She wasnt sure if that was meant to be a compliment, so she said nothing, just focused on the portal in front of her. Hed put in a new locked door to cover it, and she had to go in search of the key to the padlock, because of course it wasnt hanging on the hook where it was supposed to be. It took twenty minutes to locate it in the pocket of Myrnins ratty old bathrobe, which was hanging on an articulated human skeleton wired together in the corner of the labone of those old teaching tools, she hoped, and not a previous occupant of her own job.
Once shed opened the door, what was beyond was an empty, dark space, leading . . . well, potentially to a horrible death.
Claire reached over and grabbed a book from a nearby stack, checked the title, and decided they could do without it. Then she concentrated, imagining the living room at the Glass House. It was harder to project that image into the portal than before, almost as if there were some kind of force fighting not to open the connection, but then the image resolved through with an almost audible pop and color spread out in front of her. Blurry at first, then slowly coming into focus.
My God, she breathed. He actually made it work.
Facing her was the back of the battered couch at home. She could see Michaels acoustic guitar still propped up in his chair off to the side. The TV was off, so obviously Shane wasnt up yet.
She flinched as a shadow walked in front of her, but it was only Eve, who crossed between the TV and the couch, still fastening her pigtails as she headed toward the kitchen.
Hey! Claire called. Hey, Eve!
Eve, puzzled, stopped and turned around, staring up toward the second floor, then looking at the TV.
Over here! Claire said. Eve!
Eve turned, and her eyes widened. Claire? Oh, are the portals working?
No, stay there. Im testing it. Claire held up the book. Here. Catch.
She tossed the book through the open connection, and on the other side she saw Eve raise her hands.
The book hit Eves palms and crumbled into dust. Eve, surprised, let out a little squawk and jumped back, shaking the dust from her hands.
Are you okay? Claire asked anxiously.
Yeah, just surprised. And filthy. Eve held up her smudged palms. Not quite there yet, right? Unless you wanted to pulverize people.
Not exactly. Claire sighed. Thanks. Ill keep working on it. Sorry about the dirt.
Well, its not like we dont have that on the floor. Michael was supposed to sweep; do you really think hes done it? Eve grinned. Nice try with the weird science, but for now, I think Ill stick with walking.
She blew Claire a kiss, and Claire waved and stepped back. The color faded out again, turning Eve and the room to black-and-white, and then to just a sea of liquid darkness.
Myrnin was standing by her elbow when she looked over. He was tapping a finger on his lips. That, he said, was very interesting. Also, you owe me a third-edition Johannes Magnus.
You have six of them already. But the important thing is, its almost working, Claire said. The stabilizations off. But the connections working. Thats a huge step forward.
Not much of one if it turns us to ashes upon arrival. I can do that all on my own by strolling long enough in the sunlight. Well, its your problem now, Claire. Im working on the other part.
What otherOh. Wiping peoples memories when they leave Morganville.
Exactly. Im actually getting quite close, I believe.
But youre not going to use a brain. Other than your own, I mean.
Since you insist, I am trying it the hard way. I am not optimistic at all that this will ever work, he said, and produced the box of doughnuts again, with a magicians flourish. One more?
She really couldnt resist, when he gave her that smile.
THREE
Over the next three days, Claire didnt go home for long. She was obsessive when she got into a problem, and she knew it, but this was so cool. She went to the store and bought cartloads of cheap plastic toys, which she spent hours tossing through the portal to an increasingly bored Eve, then Michael, then Shane. They had their own supply of toys, too, and pitched them through in the opposite direction.
All she got out of it, for two and a half days, was dustso much of it that Shane told her she was on permanent vacuum duty at home, if she ever came home again. She knew that he was grumpy, both because it was boring pitching toys back and forth, but also because shed barely seen him for days, except to come home, shovel in food, and fall into bed. She was grumpy about it, too, but there was something inside of her that was locked on target about this stupid problem, and she couldnt walk away from it. Not until something worked, or she broke.
She didnt break.
