(Edited with Grammarly on 10/7/2026)
After that little intro, the father-daughter duo continued their routine. Extracting all manners of reactions from the people all around Albert. A few gasps of surprise, some awes from a few heartfelt moments, cries when something exceedingly harrowing happened, but mostly laughter.
Whether it be from a joke one of them made, some perceived mistake, or just the ridiculous situations they got themselves in.
Albert would admit, the duo were exceedingly entertaining. They knew how to play the crowd, knew how to draw them into their little story until even he couldn't fully extricate himself from it. Finding himself sitting on the very edge of his seat as Giovanni somehow slapped a deck of cards, making them explode into a puff a fire before leaving behind a pure white dove that took one confused look at the crowd before flying away in a panic to the rafters.
Knowing what he knew about the man, he found himself making this whole show into a little bit of a game.
'Was that magic or was the Magic?'
But, if he was being honest with himself, it was primarily just guessing a lot of the time. At least with the older Zatara anyway, but with the younger magician? She at least gave him a chance to peer through her trickery.
Zatanna was an exceedingly powerful Magi, but at least she wasn't so dazzlingly talented with her sleight of hand. Not that her tricks were easy to see through, just that she seemed more willing to use her magical prowess to help.
It was all in the lips, he found. As even from this far away, he could notice her painted lips twitch and yank over a large smile that obviously made it pretty clear that she was chanting without moving her lips. Something she probably learned through the art form of ventriloquism, he was sure.
Also, her tricks seemed a bit more...how could he put it. Loud? In his face? Showy? Calling it crude would only make him sound like he could somehow do better.
Plus, she seemed to really like that cloudy teleport spell given the number of times he'd heard or seen that mind-bending chant that night.
In comparison to her father, it was just a different art entirely. Decades of experience came in handy to the point where the PI was pretty sure the man hadn't cast an actual spell this entire show. Or if he had, his mastery of ventriloquism was leaps and bounds above mere mortal senses.
Maybe it was just Albert's biases coming in to paint the two in their differing shades, as after all, the older Zatara hadn't made him feel inadvertently small but instead awe and respect for the man's craft.
That...that was probably the case. Especially if he just simply looked over at his group, who all seemed to be enjoying the show in an entirely different way than him. They weren't hyper-analyzing every little detail one of the performers did.
Michael looked as if his jaw was permanently on the ground from how many times it had dropped at some of the stunts on display. His palms had long since grown bright red from his heavy and enthusiastic clapping.
Dillon had her eyes wide open in wonder as she looked on, a large goofy smile on her face that actually made her look her age for once. It was a look that spoke of simpler times, of a time in life where the whole world had this sense of whimsy, that it was overflowing with magic and wonderful mysteries that were all just waiting to be unearthed by some kid with a make-believe stick.
In comparison, Olivia's focus was on something else entirely. Sure she clapped and cheered when everyone else was, but her attention wasn't fully on the show. That much he could tell from how offbeat her reactions were. The girl seemed more interested in the multiple sets of costumes the magicians seemed to switch in and out of with a puff of smoke or by spinning around. She was so zeroed in on these outfits that he was sure she probably felt more annoyed that they wouldn't stand still long enough for her to get an actual good look at them.
Besides her, Malcolm chuckled low and deep, while whistling with two fingers in his mouth in the way that made their younger companions sink slightly in their seats as he drew in appreciative and respectful looks from the dads and uncles in the crowd and scorn from those younger. But if he noticed, he pretended not to notice, only continuing his rambunctious cheering.
Steve, the most normal one out of everyone there, had this wide dumbstruck grin on his face every time he even glanced in the female Zatara's direction. Cheeks growing a few shades pinker before he looked away, even if she was moving, but slowly as inevitably as a glacier, his gaze always seemed to find her once more. And sure, maybe he clapped a bit too enthusiastically whenever she performed one of her tricks.
Besides him, Angeline leaned forward with her elbows resting on the back of the seat in front of them. Completely uncaring of how the person sitting there was perpetually leaning forward as well, probably to avoid those elbows poking them in the back. At the very beginning, she seemed to be the one least excited to come here and only really came to hang out with her friends. But now? She was just as enraptured with the show as anyone else. Maybe she too enjoyed the game of figuring out if real magic was being thrown around or not.
And finally, Marceline, while enjoying the show, was a lot more subdued than she was earlier in the night. Sure, she clapped when prompted, but she wasn't nearly jumping up and down in her seat with every minute trick. If anything, she seemed distracted by something else, her gaze dragging itself up to the inky dark rafters before ripping them back down to the stage.
