Polynesian descent, 4’1” and 65 lbs., frail, with waist-length black hair. No leads on the identity of her captor(s), but incendiaries were used in the forced entry of the Wallace household. Suspects should be considered armed and dangerous. If you have any information pertaining to Penny’s whereabouts, call . . .
As if the description wasn’t definitive enough, attached to the bottom was a school picture of Rose, stoic and unsmiling as ever, but still six years old. Now this little girl’s mind was trapped in the body of a sixteen-year-old, and she was as lost and frightened as ever.
Ash realized that she had been unconsciously touching the laptop screen and let her hand fall away. She’d become so accustomed to calling her sister Rose that it was hard to imagine her by any other name . . . and even harder to imagine her fitting in with a nice family out in the Massachusetts countryside.
The strangest part: Monterey, Massachusetts, was only a hundred miles and a state border away from Scarsdale, New York, where Ash grew up.
All those years living a normal life, and not only did Ash never realize she had a younger sister—but that sister was living only a two-hour drive from her.
Modo squeezed her shoulder. “I guess that description of Rose is a little outdated now.”
Ash shook her head. “Yeah, but I doubt they’ll understand if we ask them to update it to, ‘Five-foot-nine, one hundred forty pounds, supernaturally aged ten years by a goddess of death. Just follow the sound of devastating explosions.’ ”
“Not to be a downer,” Modo said, “but what good will this do you now? I really doubt Colt, Eve, and Proteus are playing house with Rose at the same house where she grew up. Especially, you know, with her parents there.”
“It’s not Rose I’m expecting to find there,” Ash said. “Rose might be in a sixteen-year-old body, but she still has the mind of a six-year-old. And children respond to things that remind them of safety and home. I’m hoping I can find out more about her, take a look around her old room, anything at all that might get her to trust me instead of Colt, especially since our last encounter concluded with Rose hammering me with an explosive blast.” And sending one of my best friends flying off the apartment building to her death.
Modo snorted. “So you’re going to lure yoursixteen-going-on-six-year-old sister away from a bunch of killers . . . using, like, a nursery rhyme or a teddy bear? Why do I feel like this can only end with the teddy bear—and the person holding it—getting blown up?”
Ash didn’t have a retort for that. The plan was a crap-shoot, at best. But right now the odds were four against one (unless she counted Modo, in which case it was really just four against one and a half, considering he’d only found out that he was a god less than twenty-four hours ago and didn’t yet know how to wield his powers). Any possible advantage she could get before facing Colt again was worth looking into.
After all, her soul was at stake.
Ash held out her hands. “I’m going to need the keys to the Modo-mobile.” When Modo just gave her a funny look and didn’t hand them over, she said, “Come on, Pop. I promise to return it with a full tank.”
“I,” Modo said definitively, “am coming with you. No one—I mean no one—drives Sir Revsalot but me.”
Ash pinched the bridge of her nose. “Holding back so many comments right now. Look,” she said, putting a hand on his shoulder. “I would very much welcome your company if we were just going sightseeing through Massachusetts. But I barely saved your life yesterday when you were out in the open, and that was against only one god. If the entire gang comes out and tries to go all West Side Story on the two of us on our way to Monterey, I won’t be able to protect you.”
Modo gazed at her for a long moment, then finally sighed. He limped over to his jeans, which were balled up beside
As if the description wasn’t definitive enough, attached to the bottom was a school picture of Rose, stoic and unsmiling as ever, but still six years old. Now this little girl’s mind was trapped in the body of a sixteen-year-old, and she was as lost and frightened as ever.
Ash realized that she had been unconsciously touching the laptop screen and let her hand fall away. She’d become so accustomed to calling her sister Rose that it was hard to imagine her by any other name . . . and even harder to imagine her fitting in with a nice family out in the Massachusetts countryside.
The strangest part: Monterey, Massachusetts, was only a hundred miles and a state border away from Scarsdale, New York, where Ash grew up.
All those years living a normal life, and not only did Ash never realize she had a younger sister—but that sister was living only a two-hour drive from her.
Modo squeezed her shoulder. “I guess that description of Rose is a little outdated now.”
Ash shook her head. “Yeah, but I doubt they’ll understand if we ask them to update it to, ‘Five-foot-nine, one hundred forty pounds, supernaturally aged ten years by a goddess of death. Just follow the sound of devastating explosions.’ ”
“Not to be a downer,” Modo said, “but what good will this do you now? I really doubt Colt, Eve, and Proteus are playing house with Rose at the same house where she grew up. Especially, you know, with her parents there.”
“It’s not Rose I’m expecting to find there,” Ash said. “Rose might be in a sixteen-year-old body, but she still has the mind of a six-year-old. And children respond to things that remind them of safety and home. I’m hoping I can find out more about her, take a look around her old room, anything at all that might get her to trust me instead of Colt, especially since our last encounter concluded with Rose hammering me with an explosive blast.” And sending one of my best friends flying off the apartment building to her death.
Modo snorted. “So you’re going to lure yoursixteen-going-on-six-year-old sister away from a bunch of killers . . . using, like, a nursery rhyme or a teddy bear? Why do I feel like this can only end with the teddy bear—and the person holding it—getting blown up?”
Ash didn’t have a retort for that. The plan was a crap-shoot, at best. But right now the odds were four against one (unless she counted Modo, in which case it was really just four against one and a half, considering he’d only found out that he was a god less than twenty-four hours ago and didn’t yet know how to wield his powers). Any possible advantage she could get before facing Colt again was worth looking into.
After all, her soul was at stake.
Ash held out her hands. “I’m going to need the keys to the Modo-mobile.” When Modo just gave her a funny look and didn’t hand them over, she said, “Come on, Pop. I promise to return it with a full tank.”
“I,” Modo said definitively, “am coming with you. No one—I mean no one—drives Sir Revsalot but me.”
Ash pinched the bridge of her nose. “Holding back so many comments right now. Look,” she said, putting a hand on his shoulder. “I would very much welcome your company if we were just going sightseeing through Massachusetts. But I barely saved your life yesterday when you were out in the open, and that was against only one god. If the entire gang comes out and tries to go all West Side Story on the two of us on our way to Monterey, I won’t be able to protect you.”
Modo gazed at her for a long moment, then finally sighed. He limped over to his jeans, which were balled up beside
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