be with him and to ask all the questions burning in her mind. Why would Hannah Moses do this? After all, Police Chief Moses was their ally, their good and trusted friend. But she’d shown no hesitation, no re-morse. The only way to interpret what had just happened was that

Hannah had freely and willingly joined the Daylight Foundation.

Nothing was making any sense, and Claire needed it to make

sense so badly. Humans have taken control of Morganvil e, Hannah had told her, as their friends— their mutual friends— lay still on the

ground. Vampires are being quarantined for their own protection.

It couldn’t be true. It just . . . couldn’t. And yet it so obviously was.

“Where are they taking him?” Eve was staring after the flash-

ing lights of the departing ambulances. “She said something about

quarantine. What does that mean? Do you think they’re taking

them to the hospital? Do they think they have some kind of dis-

ease?”

“I don’t know,” Claire said. She felt helpless, and she knew if

she let herself feel anything, she’d be just as angry as Shane looked sitting in that other cruiser. He seemed ready to chew through the

steel mesh. But if she got angry, she would also have to let in everything else, all the other emotions that bubbled and threatened in-

side her. And if she did that, she would collapse, like Eve was

doing.

Better not to feel anything right now. Better to stay strong.

The driver’s- side door opened, and Hannah Moses got behind

the wheel of the police car. She settled in and buckled her safety

belt in one smooth motion. A deputy got in on the other side—

new, Claire thought. Someone she didn’t know.

But she did recognize the pin he wore on the collar of his

uniform— a rising sun, in gold.

9780451414274_Daylighters_TX.indd 6

7/17/13 9:02 AM

22318

Daylighters 7

Symbol of the Daylight Foundation.

Eve lunged forward and grabbed the mesh, threading her fin-

gertips into it as Hannah started the engine of the cruiser. “What

the hell are you doing, Hannah?” she demanded, and rattled the mesh, hard. “Where are you taking Michael?”

“He’s safe,” Hannah said. “Nothing will happen to him. Trust

me, Eve. “

“Yeah, you know what? Bite me. I don’t trust you. You just

stabbed us all in the back, you horrible bi—”

Claire grabbed Eve and dragged her away, changing the word

to a protesting yelp. “Stop,” she whispered fiercely in her best

friend’s ear. “You’re not going to accomplish anything by making

her angry at us. Just wait. Be quiet and wait.”

“Easy for you to say,” Eve hissed. “Shane’s coming with us at

least. Michael— we don’t even know where they’re taking him!”

She had a point. Claire really hated to admit it, but there was

absolutely nothing they could accomplish locked in a police