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TEN
Myrnin wasn&039;t at the lab when she arrived That was unusual; she thought that , but when she checked his room at the back, it was neat and es easier
Claire called hoot Michael and Shane "I need you to come help me," she said "And I need a ladder"
"Tell me you did not volunteer us to paint somebody&039;s house," Shane said "That would be a lot like work I&039;ot it ih the trapdoor at the lab Myrnin&039;s not there?"
"No," Claire said "Can you help?" "Sure Open up the portal and we&039;ll co up and rolled back the bookcase that blocked the portal--no easy job, because Myrnin hadn&039;t balanced it for huh he&039;d at least removed the lead, which was nice-- and unlocked the door from a set of keys she found in the mouth of one of Myrnin&039;s discarded va on the Glass House, and the ie flickered, wavered, and clarified into reality on the other side of the door
Shane and Michael were carrying an extendable ave Shane her hand, and he stepped over, pulling Michael after hi with the ladder
"Wow," Shane said, and shivered "That&039;s not weird at all"
"You&039;ve done it before," Claire pointed out "When I first fixed the portal"
"Didn&039;t really think about it that tih Okay, where to?"
"Here" She&039;d already unlocked the trapdoor at the back of the lab and opened it, and Shane leaned over and peered down into the darkness Michael pulled hiet before you knohat&039;s actually down there, hero Let&039;s get this ladder in, and then I go first, okay?"
"You bet, tough guy Last tiot my face eaten I&039;m a slow learner, but I do learn"
They extended the ladder down, and Shane held it in place as Michael descended Claire leaned over and said, "The light switch is at the end of the room"
"Yeah, I see it--whoa"
"What?"
Michael was quiet for ato be better if I don&039;t tell you Just hurry"
Shane went first, and then Claire; the ladder felt rickety, but it held just fine She hopped the last couple of steps down to land on the cave floor Michael had turned on the tunnel lights, so there was no risk of walking into an a what he&039;d seen, exactly If he wasn&039;t just yanking Shane&039;s chain, of course He never got tired of that
No sign of trouble all the way to the big cave, and Michael hit the hts The machine--Claire hated to call it a co exactly as she&039;d left it, screen showing nor at all
"Okay, I need to put in a password," she said "Hang on a second"
She thought about it, and tried Myrnin&039;s naht stayed on She tried A in Ada&039;s naht stayed on
Claire blinked at it Myrnin didn&039;t have more than three passwords He couldn&039;t even remember more than one at a time He didn&039;t have a birthday he could remember; he didn&039;t have any family; what could he possibly use for a password?
Ah She had it
Claire
The red light stayed on Claire frowned at it "Seriously? Now you get security conscious?"
"Probleet it" She tried Bob, for Bob the Spider Bob was busily spinning webs in a fish tank near Myrnin&039;s chair Myrnin fed him a steady diet of crickets and flies, which seeht? People liked to use pet names for passwords
It wasn&039;t Bob, either
She tried, in desperation, Oliver Not it She plugged in the na Bishop
None of them worked
"At least he didn&039;t put a lockout on it," she muttered She&039;d tried at least thirty passwords, without success "Come on I built you, you stupid piece of junk! Give ?" Shane asked "Just turn off the power"
She thought about it, but shook her head "I don&039;t knohat everything does in here I could shut down so we can&039;t rebuild easily" She sighed "He won&039;t be happy, but I&039; to have to ask Myrnin for the password"
Michael&039;s head suddenly turned, but before he could speak, a rich, slow voice from the darkness said, "Ask Myrnin what, precisely?"
