For the adults in the room, the words said by the little girl were chilling. It could not have been clearer what had been done by her grandfather.
Hades let out a snarl of a curse word that made Leah nudge him with her elbow.
"That old man," Hades growled, his face twisting in fury. "He turned his own granddaughter into a walking, talking lab rat for an unknown mineral." He looked at Ala, his expression softening into something uncharacteristically tender. "You poor thing. Now I feel bad for the way I talked to you. If your grandfather was here with us, I would put one between his eyes for you."
"One what?" Ala asked, eyes as wide as a baby owl.
Sunshine reached over and rubbed Ala's back.
While she did, she silently signaled the System. "Scan her. Now. Find out if she is a walking time bomb."
Meanwhile, she smiled gently at Hades, apologized for pushing her too hard.
A second later, the System's voice echoed in Sunshine's head.