'Could it be a ghost up there?'
When Albert looked up to follow where her gaze landed, he couldn't see anything...Well, that wasn't entirely true; he saw the dove from before perched imperiously. But other than that? He couldn't really pierce through the darkness; maybe if he could flash a light up there to get a better look.
Shrugging internally, he left her alone. If she wanted to talk about what she saw, then he could only wait until she got her thoughts together.
"Thank you!" Giovanni bowed to the enraptured audience, rubbing his foot into the loose embers beneath his feet. "Thank you! You're all too kind! But if you believed that was for tonight, then you would be greatly mistaken! Please enjoy a short, fifteen-minute intermission before we really blow your mind! Please, go to the bathroom, get some snacks, and stretch your legs, for you don't want to miss what we have planned for you!"
Besides him, the black-haired girl held her top hat to her chest and bowed as well. But not before using her foot to block the path of an ever-insistent, chunky rabbit from hopping away into the crowd. And whether or not it was a part of the show, it still added a bit of a comedic effect to their announcement.
From either side of the stage, those massive curtains flowed down. Dropping from some unseen perch to close together, cutting off the view of the magicians and signaling the band to increase the volume of their music. Returning from their low ambiance, it was the final sigh people needed to begin standing.
"Oh, god!" Malcolm stretched and yawned, a series of pops following his movement. "I gotta go to the bathroom. Do you girls want anything? More popcorn? Some candy? Soda? Actually, here, take this."
Reaching into his inner pocket, he flipped open his wallet and discreetly handed Olivia a few bills before beginning to follow the stream of people flowing out of the meandering around the chatter filled theater.
"Now that he mentions it," Angeline yawned as well, raising her arms well above her head. Before she began to herd the younger girls onward with her. A bathroom sounds pretty good. C'mon, let's try to get there before the line gets too long."
Normally, Albert would've been concerned at that. He'd seen the way the blonde seemed to enjoy bulldozing her way through any given crowd but this wasn't just a normal collection of people here. Some of them could be Ignited or, god forbid, Homo Magi. And despite her having a pretty hefty back in the form of her mother, he didn't really know how that political power would really help her in more magical situations. Sure, they might not do anything here with a Councilman right behind that curtain, but could say if some slighted person wouldn't try to provide a little bit of payback?
Being turned into a toad or rat didn't really sound too appealing.
But color him surprised when instead of knocking people aside, the blonde simply smiled and threw on the charms. Raising her voice to the very peak of her range, she spoke in such a sweet way that even had to look back over a few times just to make sure it was still the crass blonde he'd walked into that theater with.
"Um, excuse me! Pardon me!"
Like magic in itself, people shuffled to the side with rather sheepish expressions and large smiles on their faces as she charmed her way through. And falling in line with her like baby ducks behind their mother, the group of teens shuffled through the crowd. The looks of warmth faded from the faces of show-goers as the line continued and their smiles grew stiffer the giant known as Michael brushed against them.
Not even their muttered thanks was enough to stop Albert from getting a few impatient glares being sent his way. He could feel a heavy weight leave his shoulders the very moment they finally left their row, cold sweat soaking his back, and it was like he could actually breathe again.
Breaking out through the heavy doors, the chattering in the lobby grew in such a volume that it became nearly impossible to hear anything but his own thoughts.
Tugging at his sleeve made him turn to the side, seeing a teen with brown eyes behind a set of bulky glasses pointing obviously to the growing line at the boys' bathroom. He paused before shaking his head. If anything, he probably felt more thirsty than anything else.
The teen shrugged before flowing off from the greater group with the giant and settling in line. Besides him, Marceline went through a similar miming session before the trio broke off to join the equally long line at the girls' bathroom. Leaving the medium and him standing amongst a sea of people. She tugged at his arm, pointing over at a more secluded spot out of the way from the natural hubbub of the lobby before leading him over.
Once there, she turned back to him.
"Well?"
"Well, what?"
"You know." She scoffed before waving her arm over the entire lobby. "How are you liking the show? It's great, isn't it? I wonder if they're going to do that Dumbo trick...But I think this place is a bit too small for that."
"It's…" He had to bite back his immediate response and actually really think about it. He wanted to say how much he enjoyed Giovanni's part of the show before ripping into Zatanna's performance without even a hint of mercy. But just looking at the brunette was enough to get a sense of how bad of an idea that would be. For one, she was genuinely having fun here. She's been to their shows before and probably saw some of the same tricks as tonight, but still she acted with the same level of enjoyment and awe as if this was her first time seeing it. And as much as he wanted to share in his misery, he wasn't willing to stomp on that joy no matter how sour he felt. That wouldn't be right, especially after she took the time and effort to invite him out tonight.
