Seth felt weird taking Mi'aiq out of the cat carrier after they got out of the airport. Putting a shape-shifter in a carrier seemed wrong, but it wasn't for Seth to decide.

The cat shook out its fur and looked up at Seth, "Ah, plane rides! Mi'aiq hates them." Seth stretched out a little more as he waited for Warren, Vanessa, and Bracken to finish claiming their luggage and checking directions.

"Seth," Mi'aiq purred,

Seth looked down at the cat curiously, "What is it, Mi'aiq?"

The cat stretched lazily and nodded his head to a shadowy corner of the room next to the potted plant, "Go stand there and try to become one with the shadow."

Seth felt confused as he looked from the cat to the corner, "Why?"

The cat shrugged, "Mi'aiq wants to see if you can shadow walk." Seth shrugged and walked over to the plant; he stood still and let his abilities take over.

Warren, Vanessa, and Bracken finally walked over, only to find Mi'aiq licking him paw alone next to the cat carrier.

"Where's Seth?" Warren asked, looking around.

Bracken shot a glare at the cat, "Did you-?"

"Mi'aiq is curious about the young shadow charmer's abilities. He merely asked to see Seth shadow walk." The cat reassured the tense young man.

Seth then appeared as he stepped out of the shadows in the corner. "Hey guys! Are we ready to go?" Seth looked around at the startled faces of his friends and laughed, "It's a Shadow Charmer thing."

Seth's teeth chattered and he rubbed his arms for warmth, his nose felt like a running faucet after stepping outside. He was wearing a thick jacket, but it was like he was wearing nothing due to the cold weather of the windy city.

Mi'aiq guided them to the road and stopped to look at a newspaper that blew by. On the front it had a picture of a man and the column title read; Julius Kinderson arrested for art theft!

"We might be out of luck," He rumbled flicking a paw to the newspaper, which Vanessa picked up.

"Is this our man?" She asked, pointing to the mug shot.

"Unfortunately, yes." Mi'aiq sighed.

Seth shrugged, "All we have to do is find his house and break in, right?"

"He wouldn't just have a powerful source of darkness lying around his apartment." Bracken countered,

Vanessa nodded, "By all accounts, that wouldn't make sense. The best we can do is find out where he works and where he goes most often." Warren signaled a taxi as Vanessa scanned the newspaper for clues. "Here," Vanessa said, making all eyes turn to her as the cab pulled up on the curb. "He was donated a medieval tapestry to the Art Institute. I think that's our best lead."

They took the cab to the museum and got out of the car, looking around and burying their faces in their coats for warmth. The security wouldn't allow Mi'aiq in, but it didn't seem to bother the cat. The shape-shifter merely winked at Seth and disappeared into the shadows of the building.

After paying for tickets, Vanessa grabbed a map and looked through the sections. "It's on the top floor," She said pointing, "Up those stairs."

They followed the directions on the map up the stairs and to the second floor. The thought that an obstacle would be waiting for them in the medieval wing dampened Seth's mood until he brought his eyes up and saw… A giant butt.

It was a black stone sculpture raised on a pedestal on the middle of the stairs to the third floor. Seth stopped in his tracks and thought with amusement, the satyrs would be laughing at this so hard right now…

Seth began laughing, and then sobered up when some Japanese tourists looked his way. That certainly helped him lighten his mood by a lot. Bracken looked back at him and smiled, he was glad that Seth mood wasn't completely serious.

As much as the situation called for all of them to be mature, Bracken understood that Seth was in a difficult time. Seth was struggling not only with becoming a teen and experiencing emotional changes; he was also in a delicate balance with his Shadow-charmer powers.

When they got up to the fourth floor, and the medieval section, the first thing they all noticed were the suits of armor. Seth ran over to the weapons displayed on the wall and whistled in appreciation, "This is awesome! I want to have something like this on my wall!"

Bracken went over to the two tapestries and began trying to sense a magical doorway while Warren searched for an actual, physical passage. Vanessa asked a tour guide which one of the tapestries was the one donated by Julius.

Vanessa walked over to a tapestry with a knight on it, Latin woven into the texture and swords framing the tapestry. Bracken nearly touched it, but the security guard glared harshly at the young man, so instead he looked at it as close as he dared. But he discovered nothing that could be a doorway behind or through it. Warren had the same luck trying to look for a doorway behind it.

Seth was looking at the tapestry, thinking of everything he possibly could, and realizing that this lead might be a dead end.

Concentrate on the shadows…

Seth looked around for Mi'aiq, the voice in his head, and found the cat sitting in the shadows in the corner of the room, going seemingly unnoticed by the humans around him.

Feel the call of the folds in the fabric, look for the darker colors. Mi'aiq said into Seth's mind.

Seth gave a subtle nod to the cat and started looking directly at the tapestry, the colors were all once bright, but now faded with time, there was no actual black used in the tapestry, save for one, dark splotch in the bottom right and corner.

He focused his eyes on that spot, and soon it became a shape, then an image. It was a black horse. Seth, on a hunch, leaned forward and touched it.

The world spun into darkness and the museum was gone.