So, this changes perspectives. It starts out with Myrnin's, then switches to Claire's, and then back and forth. You guys are smart, you'll get it.

Myrnin stumbled out of Ada's arms and, as soon as she let go, he realized just how cold her embrace had been. He closed his eyes tightly as he felt the knife in his chest take its toll on his body.

He waited to die.

And then he woke up.

.

Claire was sleeping peacefully when Myrnin came crashing through her bedroom door and shook her roughly.

"Claire, wake up, please," he said. "I know you're here. I know I'm here. I know you've been here. And I've been here for quite some time. So I realize it must be later than I think. And yet, I know your name. How odd. But, Claire, please. Tell me what year we're in."

Claire rubbed her eyes, blinking up at her crazed boss. "Myrnin." She looked at her digital alarm clock next to the side of her bed. "It's not even two a.m. yet. What are you doing here?"

Myrnin completely ignored her, becoming frustrated that she hadn't answered his question yet. "I'm here. I'm sure of it. This couldn't be another..." He continued his endless gibberish, poking his stomach and prodding the foot of Claire's bed.

Claire recognized the gleam in his eye. It was the shined-over look of mania that liked to visit Myrnin ever so often. Forgetting the ratty pajamas she was wearing, she got out of her bed and put a gentle hand on his arm. The muscles that moved under the familiar frock coat reminded her all too well of the possible danger she was in. Myrnin could make one lithe move and she'd be dead.

But he stilled at her touch. His eyes did not glance at her, though. They stared at a blank space on her wall. His lips continued moving in almost-silent words, but Claire could make it out. "This isn't real... Myrnin, wake up," he told himself. "This is not real." Claire's brows furrowed as he brushed her away and started pacing.

"Myrnin, I'm real." She wondered what was wrong with him while scrutinizing his tired, insane face.

"That's what they all said, Claire. Amelie, Oliver, Bishop, and you." He scrubbed his face with his hands. Claire heard the pain in his voice when he said, "Even Ada told me she was real. And I believed her."

"Well, how can I prove it?" she asked, trying not to let Myrnin's crazy talk get her worried.

"Only I can prove it," he said, shaking his head. "But it could cost me if this is not the reality I know."

"What is it?"

Myrnin didn't answer. He stopped pacing and laid himself out on the floor and closed his eyes, resting his hands on his stomach, neatly folded. "One... Two... Three..." His quiet counting went on, but with between each number, there was a longer pause. By the time he got to fifteen, he was counting slowly in his head, she could see from the way his lips moved silently. When he was done he jolted out of his sleep-like state and was suddenly standing, having used his vampire speed.

"It worked," he said, a slight smile appearing on his lips. "You are real."

"Like I was saying," Claire said indignantly, as if it had offended her that Myrnin hadn't believed her. "What is this all about?" she asked.

It looked as though Myrnin wanted to say something. As if the answer was protruding from his mouth. But he quickly sucked it back in and swallowed it whole. "I'll tell you tomorrow morning. Meet me in the lab at ten," he said, excited.

And he disappeared before Claire could remember to tell him what year it was.

.

Myrnin swept out of Claire's room where he had left her in an unkempt state, standing there in ratty sleeping clothes. He left the Glass House through a portal and entered his lab. His home.

Myrnin tried to shake away the cobwebs of the dream he had just so recently left. But the thin strands of memory would not leave him alone. Ada's cool touch still remained on his arms and the feeling of disorientation was also present.

He was soon lost in his mutterings and pacing until Claire entered his lab that morning, looking presentable and curious.

.

"Myrnin?" Claire asked tentatively, taking a step into the shack.

"Down here," came his familiar voice.

She walked down the stairs and entered the red glow emitting from one of Myrnin's retro lamps, the sanguine-colored shade turning the light red and spilling it across the room. He was pacing, as usual, and his form looked eerie in the red lighting.

"2011," she said.

"What?" he asked, stopping his pacing and looking at her oddly.

"You asked what year it was last night. It's 2011."

Realization sparked in the back of his dark eyes. "Oh, yes," he said, nodding. His eyes fell from her gaze and he stared at her shoes. Claire shifted uncomfortably. Were her Converse not up to par with his pirate boots, she wondered as Myrnin's eyebrows furrowed.

"Claire, I—" he stopped himself and shut his mouth.

She raised her own brows questioningly.

"I have to show you something," he said. And then he retreated to a back room. After a moment's hesitation, Claire followed.

He was standing in one of his back rooms. One entirely empty except for a simple cot and a complicated machine. One with wires of several different colors strung protruding from the contraption and coming together in an awkward rainbow, meeting at a plug stuck into an outlet. There were also a few wires that came out of the machine and ended with little white plastic disks, attached to nothing and lying on the cot.

Myrnin looked up after she entered. "It's a time machine."

As always, reviews would be great. Please tell me what you think.

Maybe guess as to what happens next?

You'll never figure it out.

[Watches your 'Challenge Accepted' faces]

Go for it.