“Maybe they can’t read it for the same reason people can’t remember anything outside of town,” Claire said slowly. “Because something doesn’t want them to.”

“That’s kind of a leap, but the Russian judge gave you a nine point five for style, so okay,” Eve said. “The important thing is that we know what it looks like.”

“Which is?” Claire put her pencil to paper.

“A book with a brown leather cover. Some kind of symbol on the front.”

“What kind?” Because brown leather cover didn’t exactly narrow things down when it came to books.

Eve pushed up the sleeve of her skintight black mesh top, and held out her forearm. There, tattooed in plain blue, was a symbol that looked kind of like an omega, only with some extra waves in it. Simple, but definitely nothing Claire could remember seeing before. “They’ve been searching for it. They gave everybody growing up in a Protected family the tattoo so that we remember what to look for.”

Claire stared for a couple of seconds, wanting to ask how old Eve was when she got the tattoo, but she didn’t quite dare. She dutifully marked the symbol down in her notebook. “And nobody’s found it. Are they sure it’s here?”

“They seem to think so. But I’ll bet they’ve got their sources searching all over the world for it. Seems pretty important to them.”

“Any idea why?”

“Nobody knows,” Michael said. “I grew up asking, believe me. Nobody has a clue. Not even the vampires.”

“How can they be looking for something and not even know why?”

“I’m not saying somebody doesn’t know why. But the vampires have ranks, and the only ones I’ve ever really talked to aren’t exactly in charge. Point is, we can’t find out, so we shouldn’t waste time worrying about it.”

“Good to know.” Claire put contents unknown next to the symbol of the book, then valuable!!!!! underneath, underscored with three dark lines. “So if we can find this book, we can trade it to get Monica off my back, and make sure Shane’s deal is called off.”

Michael and Eve looked at each other. “Did you miss the part where the vamps have been turning Morganville upside down trying to find it?” Eve asked.

Claire sighed, flipped back a page, and pointed at a note she’d made. Eve and Michael both craned over to read it.

Vampires can’t read it.

They looked blank.

“I’m going to need to spend some time at the library,” Claire said. “And we’re going to need some supplies.”

“To do what?” Eve still wasn’t catching on, but Michael was.

“Fake the book?” he asked. “You really think that’ll work? What do you think happens when they figure out we cheated?”

“Bad idea,” Eve said. “Very bad idea. Honest.”