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Claire&039;s rooot into bed and pulled the covers up, keeping the crossboith her, and curled onto her side She still had her phone with her, and she paged through the contacts list, feeling miserable and alone Finally, she tried to call Eve&039;s cell She didn&039;t knohy, but maybe Eve had snapped out of it Maybe she--

"What?"

That sounded like the Eve she knew Claire slowly sat up in bed, clutching the phone like a lifeline "Eve? Oh, thank God Eve, where are you?"

"Home, duh Who&039;s this?"

Her heart sank "C-Claire"

"From school?"

"Uhyeah From school" She only lied because she felt so bad, and she needed to just hear a friendly voice Even if that person didn&039;t knoho she really was "In math"

"Oh, yeah, you sit at the back, I remember"

Claire cleared her throat, because her voice sounded thick and teary "What are you doing?"

"There is so down in Weirdsville, let me tell you I came home and my e, but one I mean, it&039;s here, but it&039;s full of junk I had to et to my bed! It&039;s like they didn&039;t care if I ever came back" Eve sounded manic, and nervous "It&039;s weird, II can&039;t findto o, you know? I hate it here Don&039;t you?"

Claire sniffled and wiped her nose "Yeah," she said faintly "I do Where would you go?"

"I don&039;t knoay, you knoay froet hed, but it sounded edgy and strange "Like he knows I live at all Ito notice me"

"I think he will," Claire said "I mean, I think he thinks you&039;re cute" "Really?" Eve&039;s voice sharpened and got suspicious "You think I&039;o up and fall all over Mr Perfect Glass and get humiliated? Is that what this is about? Who are you, one of Bitch Queen Monica&039;s posse? Because if you are--"

"I&039;m not! I promise!"

But Eve&039;s paranoia switch ell and truly tripped now "Yeah, well, nice talking to you Have a great life"

And she hung up

Claire clutched the phone to her chest, hard, and tried not to screaht it would be Eve calling back, ive her more attitude "Yeah?" she said miserably

"Claire?" Shane "Claire, are you okay?"

She alain "I&039;m home; I&039;m at the Glass House Where are you?"

"On my way there now," he said "Stay put It&039;s not safe out here"

"I know" She sat up and hugged her pillow "Oliver wasn&039;t affected; he was going to help et to Myrnin"

"Claire, I told you not to--"

"It doesn&039;t ot ambushed on the way Amelie hauled him off I think she thinks he ca here, or that he was herfriend" Friend didn&039;t sound right, especially given what had gone on between them "I don&039;t knohat happened to him"

"Well, sorry to say this, but if she kills hi Look, just stay there I&039;ll be ho food"

"What about Michael?"

Shane was silent for a long few seconds, so long Claire checked the screen to see if she&039;d lost the connection "I couldn&039;t get him to remember," he finally said "It was safer to leave him with the va he wasn&039;tyou know It was bad"

"It&039;s all bad," Claire said "And it&039;s all my fault I can&039;t stop it, Shane I can&039;t do anything to stop it"

"Hey, hey, stop that We&039;re going to figure this out, okay? We&039;ll find a way But first, we eat, we get soht?"

"Just hurry," she said "Nothing bad can happen when I&039;m with you"

"Wow I&039;ht now"

"Good point I&039;h faintly, as she hung up She stayed in bed, crossbow at her side, until she heard the front door downstairs open and close, and Shane&039;s voice called her naot up and took the crossbow and phone downstairs to meet him

He looked a little worried about the crossbow as he set a grease-stained bag on the dining table in the corner "Expecting somebody else?" he asked "Because I hope that&039;s not for me"

She put it down, ran to him, and kissed him frantically He held her close and kissed her back, warm and sweet and soft, and just the fact that he was here with her s so, so, so much better

She finally broke free of the kiss and put her head on his chest "Thank you," she said "Thank you for re"

"Yeah, no problem," he said He sounded ah I don&039;t think Dan&039;s Drive-In is doing its best work today"

"Anything," she said "As long as you&039;re here"

"Claire" He pushed her away a little, and tilted her chin up He looked tired, and worried, and she thought he was, deep down, just as freaked-out as she was "Don&039;t forget me, okay?"

"I won&039;t," she promised "I don&039;t think I ever could Not evennot even if"

He hugged her, and they really didn&039;t need to finish that conversation at all It was allbetter

Eventually, he said, "The burgers are getting cold," and Claire let go and went into the kitchen to retrieve the all-iers were kind of gross and the fries were a little cold, but she savored every bite It tasted like noret They cleaned up afterward, and Shane decided that he&039;d better wash the dishes, because it was Eve&039;s turn and she wasn&039;t going to remember anyway, even if by soood, too

It felt like being in control, at least of the kitchen

Claire called heron her dad, and how they planned surgery to fix the valve in his heart, and hoas doing so well, really, all things considered Claire said very little, because she was afraid she&039;d just start crying hysterically if she did Mom didn&039;t seem to notice; her focus was on Dad, of course And that was okay

The last thing her mother said to her was, "I love you so much, honey Be safe And call me tomorrow"

"I will," Claire whispered "Love you, too, Mo up before her voice could tre her with a kind of war in his face

"That was hard, huh?" he asked, and put an ar better than they expected," Claire said, and took in a deep breath "Unlike us, I guess"

"Hey, don&039;t count us out yet"

"I don&039;t," Claire said "But it&039;s bad, Shane I feel like we&039;re really alone this tied her closer "And that&039;s not all terrible Toht? You&039;re too shaky right now, and going out in the dark isn&039;t a fabulous plan We&039;ll fight anville TV station was showing reruns of shows froo Shane put in a , really, and kissed and stayed together until finally there was nothing to do but go to bed

Shane walked her to her bedroo, she said, "Stay, okay? I want you with me" He just nodded, and she saw relief on his face He&039;d been going to ask, anyway

They got undressed--mostly--in silence, and slipped under the blankets to hold each other Claire was too worried and scared to want to do anything else, and she thought he felt the saht now And that was good That was really good

"I don&039;t knohat I&039; to do tomorrow," Claire said finally, into the dark Shane&039;s arainst his chest

"Toht, and get down there and pin Myrnin down and fix this," he said "I swear We&039;re going to make this work"

"The two of us" "Yeah, the two of us, and whoever&039;s left who&039;s not bug-eyed crazy" He kissed the back of her neck, very gently "It&039;s going to be okay Sleep"

And she did, warm in his embrace, and dreamed of silver rain