Chapter Twenty Six- Shark
Rose was stood in the entrance hall to the museum along with the rest of the class. Logan was keeping an eye on them making sure they didn't wander off or use their powers in front of the general public while Ororo went to the welcome desk to inform them that they were there. Rose was looking around with deep interest; she had always been fascinated by art and history even when she was a little child. The entrance hall was a large size and it was very open. The walls were painted white and the floor was made of high quality wood. There was a piece of modern art just before the welcome desk in the centre of the room that was bigger than a three seat sofa. It was made of pale stone and there were several holes through out the piece. Through one of the holes something caught her eye…a lighter with a shark design on it was being opened and closed by a pale hand. For some reason Rose found it intriguing and wanted to see who the lighter belonged to but when she tried to move away from the group someone grabbed her arm. She turned to face them, it was Logan.
Scare me half to death then!
"Where you going?" he asked her.
What's it to you?!
"What…oh…" she threw a glance back to the hand and saw it was gone, "no where…"
"Right…come on" he let go of her arm and they walked back to where the group had now moved to.
They hung about in a large group next to the hallway that led you into the main part of the museum. Ororo was stood at the front next to a tour guide.
Joy…
The middle aged man was talking and you could tell it was a rehearsed speech about the museum and its contents, "Well, in this museum we have various pieces from different eras and genres such as Van Gogh and more modern artists I am sure you have all heard about. Now if everyone is ready we will start the tour, if you'll follow me…"
The tour guide walked off down the corridor and the class followed, Rose couldn't help throwing a backwards glance to where the lighter had been.
He's definitely gone…
Bobby hung back from the rest of the group so he could walk with Rose, "hey…looking at anything interesting?"
He caught her by surprise, "nope…"
Nothing that would interest you anyway…
They walked down the corridor silently and she thought she saw some security members looking at them and walking towards her and Bobby through the corner of her eye. She grabbed Bobby's arm and walked quickly so they caught up with the main group. When they reached them he gave her a questioning look and she started to look around to see if they were still being followed. Rose couldn't see anything.
"What was that?" Bobby asked her under his breath.
Didn't you see?!
"We were being watched and followed…" she told him quietly.
"What?" he looked at her critically.
"After…the news haven't you been watching the news?"
"Sure but…the WMHG, they wouldn't attack school kids! Would they?" Bobby asked her as the tour moved into a different area of the museum.
Your fault if you don't believe me…
"I don't know…" she looked around again and did a mental search looking for anyone who might be a member of the WMHG. She didn't find anyone, at least no one in that room.
The tour carried on for the next two hours and then the students were given free rein for an hour as long as they stayed in the renaissance part of the museum and didn't show any powers or talk to strangers. Everyone understood and complied with the requests completely. Rose tried to forget her earlier feelings and thoughts as she stared at the painting of a seventeenth century German Duchess. Bobby, Kitty, Dew and Peter were sat on the bench near by and were talking amongst themselves. She sighed and looked into the Duchess's eyes. She almost looked alive with the determination and charisma in her eyes that the artist had captured perfectly. Rose saw a gold plaque below the portrait and she read it in her head.
This portrait was painted only weeks before she died, she was accused of being a witch by the local community because she seemed to heal spontaneously…
She looked back at the woman and someone to her left spoke, "strange isn't it? Burnt at the stake and then beheaded because they thought she was a witch…"
What? Who are you?
The voice had an angry and cocky tone to it. She looked at the person who had spoke and saw a man nearly her own age with slicked back blonde hair and his hands in the pockets of his blue jeans.
"Oh…it's a shame people couldn't just think…" she said as she looked back at the portrait.
"Yeah" he scoffed and looked at her catching her eye, for a few seconds Rose couldn't respond, his deep and intense brown eyes stared right into her, "like nothings changed…"
Hmm…
Finally she could tear her gaze away and accidentally saw into his mind, "how do you know? Not everyone hates mutants…"
"How do you know I was talking about mutants?" he asked her with a suspicious look with his smouldering eyes.
Oh…erm…crap…
Rose swallowed the lump that was forming in her throat, "what else would you be talking about?"
"Hehe…you're one of them aren't you?" he asked her but didn't wait for a reply and carried on pulling the lighter with a shark design on it from his pocket and flicking it open, "we shouldn't have to hide…"
He flicked the lighter again and a small flame appeared, he moved his hand left then right and the flame moved with it. Rose looked around nervously, her friends were still talking and hadn't noticed anything and other people were just moving around them quite unaware of what was happening. She searched out with her mind again to make sure no one had noticed and she heard something she didn't want to.
Hmm…I like the looks of her…very nice rear- his voice sounded in her mind.
Did I mention I'm a telepath?
The thought stopped abruptly and the guy looked at her and smiled. Rose could feel herself melting under his gaze but she heard another thought, somewhere far off but still within the building.
Whoa…a big heat wave in the renaissance section…about twenty people…better tell the boss about it…
She had forgotten to close her mind so she was still receptive to other people's thoughts and she had also forgotten to close her link with the guy so he heard every word of the random thought.
S'pose it doesn't take a genius to figure out what it's about…
He raised his eyebrows at her and said, "got to go…nice seeing you…"
So…funny…
He turned and left without another word and she wanted to follow him, she wanted to stay with him but she thought it would be best to warn the others. She let her eyes follow his back out of the room then she turned her attention to the situation before her. Some one had a heat sensitive camera and she had a strange sense the WMHG would find out soon…
Very soon…
She quickly walked back towards the others and they gave her a curious look.