Chapitre 31: Trouble never slumbers
"As my lovely assistant has already said: to let you know your show was delightful, well, and for counseling.
"Hmm, interesting. - The sorceress leaned on the table, displaying her seductive legs. - And what reason, pray tell, do I have to help two criminals?
"Ex, all charges have been dropped.
"Ha-ha-ha," she laughed, "you don't have to tell me fairy tales. Trespassing on private property does not fit the image of law-abiding citizens.
"Hmm... And how do you envision our meeting? We'll stand among fans and shout that Harley suddenly started to cast sparks yesterday and passed out, and now we need to consult a sorceress?
"Well," the illusionist pretended to think, putting a finger to her scarlet lips, "I have meetings with fans. They take place backstage and all I had to do was pay... Wait, you said she started to conjure and fainted?! Are you sure that hasn't happened before?" There's no sign of Zatanna taking our problem lightly.
Her behavior was confusing, and I knew something serious had happened, but it seemed to be okay... Hell, it's a comic book world! There's no telling what the hell could be going on here, so a girl who starts shooting sparks is bullshit. If she'd fired a fireball, I'd be more worried.
"Definitely wasn't. - The blonde answered instead of me, continuing to look around the trailer, which was really quite curious and atmospheric, as the standard magic equipment, like banal colored scarves and hoops, was adjacent to various antiquities and mystical amulets, turning this place into a mysterious fortune-teller's van. Hmm... Is it just me, or is there really a lot more room than there should be?
"So this is serious. - The sorceress went around the table and rummaged through the top drawer until she pulled out a tattered map of Gotham. - But first, there's something we need to check out. - With those words, she pulled a deck of playing cards from the cylinder, setting her headdress on the edge of the table.
"Which one of you will go first?" Zatanna deftly shuffled the deck.
"Mmmm... Don't you have to check on her?" I nodded at my assistant. - She's got magic.
No, it's cool that the sorceress wants to test us both, but I feel like I'm missing something important and similar manifestations have happened in this world before, and they were clearly associated with bigger problems.
"If it's what I think it is, then the ability should have appeared in both of you. But hopefully it's just a random mutation, your girlfriend isn't exactly a normal person after all. - The enchantress spread the cards on the table, making an inviting gesture. - Please.
"Eh, what should I do?" I walked over to the table with my blond companion, who had to let go of my hand so I could sit down.
"Pull out the ace of spades.
And how do I do that? Like, "feel Luke's power"? Hmm, magic might work.
I covered my eyes and stretched my hand over the table, trying to tune into the right image and listening to my senses.
This one? The brush froze over one of the cards, next to which I seemed to catch a warmth. No, it was just mind games.
"Don't think. Do it. - The magician rushed me, throwing me off balance.
It's like Master Yoda. Ha ha, a Jedi in mesh stockings. Thinking of stockings, I was reminded of Dumbledore's dream for some reason. Although he dreamed of a pair of marvelous socks, fans then remade his dream in their own way, depicting the way he sees himself in Einaledge's mirror.
Oh, I was. I turned over the first cardboard rectangle I could find.
"Ahem... - There was a sound from the illusionist as if she'd been kicked in the butt.
"Hee-hee-hee-hee-hee-hee. - Harley giggled nearby, but then her giggling turned into outright laughter.
I gingerly opened my eyes, staring in surprise at what my mind had drawn. The upside-down map showed the strongest wizard in Potteriana, the one Voldemort himself feared. A purple robe, a long white bushy beard, a green cap covered in glitter, a wand clenched erotically in his teeth... And all of this was attached to legs covered in mesh stockings, with a wad of dollars sticking out of the left stocking...
"Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!" Laughed the harlequin, holding her stomach. - Oh, I can't!
Well, it looks really funny. But what was that sense of impending mortal danger? I slowly turned my head to the right to find myself staring at the angry sorceress, her eyes shooting lightning bolts, literally!