That was Myrnin&039;s voice His hunting voice Claire had heard it before, and it gave her i chills He stepped out of the dark The cheerfully neon Hawaiian clothes were gone He was dressed in elegant black, with a bloodred vest, and his long hair was freshly co in waves down to his shoulders, very old-school Gothic va
Not in a nice way at all
"Visitors," he said, still using that creepy, oddly soothing voice There was so about it that made Claire feel a little sleepy A littlerelaxed "So lovely to have visitors I get them so seldom Especially here"
"Myrnin," Claire said He was steadily co at all His large eyes were fixed on her, lu She couldn&039;t blink
"Yes,that you know"
"Knohat?" She felt stupid, al up to her She felt the cool brush of his fingers on her cheek
"My na that you knowme yours"
A rush of adrenaline spilled into her body He didn&039;t know her Or Michael Or Shane He was acting like they were strangers
To him, they were intruders
She licked her lips and said, "Myrnin, I work for you I&039;m Claire Remember? Claire"
"Nice try, sweet one, but I already have an assistant Maybe I&039;ll save you for her She&039;d like you"
Ada Claire&039;s heart thumped painfully as she took it in Myrnin had been sucked under by the ht Ada was still here Still alive
"You&039;re talking about Ada," she said, and tried to keep her voice calm and even "She&039;s not here, Myrnin She&039;s not co back Ada&039;s dead"
It was kind of cruel to say it like that, but she needed to snap him out of it, and that was the verbal equivalent of a hard slap
Myrnin pulled up short, dark eyes gone cool and unreadable, and then he slowly sone," he said "Can&039;t you feel her? She&039;s here She&039;ll be back I know she&039;ll be back"
"Claire?" Shane said He started to move toward the toward the wall "No interruptions," he said "I&039;ry "Why would you say so to Ada"
"Stop," Michael said urgently "Claire, coerated, annoyed motion with his hands and turned to face Michael "I said no interruptions! Oh--you&039;re not human, are you? Hht she&039;d sworn off new fledglings after that last disaster"
Michael grabbed Claire&039;s arm and pulled her close "Yeah, well, I&039;m Amelie&039;s, and this one&039;s ht, would punch hiot up
Myrnin&039;s eyebrows slowly rose "Are you tellingto share? How rude You&039;re an intruder, too, you know I don&039;t have a taste for you just now, but these other twoWell, I haven&039;t drunk a good intruder in ages"
"Myrnin, wake up!" Claire yelled "It&039;s Claire! You knoho I am!"
Myrnin shook his head sadly "You&039;d better eat her now," he told Michael "She&039;s far too loud Makes my head hurt"
And then he hit his forehead with the heel of his hand, again and again and again, frighteningly hard Claire clung to Michael She&039;d seen Myrnin do crazy things, but this was justcreepy
He stopped He&039;d opened up a cut on his forehead, and blood that was slightly paler than a human&039;s trickled doard his eyes It closed in seconds "That&039;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&039;s fangs ca, and he reached out for Claire "I think I like this one"
Michael kicked hiht in the chest It drove Myrnin back, but not very far
Myrnin stopped s, and tilted his head forward It made him look crazier "That wasn&039;t wise, blood child Not wise at all"
"Run," Michael said to Claire, and shoved her toward the tunnel Myrnin snarled and juot hirabbing onto Claire&039;s foot by about three inches She hesitated at the base of the ladder Shane was still in there, maybe hurt She couldn&039;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&039; 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 jus just a few feet below her He was ale
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&039;re doing?"
She kicked hirip 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&039;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 aardly, and rolled smoothly up to a crouch Claire scrambled up to her feet and ran for her backpack She didn&039;t want to use the silver, but she didn&039;t knohat else to do She couldn&039;t just let him eat her
Myrnin see now, looking around at the lab, mouth half-open "Whatwhat in the devil happened? Did Ada do this? My She&039;s quite a good housekeeper, isn&039;t she? I rerabbed her backpack on the run and unzipped it She cut her fingers on the knife she&039;d craot it out just as Myrnin stopped looking at the scenery and started running for her
He leaped fro dull red She saw Michael climb out of the tunnel below, and then pull Shane up after hiood
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 hiht, furious crihts back That&039;s strictly against the rules"
"This isn&039;t you," she said "Please don&039;t do this"
For a second she actually thought she saw sonizedbut then it was gone, and the old Myrnin, the cruel one, was back "If you coain," he said, "I&039;ll tear you apart This is my home You&039;re not welcome"
"Claire!" Michael yelled "The portal! Go for it!"