Raven looked around the waiting room at all the exotic pets. There was a woman who held a lion cub in her lap but the cub’s fur was bright silver and even clinked as she rubbed his fur. There was another woman flipping through a magazine as her song bird hummed and chimed on the bird stand beside her. Across the room, a guy was watching a game on his phone card as a phoenix looked over his shoulder. Raven shook his head at all the wonder around him. It made him feel claustrophobic.
Claire was at the front desk talking to the receptionist, “The doctor will be right with you, hun. Have a seat.”
She walked over and took the seat next to Raven. She told him it’ll be a few minutes before they could get back there. He sighed and pulled out his phone card, digging up what he could about any known Slyvan trade rings. Claire looked over next to her and saw a young woman holding out her hand much like she was. She looked down at the woman’s hand and saw a little fairy.
She smiled as she leaned over, “Who’s that?”
The woman looked up and smiled, “Tyliha. She’s here for her 6 month checkup.”
Claire looked at the woman in surprise, “She’s pregnant?!”
Little Shiya wanted a closer look and tugged at Claire’s fingers. She brought her hand over to the woman’s and Shiya quickly bounded her way over to the pregnant fairy. They smiled and embraced as best as they could. A glowing Tyliha smiled at Shiya as she rubbed her swollen belly. They spoke in their fairy language, the air sounding like a musical lyric around them. Shiya must have asked to feel her stomach for Tyliha joyfully nodded her head and Shiya leaned down and pressed her ear to the unborn babe. Claire smiled down at the fairies and shared a pleasant conversation with the woman.
“Shiya?”
Claire and Raven looked up to see the nurse at the door holding their file. Claire turned to the woman and congratulated both her and little Tyliha as Shiya said her goodbyes and climbed back into Claire’s hand. They followed the nurse into a room and she instructed Shiya to climb onto the table so she may look her over. Raven sat in the chair in the corner as Claire walked over to the table and gently placed Shiya on the table. The nurse asked the little fairy questions as she took notes about her weight, height, and magical signature. The nurse smiled and closed the folder, putting it in the door slot as she walked out, saying the doctor will be right with you.
Raven looked around at the wall posters as Claire tried to sooth a nervous Shiya. One poster by the door showed the anatomy of a Pegasus and another on the other side showed a picture of a dragon breathing fire titled 10 Things To Know About Your Dragon. The door opened and in walked the doctor. Raven looked him over as he flipped through the file. He couldn’t decide if he was tall or short, perhaps average height. His hair was brown but had the Irish freckles across his face. When he pushed his glass further up his nose it only brought more attention to the dark specks splashed across his face. He was slim frame and from his rough hands Raven could tell he worked hard.
He held out a hand as he walked up to Claire, “Claire! So nice to see you again!”
They shook hands and hugged. Claire sniffed her nose as they pulled back, “Do I smell sulfur?”
He jerked a hand behind him, “Pet red dragon, room 6. Bad case of a cold.” They shared a laugh then turned to Raven and again held out his hand, “Hello. I’m Dr. Benjamin O’Malley. Claire’s never brought a boyfriend before.”
Raven sputtered as he laughed, “No, no. I’m just her partner, Detective Raven Black. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting your older sister before, Elizabeth.”
Benjamin slowly shook Raven’s hand, “A Black huh?” He looked Raven up and down as he stood unfazed by the doctor’s gaze. Benjamin turned to Claire jerking a thumb at Raven, “You sure about this?” Claire smiled and chuckled as she nodded. He turned back to Raven and huffed, “You can call me Benny. Any friend of Claire’s is a friend of our family.”
He flashed him a smile and went back to the table, looking down at Shiya. He gave her his most reassuring smile, knowing how skittish fairies can be around men, “Hello my dear. My name’s Benjamin O’Malley, but you can just call me Benny. What’s your name?”
Shiya tried to curl up into a ball, hiding behind Claire’s arm, “Sh-Shiya.”
Ben smiled and held out his hand flat, keeping a comfortable distance from the nervous fairy, “Nice to meet you Shiya. Please, may I look at your shoulder? It must hurt a storm.”
Shiya poked her head out, blinking, “Are you sure?”
Ben nodded, “Absolutely. I would love to help your shoulder from hurting.”
“O-Ok.” Shiya slowly walked around Claire’s arm as she smiled down at the fairy. She slowly crept to Ben’s outstretched hand and took a tentative step on his hand. She climbed onto his palm and fell to her knees as he brought her up to his face. He smiled at her as he looked her over, gently fingering the tips of her wings. She fluttered them nervously as she felt his energy heat his palm. Pretty soon the warmth she felt traveled up her legs into her shoulder, relaxing the muscles to sweet relief. Shiya smiled and looked down at her shoulder as she moved it, testing it. Ben brought a finger to her shoulder and muttered some words.
“There, good as new.”
Shiya laughed as she rolled her shoulder. She fluttered her wings and took flight, flying around and around the people in the room until she finally landed on Claire’s shoulder, looking at Ben, “Thank you Dr. Benny.”
He crossed his arms and chuckled, “You’re welcome Shiya.”
He led them out the room while scribbling in the file. Claire walked up to him and placed her hand on his shoulder, “Thanks for seeing us on such short notice.”
He handed the file to the nurse at the counter, giving her some instruction as he turned to Claire, “No problem. Are you gonna stop by Jenny’s?”
