"You have," Claire said, and cleared her throat, trying to ignore the ache. "Myrnin, you know us. Stop. Just stop and think, okay?"
He stared at her, and she saw that he was trying--groping for the lost threads of his life. She saw how it frightened him to feel this way, too. Maybe he'd enjoyed it, on some level; maybe it had felt like freedom, not worrying about anyone but himself and Ada.
But that wasn't him. Not anymore. It hadn't been for years.
"Claire," he said, and took a step forward. "Claire, I think . . . I think I . . . forgot something . . . about--I don't think this is right. I don't think any of this is right. And I think I know . . . I think I know Ada--"
He stopped and turned to look at the portal an instant before Claire felt the flash of power from it. "No!" he snapped, and stretched out a hand toward the doorway, which was starting to spark and flicker with color. "No one else comes in!"
She couldn't let him stop this, no matter what happened, but she felt sick about it. She'd been close, so close to breaking through . . . and now it was gone again.
Claire scooped up the fallen stake and lunged for his back.
She didn't make it, of course; Myrnin was too fast, and too alert. He whirled, grabbed her arm, and held the point of the stake an inch from his chest, staring right into her eyes.
"Oh, child," he said. "You shouldn't have done that."
But she'd done exactly what she'd meant to do, and in the next second, power rushed through the room, crackling along her skin, and Amelie stepped through the portal behind Myrnin, shining like a white diamond in the dim light. Behind her came two more vampire guards, and Oliver. But Oliver wasn't going to be any help, because he was wearing silver chains on his wrists and ankles.
He could hardly stand, Claire realized. He looked terrible.
Myrnin forced Claire to drop the stake, and held on to her wrist as he turned to face Amelie, bowing low from the waist. "Founder."
"Myrnin," Amelie said, as the portal dissolved into black behind her party. "I seem to have interrupted. I recognize the girl you have in hand, and West, of course." West, looking very unhappy, loosened the bow and removed the arrow from the string, bowing to Amelie. With a glance at Frank, she walked over to stand with the new arrivals, signaling a change in her allegiance. Amelie fixed her attention on Frank, and then Michael, who was still on the ground. Eve was kneeling next to him, trying to help him get up. "This doesn't seem to be going well for you, Mr. Collins," she said. "I suggest you take these children and withdraw while you have the chance."
"No," Michael said raggedly, and staggered to his feet.
And Shane said, "We're not going without Claire."
"I assure you, boys, you will be going, one way or another," Amelie said. "Myrnin. Give the girl to me, and I will deal with this intrusion."
"But--"
"Do you doubt that I will act in the best interests of Morganville?" she asked, holding his gaze. "Have you ever doubted that, in all our years together?"
"But they have Ada," he said, and his voice was small and lost and plaintive. "You have to make them give her back. Please." "I will," Amelie said. "But first, let me have the girl."
Myrnin nodded and shoved Claire at her.
Claire tried to twist aside, but Amelie, without seeming to move at all, was somehow in the way. She took hold of Claire's arm in an ice-cold iron grip, and looked at her with even colder eyes. "Be still," she said. "I'll deal with you in a moment." Claire felt her last hope die, because there was no hint of real recognition in Amelie's face.
Frank said, "You'd better deal with me before you settle with some little schoolkid, or I'll get offended."
"You'd better deal with all of us," Shane said. "I'm not going to let you hurt her."
"You sound brave, Shane, for someone who doesn't remember being in my presence before," Amelie said. "But I won't hurt her. Or any of you." She looked at Claire again, and this time there was warmth in her eyes. A kind of comfort. "I assure you, I am fully aware of what I am doing here."
She remembered. Relief hit Claire, and she sighed as the tension left her body. Things were still dangerous, no question about that, but with Amelie on their side, surely it was going to be all right. She could convince Myrnin to do the right thing.
"They have Ada," Myrnin said. "You have to find her. Please."
Amelie let Claire go and moved her off to the side, out of Myrnin's reach. "There's no need," she said, and the compassion in her voice was a kind of pain all its own. "We both know where Ada is, Myrnin. I know you remember."
He didn't move, and didn't speak, but there was a frantic, feverish glitter in his eyes.
"You've been ill. Ada was caring for you, but she fell ill as well. Weakness has always triggered bad things in you, and she grew weak. One day--"
"No," Myrnin said. It wasn't so much a denial as a plea for her not to keep talking.
"One day I came here and found her dead. Drained of life."
"No!"
"It was too late to save her, but you'd tried, once you came to your senses. Heaven knows you'd tried. You did your best to preserve what you could of her--don't you remember?"
"No, no, no!" Myrnin sank down to a crouch, hiding his face in his hands. "No, it isn't true!"
"You know it is," Amelie said, and walked forward to put a gentle hand on his shoulder. "My friend, this isn't the first time we've had this conversation. You become ill, and you forget, and you wait for her to come back. But Ada isn't coming back, is she? She's gone."