"Did you hear me?" he snapped. "Go. No time now. Get out. Come tomorrow."
"But -- I don't know how to get home. Or back here."
He stared for a second, and then he laughed. "Someone will have to bring you. I can't configure the system just for you!"
Configure the system? Claire stopped, staring back. "What system? These -- doorways?" The implications were dizzying. If Myrnin understood the doorways, controlled the doorways, the ones that appeared and disappeared out of nowhere in Morganville ... I need to know. I need to know how that works.
"Yes, I am responsible for that, among many other things," he said. "Later, Claire. Go now. Talk tomorrow."
He took hold of her and bodily shoved her through the doorway, and slammed it behind her. She heard his hand hit the wood with stunning force.
"Lock it!" he shouted. Claire dug the key out of her pocket. She could barely get it in the lock; the light was bad here, and her hands were shaking. But she managed, and heard the solid click as the tumblers fell. "Take the key!" Myrnin yelled.
"But -- "
"You're responsible for me now, Claire. You must keep me safe." Myrnin's voice had fallen lower now, as if he'd gotten tired. "Keep me safe from everyone."
And then he started ... crying.
"Myrnin?" Claire said, bending closer to the door. "Are you okay? Should I come in and -- "
The whole door vibrated with the force of his blow. Claire scrambled backward, shocked.
And the crying continued. Lost, little-boy crying.
Claire hesitated for a few seconds, then turned to see that Amelie hadn't left after all. She was standing quietly by the desk, in the glow of the single candle, and her expression was composed, but sad.
"Myrnin's mind is not what it once was. He has periods of lucidity, however. And at all costs, you must take full advantage of these to learn what he has to teach. It can't be lost, Claire. It must not be lost. There are things he does that --" Amelie shook her head. "There are projects in motion that must continue."
Claire's heart was racing, her whole body shaking. "He's crazy, he's a vampire, and you want me to be his student."
"No," Amelie said. "I require you to be his student. You will comply, Claire, by the rules of the contract you signed of your own free will. This is valuable work. I would not risk you unnecessarily."
Have you explained to her the risks? Myrnin had asked that. "What risks?" Claire demanded.
Amelie merely pointed to the bookcase, where her backpack still leaned. Claire grabbed it and hauled it to her shoulder -- and paused, because a doorway had formed in the blank area of the wall. A solid wooden door, with a plain knob. Identical to those at the university. "Open it," Amelie said.
"But -- "
"Open the door, Claire."
Claire did, and the glare of fluorescent lights and the dead, air-conditioned smell of the AdministrationBuilding swept over her in a rush.
Amelie blew out the light. In the darkness, Claire couldn't see her anymore.
"Be ready at four o'clock tomorrow in the University Centre," Amelie said. "Sam will fetch you. I suggest you do the reading Myrnin requires of you. And Claire -- tell no one what you're doing here. Absolutely no one."
It wasn't until Claire was in the hall, with the door shut, that she realized Amelie hadn't answered her question. She opened the door again, but -- there was just a room piled with discarded, broken furniture. Something moved furtively in the corner. There was a window with crooked blinds, but no Amelie. No cave of books. No Myrnin.
"He's sick," Claire said aloud, to whatever was rustling in the corner behind a three-legged desk. "That's why she talked to him like that. He's old, and he's sick. Maybe even dying."
She shut the door gently, adjusted the weight of her backpack, and looked down at the two ancient books in her hand.
Last Will and Testament.
She hoped that wasn't a sign of her future.
Eve chattered on about her day on the drive back, talking about some boy who had totally tried to ask her out, and Amy's boyfriend Chad who'd come by to help clean up and was a total sweetheart, and how her boss was a toerag but at least he'd given her a twenty-cent-an-hour raise. "I think that's just for not quitting in the first couple of weeks," Eve said, but she sounded pretty jacked about it, and Claire was pleased for her. "Yeah, it's only a couple more dollars a week, but -- "
"But it's something," Claire nodded. "Congratulations, Eve. You deserve it. You're really good at this. I'll bet you could run the whole thing if you wanted."
"Me? Manager?" Eve laughed so hard she snorted. "Yeah, like I'd be able to order people around and have anybody listen to me. Get serious."
"No, I mean it. You're nice, people like you, you know what you're doing. You could."
Eve shot her a sideways look that was almost a frown. "You're serious."
"Yep."
"I don't know if I'm ready for management. Don't you have to wear a tie for that?"
"You've got one," Claire said solemnly.
"Only one with the Grim Reaper on it. Hey, wait. That could be my management style! Screw up and I'll kill you." Eve grinned. "They ought to teach that in business school."
"They probably do here," Claire sighed.
"What's up with you, CB?" CB stood for Claire Bear, which was Eve's funny nickname for her. Claire didn't think she much resembled a bear, not even the stuffed Gund variety. "You seem really, I don't know, thoughtful."
"Yeah, well -- " She couldn't talk to Eve about Myrnin. "Homework and stuff." Yeah, it was just that she'd never had quite this kind of pass/fail pressure before. She'd flipped through the book on Egyptian inscriptions. That was pretty straightforward, though she wasn't sure how actually Egyptian it all was. Interesting, though. The other one, Last Will and Testament, was lots tougher. Tons of symbols in some weird notation she didn't understand. She'd be up all night trying to make sure she remembered even the basics. "Eve ... has anybody ever broken their contract in Morganville? I mean, and lived?"