The Bard once wrote, "Something is rotten in the state of Denmark." Perhaps one of the misquoted lines of Hamlet, its use was to describe the corrupting influence of Claudius over the kingdom. It was a rather fitting line for what Detective Chimp was experiencing.

His little discovery just down the hall from Fred's room set him on edge. Looking over the crime scene once more with investigator eyes rather than the eyes of a grieving friend told him more. Someone was putting a blind on them, and sadly it was working.

One would assume that the blind was Fred's death. He was a close friend to Detective Chimp and his death would ensure he was not doing his job, that being the investigator of their odd party. Its effectiveness was obvious.

Which was the reason for his death. After all, their discussions the previous night had centered around the Enchantress' goal. She had only killed people with magical powers, so that should have exempted Fred as a target, save for being collateral damage in the event of a fight. He did not match what linked all of the other Enchantress victims.

So what did this mean? Well, none of them were safe from the Enchantress' wrath, that was for certain. They had thwarted her once already, outside of Madame Xanadu's fortune telling parlor. Add to that June Moone's taking of the Sworn Book of Honorius, and that made twice the hag was thwarted. Their attempt to hide out in the House of Mystery could be taken as a botched third.

However, Detective Chimp felt there was something else at play here. He was falling under the suspicion that there was a greater conspiracy. He had found evidence of someone hiding out close to Fred's room and eventual crime scene. Whether that occurred before or after the murder was debatable, but either scenario spoke to a greater plan. If it was prior to, that meant the murderer was waiting for Fred's return to his room to strike. If it was the latter, then they were waiting on the arrival of another of their party, either to attack or create the situation that had unfurrowed. It could also be that the murderer just took advantage of the situation as well, having been nearly caught at the scene of the crime and was fortunate enough to hide out of sight in time.

Either way, it spoke to cunning, opportunism, and forethought. Seeds of doubt had been sown into their little band, no doubt. There was a traitor in the midst. At least, that's what any layman would assume. No, the short chimp felt that wasn't the case, not at all.

In fact, he had a feeling the blinders that had been so effortlessly placed on them by this murder had in fact been placed there much, much earlier.

Naturally, he did not have proof of the assumption, but he had learned to listen to his instincts. They were quite intuitive, if he didn't say so himself. The proof existed somewhere, he just needed to find it.

As it turned out, one such piece came in the form of his assistant, Alice.

"There you are!" the gothic-dressed girl exclaimed as she rounded a corner, spotting him in the corridor. "You won't believe what I just did!"

Detective Chimp gave the girl a once over. She had clearly used her special ability recently, if the tattered clothing she wore was any indication. Whoever did she try to copy this time? "Tell me, child, so I may doubt you."

The dark-haired woman paused, giving him a sly look a moment later. "There's the familiar chimp I know. Glad you're back and not acting like your friends at the zoo."

"Cousins, actually," he corrected, "and don't make me behave like them if you're to tell me your incredible story."

"Well, since you asked so nicely, I just had a run-in with the hag. I even drove her off all by myself!"

The Enchantress? She was that close by? Detective Chimp eyed his assistant and could now see why her clothing was so tattered. Her special ability allowed her to dress similar to those she copied the powers of. He had seen it at the demonstration with Zatanna Zatara, and clearly the same had been done with the Enchantress.

"And how did you come upon our worthy adversary?" he questioned.

"Just bumped into her, I guess. She was hiding in a hallway, I'm guessing to ambush someone. Turns out she got me."

Hmm, now wasn't that curious. It was quite similar to the little scenario he had been developing in his head surrounding Fred's death. Now it had played out with Alice.

Alice noticed the look on his face as he thought this. "You're figuring something out, aren't you?" she asked knowingly.

"You have given quite a puzzle piece, my dear Alice," he responded. "Clearly the Enchantress has access to this house, which we were led to believe she did not even know the location."

"Well, we already know what that is. There's currently a traitor," Alice retorted.

"Quite possible, but we don't know for certain. As unlikely as it could be, the Enchantress could have found out the location by some other means. She could have followed us here, for instance. She also could have previously known this location as well. And as unlikely as this is, she could have stumbled upon this house and checked it out."

Alice stared at him. "Yeah, I'm still going with traitor. My money's on that Constantine guy."

