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She wasn&039;t far from it, but there was no way she&039;d be able to beat Myrnin He was deadly fast, and very angry She needed to hurt hied, buried the knife in his shoulder, and left it there She didn&039;t want to do it, but it was the only thing she could think of in that split second Myrnin was old, maybe even older than A time to kill hirabbed at her, missed, and swatted at the knife, but it was all silver He couldn&039;t get a grip without burning himself Claire didn&039;t wait She sprinted for the portal just as Michael arrived there and pushed Shane through ahead of hi his torn vest around his hand to pull the knife out
She plunged through and willed the network to lock down the entrance She did it just in ti it away from her, but she&039;d had practice at this now, and he was in pain
His atteh to the Glass House finally stopped
Claire backed up until she bu at the blank wall "Hey, house?" she called "We have to keep Myrnin out It&039;s important"
The Glass House had a weird kind of sentience to it--nothing she could name, exactly, but sometimes she asked it to help, and sometimes it even listened Just now, she felt a rush of warh her and toward the portal, overlaying it
A psychic lock, done better than she could have done it herself
"Thanks," she said She wanted to collapse, but instead she looked around for Michael and Shane
Shane was lying on the couch Michael was still standing, but his shirt was shredded, and she saw the faint lines of injuries still healing up
Shane had a cut on his head, and he still looked woozy "Right," he ood ladder"
Claire&039;s knees wobbled, and she had to sit down, quickly It was funny, and not funny at all It was terrifying
What had Hannah said about the va? She didn&039;t Best we can tell, she never will And Oliver had been forced to kill another vaht
Myrnin was the old Myrnin The crazy Myrnin, the one he&039;d been when he&039;d been at his worst, before he&039;d killed Ada and put her brain into the machine He&039;d been cruel And he&039;d been insane
He wasn&039;t at all the man she knew And now he knehat they were after
"We have to get hi sick and horrified "We have to"
Because she cared about himbut also because Myrnin was the only one who knew the password to shut down the ot voice e to send someone to detain Myrnin--more than one someone, preferably heavily armed Claire pro, when the lab was Myrnin free If she couldn&039;t crack his password, she&039;d do exactly what Shane suggested: she&039;d pull the plug Better to destroy it all than to risk this continuing
Getting Shane&039;s head examined at the hospital was a little crazy, because of the nu on Turned out he didn&039;t have a concussion, but he did need stitches at his hairline Again
He wasn&039;t too upset "Girls love interesting scars," he said "Right? Girls? Are you with me?" Eve held up her hand So did Claire Michael and Shane high-fived, but not very hard, because Shane winced "At least whatever&039;s going on hasn&039;t hit any of us four That&039;s good"
Claire looked at Michael, but he didn&039;t see his way He didn&039;t remember Or if he did, he&039;d chalked it up to dreams, the way so many people probably had
Eve suddenly turned her head and watched someone walk by behind Claire "Wow," she said "Can&039;t even coet away from the bad elements Monica on your six, CB"
Claire looked It was definitely Monica, heading straight for them She was trailed by Gina, but not Jennifer--both dressed as if they expected a party to break out anystrange about the way Monica raceful than Claire was used to, allance, glared at Eve, smiled at Michael, and focused on Shane "Oh,where you were Didn&039;t you get my texts?"
Shane looked at her, winced, and shut his eyes "Please ot a headache"
Monica&039;s bright smile faltered, and Claire could have sworn she saw hurt flare briefly across her expression Then the suess you didn&039;t get theain"
"Let&039;s not," Shane said "Are you kidding me? What are we, friends?"
Monica frowned at hi a little prick, Shane Of course we&039;re friends" She giggled Giggled "Well, you know Kissing friends"
Shane opened his eyes and stared at her He opened hisat Monica with exactly the same WTF look "Not that we couldn&039;t be more," Monica said, and winked at him "Remember that ht?"
Shane actually blushed Little red spots high on his cheeks Claire stared at the one of those reality-show train wrecks It was al "Shut up," Shane said He sounded like he was choking on so
"Oh, relax It&039;s not like we did it or anything Yet"
"Seriously Shut Up"
Monica otten the idea that Shane was really not joking, because she looked a little thrown, then hurried on to another topic "So what happened to you? Oh, we&039;re here because Jennifer got into her ot how to drive, even though she just learned So funny! She totally destroyed her mom&039;s car--at least, I think it was her mom&039;s car Some kind of red convertible Tacky! So she&039;s a couple of rooms over You?"
