Claudia jumped when Artie dashed back into the office from the Warehouse floor.
"Room to work, that's what I need, room to work!" He ran to the large table in the office and cleared it with one sweep of his arm, scattering piles of papers and scrolls everywhere.
Claudia ran to him, her eyes wide with anger. "Hey, I just sorted those! Damn it Artie, that took me over two hours!" She stood there pointing at the mess he made, waiting for a response, but Artie just kept mumbling about "open," "room," and "doorway." Losing patience, she put her arm on his shoulder and made him turn to face her. Claudia froze when she saw the look on Artie's face; he was terrified.
"Artie. Artie," she said more forcefully, getting his attention away from the table after he tried turning his back to her. "What gives, dude?" She ran her hand slowly up and down his arm, trying to calm him down. "You seen a ghost or something?"
Artie turned to her, finally giving her his full attention. He grabbed her hands in his and brought them to his lips, kissing her fingers, relishing how her soft hands felt against his grizzled face. He pulled her to him and hugged her so tightly Claudia gave a little squeak.
"Ooof! Artie, if you squeeze me any harder, I'm gonna pop..."
Artie released her, holding her at arm's length to get a good look at her. Claudia realized he was studying her, drinking her with his eyes like someone would do a loved one who would never be seen again. She put her hands on his shoulders to steady herself.
"Old man, you are scaring the hell out of me. What is going on?"
Artie shook his head, a million thoughts going through it at once. "There's no time, Claudia, there's no time. Listen, I want you to go to Leena's right now and stay there." He started walking toward the exit, taking Claudia with him. "It's not safe for you here."
Claudia nearly tripped Artie when she abruptly stopped. "Sorry, Artie, no can do. Mrs. Frederic and I have a session this morning."
"That's today?" Artie's face went pale. "Oh no, no, you're not having a session today. I've got to get you out of here..."
Artie almost had Claudia to the door when they heard Mrs. Frederic's voice behind them.
"I can't let you do that."
Artie stopped short. He and Claudia turned around, Artie pulling her closer to him.
"Mrs. Frederic, please." Claudia felt a pit of fear grow in her stomach when she realized Artie was begging. "She can't be here while I try to fix this."
Mrs. Frederic shook her head slowly, giving Artie a sad look. "I'm sorry, Arthur. Once the process has started, I can't stop it."
"But you know what she'll do!" Artie said, fear making his voice raspy.
"Hello, I am right here in the room," Claudia said, her irritation at being ignored overriding her fear. "Would someone please tell me what the hell's going on?"
Artie slowly slumped into the nearest chair, his face sinking in to his hands. Mrs. Frederic walked to Claudia, putting a hand on her shoulder. Claudia briefly thought how strange it was that Mrs. Frederic's hand was so light; she had expected it to be as heavy as the burden of being the Warehouse caretaker.
"Claudia, when you were poised as a replacement caretaker for Warehouse 13 while Warehouse 2 was taking control of my mind, I was not aware of certain processes that had been set in motion." Claudia listened with rapt attention, boggled by the idea of Mrs. Frederic not being aware of something.
Mrs. Frederic continued. "Some of the defense mechanisms of Warehouse 13 partially attuned themselves to you. As long as the attunement is incomplete, the Warehouse's defenses are unstable, thus putting the Warehouse in jeopardy. I asked you to meet me here today so we can complete the process."
Claudia nodded in understanding. "Okay, that all makes sense to me. What doesn't make sense is Artie," she said, pointing a thumb in his direction, "wigging out about it. Is this attunement dangerous or something?"
Mrs. Frederic shook her head. "The attunement in itself is not dangerous; it's merely the synchronizing of energy wave patterns. What has Arthur so worried is that after you have been attuned, you will have telepathic access to some of the Warehouse's internal security features."
"And that's dangerous to me because..."
"A lost room of the Warehouse has reappeared after many years. It's a very unstable place, and Arthur is in grave danger until he can neutralize it. Since you and Arthur share such a strong emotional and physical bond, you will try to save him if anything happens. At the same time you will have access to Warehouse defense mechanisms without the training to use them properly. If you aren't careful," Mrs. Frederic finished in a soft voice, "the energy overload will kill you."
Claudia gulped, not liking the thought of being fried. "Um, you have a point there." She ran her hands through her hair, took in a deep breath, and let it out slowly. "Okay, so, energy overload bad, got it." She paused for a moment, looking over at Artie sitting dejectedly. "Mrs. Frederic, why is this room so dangerous to Artie?" she asked quietly.
Artie drew in a deep breath and sighed. "Claudia," he said, drawing her down into his lap and kissing her forehead, "the lost room contains active artifacts from Nazi Germany."