Also, if she inevitably asked why he was being so harsh on the young magician, he would be thoroughly stumped. What was he going to say?
'She looked at me funny.'
'She made me feel so small and hideous that I wanted to crawl into a ball somewhere.'
'She brought me back down to Earth and reminded me about something I hated about myself.'
All those reasons, even in his own head, sounded so unbelievably petty that even speaking them aloud would make him sound childish and maybe a bit deranged. If not that, it would open himself up to a discussion he wasn't really ready to commit to. Maybe if it was to a trained, unrelated therapist in a quiet room. Not this chaos surrounding them.
"It was okay."
He winced just as those words left his lips. It was the kind of dry but polite answer that he would use with coworkers or strangers while exchanging small talk. Not something to be used between friends, as it only really pointed to one conclusion.
"Oh," The large grin on Marceline's face froze, some of the energy in her eyes dimming as she mulled over his answer. "So, you didn't like it? What was it? Not really a huge fan of magic shows or something?"
Despite her joking manner, the confusion there was plain for anyone to see. As anyone could tell, the show had been great. The hosts had been charismatic, and the running storyline was more than entertaining, to say the least.
"No, it's not that!" Now he was backpedaling, heat rising to his chest as he tried to look anywhere but at her, desperately searching for something, anything, to take the heat off him. "I liked the show, really I did...it's just that-"
Right as he could feel himself boxing himself into a corner, his fingers brushed against his jeans pocket. Feeling that familiar brick, he, like a dehydrated man, gripped onto that strand of hope and pulled it out. Both desperate for there to be something but also expecting it just to act as a distraction.
But color him surprised when he noticed two missed calls.
'Harley?'
Coming in about half an hour ago, they were followed by a set of text messages.
'…'
'Hello?'
'You're probably at that magic show, shame on you for not inviting me :'(! I love magic shows!'
'But Red wanted to talk to you ASAP! She wouldn't tell me anything! What was up with that? You won't be so mean as not to tell me too, right?!'
Albert could feel himself relax minutely; this was exactly the excuse he needed to get away from here. Away from his own insecurities and away from having to tell anyone else about them. And it wasn't like this would be a false excuse either; if Pamela was reaching out to him, it had meant she had to have made some breakthrough with some cure for Malaya.
"Listen," He didn't even look up as he began to text a confirmation over to the blonde, the oh-so familiar words flying from his lips. "I'm so sorry, but I have to go; something popped up, and I need to handle it."
"Oh." Looking up, he too saw that same reaction plastered across her face. Her expression flashed, mixing with dozens of faces from more than a lifetime ago. Disappointment, some level of frustration, before a stiff smile replaced it. "Okay, well, that's okay. Stuff comes up, and I understand…"
"Thanks."
He ignored the way his heart lurched, hating how quickly he turned on his heel to sprint out of the theater. Pushing off the heavy doors, he found himself stumbling into the night streets of Gotham. A heavy downpour came down from above, hammering into the sidewalk and sending splashes through the nearby miniature lakes.
Breaking off into a sprint, he did the one thing he knew he was always good at.
Running away.
***
Marceline couldn't stop her heart from beating a mile a minute as she saw those heavy crimson curtains close in on them. Cutting her off from the standing crowd, who one and all were hooping and hollering as they clapped, rang through her ears. Her eyes zeroed in on one part of the crowd, which had her friends nearly jumping up and down with excitement. And she even thought that even above the chaos, she could hear Michael's deep baritone voice over the crowd. But even that grew muffled through the fallen curtain.
They hadn't even been cheering for her, and she could already feel the urge to just freeze in place overtake her. But with a force of will, she stuffed that stage fright down to the very pits of her innermost self and turned to two of the most powerful and influential people in the entire magical world.
Giovanni Zatara, in all his gentlemanly grace, was sopping wet and shunting off what remained of a straitjacket. Despite that, his perfectly greased and combed hair appeared just as it was before. Immaculate, with not even a single strand out of place. And with no one else nearby, he waved his hands and even those wet clothes dried and even ironed themselves back to their refined appearance.
Besides him, his daughter, Zatanna Zatara, was visibly slouched over as she tried to stuff her high-heeled boot back in place.
"Ms. Marceline!" Giovanni was the first to speak, smiling widely as he stuffed a rabbit back into his hat, much to its squeaking displeasure. "You did a great job tonight! Any interest in learning some stage magic? We could sure use more assistants! I'm sad to say, but I think we're going to have to speak to Chance after this."
