“Then why don’t you tell us what’s really going on?” Selene pressed.

My cell went off again. “Crap.” I yanked it out, getting annoyed now.

So was Selene. She turned a stony gaze on me. “Who is it?”

I didn’t answer her. I couldn’t.

Leave now, Dusty, Paul’s message read. It’s dangerous. Don’t talk to her. Don’t do anything except get out.

An automatic jolt of fear went through me at his words. But doubt followed quick on its heels. What kind of danger could we be in inside a hospital? I glanced back at the door, which we’d left open. My mom was right there, peeking in on us every couple of seconds as she kept the police officer busy.

“Nobody,” I finally answered, closing the text once more. Selene returned her attention to Britney. “We know that Lance was in the alcove. Do you remember that?”

Britney paled. She opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out.

“You do remember, don’t you?” I said in a soft voice.

Tears filled Britney’s eyes. “Is he … is he all right?”

I tilted my head, surprised by her answer. It wasn’t what I was expecting. “Mostly … but he’s been cursed and we’re not sure what it was or how to take it off.”

Without warning, Britney let out a huge sob then burst into tears. “I’m sorry. It’s my fault. I did it. I didn’t mean to. It wasn’t supposed to be him. I messed up. I didn’t want to do it, but I had to. I had to.”

Selene and I exchanged a look.

“Wait, slow down.” I raised my hands. Britney sobbed again, her words disintegrating into garbled cries.

Selene reached out and touched Britney’s leg. “Shhhh. Try to calm down.”

A few seconds later, her cries died away.

“Okay,” Selene said, exhaling in relief. “Are you saying that you cursed Lance?”

Britney didn’t respond, just sat there, red-eyed and frozen.

“You can just nod if you want,” said Selene.

I sucked in a breath as Britney did. It didn’t make sense. If Britney attacked Lance then who had attacked her?

“Why did you attack him?” Selene said. The sound of her voice made my skin tingle, and I realized she was invoking her siren magic. Not much, just enough to lure Britney out of her paralyzing fear.

“I didn’t mean to.” Britney’s voice quavered. She pulled the bedcovers up over her arms.

Selene patted her again. “It’s okay. So you didn’t mean to attack Lance. Your target was someone else, right?”

“Who?” I said, and Britney flinched.

Selene didn’t glare at me, but I got the feeling she wanted to. It seemed of the three of us on the Dream Team, Selene had the best knack for interrogating. With her siren skills, she should always play good cop.

“Who did you mean to curse?” Selene said, her voice almost singsong now.

For a second I didn’t think Britney would answer, but then she said, “Eli.”

A weakness struck my knees and I grabbed the bed rail to steady myself.

Without any prompting, Britney went on, the words spilling out of her. “I left the message in his dorm room, knowing he would meet me in the alcove. But when Lance showed up instead, I panicked.”

“Why did you want to curse Eli?” I said.

Britney looked at me, clamming up once more.

“Who wanted you to do it?” Selene said. The question took me by surprise. It seemed Selene had made far more sense out of Britney’s crying fit than I had.

Britney bit her lip.

“Come on,” Selene said. My skin tingled again, and I could almost hear the hum of magic on the air. I half-expected Selene to start singing. “Tell us who wanted you to do it.”

“I can’t,” Britney cried. “You don’t understand. He has something on my mother. He knows—”

My cell chimed again. I closed my eyes, fury heating my skin. I yanked it out of my pocket, determined to shut it off this time.

Please, the message read. Please, Dusty. Don’t do this.

My hand lingered over the END button. If I held it down long enough, the phone would shut off.

“Who knows?” Selene said, not bothering to ask me about the cell this time. “And knows what?”

Britney shook her head, tears in her eyes again.

“Who is it?” Selene pressed.

“I can’t tell you.” The tears spilled over.

“Yes, you can.” The definite hum of music sounded in Selene’s voice, and the room filled with her siren magic.

I could see Britney struggling against it, caught between her terror and the desire to give into the siren’s call.

“Stop it, Selene,” I said.

She didn’t hear me, but asked her question again, the music-magic intensifying.

“Stop it, Selene,” I said again, louder this time. I knew what it felt like to have that power used against you. It wasn’t right to do it to Britney.

“It’s—” Britney’s voice cut off. For a second nothing happened. She just stared at us, frozen in place.

But then the mermaid began to shriek.

19

The Target

It wasn’t a normal scream, but the fierce, terrible sound of a mermaid in pain, the kind of thing that was dangerous to hear without the high density of water to attenuate the frequency. The handheld mirror sitting on the end table beside the bed cracked. I covered my ears and hunched over, that noise like a hatchet to my skull. On the foot of the bed, Selene was doing the same, both of us paralyzed by the screams.