VEE

Luckily, Cambridge isn’t a long journey—we can visit and return in a day. Syv takes her car, and the rest of us travel in Heath’s SUV. The mood is hopeful, but the tension still fills the air around us. What can we expect? I’m certain someone or something is looking for the item too, and finding out who could be a challenge.

We follow a group of school kids through the large doors into the museum’s bright foyer. Syv wanted to arrive separately, so we join those milling around, also waiting for others or looking at maps and posters to plan their afternoon. Syv has favourite collections she checks out for artefacts and has pinpointed one based on her chat to the Collector. How many times has she visited the place and left with items she shouldn’t? I’m surprised she’s not on a ‘banned’ list.

The guys stand at strategic corners, watching the entry and doors to other parts of the museum. I sit with Joss on the wood bench opposite the café, beneath the long windows, and rest my head on his shoulder. He’s quiet again, and after the incident with the wraith, I’m paranoid every time Joss withdraws from us.

"You can tell me," I whisper.

"Tell you what?"

"If you’ve had any more weird memories." Joss shifts so my head isn’t on him anymore and I look up, hurt. "Don’t be like that."

He side-glances me, green eyes serious. "I can’t talk. It’s too distracting, Vee. I need to stay focused."

"What Seth said about God could be important. We need to persuade Xander to listen. You’re all named after Biblical figures—it’s not a hard connection to make."

He clenches his hands together in his lap and watches as a gaggle of school kids, holding hands in pairs, wander by. "They’re what’s important." He nods to them. "People. If something else comes up in the research that confirms Seth’s story, I’ll deal with what this could mean then."

"Okay. I understand." I pull one of his hands into mine and try to enclose it between my palms. "I worry about you all, especially you and Heath right now."

Joss gives me a half-smile before tipping my chin up with two fingers. "And that makes everything better. If you worry, you’re still the Vee that loves us all."

"Nuclear Vee," I whisper with a laugh I don’t feel like giving. I’ve an uncomfortable feeling I’ll soon know what this energy is for, and a large part of me doesn’t want to.

"No, our Vee." He kisses me softly on the mouth.

Someone coughs close by. "Can you guys not keep your hands off her?"

I look up. A woman with bobbed blonde hair and a pink-painted mouth looks at us over a pair of large sunglasses she has pushed down her nose. The look isn’t familiar, but the voice is.

"Syv?" asks Joss.

She winks. "As you can imagine, I’m known to security. I often pay visits to the same places when I acquire things I need."

Joss laughs and repeats ‘acquire’.

I smile. "Blonde suits you."

Syv adjusts her hair. "Thank you. I didn’t feel like the black one today." She twirls around and her knee-length floral skirt floats around her. "Don’t I look cute!"

Joss shakes his head and points at her boots. "Doc Martens?"

"Hey, I never know when I’ll need to kick someone. Or..." She opens the large, brown handbag hanging across one shoulder wide enough for me to see, and I look inside. A large knife. Of course.

Heath and Xander appear behind her, but Ewan remains close to the entrance. "Nice look," says Xander. "Wig looks a bit false though."

Syv pokes her tongue out at him.

Heath glances up at the CCTV camera. "We’re walking into the ground floor displays first. Where are you going first, Syv?"

"I’m not sure if what we need is on display or in storage. My research showed what we’re looking for is in a newer collection."

“Do you know exactly what you are looking for Syv?” asks Joss.

“An item that’s part of this collection which has runes to match the book.” Syv thrusts a museum brochure at him. "I’ve marked on there where to meet me. I’ll see you there in thirty minutes. Please don’t all follow at once; you know how attention-grabbing you are."

“Hopefully not something you need to drag through the museum.” Joss smiles.

“In my experience, this will be a relic or parchment. Easy to fit in my bag.” She taps the side. “Can I go?”

Xander reads and nods, and with a little wave, Syv heads away.

Walking through the museum unsettles me, as I’m pulled in by the thoughts that this is a world I’ve never belonged to. The echoing rooms fill with thousands of years of human history—a world Chaos wants destroyed. I’m flanked by Joss and Ewan; Ewan warily watching those around, and Joss occasionally stopping with genuine curiosity at displays.

Xander and Heath follow Syv at a distance, and we all watch for suspicious behaviour amongst the busy museum-goers. Ewan almost trips over another child who stops abruptly in front of him.

He swears under his breath. "This place is crawling with kids."

"School trips to the museum," I say and smile. "I enjoyed them."

Joss and Ewan exchange a look. At least, my false memories think I did.

"Whatever," mutters Ewan. "Seen anything yet?"

Joss indicates a sign on the wall. "Syv’s headed to the room with one of the older civilisations to check there. I haven’t seen anyone follow her, apart from Xander and Heath."

"Egypt?" Ewan asks.

"Nah, Mesopotamia."

Ewan looks at him as if he’s speaking a foreign language. "Sure. Whatever."

"We’re not expecting Seth, are we?" We walk towards the next doorway, shoes squeaking on the tiles amongst the hubbub around.

"No. We know Seth sends others to attack usually; he likes to play with us. The creatures in the car park. Joss’s wraith." Joss tenses at Ewan’s words. "So, we need to be really vigilant because we don’t know what’s next. I think, if anything, he’ll send a lackey to try and intercept. Syv already said she’s being followed."

I rest against a handrail looking over a re-creation of a Roman house. "Does Seth exist in history?"

