The next morning found me pretty well rested. I got a text from Gentleman Ghost (who insisted we call him Jim in public) about our meeting which he said would take place at noon at an address he provided. He also mentioned I should bring Reggie, since he would be our third team member and we would be picking up gear for the heist. I texted Reggie and Arty about it and then went about my morning routine. First was my ninja lessons, a particularly interesting skill that enabled me to blend my shadow meld and waterwalking to actually move as a shadow, albeit fairly slowly.
After I drank my shake I sat down and checked my email. I had twenty four points. The fourteen left over from the Dehumanization Draft and another ten from yesterday. I looked through my emails for something to bump up my finances a bit for this little outing and I finally came upon something good. I spent twenty points on an email from a Nigerian prince, asking me for a hundred thousand dollars in exchange for ten million back. Much like with the condos the money was magically withdrawn from my bank account, but the extra ten million was immediately deposited into my bank. I winced at my low point value, but I'd get another five at noon and I was positive nine would be enough for the heist later tonight.
Once I finished that I started going through my list of emails to make a future wish list. I found some brain enhancement pills first. Sadly the ones I could afford any time soon only improved memory for twenty five points. I pulled out a pen and paper and wrote the name of the email and the point value. Before I could find the next thing to list though I heard a knock at the door. I slipped the paper into the desk mom had bought to put my computer on. She'd done some furniture shopping yesterday when I'd been at school. Then I closed my email, shut off the monitor for my computer and headed to answer the door, making sure to walk in absolute silence.
I looked through the peep hole and sighed in relief, opening the door. It was Artemis, who had an eyebrow raised at my appearance. "Did you just wake up? Must be nice to sleep in, my dad trained me to get up at sunrise." She shoved some things into my hands and strolled past. It was some kind of breakfast sandwich made from a bagel, with sausage and cheese one it and a cold drink. "Guess your mom isn't home, that sucks I was hoping to say hi." She was already eating her own sandwich, as well as slurping down a frozen coffee drink I recognized as both a frappuccino and the same thing I was holding.
I took a long sip and sighed happily. "First off, yes I just woke up. Second, thank you for the food and drink. Third no she's not home." I yawned loudly still pretty tired, I took another long pull of the coffee to wake me up a bit. "So what brings you here besides bringing me a delicious breakfast. I figured we would meet at the address Jim texted us. I have to say I'm looking forward to seeing what kind of secret identity a floating top hat on top of a spectral suit could have. I feel like it'll involve those joke glasses with a fake nose and a mustache attached." If he had a regular name chances are he had some magical way to blend in but it was still fun to imagine.
Artemis snorted, then winced because she'd gotten frozen drink up her nose, and started half coughing half laughing, clutching her head in pain from the brain freeze as she sputtered. She coughed and laughed for a bit, bent over with her knees on her hands then her laughs turned into a glare that she leveled at me "Ok, ow. Don't do that. Also I'm so telling him you said that." I just shrugged, he would probably laugh about it too. She just rolled her eyes at my lack of concern "And I just figured we could hang out before we head down there. Last Saturday was our bank trip, and this Saturday is going to be busy as hell. We both deserved a chance to relax."
She wasn't wrong either. Today was going to be exhausting. Between buying supplies and actually breaking into Shadowcrest there was so much riding on this. Spending time with my best friend sounded like a blast. We sat down to watch TV and ended up flipping to HBO (my mom had gone kind of crazy on premium channels when ordering the cable, which had also been delivered) where we watched Eurotrip. The movie was hilarious and cracked us up and by the time it ended it was time for us to head out to meet the others. We both felt more relaxed after a good laugh and we called a cab to head down to rendezvous Jim and Reggie.
Reggie was waiting when we got there, looking both excited and nervous. When he saw us he broke into a broad smile and started waving "Artemis! Morgan! Hey guys. Thanks for the call. You said you got us an expert to help out with the heist? That's pretty amazing. I really appreciate all you guys have done for me, seriously I'll never forget this. So who is our mysterious benefactor and is he someone I've heard of?" He seemed almost manic in his intensity, like he was torn on whether to be terrified for tonight or if it would be the best night of his life.
This time, when the sardonic British voice cut in, I didn't jump. "I do hope not my dear boy, no proper second story man should wish to be in the public eye. As for my identity, for today you may call me Jim." We all turned to see Gentleman Ghost. Or rather, to see Jim. Jim who was not a Ghost, or invisible. The top hat was still there, along with the cape, but both they and the suit were pitch black instead of white. He held a cane with a gold skull atop it and had blonde side burns and a blonde mustache. He looked like a Victorian gentleman.
Of course, that didn't draw too much attention for his formal dress, this was Gotham, I'd seen people walking through downtown in full body Elmo costumes. Still I had to give him credit, he'd surprised me again. His mustache twitched as he smiled, taking in my look of shock. "Oh-ho, you thought I passed my days as merely a specter in a suit? Hardly. My name is Jim Craddock, I'd tell you not to spread it around but anyone of consequence knows my identity already, even if they can't exactly prove the link. That's what happens when you've been dead for a few decades."
I was glad I wasn't drinking that frappuccino anymore or I might have been the one to cough up icy beverage. Jim turned to regard Reggie "Now, your friends have weighed in on your behalf and asked I extend the offer to you they have already accepted." He lowered his voice until it seemed to carry on the breeze rather than issue from his mouth, and I wondered if it was some kind of magic to obfuscate from prying ears. "My nomme de guerre is Gentleman Ghost, and I have accepted Artemis and Morgan as my pupils. Should you wish it I can train you as a team. Do you accept?"
