Ghost Town (29 page)

“My head aches so. Do I have to?”

“I’m really sorry, but this is going to help. Please. Just go now.”

She heard noises that she assumed meant he was unlocking the trapdoor, jumping down, walking through to the cavern, and then he said, “All right, I’m here. Claire? Could you come here to help me? I really don’t feel at all well.”

“In a minute,” she promised. “Right now, I need you to go to the keyboard and enter the password you put on the system so we can turn it off. Can you do that?”

“Password,” Myrnin said. “I don’t think . . . I can’t remember any passwords with this headache. Could you come help me?”

“I can’t until you do this. Just concentrate. Remember the password, okay? Put it in and then I can come help you.”

“Oh, all right . . . I think maybe—yes, I think that’s it. I’m turning it off now.” She heard sounds of clicking, of what sounded like switches being thrown, and then Myrnin said, “All right. It’s safe. You can come back now, Claire.”

There was something strange about his voice. It wasn’t right. “Myrnin? Did you turn it off?”

“Of course. I did just as you asked. Now come.”

That
really
wasn’t right, and Claire felt a shiver working its way up her spine. “Myrnin, are any of the lights still on? Are you sure you turned it off—”

“
Come here right now!
” Myrnin roared, and she was so shocked she dropped her phone and scrambled away from it in panic, as if it had grown teeth. “Come here, little Claire. Juicy, sweet little Claire who thinks she can fool me into destroying Morganville. Come and get your reward!”

Claire folded up the phone and ended the call. She sat clutching the crossbow, feeling cold even in the sunlight.

She’d never felt so alone, never. Not even when she’d first come to Morganville.

She couldn’t stop this. She was helpless. Completely helpless.

She put her head on the deflated air bag and cried.

Eventually, crying wore off, but the feeling of overwhelming failure didn’t. She kept the crossbow ready, just in case. She thought she’d go to Eve, find her . . . but then she realized that although Oliver had known where they were going, she had no idea where Eve’s house might be. The only thing she could think to do was . . . go back to the Glass House. It seemed like a long, scary walk. There were lots of people roaming around, mostly confused, angry, or terrified. She tried to avoid them, but sometimes they confronted her and wanted to know where their wives, husbands, sons, daughters, moms, dads were. Or what had happened to their houses. Or their cars. Or their jobs.

She could have sworn someone was following her.

She finally just started running, running as if her life depended on it, and there was such a surge of pathetic hope when she saw the Glass House up ahead that she felt sick. She unlocked the door and slammed it behind her and slid down against it, holding her head in her hands.

It’ll happen to me, too
, she thought.
Maybe in an hour. Maybe tomorrow. But I’ll forget, too. And when I do, nobody will be able to stop this.

She felt a rush of warmth around her, almost of comfort. It was the house, trying to respond to her misery. She wiped her eyes and sniffled and said, “That doesn’t help. Nothing helps.”

But somehow, it did help a little, even though she knew it was as useless as a hug during an earthquake. She sucked in a deep breath and got up to go upstairs. No Michael, of course. Not yet. And no sign of Eve, so she probably was at her parents’ house, after all. Her door was open, and her clothes were all thrown around. It was impossible to tell whether that was panic or just natural behavior with Eve.

Claire’s room was neat and just the way she’d left it. She got into bed and pulled the covers up, keeping the crossbow with 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’s cell. She didn’t know why, 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’s this?”

Her heart sank. “C-Claire.”

“From school?”

“Uh . . . yeah. From school.” She only lied because she felt so bad, and she needed to just hear a friendly voice. Even if that person didn’t know who 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 some weird shit going down in Weirdsville, let me tell you. I came home and my mom won’t talk to me, which is actually nice for a change, but my room is
gone
. I mean, it’s here, but it’s full of junk. I had to move stuff to get to my bed! It’s like they didn’t care if I ever came back.” Eve sounded manic, and nervous. “It’s weird, I mean, my stuff . . . I think she trashed everything. I can’t find my clothes. I think my parents are trying to make me leave. Which, fab, I’ll go, you know? I hate it here. Don’t you?”

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

“I don’t know. Away, you know? Away from all this crap. Someplace sunny, if you get me.”

“What about Michael?”

“Michael?
Glass
?” Eve laughed, but it sounded edgy and strange. “Like he knows I live at all. I mean, he’s hella cute, but he’s not ever going to notice me.”

“I think he will,” Claire said. “I mean, I think he thinks you’re cute.”

“Really?” Eve’s voice sharpened and got suspicious. “You think I’m really going to fall for that? Am I supposed to go 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’s posse? Because if you are—”

“I’m not! I promise!”

But Eve’s paranoia switch was well 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 scream out her frustration. When the phone rang, she thought it would be Eve calling back, maybe to give her more attitude. “Yeah?” she said miserably.

“Claire?”
Shane.
“Claire, are you okay?”

She almost started crying again. “I’m home; I’m at the Glass House. Where are you?”

“On my way there now,” he said. “Stay put. It’s not safe out here.”

“I know.” She sat up and hugged her pillow. “Oliver wasn’t affected; he was going to help me get to Myrnin.”

“Claire, I
told
you not to—”

“It doesn’t matter. We got ambushed on the way. Amelie hauled him off. I think she thinks he came to kill her. She doesn’t remember him living here, or that he was her . . . friend.”
Friend
didn’t sound right, especially given what had gone on between them. “I don’t know what happened to him.”

