Deep inside the spacious mansion known as Shadowcrest, which had been the ancestral home of the Zatara family for generations, world famous magician and sorceress, Zatanna Zatara, sat in the impossibly vast library pouring over some ancient looking book, while on the table next to her sat a large stack of other old books, all of them on chrono magic, which dealt with the subject of manipulating time using supernatural means. Zatanna's eyes quickly skimmed through the page she was currently on, which was all about something called a time-turner, when she abruptly let out a loud groan and slammed the book shut.
"Nothing?" asked a disheveled looking blonde man in a trench coat as he stepped out from behind a bookcase.
"Oh, plenty," Zatanna said to the man whose name was John Constantine. "Lots of theory and ancient inventions, but nothing that'll do us any good right here and now."
"Funny you should talk about the 'ere and now," said John in his Scouse accent, "Because I just saw a book called just that."
Zatanna arched her eyebrow.
"Nothing 'elpfull in it, though," said John.
Zatanna laid her head down on her book and groaned again. "It's three in the morning," she moaned, "We've been at this for hours."
"Time's a bitch, idnit?" said John, lighting up a cigarette.
Zatanna looked up and, with a wave of her hand, said, "Etteragic eb enog."
The cigarette vanished from John's hand in, ironically, a puff of smoke.
"If only everything were that easy, love," he said.
"Right?" said Zatanna. "If only I could just say 'Emit levart' and... and..."
Suddenly Zatanna began to sparkle and float off her chair while John looked on with mild surprise on his face. After rising only a few inches into the air Zatanna blinked out of existence.
"Bloody 'ell," said John.
To Be Continued