He stopped. He'd opened up a cut on his forehead, and blood that was slightly paler than a human's trickled down toward his eyes. It closed in seconds. "That's better," he breathed. "Now. You, new fledgling. You owe me a tribute, since you came here without permission. Choose."
"Choose what?" Michael asked.
"Which one I will have." Myrnin's fangs came down, lazy and terrifying, and he reached out for Claire. "I think I like this one."
Michael kicked him, right in the chest. It drove Myrnin back, but not very far.
Myrnin stopped smiling, and tilted his head forward. It made him look crazier. "That wasn't wise, blood child. Not wise at all."
"Run," Michael said to Claire, and shoved her toward the tunnel. Myrnin snarled and jumped, but Michael got him in midair and pulled him down, hard.
Myrnin missed grabbing onto Claire's foot by about three inches. She hesitated at the base of the ladder. Shane was still in there, maybe hurt. She couldn't just run.
She heard Michael let out a muffled cry, and then Myrnin said, in a voice that echoed silkily off the tunnel walls, "I like rats that run. Here, little rat. I'm going to save you for Ada."
She swarmed up the ladder as fast as she could. She was halfway up when she felt it vibrate. Myrnin had jumped and landed on the rungs just a few feet below her. He was almost within grabbing range.
Claire kicked him in the face as soon as he was closer.
"Ow!" he yelped, surprised. She did it again. "Ow, stop, you hellion! What do you think you're doing?"
She kicked him again, and he lost his grip on the ladder and fell. He landed on his back on the floor, looking surprised. His nose was bloody. He straightened it, and it snapped back in place with a soft crackle.
"Ow," he said again, and shook his head. "I won't let you live to regret that, you know."
Claire raced up the last few steps and flung herself out onto the lab floor, just as Myrnin tensed his legs and launched straight up, intending to grab her at the top of the ladder. He missed, hit the floor awkwardly, and rolled smoothly up to a crouch. Claire scrambled up to her feet and ran for her backpack. She didn't want to use the silver, but she didn't know what else to do. She couldn't just let him eat her.
Myrnin seemed to have temporarily lost interest in her. He was standing now, looking around at the lab, mouth half-open. "What . . . what in the devil happened? Did Ada do this? My. She's quite a good housekeeper, isn't she? I remember it being so much messier."
Claire grabbed her backpack on the run and unzipped it. She cut her fingers on the knife she'd crammed inside, but groped around for the hilt and got it out just as Myrnin stopped looking at the scenery and started running for her.
He leaped from table to table, zigzagging as she did, eyes glowing dull red. She saw Michael climb out of the tunnel below, and then pull Shane up after him. Neither one of them looked very good.
Claire waited until Myrnin got close, and then slashed the knife across his chest. She just missed his face.
He stopped, looked down, and said, "Oh, no, I loved this vest." And then the silver started to burn him. His eyes went from dull red to bright, furious crimson.
He looked at Claire. "No one fights back. That's strictly against the rules."
"This isn't you," she said. "Please don't do this."
For a second she actually thought she saw something surface in him, something she recognized . . . but then it was gone, and the old Myrnin, the cruel one, was back. "If you come here again," he said, "I'll tear you apart. This is my home. You're not welcome."
"Claire!" Michael yelled. "The portal! Go for it!"
She wasn't far from it, but there was no way she'd be able to beat Myrnin. He was deadly fast, and very angry. She needed to hurt him enough to stop him, at least temporarily.
She lunged, buried the knife in his shoulder, and left it there. She didn't want to do it, but it was the only thing she could think of in that split second. Myrnin was old, maybe even older than Amelie; the silver would hurt him, but it'd take a long time to kill him. She had to take the risk.
It worked. Myrnin howled and grabbed at her, missed, and swatted at the knife, but it was all silver. He couldn't get a grip without burning himself. Claire didn't wait. She sprinted for the portal just as Michael arrived there and pushed Shane through ahead of him.
Claire looked back over her shoulder. Myrnin was wrapping his torn vest around his hand to pull the knife out.
She plunged through and willed the network to lock down the entrance. She did it just in time; she felt the shock of Myrnin trying to drag it away from her, but she'd had practice at this now, and he was in pain.
His attempts to break through to the Glass House finally stopped.
Claire backed up until she bumped into the sofa, still staring at the blank wall. "Hey, house?" she called. "We have to keep Myrnin out. It's important."
The Glass House had a weird kind of sentience to it--nothing she could name, exactly, but sometimes she asked it to help, and sometimes it even listened. Just now, she felt a rush of warmth, a kind of energy flow that moved through her and toward the portal, overlaying it.
A psychic lock, done better than she could have done it herself.
"Thanks," she said. She wanted to collapse, but instead she looked around for Michael and Shane.
Shane was lying on the couch. Michael was still standing, but his shirt was shredded, and she saw the faint lines of injuries still healing up.
Shane had a cut on his head, and he still looked woozy. "Right," he mumbled. "Hope somebody remembered the ladder. That was a good ladder."