I was pretty sure he would say yes. Reggie's family was suffering since his dad died, poor and looked down on by their former friends. He had a chance to turn that around now. This one off heist might fix his issues with the Court of Owls but it wouldn't fix his financial problems. Reggie was a straightforward guy, I could see it on his face as he considered the potential benefits of this career path, money, prestige, all the respect he'd lost when his family lost everything. He swallowed heavily and then with a slow nod, he accepted. "I...think I'd like that. Yeah. I'm in. But how will we explain all our money from the stealing thing?"
Jim merely laughed and waved off the comment "No need to worry dear boy, money laundering is a key skill for a thief. I'll teach you to clean your money so well the treasury will ask you for tips. Now,we're here to peruse the wares of a powerful sorceress, so be respectful. She can be of great assistance to you in the future should she take a shine to you. Madame Xanadu is older than I am and well known for her neutrality. Her shop caters to both legal and extra-legal clientele and she treats them all the same. Regardless of your origins should you offend her a terrible curse would be your lightest penalty."
We entered the shop, which to be honest seemed a bit out of place here was intensely interesting. Hokus and Pokus Occult Curioso was a small shop with the windows papered with occult postings like palm reading signs and the all seeing eye and some mystical symbols I didn't even recognize. The place seemed very much like any random New Age shop, and i couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. "Not to be indelicate but Chinatown doesn't seem like it would be the place to open a new age crystal medicine type store. Why did she choose to put it here? Asking now so I don't offend by bringing up a sore subject or anything."
Jim chuckled "An intelligent precaution but unnecessary, Madame Xanadu's store is a nexus, it exists in many places at once. This particular iteration arose from her love of the nearby magical community. Madame Xanadu spent several years in Kublai Khan's court, hence her title. Some even avail themselves of her abilities with space to travel through the shop's entrances, bypassing potentially hundreds of miles with a few steps. Though that particular service is one offered only to her premium clients."
We stepped through the shop door and into what seemed like another world. The shop was hazy, and very cramped. Neatly labeled and stacked glass jars on the walls and various knick knacks and curiosities in glass fronted store counters lining the sides of the place. Despite seeming so crowded by the various bric-a-brac the shop was clearly bigger on the inside than it had seemed from the street, and the pink smoke that hazed the air smelled...maddeningly intriguing, though I couldn't put my finger on an exact scent because it seemed to change slightly all the time.
Jim inhaled with a peaceful sigh "Oh it is so nice to be back. I adore the atmosphere of this establishment. Now, come along children, we have a few necessities we need to acquire. Specialized tools for our little escapade as well as replacements for some of my more esoteric trinkets that I fear may be too worn down to make it through such an impressive set of defenses." He strolled into the place with casual confidence easily navigating the tables packed with unusual objects spaced out between the counters, creating aisles to walk though.
He stopped in front of one such table and picked up a black wooden box with a gold skeletal hand inlaid. "Ah, a hand of glory, perfect. Mine is almost burnt out." He popped the box open and then wrinkled his nose and slammed it shut. "A bit fresh. Preservation enchantment I imagine. Still, that should make tonight's caper much easier." He started rifling through the objects, pulling out a new one here or there before finally deciding he'd gotten enough. He explained what each item was to us as he searched, not a detailed summary but a name and sometimes a quick tidbit of information. Finally when he finished he took us up to the register, to meet Madame Xanadu.
Madame Xanadu was not what I expected. You hear, the word Madame and you imagine some elderly lady with iron gray hair in a tight bun. Maybe with like a floor length dress and a school marm kind of vibe. Madame Xanadu looked...cute. Not like girl next door cute but she was young and pretty, with long dark hair with a circlet in it. She came across like the princess from a renaissance faire, like an out of this world beauty with a noble bearing that seemed out of place. She smiled at us as we walked up blue eyes sparkling with mirth as she looked at Jim.
She looked amused as she stared down my mentor, meeting his eyes as she said "I don't recall telling you I had lifted your ban James." He looked a bit abashed and stared down at the floor, refusing to meet her eyes until she rolled them "But I suppose it has been about a decade. Besides I doubt you managed to forget my punishment for trying to shop lift so quickly." She turned to glance at us "Now, perhaps you'd like to introduce me to your young charges? They seem...interesting. The boy in particular has an air of power around him." She nodded her head at me eyes flashing with some emotion I couldn't really understand.
Jim doffed his top hat and swept into a low and formal bow "Your generosity knows no bounds, milady." He gestured to the pile of things on the counter "As you can see, I've merely come to stock up on the tools of my trade. A hand of glory, ghost powder, a skeleton key, a rabbit's foot. And of course a monkey's paw, just for emergencies." He'd told us all about the tools and what they did before of course. A hand of glory opened doors and locks and let thieves go undetected, a skeleton key worked on more mundane locks, the ghost powder let a normal person walk through walls, the rabbit's foot supplemented everything with a bit of luck, and a monkey's paw gave you one wish with varying consequences.
Jim had been sure to stress that we absolutely should not use the monkey's paw unless there was literally no other choice. The rabbit's foot was the real deal, made in a graveyard at midnight on Friday the thirteenth while the moon was full, so it should offset the curse on a minor wish, but if it had to do that both of them would be destroyed, and real properly made rabbit's feet were pretty rare. Madame Xanadu raised an eyebrow at the layout. "This is a bit extreme even for you. Your target must be quite impressive." Jim opened his mouth but she cut him off "I'm not prying, just making an observation."
