The first thing Claire noticed when she walked into Myrnin's lab was how dark it was. Myrnin always had the lights burning, mostly because he just couldn't be bothered to turn them off.
Not now. The lab was pitch black.
"Myrnin?" No answer. Claire carefully made her way down the stairs, finding a lightswitch and flicking it on. The lights burned to life, showing a mostly-still-clean lab, all of the books still in their places on the shelves, the lab equipment not strewn about...
...and Myrnin sitting slumped in a chair nearby, the big medieval one. His elbow rested on the armrest, his chin rested on his hand, and his eyes were closed. He looked asleep, but he never really slept. He napped, sure, but by now he would've woken up, flitting around his lab like a hummingbird on crack. He simply sat there, though, frozen, in strangely-matching Victorian clothes. All black.
"Myrnin? Are you all right?"She'd played this game with him before: he'd act asleep, and when she got anywhere near him he'd jump up and scare her. However, the small prickling on the back of her neck told her this was all wrong. She took one step closer, and then he moved.
He went from a sitting position all the way across the lab to standing in front of her, eyes slightly tinted red, in the time it took for her shoe to hit against the floor with a soft tap.
"Hello, little morsel. Did Amelie send you for me?"
Uh-oh. That was his hunting voice. He didn't recognize her. The last time this had happened, the machine was broken. Was it broken again?
"Myrnin, it's me. Claire. I work for you, remember?"
Myrnin tilted his head to one side, his eyes losing the red glow. "Hm? Oh, Claire, sorry." He blinked a few times, as if clearing his head, and looked a bit frightened. "I don't know what came over me...did you bring doughnuts?"
Claire surrendered the small white box, worried. He darted off to one corner of the lab, set the box down, and started looking through his bookshelves, then stopped.
"Claire, did you alphabetize these volumes by title?"Claire shook her head. All she'd really done was put them in there, figuring she'd sort them later. Myrnin sniffed the air, eyes narrowing. "Someone else has been here...and I think I remember them..."