Bite Club Page 0,55

"juice" bottle didn't set him off.

All Claire could think was that she needed to sit down and tell him about the call. But she didn't know what she was going to say, and she didn't want to say it in front of Eve and Michael. Not like that; it needed to be private.

But afterward, upstairs in his room, when Claire snuggled in next to him, talking didn't seem to be important. She kept thinking she'd bring it up, but after hours of slow, delicious kissing in his arms, she still hadn't managed to even start the conversation. Finally, she fell asleep. When she woke up, he was carrying her to her bed and tucking her in.

"Shane?" she murmured. He was leaning over her, close enough that his long, shaggy hair brushed her face.

"Still me," he murmured back. "Were you expecting someone else?"

She smiled. "Just you."

"Good girl." He gave her a slow, damp kiss, one that made her warm down to her toes.

"Shane, I was thinking..."

"About?"

"About..." She didn't want to do this--she really didn't. Not when it had been so nice. So perfect. But she tried. "About leaving Morganville."

To her surprise, he didn't pull back or act surprised oranything. He kissed her again, lightly, and said, "We will. I promise."

"I just--You know I want to go to MIT, right?"

"Of course. And you will."

Wow. Just like that...although she hadn't managed to work in theJanuary part of the conversation. But it sounded good. Positive. They were on the same page, after all. One last, sleepy, damp kiss, and she slipped away into the best sleep she'd had in almost a week.

He was gone when she woke up, but he'd left a note.... He'd signed up for an extra, early-morning shift at the barbecue restaurant. He even signed it withLY , which she knew was Shane shorthand forlove you .

That felt better. Lots better.

Claire was just coming down the stairs, humming and thinking about how nice it was to have things getting back to normal, and how she'd tell Shane about the January thing tonight, when Myrnin sent a message through the portal--well, more of a rock with a note tied to it, which rolled across the floor and scared Eve into a scream before the portal snapped shut. Eve kicked the rock resentfully with her thick black boots and glared at it, then at the wall. Claire, who was coming down the steps, gave her a "What the hell?" kind of look.

"Your boss," Eve said, and reached down to grab the rock, "needs to figure out texting. Seriously. Who does this? Is heactually from the Stone Age? Andyou need to figure out how to put something here that we can lock. What if this thing opens when I'm naked?"

"Why would you be naked down here?"

"Well--" Eve didn't have an answer for that one. She handed over the rock. "Okay, bad example. But I don't like it that he can just drop in any damn time he wants. Or throw rocks at us."

"I don't like it much, either," Claire admitted, as she untied the string and peeled the paper off the stone. She took a second to examine the rock. You never knew with Myrnin, but this looked just like what it appeared to be: plain granite. So the message was the paper, like if a normal person had thought of it...not that a normal person would have thrown a rock into their house in the first place.

The note said,Stay away from the lab until further notice. I am fumigating. It might kill you. Also, it appears that Our Old Friend may have left town. Oliver is sending operatives after him, but the crisis may be over. For now.

"Fumigating?" Eve said, reading over her shoulder. "What does that mean? And who's Our Old Friend?"

That was Bishop, of course, but Claire couldn't tell Eve any of that. "No idea. He probably thinks he's talking to someone else, anyway. Oh, andfumigating means that he's gassing the place. I guess he thinks there's some kind of bug problem."

"He usually just lets Bob loose on them."

"Maybe Bob's full. I hope he remembers to move him before--Maybe I'd better remind him." Claire pulled out her phone and texted Myrnin, who promptly texted back,Of course i moved the spider. I am not an idiot .

No, he was a very smart guy who responded to texts, but threw rocks with messages tied onto them.

Claire gave up.

"I got a message from Miranda," Eve said. "She didn't have your e-mail. You guys have