She stared hard at him "Be careful running around out there however. My sister is in town. I don't know where she's staying exactly but I can sense her. If you run afoul of her she'll kill all four of you without a second of hesitation." She gave him a serious look, and to my surprise the usually flippant Gentleman Ghost looked...terrified. It made me wonder who the hell Madame Xanadu was that her sister scared a man who purposefully started trouble with justice League from time to time to keep them away from his real business. Her face turned to a smile instantly "Now, why don't you introduce me to your young friends."
The wince Jim made seemed to have less to do with having to introduce us and more to do with his bad manners not doing so already. Guess you can take the gentleman out of the Victorian but you can't take the Victorian out of the gentleman. He smiled formally and gestured to us "Of course milady, apologies for the rudeness. These are my proteges, messrs Morgan O'Malley and Reginald Willowbrook and missus Artemis Crock." We definitely hadn't give him all of our full names, but it wasn't surprising he did his homework. "I am instructing them on the intricacies of the fine art undetected entry."
She smiled at the comment and focused her eyes on all of us again, once more she seemed to focus most on me. I wondered if I reminded her of her sister like I did Teague. "It's lovely to meet you children of course, I'm glad you've decided to grace my humble shop with your presence. It breaks my heart to see such pure and innocent children embroiled in matters at such a level with my degenerate sister running around town. You might come to harm." She looked pensively at me for a moment, as if trying to make a decision about something important.
She reached under the counter and pulled out a small gold four leaf clover. She leaned over and pinned it to my shirt, giving me a smile. "That should save you once, provided she isn't being too serious. Can't have such an interesting boy dying too soon. I'm curious to see what you'll do. You're welcome here in the future whenever you wish. In fact, you can even enter the back room if you wish." Jim seemed more shocked by that than by her news about her sister, though less afraid. I got the feeling Madame Xanadu didn't invite people into the back room very often. I gave him a questioning look and his eyes widened as he nodded frantically.
We paid for the tools and Jim packed them up before Madame Xanadu took us to the back of the shop. The door we stopped at was extremely odd. It was made of brass with latches and levers all over it. The kind you see on some doors where pushing it to the side slides a bolt into the wall, except there were dozens of them. Madame Xanadu stepped up to the door and began a complicated series of pulls and twists on the latches. I could swear she opened and closed a few two or three times, like she was inputting some kind of code. Finally she finished and reached down to turn the knob on the door. When it opened, the other side of the door was...not what I was expecting.
The door opened into a massive courtyard. The sun was setting wherever the hell this place was and the fading light poured down over cobbled stone. The courtyard was in an old castle from what I could tell, with a large beautiful fountain in the center. The pillars around us were lined with vines and as we stepped out of the door it felt like it got colder. When I turned to see where we had come from I saw the same door, now closed, just sitting in the middle of empty space. This courtyard was absolutely massive, and the castle looming up around it was even larger, made of impressive black stone.
Around the fountain however, was what we were her for I assumed, pedestals. Thirteen of them, each with an object on it. Madame Xanadu gestured for me to take a look, and I stepped forward to examine them. Each pedestal had a plaque below it with a name. The first one I saw was a ball of golden yarn. The plaque below it read "Thread of Ariadne". The other items were every bit as amazing. I turned to Madame Xanadu "These are all pretty amazing, how much do they cost?" I had ten million in the bank now, but I got the distinct impression I might be able to get one of these things top, and the cheapest one at that.
Madame Xanadu just gave me a mysterious smile. "Oh no dear boy, this isn't a place where you buy things for money. I bring people here who I feel are...special. You may take a single object, in exchange for a single favor to me, to be named at a later date. Or you can turn it down. You can always come back whenever you wish, but only until you decide which object you wish to take. Be warned however, the things here tend to change. Not all at once, but over time one will be taken and replaced. These artifacts are some of the most powerful in my collection, they can make you a force to be reckoned with."
That was...tempting. But honestly I'd already felt like I was just going with the flow too much. Promising a random favor to a mysterious probably immortal woman seemed...hasty. Even I wasn't that impulsive. I offered my own version of Jim's bow "I appreciate that milady. But for now I must decline. I'm just starting out in all this, I think I'd rather know the value of my favors before I trade them away. At the moment even I don't know what one is worth." I thought that sounded sufficiently mysterious and impressive. I expected her to be annoyed but she smiled at me with approval. I guess this had been some sort of test?
She even laughed, her chuckle a low silvery sound "Well said dear boy. The offer remains, should you need it at a later date. However, I believe such wisdom should be rewarded." She gestured to the door again "As you may know my shop exists in many places at once. Some valued customers can use it to traverse the globe as they wish. I will allow you three trips, to any of my other locations and back. No rush to use them of course." She shot me a wink "I'm not going anywhere. Consider them a reward for showing the wisdom to know when to wait." It struck me that she must really see something special in me, because she was obviously trying to form at least a friendly relationship.
I smiled gratefully "I am grateful for your trust Madame. I will strive to be worthy of it." I took another long look at a pair of seven league boots on one of the pedestals before turning decisively away and heading back for the door. The longer I stayed here the more tempted I would be to take her offer. It seemed like a better idea to avoid getting mixed up in anything else given everything already going on. I glanced her out of the corner of my eye to see her looking at me with amusement "Just out of curiosity does this trip count as one of my three?" I was getting some very faerie tale vibes off Madame Xanadu and in those stories there was usually a catch.
