“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 help change 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.