Raven did a double take between Claire and Elizabeth, “She has a PhD in all that?”

“And many others but they’re the ones she’s currently using. I’ve always just called her a magician researcher and artifact engineer.”

Claire turned around and walked off towards the fridge as Raven continued to stare at her, “Why does she have a PhD in all that?”

She shrugged her shoulders as she yanked open the fridge, “She’s smart, she likes to learn new things, and she gets bored easily. Soda?”

She holds out a can and Raven shakes his head as he tries taking Elizabeth in. She walks back up beside him silently laughing at his bewildered look as she pops the can open, “This is what I meant by her ‘feeding frenzy’ too.”

Smiling into her soda Raven turned to stare at her. She chuckled as she explained, “When she works, she gets into the zone. You know, like tunnel vision? She’ll work for 24 hours straight with no food or water or contact from anyone. So, in order to ‘recharge’ and let off steam she’ll watch TV for hours on end, also tunnel vision.”

He pawed at his pocket intending to grab a cigarette but instead crossed his arms as he remembered the non-smoking rule, “Then what hope do we have of getting anything out of her?”

Claire opened her mouth to answer but before she could the TV flicked off and the woman in question stood and walked towards a closet in the wall, “You have every hope, just as soon as I’m done.”

She threw the doors opened and went through the hanging clothes as she pulled on some slacks and a clean top. She threw her dirty tank into the hamper inside the closet and shut the doors, grabbing her lab coat hanging on a nearby peg. She buttoned it closed and went to the mirror above the kitchen sink, adjusting her hair back into a tight bun. She didn’t acknowledge Claire and Raven standing there until after she set her frozen pizza onto the counter and flicked her hand over it causing it to glow and cook as she finally turned to them.

Raven had a glimpsed of the genius mad scientist she was when she first turned to them but as she focused on Claire her face quickly turned into a smile as she ran to hug her friend. The two of them were quickly laughing and squealing as they hugged. Raven rolled his eyes at the noise.

Elizabeth held Claire’s hands as she studied her friend, “Where have you been? It’s been too long. How are things? You never contact me anymore. What are you doing here?”

Before Claire could answer Elizabeth turned and her eyes fell on Raven. She gave a quiet whistle as she studied the brooding man beside Claire, “Who is this?”

Claire hurried with the introduction before Elizabeth jumped to conclusions, “Liz, this is my new partner Detective Raven Black. From the new Joint Task Force they’re creating?”

“Oh,” the ding behind her indicated that her pizza was done and Liz quickly went and tore herself a piece, “I heard they were doing that. I also heard they were sending one of us over to get the ball rolling but I had no idea it was you. Pizza?”

She held up a slice and offered it to the two of them but Claire quickly declined. Raven was about to but his growling stomach told him otherwise and he quickly grabbed two slices. Both he and Liz chowed down the slices before it could grow cold. Liz offered him another slice as she saw him eyeing the rest of the pizza and gave the rest to him as she turned to Claire.

“So what can I do for the new partners of the Joint Task Force?”

Raven shoved pizza in his mouth, preventing himself from making a retort at the partner comment as Claire explained, “We’re here on a case. Our victim was burnt to a crisp and there’s evidence indicating it was an artifact.”

Liz’s eyes lit up at the mention of the artifact, “Oh really? Was there any residue?”

Raven stepped aside and continued to wolf down the pizza as the two mages conversed, “Yes. It left behind a visible silver trail.”

“Silver?” Liz held her chin as her mind raced. She muttered to herself as she began to lead them back to her ‘new age’ section. She began picking one book up after another, grabbing some from the air in mid-flight skimming through them all, “You said he was burned right? Were his bones intact? What was the magic signature?”

They had absently left the ME’s report behind and Raven was about to say so but Claire simply flicked her wrist and the very same report materialized in her hand, “Let’s see…yes his bones were intact…there was no smoke in his lungs so he was dead before he was burned…and the magic signature was…crystals?”

