揑 wanted to see if棓 Circe began, but Dr. Kent held up her hand.
揅an we wait to discuss things until we抳e reached my office??
Circe looked confused. 揙h. Sure.?
I didn抰 understand why, if we were going to discuss some old documents, we needed to wait, but clearly Circe was holding something back. My gut was telling me it was something serious. I glanced back at Marie and her eyes were black as the night sky. In the dark she looked terrifying. I quickly checked to see if Dr. Kent had noticed anything, and when I was sure she hadn抰， I let out a long shaky breath. Marie must have sensed the same thing I had梐 creeping sense of dread that now sat at the nape of my neck like a heavy, cold hand.
Marie reined herself in as Dr. Kent led us down a short flight of stairs and through a set of double doors to an area off-limits to the public.
Workstations with pieces of restored art and fragmented statues dotted the floor of a room the size of a school gym. Floor-to-ceiling shelving, six or seven rows deep, held thousands of items. Dr. Kent led us through the tables and down an aisle between two rows of shelves. She paused and opened a long narrow drawer.
Inside it were dozens of gold rings adorned with jewels of all different colors and shapes. She pulled a white glove out of her pocket and slipped it onto her hand.
揝omething I thought you might be interested in,?she said as she gently lifted a ring from the back row and turned it toward me. It was solid gold with a leafy pattern stamped around the band. Its face was a small oval indentation where something had once been painted. I leaned in and saw a figure with three faces. The Colchis family crest.
I reached for the ring and Dr. Kent drew it back.
揑 can抰 allow you to touch it,?she said. 揑t抯 very old, and while the staff here has cataloged it as something from around 540 BCE, it is in fact much older, made from the remnants of a piece of jewelry that may have once sat on Medea抯 own wrist. I thought that might be of interest to you and your family.?
Circe inhaled sharply. 揌ow did you棓
揙h yes. Descended from Medea.?Dr. Kent smirked and set the ring back in the drawer. 揑 know. And you抮e already putting other things together aren抰 you??
Circe took a step back.
揧ou should return it,?Marie said.
Dr. Kent chuckled. 揈xcuse me??
Marie cocked her head to the side. 揟he ring. It doesn抰 belong to you, just like most of the other stuff in here. If you know it belongs to their family, keeping it here is theft.?
揘ot exactly,?Dr. Kent said.
揧eah,?Marie shot back. 揟hat抯 exactly what it is.?
Circe cleared her throat. 揑s this where we抮e supposed to talk? I thought you were taking us to an office or something.?
Dr. Kent roughly closed the drawer and stuffed the white glove back in her pocket. She turned and walked the rest of the way down the narrow aisle until she came to the far wall. Placing her hands against it, she gave it a solid push, and a doorway opened along an invisible seam. Behind the hidden door was an elevator. She swiped her badge in front of a panel, and the doors slid open. She stepped inside. I hesitated.
揥here are we going??I asked.
揗y office,?Dr. Kent said. 揟o talk.?
Circe stepped inside the elevator. 揜emember what I said, Briseis? About whether I was right or wrong??
I nodded.
She met my gaze. 揑抦 right. Trust me on this.?
I took a deep breath and stepped in. Marie stepped in, too, but stood directly in front of Dr. Kent. My entire body tensed as Marie抯 eyes darkened.
揧ou抮e a little too dramatic for my taste,?Dr. Kent said. There was no fear or wonderment in her voice. She wasn抰 fazed by Marie抯 transformation at all. 揥hat??she asked. 揑抦 supposed to be intimidated by your little show? You抣l have to do better than that.?
The elevator doors slid shut, and we dropped farther and faster than I抎 anticipated. I expected us to come to a stop quickly. We抎 climbed in at ground level, and there couldn抰 have been more than one or two stories belowground, but the descent felt like we were going much deeper than that. My stomach lurched, and I reached for the rail. I leaned on Marie. Dr. Kent eyed me as Marie wrapped me up, faint hint of a smile on her lips.
The elevator finally came to a rest, but the doors didn抰 open immediately. From the wall near the buttons a panel unfolded, and Dr. Kent put her hand on top of it. A light filtered through her fingers, and the doors opened.
揟his way,?Dr. Kent said. 揂nd watch your step.?
The air was markedly cooler in what I assumed was some kind of subbasement. The walls along the hallway were rough-cut stone, and the distinct musty smell of dirt and dampness lingered in the air. As we approached the end of the hallway, we passed under a grand archway with two marble pillars on either side. The space beyond was cavernous, cut deep into the bedrock far below the museum. A roaring fire stoked in a deep pit illuminated the space along with dozens of half-melted candles. There were tables and chairs made of wood and stone, and a shallow pool filled to the brim with water that seemed almost luminescent. In the center of the space stood a wheel the size of a large tire mounted to a wooden stand, and wrapped around it was a skein of glowing golden thread. All around, alcoves cut into the rock were stuffed with threads that shared the same strange hue and others that were dark and frayed. I gripped Marie抯 jacket, and Circe pressed her shoulder into mine.