susceptible to our charms. It’ll be harder for him to resist our commands.”
“It’s our song,” Lexi explained. She stayed next to Alex, his arms around her as he stared adoringly at her, but so far she’d avoided all of his attempts at kissing her. “We put men in a trance, make them follow our every order and lust after us. It works a little on women, too, but it’s not nearly as powerful.”
Gemma wanted to argue that she’d never sung to him, she’d never tried to put a spell on him, but then she remembered. Right after they’d turned her into a siren, she’d been singing in the shower. Alex came over, and that was the day they’d had the intense make-out session that neither of them could explain.
“This really is all my fault,” Gemma whispered.
“It’s all right,” Lexi said, her voice sounding too cheery for the situation. “We all make mistakes. But we can learn from them.”
“Lexi makes an excellent point.” Penn walked over to Gemma, stopping right in front her. Thea still held her back, but Gemma had stopped fighting. “And you’re going to learn a lesson tonight whether you like it or not.”
“You don’t have to do this,” Gemma said. “Penn, please don’t do this.”
“Lexi, let’s see what we’re working with,” Penn commanded, but she kept her eyes on Gemma.
Lexi slid down low, keeping her body as close to Alex’s as she could without touching him. She grabbed the bottom of his wet T-shirt, and in one smooth move she pulled it up over his head, leaving Alex half naked in the center of the room.
“That’s better.” Lexi smiled at him and admired his shirtless torso. “He’s pretty cute, Gemma. You have good taste.”