On the third day, Shane was still on catching duty. He was sitting cross-legged on the floor, leaning against the back of the sofa and wearing one of those white cotton breathing masks. Hed bought it in self-defense, hed told her; he didnt want to be breathing in plastic toy dust and coughing up a lung.
She didnt blame him, but it did make a funny picture, at least until shed realized the same thing on her end and gotten a mask out of Myrnins jumbled stash of supplies. And goggles. Shane now envied her the goggles.
Hang on, she said, after her last attempt at pitching a neon plastic ball through had turned it to dust on the other end. I have an idea.
So do I, Shane said. Movies, hot dogs, and not doing this anymore. Like it?
Love it, she said, and meant it. But let me do this one thing, okay?
He sighed and let his head fall back against the sofa. Sure, whatever.
She really was a terrible girlfriend, Claire thought, and raced across the lab, careful of all of Myrnins various scattered trip hazards that she couldnt seem to convince him were dangerous. She arrived at the worktable, where her circuitry (with Myrnins incomprehensible additions) quietly hummed away.
She shut the power off and checked the connections again. All of the voltage was steady; there was no reason why the other end would be unstable, unless . . .
Unless it was something Myrnin had done.
Claire began tracing the piping, which led to a spring, which led to a complicated series of gears and levers, which led to a bubbling ice-green liquid in a sealed chamber. . . .
Only it wasnt bubbling. It wasnt doing anything, even when she turned the power on. She distinctly remembered him explaining that it was supposed to bubble. She had no idea why that was important, but she supposed that maybe the bubbling created some kind of pressure, which . . . did what?
Exasperated, she thumped the thing with her finger.
It started to bubble.
She blinked, watched the whole thing for a while, decided that it wasnt going to blow up or boil over, and went back to where Shane was pretending to snore on the other side of the portal.
Heads up, slacker! she said, and pitched another neon ball at him, hard.
Shanes reactions were really, really good, and he got his eyes open and hands up at the same time . . .
. . . and the ball smacked firmly into his grip.
Shane stared down at it for a second, then stripped off his mask as he turned it over in his fingers.
Is it okay? Claire asked breathlessly. Is it
Feels fine, he said. Damn. Unbelievable. He pitched it back to her, and she caught it. It felt exactly the samenot even a little warm or a little cool. She threw it back, and he responded, and before long they were laughing and whooping and feeling incredibly giddy. She raised the ball over her head and jumped around in a circle, just like Eve would have, and made herself dizzy.
She whirled around to an unsteady stop, and Shane caught her.
Because he was here, in the lab with her, instead of on the other side of the portal. Her brain sent a message of Oh, he feels so good, just about a half second before the logical part kicked in.
Claire shoved him backward, appalled and scared. What the hell are you doing?
What? Shane asked. What did I do?
You . . . you came through?
The ball was fine.
The ball doesnt have internal organs! Squishy parts! How could you be so crazy? She was literally shaking now, deeply terrified that he was about to burst into a dust cloud, melt, die in her arms. How could he be so insane?
Shane looked a little off balance, as if he hadnt really expected this kind of reception, but he looked back at the portal, the piles of dust, and said, Oh. Yeah, I see your point. But Im fine, Claire. It worked.
How do you know youre fine? Shane, you could die! She rushed at him, threw her arms around him, and now she could feel his heart beating fast. He hugged her, held her while she tried to get her panic under control, and gently kissed the top of her head.
Youre right; it was dumb, he said. Stop. Relax. You did it, okay? You made it work. Just . . . breathe.
Not until you go see the doctor, she said. Dumb-ass. She was still scared, still shaking, but she tried to get the old Claire back, the one who could face down snarling vampires. But this was different.
What if shed just killed him? Broken something inside him that couldnt grow back?
Myrnin came in from the back room, carrying a load of books, which he dropped with a loud bang on the floor to glare at the two of them. Excuse me, he said, but when did my lab become appropriate for snogging?
Whats snogging? Shane asked.
