with a smile of welcome. With coffee skin and piercing blue eyes, a number-one buzz cut and designer stubble, Blake looked as if he had just come from the set of a music video, not the dusty corridors of the museum. A fleeting thought crossed her mind that she wouldn’t say no to a drink with him either. Blake held out a hand and Morgan noticed his gloves, a light coffee color that ensured they didn’t stand out too much against his darker skin. It struck her as strange nonetheless to be wearing them indoors on a day that was already warming up. She shook his hand, wondering why he wore them.
“So, tell me about the ARKANE Institute,” Blake said, as he led the way around the Great Court toward the Sainsbury Wing where the special Viking exhibition was being held. “It must have some clout considering how fast your request to see the exhibit was processed.”
“The Institute is mainly a group of academics working as a collective. We publish academic articles and run seminars, primarily around religious artifacts and unusual findings.”
And then there’s the rest of it, Morgan thought. The secret side of ARKANE, with agents working on supernatural mysteries around the world, generally at the flash points of religion and the occult. The ARKANE that held relics and sacred objects of power in the vaults deep under Trafalgar Square. The ARKANE where agents died to keep the rest of the world safe from things that most wouldn’t even believe possible. The ARKANE that had threatened her family, and still woke Morgan with nightmares of flames and blood.
Blake turned into the Egyptian hall, where they walked past the Rosetta Stone and gigantic heads of the pharaohs. Every step within the British Museum was packed with treasures that alone would be wondrous, but here were dwarfed by the sheer volume of history. It was a place to be lost in wonder for days, and Morgan was fleetingly jealous of Blake for working here.
“So, what’s your particular interest in the staff of Skara Brae?” Blake asked. “It’s not exactly the focal point of the exhibition. In fact, it’s more of a sideshow.”
Morgan smiled, for the rabbit hole of intellectual curiosity was her own addiction and anyone who worked in the museum would understand her fascinations.
“I found an obscure reference in the Icelandic Konungsbók, ” she said. “It tells of a year in which floods would rise and the aurora borealis would be seen in southern lands; when the blood of a völva, a shamanic seeressskilled in illusion, would awaken the demons of old and they would usher in the final winters, heralding Ragnarok.”
“That’s the Viking apocalypse myth, right?” Blake asked, as he led the way through the galleries. “The fabled fall of the gods, when the final battle between all races will bring the giant sea serpent from the ocean and would lead to the world being submerged in water.”
Morgan nodded, pleased to find someone so well-versed in the lore. “Of course, Britain has experienced record flooding this year and the aurora was seen in the most southerly parts of the country. Very unusual. As I delved further into the prophecy, I discovered the staff of Skara Brae which has an unusual rune. I wanted to see it for myself, rather than just in photographs, and this seemed like a good chance to examine it.”
Blake pulled open a double door, waving his hand to indicate she should enter first.
“This is the back door to the exhibition, as I presume you want to skip the preliminaries. The coins, gold and jewelry are nothing to what’s in the main hall, and I’ve put the staff in a side room so we won’t be disturbed when the exhibition opens up to the public.” He checked his watch. “We’d better get moving actually, as the first visitors will be in soon. The Vikings seem to be quite the popular thing these days. We’re sold out daily.”
The main exhibition hall was huge, dominated by the remains of a Viking longship
“So, tell me about the ARKANE Institute,” Blake said, as he led the way around the Great Court toward the Sainsbury Wing where the special Viking exhibition was being held. “It must have some clout considering how fast your request to see the exhibit was processed.”
“The Institute is mainly a group of academics working as a collective. We publish academic articles and run seminars, primarily around religious artifacts and unusual findings.”
And then there’s the rest of it, Morgan thought. The secret side of ARKANE, with agents working on supernatural mysteries around the world, generally at the flash points of religion and the occult. The ARKANE that held relics and sacred objects of power in the vaults deep under Trafalgar Square. The ARKANE where agents died to keep the rest of the world safe from things that most wouldn’t even believe possible. The ARKANE that had threatened her family, and still woke Morgan with nightmares of flames and blood.
Blake turned into the Egyptian hall, where they walked past the Rosetta Stone and gigantic heads of the pharaohs. Every step within the British Museum was packed with treasures that alone would be wondrous, but here were dwarfed by the sheer volume of history. It was a place to be lost in wonder for days, and Morgan was fleetingly jealous of Blake for working here.
“So, what’s your particular interest in the staff of Skara Brae?” Blake asked. “It’s not exactly the focal point of the exhibition. In fact, it’s more of a sideshow.”
Morgan smiled, for the rabbit hole of intellectual curiosity was her own addiction and anyone who worked in the museum would understand her fascinations.
“I found an obscure reference in the Icelandic Konungsbók, ” she said. “It tells of a year in which floods would rise and the aurora borealis would be seen in southern lands; when the blood of a völva, a shamanic seeressskilled in illusion, would awaken the demons of old and they would usher in the final winters, heralding Ragnarok.”
“That’s the Viking apocalypse myth, right?” Blake asked, as he led the way through the galleries. “The fabled fall of the gods, when the final battle between all races will bring the giant sea serpent from the ocean and would lead to the world being submerged in water.”
Morgan nodded, pleased to find someone so well-versed in the lore. “Of course, Britain has experienced record flooding this year and the aurora was seen in the most southerly parts of the country. Very unusual. As I delved further into the prophecy, I discovered the staff of Skara Brae which has an unusual rune. I wanted to see it for myself, rather than just in photographs, and this seemed like a good chance to examine it.”
Blake pulled open a double door, waving his hand to indicate she should enter first.
“This is the back door to the exhibition, as I presume you want to skip the preliminaries. The coins, gold and jewelry are nothing to what’s in the main hall, and I’ve put the staff in a side room so we won’t be disturbed when the exhibition opens up to the public.” He checked his watch. “We’d better get moving actually, as the first visitors will be in soon. The Vikings seem to be quite the popular thing these days. We’re sold out daily.”
The main exhibition hall was huge, dominated by the remains of a Viking longship
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