Ah yes, that was probably a well-reasoned suspicion. Constantine was always a suspect if he were within a ten kilometer radius of something strange and outlandish. It was the impression he gave off, not to mention he usually was involved more times than not. He knew that from personal experience as well.

"Then we need to gather more information on these possibilities," Detective Chimp declared. "And who better to give us this information than the house's owner, Anita?"

"Anita?" Alice questioned. "Why her?"

"Because she has the most knowledge on this house. She would know how likely it is for someone to either find the building on their own, or if the House seeks out those it wishes to entertain. If there's anyone that knows how it works, it'll be her."

When you had a bombshell land in your lap, you usually wanted to bring it to the attention of someone that could deal with it. There was a reason the bomb squad existed after all. In this case though, the bomb squad was more of the unofficial leader of this rag-tag team of theirs.

After uncovering Cain's shriveled corpse, Zatanna had taken off back to the House of Mystery, John Constantine right behind her. He actually walked at the brisk pace, but that still left him far behind the dark-haired woman. Even on the uneven, poorly maintained graveyard, she wasn't going to let the threat of a twisted ankle slow her down.

Entering the house, she immediately felt the House of Mystery take notice of her, its presence filling her head. "Tell me where Jason Blood is," she commanded it. It never even occurred to her that the House would do as she ordered, but she had seen how accommodating it had been for its late caretaker. Who wasn't to say it wouldn't do the same if requested, or in this case, told.

For a moment, the House didn't respond, but then one of the doorways in the foray began to close. The wooden planks slid out one by one from either side of the door frame, spreading through the doorway until they met in the middle. A moment later, they slid back out, revealing the sitting room they had used the night prior. It seemed Blood hadn't left it, or just seemed to prefer to continue using it.

The redhead was sitting on one of the couches. There were some cards on the table in front of it, ones that reminded the magician of Madame Xanadu's tarot cards. They could have been similar decks, but she didn't pay it much mind. The man was looking up at her, a curious look on his face.

"We've got a problem," she announced as she came to stand next to the couch. Behind her, Constantine seemed to have caught up, coming to a stop close to the doorway, hands stuffed into his coat pockets per usual. "We just had a look at Cain's body."

"Cain?" Blood repeated, a frown replacing his inquisitive expression.

"The bloke has been sucked up just like Fred," Constantine reported. "Shriveled as a prune."

"And that's not all," Zatanna added. "The House showed me Cain's last moments. Guess who paid him a visit right when he died?"

Jason Blood stood up from his seat, looking very grave. "The Enchantress," he guessed.

Ding, ding, they had a winner.

"Near as we can tell, she's been playing us this entire time," Constantine said. "She's been leading us here rather than chasing us. For what reason, your guess is as good as mine."

"Meaning we played right into her hands," Jason surmised. "She could be anywhere here and we wouldn't know until it is too late. Her killing of Fred was just to sow deceit in our ranks."

"Which it worked to an extent. Doesn't help that I'm part of this group," the blond man agreed.

Zatanna was really starting to get curious about Constantine's reputation at this point. It seemed it wasn't a good one if he freely admitted he was sketchy. He had a history with Detective Chimp, one that clearly hadn't ended well. Jason knew of his exploits and was cautious. What was it she didn't know?

"So what is it about this place that the Enchantress wanted us to come here?" the dark-haired woman questioned. Constantine's past exploits would have to wait for a time when their lives weren't in danger. "There's got to be some sort of reason, right?"

"A trap, obviously," the blond man answered her.

"There are other, better places for that," Jason disagreed. "For instance, the House of Mystery is sentient and could potentially interfere should it wish it. There was a reason Cain was the caretaker, and that was to keep the House at bay."

Zatanna raised an eyebrow at that. "Why would the House need to be kept at bay?"

"As you mentioned earlier, you have felt the House's presence. In fact, I'm willing to say that it has been trying to tell you stories, correct?"

She could only nod her agreement.

"Cain was able to control the House, channeling its powers when needed. Without him, the House is like a child trying to play with every toy that it can; in this instance, it wants to tell every story it has collected. I'm certain that it has been insistent on telling you a story every so often."

Well, she couldn't argue with that. "It has," she confirmed.