"He’s in a lot of religions. I looked him up after he revealed himself. Seth took his name from the Egyptian Chaos god, Set, although he’s much older than that. He could just have easily chosen Roman, Greek, Celt...anything."

"Don’t talk as if he has any right to be in human history. Chaos won’t be anything by the time we’ve finished with him," growls Ewan before stomping away. People watch as he barges through them.

Joss wraps a strong arm around my shoulder, guiding me after Ewan. "Wow. Well that outburst came from nowhere. Do you reckon Xander will let us stop at the gift shop on the way out of the museum?"

"You say the weirdest things, Joss."

"Sometimes weird is the best way to cope." He raises his voice. "Ewan! Wait up."

Ewan pauses and looks over his shoulder at us.

"Don’t be upset," Joss calls. "I’ll buy you a dinosaur at the gift shop, but don’t lose him before we get home like you did last time."

I fight laughing because Ewan strides back, face thunderous. "Stop shouting, do you want to draw attention to the fact we’re here?"

Two boys nearby nudge each other before whispering and laughing.

"Yeah, I do. I’d rather anybody who’s watching notices us and not Syv."

Ewan sighs and unfolds the museum map again. "Let’s head after the others."

* * *

XANDER

Alongside Heath, I shadow Syv as she works her way through the crowds, slowly wandering from room to room. She pauses occasionally to look at an exhibit or check her phone, so we do the same.

I sigh and cross my arms as I stare at stuffed representations of animals from the Ice Age, or whatever. Two kids push in front of me, holding clipboards and pencils as they write notes. I step back and crane my neck to locate Syv, just as a gang with a teacher surge forward. I’m sick of bloody children today.

"Where did Syv go?" I ask Heath.

"No idea."

"What the hell?" I growl.

He looks around too. "She doesn’t want us close—maybe she went to the lower floor. Where’re the nearest stairs?"

My phone beeps and I look down.

<Not on display. Checking store rooms. Ground floor. Back of building. Check map.>

I blow air into my cheeks as I read Syv’s words. She should’ve waited. A blue circle on my map shows where she marked the spot earlier, and we head in the direction.

Syv’s mentioned she’s familiar with the room that stores the items entering or leaving the museum for displays. This is her usual first place to look; often items are borrowed from other institutions, or used for research, and are never placed out on the museum floor.

We make our way to the top of the stairs to wait. "I’ll text the others and ask them to meet us there." Heath’s hair flops into his face as he focuses on his phone.

A girl pauses and stares up at me; I frown down at her. What does she want? I hazard a guess she’s a teen, perhaps a year or two younger than Elyssia, and wears a maroon and black uniform with a white shirt. Brown hair, big blue eyes, unsure smile. I don’t smile back, hoping she moves on.

"Hi," she says.

"Hey." I look past her for Ewan and Joss.

"I lost my children."

"Uh?" I turn my eyes to hers. Surely, she doesn’t have kids.

"Oh! I mean the two I’m supervising. Girls. Both brown hair. I swear they gave me the worst kids to supervise. I’ve had nothing but attitude all day. I’m in trouble if I don’t find them—because they’re bound to be doing something wrong."

"Right." Why the hell is she asking me? Do I look like a responsible adult? Maybe she’s a demon or someone sent by Seth to distract us. I study her closer and immediately stop when the girl’s cheeks turn pink under my scrutiny. "How old?"

"I’m seventeen." She pauses and her big eyes widen. "Shit. I mean whoops. Crap. No, you meant the kids, didn’t you?"

Heath snickers next to me, and I rub my temples. Awkward. "I did. Are they dressed like you? Same school?"

"It’s okay. Sorry to bother you." The poor girl has turned a shade redder and she scurries away.

"Ah, Xander, you never fail to impress, do you?" Heath says with a laugh.

"I was only standing here!"

A hand clasps my shoulder and I jerk, ready to retaliate, and meet Ewan’s curious face. "What are you doing? Who’s she?"

"Doesn’t matter." I keep an eye on her, and when she approaches someone dressed in a museum uniform, I relax. "Syv wants to meet us here." I point at the map. “Next floor down. Should we all go?"

Joss holds up a hand to silence me and then strides along the hallway a few metres. He returns with a worried look. "Vee? Can you feel that? I swear I can sense a demon."

She frowns as he takes her arm and leads her further down the hallway. Vee folds her arms and they speak too quietly for us to hear before returning.

"Was it the girl, do you think?" asks Ewan.

"Maybe?" suggests Vee.

"Shit!" I pause. "No. I don’t think so."

"She didn’t distract you to let someone else past?"

"Nah, I was in front of the stairs."

"Typical bloody Syv, heading off alone," I mutter.

"Because she normally works alone." Ewan shoves hands in his pockets and looks around. "But I thought she’d be more worried about being followed, now she knows about Seth."

"I’m sure she isn’t far."

"Text her." I wave a hand at Ewan. "Head downstairs and see if she’s there."

"I think two of us should wait at the museum entrance," puts in Joss. "I’m worried we might miss something."

I rub my mouth. He’s right. "Okay. Take Vee. Ewan?"

He shrugs. "I can hang around the entrance again, if you want. Take Heath."

Plan made, we head in our different directions. I curse Syv under my breath. Okay, she can look after herself, but she’s not taking seriously how much threat she’s under here.

"Heath—downstairs. Come on."