"So that's how you imagine me shh-shh-shh-shh-shh-shh. - Toward the end, the girl snapped into a hiss.
"Wait, you've got it all wrong... Ow. - One of the lightning bolts traveled the distance between us and stung me in the nose.
"Defend yourself!
***
One trashed trailer later.
What can I say, I'm alive and well, and even my arms and legs are in their places, because you could expect anything from an angry sorceress who took the created image on her own account. It's not a big deal, my clothes are a little burnt from the discharges - it's a small price to pay for insulting a great sorceress.
Ha-ha-ha, it turned out to be fun. I managed to try out the updated body, so to speak, in extreme conditions, and without using cheating in the form of funny memories, but I do not want to repeat such an experience in the near future. At least not in such a confined space, where it is very difficult to escape, and the damaged props, which I defended myself with in the process, only further fuels the anger of the charming pursuer. Somewhere in a more open space, I'd show her the steeplechase. She wouldn't have caught it! Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!
"Mr. J., you do realize you got what you deserved, right?" My lovely assistant was standing next to me, squeezing a fat white rabbit. I was lying on the floor, staring at the ceiling. The last discharge I'd gotten would have killed a mere human, but I'd just collapsed because of the cramp in my legs.
"This has nothing to do with me! It's all her cards!
"Cards just react to magic. And you should have been thinking about the ace of spades, not some old man in stockings!" The magician waved her wand and occasionally whispered indistinctly under her breath; I had a feeling it was swear words mixed with spells. The objects seemed to magically... or rather, literally magically, fall back into place and take on their original appearance.
"I just have a very fertile imagination and you shot me down when you quoted Yoda.
"I wasn't quoting anyone. It's standard practice to define magic. And who the hell is Yoda?
Eh, there's no great franchise in this world about the Great Force and the struggle between Beaver and Donkey. I'll try to explain it in my own words.
"He is a little green man, something like a Cheburashka, only bald and wrinkled like a sphinx, but he possesses a great power that gives him the ability to predict the future, repel blaster shots, and lift multi-ton weights with his mind.
Harley leaned over and sniffed at me for some reason.
"Mr. J., if you could get marijuana somewhere, you should have shared it. - She said with obvious judgment in her voice.
I seem to have been misunderstood, but I'm too lazy to explain.
"Okay Sunshine, I'll be sure to share next time.
Zatanna looked questioningly at our cooing couple, trying to digest my words, then her gaze fell to the Dumbledore card still clutched in her hand.
"IROGS!
A flash of flame, and the cardboard crumbles to ash on the floor.
"Eh, I was lucky to get involved with crazy people... - the sorceress muttered quietly under her nose, having finished with putting things in order and started shuffling the deck, charging it with her magic, so that the smallest impact was enough to change the image. - Okay, now you... Wait, where did you get the rabbit?
"Pulled it out of the cylinder. - The blonde replied lightly, not stopping her meditation.
The enchantress's eye twitched.
"Give him back!" She walked up to Harley and tried to take the animal away.
"No, don't touch Mr. Fluffy!" My beloved deftly escaped the sorceress' clutches.
All we needed was another obstacle course. I'm afraid they'll kick us out of here and we'll never know what happened to Harley... I had to get up, standing in the way of the cute girl who was about to run away.
"Sunshine, give her the rabbit, please.
"Uh-huh. - My assistant looked at me with a pitying look.
"Harley, you have to take care of him, buy a cage, feed him... Besides, we don't own the apartment. And he's big, so what if he gets out of the cage and eats Ivy's plants?" I continued to look at me with a sad, pitiful look, in the corners of the eyes of the girl began to accumulate moisture. I just can't resist such an attack. - Damn, it already has a mistress anyway... Hmm... If you want it so much, we can get some other pet, a mouse for example.
"Can I really?!" Harley's eyes sparkled with happiness.
"Uh... Well, yeah...