Raven watched as Claire blinked, “Uh, no ‘fraid not. We’ve got a hot case. In fact we need to get going, let’s go Raven.”
Raven scratched his chin as he became intrigued by Claire’s reaction. He looked over to see Ben grinning at Claire. He pointed a finger to Claire’s departing back, “I take it ‘Jenny’s’ your sister?”
Ben softly laughed as he turned to Raven, “Yeah, she’s uh, a bit eccentric”
Ben went to say more but Claire called for Raven through the door. He chuckled and told Raven he had to get back to his patients and said their goodbyes. Claire and Raven got in the car, driving their way back to the office. He tried to pry more information from Claire with Shiya looking at her from her shoulder but Claire wouldn’t say anything more. They reached the office and went inside to see the gang had pulled up a billboard with papers and notes already tacked to it.
Claire went to study the board as Raven walked up to Henry, “What’d we’ve got?”
Henry shuffled through the papers in his hands as he spoke around the straw in his mouth, “Luc’ ‘n I dug ‘round, found ten Slyv’n missin’ persins. Mal’s talkin’ wit’ their Slyv’n liaison, see if th’y got ‘nything.”
Andrew hung up the phone and walked over to Henry and Raven, “Just got off the phone with my guy in Interpol. There’s not a lot known about Slyvan trade groups in the Northeast but he said they have suspicions about the Taliban.”
Raven rasied his eyebrow, “The Taliban? That’s bad news.”
Claire spoke to them while still looking at the board, “Compared to the Puritans last time the Taliban ought to be a walk in the park, right?”
Raven chuckled as Malvina hung up her phone and walked over, yanking 8 missing persons’ reports from the board then turning to the group, “Just got off with our Slyvan liaison. He says these two are the only ones who went missing when coming into the States.”
She pointed to the two reports left on the board. Claire studied the faces of the young girls, feeling sick to her stomach thinking what they must be feeling. The younger girl was called Nony, only 6 years old with her bright silver hair braided down her back, reaching her knees. In the picture she was smiling and pointing to the Statue of Liberty as she and her family came into America. Claire felt her heart twist as she looked into the bright hope shinning in the girl’s green eyes. She’s been missing for 5 weeks.
The other girl was older, 11 years old and was called Sli. She too had the iconic Slyvan silver hair, also braided down her back to her knees, but her green eyes had small gold flecks in them. She was sitting in what appeared to be a park in the picture with an expressionless look on her face. She’s been missing for 2 weeks. Claire placed her hand over her heart as she looked at the girl, feeling sad for her. Suddenly Shiya took off from Claire’s shoulder and studied the picture of Sli closer.
She turned to Claire pointing at the picture, “She’s it. The one who called me.”
Malvina studied the picture, turning to Shiya, “Are you sure?”
Little Shiya nodded her head and Malvina looked displeased. Claire turned to her, “What’s wrong? We’ve identified the girls.”
Malvina glanced at Claire then leaned over whispering to her, “Sli’s the granddaughter of their current Chief. The liaison told me they’re pissed. This could escalate Claire.”
Claire studied Malvina as she spoke, “Then we’ll just find her and bring her home before that. All of them.” Malvina smiled at her as she went to the phone to speak with the liaison once more. Claire turned to the others, “We still got 4 more girls to identify. I guess by now it’s safe to say the rest of the girls aren’t in our system, so spread your search to other countries. Raven can you come with me?”
She walked out the door and pulled Raven close, whispering to him, “I think we should go to Midge.”
Raven glanced at her as he crossed his arms, “Claire we can’t. That won't hold out in court.”
“Screw court. These are little girls’ life’s we’re talking about. Besides, would they really complain if we seriously bring down this trade ring?”
He pulled out a smoke and dragged on it as he thought finally saying, “Fine. Let’s go.”
They walked to the car and Shiya flew to Claire leaving a glittering gold trail behind her in the air, “Where are we going m’lady?”
The car sped out of the lot as Claire answered, “To see my friend Midge. She’s a clairvoyant, she can help.”
Shiya ruffled her wings, “Clairvoyant? But m’lady-“
“It’ll be fine Shiya, I promise. She’s very good at Seeing. She can See much better than anyone else I know.”
Shiya slowly nodded her head as she settled back on her hunches, “As you say so, m’lady.”
They drove in silence for a moment until Raven asked Claire a question, “Why does she call you ‘m’lady’?”
Shiya poked her head out from behind Claire’s hair, “For she is Lady Dunsworth.”
Raven raised an eyebrow, “So you have a title?”
Claire chuckled, “Oh god no, no. I’m just…well-“
Shiya interrupted her, “Do not be modest m’lady.” She flew to the gear shift and sat on top as she spoke to Raven, “Lady Dunsworth is known throughout the magical world. She is someone we all look up to. From child mages to us fairies to the elves. She is famous.”
Raven did a double take as he saw Claire blushing. She scooped up Shiya to prevent her from saying more as she tried to down play what she said, “It’s nothing really, it’s just…it’s a story for another time.”
She smiled at Raven trying to close the subject. He remained skeptic but remembered their deal and decided now’s not the time, “Alright, but don’t think you’re off the hook just yet.”
________________________________________________
Please comment! Love feedback, good or bad. Thanks for reading! If you absolutely love The Licensed Mage it's now available on Amazon! Check it out today!