Nikola was... well, not sulking. Sulking required petulance and this was a step beyond that. And not so much petulant is it was warranted. He didn't want to believe Rose any more than the children apparently did but deep down he knew it unlikely that she was wrong. Rose didn't do wrong. Or melodramatics.

All right, so the last one she did a bit but not like this. If she was on the verge of tears it wasn't a joke or even one of Helen's elaborate plans. This was genuine fear.

So he was sort of sulking in the corner, tablet in front of him as he watched the heads of house file into the room.

First came the Japanese Head, lanky arms laden with paper as she sank into the nearest chair. Obviously she hadn't been told of why they were gathered or Nikola assumed that she'd look far less put out at being dragged down here. It wasn't that they didn't do face to face meetings often but generally Helen allowed everyone to phone in from their sector. It made things quicker and easier for all involved.

The woman shot Nikola a surprised look and tentative smile before dropping her gaze to the mess of documents before her. They didn't really get on so Nikola wasn't surprised when the woman made no move to talk to him.

Next came Kate with another three heads of house. New York, Paraguay and Norway followed her, all looking perplexed. Paraguay waved briefly to Nikola as Iceland rolled his eyes in Japan's direction. Kate spoke briefly to them all, something about getting started as soon as possible before wandering over to Nikola in his corner.

She sat next to him without a word, shoulders slumped.

Before Nikola could tell her where to disappear to, the door to the conference room swung open again, a flood of five Head's wandering in, chatting amiably amongst themselves. Brazil, Mumbai and China were laughing freely at something Germany had said while Moscow glared at the strapping young German man. The group quietened, picking up on the slightly tense atmosphere.

In absolute silence the previously jolly group took their seats, looking between each other uncertainly.

For a minute no one spoke, cold silence falling over them all. Nikola scanned the room, trying to discern how much everyone knew. By the looks of it, nothing. They all seemed far too at ease considering what was going on. Of course, there was still an uncertainty about them but they weren't terrified like they ought to be.

A timid looking Dallas poked her head around the door before stepping into the room and holding the door open for Nepal to wheel herself in, her low tech wheelchair squeaking away as Brazil and Mumbai shifted to make space for her. Soft greetings were offered as Cape Town made their way in shortly after, leaving the hodge podge group sitting about uneasily. Very few words were exchanged as they waited for the final three chairs to be filled.

Well, two, Nikola thought, bile rising in his throat. The leather chair at one end of the table would never be filled.

The thought filled him with a fresh wave of nausea so he brushed it aside, instead busying himself with the computer monitors in the corner, hooking in his tablet as he did a quick search once more for the tracking device that couldn't have simply disappeared.

A small cough from the conference table caught his attention and Nikola turned, glaring daggers at the lot of them.

"What are we-."

"Hi!" a chirpy voice sang out as the doors flew open again, cutting off what would no doubt be a scathing comment from Moscow. "Sorry I'm late, I got caught up figuring out how to operate the pods and then ended up outside New York's sector and then I decided to walk it rather than risk ending up in Timbuktu or god only knows where else."

She smiled at everyone, not picking up on the sombre mood of those assembled before shaking bronze ringlets from her eyes.

Then she froze.

"Just take a seat Amanda," Daniel, Head of New York said kindly, gesturing to the space beside him.

"What's going on?" the young Australian head breathed and Nikola's heart clenched. She was the youngest head by at least a decade and while he'd never been given reason to doubt her abilities he knew that fact that she was an empath would make this a little more difficult.

Her green eyes darted over to him, gaze piercing but he glared back, hoping like hell she'd back off.

"I don't understand."

"Zere is much you do not understand," Anya, the Moscow Head drawled, rolling her eyes before rapping her nails against the table. Mandy merely rolled her eyes and slunk towards her designated seat.

"She raises a good point," Cassandra said fairly, the slightly older Nepalese Head bring a sense of wisdom to the table.

"It's not often we get dragged all the way down here," Phillip agreed fairly, folding his four arms across his chest.

"And we just had a conference call the other day," Samuel said, agreeing with his South African counterpart.

"I really think you should just all calm down," Paisley said softly, her violet eyes making the rounds as she released some kind of pheromone that made Nikola's nose itch. The American from Dallas had her uses but she always made him sneeze.

"Some of us were a little busy," Elysa put in, gesturing to the pile of documents she'd lugged in.

"And how come Declan got out of coming to this?" Marcus asked, his thick German accent marring the words enough to make Nikola cringe.

Garcin and Fredric nodded, the Norwegian looking pointedly at the two empty seats down one end of the oval table while the Head of Paraguay's sector of the new Sanctuary gave Mandy a pointed look.

"Just chill guys, Magnus will be here any second," Sandra said, the Brazilian leaning back in her chair with an easy smile.

