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Still hanging on to Daniel’s hand, Harper walked forward, but Penn et by," Harper said as firoing to do?"

"Harper, let’s just go back the e caested

Penn’s eyes flashed when she heard Daniel speak, and she tilted her head toward hio of his hand andbetween him and Penn

"I don’t knohat I’ll do," Harper adlanced back at hi to make sure it was okay she’d said "we" Daniel had repeatedly told her he wanted to help her, and he had in the past So Harper had decided to include hi hi to be her boyfriend, then they should be equals standing up against the enereed, and stepped forward so he stood next to Harper, both of the anywhere"

"Look at the two of you" Penn laughed "You really think you have a say in anything that’s going to happen?" She stepped closer to the wider "You’ll let me do whatever I want"

Penn began to sing, low and soft, so as not to enchant all the people crowded around the bay But the song was just as te

Her panic melted away, and her whole body relaxed A haze filled her mind, and she couldn’t remember why she’d been so worried She knew she had been, but Penn was so beautiful, and the song was so wonderful Harper wanted nothingfor all eternity

"Harper, you’re going to do whatever I say," Penn said in her lyrical way

Harper nodded dazedly and said, "Okay"

"Harper?" Daniel said, but she didn’t respond She just stared dreamily at Penn

"As for you…" Penn turned her attention to Daniel

"She ht do whatever you say," Daniel allowed "But I sure as hell won’t"

Penn’s eyes widened when Daniel talked back to her; her eyes were like those of an aniht in a snare She opened her , but then he punched her

THIRTY-ONE

Defiance

Sawyer had one arm around Gemma’s waist as he pulled her away fros flailed wildly, and she knocked off one of her flip-flops His hand was pressed so tightly against her mouth that she could hardly breathe, and she clawed viciously at his arainst hied her aith the singular deteret Gemma, and he wouldn’t be able to stop until he fulfilled their orders

That explained his insane strength When under the spell of a siren, Sawyer could tap into every ounce of strength to carry out their bidding He could act like an uncontrollable speed freak if he needed to

He was pulling Gemma down an embankment, toward the docks where her father worked The docks would be deserted right now, and there Sawyer and the sirens could do whatever they wanted with Gemma Or Alex, if they found hie sloash over her It res shifted into a tail, but this was different Her vision changed first At first it blurred, then the night became clearer than it ever had before

Herto itch Her hands felt like they were stretching out, and the fingernails she’d been scratching Sawyer’s ar into a bird-monster, and she couldn’t let it happen The last time she had, she hadn’t been able to control it She couldn’t even remember what she’d done, but somebody had ended up dead She couldn’t risk it this ti her, she didn’t want to hurt hi, and in the few uy He didn’t deserve to get hurt, and she didn’t want to tear hi as hard as she could to stop the change She’d never tried to prevent herself fro into a mermaid before, or vice versa, so she didn’t co she knew for sure was that she had to get away frootten her down to an isolated dock, and her fear of being trapped was triggering the transfor to protect her by turning into aher talons, she clawed rip slipped and Gemma pulled away from him They were on the docks, and she only ran a few steps down from him She was in mid-transformation and had no idea what she looked like, but she knew she couldn’t be seen by the public

She crouched down, putting her hands over her head, and concentrated as hard as she could Her back had begun to itch, and she was afraid wingsstopped, and slowly the tingling began to fade as her body went back to nor?" Sawyer asked, and Ge down at her His ar him off, but none of his wounds looked particularly awful