"Remind me why we're about to go into a stuffy museum on a beautiful sunny day, again?" Lexa complained, as we stood at the base of the stairs up to the grand, neoclassical building that housed the museum.

"That is a really good question," Seb frowned up at the shaded doorway and exchanged a grumpy look with Lexa.

"Okay guys, first of all, Ewan is our friend, and he probably wouldn't ever say it but this sounds really important for him, and second of all, Lexa, you didn't have to come, you just had nothing better to do!" I looked at her pointedly, knowing exactly why she was here. She and Seb were so alike sometimes.

"I hate you when you're right," she muttered, giving me a fake glare. We practised tough love on each other.

"You must always hate me then," I joked. "Neither of you has to come in, anyway! Look, there's ice cream over there. If you want to be whiners you can go do that, and Grace, Stu and I will go in by ourselves and support Ewan and be cultured, sophisticated people." I waved at Grace and her husband, whom I'd spotted approaching from not far away.

Lexa glanced slyly at Seb, obviously considering the idea of getting some time with him, but to what must have been her utmost disappointment, he groaned loudly and rolled his eyes.

"Fiiiiine. Half an hour!" He grumbled.

Lexa frowned, I smothered a smile. Clueless.

"Well you're barely going to have the option of more than half an hour because you dragged your feet so long that the museum closes that soon!" I turned to give the new arrivals hugs.

"Hey Kenna! I hear that Grace is using you to train the new guy at the agency," Stu said mildly, but his brown eyes twinkled.

"Yes, and as you know she's a consummate professional," I sniped, giving her an evil look.

"I can't help how cute you are!" Grace pinched my cheeks, hard.

"What are you talking about," Seb asked with a crinkled nose.

"Definitely nothing," I said firmly, shooting looks at both Stu and Grace, who laughed.

"Let's go then!" Lexa urged, clearly wanting to get it over with.

"You excited, Lexa?" Grace asked.

"You could say that," I smirked.

Hate you, Lexa mouthed at me.

"Lexa's right though, we should go before we have no time to enjoy ourselves!" I said brightly.

"Couldn't have said it better myself," Lexa muttered under her breath.

As we went up the stairs, I admired the building for the thousandth time, with its smooth, cool marble and the wide, fluted columns that supported the front portico. It was a building designed for housing beautiful and interesting things.

Inside, the sun still found its way into the entrance hall, beaming down through a glass dome that capped the magnificently high ceiling. Stained glass decorated the edge of the dome, throwing the light into a rainbow of colours that danced on the tile floors. It was one of my favourite things about the museum, even before you got into the exhibits.

Ewan happened to be walking across the hall when we came in, and for a moment all the rainbow light dappled across him, painting a coloured mosaic on his skin and hair. I thought about telling him he looked like he belonged in an exhibit but I wasn't sure how he'd take that. Curators get tetchy when they're cooped up with their objects all day.

He broke into a wide smile when he saw our pack.

"Hey guys, you made it! Thanks for coming, I appreciate it. Grant and Tristan are inside now, if you want to meet up with them. I'll be floating around a bit. Hey Sasha?" This was directed to the girl at the admissions desk. The museum had a moderate fee for special exhibits, though it was free for the regular ones. "These guys are free, okay? They're friends."

"Oooh, VIP," I teased, fanning myself. "Thanks Ewan!"

"Be cool, Kenna," Ewan deadpanned. "See you guys a little later."

I really did feel a bit special as Sasha printed us our tickets and we made our way to see the results of Ewan's handiwork.

The exhibit room was dim, which I knew meant that the display was light sensitive, and Ewan was keeping it in the most protective environment.

I felt it as soon as I walked into the room. A strange pull tugged at my core, and drew me inexorably towards the one source of light like a moth to a flame. I was at the display case and staring into it pensively within a minute.

"Woah, Kenna, aren't we eager!" I heard Grace joke from somewhere behind me.

I didn't care; I'm not sure if I even answered. I was fascinated.

Inside the case, nestled into a velvet box, was an amulet the size of my palm, made of some kind of coloured stone and hammered gold. It was beautiful; Greek, as I vaguely noticed from its style and the sign tucked neatly beside it, but that wasn't what held my attention. A tremendous energy rippled from it, wrapped itself around my mind and pulled me to it, demanding I learn its secrets. It was almost like a song that I felt in my bones, and I knew it was an ancient melody.

Whatever this was, it knew how to call to a conduit.

It was Lexa who broke the trance. "Huh, so this is what all the fuss is about? Pretty cool aesthetic design, I suppose." The amulet obviously didn't have the same effect on her, though that wasn't surprising.

I couldn't help but laugh. "Lexa, this is thousands of years old. Can you imagine all the people it's been held by, the things it's seen?"

She shrugged. "Yeah, it's cool. I'm gonna go read the panels and look at some of the other stuff." The rest of the room had some other objects, presumably of a similar Greek time period, though it was obvious that this amulet had the position of honour.

Grace and Stu wandered by to admire it and were suitably impressed. I found that I couldn't leave it, yet.

Soon, Seb came up while I was the only one standing by the case.

"What's up?" he asked in a low voice. "Something's obviously affecting you."

"I hope it's not too obvious," I frowned.

"I know you better than most people," he pointed out. "It's not too bad otherwise, but you could try walking around a little more, like the regular people."

"Seb, there's something weird about this thing." I kept my voice equally low, and luckily there was a fair amount of ambient noise in the room.

"What do you mean?" He looked down into the case for the first time.

"Do you feel anything? I guess you probably wouldn't. It must be the energy."

"No ... " he began, "but I don't really want to look away from it now that I've seen it."

"Yeah. This isn't ordinary. I think it might only affect Supers, though. Lexa didn't seem fazed, and I think we can both agree she's pretty obviously not a Super."

"Well," he shrugged like Lexa, "I guess we are came from somewhere so it's not crazy to think that there are things connected to us out there. I wouldn't worry too much about it."

"Yeah," I murmured, still frowning. "Something about it feels incomplete, though. Like I said, it's weird. Anyway, you're right; I should look around a bit. Guess my storyteller mind is acting up."

"Grant and Tristan are over on the other side of the room. Let's go over there for a bit." He put a hand under my elbow and led me inexorably away from the case.

I turned back to look once, and Seb must not have been watching where he was pulling me because I jostled into someone while I was distracted.

"Oh, excuse me," a polite voice said. Then, after a second, "Kenna?"

Looking up, I found Jackson standing there with an expression of surprise on his face.

***

A/N: This was a particularly short chapter, (I know the others have been very very long), but there wasn't really any other way to break up this whole scene and it'd be a beast otherwise! More action to come in the next :)