“I heard you two had a run in with the Puritans. You ok?”
Claire and Raven made it back to the office after dark. Raven called in the sighting to the FBI and CIA while Claire called it in to the Guild and MKP. It seemed like they spent hours answering questions while suits rolled up when it was only one hour. Raven was glued to his computer filling out the report, trying to forget the anger he felt as Claire had collapsed in the chair before his desk, shaken. Claire looked up from holding her head while propped on his desk as Malvina came up and asked about her.
“Yeah I’m fine just…shaken.”
Malvina sat in the neighboring chair and laid a hand on Claire’s arm, “You sure?”
Claire silently nodded her head. Malvina gave her a comforting squeeze then went back to her desk. Claire felt a whoosh and looked behind her to see Dillon kneeling eye level to her.
“Are you alright?”
She gave a weak laugh, “I’m fine D.”
His eyes grew serious, “They didn’t hurt you did they?”
“They? Who-,” Claire exasperated into her hand, “Abby. I’m gonna kill her.” She sat up and put a hand on Dillon’s shoulder, “I am fine D. It was just a mark, they weren’t there.”
Dillon kept his eye on her, looking her over and finally nodded his head. Raven watched as Claire patted Dillon’s shoulder and gave him a smile, feeling a pit in his stomach. He cleared his throat drawing their attention and pointed Dillon with a question.
“Have you found anything yet concerning Emily?”
Dillon was quiet as he stood and nodded his head, “Yes. She says ‘wilks’.”
“’Wilks’?” Both Raven and Claire turned to each other in question.
Claire turned back to Dillon, “What’s ‘wilks’?”
Dillon looks down at her, “That’s all his name she remembers.”
“Name?” Claire turned to Raven, “It’s a name! There is a guy.”
Raven nodded as he turned back to Dillon, “Is there anything else you can tell us?”
Dillon paused and Claire sensed he was troubled by what he was going to say. She placed her hand in his and gave him a squeeze. He squeezed back as he answered, “The magic was not of her consent.”
He quickly left, saying he had business and Claire promised to call him later. She and Raven were brooding over what that could mean as Malvina came up to them again, leaning on his desk.
“Who was that?”
Claire answered absently, “My foster brother, Dillon.”
“Mmm.”
Before Malvina could ask anymore the doors flew open and Lucy ran inside, Henry close behind her, “Claire! Sweetheart are you alright?!” She ran to Claire and threw her arms around her, “I heard what happened. They didn’t touch you did they? Are you hurt?”
Claire was laughing, touched by Lucy’s genuine concern when Raven scolded behind her, “DuBall! How many times do I have to tell you to get your hands off my partner?!”
Lucy got up and sat on the arm rest with her arm around Claire’s shoulder, “Oh shut up. You’re just jealous.” She turned to Claire effectively ignoring Raven as Henry chuckled behind him, “You sure you’re alright?”
Claire looked up with a smile, “Yes I’m fine.”
Lucy wasn’t convinced as she felt slight tremors in her shoulders and came up with an idea, “I know. Why don’t we do a girl’s night? Let’s go out and have a drink.”
“A girl’s night?”
“Yeah!” Lucy stood pulling Claire out of the chair, “You, me and Malvina. Let’s invite Tessa too!”
“Oh I don’t know. I think I just wanna spend a quiet night at home.”
Lucy caught Malvina with her eye and begged her to help. She caught on what Lucy was trying to do and came up to Claire’s other side, holding onto her arm, “Sounds like fun. Let’s all go drinking and forget the night.”
Claire tried to protest but lost the fight as they dragged her out of the station. Lucy and Malvina called back as they were leaving, telling the boys to behave and don’t forget to clean up. Raven stared at the door stunned as his partner disappeared. Henry chuckled behind him, patting his shoulder.
Raven turned in his chair looking up at the man, “Can’t you control your partner better than that?!”
Henry laughed, “You wanna control ‘er? Be my guest.”
The girls found themselves drinking in the “Gold Cauldron” pub. They ordered beer as they waited for Tessa to show. She was inclined to deny the invitation but found herself walking inside the pub. She scanned the overcrowded room and quickly saw her new friends waving from the center of the room. She squeezed her way through the crowd and finally sat down.
“This place is amazing. Do they always let so many in here?”
The three women laughed as they poured Tessa a drink from the beer pitcher. Lucy pushed the mug to her and encouraged her to have a drink.
“Let’s toast!” They all held up their mugs as Lucy began the toast, “Here’s to new friendships and teamwork. To saving lives and finding the bad guys. To love!”
“To love!”
They all laughed and giggled as they drank the night away. Claire, Malvina and Tessa told stories about growing up as mages. Learning their first spells, the first time their potions exploded, the first time they accidently turned a bully into a frog, Malvina ‘accidently’ doing it more than once. Lucy was fascinated by their stories and always asked for more.
“So you two knew each other before this?” Lucy pointed to Malvina and Claire as she took a sip from her mug.
They both looked at each other and giggled as Claire answered, “Yeah she’s the daughter of our Guild Boss Melvin. When I first got my license she was the one you gave me a tour of our office.”
Tessa’s eyes became huge, “You’re Boss Melvin’s daughter?!”
Malvina rolled her eyes bringing her mug to her lips, “Don’t remind me. He wants me to follow in his footsteps and become the next Boss but that’s just too stifling for me.”