"Just do ravation right now" When Shane wanted to be, he could be blunt and kind of e of sympathy for the way Monica&039;s s to be nice, Collins," Monica said "You don&039;t have to be such a toe rag all the time You&039;re not that cute, you know I can do better Lots better"
She flounced off Literally flounced, with her hair bouncing So odd
Shane said, finally, "Did that re her lower lip with a bloodred fingernail "How "
"That&039;s not what I meant Mike?"
"School," Michael said instantly "That&039;s what she was like in school when she was co of school" Eve said "What the hell was this about the closet ue-wrestle Monica in the--"
"Eve, shut up"
"No, seriously, I have to know this Were you high? Because that is honestly the only excuse I can think of"
"It wasn&039;t ot that flush in his cheeks again "Once It was once And I told her to fuck off the next day" Shane&039;s eyes widened, and Claire saw his expression change "The next day That was the day shethe day she told me she&039;d make me sorry"
"Oh, man," Michael said "It was only a couple of weeks before--"
Shane shut his eyes again "Don&039;t want to talk about it"
Even Eve let that one go, because as going unsaid was that teeks later, the fire had started at Shane&039;s house, and Monica had been to blame Maybe
And Shane&039;s sister had died
"She didn&039;t even look at me," Claire said "She always looks at me"
"What?" Michael asked, distracted
"Monica She never lets a chance go by to say so rude to me But she didn&039;t It was like she didn&039;t even know I existed"
That hy Monica had ignored her, Claire realized She wasn&039;t her enemy She didn&039;t even know her Monica was rade? Before Shane&039;s house had burned, and his faht they were all still in high school
"Creepy," Claire said
Shane sed "You have no idea Monica used to follow me everywhere Send irlfriend She beat up any girl I talked to It was miserable"
Wow Monica had been Shane&039;s stalker That put a whole different light on things "How long did that go on?"
"I guess about three ht It was after she decided I was off-limits" He shook his head when Claire opened her mouth "Don&039;t ask She was a serial stalker Worked her way through most of the jocks, but I don&039;t knohy she picked on the two of us"
"Well, how about you&039;re adorably cute and talented?" Eve said "I crushed all over you, too Not you, Collins You, Glass"
The doctor caot stitches Claire was happy enough to miss that part Stitches were painful; she knew that fro cans of cola fro while they checked out the butts on the interns and doctors It was sonot the toward the curtain that hid Shane frory, fascinated eyes, and that made Claire feel hot and furious and filthy
Monica still thought Shane was interested in her All evidence to the contrary
"This isn&039;t right," Michael said, looking around "It just doesn&039;t feel right You know? It&039;s like everything&039;s justout of tune I don&039;t know if you feel it the way I do Vaet violent," Claire said "We have to fix it Soo back to Myrnin Not after--"
"Michael, I have to! This thing coht? People snap out of it He&039;ll come back, and when he does I have to be there and find out what to do" She took a deep breath "Or, like Shane said, we have to pull the plug That&039;s the only other solution"
"Nuke the site from orbit," Eve said "It&039;s the only way to be sure"
"Do not quote Aliens at h already!"
"Sorry But it&039;s always good advice"
"It actually is good advice," Michael said "I can go pull the plug Myrnin won&039;t come after me--"
"He would," Claire said "Myrnin used to bite other va in the blood club is going to get you through And he&039;s strong, and really fast Don&039;t Make Ao, or Oliver I don&039;t think he&039;d bite theed unhappily "I don&039;t know him anymore when he&039;s like this I don&039;t knohat he&039;s going to do"
"We are so screwed," Eve said "What about A?"
That opened up a whole can of worled unpleasantly in the pit of Claire&039;s stomach She was absolutely sure that A anybody about what she&039;d seen earlier, not even--or e "I don&039;t know Oliver toldagain "Maybe by now they&039;ve both got it, too"
"Well, that would be bad Epically bad"
It would, Claire thought "I should check in with them and see what they want to do It&039;s weird nobody&039;s called me back," she said "Michael, could you stay and wait for Shane--"
It turned out, as the curtain whipped aside, that there was no need to wait Shane joined the slowly The stitches were in, but he had a white bandage taped over them Claire took his hand, and he so What are we doing?"
"Taking you ho so wounded," Michael said "I&039;m pretty sure this isn&039;t optional"
"Oh, yeah? You want to try to stop rinned "I know you better You wouldn&039;t hit a guy who&039;s down"
Eve held up a hand for a high five with him "Give it up for Shane Collins, ain "Yeah, well, you don&039;t groith ?"
"To Ao with us to the lab and keep Myrnin pinned dohile we pull the plug, if he&039;s notyou know, better"
"Define better with that guy"
"Not all fangs and raaaaar"
"Oh Okay Quick stop at the house I want to load up on the good stuff"
If Shane expected an argu the sa into a war zone, you didn&039;t go unarmed