The Curse [A Watersong fanfiction]

Chapter 2

       Gemma has waited until she was certain that Harper was asleep before leaving. She kept her door open, keeping watch, from her bed, of Harper's bedroom. After her swim, she and Thea had agreed to meet at midnight at the cliff, then they would set off to find their two siren replacements. When the light flicked off, Gemma began packing. She didn't wait to be certain that Harper was really asleep. She didn't have time to spare.

       She didn't carry a lot of things, just a few sundresses, and some lingerie. She doubted that Thea would have such an extensive array of lingerie as Penn or Lexi did.

       Gemma crept out of the house, leaving through the back door. She made sure she stayed in the shadows, so Alex couldn't see her from his window, but his bedroom light was not switched on.

       Gemma hurriedly made her way to the cliff. She didn't want to take her car, or even her bike. It would only show her sister where she'd went.

       She reached the cliff in record's time, and even with full moon approaching, Gemma couldn't help but stare up at it. It was mostly round, with a crescent missing.

"Gemma." She turned and saw Thea sitting on the cliff, her legs dangling over the edge. She wore a sundress, similar to Gemma's.

       "Thea." Gemma walked towards her, her steps feeling heavy and weak.

       "Are you ready?" Thea asked, even though she didn't sound very ready herself. Gemma nodded, but she doubted she would ever be.

       Thea stood up and kicked her bottoms off, then stuffed them inside her bra. She casted one last look towards the house and leapt off the cliff. Gemma kicked her bottoms off too, and stuffed them inside her bag. Her heart beat too quickly, and her mouth felt dry. Tears brimmed her eyes, but she blinked them away. She could only hope that the ocean water would help wash away her fears and troubles, like it always did.

       She did a run start and jumped off the cliff. The wind whipped at her face and her hair flew back. Landing into the water was painful, but the tingling sensation at her legs distracted her. The transformation felt slower this time, and in that few seconds, Gemma had to hold her breath. Thea waited at the bottom, sitting partially on he rocks that lined the feet of the cliff. Any cuts and grazes that she might have sustained from the jump off had healed, and she looked like a beautiful mermaid. Exactly like those that the fairy tales often depicted.

       Upon seeing Gemma, Thea splashed into the water and swam off. She swam quickly, hoping to reach another beach city by dawn.

       "Where are we going?" Gemma asked, swimming alongside her. Se had trouble keeping up, perhaps from her hunger, but that was the least of her worries.

       Thea shrugged, "anywhere with girls." Gemma rolled her eyes. "There are girls everywhere."

       "To be specific, girls who aren't crazy excited about being a siren," Thea said, referring to Liv, "or girls who are extremely against being one," She glared at Gemma.

       "Hey, I'm trying." Gemma told her. Thea simply shrugged again.

Thea and Gemma swam in silence after that, content with being with each other and the water. They only spoke to ask if the other was tired, and that was it.

It was early morning when Thea decided to swim towards shore. They'd swam past multiple beaches, but she'd said they were too close to Capri, whatever that meant.

Gemma swam behind her. Her hunger was getting worse, even the ocean couldn't make it any less. She needed to eat soon. Very soon.

It took almost an hour to reach the shore. Neither Gemma nor Thea knew where they were, and neither cared. They just needed to find girls.

"We need to eat. You need to eat." Thea said as they neared land. She swam towards the end of the beach, where there were many rocks. Gemma pushes herself onto one of the rocks and waited for her tail to change back to legs. She wriggled her toes, trying to get used to the feel of them. She'd never swam for so long before, and it felt weird.

Gemma shook Thea's words. "I don't." Thea glared at her. She herself hadn't eaten in a while.

"Don't make this difficult for yourself, Gemma." Thea sighed. They lay on the rocks for a while, then Gemma stood up.

"We should start the search. Time is running out." Gemma said, trying to keep her mind off the food. Her body craved for it. She needed it, but she refused it.

Thea followed her as she made her way through the streets. It was early in the morning, but some stores were already open. There were few people, save for a few drunkards.

"You know, three hundred years ago, I fell in love with this guy." Thea said, walking up next to Gemma. Gemma looked over and saw a wistful, but hurt, expression on Thea's normally bored one.

"But when I asked him to run away with me, he called me a monster." She continued, "He said I was like Penn, a monster who killed and murdered heartlessly. So for him, I stopped eating. It nearly killed me. I started seeing things, I began to hate the water, and my hair started falling out. It was horrible.

"Eventually, I lost control of myself and killed him. Killed him and ate his heart. I was so hungry, I could've eaten the whole of him." Thea laughs dryly.

"Was he that important?" Gemma asked after a few seconds of silence.

"If Alex called you a monster, you'd stop eating too." Thea replied. She sighs, "Gia was killed."

"Gia?" Gemma questioned, "as in one of the original sirens?"

Thea nods, "Penn loved the man too, and she found a few of the letters I exchanged with him. Gia, sweet and fair Gia, was murdered because Penn thought she was the one who did it." Thea swallows, trying to hold back tears. She'd never spoken about it before, but she decided she needed to start trusting Gemma. It was her, after all, who didn't mind having Gemma with the group.

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Don't resist yourself, Gemma. You'll only cause yourself more agony. And when it happens, more people will get hurt.

"There." Thea pointed to two men turning into an alley. "They'll probably cause more trouble later. Get rid of them, and you'll help save everyone a little bit of trouble."

Gemma stared after them, "you said you killed those who deserved to be killed."

"They do deserve to be killed. They run around, drinking and terrorizing people. It's the least you can do to help those here."

Gemma looks into the alley. Suddenly, a shrill scream comes from the alley.

Thea shrugged when Gemma looked over to her. They dashed into the alley, and a girl was being cornered by the two drunkards.

"What did I tell you?" Thea asked smugly.