A few hours earlier...
" Hi Claire!" Myrnin grinned widely as Claire came down the staires to the lab.
" Hey Myrnin, what are you doing?" Claire dumped her backpack at the bottom of the staires and bounded over to the lab table where Myrnin was working.
" Just a small experiment." He said calmly. His science goggles made his dark eyes look much bigger than they actually were and he was wearing a lab coat, for once.
" Your 'small experiments' always tend to go wrong." Claire frowned. Myrnin held up the bicer with a grape-purple liquid inside and swirled it around. He handed it to Claire.
" What does it taste like?"
" What?" Claire asked eyes wide. " You can't be serious Myrnin. I can't drink that!"
" Of course you can!" Myrnin argued. " It's a new drink. Like Vitamin Water."
" Are you sure it's safe?"
" Yeessss..." Myrnin rolled his eyes. Claire took the bicer and shrugged.
" Okay, if it's safe."
Too bad it wasn't.
The Present.
" What the?..." Claire was lost in a sea of colours. The world blurred around her and suddenly, Myrnin's voice came booming over her.
" Claire?! Mmmhmm...Claire?!" It was much louder than before, maybe too loud and desperate.
" Myrnin!" Claire called out, trying to untie herself from the colours. Wait...When did her clothes come off?
She'd shrunk!
" Claire? Claire, where are you?" Myrnin asked worriedly.
" Down here. I've shrunk! You said it was safe!" Claire growled.
" If I didn't say that then you wouldn't have drunk it!" Myrnin began lifting Claire's clothes rapidly off the floor. Claire yelped.
" Myrnin!"
" Sorry! Sorry!" Myrnin leaped up and turned away, blushing. " Claire can you walk out or something. Clothed obviously."
Claire pulled her baby pink tee closer to her and wrapped it around her. She walked away from the bundle of wrinkled clothes.
" Okay Myrnin, you can look now." Myrnin turned slowly and bent down to Claire. He cupped his hands and Claire stepped into them. There was a gust of air as Claire rised up in Myrnin's hands. She glanced over the edges of Myrnin's fingertips. OK, she was very, very high up. Claire slumped back against Myrnin's fingers. This was nothing like The Iron Giant.
" Oh dear... What're we going to do?" Myrnin grumbled for the fifth time. Claire was sitting with her back against some copper pipe attatched to more pipes and tubes to God only knows what.
" I don't know. But you have to tell Amelie and Shane what's happened." Claire sighed.
" Why me?" Myrnin whined.
" Because you are the one who caused this!" Claire waved a hand at her two-inch body. " And because I don't want to worry Shane." She added quickly.
" Okay... I'll go call Amelie." Myrnin got up and began rummaging through draws for his phone. Claire sighed. Why the hell had she believed Myrnin? Rule Three of Morganville (after don't trust anyone but friends and family and always carry silver); Never trust Myrnin.
Claire sat quietly for a while until someone/something grabbed her from behind, putting a cloth soaked in chloroform over her mouth to stop her from screaming.