She heard a long, slow creak of metal, and stopped for a fatal second to look over her shoulder.
The cage door was open, and Myrnin was out. He was still wearing his little Ben Franklin glasses, but what was in his eyes looked like something that had crawled straight out of hell.
"Oh crap," she whispered, and looked desperately toward the stairs.
Too far. Way too far, too many obstacles between her and safety, and he could move like a snake. He'd get there first.
She was closer to the door with the lock on it than the stairs, and the key was still clutched tight in her hand. She'd have to abandon her book bag, no way to get to it now.
She didn't have time to think about it. The cut Jason had put on her wrist was still fresh, Myrnin could still smell it, and it was ringing the dinner bell loud and clear.
She kicked stacks of books out of the way, jumped over the pile of junk, and raced for the locked door with the key outstretched. Her hands were shaking, and it took two tries to get the oversized key into the hole, and when she started to turn it there was a terrible moment of utter panic because it wouldn't turn ...
And then it did, a smooth metallic slide of levers and pins, and the door swung open.
On the other side was her own living room, and Shane was sitting on the couch with his back to her, playing a video game.
Claire paused, utterly off balance. That couldn't be real, could it? She couldn't be seeing him, right there, but she could hear all of the computerized grunts and punches and wet bloody sounds from whatever fight game he had on. She could smell the house. Chili. He'd made chili. He still hadn't taken some of his boxes back upstairs. They were piled in the corner.
"Shane -- " she whispered, and reached out, through the doorway. She could feel something there, like a slight pressure, and the hair on her arm shivered and prickled.
Shane put the game on pause, and slowly stood up. "Claire?" He was looking in the wrong place, he was looking up, at the staircase.
But he'd heard her. And that meant she could just step right through and she'd be safe.
She never got the chance.
Myrnin's hand landed on her shoulder, dragged her back, and as Shane started to turn toward them, Myrnin slammed the door and turned the key in the lock.
She didn't dare move. He was crazy, she could see it, there was nothing in him that recognized her at all. Amelie's warnings screamed through her head, and Sam's. She'd underestimated Myrnin, and that was what had gotten all the other would-be apprentices killed.
Myrnin was shaking, and his broken hands were crunched into fists. His blood was dripping on an open copy of an old chemistry textbook that lay by his feet.
"Who are you?" he whispered. The accent she'd noted the first time she'd met him was back, and strong. Really strong. "Child, what brings you here? Do you not understand your danger? Who is your Patron? Were you sent as a gift?"
She closed her eyes for a second, then opened them and looked right into his eyes and said, "You're Myrnin, and I'm Claire, I'm your friend. I'm your friend, okay? You should let me help you. You hurt yourself."
She pointed to his injured fingers. Myrnin looked down, and he seemed surprised, as if he hadn't felt it at all. Which maybe he hadn't.
He took two steps backward, ran into a lab table, and knocked over a stand that held empty glass test tubes. They fell and shattered on the dirty stone floor.
Myrnin staggered, then sank down to sit against the wall, his face covered by bloody hands, and began to rock back and forth. "It's wrong," he moaned. "There was something important, something I had to do. I can't remember what it was."
Claire watched him, still scared to death, and then sank down to a crouch across from him. "Myrnin," she said. "The door. The one I opened. Where does it go?"
"Door? Doorways. Moments in time, just moments, none of it stays, it flows like blood you know, just like blood. I tried to bottle it but it doesn't stay fresh. Time, I mean. Blood turns, and so does time. What's your name?"
"Claire, sir. My name's Claire."
He let his head fall back against the wall, and there were bloody tears running down his cheeks. "Don't trust me, Claire. Don't ever trust me." He bounced the back of his head off the wall with enough force to make Claire wince.
"I -- no sir. I won't."
"How long have I been your friend?"
"Not that long."
"I don't have friends," he said hollowly. "You don't, you know, when you're as old as I am. You have competitors, and you have allies, but not friends, never. You're too young, far too young to understand that." He closed his eyes for a moment, and when he opened them, he looked mostly sane. Mostly. "Amelie wants you to learn from me, yes? So you are my student?"
This time, Claire just nodded. Whatever the fit was, it was leaving him, and he was empty and tired and sad again. He took off his glasses, folded them, and put them in the pocket of his coat.
"You won't be able do it," he said. "You can't possiby learn quickly enough. I nearly killed you tonight, and next time I won't be able to stop. The others -- " He stopped, looked briefly sick, and cleared his throat. "I'm not -- I wasn't always like this, Claire. Please understand. Unlike many of my kind, I never wanted to be a monster. I only wanted to learn, and this was a way to learn forever."
Claire bit her lip. "I want to learn, too," she said. "I --Amelie wants me to help you, and learn from you. Do you think I'm smart enough?"
"Oh, you're smart enough. Could you master the skills, given enough time? Perhaps. And you'll have no choice in the matter; she'll keep you coming until you learn, or I destroy you." Myrnin slowly lifted his head and looked at her. Rational again, and very steady. "Did I remind you not to trust me?"