I never did get around to any exploration, however, as I was intercepted by Oliver the moment I exited the library. He actually seemed like a pretty nice guy, other than the part where he drugged and kidnapped me, but it would be stupid to change my mind about him so soon.

"Hello, dipwad," I chirped as I strode past him, and he fell into step next to me, evoking a very large, very theatrical sigh from the depths of my soul.

"I would like to formally apologize for kidnapping you," he said with all the seriousness of a small child, and the same dancing eyes of one as well. "I was stressed."

"Ah, and kidnapping adolescent females is how you normally cope with stress? There's a name for your disease, bucko."

He grabbed my arm. "Look, I'm really sorry. This expedition, it's personal."

Little shit piqued my interest. "How so?"

We continued walking, him leading the way this time. He opened his mouth and hesitated for a moment, clearly teetering on a precipice. He steeled himself and continued. "So, I've assumed you've noticed the death glares Pete shoots me when I start to say something, and the admittedly awkward silences that ensue?" I nodded my agreement. "Right, well, those are a result of our... er... let's call them competition... for this expedition. You read Brock McGovern, right?" He didn't wait for an answer, almost seeming afraid that if he paused he would be too nervous to start again. "Yeah, well, he's a massive ass. He used to be a historian here, and he and Pete went on an expedition together when they were younger. Pete had always looked up to him, so he friggin' leaped at the chance to have him as a mentor. Brock approached Pete about this weird drug from Scotland invented way back in the day, and told him it was really dangerous and they needed to claim it for the society. I guess it wasn't so much an expedition as a private research trip. Anyway, they found the drug stupid fast, due to their being two of the brightest guys I've ever met, and then Brock asked to keep it."

Oliver stopped, obviously waiting for a reaction. "Oh... No?" I said.

"Right, you're new. Our policy is that everything you get from a find goes straight into the archives or the appropriate museum. Keeping something for yourself, and especially asking someone else to keep it a secret for you, is our version of treason. It gets you ejected from the Society, never to have contact again with anyone here."

"That seems a little harsh."

"Yeah, maybe, but it definitely keeps us out of trouble with the rest of the world. Anyway, Pete reported it, and Brock got thrown out on his ass."

Oliver stopped and turned to me, pain in his eyes.

"It wasn't until later that we found out that Brock's daughter had brain cancer, and that drug was the last chance she had. She was six."

"Christ," I said softly. "So he hates you guys now?"

Oliver chuckled darkly. "No, princess, we're way beyond that."

"Okay, first of all," I snapped, annoyed, "Don't call me princess, you patronizing twat, and second, stop with all the foreshadowing and get on with it."

He put up his hands in mock surrender. "Okay, okay, sorry. So, everyone was upset but basically forgot about it after a few years and a failed campaign to end the ban on claiming artifacts. Pete broke up with Renee and started dating this great girl, Jemma, and when we were all eighteen, we embarked on our first senior expedition together, per tradition. We were trying to find this Mayan artifact." He smiled blandly. "Funny, I don't even remember the specifics now, but at the time it was the most important thing to us- Pete, Renee, Jemma, Minnie, and I. We were a few weeks in when McGovern popped up with his own team of idiot mercenaries, racing us to the artifact, or something childish. He played dirty stealing our research, trashing our camps, that kind of thing. Tensions rose until we ended up, in a very Nicholas Cage movie-esque way, in the ruin where we believed the artifact was, in a massive face off. As it happens, Brock had been looking for revenge on Pete for a while, and he had figured out what would hurt Pete the most. Pete's just the kind of guy that lives for other people, so Brock shot Jem in the head and killed her." His voice broke.

"Two days later, I find Pete sobbing in his apartment, curled up on the couch. Holding an engagement ring."