She laughed again, clearly enjoying dealing with someone new. "No, you didn't choose your destination and I made the offer after we arrived in any case. Consider this trip on the house. Now, why don't we head back, I'm sure you all have a very busy night ahead of you." She walked casually up to the door and began working a new sequence on the latches and bolts. It took about two minutes before she opened it and we all stepped back into the shop in the well lit Gotham afternoon. She pulled the door shut and turned to us. "It was wonderful to meet you Morgan, Artemis, Reginald. I do hope to see you again soon."
We headed out of the shop to go start our preparations for tonight. I heard a chime and slipped my phone out to see a text from Annabel, she was asking me about a coffee date on Sunday. I replied that I would be happy to, hopefully I wouldn't be dead or in prison on Sunday. Regardless the thought of coffee with a pretty girl made me smile, and it was hard to be as worried as I had been before. Jim knew his stuff, we all had skillsets to fall back on and we were as prepared as we could get. With everything in place all we could do was go through with the heist, and let the chips fall where they may.
Later that night found us all sitting in a car down the street from our target. Jim had been casing the place independently for a while now and had a basic idea of their defenses, combined with his experience and the extra tools he bought from Madame Xanadu he was sure we could pull off the heist with no muss and no fuss. None of that, however, was of the greatest concern to me right now. I was giving my mentor a flat look, because after parking I'd finally realized what kind of car we were in. "You drive a Rolls Royce Silver Ghost?"
He actually had the good grace to look a bit sheepish. "I know, it's a bit on the nose. But really, isn't it a splendid vehicle? Nothing like engineering from the mother country for style and comfort." I just stared, and he started to get flustered "It's a good car! I've had it thoroughly customized with all the best magical and mundane additions. Run flat tires, anti tracking wards, and a spatial enchantment on the boot that makes packing for long trips extremely convenient." I rolled my eyes at his explanation but I had to admit, the thing was definitely pretty.
Artemis leaned between the seats from the back, where she and Reggie had been relegated because I was the first official apprentice and got shotgun by virtue of seniority "If you two are done with your Laurel and Hardy moment, we should probably focus on the highly defended magical fortress we're about to infiltrate. You can bond over old cars later." I winced, she was right, I was stalling. Jim however seemed fairly serene, I suspected he was just indulging me in my diversionary tactics out of kindness since it was our first job. Or he was genuinely so relaxed he didn't see it as an issue. He made it hard to tell sometimes.
When Artemis spoke up however Jim became all business. Well, his hat straightened like he was sitting up. Since this was an actual job he was just a hat and monocle on a floating suit so he didn't actually have a face, but he was oddly expressive for someone who wasn't there. "Quite right, dear girl. Now, you've all been briefed on our plan of ingress. Morgan, do be a sport and repeat it for me. Each of you have the dream dust by the way?" Jim had raided his personal stash for a few vials of dream dust, sand consecrated in a ritual to Morpheus, god of dreams, that could put down pretty much anyone if you could blow it in their face. I reached into my pocked to touch the vial and make sure then nodded.
Artemis and Reggie did the same. Reggie looked almost sick with worry now that we were actually here, but there was an air of excitement too. I could totally understand that. I took a deep breath repeating my role in the plan from memory "Once we get inside with the hand, you'll pass the it off to me and I'll split from the group with it. You'll use magic to keep Artemis and Reggie safe and take them with you, and between the Hand of Glory and my own abilities I should be safe to search the other wing of the house." I'd been a bit unsure about splitting up, but Jim informed me Shadowcrest was not a normal house and some of the rooms actually moved, so we needed more than one person searching.
I took a deep breath, heart pounding as I continued "The target is a knife called Carnwennan. If I find the knife, I touch the sigil on the bracelet you gave me that lets you know the mission is done and if my sigil burns that means you completed it. Once we retrieve the knife we meet back at our entrance point and use the Hand to open a path out. If all goes well we will never be detected by either the house or its occupants and will be in and out in less than an hour. If I run across any of the occupants I should use my stealth to get close and dream dust them without their notice."
Jim's hat nodded. "Quite right. Carnwennan is a dagger about as long as your forearm with an illustrious history. It was the personal weapon of Arthur Pendragon, and is legendary for it's use in his feat of slaying the very black witch. Amusingly the name is welsh for 'little white hilt', which considering he used it to chop the witch basically in half just goes to show you that the welsh are often wrong about even the most obvious of things." That sounded even more shitty in an upper crust British accent than it would have coming from me, but to be fair Jim was old as dirt from what I'd been able to find online so comments like that weren't a huge surprise.
I was actually deeply worried about splitting up, but Jim assured me he'd tampered with the Hand. It would only last through tonight, but it was exponentially more powerful than it should be. No one would be able to see me as long as I held it, no doors would block my path, and theoretically it would keep the residents asleep but since they were magic users that part probably wouldn't work. However he did assure me that should I need the dream dust, the Hand would compound it's effects and render the victim unconscious for at least a few hours regardless of their magical aptitude.
After going over the plan we slipped out of the car and headed up to the house. Shadowcrest was at the end of one of those massively long driveways set back onto the property, so we had to walk for a while before we got to it. As we cleared the trees I stopped, staring transfixed at the massive Victorian manor house. Shadowcrest loomed over us like a hulking beast waiting to pounce on us and swallow us whole. I had the very unsettling feeling that the house was aware and keeping watch. Jim was keeping us from being noticed, but it was like this place was looking for intruders. Joy.