"You're just going to speak to him?" Zatanna grumbled, stomping her boot a few times just to make sure it was on nice and tight. "I gave him the signal three times, three! And he still didn't get it! I swear- no, never mind. Later, later. Marceline!"
Taking a few steps forward, the taller girl wrapped her up in a tight embrace. She could even feel her feet leave the ground as she began to spin in place. Gripping the magician back desperately, she just tried to not be flung off into the distance.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity, she was finally let back down to Earth on stumbling feet and tilted vision.
"It's so good to see you!" The younger Zatara pulled back just far enough to lock gazes with her. "How has it been? How are you doing?!"
"It's nice to see you too, Ms. Zatara. I've been doing okay, Gotham is Gotham but there's some sunny days here or there so I can't really complain. How are you holding up here? I know the weather is a lot different than in Nevada."
"If only you knew! I don't know why you people aren't wearing heavier coats! I almost caught a cold here! A COLD! Can you believe it? And don't even get me started on the air! Everyone here should be wearing a face mask or something!"
That much, Marceline would readily agree with. Despite being in Gotham for years, she still could not get used to the awful weather here. It was just always doom and gloom for half the year, and smog-tinged sunlight the rest of the year.
And combine that with the near-suffocating number of echoes here, it was no wonder most of the magical community made it their business to avoid this place like the plague it was.
"Zatanna." The older Magi lightly chided her. "Let the girl breathe, for goodness sake...I'm so sorry about her, Ms. Marceline; please, we would love for you to join us for dinner. I would love to hear about your adventures."
The man meant well, being as kind and courteous as could be, but she knew what he really wanted to know but wasn't willing to just outright say it.
He wanted to know if the echo situation had changed in Gotham since the last time they spoke. She couldn't blame him for that, as no matter how much he wanted to separate himself from work, this matter was still of great interest and concern to the Council.
"I would love to...but my friends and I are going out after this...But I can assure you, there hasn't really been much of a change. It's still like a sea here, but I have made it my business to help some of the stronger ones find peace…" She wanted to mention the strange echoes that appeared during the show, wanted to mention how they floated and stayed near the rafters the entire time and only now seem to have disappeared. But she could only bite her tongue before she went around spilling that secret. After all, she'd seen those spirits before. "But there hasn't been any serious movement yet; again, don't take my word for it and you might have to check, but I don't think there'll be any big events for the rest of the year."
At that news, the powerful Magi's shoulders slumped slightly in relief. A flicker of energy lit up in his blue orbs. Stepping forward, he placed a gentle but firm hand on her shoulder.
"Thank you. I know I've said this before, but we shouldn't be putting this level of responsibility on you. Despite that, I thank you for your service. It's dangerous work, and knowing that we're putting a child in harm's way like this...it leaves a terrible taste in my mouth. Just know, even now I am scouring the world trying to find an alternative. Trying to find another Psychopomp willing to take on your burden, but until then...Please, take care of yourself. If you need anything, please, please don't hesitate to ask."
It was clear how much this pained the man. In fact, during the Council meeting, he was the sole voice arguing against her taking up this post. And he argued, to the point where she was concerned he might throw down some nasty spells at the other Council members. It only stopped when she herself volunteered.
And ever since then, he made sure she knew how much good she was doing. Made sure she knew that he was actively searching for another method and made sure she knew she would never be forgotten. Something the other Council Members or their families have never done in all her time at this post. Not that she could blame them for that; after all, it was nonsensical for powerful Homo-Magi to care about some rare Ignited.
Hence why his concern and bitterness at the situation were often seen as strange.
But no matter how much he hated it, they both still had a duty to do.
"Thank you, Mr. Zatara." If she wasn't being held so firmly by Zatanna, maybe she would've been able to bow.
"Enough of that serious stuff!" The girl in question whirled her back in place. "Where were you guys planning to eat? Can I come? I know, I know it's rude to invite myself, but c'mon! I just know you have to know some of the hidden gems here!"
Here the Magi dropped her voice down to a barely audible whisper.
"Also, it would allow a...guess? Yeah, a guess of ours to meet some people her own age. She's been cooped up inside for days now, and I don't have the heart to see it go on for much longer...What do you say?"
"I mean," Marceline's initial instinct was to agree to whatever the black-haired girl wanted, but the thought of her friends' reaction to adding another two or three people- well, one additional person since Albert left- to their dinner plans. "I would have to ask first and meet them first, but otherwise, I don't really see an issue."
