Fade Out

Even Shane looked a little sick at that. “We’ll do our own punishing, thanks,” he said. “Humans, I mean. Not me, personally.”

Morley’s eyes narrowed, but he shrugged as if he didn’t really care. “Take her,” he said. “Take the black boxes she thought were so important. Take it all, and remember your promise, Claire: you have one month to secure Amelie’s permission for us to leave Morganville. If you don’t get it, I’ll be paying your friends a visit.”

Kim was too scared to fight, but Shane took some strips of cloth and wrapped her wrists and ankles tight before slinging her over his shoulder. Eve took the box with the hard drives and DVDs.

Morley and his vampires stood in their way.

“One month,” he said. “Remember what I said.”

Then they parted ranks, and the three of them, carrying Kim, walked uphill toward the light at the end of the tunnel.

Ada was standing right at the very edge of the darkness, hands clasped before her, eyes like burned paper holes.

“I see you found her,” Ada said. “Good. I want her.”

“Why? Why did you bring us here?”

“Morley was supposed to kill you. I suppose one must do everything one’s self these days.”

Claire felt a sick wave of understanding flood over her. “You,” she said. “You would have known all about the cameras. You probably found out the first time Kim placed one.”

Ada smiled.

“You let her do it.”

“Oh no,” Ada said. “I helped her do it. The girl told me she would use the video she’d collected to rid me of Amelie and Oliver, and I gave her access. I helped her place her cameras. But she was a liar. A cheat. A thief.” Ada’s image contorted, taking on a monster’s shape for a flicker, then smoothed back to her Victorian disguise. “She was going to cheat me out of my revenge and destroy Morganville altogether. I won’t have that. Unlike Morley and his rabble, I can’t simply leave. I am Morganville. I must survive.”

“You’re not Morganville,” Claire said. Kim, draped over Shane’s shoulder, had caught sight of Ada, and she was thrashing wildly, screaming. It was all Shane could do to hold on to her. “You’re just a science project. One that doesn’t work right.”

“I am the force that holds this lie of a town together,” Ada said, and glided closer, so close Claire could feel the cold chill generated by her image projection. “As far as Morganville is concerned, I am its goddess.”

“Word of advice,” Eve said. “It’s time for a change of religion.”

Ada’s image became distorted again, and she stretched out a hand. Claire controlled the natural impulse to flinch.

She’s not real. She’s just a ghost—Ada’s fingers touched her face. Not quite real, but almost.

Claire jumped back. “Outside!” she yelled. “Get outside!”

Ada smiled. “I’ll see you soon.”

They made it outside, into the faint hint of sunrise, without anyone jumping them again.

Claire flagged down a passing police cruiser and got them to take Kim, who shrieked and fought so hard they had to use a taser on her. Eve winced, and so did Shane.

Claire didn’t. She felt bad about it, but she just couldn’t bring herself to really feel sorry for Kim.

Karma, she thought. They’d end up putting her in a padded cell, and eventually maybe Kim would recover enough to function as a normal person. Maybe even a better one. Claire didn’t even resent that, so long as she never, ever had to talk to her again.

Ever.

By ten a.m. they were back at the Glass House, and Michael was waiting. “Where were you?” he demanded as soon as they opened the door. Claire said nothing; he was focused on Eve, anyway. “I’ve been calling; it went straight to voice mail.”

“I turned it off,” Eve said. “We were kind of being stealthy.”

“Since when do you turn off a phone?” Michael put his arms around her, and Eve relaxed against him, and for just a moment, it looked like everything was the same again.

Then Eve pulled free and walked away down the hall, head down.

Michael looked awful. “What do I have to do—?”

Shane slapped his shoulder as he passed. “Give her space,” he said. “It’s been a hard couple of days. Where’s Myrnin?”

“He never showed at the rendezvous,” Michael said. “I wasn’t really worried about him. More about you.”

“Yeah, about that—we kind of had to make a deal with Morley. You know, Graveyard Guy?”

“What kind of deal?”

“The kind where we don’t want to pay up,” Shane said. “Ask Claire.”

She shook her head, walking on. “Ask Shane,” she said. “I’m not done yet.”

“What?” Shane grabbed her wrist, pulling her to a stop. His face was tense and pale. “You can’t be serious. Not done with what? We’ve got the videos, the cameras, Kim. What else?”

“Myrnin,” she said. “He didn’t show up at the rendezvous.”

“And? Dude’s crazy, in case you didn’t notice recently. He probably went off to chase butterflies or something”

“He’d have been there. Something happened to him.” Claire knew already, knew it all the way down to her bones. “Ada did something. She sent us to Morley, thinking he’d kill us. She’d go after Myrnin, too. I have to find him.”

“Not by yourself.”

“No,” Michael agreed.

“Ditto,” Eve said, and picked up a fresh weapons bag from the closet to sling over her shoulder. “Definitely not by yourself.”

Claire looked at each of them in turn, saving Shane for last. “You’re sure. Because it’s going to be dangerous.”

“You’re going after Ada, right?” Eve put stakes in her pockets, then tossed a crossbow to Shane, who caught it in midair. “You’re going to need backup. Especially if she’s got Myrnin. Besides, if we just sit here and wait, she can get us anytime she wants.”

“We should take the car,” Claire said, heading toward the closet to get her own weapons stash. “It’s not safe now going through the portals anymore. . . .”

A black hole formed in the wall next to her, and Claire felt the storm of force rip through the house. The portal wavered as the house itself fought back, trying to heal the rift, but whatever was tearing the entrance held firm.

Ada.

Claire didn’t have time to run.

Ada’s blue-white hands came out of the darkness, grabbed Claire by the shirt, and dragged her into the portal.

It snapped shut on the shocked, angry faces of her friends.

She heard Shane scream her name.

So, Ada really could touch things. Claire kind of wished she’d taken that idea more seriously.

Claire woke up lying on cold, damp stone, feeling damp little feet skittering over her arm—rats, probably. She hoped it wasn’t roaches. She’d just die if it was roaches.

She was in the dark—utter, velvety darkness that pressed in on her like smothering cloth. When she moved, she heard the scrape of her shoes echo off into the distance.

Cave. Probably not Ada’s cave, because Claire couldn’t hear the distinctive hissing and clanking that came from Ada’s gears and pipes.