Reggie spoke up nervously "Not to be that guy, but does anyone else feel like that house is...like...hungry? Or am I crazy? I really hope I'm crazy because the idea of walking into a house that wants to eat me is positively terrifying." His voice was high and kind of frantic. I expected Artemis to say something to calm him down but she looked pretty unnerved herself.I hadn't even realized that I was subconsciously counting on Artemis to know what to do because her dad had trained her. She seemed so much more together than me. But this was way out of her comfort zone, of course she would be freaked out.
She swallowed hard and made an effort to calm him down anyway "It's fine Reggie. Ji-Gentleman Ghost knows what he's doing." She winced and shot an apologetic look at Jim for almost using his name when he was in costume but he just waved it off. She sighed with relief and went back to comforting our most recent team member "He's seen it all when it comes to this kind of thing. Hell, he's almost as old as this whole country. Just trust him." She paused. "Speaking of Gentleman Ghost he's the only one of us who has a code name. I mean, I can go by Artemis, since she's the goddess of the hunt and I use a bow, but you two need names."
I blinked, she wasn't wrong. We were wearing hockey masks Artemis had dug up from her closet, apparently her dad used them in his costume for some weird reason. She'd spray painted them black so we didn't stand out in the dark, but if we were shouting our real names then it kind of defeated the purpose. I paused for a second and then said "Call me Random. It doesn't give anything away about my abilities and I think it sounds cool." It also kind of fit with my ability to spawn random powers from spam emails but Reggie and Jim didn't know about that yet so I refrained from saying it.
Reggie cocked his head to one side as we walked slowly towards the house, all keeping our voices low so as to make hiding us easier for Jim. "How about Swap. It's to the point and easy to remember. Or is it too obvious?" He sounded a bit concerned about his name being lamer than ours. But when no one mentioned it he shrugged happily. He turned to Artemis "Using your real name as a code name is pretty dumb though. I know you're probably counting on hiding in plain sight, but that only works from the cape side. If anyone meets you in person in your civvie identity making the connection will be simple."
Artemis stopped walking. "Well shit. I hadn't considered that. I honestly hadn't had much of a civvie life until I became friends with Mo-Random. I guess you can call me Neith. She was the Egyptian goddess of war and hunting. Same basic vibe but it's less obvious." She sounded proud of her pick for her name and i had to admit it was a good one. I kind of wish I'd picked like a god of deception or something, but I'd already picked and I didn't want to seem wishy washy by changing mine last minute.
We resumed walking and finally got to the house, we took a turn off to the side and walked around to find a large pair of cellar doors. Jim slipped the Hand out of his coat, still in it's box, and opened up the dark wood to remove the grisly totem. It was different now, presumably from Jim's alterations, magical symbols had been carved into the waxy flesh, making it look somehow even more grotesque. The fingers, as was the norm with Hands of Glory had been made into candles. Jim held the hand up and muttered a few words and the fingers burst into flame.
Apparently when Jim said he cranked this thing up to eleven he had meant it, because when the fingers caught fire the flames leapt up about two feet into the air. It looked like someone had lit five acetylene torches. Jim kept muttering and the flames died down to normal candle size, but they shifted color as they shrank flickering an eerie ghostly white that reminded me of Jim's suit by the time they got back to normal size. Jim paused after that little show seeming to hunch forward, I could hear him panting in exhaustion despite being a ghost and not needing to breathe.
Finally he held the Hand up to the door. I expected more magic, maybe a light show. But Jim just let go of the hand. It floated in mid air in front of the angled doors to the cellar for a minute before the fingers curled down into a fist. The fire seemed to ignore the flesh and the digits didn't stiffen at all. The Hand knocked three times on the cellar door and the things popped right open. The fingers uncurled and Jim reached out to catch it before it fell. Candle flames still burned as he passed it to me.
He gestured down into the now empty doors of the cellar "Well Random my boy, it seems that this is where we part ways. Keep your eye on that bracelet, if you sit it alight then simply retrace your steps back to this door. If all goes well I shall see you in an hour or two. If not then I trust you'll be able to flee with the help of the Hand and I shall get the others out safely. Good luck on your first job dear boy." He reached out and clapped me on the shoulder with one white glove, and with a single squeeze he turned and led the others into the depths of the cellar. I waited a minute to catch my breath and calm my nerves, then followed them into the dark.
I lost track of the others as soon as I entered the cellar. Whether that was Jim's power or something to do with the house I had absolutely no idea, but it happened. I was guessing the latter because as I stepped out into the dark I found myself in a graveyard. The night sky was shining about me, the grass was neatly trimmed, and rows of tombstones lined the ground in front of me. I looked down at the Hand, but the fingers were still burning fine, so I guessed this was a normal part of the house, or as cl0se as this place got.
I froze. What kind of people had an entire fucking graveyard in their cellar? It even had a sky. I turned around, but the cellar doors were gone. I was just in a graveyard now, and the place was pretty empty. Or at least, it looked empty. I saw a flash out of the corner of my eye and spun but couldn't find anything. I was pretty sure there was something in here with me. Luckily I still had the Hand, so I shouldn't be visible to whatever it was, but I wasn't sure if it would work in this weird pocket dimension.
I closed my eyes and knelt down reaching for my power and then melding with the shadows. The Hand came with me. As soon as I was gone a figure appeared where I had been. It was green and lanky, with a sharp tusk like underbite and vicious claws. It glared at the space I had occupied, clearly having been able to see me but having lost track of me. I had scoped around looking for the cellar door and spotted a mausoleum with two torches burning beside the door. That was definitely the exit to this place.
