“You think they bought it all?” Marcy asked.
Harper nodded. “Gemma and Thea managed to convince them.”
“Here.” Lydia came into the living room carrying a salt-and-pepper ferret that was at least twice as fat as any ferret should be, and she handed it to Marcy. “He keeps trying to get in the pot.”
“Bruce loves his chicken.” Marcy petted him as he tried to nibble on her fingers. “It’s ’cause he’s a member of the weasel family. They’re super into birds.”
“How are you doing with the whole Kirby thing?” Harper asked, deciding that it might be a good time to bring it up since Marcy was holding Bruce.
“I don’t know. We weren’t dating for very long but…” Tears welled in her eyes, looking even larger through her thick glasses, and she shook her head and sniffled. “What’s done is done.”
“Did you hear when his funeral is?” Alex asked.
“Not yet. I haven’t talked to his parents or anything, and I don’t want to.” She held her ferret closer to her, and he sniffed at a lone tear that slid down her cheek. “So I’ll probably just find out when they post it in the obituary.”
Harper reached over and rubbed her friend’s back, and surprisingly, Marcy let her. Which meant that she actually had to be really upset about all of this.
Lydia came in a few minutes later carrying two bowls of soup. “Here you guys go.” She handed one to Alex, then handed the other to Marcy, trading it for Bruce. “How is Gemma doing today?”
“Good. She’s pretty tired, so she’s at home sleeping,” Harper said. “She wanted me to send you her best.”
“I don’t know what that means.” Marcy shrugged. “So tell her that I send her my awesomest.”
“So … is she human?” Lydia asked, trying to sound nonchalant. She stood off to the side of the room, petting the ferret.
“Yeah. Penn’s dead,” Harper said. “It was like Diana said. With her dead, the curse is broken.”
“Well, actually, Diana said, ‘If you tried to kill Penn, then you wouldn’t need to break the curse.’” It was the overly casual way she said it that unnerved Harper, like she was trying too hard to make it sound like none of this mattered, but she really thought it did.
“Yeah, that’s what I said,” Harper said, nearly snapping at her.
“No, it’s a little different.” Lydia set Bruce down. “Because I was talking to Pine about the translations, and it doesn’t sound like it matters if you kill Penn or any of the sirens, as long as they’re replaced.”
“The translation is wrong then,” Harper told her harshly. “Because Gemma said the curse is broken. Tell her, Alex.”
“It’s over,” Alex agreed, but he sounded confused, like he didn’t completely understand the exchange between Harper and Lydia. “I mean, I asked her directly, and so did Harper, and she says over. And why would she lie?”
“Maybe she doesn’t know,” Marcy suggested.
Lydia shook her head. “She would know.”
“Exactly. And both she and Thea said they can feel that the curse is broken,” Harper said firmly. “They could both feel their powers waning, and that’s why Gemma is so tired and out of it today.”
The room lapsed into an awkward silence, so Alex took a bite of soup, and very loudly said, “Mmm. This is really good soup, Lydia.”
“Thanks.” She smiled politely.
“My dad had the car towed into town,” Marcy said. “She’s pretty totaled, but I’m optimistic that they might be able to save her.”
“The Gremlin?” Alex asked. “Wouldn’t it be cheaper to buy a new car than fix her?”
“Lucinda’s not just a car,” Marcy corrected him. “You saw her. She’s magic. And even if I have to work at the library for the next eighty years to pay to get her fixed, it’ll be worth it. Oh, but that reminds me, I should probably call in for Tuesday.”
“But today’s only Sunday,” Harper said.
Marcy shrugged and dug in her pocket for her cell phone. “My leg will probably still hurt.”
FIFTY-FIVE
Favored
He’d taken a long, hot shower for the second time in the past twelve hours, and it finally felt like he was getting rid of the dirt and grime. Daniel hadn’t been that injured fighting Penn, but he’d gotten plenty bloody cleaning things up. Not to mention how gross he’d felt during the minimakeout session/S&M scene he’d had with Penn before Harper had arrived.
He slipped on a T-shirt and a pair of pajama pants, deciding that today called for comfort above anything else. As he walked out of the bathroom, he was still rubbing a small towel through his short hair, and when he lowered it, he saw Gemma.
“Whoa.” He put a hand to his heart since she’d scared the crap out of him. “What are you doing here?”
“I wanted to talk to you.”
She stood barefoot just inside his doorway, and her sundress was dripping water onto the floor. In fact, all of her was dripping wet, even the golden brown waves of hair that fell down her back.
“How’d you get here?” Daniel asked suspiciously.
“I swam.”
“Like … mermaid swam?”
She smiled, but it didn’t look convincing. “Before all this, I used to be on the swim team, remember? I swam in the bay all the time. I can do that whether I’m mortal or not.”
“You didn’t answer my question, though. How did you swim here?”
“With my legs.” She lifted one and wiggled it, as if to demonstrate.
“Okay.” He relented and held out his towel to her. “So to what do I owe this pleasure?”
She ran the towel through her hair, squeezing out most of the excess water. When she’d finished, she handed him back the towel, and he set it aside on the kitchen counter.
“Thank you,” she said. “I mean, not just for the towel. You did so much for me.”
“I didn’t really do that much.” He shook his head. “I think it was mostly you in that fight last night.”
“No, I’m not talking about just last night. You gave so much. You were willing to give up everything to protect me, even your life. I know that it was for Harper to protect her, but that still means a lot to me.”
“It wasn’t just for Harper.” He looked fondly at her. “Yeah, part of it was, but even if she hadn’t been in the picture, I would’ve done it for you.”
“I think I knew that.” She smiled, then laughed a little. “This is gonna sound weird, but I kinda think you’re my best friend.”
“It’s not that weird. You’re probably my best friend, too,” he realized. “Outside of Harper, I think I talk to you more than anyone else. Except maybe Pearl.”
“She does have amazing clam chowder,” Gemma said, referring to the owner of the diner that served Daniel’s favorite soup.
“She does,” he admitted. “So maybe she’s my best friend, and you’re like my backup.”
Gemma smiled at his joke, then went on. “I can’t ever thank you enough for what you did, even if I had all the time in the world.”
“Can’t help but notice your use of the past tense for ‘had’ there. How much time do you have?”
“The rest of my life,” she said, and she wouldn’t look at him.
“Mmm.” He leaned back against the counter. “Your being so evasive isn’t really putting me at ease.”
“I just came out here to tell you that I don’t know how I can thank you.”
“You don’t need to thank me,” he insisted. “Your being alive and safe is thanks enough.”
“You were gonna die, Daniel!” Gemma reminded him. “That was huge. You can’t just brush that off.”
“I wasn’t gonna die. I was gonna be a siren, and I don’t know. That might not have been so bad.” He smirked. “You and me, we would’ve taken on Penn and maybe ruled the world.”