CHAPTER ONE- NO NORMAL MUNDANES

"Hey, Gus! What's up?" Shawn tucked his phone safely between his cheek and shoulder, cutting up a pineapple to put in his pineapple upside down cake.

"Shawn," Gus said on the other line, sounding agitated. "You know I'm at work right now. And this is my work phone… why are you calling me on my work phone?"

"Because, buddy, your personal phone is turned off!" Shawn replied with a laugh. Gus sighed impatiently.

"Shawn, you know most people-"

"Would take that as a hint that you don't want to talk to them? I know, but I'm not most people!"

"You got that right."

"But I have something to tell you… something… delicious. Something… murderous," Shawn said, wiping his hands on his apron.

"No… no Shawn. I thought we agreed that we wouldn't take any more cases until I got back on my regular route? In fact, I'm supposed to be out delivering right now!" Shawn heard Gus snap his pharmaceutical case shut.

"Actually, we're not exactly on the case… yet! I heard about it on my police scanner, and I thought we could go-"

"Goodbye, Shawn." Then the dial tone.

Shawn sighed, slipped his phone into his pocket, took off the apron he was wearing, and then grabbed his keys and helmet. He walked out of the PSYCH office, leaving his half finished cake batter on the counter for later. He was late to the party…er… crime scene.

~*Exactly Twenty Minutes Later*~

Shawn dismounted his motorcycle, pocketed his keys, and put his helmet on his seat. Police cars covered the abandoned street outside the alley, and officers scurried this way and that.

"Shawn!"

Shawn turned at the sound of his name, eyes falling on a tall, brown haired and eyed officer standing nearest to the police tape.

"Buzz!" Shawn greeted, walking over to him. McNab (Shawn and Gus were the only two to call him 'Buzz') smiled sheepishly. "What goes on?"

"Well… you're not really supposed to be here right now. Detective Lassiter said that if you came anywhere within ten feet of the crime scene, I should shoot you repeatedly," he said, rubbing his neck.

"Why would he say that?" Shawn asked, spreading his arms wide. "He loves me!"

"He said something about 'strangeness' and then 'Spencer' when he was back there, so…" he trailed off.

"You can't tell me anything about the crime scene, Buzz?" Shawn asked, leaning forward and putting his hands in his pocket. He glanced to the side and saw the body laying in the middle of the alley. His eyes widened a bit when he saw that the man's eyes were wide open, and his eyes were bright red. "Uhh…"

"SPENCER!" Shawn looked up at the call of his last name as a tell, wiry, dark haired man in a suit and sunglasses strode from the alley and stepped under the police tape. "McNab, what the hell is he doing here?"

"Don't worry, Lassie, I was just leaving… Can't pick up anything psychically from this far away, you know. The Spirit world is closed off at the moment…" He glanced back at the body. "I'll just be g-"

"Good decision, Spencer," Lassiter interrupted. "Now… get out of my sight."

~*Back at the Psych Office*~

Shawn parked his motorcycle, and looked around. He noticed the Blueberry (his nickname for Gus's small, blue car) was parked, which meant that Gus himself was here.

"Hey, buddy, guess what!" Shawn started, walking into the back door of the PSCYH office, out of instant view of the main area. He noticed that the pineapple stuff was cleared away. "Strange murder downtown! The dude's eyes were red!"

"Um, Shawn, there're people asking for the Psychic of Santa Barbara," Gus said. "Get in here."

"Are they women? Better yet, are they women in bikini-oh…" Shawn stopped short as he came through the door. Two men stood in front of him.

One was very tall and tanned with spiked up dark hair dipped in what looked like glitter. He had tilted… cat eyes? that were covered in charcoal, glittering makeup. He was dressed in a purple suit.

The other wasn't nearly as ornamental. He was shorter than the other with neat, dark hair and blue eyes. He wore a simple long sleeved shirt even though it was 93˚ in Santa Barbara that day.

"Umm…" Shawn said, looking at Gus with raised eyebrows. "Hello…"

"You're Shawn Spencer, then?" the taller one asked. "I'm Magnus. Magnus Bane, and this is my partner, Alec Lightwood. We're here to investigate the death of one of ours."

"Yes… I'm Shawn Spencer…" Shawn motioned to Gus. "This is my partner Burton 'Magic Head' Guster. His friends call him Magic Head."

"My friends call me Gus," Gus said, glaring at Shawn. He ignored Magnus and Alec's looks of curiosity. Then he stood, crossing his arms. "Are you with the police department?"

"We've never see you two around," Shawn added. The shorter man, Alec, looked at Magnus from the corner of his eyes, and then looked at Shawn.

"We're from New York," Alec said. "He was one of our officers, and we have come to oversee the investigation."

"We heard that you are Santa Barbara's head psychic," Magnus said, crossing his arms. "Show us."

Shawn laughed.

"Show you? You want me to- Oh… you're serious…" He sighed, and looked over them. "You have a cat," he said to Magnus, putting his finger to his head, his 'psychic gesture'. "And you, you do as well, though I'm sensing that… he doesn't very much love you?"

"Wow…" Alec said.

"Spot on, psychic," Magnus said, his green eyes sparkling.

"How did you hear about the murder so quickly?" Gus asked of Magnus and Alec. Alec opened his mouth to speak, but Magnus beat him to it.

"One of our officers was down here on vacation, and he recognized the victim as one of ours, so he called us to come and oversee the investigation," Magnus replied. "Mr. Spencer-"

"Just Shawn, if you will."

"Well, Shawn… I heard you say something about the victim's eyes being… red. Do you think that he was, say… intoxicated?" Magnus asked. Shawn shook his head.

"No, man… you're missing it. His eyes… were red. Like… like…"

"Like Durza from Eragon," Gus put in. Shawn looked at him oddly. "They were supposed to be, Shawn. They were in the book!"

"Gus, you know I've never read anything!" Shawn said, shaking his head.

"Focus," Alec said over them.

"Alec, go put a Silence Rune on the building, please," Magnus said. "This one can see past glamours." He nodded at Shawn. "I guess it's time to tell him who we really are, because I have a feeling that we'll need their help."

"What are you guys talking about?" Gus asked. "What's he doing?"

Alec had drawn a long metal rod thing, and was attempting to draw on the glass with it. To Shawn and Gus's amazement, black lines, swirling and straight at the same time, appeared on the glass. All noise from the outside world of Santa Barbara was shut off.

"Sit," Magnus said, turning to Shawn and Gus. They sat immediately, and Magnus ran his hand through his glittery hair. "You are no normal mundanes…."