I waited for the monster to leave and then started to move. It was freakishly slow going, just an inch at a time, but luckily even shadow movement didn't take too many points. The nine points I had were more than enough for now. The movement power would drain two points an hour. I spent about twenty minutes crossing the graveyard. Finally I revealed myself in front of the mausoleum. There was a blur and the green thing appeared again. It glared at me for a minute, before looking around suspiciously.
I looked down at the Hand and saw the candle flames were at least an inch higher than before. The thing couldn't actually see me. It sensed my presence somehow but the Hand was doing it's job. I stood stock still for about ten more minutes, waiting, until the thing thing melted back into the darkness about as skillfully as I would. Then I turned to the mausoleum door and held up the hand. The fingers curled and the hand knocked politely, the door springing open easily to admit me into the house.
I checked my bracelet and saw it was still unlit, but still, I'd burned half an hour making my way through the cellar. When the door closed however, I saw that I had made it into the house. The hallways I was in looked...normal. Well, it looked insanely well appointed and fancy as hell, but not like a castle or a graveyard or anything. The walls were rich mahogany panels, and lovely paintings hung on the dark wood. There was a long rug trailing down the hallway, it looked a bit like Persian carpets I'd seen in movies and stuff. There were small tables every so often along the hallway, with delicate vases or tasteful statues on them.
This had not been what I was expecting, but hell, I didn't mind my job being a bit easier. I trekked down the hall to the first door. The skeleton key was with Jim so I could only use the Hand to open every door. I tried the knob and it was locked. A quick knock of the Hand and it clicked open easily. After I opened the door however I looked at the hand closely. The candles had burned down another half inch or so since we got here. Using it so much was consuming it faster. I cursed and slipped into the room.
I could see everything in the house. The Hand of Glory cast light from it's fingers that could be seen only by the thief themself, not exactly a main attraction but it was a useful feature in a piece of thief's equipment. I looked around the room. The first room I had found was what appeared to be a map room. There were maps everywhere, some on walls, some on tables. Some in frames or in glass cases. The weird part was the maps were for a variety of places, some of which didn't appear to be on earth.
I thought for a second then slipped my phone out of my pocket and started snapping pictures of the maps. It was a bit of a detour but it wasn't like a few minutes would matter. The maps were pretty amazing. Even the ones that were obviously for earth were strange. A map of a city in Turkey that looked weird and out of place, a map to an entrance to a place called Gem World. After taking pictures of all the maps I quietly slipped out and closed the door behind me. It made me smile a bit that these super genius magi hadn't thought to protect their maps from a cell phone camera.
The next room was a library, and despite how badly I wanted to steal some magic books they would definitely have some kind of defenses on them. The Hand could bypass them sure, but it would consume the magic faster. Jim had drilled into me all day that the thing that got all first time thieves caught was greed. They saw something they hadn't prepared to steal properly and wanted it and it screwed them. He cautioned that you should only take extras if you already had your target in hand and had rich experience to rely on to bypass the other defenses.
Finally, the third time was the charm. The next room was full of glass cases. A dingy looking cauldron, a suspiciously worn looking ancient lamp, the cases had all sorts of strange things in them. It only took me a minute or two to find the case with the knife in it. Carnwennan was, as Jim had mentioned, a big fucking knife. "The size of your forearm" had been, if anything, an understatement. Little white hilt my ass. I held up the hand and the fingers flared. Jim had warned me it might take a while to bypass defenses like these, so I left it hanging in the air to walk around and look in the cases.
I didn't touch any of them of course. I wasn't an idiot. While I waited for the seal on the case to crack I took a very careful and casual tour of the place. I read the little plaques under the cases that I hadn't noticed until just now. The first case over from the knife was something called a Babylon Candle. It was...a candle. No more information than that. I rolled my eyes and moved onto the next one. A small shabby looking doll with the caption of Conjure Brother. None of these plaques had anything but names on them.
I turned to try to find another one and I found...a girl. This girl wasn't in a case mind you, she was standing just inside the door staring at me. She had perfect pale skin, hair so black it looked like midnight silk, and eyes like blue supernovas. She was wearing a thin purple tank top that showed off her very flat midriff and a pair of tiny pink pajama shorts that clung to very generous hips and thighs. I took my time looking her over, knowing the Hand would protect me from being spotted as I checked her out. Her rose petal lips quirked up in a smile "Take a picture. It'll last longer."
I nodded to her and reached into my pocket for my phone, and then froze. My eyes widened behind my mask and I turned my head slowly to stare at the Hand floating on the other side of the room in front of Carnwennan's case. I turned back to the girl, who waved cheerfully back at me. Luckily I had a mask on, I subtly slipped my hand into my pocket again to grip the dream dust. "Well." I said in a conversational tone "This is certainly awkward." I cursed myself internally for an idiot. What kind of thief gets distracted by a pair of very, very long legs, and...what had I been thinking about.
The beautiful girl giggled. "A bit. Though you're hardly the first boy to ever stare at me. Plus you haven't attacked me yet. Still, I'm surprised you got in here, thieves usually don't make it past the defenses. I'm Zatanna, by the way. I realize you can't give me your name, but it seemed polite to share before I immobilized you and sent you to prison." She gave me a once over "Shame you're a criminal, your body is fantastic." I cocked my head at that and she shrugged. "What, you're the only one who gets to appreciate sexy?" She shot me a wink before saying conversationally "Dnib."