Nikola stiffened at her words, trying not to turn around and make it obvious but he heard the small growl that meant he knew he'd been compromised.

"Out with it Tesla," Daniel said tiredly, shaking his head. "What is it that's got Amanda's hackles up like this?"

"Leave him be," a soft, familiar voice said and Nikola turned, pleased to see Rose walking into the room with a serene yet tight smile across her face. Heinrich and Wilhelm scampered around her, dashing to where Kate was still sitting stony faced. Rose was just making her away around the table when Abby stomped in, blonde hair swinging as she brushed past Rose to dump a handful of files in front of Nikola. Then, with a pout Nikola could only describe as impressive, she turned and leant against the nearest wall, arms crossed.

He watched as William looked guiltily at his girlfriend before his nervous gaze skittered to where Rosie stood beside Helen's chair at the end of the table.

Well that explained it, he thought, fighting the urge to shake his head. The thought turned his stomach but he brushed it off, instead focusing on the way that Rose and John shared a small smile of greeting as the man strode into the room, closing the door behind him.

"Declan shall be along in a moment," she said softly, gazing around the table. "I do hope it's all right if I start without him."

No one spoke, only a few nodded heads giving her assent and Nikola watched in awe.

"I don't know how many of you know who I am," she began, looking down nervously and a lock of hair fell from the messy bun she had the soft brown curls piled in. "Some of you I have met before but others... Well, I'm afraid I haven't had that pleasure."

"We know who you are," Daniel said kindly, giving her a warm smile. "You're Rose, yes?"

She cocked her head and blinked.

"Zere's a file," Anya put in, eyes narrowing. "Is it true what zey say?"

"And what do they say?" Rose asked smoothly but Nikola could see something akin to anger rolling off her.

"Dat you fly."

He almost smirked at that.

"Perhaps one day I shall show you the full extent of my gifts," Rose said graciously, head bowed but he felt her mental laughter at the insolent woman. "However for now I suggest we focus. I'm assuming you all do not know why you have been summoned?"

"Where is Magnus?" Mandy asked, her voice a dark and menacing whisper.

Rose's head snapped up and she locked eyes with the young empath. After a minute she took a deep breath.

"If you would all be so kind as to shut your eyes," she said softly, not breaking eye contact with Mandy. "From what I understand it makes the experience less jarring."

One by one they all shut their eyes, sharing sceptical looks before they did so. Nikola had to give them credit, they were well trained if they submitted so blindly to another's will. Or maybe it was more that they'd been properly educated on Rose and what she entailed.

The last thought earned him a brief smile over her shoulder before she steadied herself, closing her eyes and bracing her hands on the table.

Then, all of a sudden something flooded Nikola's vision. Vaguely he was aware that it must have been happening to all of them due to the abundance of gasps and muttered curses but he couldn't really focus on that. Instead he was preoccupied with Rose's mind as it showed them all something far more advanced than any tracking system he had ever come up with for Helen.

She was searching the minds of every person on earth, sweeping from thought to thought, each head presenting a different flavour. She flicked through a few minds, those she knew and those she didn't before finally the breadth of her adoration for Helen became apparent. There was such sweetness and tenderness in her mind that it shocked Nikola and he found himself breathless.

And then she began to search for Helen's mind amongst the crowds of other mental voices. Her fear was clear when it became immediately apparent that she wasn't there and Nikola's own heart clenched.

Slowly the image and Rose's pain faded, leaving Nikola blinking dumbly.

Then, as if a signal that they all needed to draw themselves out of their pain, the lights flickered briefly.

Nikola frowned and looked down at his tablet. Apparently they needed the power source he'd been working on more than Helen had let on. It was the whole reason he'd been sent topside. Well, that and they'd been having trouble keeping their hands from one another in the most inappropriate of situations. One team meeting they'd been seated side by side and ended up with their hands so high up each other's legs that Nikola had required several minutes of sitting alone after the others had left to regain control over himself.

They'd both agree a bit of space wouldn't hurt.

For some reason they'd shied away from actually sleeping together, stupid ideas about having all the time in the world. Now Nikola hated himself for leaving her.

He pushed away the gnawing pit of unease in his stomach, instead focusing on the bickering table of heads. They sound eerily reminiscent of the children when they had arrived barely two hours ago.

Several languages were bounding around the room, all perfectly discernible to Nikola's ear and each convey the same thing. Fear.

None of them seemed to believe Rose, all shouting vehemently at each other and at her. Rose remained silent, not responding to the words except for an occasional flinch.

Only when the great double doors swung open once more did silence fall, allowing an out of breath figure to sprint in, a pair of royal blue satin stilettos clutched in one hand.

"What the bloody hell is going on?"