NICO

I veered the Mustang into the highway while Rosemary talked in the passenger seat, regarding me warily.

"Our parents are separated. I live with my dad and Izzy lives with our mom in Philly. I was on my way to visit when I found you and Izzy."

"That's... That's unbelievable," I remarked.

Although Rosemary's story was extremely far-fetched, I genuinely believed that she was telling the truth. Obviously, the Fates meant for us to meet like this; they were always sending these sort of curveballs in my life. Bianca's spirit just had to be living inside a little girl with an older sister who coincidentally was the first person I encountered after rescuing the aforementioned little girl/reincarnation of Bianca.

"But why ditch me? I was trying to help."

"I was going to bring Izzy to my dad's place in Oregon. I didn't want you getting in the way."

I furrowed my eyebrows at Rosemary. "If you told me that earlier, I would've understood."

Rosemary exhaled tiredly. "It's complicated."

I wanted to interrogate her more, but I could tell by her expression that the last thing she wanted was more questions. Still, there was one thought nagging at me...

"You know," I said carefully, "You don't seem that bothered about your mom's death."

Rosemary glared at me. "I am bothered! I'm more than bothered."

"Most people in mourning wouldn't use the word 'bothered' to describe their feelings," I pointed out.

Rosemary stared stonily ahead. "My relationship with my mom is rocky to say the least. I mean, it was rocky."

I raised an eyebrow. "Really, it was that bad? So bad that you didn't seem the slightest bit interested in going to the scene of the accident? You know, your mom's probably still in that car. Was your relationship with your mom so terrible that you don't mind letting her corpse burn?"

"Yes," snapped Rosemary. There were tears in her eyes. "Yes, Nico, it was. My mom walked out on me when I was three so she could become a musician. And whenever she visited, she was nothing but terrible to everyone around her! She made it very clear that she didn't want anything to do with me and my dad. I don't want to get too into detail but I can assure that yes, I don't really care that she's burning away and I hate that I don't care."

Whoa. I was not prepared for that.

Izzy stirred from the backseat. Apparently, Rosemary managed to put a seatbelt on Izzy before taking off at Tweedie's.

"Peri?" Izzy said groggily.

Rosemary's expression suddenly softened. "Hey Iz. How're you doing?"

The little girl rubbed her eyes, which were a striking pale green like Rosemary's. "I saw fire... Where's mommy?"

"Mommy's not here right now," Rosemary said soothingly. I could detect the melancholy in her voice. "We're going to Dad's house."

Izzy perked up. "Dad's? With the swing?"

"That's right. Now go take a nap. When you wake up, I'm gonna buy you a Happy Meal."

Izzy beamed. "Yay!"

"But only if you nap," Rosemary reminded.

"Okay." Izzy closed her eyes and drifted off.

Rosemary's expression toughened again. "Well Nico, you're now aware of my mommy issues. What else do you want to know?"

A thought occurred to me. It's all part of the road trip, the Grey Sister had said. Right now, I couldn't blame Tempest's sisters for getting all upset about revealing too much info. Figuring out my next steps was almost too easy.

"I want to know if you'll give me a ride to L.A.," I told Rosemary.

"Excuse me?"

I pulled up at the side of the road. Everything was all becoming very clear to me. Today, the Fates did not have a mere train ride in store for me. I was meant to find Bianca's reincarnation as well as the reincarnation's crazy older sister. I wasn't too sure why, but I had a feeling I should stick with the two auburn-haired sisters to find out.

Giving Rosemary my most piercing stare, I told her, "I was supposed to be on an Amtrak train to Los Angeles when I saved your sister. Letting me ride in your Mustang is the least you can do, considering that if it wasn't for me, Izzy would've suffocated to death in your mom's car. Besides, you're going west anyway."

Rosemary scowled. "Can't I just buy you a train ticket?"

"No," I refused, "You're gonna let me ride in your car all the way to L.A. or I'm calling the cops."

"You wouldn't."

"Try me."

"You..." Rosemary leaned back into her seat, exasperated. "You're crazy, you know that? You know how far California is from Pennsylvania? Pretty damn far. And you know how long the drive-?"

"I'm perfectly aware of all that," I interrupted, "And I'm not the crazy one here. I'm not the one who abandons strangers - little-sister-rescuing strangers - in small-town restaurants. Do we have ourselves a deal?"

Glaring, Rosemary crossed her arms and agreed. "Yes."

"Promise you'll bring me to L.A. with no attempts to ditch me?"

"Fine."

"Pinkie promise?"

"What are you? Nine?"

"Promise over the River Styx?" I knew it was wrong to trick a mortal into making such a vow, but I wasn't so sure I trusted Rosemary yet.

Perplexed, Rosemary raised an eyebrow. "You want me to promise over a river of sticks?"

"Just say you promise."

"I promise." Thunder boomed overhead.

"Good."

Rosemary huffed. "Is there anything else? Do you want me to sign a blood oath or something?"

"One thing." I restarted the engine. "Your name's not Rosemary, isn't it?"

The tiniest of smiles appeared on her face. "Nope. It's Peri."

A/N:

To my reviewers...

Guest: Thank you! And you can expect more plot twists to come ;)

Pusillanimity (By the way, I had to look up the definition of your penname. I'm definitely gonna use the word "pusillanimity" more often!): Ghostbusters? You're very close ;)

The next chapter is going to be narrated by Peri/Not Rosemary. You're going to find out a few interesting things about her...

On a very unrelated note, can anyone recommend me good Tumblr blogs to follow?