"I'm going to be gone tomorrow to track Abra."
Artemis felt slightly saddened that he was leaving her, but quickly dismissed it as she grinned back at Klarion.
"And somehow my team won't notice you gone?"
"I don't know. Wouldn't it be fun if they did?"
Madame Xanadu had run away screaming when she had seen real magic. The sight of a vanishing Abra Kadabra had made her body pulse in fear. She had ran haphazardly away, occasionally stumbling against the walls of the rundown buildings beside her path.
She should have stopped conning innocent people, but in the rundown quarters of New Orleans, she would be a fool not to capitalize on a cheap and easy source of income. There wasn't much she could do since she had been too poor to go through college and move away from this city. Xanadu felt too proud to work a fast food job or mask her face in fake cheer for retail. Her morals had slightly eroded since she began conning people. Only rarely did she feel guilty, but in her opinion, she brought solace to her customers. There were far worse jobs for her...
She sat down at the table, adorned with a simple purple cloth and crystal ball in the center. Several small candles were placed around the table, providing the only light within the room. Her customer had entered her new shop, for she felt too scared to use the place where that old man had came to mock her and be kidnapped. For some reason, Xanadu could not look directly at her customer's face nor could she remember why she had decided to turn off all of the room's lights. Something compelled her, but she couldn't believe it was magic. Maybe magic wasn't real and what she had seen had been an elaborate prank.
"Madame Xanadu," the customer's voice spoke, smoothly without the sadness that rung in the voices of her usual customers. "I want to speak with a friend of mine."
"How long ago did your friend die?"
"He didn't die. That's the thing - he is missing, but you have seen him."
The customer's hand stretched like it was shaped from elastic, walking itself with its fingers across the table towards Xanadu. She didn't see the hand until it was touching her, immediately forcing her skin to erupt in goosebumps and her arm hairs to stand on end. She hadn't shaved since before the incident - she felt tired and too detached from the world to care about her appearance. Her breath sped up and came out jagged.
The hand grasped her arm, jolting her senses. "What do you mean?" Her eyes jetted to him fearfully.
"You saw my friend a few weeks ago. He came to..."
She cut the boy off, stuttering frantically, "P-please don't do this. I'm sorry I'm a fraud."
The boy rose from his side of the table, walking over towards her. His arm shrank back to its normal size the closer he came towards her.
"You're going to help me find him."
"I can't find your friend or his dead wife Inza."
The boy laughed and the sound of it rung through her ears, grating her eardrums.
"You think I want to find him? The holier than though lord of order?"
Madame Xanadu might not have known what a lord of order meant, but she could sense that this boy was a demon in comparison.
"What do you want from me? You are powerful… What do you need me for?"
"You're a smart one, aren't you? It must come from having to read your victims' moods or should I say customers'? Hmm."
The boy paused, taking a few seconds to inch his face closer and study her. In the darkness of the room, her skin tone was too hard to detect and could be mistaken for Artemis', but Xanadu's dark and unwashed hair ruined the allusion. Only his Artemis had shining, almost golden hair. Wait...why was he thinking of Artemis?
"I need you. So shut up and help me. You have the right aura for medium and psychic abilities. You haven't realized that you know what to tell those people, because on some level, you already know that you can read their minds."
"I..."
"Don't talk," Klarion spat before slapping her across the face. His black nails slightly cut across her. "Just listen."
"Okay," Madame Xanadu sat silent and perplexed by what he had revealed.
"I have been calling to Abra with my magic - drawing him to me, but he has not came or even tried responding. That's where you come in. I can use my magic to force you into an out-of-body trance to find him. Just like channeling a dead spirit, you will find and channel him. So he and I can have a nice little chat. It is dangerous and could kill any first time medium, so of course I'm making you do it." The boy snickered again and stared at her like he expected her to understand his jokes.
"Let's begin," Klarion grabbed her head with hid hands, prodding his fingernails into her and channeling his red magic into her. Her senses heightened, and then became overwhelmed as her sight became lost to darkness. Her other senses began shutting down; eventually her mind expelled itself from her body. She felt free of the pain her body had experienced, but felt afraid of the bleak, never-ending darkness that surrounded her. She didn't know where she was, but she felt a pull towards an unknown point in the darkness. She accepted its tug, letting it swiftly pull her as she glided towards an unknown destination. Hopefully she could find Abra and still come out of this situation alive.
"Artemis, you seem so different lately."
Artemis stopped eating the pepperoni pizza her mom had ordered. Her mom hadn't cooked a meal since before the accident that cursed her into a wheelchair-bound life. Artemis almost wished for the pre-car crash mom back, for that mom was less inquisitive about her life. Never mind it was because her mom had been too busy with crime before the car crash.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"Don't give me that. A mother knows her own daughter more than you care to think."
"I'm fine," Artemis offered a false half-smile.
"If working on that Young Justice team has gotten too much for you, you should think about quitting."
"And do what? Go to crime? Back to dad and back to the killing?" Artemis' temper flared, for she could not stand her overbearing mother anymore.
If only my new magic could make her stop this...
"No! I want you to have a good life and a good education."
"Since when? Or do you just want to live vicariously through me?"
"You're my daughter. Show some respect!"
Artemis stood up, pressing her hands onto the table. She felt her magic drawing itself through her, ready to strike her mother and flee.
"I'm going to talk to your mentor about at least forcing you to temporarily leave the team. You're withdrawn and moody when I try to ask you about it."
"I'm not quitting the team."
"You'll do as I say!"
Artemis' forehead felt sweaty and warm. She was losing control. Without thinking, she raised her right hand and watched as red lightning shot from her and struck her mother. It was nothing like the red flame-lie energy blasts from before - the lightning felt more powerful and terrifying. Artemis had never felt such a rush.
Paula Crock flung back in her wheelchair, failing to grasp its sides as the lightning struck her. As she slipped into unconsciousness, she whispered a silent prayer. She wanted her daughter back and needed to still be alive to save her.
"Mom," Artemis regained her senses and sped around the table to stand next to her mom, checking for a pulse. Artemis felt the faint heartbeat of her mother as she started crying. "Where are you Klarion?"
AN: Should I also include any of the other magic-users from DC comics in this fic? Please review.