Lucy held up her hands, confused, “Ok wait. Mundane here remember? I thought the boss was voted on.”
Malvina shrugged her shoulders, “In a sense. Every nation gets to choose their Guild Boss by votes but of those voted for, only the Head can say who becomes Boss.”
“So what’s the Head then?”
“He’s like our president.” Lucy turned to Claire as she answered, “Every nation has a Boss for their Guild Headquarters right? Then above them is the Guild Head who is the final decider for everything in the Guild, including who becomes the next Boss.”
“And he lives on that Mage Island right?”
All three mages laughed as Claire continued to answer, “Well it’s called an island but it’s more of a continent. It’s roughly the size of Australia.”
“Damn,” Lucy whistled as she drained the last of her beer, refilling her mug, “and where is this thing exactly? I know it’s in the Pacific Ocean.”
Malvina pointed her finger to the ceiling, “It’s more like above the ocean. It’s in the center of the Pacific so the magic of training mages can’t affect other people and it’s high above the waves in the sky so wayward ships can’t crash into it.”
“Oh but planes can?”
Tessa giggled as the beer made her relax, “There’s a protection shield around the Island. It automatically turns planes around them so they won't crash.”
“Ah,” Lucy nodded her head thinking she understood, “Now on to more serious stuff.” She turned to Tessa with a smile on her face, “So, how’d it go?”
Tessa paused then blinked as she blushed into her mug, “H-How what go?”
“What’s this?” Malvina asked with a glee in her eye.
“What what?” Claire couldn’t help but smile as she recognized that blush.
Lucy smiled more, “Tess here, had a little mini date with Henry today.”
Gasps were heard as everyone became excited. Tessa blushed even more, “It-It wasn’t a date.”
Lucy mumbled, “It practically was with the way you two were.” Both Malvina and Claire turned to Lucy to get the full story. Lucy smiled as she told them what happened, “Brave little Tess here called Henry and I over, saying she had information for us.”
“Lucy!” Tessa tried to stop her as she became embarrassed.
“We get there and she pulls me outside the room saying she lied!” Malvina and Claire gasped, “She said she didn’t have anything but just wanted to see Henry.” They both ‘oooo’-ed as Lucy continued, Tessa’s face bright red by now, “She wanted my help but I’m sure not in the way I gave it to her. We went back in and I told a cover of how the information was for me and faked having to go to the bathroom, leaving them alone.”
They all smiled at Tessa waiting for her to tell them what happened next. She rung her hands together as she tried to hide behind her empty mug, “We-We just talked.”
“And?” they all asked.
A playful smile played on her lips as she looked up, “I think he likes me.”
They all cheered, shouting with joy into the room as they ordered another round. Tessa was overwhelmed by congratulations and good lucks as her friends showered her with love. She felt herself smiling again and was again enjoying the night. Another pitcher was brought over and they quiet down as they drank.
Malvina glanced at Claire and decided to take a plunge, “Is Dillon single?”
Lucy and Tessa were stun and sat quiet as Claire stared at her, “What? You can’t be serious.”
A smile played on her lips, “He’s cute. I’ve got a thing for guys with the bad boy look.”
Claire leaned on the table, “Mal, he’s not a bad boy, he’s a Necromancer.”
“Really?” her eyes glowed with excitement, “That’s hot.”
Claire sputtered as she tried to think. She’s always wanted Dillon to be happy and always believed there would be someone out there for him. Perhaps this was it. Claire smiled as she propped her chin in her hand, “No, he’s single.”
“Great!” Malvina laughed as she threw back the rest of her beer, “What kind of name is Dillon anyways?”
Claire giggled, “It’s not his real name. He came to the orphanage as a baby and they only found the initial ‘D’ on him. The aunts wanted to give him a proper name so they drew a lot and he was named Dillon.”
They all laughed and giggled some more as the beer began to take its toll. Finally curiosity got the better of Lucy as she turned to Claire.
“So speaking of guys…have you and Raven done it yet?”
Beer was sputtered as everyone spit. Claire coughed and choked on her gulp as Tessa pounded her back, “D-Do what?”
“C’mon girl, even I can tell he’s one fine man. The room practically burns when you two get together.”
Claire coughed some more as she became sober, “Even if that’s the case…it couldn’t work out.”
Lucy looked up seeing serious looks on all three mages, “Why not?”
Malvina answered, “Because he’s a Black.”
Lucy threw her hands up, “What’s that got to do with anything?”
“Blacks,” Claire held her mug as she stared at the foam inside, “have a long history with mages. After they first came out people began to fear that mages were getting too powerful, so a special family was born. The Blacks.” Claire looked up and stared Lucy in the eye, “They’re a mage assassin family. They’re the family who developed the anti-magic runes. Throughout history they’ve been responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of mages, even whipping out entire families. They have anti-magic properties in their blood.”
Lucy was taken aback as the night took a dark turn, “But that was in the old days, before the Magic Laws. They’re out of business right?”
Malvina shrugged her shoulder, “So to speak. There are some who gave up the family traditions as the times changed but even so, there are some who still uphold the family honor.”
“But Raven’s not one of them. He’s partners with Claire.”
Claire looked back up, “Yeah but...doesn’t mean his family agrees with him.”
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