Eve hammered on the door. Claire?
Claire slipped out of Shanes room quietly, trying not to look obvious about it, and made sure she was several steps into neutral territory before she said, What is it?
Eve, whod opened up Claires door and was looking inside, whirled so fast she almost overbalanced. She was ultra-Goth todaydeep purple dress with skull patterns, black-and-white striped tights, a deaths-head choker. Her hair was up in one scary-looking spiked ponytail, and her makeup was the usual rice paper and dead black, with the addition of dark cherry lipstick.
Whered you come from? she asked. Claire gestured vaguely toward the staircase. I just came from there.
Bathroom, Claire said. And got a frown, but Eve let it go.
Its Michael, she said. Hes gone.
Gone to work?
No, gone. As in, he took off in the middle of the night and didnt tell me where he was going, and he hasnt come back. I checkedhes not at the music store. Im worried, especially Eves train of thought switched tracks, and her eyes widened. Oh my God, are you wearing the same thing you had on yesterday? Youre not doing the walk of shame, are you? Because I totally cannot face your parents if you are.
No, no, its not like that Claire felt a hot blush work its way up from her neck to vividly light up her face. I justwe were talking, and we fell asleep. I swear, we didnt, um
Yeah, youd better not have ummed, because if you did, that would be Eve struggled not to smile. That would be bad.
I know, I know. But we didnt. And we arent going to until Until I can convince him its okay. Whatever. About Michaelwhat do you want to do?
Go ask some questions. Common Grounds is a place to start, much as I hate it; Sams probably there, or we can leave a message for him. I heard hes back out in public again. Sam was Michaels grandfather and a vampire. Hed nearly been staked dead, and it had taken Amelies help to save him. But hed been left weak. Claire was glad to hear that he was better Sam was, she felt, one of the best of the vampires. One she could trust. Well? Are we going or what?
Shane still hadnt come out of the bathroom. Five minutes, Claire said, resigned. No chance of a hot shower, or even clean clothesthe best she had available were cleanish, and not slept in. She might be able to find that last-picked pair of underwear hiding in a drawer. . . .
There was a knock downstairs at the front door. An authoritative, urgent sort of knock. It was still early, and the number of drop-in visitors in Morganville was generally pretty small anyway; Claire dragged the least wrinkled of the two T-shirts over her head, pulled on the fresh underwear and old jeans, and hurried out into the hall still zipping up. Eve was ahead of her, already going down the stairs, and as Claire passed the bathroom, Shane opened the door and stuck his wet head out. Whats going on?
Dont know! she shot back, and hurried after Eve.