Dreams tell us more than we are willing to see. More than we are willing to admit to ourselves.
That night Magnus was tormented.
He saw the white marble of her eyes.
He saw the smooth curve of her smile.
He saw his own death.
"You have to see what I've been doing," Magnus called. He grabbed Raven and pulled her into an empty room. She stiffened at his touch, before allowing him to draw her in to see another one of his inventions.
Everyone on campus thought that they were close, but she knew better. He saw her as someone to drag into his schemes, but nothing more. She was not even sure he was capable of having feelings for another person. The way he spoke to her was often a mixture of arrogance and contempt. She was sure that if they were not the only two students in the university who had powers, that he would have nothing to do with her.
"What is it?" said Raven, "A bicycle helmet?"
Magnus smirked at her, "So much more my dear. One day we are going to meet a telepath, and they will try to read my mind, or control me, or something along those lines. This helmet is going to stop them."
"How do you know?"
"I don't. But when I meet one, I'll try it out." Magnus reached out and grabbed her hand, "Tell me I'm a genius." When she didn't respond he pulled her right close to his face. She knew this was more of a threat than a gesture of affection.
Raven gingerly extracted herself from his grip, "You're... a genius. Now stop doing that... People will think things."
"I know," Magnus laughed, "I just love how uncomfortable it makes you. I mean, I'm sure they all think you're in love with me. Actually, I kind of think it too"
"You're disturbing, manipulative, bitter and cold. The other girls in our course might be in love with you, but you should know that there is nothing at all that I like about you."
"Oh... I'm cut," He said sarcastically, before turning his back on her and continuing on with his project.
That night somebody died. It was a first year student called Mona. She was found in the science laboratory in a pool of blood with all her limbs cut off except her right arm. In that hand she held the blade responsible for the severance of her limbs.
Bianca, the student that found her, was sent to campus counsellor immediately. The police had tried to get a coherent word out of her, but the words she was muttering under her breath barely sounded like a language.
Raven had never seen Magnus so excited.
"Finally! Things are happening," He exclaimed, "This is a chance to try out our powers for something real."
"Well, that is probably the most insensitive thing you have ever said," said Raven, "Someone is dead and you make it sound like... an opportunity."
"Everything is an opportunity Raven, absolutely everything. Now, the first thing I would like to find out, is did this girl actually cut off her own limbs, or did someone else cut them off for her?"
"And who is going to find this out for you? Because I won't."
"Hush", whispered Magnus, putting his arm around her, "Look at this as a murder mystery. We are the good guys remember? We've been given powers for a reason."
"You don't believe that."
"Ah, but you do, don't you," he said while stroking her hair, "Either you are destined to make the world a better place, or you are an abomination that should be stamped out. We both know the latter isn't true."
"Fine, whatever. But I don't want to get involved any further than this."
"Thank you sweetheart," he said, smiling contentedly, "I'll be waiting here. Bring me back something useful."
It had been easy to slip on the appearance of one of the police officers. The overweight man had been loitering around the university cafeteria, waiting for his turn in line. Raven knew the other officers were on the other side of the campus, interviewing witnesses, so she took off to see if she could get any information out of them.
"Any results from the lab?" Raven asked, in what she presumed was a manly oice.
"Mac, you're here. I thought you were having lunch." The reply came from a burly looking policewoman.
Raven shrugged and tried to sound nonchalant, "Yeah, the line was too long. Thought I'd wait a bit then head back there."
"Well, the lab results didn't tell us much. The only fingerprints on the knife were those of the girl. Seemed like she hacked her own legs off. Seems a bit over the top though. I mean, a girl with no psychiatric history suddenly mutilates herself and dies on the floor in a building she didn't even have any classes in? I don't need my years of police experience to tell me something smells about this."
"So we're looking at murder then."
The female police officer shook her head, "These are the kinds of cases you hope you don't see on the job."