Ridiculous displays of inappropriate affection in front of me. Roughly translated. And what are you doing here? Myrnin was genuinely offended, Claire realized. Not good.
Its my fault, Claire said in a rush, and stepped away from Shane, although she kept holding his hand. I . . . He was helping me with the experiments.
In what, biology? Myrnin crossed his arms. Are we running a secret laboratory or not? Because if youre going to have your friends drop in anytime they please
Back off, man; she said she was sorry, Shane said. He was watching Myrnin with that cold look in his eyes, the one that was a real danger sign. It wasnt her fault, anyway. It was mine.
Was it? Myrnin said softly. And how is it that you do not understand that here, in this place, this girl belongs to me, not to you?
Claire turned cold all over, then hot. She felt her cheeks flare red, and she hardly recognized her voice as she yelled, I dont belong to you, Myrnin! I work for you! Im not your . . . your slave! She was so furious that she wasnt even shaking anymore. I fixed your portals. And were leaving.
Youll leave when IWait, what did you say?
Claire ignored him and picked up her backpack. She led the way up the stairs. Three steps up, she glanced back. Shane still hadnt moved. He was still watching Myrnin. Still between her and Myrnin.
Wait, Myrnin said in an entirely different tone now. Claire, wait. Are you saying you successfully transported an object?
No, shes saying she successfully transported me, Shane snapped. And were leaving now.
No, no, no, waityou cant. I must run tests; I need to have a blood sample. Myrnin rooted frantically in a drawer, came up with an ancient blood-drawing kit, and came toward Shane.
Shane looked over his shoulder at Claire. Im seriously going to kill this guy if he tries to stick me with that thing.
Myrnin! Claire snapped. No. Not now. Im taking him to the hospital to get him checked out. Ill make sure you get your sample. Now leave us alone.
Myrnin stopped, and he actually looked wounded. Oh stop it, Claire thought, still furious. I didnt kick your puppy.
She was almost at the top of the steps, and Shane was right behind her, when she heard Myrnin say, in a quiet voice that was like the old Myrnin, the one she actually liked, Im sorry, Claire. I never meantIm sorry. Sometimes I dont know . . . I dont know what I am thinking. I wish . . . I wish things could be like they were before.
Me, too, Claire muttered.
She knew they wouldnt be, though.
Getting Shane seen by a doctor was trickier than shed thought. Claire couldnt exactly explain to the emergency room what might be wrong with him, so after a complete fail at the ER, she went in search of the only doctor she knew personallyDr. Millswhod treated her before, and knew about Myrnin. Hed actually helped create the antidote to the vampires illness, so he was pretty trustworthy.
She still didnt explain about the portals, but he didnt push. He was a nice guy, middle-aged, a little tired, like most doctors usually seemed to be, but he just nodded and said, Let me take a look at him. Shane?
Im not dropping my pants, Shane said. I just thought Id say that up front.
Dr. Mills laughed. Just the basics, all right? But if Claires concerned, Im concerned. Lets make sure youre healthy.
They walked off toward his office, leaving Claire in the waiting area with piles of ancient magazines that still wondered whether Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston would stay together. Not that she read that stuff anyway. Much.
She was still mad at Myrnin, but now she realized that it was mostly because shed been so tired and stressed out. He hadnt been any worse than normal, really. And how much did that suck?
It doesnt matter, she told herself. I did something amazing, and nobody got hurt. She knew theyd both been lucky, though. It still turned her cold to think what could have happened, all because she hadnt thought to tell Shane not to come through the portal, no matter how safe it seemed.
Doctors always seemed to take forever, and while Shane was getting checked out, Claire fidgeted and thought about the progress shed made, andwhat worried her morethe progress that Myrnin had made. Apparently. What was he thinking? It was impossible to know, but she was pretty sure he hadnt given up the idea of putting a brainnamely her brainin a jar and hooking it up to a computer. It was the kind of totally cracked thing Myrnin would think was not only logical, but somehow helpful.