Page 19 of The Art of Exiley

Kor is giddy now like he was that same day I first told him about my abilities. “Do you have any idea what you’re capable of?” he asks me, squeezing my hands tightly.

No. I have no idea.

“If our research is correct, abilities like yours could change the face of modern medicine. And Prometheus has implied there might be a way to share these abilities with non-Sires. You can help us find the way. You’re going to helpchange the world.”

I’ve always known Kor would change the world. Now he seems to think that I can too.

“You’ll learn directly from the descendants of the most talented masters. This is the opportunity of a lifetime. Of hundreds of lifetimes!”

It’s true. And it feels too big to believe, especially when it’s so obvious that Kor is the one who should have this opportunity, not me. He would fit right in at Genesis. It feels like some cosmic mistake of fate, the abilities given to the wrong one of us. He has the talent and the drive to use them correctly, unlike me.

“I can tell that you don’t understand yet.” His hazel eyes shine with excitement. “But I’ll show you the archives. Once you see the scrolls, the paintings—the innovations we believe these Makers have…” He spreads his arms wide, looking from wall to wall at the tapestries. “Like these unicorns!”

“What about them?”

“They were real.”

“Oh, come on. No, they weren’t,” I scoff.

But there’s no trace of humor on his face. “The information passed down through the Families suggests they were real. That they were experiments.”

“What does that even mean?”

“Whether inspired by the myths of previous generations, or for a utilitarian purpose—perhaps military—the unicorns are an example of the kind of science practiced by the exiles that was deemed heretical and led to their expulsion. They successfully bred these magnificent creatures, and now the world thinks they never existed.”

I stare at the tapestries, beautiful but creepy in the low lights of the dark museum. They illustrate a hunt for a unicorn and the unicorn’s resulting death. But the last tapestry shows the unicorn alive and domesticated in captivity. I think about everything Michael told me, but this still feels like too much to be possible.

There are endless benefits to being part of the order. All the members use their connections to rise to powerful positions and to influence global change. I’ve often assumed that’s the real reason most members remained involved, not that they truly believe all the fantastical stories of these mysterious people and their wondrous, mythical lives. But it’s clear that Kor truly believes it all.

“Look how the tapestries tell the story of the exiles,” Kor says. He steps up close behind me, and with his hands on my shoulders, he spins me slowly around to take in all seven illustrated scenes in succession. “Like the unicorn, the exiles were hunted.” He points to the tapestry depicting the hunt. “And they were eradicated.” He pivots to the illustration of the hunters with the dead unicorn. “But they weren’t really.” We look together at the most famous of the tapestries, the one of the unicorn wearing a collar surrounded by a fence. “They’re still alive somewhere. But they’re not truly free.”

I see it. I want it to be true.

“We’re going to be the ones that set them free, Ada. We’ll reunite our two societies and usher in the next Renaissance.”

It sounds pretty great, in theory.

“But what if they don’t want to be reunited? They seem intent on staying hidden.”

“If that’s what they want, it won’t matter once we have you in there. They don’t have the right to keep their knowledge from us, and you will be able to share what you find with us, whether they know about it or not.” His breath, warm on my neck, sends chills down my spine as I let his words sink in.

The Inner Chamber talked a lot about me learning from the exiles, finding out what they’ve been up to and what kinds of things they know. But Kor is clearly saying more than that. He’s saying he wants me to steal from them.

“What you’re implying, that’s not what the Inner Chamber said would be my job.”

Kor turns me to face him, and his eyes, glittering with flecks of blue, yellow, and gray, are fierce with passion. “They don’t all know,” he explains. “You going to Genesis, it will be the most important thing the Families have ever accomplished. You will be receiving instructions that come directly from the Grand Master himself, and some aspects may be classified to only the highest echelon of the Inner Chamber.”

“Are you talking about the Oculus?” The Oculus is the most restricted inner circle of the order. It’s based somewhere in Europe, and I hadn’t even been sure the Oculus still existed, as I’d never known anyone ranked high enough to confirm it. Despite knowing how important he’d risen in the Families, it hadn’t occurred to me that Kor could have possibly gainedthatmuch seniority.

“Yes,” he confirms. “While the rest of the Families have been focusing on stewardship of the memory of the exiles and on bringing their ideas into modern society, the Oculus has always been seeking the exiles’ physical location in order to work toward reunification.”

“How do you know all this? How did you get involved?”

He pulls a thin chain from under his shirt, absently toying with the pendant. It’s a silver cross entwined with a gold vine. The emblem of the Families. It belonged to Aragon, Kor’s father, before he died. “My father was a member of the Oculus.”

That makes sense. I know Aragon was very high-ranking in the Families, and Kor has always strived to follow in his footsteps. Though I can’t ignore the pang I feel knowing that Kor has kept this from me for so long. I suppose I can’t blame him, as I only recently told him about my abilities. We all have our secrets.

Kor gets back down to business. “To the rest of the Families, your mission will be reconnaissance only. In actuality, we hope to be able to rely on you for more practical matters.”

---