Colorado was way colder than California was. The sweatshirt I was wearing really was not enough, but Id have to deal with it. Shouldering my bag higher up I started to wander around the city. The place was pretty much empty. The locals were few, and they seemed to be more interested in the daily activities than a newcomer. Shrugging past them I went to sit in the center of the town. A small park with very few people.

A small chill ran up my spine. My phone was almost dead again, but i wanted to wait far as long as I could until this guy showed up. I kinda hated how it was all set up. There was no time or meet up place. This guy was just supposed to just show up. How? I sat on the bench and started to lament on all that had happened the past few weeks. If i could id go back in time to when it was me and grayson. When he was batman and I was his robin. Things were...less complicated. Complicated but less. I wonder what he was doing now. He has to leave jump city to get back to blue haven. Leaving a bluebird by herself would ever be his first choice. No one had texted me other than mia. Id have to text mindy that i was alright and give her an update and then yell at jason for setting up this supposed mystical meeting. What a joke.

As I was in deep thought a very thin man wearing a worn out jacket sat next to me. I shifted a bit further from him. The man continued to stare forward. From the corner of my eye I could see that the rest of him was worn out too. His jeans had holes and his shirt was too big for him. Stretching over his torso in a billowy way. His knee jerked up and down, bouncing in an unknown rhythm.

He reminded me of the people that hung around the corners of gothams seedier parts.i wanted to distance myself from him.

"Its..uh..really nice here." his lame attempt of starting a conversation only frustrated me. My lack of response must have caused him to become flustered. Shifting erratically he turned more to me.

"Ok, so im just gonna come out with this. Are you connected to the crime lord known as Red Hood?" I looked up to him and saw a slim worn face. His face was blotched and his 5 clock shadow was 20 past six. Dark circles ringed his eyes, his actual eyes were

Blood was a drug addict. No question about that.

"Im Gary Laster, i was told to pick someone up and just teach them the basics of..." he made a general gesture to the air.

Oh god, Of course Jason would send me to one of the few people he knew. And the few people he knew were usually murderers or drug dealers. I stayed silent, debating internally if I should even stick around this guy. Jason claimed he could help, but the guy looked like he needed help more than me, and i had a literal demon chasing me. I think.

"Uhhh, we can head back to where im staying. I dont stick in one place too long besides kinda chilly out here." He was trying to be friendly. I really had no other idea of what else I could do. I could just walk away right now, but then id be walking to an even greater unknown. But going with this guy meant having to deal with his habit, but there was a chance he did know some helpful things. Like how to avoid situations like last night.

"Ok." I sighed in resignation. He hopped up in a bit of excitement. Smiling down at me. I shrugged and swung my backpack back over my shoulder.

"Oh!Uhhhh, what's your name?"

"Damian." I said we walked to a small studio apartment. He tried to make small talk, but it was all just to fill the empty air between us. He spoke lowly about himself. Telling me about his trip to africa and how he stayed with tribes and how he studied with great mages. He was trying to brag i think. To show how he was going to be a great teacher, but it felt more like he was trying to reassure himself that he could do it. That he could teach me. My confidence in him lowered. The fear on him evident.

We made it back to where he was staying. It was a studio apartment with just a pile of blankets in one corner and a stove in another. Was he just squatting here?

"I know it's not much, but soon you'll realize that in this line of work you dont want alot. Makes it hard to move, which you do a lot of. We are going to stay here for a bit, but we need to move to the next town."

"Why?" I asked. Incredulously. What could make him need to move around so much?

"Well, if you stop, bad things have a tendency to just pop up and from there it gets messy. You have to escape them ...and well… it's best to just not let anything out there know where you are in the first place." he was moving around the small space while I stood against the wall. The room was almost as cold as outside, and the hoodie i was wearing was only partially keeping me warm. My fingers were becoming stiff from the air.

"Do you always run away?" he paused in his nervous shuffling. I started to notice how when idle he'd start to rock on his heels. His hands always needing to be occupied.