I wasn't sure what the fuck that meant, at least until a fucking rope materialized out of thin air and came spinning towards me. I dodged, naturally, but I was sort of backed against a wall so I went the only direction I could. Up. I did a handspring against the wall, triggering my wall walking ability and the world seemed to shift. Suddenly I was standing on flat ground, the wall beneath me, and Zatanna was at an odd angle seeming to be hanging off the wall in front of me. Upside though, I could see down her shirt.
Her eyes widened "Wow. That's really cool. You didn't even say a spell, is that like a meta power or something? I bet walking on walls is super useful for a thief." She seemed excited by the move more than worried, her blazing blue eyes burning with intensity. I got the feeling this girl didn't get many visitors. She seemed almost as lonely as I was before Artemis. She smiled sweetly at me and then said "Llaf." I slipped and fell. Of course, the wall was my new floor so I just fell on my back on the wall and than climbed back to my feet.
I pulled out the vial of dream dust and threw it shuriken style. The thing spun and smashed open on a case near the beautiful girl, exploding the dust in a cloud around her. I cut my power and threw myself off the wall as she suddenly dropped, feeling the need to catch her for some reason. I stared at her for a minute. She was gorgeous, but more than that she was lonely. She reminded me of me. I reached into her shorts pocket and pulled out a phone that had been pretty easy to spot under the tight fabric.
In what might have been the stupidest possible choice I'd ever made I input my number under the name Random and sent myself a text. I figured she wouldn't even notice for a few days and hopefully by then she would be willing to talk. I heard a thump and turned to find the hand, fingers now down to the first knuckle, sitting on the ground in front of the open knife case. I ran over and picked the thing up, leaving Zatanna lying on the soft carpet uninjured but fast asleep. I grabbed the knife, slipping it into a tube Jim had given me to carry it and slinging it across my back. Then I tapped my bracelet to light up the sigil and headed out. This was almost over.
The fingers on the Hand were getting a bit low as I stumbled out of the cellar doors. Avoiding that shitty green thing had been annoying, I assumed that it was for some reason considered to be outside the Hand's restrictions. I had to use my shadow movement again to get out, but after I'd completed the mission I could spare the extra power to push the speed up. By cranking it to four points an hour (leaving me with only three) I could actually push myself to the blistering speed of a lazy walk. Still, I managed to get out in ten minutes this time.
Jim and the others were waiting outside when I got there. When I held up the tube his hat dipped in respect "Good show, lad. We'll make a proper thief of you yet." His hat and monocle swung side to side as he looked around for any sign of me being followed. "Well, come along then, second rule of being a second story man, get while the getting is good. Never linger on a job when there's escaping to be done." He whirled on the spot and lead us back towards the car. I couldn't help but smile in relief as we began the trek down the incredibly long stairs and then down the even longer driveway, we had made it.
Of course, the second I had that thought the still lit hand of glory fucking combusted in a ball of spectral fire, vanishing in a puff of ash. I turned to glance at Jim "Uh, any chance it was supposed to do that? Because call me a cynic but that seemed like a bad thing." Jim froze, his monocle pointed right at the spot where the Hand had just been. Jim didn't seem like the freeze in place type, so I was guessing that had been a bad sign. "Yeah, I was afraid of that. So...what kinds of things could manage to burn through half of a jail broken Hand of Glory when we weren't even in the house anymore."
The icy voice that responded did in fact have an accent. It was not however, British. It was Italian, and it didn't come from the ghost to my side it came from above and behind us. "Very angry fathers." We all turned slowly. A man stood in the air. He was dressed in a tuxedo, with a yellow vest and a red bow tie. He had a top hat every bit as tall and showy as Jim's and while he clearly wasn't dead, the icy look on his face definitely contained the chill of the grave. "Craddock. I should have known. Tell me what your little minion did to my Zatanna and I won't banish you back to hell where you belong."
I winced. Guess he found the girl. She was fine of course, but it probably didn't look great that he found her lying on the carpet in his show room, unconscious and dressed in skimpy pajamas. Jim gave a jovial laugh and a wave with his white gloved hand. "Giovanni old bean! Cracking to see you my lad, just absolutely swimming." I blinked. Apparently Jim somehow got more British when he was nervous, if that was even possible. "Your lovely daughter is perfectly fine I'm sure. Just having some sweet dreams for a bit until the dream dust wears off. In fact, you could go and wake her up right now if you like."
The very pissed off Italian magi floating in front of us smiled, but it was neither friendly nor reassuring to see. "Well, that is good to hear. She can take a peaceful nap as I apprehend all of you." He raised a magician's wand and snarled "Erif" and a fucking ball of fire came sailing down right at us. I briefly considered taking my shadow form to escape, but my friends would be screwed if I did that. I had no clue what to do here, I froze stock still. Dad had said Zatara wouldn't kill us, so hopefully this was just going to hurt a lot. However, I'd forgotten one important detail. We were all amateurs here. Jim was not.
A white cane appeared in his hands, and almost lazily he twirled it between his fingers. The fireball hit the whirling length of white and just sort of dispersed. Jim's voice wasn't uber british anymore when he spoke this time. It was every bit as icy with rage as Zatara's. "Terribly sorry, old boy. I'm afraid we're leaving. You're obstructing our way out. You can either step out of the way and let us pass, or we can go through you." Zatara's face seemed to shift from chilling wrath to a serious expression as he recognized that for the threat it was.
