As Claire walked down the dark alley that led to the 'trapdoor spider's underground lair' (which is the name given to him by his neighbours- Claire had to laugh at it), she texted Shane. Just a quick message to say she loved him and would be home in time for dinner. She didn't know why she did it but for some reason, she felt like she had to. In some ways, you could say that she could sense what was about to happen. She opened the door of the shack that led down to Myrnin's lab. As she closed it behind her, she got a text. It was from Shane. It read, 'Hey beautiful. Missing you already. Can't wait to see you later. Love you, S xx'. Claire smiled to herself and walked down the steps.

As usual, Myrnin's lab was a mess. It looked like a herd of rhinos had charged through it. Books were everywhere, lab equipment out on every available surface and other junk was just dumped on the floor. It was like an obstacle course, just getting from one side of the room to the other. If you weren't careful and didn't look where you were going, you could easily trip over something and break you leg, or worse. Claire sighed. No matter how hard she tried to clean the place up, it still looked like a pig sty the next time so came. There was no sign of her boss but she did, however, spot his ever-present spider Bob, sat in his tank, looking at her with big, shiny eyes. She shuddered. It was all hairy and disgusting. She had no idea why Myrnin kept it, or what the appeal of having it was. She considered throwing it out while Myrnin wasn't here, but she knew he would be deeply upset. And besides, he'd probably just find another one anyway. Claire put on her lab coat and started to clean up the floor. She was glad she was being careful, because she found a pair of scissors, open and pointing up at a strange angle. Who knew what could have happened if she hadn't have spotted it.

"Ah, Claire. And what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?" Myrnin had appeared silently and wondered over towards her, looking intently at the book he had in his hands.

Claire was confused. "You asked me to come over today." Myrnin looked up from the book he was reading and raised his eyebrows.

"I did?" When Claire nodded, he shook his head. "Oh well I don't remember this." He shrugged. "Well since you here, you might as well continue with our work, hadn't you?" Claire had been planning on doing that anyway, if it hadn't have been for the death trap that covered his floor.

"What are you reading?" She didn't recognise the book but the handwriting was familiar. It was Amelie's. "Is it from Amelie?"

"No, it's not from her. It's by her. She wrote this. It's a detailed description of the process of microscopic level ionic bonding..." He continued to drone on the background, but Claire wasn't listening. She interrupted him.

"Amelie wrote a book? When?"

"Oh, a few hundred years ago, I suppose. But I find it quite interesting. Maybe you would enjoy it." The look on Claire's face pretty clearly said that she wouldn't enjoy that. Myrnin's smile faltered. "What's wrong Claire? Since when have you not been interested in a form of science. It is fascinating, you know."

"I've no doubt that it is. Maybe someday I'll read it..." She left that thought hanging. She didn't need to tell Myrnin about the slim possibility of that actually happening. However, Myrnin had already walked off, to do whatever it was that he did while Claire seemed to do all the work. She spent the next hour in silence, which she was grateful for. It was hard to master the art of alchemy anyway, without the constant distractions of Myrnin talking in her ear. After she thought she had done enough for one day, she wandered over to see what Myrnin was up to. He was studying something under a microscope. She couldn't make it out from where she was standing. "What are you looking at?" She asked. Myrnin stood up and turned to look at her.

"The similarities between plant and human cells. I know it's basic, but sometimes it's nice to do something simple, to not have to exercise your brain all the time. Amelie would kill me if she heard me say that." He smiled to himself and then focused back on her. "Why don't you take a look?" She stepped forward to look into the microscope. As she passed him, she accidentally brushed Myrnin's arm and he froze. Claire, oblivious to this, bent her head to look into the microscope.

"Huh, so they are quite similar. Who could have guessed?" She smiled, but Myrnin stayed perfectly blank. He just stared at her, as if he was seeing her for the first time. "Myrnin? Are you ok? What's wrong?" She stared at him, confused. He stayed motionless for so long, Claire thought he was completely ignoring her. Then all of a sudden he said,

"No nothing's wrong." And began to move again. He took the slide away from the lens and put it in a box and then put this on a shelf. But Claire didn't feel better. His tone was all wrong and he was moving strangely, as if he was thinking about something else and wasn't focused on what he was doing. Claire sighed. It was probably one of his mood swings again. She took off her lab coat, hung it on its hook and started towards the stairs.

"Bye Myrnin." Claire called over her shoulder. She had just reached the bottom step when she heard Myrnin call her name.

"Claire! Wait for a second. There's something I need to talk to you about." 'Oh no', Claire thought. 'What have I done now?' She turned around and nearly leapt backwards, because Myrnin was so close! She hadn't heard him move, but he was right behind her, inches away. "Claire." He whispered it and then all of a sudden, she was pressed again the wall and Myrnin was moving closer. 'OMG. HE'S GOING TO BITE ME!', she thought and then his lips were on hers. They were hard like stone and too firm, pressing on her with a power and force she wasn't used to.

"Myrnin-" Claire tried to talk, but his lips crushed hers, cutting off her ability to speak. She moved her hands to his chest and shoved, but he didn't budge. She hit him, pushed, shoved, kicked. He didn't let her go. Suddenly, he captured her hands in a vice-tight grip and pulled then down to her sides. He was holding her arms too tight. She knew she would have bruises. His lips left hers but travelled down to her neck. He continued to kiss her, oblivious to her struggles to get free. "Myrnin, get off of me! What are you doing?" She struggled again, and his hands tightened on her arms. "Ow! Myrnin, you're hurting me! Let go!" Tears were silently streaming down Claire's face. Myrnin brought his lips back to hers. The kiss was fierce and too strong, with an undertone of urgency and desperation. His grip on her arms was bone-crushingly tight. Claire tried to push against him, struggling to get free. He finally seemed to get the message and backed off, releasing Claire's arms. She pushed him away from her and fled towards the stairs. She legged it up them, two at the time. Myrnin was trying to call to her.

"Claire, wait! Come back! I'm sorry! I don't know what came over me! Please wait!" But she didn't. She reached the top of the stairs and flung the door open. She charged out of the door, ran down the alleyway and burst out onto the street. Tears were streaming down her face and she couldn't seem to stop shaking. She ran down the street, trying to put as much distance between herself and Myrnin as possible.