"Same," Constantine added.

"Eventually, I imagine, the House would go looking for people. One of its strange properties, it exists everywhere and nowhere at the same time, a roving dimensional rip if you will. At one moment, we're in the tundra of Siberia, the next the Sahara of Africa, the next the mountains of Peru, and even next door to a coffeeshop in Seattle. It is simultaneously in all of these places at once, and at neither of them as well."

"Then how did we even get here?" Zatanna practically exclaimed.

"Those who know the way can always find it," the redhead said cryptically. It went without saying that he knew where to find the House.

"So you're saying it would actually go hunt people down without us being here?" she then replied, trying to wrap her head around this concept.

"Eventually. It's why there needs to be a caretaker, one that can harness and guide it so that it doesn't run amuck."

"So why didn't Anita find another one already?" she questioned. "She owns this place, right?"

"Probably because it was recent," Constantine responded. "It's not like the House is going to go mad in a matter of hours or days. She probably wanted to find the one responsible for Cain's death first."

That seemed reasonable, but something about that was nagging in the back of Zatanna's head. Since she was the owner, Anita should have known the importance of having someone caring for the House and what would happen without one. Yet, there was something else bugging her too. It had to do with Cain, she was certain of it. But what was it?

"In the meantime, we really need to think of our next move against this hag," Constantine brought up, drawing the dark-haired woman out of her thoughts. "We can't just wait for the hag to ambush us here. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to bloody well know there are just too many opportunities for that."

"I have been attempting to learn about her," Blood replied, gesturing with one hand to the table where the tarot cards lay. "I have made contact a time or two, but have not been able to remedy our situation."

Constantine frowned. "You've been encountering her on the mystical plain? And you haven't been able to run her off?"

"That is correct."

"Just how powerful is this hag?"

"More powerful than I was expecting."

Well, this had certainly become a downer. Not only were they getting played here, but they were getting played by a monster with some significant power. Talk about a terrifying threat. Still, it was something they were going to have to beat if they all wanted to live and not join Cain in the graveyard outside.

Silence had fallen over the three, that was until Constantine made a suggestion. "You know, Cain might have something in his office that might help."

Jason narrowed his eyes at the blond man. "You're referring to his safe, aren't you?"

"Of course, I am."

"And what exactly are you looking for in Cain's safe?"

"Something that can put this Enchantress situation to bed. It's high time we dealt with the hag and the way we've been going about it ain't workin'. It's time to do something different and Cain was known for safekeeping some artifacts that caught his eye. There might be something in his collection that we can use."

"Perhaps," Jason was slow to agree, clearly dubious about Constantine's point. "It certainly wouldn't hurt to check."

"Then allow me to lead the way," Constantine said as he turned to head for the doorway.

Only to come to an immediate stop as the creepy form of the Enchantress stood in the doorway, her sunken eyes staring at them cruelly. The two men had startled looks on their faces at the sight of her, Zatanna audibly gasping from shock.

"I've found you," the hag sang in a creepy sing-song tone.

All she had known was darkness. At least, that's what it felt like. Slowly, but surely, its hold on June began to lessen until she could open her eyes.

June moaned as she woke up. She was certain to take her time opening her eyes. Too many times she had opened them quickly and was hit with the full effect of fluorescent light bulbs. Those were rude awakenings and made her squeeze her eyes to protect them.

As she took her time opening her eyes, her vision first appeared blurry. Had she really been sleeping all that long? She definitely felt rested, something she hadn't felt in forever. Late nights at the museum with a commute and then returning in the morning really limited the hours one could sleep, and that had been her schedule for awhile now. She had almost forgotten what it felt like to actually get rest.

Eventually, the blurriness began to fade and June found herself in a bedroom. She had to blink her eyes as she took it all in. This wasn't her bedroom. None of it looked right. Because of her long hours, she wasn't much for being tidy, so usually her clothes were in a pile on the floor. Her bed certainly wasn't as comfortable as this one either, but then she couldn't say the bed she was laying on was comfortable either. Maybe in comparison to her old one? Whatever, she just knew she wasn't in her bed because she could feel the difference.

And then the furniture! It all looked like it had been made in the 1950's, or a similar era. Maybe older. Just where the heck was she?

