Still subject to further editing. For context: Gina and the triplets have retreated to the bedroom to discuss how to explain Gina’s appearance to Seth. Gina’s point of view.
I turn to them after shutting the door tight.
“He doesn’t know,” says Eadie in a rush. “He never saw your tail. He can’t remember. You must have glamoured him. I’ll just tell him—”
“We cannot tamper with his memories, Eadie,” I say. I look at Larimar and Lazuli so they know I mean it includes them. “No one uses siren magic on him. Got it?”
The impact of my words shows on their faces. They exchange looks of suppressed panic, and it’s remarkable how alike they are.
“What do we tell him then?” Larimar whispers, tugging her sleeves over her hands, so only her fingers poke out, though the house is warm.
Lazuli grips her elbows with her palms. “We have no reasonable explanation for how you can be here.”
Eadie opens her mouth but Lazuli goes on: “You can’t have just washed up on shore. This isn’t some halfwit we’re talking about here. It’s Seth. He’ll know we’re lying.”
Eadie snaps her mouth closed and her shoulders drop.
“Even if it was plausible that you washed up on shore, we have no explanation for why we haven’t taken you to the authorities after all this time,” says Larimar.
Eadie is visibly trembling. “He can’t know, though. I’m not ready for that.”
“I don’t think you have a choice, Eadie,” Lazuli says simply.
I squeeze Eadie’s shoulder. “She’s right. I’m sorry.”
There is fear in her eyes as she whispers, “But what if he hates me?”
“He won’t hate you, Eadie,” Larimar says, though she sounds unconvincing.
At the same time, Lazuli says, “That’s a risk you’ll have to take.”
Eadie’s fingers twist and twist. “Why, though?”
“Seth has information that I need. I don’t remember anything about that night, but he does. If we tamper with his memories, the truth—my truth—will be lost forever.”
I watch it sink in. Eadie nods.
“I need Seth’s memory to be as intact as possible, which means if I glamoured him—which sounds pretty likely—then I need to remove that glamour.”
Larimar bites her lip. “He’s not just going to learn what his girlfriend is, but what all of us are, and Jana, too. We’re in this together.”
From downstairs we hear Warren yell, “Girls? I thought we were supposed to be having a barbecue?”
To find out what happens next…
Ultramarine releases March 31, 2024.
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