Inside it was … well, Myrnin’s lab, only sane, orderly, and clean. But she recognised a lot of what was going on at each of the worktables, though instead of using Dark Ages alchemical techniques, Dr Anderson had modern chemistry set-ups and state-of-the-art instruments and computers. It was like porn, but for science geeks. ‘Wow,’ Claire breathed, and ran her fingers tentatively over a brushed-steel worktable, not quite daring to get her fingerprints on any of the blindingly cool equipment yet. ‘You’re—’

‘Well funded? Yes. Amelie wanted to establish another, less chaotic method of research to validate and record Myrnin’s discoveries. You know him; he’s brilliant, and he’s the living embodiment of chaos theory. So my job is to find out why his discoveries work, document and make them easily reproducible with modern equipment and techniques. And now that’s your job, too.’

‘I was already doing that. Trying to, anyway. When he’d let me.’

Dr Anderson sent her a warm, knowing smile. ‘Yeah, I know how that goes. Working for Myrnin means being zookeeper, nanny and best friend. Trouble is, knowing when each of those things is necessary, because making a mistake means you become a Happy Meal. Badge of honour for you to have survived the experience, Claire. And for getting the hell out of Morganville. Bet you think the worst is over, right?’

Claire shuddered, thinking about the draug, and Bishop, about the thousand life-threatening moments she’d made it through since coming to town. ‘Hopefully,’ she said.

‘You’re wrong,’ Dr Anderson said. She sounded certain, and sober. ‘You live there, at that level, it’s like living inside a video game. Surviving is a high, an achievement. Then you come out here into the real world, and the PTSD starts to set in … because nobody cares what you went through, or that you survived it, and your body’s used to a constant adrenaline pump. It’s like coming off a drug. If it hasn’t hit you yet, it will … normal life takes a lot of getting used to, Claire. But if you need to talk to someone, well, I’ve been through it. What’s the biggest thing you’re missing so far?’

‘Shane,’ Claire said. Her throat got tight and raw, and for a moment she couldn’t go on. ‘My boyfriend.’

‘Ah,’ Anderson said. Nothing else. Her eyebrows went up, but she didn’t ask anything, and after she’d waited a moment she got the idea Claire wasn’t going to tell, either. ‘Let me give you the tour, then. I assume you’re familiar with Myrnin’s dimensional portals? Did he teach you how to operate them?’

From there, the hours passed fast, full of technical discussions and equations, lightning-fast chains of thought as each of them built on the other’s ideas and work. By noon, they had a working mathematical expression of how the portals worked, and Claire matched it up against the work she’d done with Myrnin on the same thing.

Dr Anderson’s final version was better, cleaner and covered more theoretical ground.