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The rest of the day passed quietly enough Claire dropped in to see Eve at the coffee shop, but all Eve could talk about was the play, how cool it all was, how she was so going to rock as Blanche DuBois, and how she had this plan to wear a black skull-patterned slip instead of the white one that the costu about the play, she was all about Kim Kim, Kim, Kim
"Cool necklace," Claire said, out of desperation, and pointed at the one around Eve&039;s neck It was cool - kind of a tribal dragon thing, full of angles and sinister curves Eve touched it with her fingertips and sot it for ht?"
"Not bad at all Hey, did you clean Shane&039;s room?"
"Actually? I just vacuumed and dusted He picked it up himself Why, did he tell you it was all ?"
Eve ate a bite of blueberry muffin and sed so otta motor Boss-man, he no like breaks See you later?"
"Sure" Claire slid out of her seat and picked up her book bag "See you at home"
"Oh, you should totally swing by rehearsal! Three o&039;clock at the auditoriuh she&039;d never been there - it was kind of a town civic center, and it was off Founder&039;s Square - aka, Vaanville, she&039;d never been really interested in traveling there at night
Three in the afternoon, thoughthat sounded reasonable "I&039;ll try," Claire said "So - I know you orried about Oliver Is that going okay, having him in the play?"
"Oh, actually, yeah He&039;s not bad! I al jerk Most of the time" Eve looked over her shoulder, ood-bye
Claire decided she couldn&039;t put it off any longer, and pulled out her cell phone She&039;d written and uploaded a program that allowed her phone to track and display available portals; according to the theory she&039;d been reading up on in Myrnin&039;s lab recently, it wasn&039;t such a good thing for humans to force a portal open, the way vas happened - to the huement of eyes, ears, and nose - she liked Picasso okay, but she didn&039;t want to becos
So she looked for a portal that was open - open meant that it was at a low level of availability, not active The one open at the university just noas in the Ad in with all the other students, and as usual, the part of the Ad where the portal was located was eon lady secretary at the front desk nodded her in without argument; apparently there&039;d been so this kind of thing - a convenient develop aice bath; it felt like every cell in her body received a shock, woke up, screamed, and then went immediately back to normal Not exactly pleasant, butmemorable It didn&039;t usually feel that way, and Claire felt some distinct uneasiness If the portal system went out of balance
"Myrnin?" She stepped away fro aside a box of books he&039;d left lying around, probably for her to shelve No sign of hianized, which wasn&039;t like Myrnin at the best of tiotten some kind of maid service Who cleaned mad scientist lairs, anyway? The same people who did villain lairs and bat caves?
No Myrnin, but he&039;d left her a note, written in his spiky antique hand, that asked her to - wait for it - sort the box of books he&039;d left to trip her up And to feed Bob the spider Ugh Why was she even surprised? Claire began unpacking, sorting, and shelving the books, which was surprisingly fun, in the hopes that the universe would end before she had to actually feed a spider
She was in the host formed in front of her Claire&039;s heart rate doubled, and she wondered if she ought to justClaire&039;s cell phone She didn&039;t actually have to do that before using the speaker It was her version of knocking
Claire sed an acidicspine of the heavy book in her hand German She wasn&039;t sure what it said "Do you know Gerhty look, sown "Of course," she said "It&039;s hardly a vanishing tongue"
I have to feed spiders and put up with a bitchy, homicidal computer My job really does suck Claire didn&039;t say that out loud, and as far as she knew, Ada couldn&039;t read minds Yet "Good Can you tell me what this host leaned forward
"Alcheister Kleiss," she read, and the tinny voice sounded a little sad as it vibrated from Claire&039;s cell phone speaker "Myrnin already has a copy I re it for him in a little market outside Frankfurt"
Claire put it aside Ada seeile, confrontational, and oddly nostalgic "You tried to kill et et eaten Why?"
A very odd expression fluttered over Ada&039;s smooth, not-quite-human face If Claire hadn&039;t known better, she&039;d think it wasuncertainty? "I did not," she said "You are ," Claire said "I&039;ve got a pole laot cut in half when I had to slam the portal closed for proof Rehost still hung there in the air, bobbing ever so slightly as if gravity were just a bothersoh her ie, then another one
Then she smiled "You should see a doctor," she said "I believe you&039;re ill, human"
"You don&039;t remember" Claire heard the flat disbelief in her voice, but what she really was feeling wasfear Pure, cold fear Ada could lie - she had before - but this didn&039;t feel like deception
It felt like so with Ada, it rong with Morganville
"There&039;s nothing to remember," Ada said coolly "Do you wish et on with ood Where&039;s Myrnin?"
Ada paused in the act of turning her back - stopping edge-on, al from Claire&039;s perspective - and slowly rotated in place Her dark eyes looked like burned holes in her pale face
"That&039;s none of your business," she said
"What?"
"Myrnin is mine And you can&039;t have him I&039;ll kill you first!"
And then she just - vanished
Claire gaped at the space where she&039;d been, half expecting her to show up again, but Ada stayed gone Claire replaced the book she was holding back on the worktable, and walked around toward the rear of the lab The thick Persian carpet had been rolled back there, and the trapdoor Myrnin had installed - a clever job of painting the door to ritted her teeth and clicked the release, which was a book on frogs in the nearby bookcase The lock released with a snap, and Claire hauled the trap to the catch position
Myrnin never kept any lights on down there, in the baseht, checked the batteries, and then looked down into the darkness "Myrnin?" she asked No reply She heard water dripping in the distance "Myrnin, where are you?"
Great ThisBob the spider look like a day at the park
No way aht, and flipped open her cell phone Michael answered on the second ring "Yo," he said "I&039; fun like that"
"Why would you say that?"
"Because that would be Shane&039;s job When you call ency"
"Well - okay, fair point But this isn&039;t Not an e Can you come to Myrnin&039;s lab?"
Michael&039;s voice turned a lotreally wrong?"
Claire sighed "I don&039;t know, actually I just don&039;t want to go down into the dark without a big, strong vaet down there without et out without your help, since Ada&039;s not lettingnear her It&039;s still a co me into potentially deadly trouble? Yes Stay put I&039;ll be there in ten minutes"
"Be careful," she said She had no idea why she did; it wasn&039;t as if Michael had anything anville But it was so her mother always said, and it made her feel better to express a little concern for her friends
"No exploring on your own, Dora," he said
She felt lonely and exposed, even here with all the lights burning brightly, once his voice was gone froood would it do? He&039;d co, but he needed his job, and Michael was already on the way
Tenover with Bob&039;s terrarium sat on Myrnin&039;s rolltop desk, amid stacks of books and soer than she re in at hiht of his beady eyes looked back He stayed very still
There was a small bottle on the table that contained insects - live ones Clairesound and tried not to look too hard; she just opened the top of the terrariue
Bob leaped on her hand
Claire shrieked, and the bottle went flying to shatter against the wall Bob didn&039;t budge when she violently shook her hand, trying to get rid of hi to her like Velcro, and he felt different, soer Claire batted at hied for her, skittering up her left arht hand
Bob leaped from her arm, headed to her face
She smacked him out of the air with the book, and he landed on his back, all eight legs wriggling in the air Before she could slam the book down on top of him, Bob flipped himself over and skittered underneath the table