Page 2 (1/2)

2

When Claire opened her eyes again, she saw three faces loo over her One was Myrnin&039;s, and he looked concerned One was the shining blond head of her housemate Michael Glass - Michael had her hand in his, which was nice, because he eet, and he had beautiful hands, too The last face took her a nition clicked into place "Oh," Claire murmured "Hello, Dr Theo"

"Hello, Claire," said Theo Gold older es, and he had an antique black stethoscope in his ears He was listening to her heart "Ah Very good Your heart is still beating, I&039;m sure you&039;ll be very pleased to hear"

"Yay," Claire said, and tried to sit up That was a bad idea, and Michael had to support her when she lost her balance The headache hit a moment later, massive as a hurricane inside her skull "Ow?"

"You struck your head when you fell," Theo said "I don&039;t believe there&039;s any pere, but you should see your physician and have the tests done I should hate to think I "

Claire pulled in a deep breath "Maybe I should see Dr Mills Just in case - hey, wait Why did I fall?"

They all exchanged looks "You don&039;t remee?"

"No," Theo said firmly, "it is quite natural to have some loss of memory around such an event"

"What kind of event?" There it was again, that silence, and Claire raised her personal terror alert froe "Anybody?"

Myrnin said, "It was a boht "A bomb Are you sure you understand what that is? Because - " She gestured vaguely at herself, then around at the roolassware intact "Because generally boht boht about it, her face did feel a bit hot She put her fingers on her cheeks Burning hot "What happened to me?" She couldn&039;t keep the fear out of her voice

Theo and Michael both tried to talk at once, but Michael won "It&039;s like a sunburn," he said "Your face is a little pink, that&039;s all"

Michael wasn&039;t a very good liar "Great I&039;ht?"

"Not at all," Myrnin said cheerfully "You&039;re definitely not as red as a cherry Or an apple Yet That will take some time"

Claire tried to focus back on as - hopefully - reat deal more serious "It&039;s an inconvenience for a hu to me, or to any vampire, had I been the one to open the box"

"So who sent you a boht have been Klaus But I ht have actually sent it to myself I&039;m not always that rational, you know Mind you, I wouldn&039;t open the last box if I were you"

Claire sent hi, wordless look, then accepted the hand Michael extended to help her to her feet She felt dizzy and - yes - sunburned, and a whole lot filthy "Great You ht have booby-trapped your own boxes Why would you do a thing like that?"

"Excellent question" Myrnin left her and went to the table, where he lifted frole of metal and wires - the kind of boht have made - and set it very carefully to one side "I can only think that I meant it to protect what else was in the container"

He stood there staring into the box, not , and Claire finally rolled her eyes and said, "Well?"

"What?"

"What&039;s in the box, Myrnin?"

In answer, he tipped it over in her direction A cloud of dust fogged the air, and when it cleared, Claire saw that there was nothing in the box

Nothing at all

"I&039;ave her a ride back to the Glass House, which hat she h technically she didn&039;t live there Technically, her parents had a room for her in their house, and her stuff was there Mostly Well, partly And, according to the agreement she&039;d reached with theht - for a few hours, anyway

It was all part of her parents&039; grand scheme to keep her and Shane - well, maybe apart was too harsh Casual They didn&039;t want their little girl shacking up with the town bad boy, even though Shane was not the town bad boy, and he and Claire were in love

In love That still gave her a delicious little tingle every tiht about it

"Parents," Claire said aloud Michael sent her a look

"And?"

"They bring the crazy," she said "Is Shane home?"

"Not yet I dropped Eve off at her first rehearsal" He sot the letter?"

"Define excited You mean, did she look like a cartoon character on crack? Yes I never knew she was all into acting and stuff"

"She loves it She&039;s always acting out scenes froh school, she used to organize these little plays in study hall, give us all parts she&039;d written out on little pieces of paper, and the teacher never knehat the hell was going on Insane, but fun" Michael braked his car; Claire couldn&039;t see beyond the tinted s, but she assu Michael had special va insurance with so deal for her"

"Yeah, I got that Speaking of big deals, I heard that you&039;re playing at the TPU theater toot a little pink, which (even in a vampire) was adorable "Yeah, apparently they heard about the last three sets at Common Grounds" Those had been pretty spectacular events, Claire had to ad an i nice, at least for the evening "Not a big deal"

"I heard the tickets were sold out," Claire said s deal, dude Deal with it"

There was a complicated expression on Michael&039;s face - pride, nerves, outright fear He shook his head and sighed "You ever feel like your life is kind of out of control?"

"I just went to work for a vaot knocked down by a tanning bomb And that&039;s just my day, not my week"

"Okay, yeah Point" Michael turned the wheel and hit the brakes again "You&039;re ho ot upstairs and in front of a mirror, she realized that Michael wouldn&039;t be the only one calling her that, or worse Her face was shiny pink As if she&039;d been dipped in blush and then wrapped in plastic Ugh When she pressed her fingers against her skin, she left dra to kill him," she muttered, and slammed the bathroolared at her hot pink reflection "Lock hi bed Drive him out in the desert with the top down Myrnin, you are toast Burned toast"