Yawning, the researcher felt her eyes lethargically open and close. It was getting easier to keep them open, but for some reason she felt like she needed to go back to sleep. Was she really that exhausted? Well, after the events of…

That's when it came to her. This room, this was her room in the strange House of Mystery. She had spent the last couple nights here with Zatanna and the others as they tried to figure out what to do with the hag that was after her and the Sworn Book of Honorius. She distinctly remembered being told she would probably have to carry the book for the rest of her life with all sorts of evil beings chasing her. That had been very upsetting.

Yet…it wasn't as upsetting as…oh God. Fred! They had found him in his room dead. Just seeing him had broken her. That…that was going to be her fate if they didn't beat this hag! She could remember feeling and thinking that, right up until Zatanna took her away and…and…

And that was all. She couldn't remember any more than that. Had she been sleeping all of this time? And what time was it? Was time even a thing in this weird house?

Had something happened when Zatanna took her away from the others? That was the only conclusion she could come to. June doubted she had fallen asleep on her own considering how worked up she had felt. Right now, she didn't feel that anxiety. Had…had Zatanna used a spell on her?

June wasn't certain how to feel about that.

Well, she couldn't stay here forever. Surely the others had made some sort of progress against the Enchantress, right? She certainly hoped so.

Rolling over in bed, the researcher sat herself up. Again, she let out a yawn before smacking her lips. Standing up, she stretched her arms over her head, feeling a rather nice relieving feeling throughout her body, her muscles pulling against a serious case of stiffness that had settled in. She must have been laying down for a long time to feel such stiffness.

Alright, she was as ready as she would ever be. It was time to go rejoin the others.

Constantine's hands flew out of his pockets. Immediately, the orange symbols that he seemed fond of appeared in front of his palms. "Ward #3!" he called out.

In response, the entire doorway lit up with the same light. Lines drew themselves out of thin air, forming a pentagram with a star at its center. It glowed brilliantly, but it didn't seem to radiate light like you would think.

Zatanna could feel her heart pounding in her chest. It was more from the jump scare than anything. She had entered this room, and when she turned to leave, there was that hideous hag standing there as if she had been there the entire time. Maybe she had, but you would think Jason would have seen her since he had been facing the doorway the entire time. Yet, he was just as surprised as the rest of them.

So yeah, real life jump scares were a thing. That was one point in Hollywood's favor. A bazillion against, but at least it was on the scoreboard now.

The Enchantress didn't look the least bit perturbed by the ward keeping her out of the sitting room. She grinned those nasty, crooked teeth, her eyes seemingly lit up from the soft glow of the ward. "Now, now, you think something like this will keep me out?" she chuckled, her eyes focusing on Jason out of the three of them. "Especially after all of the times you've sought me out? Well, here I am, at long last."

She then raised a hand up, one with long, bony fingers with even longer fingernails. She flexed her fingers so that it looked as if she had claws extending from them. The tips of the fingernails touched the ward and scratched against it. The high-pitch sound that was made caused the three of them to wince.

And then the hag dug her fingernails in and yanked her arm to one side. The ward was ripped into, leaving long gashes in the design. The Enchantress clawed at the ward with her other hand, using both to tear it down like tissue paper. Once finished, she took a confident step into the sitting room.

"Well, bullocks," Constantine grunted as he took a couple steps back.

"You'll have to do better than that," the hag taunted. "But what could I expect from a second-rate con man like you? After all, I know what you're looking for. You'll never get your hands on it though."

"I wouldn't bet against it," the blond man shrugged.

"I would, because I have it in my possession."

Constantine didn't look the least bit worried. Zatanna hadn't even seen so much as a wrinkle form on his face. "Just means I have to work a little harder for it is all," he responded.

"More like you'll die trying!" the hag snapped.

That was when Jason Blood pushed past Zatanna, reaching a hand out to grab onto Constantine's shoulder. He shoved the young man out of his way, the redhead holding up his other hand, aiming it right at the hag. "Aroint thee daemon!" he proclaimed.

A blast of pure magic fired from his hand, washing over the Enchantress. There was a loud shriek as she was thrown backwards and out through the doorway. Zatanna lost all sight of her, though part of that was because she had raised her arms up to shield her face. The light from the magical blast was damn near blinding!