Liz appeared behind Claire reading over her shoulder, “Crystals? Are you sure?”

“That’s what is says but that doesn’t make any sense. What crystal causes fire?”

Suddenly they both snapped their fingers as they turned to each other in excitement, both speaking at the same time, “Ice crystals!”

Raven silently watched as Claire’s excitement lit up her face with Liz’s matching hers. He was pretty sure that this would get them a lead and they could quickly end this case but after a moment the excitement wore off and Claire’s face fell.

“But what artifact causes such extreme freezing that it burns?”

Liz blinked as she realized this. Her eyes furrowed as she tapped her chin with her knuckle, “I’m not sure. It’s buried in one of these books. I know I’ve seen it somewhere.”

“Well,” Claire covered her mouth as she stifled a yawn, “keep looking for it, ‘k? It’s pretty late and we should probably go. Call me when you find out, ok Liz? Thanks.”

Liz only walked off as she began to mutter to herself once more. Claire turned to Raven and mentioned with her head that they should leave. They got into the elevator and Raven grabbed onto the wall rail, expecting it to plummet down but Claire only smiled as they slowly descended. They quietly made their way out of the building and into the night air. In the city that never sleeps there is a special hour that’s right in the middle of being up late and getting up early where the city is as quiet as it’ll ever be. It was this very hour when they were walking to the parking garage and Claire just stopped and turned her head up to the night sky above. Raven took a few more steps but stopped and turned back to look at Claire.

“What is it?”

A sad smile touches her lips as she continued to study the stars, “It’s just sad.”

Raven pulled out a cigarette and lit it, breathing deep as he jammed his hands into his coat pocket, “What is?”

Claire was silent for a minute but finally brought her eyes down to look at Raven. Raven was slightly taken aback as he saw unshed tears in her eyes, “Magic’s supposed to be peaceful. It’s supposed to bring and protect life. Not take it away.”

He saw that she was more shaken by this case than she had let on. He raked his hand through his hair, trying to find the words to say. Finally he shrugged his shoulders as he took his cigarette out and flicked the ashes off, “Nothing you can do about it. It’s not magic itself that’s the problem. It’s the people who wield it.”

Claire studied him as she tried to believe his words. She knew what he was saying, and yet he’ll never understand. Yes there are terrible witches and wizards because of the choices they made. But there were cases where good people, good witches and wizards were turned because of the power they held, because of the magic they had. People argue that that would only happen if the people were ‘evil’ to begin with but Claire wasn’t so sure.

She stood there brooding over this as Raven smoked some more of this cigarette. Finally he had enough and flicked the butt away, “Look there’s nothing you can do about it, but you can handle this in one of two ways.” Claire looked up as he got her full attention, “You either stand there feeling sorry about yourself brooding over this shit, or…you catch the bastard who did this and make sure they can never do it again.”

There was a moment of silence as Claire stared stunned at him but she finally smiled, “You’re right. Thanks.”

She ran up to him and gave him a peck on the cheek. Before he could react she stepped back and smiled at him, flicking her hand open, opening the port to go home, “See you in the morning.”

Quick as a flash she was gone. Raven stood there feeling like an idiot as he touched his cheek where she kissed him. He blood boiled as he touched the lipstick she left on his cheek but he quickly scowled himself, saying it was anger nothing else. He stomped his way back to his car and raced home to his apartment to catch a few hours of sleep before he heads back to the office.

Crystal was snoring on her little perch when light flashed, startling her awake as Claire ported back into her loft. Crystal yawned as she turned her head and saw a panting Claire slowly fall down to her knees. Alarmed, Crystal flies down and lands on her lap.

“Claire?! What is it? What’s wrong?”

Her chest continued to heave as Claire stared straight ahead, not hearing Crystal calling her name. Finally she blinked and looked down at a frantic Crystal in her lap, “W-What?”

“What’s the matter with you?!”

Claire blinked some more as she laid a hand over her racing heart, “I have no idea.”