"It's been so long since the last time I came here"
Khalid watches with excitement and nostalgia the Zatara's state.
"You've been here before?"
Mary asks her teammate.
"Yeah. My father and his Uncle, Kent Nelson, were really close. And Khalid and I are like cousins and play around the house when were younger"
Zatanna explains.
"This place looks amazing and creepy to play, like I think I could get lost"
Trace was marveled at the mansion which surely was bigger than the Wayne Manor.
"If you are not careful kid you might get lost, don't touch the glasses and mirrors"
13 jumps from her spot hearing another voice.
"Who said that?"
The Shazam user asks.
"Right here to everyone's left"
The sentinels look around and finally saw who or what was talking.
"Are you a talking crown?"
The brunette says in disbelief.
"Jeez, girl. Are all your friend detectives? First that hunk of a man that you have for a husband, then a talking chimp and now a kid with a lizard…"
"Guys, this is Krowny. Krowny, my protégées. You know Khalid and these are Mary, Trace and Leroy"
The magic users waves their hands.
"But where's Dick? It's been so long since you guys stay with us. The last time you just brought that Dinosaur"
"Now that she mentions that…why didn't you and Dick move to live in here?"
The bad luck magic user asks.
"Because the walls in here literally have ears"
"Girl, I don't even have ears and I was still able to hear you and Dick"
The owner of the house turns beet red.
"In any case. There was a mystic unbalance and we came here to look for answers"
"What did you saw?"
The magic crown asks.
"Crows, lots of them and dark purple sky"
"Crows and purple sky…that sounds like Merlin but you better check on the library. Because Triggon uses ravens as well but he's more like red sky type of guy"
"Thanks, Krowny"
"You bet girl and next time bring Dick with you"
The Sentinels makes their way towards the library.
"This place is amazing"
The youngsters were marveled by all the artifacts.
"And safe too. Nimue and Mera tried to get in with her powers just to check how safe it is and couldn't breach it…Constantine tried too but y'know the result"
"Then who can?"
Brookfield asks.
"Whoever is invited by either my dad, myself or Dick"
"Wait?! Dick can enter whenever he wants and bring people too?"
The magician's were surprised.
"How? He doesn't have any powers or connection to the mystics arts"
The Team keep walking through the mansion on their way to the library.
"No, he doesn't but he's family"
"Ohh. It's because he's your husband?"
13 walks a little faster to be on par with Zatanna.
"No, he gain his access here before we got married. Actually, the house show himself to him"
The top performer takes some air before telling them the story.
"After my 18th birthday, I hit a rough patch because I haven't come up with a plan to help my father out from the helm of Fate…so, I came here to look for answers, just like we are doing right now"
The brunette peaks on one of the rooms that they were passing by and sees hundreds of stage magician outfits.
"I found a book that can rewrite reality and dig myself there. In that world, my mom never got cancer and my father wasn't trapped, we were a happy family, I was a stage magician with him but I wasn't happy because I wasn't with Dick"
"Why?"
"Because you fix something but break other stuff in exchange. I focus myself and brought Dick to my life…we meet in different circumstances because his parents were alive and we fall in love but he wasn't the man I was in love with…I realize that I was dating a shell of him"
"So, you realize that none of that was real"
Khalid reaches that conclusion.
"Yeah and that make the world start to crumble but that reality was holding itself on me. I was trapped there…"
"And what does this have anything to do with Nightwing?"
Mary feels a pull towards the power of certain artifacts of magic.
"I told him that I was coming to Shadow Crest looking for answers. I was trapped in that reality for 3 days, he was looking for me non stop and since no one can enter without a key and Nimue can't track it…he was losing his head; the mansion and all the living things inside knew that I needed help and felt his love for me…"
"Shadow Crest showed itself in front of him"
The group finally reaches the library and Zatanna starts searching for the books.
"And he got me out of there"
"How? Didn't that book, reality or whatever had you trapped?"
They start searching through the pages of the books.
"He hold me. I could still feel everything that was happening to my body even if it wasn't entirely inside my body. I remember his touch, his love, his warmth and that was the last little push that I needed to break free"
Zee let's a small cackle grace her lips.
"What?"
Her three protégées say at the same time.
"Nothing. With the things we can do with magic it's easy to get lost, losing our grip on reality and it's funny that the person that sweep me off my feet is my anchor as well"
Trace was over the moon. She was a romantic.
"Sucof!"
Zatanna enters in a mystic trance, reading multiple books at the time.
"Shit! I know who's behind this and what it's going to happen. We need to move"
"Nightwing. What do you need us for?"
Superman asks.
"We wait on stand by until Zatanna comes back with more info. We need to be ready"
"Look! I'm not what are we up against but the scanners, satellites or any other type of alarm went off..maybe it was a false alarm"
Green Arrow regrets his comment the moment he locks eyes with Nightwing.
"If Zatanna says that there's an emergency, there's an emergency"
As of cue. The Sentinels enters the Watchtower through a magic portal.
"We are in deep trouble. Merlin is back"
"As in the old time sorcerer? Shouldn't he be like a million years old?"
Canary couldn't believe that.
"I bet that my Merlin is far more dangerous than a old geezer"
"He's one of the strongest wizard to ever walk on Earth. His magic is stronger than those of the Lords of Order and Chaos and if he gathers his Knights…"
"If this is so urgent why are there not trouble alerts or something?"
Black Lightning checks the computer and there was no sign of trouble.
"Because this affects the magic world first. It we lose cohesion then reality it's going to lose it footing…no more gravity, the seas can turn into lava…"
"What do we do? How can we fight this?"
Dinah tries to weight their chances against someone that powerful.
"We need to stop him before this gets out of control. I'm gathering a team, Dr. Fate, my sentinels, Xanadu, Blood and Queen Mera…"
"That won't be possible. There is an emergency in Atlantis and Mera can't get out of there, there's some political tension within the Atlanteans"
Superman informs.
"What about Alucard?"
Dick suggest.
"He's guarding the Belmont's Vault and Dracula's castle"
"Yeah but we can ask the Outlaws to protect that place so we can have Alucard with us"
Zatanna smiled at her husband's idea.
"But can we trust this Blood guy? The last time he turn into that thing he almost lose control and make things worse…what about Blue Devil?"
Jefferson offers another member.
"He's guarding Myra alongside Detective Chimp. They are under a zombie attack and we can trust Blood, he and Etrigan are not the same person. He's a strong sorcerer on his own"
"That Team should do. In the meanwhile, we are going to be ready for anything you need"
Zatanna nods and was about to have a private conversation with Dick but was pulled by Damian.
"Zatanna. There's someone else that can help you and is really powerful"
"Who?"
"The Monkey Prince. Batman and I cross paths with him months ago and his powers are magic related"
"Thanks, Robin. Send me his location and I will recruit him"
The little boy leaves the couple alone.
"I guess that the dinner is going to get cold"
He holds her by the waist and she snakes her arms around his neck.
"Sadly but you better have breakfast ready, honey"
They lean into each other's foreheads.
"If you need anything, call me. But I know that you got this Zee"
"Of course. Don't break anything while I'm away, okay? And you are going to own me a date"
"I won't and don't worry, we are having so many more dates. When you get back there's going to be a fort made out of pillows in the living room waiting for you"
They finally embrace into a kiss.
"I love you"