“Eve hugged her, hard. “It’s beautiful,” she said. “What happened to the old frosting?”Shane, sitting at the table, raised his hand. “Took one for the team.”“Jesus, you ate it? All of it?”“Nah.” He held up the bowl that was sitting in front of him. There was still about half a cup left. “Couldn’t finish it all.”Eve blinked and looked at Claire, who shrugged and said, “I always thought he was sweet.”

“Shane’s dad stopped the van,” Claire said. “He took Monica as a hostage.”For a second, neither one of them moved, and then Eve whooped and held up her hand for a high five. Claire just stared at her, and Eve compensated by clapping both hands over her head. “Yesssss!” she said, and did a totally geeky victory dance. “Couldn’t have happened to a nicer psycho!”“Hey!” Claire yelled, and Eve froze in midcelebration. It was stupid, but Claire was angry; she knew Eve was right, knew she had no reason at all to think Monica was ever going to be anything but a gigantic pain in the ass, but… “Shane’s dad’s going to burn her if they go through with the execution. He has a blowtorch.”The glee dropped out of Eve’s expression. “Oh,” she said. “Well…still. Not like she didn’t ask for it. Karma’s a bitch, and so am I.”

“Eve took me to teach me how to fence," Claire said."Not so much how to fence as how to hold a sword and not drop it," Eve said. "And then I fought Oliver to a draw."Shane fluttered his hands. "Oh, and then we were all elected as ice princesses and asked to go to Disneyland!""Laugh all you want. I'm going to look way better in full skirts than you," Eve said.”

“Take the back door," she said. "Claire, you and your strang friend-""Eve," they both said simultaneously, and Eve held out her fst for a bump. "Or, you could call me Eve the Great, Mistress of All She Surveys. Eve for short.”

“He let Shane drop back down in his chair, and walked out, back stiff. Furious.Shane sat with his hands clutching at the armrests. He exchanged a stunned look with Eve, and they both stood up at once. "No," Shane said. "I did it. Let me fix it."He went off after Michael. Eve chewed her lip and said, "Well, we're either going to see half the house destroyed, or their bromance is going to go all the way.”

“Oliver laughed - actually laughed."I like this new Claire," he said. "You should work her this hard all the time, Myrnin. She's interesting when she's forthright."Claire, possessed by the spirit of Eve, shot him the finger. Which made him laugh again, shake his head, and walk up the steps.”