"No. sometimes i cant run, but i'd prefer it. If you try to fight, a lot of the times, others get hurt. Strangers get hurt. And it's your fault." He turned to look at me. His blue eyes fixing me down. Finally cleared of whatever he had put in him.

"Hasn't that already happened to you?" the question hung in the air. The thought of the team, Jason,..TIm. they got hurt because i wanted to fight, but this wasn't a fighting game. This was survival. That's what garry was. A survivalist. He had a lower death count on him, cause he ran.

Gary snapped back to what he was doing. His rocking starting again. "Well, I thought we could start with learning some basic prayers and cloaking spells. You know, real basic things. Then we can start into how to bless and clean unholy objects and smaller spirits." I didn't answer. I chose to remain quiet again. I didn't have anything to say. I lowered my backpack to the ground. And slid to sit on the floor.

"Mmmhm, you can take to the pile there, i have some extra." he turned around again. Motioning to the pile of blankets on the floor. I still didnt move, but he did. He went to the stove and opened the oven compartment. Grabbing a stack of books from it. Loose papers sticking out of it. He dropped them on the pile.

"Here we go, you'll need to read these and memorize as many chants from them as possible. These will help you get a good start in what you need to know.`` I looked at them. Robotically i went over there and flopped down. The stacks loomed over me. I randomly grabbed a book started to flip through it.

We ran through the rest of the night like that. Gary rocking himself around the apartment. Checking the windows, opening and closing the oven door for some reason and me, reading from the book. Once I got over my apprehension of the situation my brain was able to absorb the new information. It was on summoning circles and protection circles. I grabbed a spiral notebook and jotted down some more relevant ones. At 11 gary left the place and I continued to read till I fell asleep. At 4 am he came back laughing at something. He didn't smell like liquor, but he kinded acted like he was drunk. I pretended to be asleep as he made his way to the blankets. A soft grunt of him falling over and then a second later snores. He was asleep. I sat up and looked over at him. I felt the need to get up and check on him, but rationalized that he was the adult and so he should be fine. Besides i could hear his breathing just fine. I fell asleep to the sound of Gary's snoring and violent horn outside the window.

The next day was the same. And so was the next. And the day after that. And the day after that. Id wake up and Gary would offer me some oats or a granilla bar. Id sit and study. He started to quiz me on random things. He wanted me to memorize the exorcism rites and protection prayers. He said the basics. I rolled my eyes at that. The rites itself was actually difficult. No matter how many times I recited them to him, he always found a flaw. "That have to be perfect. It's not only your life your playing with." he would look far away after that. Go silent for a while. And then at night again. He'd be gone.

The only thing that would brighten my days were the messages id get from Mindy or maps. They both would message me about random things happening in their lives. Mindy would send me pictures of Goliath and of the team. She would give me updates on Tim here and there, but he seemed to have still withdrawn himself from the team. Jason called once, but immediately hung up. I guess he just wanted to make sure I was still alive. Or to see what happened to his phone. Dick never called and Tim didn't either. Can't blame them. I did the exact opposite of what they told me to do, but so far it was working. No sign of Pan, but I still found myself floating over my body as I slept. Now though I didn't go far. Id just sit and watch myself sleep now. Ignoring the whispers and calls of the shadows. It was better this way.

I was still searching for more information on what to do or if I could use this ability for something other than just sitting in the dark. Nothing yet.

It was two weeks into this new partnership with Gary when he came in with an empty box and started to hurriedly pack away things. He told me we had to leave and by the end of the day we were on another bus to a different city. The books shoved haphazardly into my bag with a bunch of loose papers. When I asked him why we had to leave he didn't answer, but how he was shaking and the way his eyes were blood red said something to me. I ignored the acid bubbling in my gut. I turned to my phone and slipped my headphones in. mia had recommended for me to watch a bunch of horror 'flicks'.