“Well, sorry to say this, but if she kills him, boo-hoo, and I’ll get counseling. Look, just
stay there
. I’ll be home in about ten minutes. I’m bringing food.”

“What about Michael?”

Shane was silent for a long few seconds, so long Claire checked the screen to see if she’d lost the connection. “I couldn’t get him to remember,” he finally said. “It was safer to leave him with the vamps. He nearly took my throat out, and he kept screaming he wasn’t . . . you know. It was bad.”

“It’s all bad,” Claire said. “And it’s all my fault. I can’t stop it, Shane. I can’t do anything to stop it.”

“Hey, hey, stop that. We’re going to figure this out, okay? We’ll find a way. But first, we eat, we get some rest, and then we save the world. Right?”

“Just hurry,” she said. “Nothing bad can happen when I’m with you.”

“Wow. I’m not sure if I feel shiny or scared.”

“Scared is useful right now.”

“Good point. I’m coming, okay? I’m running.”

She was smiling, though 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’s voice called her name. Then she got 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’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 made things 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 remembering.”

“Yeah, no problem,” he said. He sounded amused. “You may not thank me for the burgers and fries, though. I don’t think Dan’s Drive-In is doing its best work today.”

“Anything,” she said. “As long as you’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’t forget me, okay?”

“I won’t,” she promised. “I don’t think I ever could. Not even . . . not even if . . .”

He hugged her, and they really didn’t need to finish that conversation at all. It was all . . . better.

Eventually, he said, “The burgers are getting cold,” and Claire let go and went into the kitchen to retrieve the all-important drinks to go with dinner. And yeah, the burgers were kind of gross and the fries were a little cold, but she savored every bite. It tasted like normal life, and she needed every bit of that she could get. They cleaned up afterward, and Shane decided that he’d better wash the dishes, because it was Eve’s turn and she wasn’t going to remember anyway, even if by some miracle she found her way back here. And that felt good, too.

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

Claire called her mom, who talked about the tests they were running on her dad, and how they planned surgery to fix the valve in his heart, and how he was doing so well, really, all things considered. Claire said very little, because she was afraid she’d just start crying hysterically if she did. Mom didn’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, Mom.”

She hung up before her voice could tremble, and saw Shane watching her with a kind of warm understanding in his face.

“That was hard, huh?” he asked, and put an arm around her. “Your dad’s okay?”

“Doing better than they expected,” Claire said, and took in a deep breath. “Unlike us, I guess.”

“Hey, don’t count us out yet.”

“I don’t,” Claire said. “But it’s bad, Shane. I feel like we’re really alone this time. Just the two of us.”

He hugged her closer. “And that’s not all terrible. Tomorrow we’re going to get this handled, all right? You’re too shaky right now, and going out in the dark isn’t a fabulous plan. We’ll fight monsters in the morning.”

The Morganville TV station was showing reruns of shows from three years ago. Shane put in a movie, and they talked some about . . . well, nothing, really, and kissed and stayed together until finally there was nothing to do but go to bed.

Shane walked her to her bedroom door, and before he could say anything, she said, “Stay, okay? I want you with me.” He just nodded, and she saw relief on his face. He’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 same, really; it was more holding on for comfort right now. And that was good. That was really good.

“I don’t know what I’m going to do tomorrow,” Claire said finally, into the dark. Shane’s arms tightened around her, pulling her closer against his chest.

“Tomorrow, we’re going to find out who can still fight, and get down there and pin Myrnin down and fix this,” he said. “I swear. We’re going to make this work.”

“The two of us.”

“Yeah, the two of us, and whoever’s left who’s not bug-eyed crazy.” He kissed the back of her neck, very gently. “It’s going to be okay. Sleep.”

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

THIRTEEN

C
laire woke with the sun in her eyes, again, and for a precious, sweet second she just savored the warmth of it on her body, and the fact that Shane was still curled up against her back, one heavy arm around her waist. Then, regretfully, she turned over to face him. “Hey,” she said. “Wake up, sleepyhead; we overslept.”

Shane mumbled something and tried to put a pillow over his head. She pulled it off. “Come on; get up; we’ve got things to do!”

“Go ’way, Lyss,” he moaned, and opened his eyes, blinked, and finally focused on her.

And then he completely, totally freaked out.

He actually flailed around, got caught in the covers, and, when he tried to get free, fell out of bed onto the floor. Claire laughed and leaned over the side, looking down at him. “Hey, are you . . . okay . . . ?”

The words died in her mouth, because he was
still
freaking. He writhed around in the covers, grabbed a blanket, and wrapped it around his body as he climbed to his bare feet, backing away from the bed.

And her.

He held out the hand that wasn’t holding up the blanket, palm out. “Okay,” he said. “Okay, think, Collins, think—yeah, okay, this is awkward, and I’m really sorry, because I’m sure you’re really—Oh, man. What the hell did I do? Was there drinking? There must have been drinking.”

“Shane?” Claire still had a sheet, and now she pulled it over herself, suddenly cold and feeling very exposed. “Shane—”

He was
still
backing away, looking panicked and deeply uncomfortable. “So, we’ve obviously been formally introduced at some point in my insane drinking binge. Uh, hi. Look, you’ve got to keep it down, okay? My parents will
kill
me if—” He stopped and looked around the room. “Oh,
shit
. This is not my room, is it? This is yours. As in, I never went home, all night. My dad is going to—” He squeezed his eyes shut. “Pants. I need pants. Where are my pants?”