He did not however, move. Jim's hat shifted from one side to the other, and I heard a slight click, as if he was cracking an invisible neck. "Very well then. So be it." Jim lashed out with his cane and as he did he spoke . Not with words or even syllables, but with sensation. The sound that issued forth from my mentor's mouth was the sigh of the wind over a cold grave. The rustle of leaves at an execution ground. A symphony of death and despair and a chorus of lost souls wailed out and a wave of fucking departed spirits sailed toward the floating magician.
Zatara cursed. Not literally, in fact he pretty much did the opposite of that in a literal sense. He snarled "Yfirup". A golden wave of light issued forth and slammed into the numerous souls jim had seemingly called from nowhere. Before Zatara could counterattack though a column of icy mist smashed into the floating magician as Jim followed up on his own spell with a second. Jim continued casting, hissing out more unfathomable sounds. From some unknown place the deep toll of a bell issued forth, and the shadows lengthened and bent, twisting into dark horrible parodies of themselves.
We were all staring at Jim in a mix of awe, horror, and respect. My mentor was apparently fucking terrifying. However, you don't become the Justice League's go to magical muscle by collecting bottle caps. With another string of nonsense words Zatara lashed out with a vortex of spinning chains of flame. Each chain slammed into a shadow, seeming to pin it to the ground as the lines of fire dispersed the mist and lit the cold darkness that had been forming around us. Zatara looked wary "Surrender, James. It's too late for you but these children have only just started on this path. Zatanna is only sleeping, there's no harm. I can just return them to their parents, no need to involve them with the law."
That was actually pretty nice of him, but sadly the Court of Owls didn't seem like the type to give out trophies for making an effort. We didn't really have the option to walk away, even if Zatara hadn't known Jim's name. Though come to think of it, I wondered how Zatara had known my mentor's name. He insisted we call him Gentleman Ghost in the field, if Zatara knew his real name maybe they had been friends at one point. Of course Jim had also been dead a long time, maybe Zatara was just part of the circles who knew his real name. Madame Xanadu had certainly seemed to. Jim knew as well as I did that we needed the knife however.
Zatara hadn't mentioned the thing, but I saw his eyes focus on the tube and knew he was at least aware of it. He just didn't want to spook us by mentioning it. Jim's hat shifted from side to side in a gentle shake of his head. His voice sounded almost sad when he spoke this time. "Damn decent of you Gio, really it is, but I'm afraid we're a bit beyond such things at this point. Goodbye old boy, I do hope you aren't stuck for too long. I know you'll be fine, but if you aren't careful you might be away for a while. The bell tolls for thee old chap. Ta."
He rapped the cane on the earth three times. With each strike that same terrible deathly bell tolled anew. One, two, three times it rang, and on the third ring a set of ghostly blue double doors appeared in front of Zatara. His eyes widened in momentary panic "James! Don't you dare!" Sadly he was a bit too late. The doors swung open, revealing a whirling void of endless black on the other side. Before Zatara could move a massive skeletal hand shot out and wrapped around the magician. His eyes widened with anger and he opened his mouth to shout but he couldn't manage it before he was yanked through the doors, which slammed shut with a bone rattling thud and then faded slowly from view.
We all stared at Jim, who was using his gloves to tug at the cuffs of his shirt, straightening them out and pulling them out of his sleeves until they were nice and even. Artemis was the one to speak up "I think I speak for all of us when I say, what the actual fuck Jim?" She waved around at the aftermath of the battle. "What the hell was any of this even? An army of ghosts? The mist? The shadows? And what the hell were those doors? Where did you send him?" She sounded like she might be on the edge of a breakdown, and honestly I didn't blame her. I was almost there myself.
Jim turned towards the car, walking casually away from us with the cane slung up over his shoulder. His voice floated back to us. "Not to worry dear girl, old Gio will be back in a few days at the most. I shoved him onto the ghost roads. A magic user of his skill will be back in no time at all. In the meantime we really should make our exit, Gio has many a friend who might come to check in if the magical defenses stay active. His lovely daughter will be more than safe inside the house until he returns. Now chop chop children, we must away." That was all we needed to hear, we all followed him to the car and climbed in behind him as he drove us away.
I slumped bonelessly into the seat in exhaustion as we drove off. I handed the knife off to Reggie, who had taken his mask off and was giving me a look of such gratitude it made me deeply uncomfortable. "Thank you Morgan. Thank all of of you guys. I can't believe this is over. If you ever need anything...well we're a team so you don't even need to ask. Just...you don't know how much this all means to me. I've been scared out of mind." He stared down at the tube with the huge ancient knife in it and smiled in pure relief, clearly just as shocked that all this nonsense was over as I was.
Artemis was the one who answered, much to my surprise. "It's no big deal Reggie. You're one of us now. Anyone I've broken into a magical fortress with or stood beside as a giant skeleton hand summoned by my ghostly mentor dragged a wizard into the realm of the dead with has earned the right to be called a friend." She shot him a grin of her own. The tension in the car snapped and we all burst out laughing. The laughter was deep and relieved and a bit hysterical but it felt good. We were out of the woods. Now I just had to focus on my life. I had a date with a cute little blonde tomorrow to get ready for. What a fantastic problem to have.
And the last chapter before the timeskip ends with a bang! I've been excited to show off this fight and hope you guys loved it as much as I loved writing it. I wanted to show everyone how badass Jim could be when pushed. Next chapter is the first of the time skip, and it takes place on the first day of canon. Minor spoiler, the most recent advance chapter marked the first appearance of both Wally and Catwoman. I'm really enjoying writing this current arc. My pat-reon has the advance chapters at that site /malcolmtent . Five chapters with two thousand words each for minimum of ten thousand words. Hope you enjoy and let me know what you think!