"Great!" With that, the magician unclasped herself and took a step back, already spinning on her heel to begin marching over to some obscured side passage. "You wait right there, and we'll be out in like, five minutes? I just need to change and find that girl somewhere!"
"Ah, one more thing." Giovanni brought her attention away from the retreating figure. "Where did your friend go? I swore I saw our new Psychometrist here and wanted to take the chance to meet him and discuss some things with him."
"Oh, Albert?" At that reminder, she could feel a tingle of guilt well up from inside her. The teen had always been incredibly difficult to read and there were sometimes she honestly thought he only really put on facial expressions for other people's convenience. But tonight, she knew for sure he didn't enjoy the show and probably only really stayed so long just to be polite. How he didn't enjoy it was beyond her. She just wanted to include him more in their group; sure they hung out sometimes, but a lot of the time the teen was so focused on other things that it wouldn't be strange to go days without hearing from him. Sure, he made an effort to text or call, but actually hanging out for any significant time was such a rarity that even having him stay this long was a blessing.
Did he just not like hanging out with them?
"He had to leave early, you know, some work stuff came up."
Marceline sure hoped she hadn't just lied to Giovanni.
"A shame." He looked off to the side, spotting something in the corner that caused his mustache to twitch with clear amusement. "But do tell him to come see me this week; I would love to introduce myself and go over some things with him…Has he told you about his incident involving that statue?"
She slowly nodded. Her heart had gone out to the teen who finally seemed to be opening up, and honestly, if she was being honest, the scene he told her about still kept her up at night sometimes. And she could only guess how bad it must've been for him.
"Well, it's about that." He rubbed his eyes at that, exhaustion pouring deeper into his bones as he continued. "The Council, they're interested in that Abode. And they want as much information as possible about it, and as much as I want to just keep it all buried, if what he saw was accurate, that Abode is too valuable to just ignore. The plan is to store that vision for us to study and hopefully glean anything else he might've missed."
"...I'm not sure if he'll be willing to go through that vision again; he was pre-no extremely shaken up about it."
"Witnessing a ritual sacrifice will do that, and as much as I understand and sympathize with him, we NEED to quarantine off that Abode as fast as possible. Before the smaller Magi Families and Independents started tearing apart all of South America to find it."
"I understand, I'll let him know."
It did leave a bit of a sour taste in her mouth, just seeing the well-being of her friend be tossed aside in the face of benefits and dangers...well, it simply wasn't a good feeling.
"Well, I won't keep you, kids." Giovanni smiled once at her, and for some reason, at the dark corner before walking away, but not before calling over his shoulder with a wave. "Oh, and dinner is on me tonight! Thank you again for coming tonight!"
Leaving her alone behind stage, she could only look around with some level of trepidation, which only grew as stagehands swarmed the stage and began to roll and collect props from off the floor. Standing awkwardly, only when a haggard middle-aged woman with a headset strapped atop her bob of dirty blonde hair led her to a nearby bench, purposefully out of the way, she might add, and left her there with a bottle of water
Sitting there, Marceline quickly whipped out her phone and sent out a flurry of texts to her friends. Each text made sure they knew she was okay and asked how they felt about adding another two to their dinner plans.
"…"
In one blink, there was no one standing beside the bench, and in the next she could literally feel a presence loom beside her. Heart beating a mile a minute, she slowly turned to the right. There, standing-no, hovering just above the ground was what could be described as a billowing indigo cloak with a hooded face looking down at her.
The person's exact features, strangely, despite being so close, were impossible to see through the inky darkness covering them. All she could see was light skin, almost gray in color, with this large pair of deep purple eyes that seemed to look right into her very soul.
"H-hello?"
She hated how feeble her voice sounded just then; maybe it would be better to draw upon Lin and her confidence right about now. How would the blonde react to someone just appearing beside her? Actually...with that thought, maybe it would be better not to draw upon her.
"…" Instead of replying, the cloaked figure simply floated there as still as a statue. Their lips pressed into a hard line. Silence bloomed between them, an awkward thing that made her want to continue speaking just to fill it. At least until a soft and feminine voice shattered the air between them. "Hey."
"H-hey?"
Heat rose to her cheeks, and in that moment, she just wanted to die in a hole somewhere.
"…You see dead people?"
"Y-yeah?"
"That's pretty hardcore."
"Thanks? Uh, you're hardcore yourself too...Marceline, but my friends call me Marcy."
The cloaked girl looked down at the extended hand for a moment before taking it limply in pale gray hands with barely any strength behind it and shook it once.
"Raven."