Bitter Blood (The Morganville Vampires #13)(110)

She finally got her mind back in place enough to say, “I’m sorry, Mom…Why did you call me?”

“I just felt you needed me,” her mother said. “It’s a mother’s instinct, sweetheart. Come home, Claire. Just come home and let us take care of you. You’ll get through this; I know you will. You’re a very strong girl. It’ll be okay.”

“I’ll come,” Claire whispered. “As soon as I can.” She didn’t have anything left to stay for, did she?

She hung up and went to give Eve her medication.

Eve was well enough by nightfall to take some food, though not a lot. Claire made her soup in a cup, and then put her back to bed with the TV softly playing a movie she knew Eve liked well enough to sleep through.

They didn’t talk much.

Miranda came back about the time that Claire was rinsing out the soup cups.

“I’m sorry,” Miranda said, and hugged her. Claire threw her arms around the girl and squeezed tightly; for the first time, she felt like someone had truly forgiven her and understood how she felt. “I couldn’t do anything today. Michael left; he wouldn’t say anything to me, and then Shane—he drank too much, you know. It scared me. I thought he was going to do something—something bad. But he didn’t.”

It would have scared Claire, if she’d known it. “But Eve’s okay; that’s the important thing,” she said. “We’ll—we’ll fix this. Somehow.”

“Is it true?” Miranda pulled back to hold her at arm’s length. “Shane said—Shane said you were with Michael, behind his back. But you weren’t, were you?”

“No. No, never!”

“I believe you.” Miranda held her hands and sat her down at the kitchen table. “I did what you asked. I got out and tried to listen to what the other ghosts were saying. I didn’t talk to them, exactly, because it’s dangerous to get their attention; they were still following Jenna, trying to tell her things, so that’s why I was able to hear so much.”

For the first time, Claire felt a surge of something that might have been hope. “Did you hear anything about Myrnin?”

“No,” Miranda said. “I’m sorry. But I did hear something weird; maybe it could mean something.” The hope was just a pale flicker now, but Claire nodded anyway. “One of them said a spider was in a hole under the white tree. And another one said—Claire, I’m really not sure this is about him at all, you understand—that something was climbing up, but the sun would burn it away.”

That didn’t help at all. Claire felt a white-hot urge to break something in frustration, or punch a wall, Shane-style, but she knew it wouldn’t help. Nothing would help, except figuring something out for a change.

Think, she told herself. Breathe. If she could find Myrnin, that would be something, at least. Something positive, in all this devastation. Something climbing. Hole by the white tree. Was he climbing up in a hole by a white tree? That didn’t make any sense. There weren’t any white trees in Morganville. Was he even here, in this town? If he wasn’t, she couldn’t help him at all.

No, he’s here. Think. Think!

White tree. That had to mean something. It must be a landmark, so it had to be something she could remember. But what…?

“The ghost who was talking about the white tree,” Claire said. “Do you know where he came from?”

“I think he died at the Sleep Inne over near the edge of town. You know that one?” Claire did. It was bland and forgettable, and there were no trees of any kind that way. “I guess his body is buried in the cemetery.”

The cemetery, Claire thought. They’d remarked on it from the first, how it all looked so photogenic. That big dead tree, Angel had said. Such a striking color.

Because it was dead, and it was…

Claire’s eyes opened wide. “The tree. The cemetery tree, it’s white, right?”

“I guess. It’s dead and the bark is all peeled off and it looks white.”

“So it’s at the cemetery,” Claire blurted, and opened her eyes. “It’s got to be there, whatever this—this hole is. That’s where Myrnin is. He’s in the hole, in water. And there’s some kind of a grate on top, with a cross; Jenna said she saw that in a vision. Mir, I have to go, right now. Can you stay with Eve?”

“I—well, yes, but you can’t go out there in the dark, all alone!”

“I have to. Myrnin may be the only one left who can help us get through this, and your other ghost said the sun will burn it away. If he’s in a hole in the ground, and the sun comes up, he could burn in there. I can’t let that happen.”

“I can’t go with you! If I did, the other ghosts—they’d be all over me. I have to stay in the house. And Eve’s too sick.”

“Then I’ll call Shane,” Claire shot back, and pulled out her phone. She paced as it rang, and rang, and rang, and went to voice mail. She hung up and texted him, with a 911. No details. And finally, after five long minutes, he called back.

“Don’t hang up,” she said. “I need your help.”

“Is it Eve?”

“No,” she said reluctantly.

“Then no.”

“Wait! Wait, listen to me. I have to go to the cemetery. There’s—someone’s in trouble, Shane. If you don’t go with me, I have to go alone. Please. I know you’re angry at me, but—but be angry tomorrow. Tonight, just please, do this for me.” He was silent on the other end, but she could hear the uneven hitch of his breathing. “Shane, please. One time.”