Then, as sudden as it began, it stopped. Peering around her arms, she stared through the doorway and into the foray of the house. Clear across it was the Enchantress, lying slumped against the far wall, her leather skin an extra shade of charred.

The dark-haired woman blinked her eyes. Was…was that it?

She had heard that Jason was powerful, but she hadn't expected…this. One single blast and he had solved all of their damn problems. That was it. She hadn't even sensed his gathering of magic; one moment it wasn't there, the next it was. She sure as hell felt the power he had unleashed though. She wasn't certain whether to be grateful or alarmed there was someone like that around. Maybe grateful was the right feeling because Jason had just decimated someone that had been giving them all fits in an instant. When she had tried to fight the Enchantress outside of Madame Xanadu's, she had just pissed the hag off. Was the gulf between her and Jason's magicks that wide?

Jason Blood then strode towards the fallen hag, only stopping a few feet from it. Zatanna and Constantine followed after, coming to a stop behind him, each on either side of the redhead. "Did ya get her?" the blond man asked.

Pretty sure he did, was the first thought that popped into Zatanna's head. However, it was squashed as Jason shook his head.

"It isn't her."

The dark-haired woman gave the man an incredulous look. "What do you mean it isn't her? It looks pretty much like her, just charbroiled."

Jason reached into his pants pocket and pulled something out. Clutched between his fingers was a little rock, perhaps a large pebble depending on your point of view. Jason then flicked his wrist, tossing the little stone at the hag. It came into contact with her chest and immediately the rib cage caved inward, a crunching, crumbling sound being made.

"I have encountered this creature a couple times recently and such an attack should not have caused this sort of result," Jason explained. "This is nothing more than a puppet."

"A puppet?" Zatanna parroted. "Like she turned something into her and sent it after us?"

"It's as good of an explanation as any. Though, she wouldn't have too much difficulty making one, not with all of the bodies that are kept in the graveyard. If the Enchantress has killed Cain, then she has had full access to this house. That means she can use anything and everything to her advantage."

"That's just bloody perfect," Constantine grunted. "There's quite a few graves outside. She could use any number of them if she pleased."

"More importantly, puppetry isn't a common practice," Jason pointed out. There aren't many people that are competent in such an art. It takes years of training just to master the basics, much less become a true practitioner."

"We know the Enchantress has lived for a long time, right?" Zatanna brought up. "Couldn't she have learned it by now?"

"That's a fair point, though you could say that about most demonic spirits. The effort that is needed is incredible and most demons lack the temperament for it. In my experience, it is only the eldest of demons that can use such magick."

"What about humans?" Constantine asked. "Couldn't they learn it?"

"Of course, but the number of practitioners is similar to that of demons. In fact, I've only ever known of a few families that performed them and they kept their arts a family secret."

"Wouldn't happen to remember any of those names, would ya?"

Jason nodded. "I do, but I fear the implications."

"Implications?"

"Until we have further proof, I would rather not divulge."

"So why send a puppet after us?" the magician questioned. "What was the entire point? All it did was break through Constantine's warding spell, and maybe raise my heart rate up. That seems like a poor use of a puppet."

"You believe there may be a reason for this encounter," Jason surmised. "I cannot fault that line of thinking, but I am at a loss for any sort of explanation."

"More like the bitch saw an opportunity to try and send one of us to an early grave," Constantine grunted. "She just didn't want to do it personally. With the way you dealt with the puppet, I'd say it was a wise choice on her part."

That made a little sense, Zatanna supposed. Still, something about this was very off. She just couldn't put her finger on it. Say what you want about opportunism, but this didn't feel like such an instance to her. It…it kinda felt like the hag was trying to distract them, keep them here pondering about the implications of her surprise attack.

She really hoped that wasn't the case.

Constantine stared at the redhead then. "Regardless of what this is, we're still left with a broken puppet and our next course of action. I say we head to Cain's office and see if we can't find something to get rid of this bitch."

"I can't think of anything else to do," Zatanna found herself agreeing. "It wouldn't hurt to go."

Jason nodded. "Very well. I'm certain you know the way already?"

"I do." Constantine turned and began heading for the staircase, leading their little group deeper into the house.