"Jason?" Wow, that was not the most comforting thing Claire could think of. "Tell me you're kidding."
"No, he's . . . I think he finally has his head on straight. He seems . . . different. Besides, I need somebody on my side, and he's the only one still around."
"Jason is the one who sold us out at the feast; do you remember that? He kicked this whole thing off! Talk about me being Bishop's favorite - at least I didn't choose it!" Not until today, anyway.
Eve sent her a fierce glare. "Jason's still my brother. Hey, I wish he wasn't, but it's not like I got to pick my family!"
"You sound like Shane talking about his dad."
"Did you just come here to insult me, or do you have a point? Because if you don't, I need to get to work." Eve pushed away from the doorway and snatched up a patent-leather backpack and a set of keys, which she rattled impatiently. "That's Latin for get the hell out, by the way. I'd think a college girl like you would know that."
Myrnin slowly sat up, eyes going wider. "I'm sorry, little pale creature - did you just give us an order?"
"Not so much you as her, but yeah, if you want to take it that way. Sure, you knockoff Lestat. Get the hell out of my house." Eve waited expectantly, but nothing happened. "Damn, that really doesn't work anymore, does it?"
"Not since the owner of the house turned vampire," Myrnin said, and stood up in that eerie way he had, as if gravity had just been canceled in his neighborhood. "Please feel free to try to make me leave. I'd quite enjoy it."
"Myrnin." Claire sighed. "Eve. We're not enemies, okay? Stop poking at each other."
That got her stares from both of them. Not nice ones.
"We're just . . . passing through," Claire said, and felt a surge of real regret. "On our way to . . . Where are we going?"
"Somewhere remote," Myrnin said. "And I don't intend to tell your angry little friend about it in any case. Finish your babble. It's time to go."
As if it was his idea, and they weren't getting tossed out. Claire couldn't resist rolling her eyes.
She caught Eve doing the same thing, and they shared sudden, sheepish grins.
"Sorry," Claire murmured. "Honest, Eve. I miss you."
"Yeah," Eve said. "Miss you, too, freak. Wish I didn't, sometimes, but there you go."
Claire wasn't sure which of them moved first, but it really didn't matter; they both put their arms out, and the hug felt warm and good and real. Eve kissed her quickly on the cheek, then let go and hurried out, hiding her tears. "I'm leaving!" she shouted back, and disappeared into the hallway. "That means you should, too!" The front door slammed.
As Myrnin opened the portal in the wall, Claire grabbed up Shane's sweatshirt and pulled it on over her clothes. It was huge on her. She rolled up the sleeves, and couldn't resist lifting the neck to smell it one more time.
Myrnin smirked. "There is no drama so great as that of a teenage girl," he said.
"Except yours."
"Did no one ever teach you to respect your elders?" He grabbed her by the shoulder and pushed her through the portal. "Mind the gap. Oh, and you have black lipstick on your cheek."
They came out in a dim, damp basement - a generic sort of place, full of molding boxes. "You take me to the nicest places," Claire said, and sneezed. Myrnin shoved boxes out of his way without bothering to answer, uncovering a set of iron steps that looked to be more rust than actual iron. Claire followed him up, testing every tread carefully along the way. The whole thing seemed ready to collapse, but they made it to the top, which featured . . . a locked door.
Myrnin patted his pockets, sighed, and punched the lock with his fist. It shattered. The door sagged open, and he bowed to her like an old-school gentleman. Which he was, she supposed, on his good days.
"Where are we?"
"Morganville High School."
Claire hadn't ever set foot in the place. She'd started her senior year at the age of fifteen, courtesy of her mutant freak-smart brain, but as they stepped out into the hallway, she felt like she'd traveled back in time. Only a year, actually, which made it especially weird.
Scarred, polished linoleum floors. Industrial green walls. Battered rows of lockers stretching the length of the hallway, most secured with dial locks. Butcher-paper posters and banners advertising the Drama Club's production of Annie Get Your Gun and the band bake sale. The place smelled like industrial cleaners, sweat, and stress.
Claire paused to stare at the oversize painted mascot on the cinder-block wall at the end of the hallway.
"What?" Myrnin asked impatiently.
"Seriously. You guys have no sense of subtlety, do you?" It was the same image the boy at Richard Morrell's office had worn on his T-shirt: a menacing viper lunging, with fangs displayed. Cute.
"I have no idea what you mean. Come on. We have very little time before classes let out - "
A loud bell clattered, and all up and down the hallway, doors banged open, releasing floods of young people Claire's own age, or close to it. Myrnin grabbed Claire's arm and yanked her onward, fast.
School. It was surreal how normal it all seemed - like nobody could handle the truth, so they just kept on with all the surface lies, and in that sense, Morganville High was just like the rest of the town. All the chatter seemed falsely bright, and kids walked in thick groups, seeking comfort and protection.
They all avoided Myrnin and Claire, although everybody looked at them. She heard people talking. Great. I'm famous in high school, finally.
Another quick left turn led through a set of double doors, and the noise of feet, talk, and locker doors slamming faded behind them into velvety silence. Myrnin prodded her onward. More classrooms, but these were dark and empty.
"They don't use this part of the building?" Claire asked.
"No need for it," Myrnin said. "It was built with a plan that the human population of Morganville would grow. It hasn't."
"Can't imagine why," Claire muttered. "Such a great place to live and all. You'd think there'd be people just dying to get in. Operative word, dying."
He didn't bother to debate it. There was another door at the end of the hall, and this one had a shiny silver dead-bolt lock on it.
Myrnin knocked.
After a long moment of silence, the dead bolt was pulled back with a metallic clank, and the door swung open.
"Dr. Mills?" Claire was surprised. She hadn't heard much about Dr. Mills, ER doctor and their sometime lab assistant, for weeks. He'd dropped out of sight, along with his family. She'd tried to find out what had happened to him, but she'd been afraid it would be bad news. Sometimes, it was just better not to know.
"Claire," he said, and stepped back to let her and Myrnin inside the room. He closed and locked the door before turning a tired smile in her direction. "How are you, kid?"
"Um, fine, I guess. I was worried - "
"I know." Dr. Mills was middle-aged and kind of average in every way, except his mind, which was - even by Claire's standards - pretty sharp. "Mr. Bishop got word that I was doing research on vampire blood. He wanted it stopped - it's not in his best interest for anyone to get better right now, if you know what I mean. We had to move quickly. Myrnin relocated us." He nodded warily to Myrnin, who gave him a courtly sort of wave of acknowledgment.
"Your family, too?"
"My wife and kids are in the next room," he said. "It's not what you might call comfortable, but it's safe enough. We can use the gym showers at night. There's food in the cafeteria, books in the library. It's about the best safe haven we could have." Dr. Mills looked at Claire closely, and frowned. "You look tired."
"Probably," she said. "So . . . this is the new lab?"
"Seems like we always have a new one, don't we? At least this one has most of what we need." He gestured around vaguely. The room had clearly been intended to be a science classroom; it had the big granite-topped tables, equipped with sinks and built-in gas taps. At the back of the room were rows and rows of neat shelves filled with glassware and all kinds of bottled and labeled ingredients. One thing about Morganville - the town really did invest in education. "I've made some unexpected progress."
"Meaning?" Myrnin turned to look at him, suddenly not at all fey and weird.