The Licensed Mage

35 подключение

        “…подключение …”

        Claire blinked as Midge finally spoke. They’ve been in Midge’s apartment for nearly 20 minutes, waiting for her to speak as the crystal ball held her gaze. Claire had propped her chin in her hand as she sat at Midge’s table while Raven grew impatient and went to smoke by the door. Little Shiya hide behind Claire’s hair, hiding herself from Midge’s view, as fruitless as that may be.

        “Do what?”

        Midge looked up with a smile holding the ball within the circle of her hands, “’подключение’. That is the word they are telling me.”

        “’подключение’? What is that?”

        “It’s Russian,” Claire looked at Raven as he searched the word on his phone card, “means ‘connection’.”

        Claire raised her eyebrows, “’Connection’? Connect to what?”

        She turned back to look at Midge who only stared at the crystal ball, “I’m afraid that’s all. There’s nothing else I can tell you.”

        Claire sat back as she sighed crossing her arms, “Well great. Where does that get us?”

        Raven walked over, putting his cigarette out in the ash tray, “It tells us that this is not the Taliban. This is some Russian ring.”

        She looked up at him, “Yeah that’s true, but there’s not a whole lot known about any Russian rings.”

        Raven looked at his watch, “It’s late enough as it is. We’ll dig up more in the morning.”

        They thanked Midge and walked out the door. Raven turned to go down the stairs waving goodbye to Claire when she stopped him with a hand on his arm, “Why don’t you come up to my place? I’ll cook us some dinner and we can discuss the case some more.”

        He knew he should politely decline but thinking about the cold leftovers in his fridge made him think differently, “Alright.”

        They walked up the stairs, reaching her door and walked inside. Crystal perked up when the door opened and flew off her perch to greet Claire but stopped when she saw the glittering ball on Claire’s shoulder.

        “What is that?”

        Claire pointed a finger at Crystal, “Play nice. This is Shiya. She’s a new friend and she’s working a case with us.”

        Crystal plopped herself on Raven’s shoulder and he raised his eyebrow as she did so, “You’re getting help from that glittering ball of sparkles?”

        Shiya flew out and got into Crystal’s face, putting her hands on her hips in a huff, “Quiet you scalely lizard. At least I don’t have bad breath.”

        Crystal growled, showing her fangs as hot vapors emitted from her mouth. Raven glanced at Claire nervously, “You gonna do something about this?”

        Claire waved her hand and walked to the kitchen, “They’ll get over it.”

        He looked at Crystal as he felt her claws sharpen, “Yeah with me in the middle.”

        Claire went about fixing a meal, ignoring the commotion outside the room as she made her favorite southern meal; friend chicken. Shiya quickly set off towards Claire and Crystal yelled at her, giving chase. Raven gave a quiet sigh of relief and sat down on the couch, clearing a section on the oak table pulling out his phone card. He unfolded the card twice and it expanded into a mini travel laptop which he tried to look up any and all information on any known Russian Slyvan traffic rings. No matter how much he dug or what angle he tried, nothing gave, nothing made sense. Raven sighed as he rubbed his face.