Still, a mouse will be more compact than a rabbit and should be more loyal to plants, preferring grain food and fruit. But why do I get the feeling that I was misunderstood somehow?
"Whoops!" With my assistant distracted, the illusionist didn't miss her chance, retrieving her furry pet and immediately placing it back into the cylinder.
"Is he going to be okay?" Harley was clearly worried about the fate of the live prop.
"Hey, I'm not an animal breeder!" The magician was outraged. - It's not real at all. It's an animated construct that goes into a state of stasis in a hat. All right, we've had our fun and that's enough. - She walked over to the table, spreading out a map of Gotham and pouring out a number of pebbles with runes on them. - I can tell you both have definitely awakened magic, and it's not just a mutation.
"Why would you say that? It's not like Harley took the card test.
"You can't get anything out of the cylinder without magic. Foolproofing..." The owner of the trailer looked at our couple doubtfully. - We'll have to put on more advanced protection later...
"What's the danger of that?" I moved closer, watching Zatanna's manipulations.
"Problems.
***
It actually turned out to be not so bad if you know the full background of the events.
According to the words of the great sorceress of the Earth, magic in ordinary mortals can be awakened in several cases. One can become an apostle of one of the gods or Lords, the latter being demonic creatures from dark dimensions. But only this method of obtaining magic even from creatures, conditionally belonging to the light side, is fraught with very great risks, because these are borrowed forces and their true owner at any moment can cut off the magic of not satisfactory user or generally take his body. Besides, after death such an apostle may not count on a normal postmortem and will work as a battery in the patron's domain until he dies, which may take many billions of years, because such beings have conditional immortality.
The second option is no less "iridescent": a rupture in space, from which magic spills out. This situation is more suitable for our case, except that from such wormholes often leaks all sorts of evil, but since there are still no reports of demonic creatures terrorizing the city, we can relax a little and do not run headlong to seal the passage.
The third option is very rare, but in the illusionist's opinion it suits our situation best: the awakening of a magical source somewhere close to where we live. Such things are called dragon veins, and all magical creatures hunt for them. To my surprise, I learned that Gotham had already awakened such a thing in the Bristol area eighty years ago. It was over it that the Shadow Peak mansion was erected, which became the ancestral nest of the Zatar family. This house is hidden from mere mortals by powerful enchantments and inside it can only be accessed by invitation. But not everything is so simple, because even once inside the building, the visitor will have access to only a couple of percent of its true size: the rest is located in a separate magical dimension, something like a domain, where the largest magical library in the world is kept. None of this would be possible without the constant flow of magic from the dragon vein, so such places are truly priceless.
"The information is certainly very curious and interesting, but why are you being so frank with us? I doubt that knowledge about the location of the Shadow Peak is available to everyone. - I asked, realizing that free cheese is only in a mousetrap.
"First of all, my house is quite a famous place in the magical world, but it's useless to attack it, precisely because of the contact with the dwelling: the shields cannot be depleted, and in case of an attempt to overload, the excess energy is sent to the neighboring dimension. Secondly, I'm obliged to tell you the basics now, so that you don't foolishly summon a demon or cause chaos to break out... Though with your meager powers, which my magic detector doesn't work on, it's unlikely. But now you can be a victim in the bloody ritual of dark magicians. - Right now, the sorceress placed the runes in the only order she knew on the map of the city, asking us to specify the neighborhood where we lived.
Awesome perspective...
"Right here. - I didn't see any point in hiding this information, because we would be moving soon, and the neighborhood was pretty vast to find our apartment right away.
"Hmm... Amulets are silent... - The girl changed the configuration several times, frowning occasionally. - So, can you tell me what happened to you before this event?
"We fucked!" Enter the harlequin, who was bored again.
Eh, Harley is in her repertoire... Though that's when the system did the initiation of the seventh beginning.
"Hm... - The sorceress thought hard, muttering to herself under her nose. - Could it be... No, it's impossible... Although they are both crazy... And where they found the right person... I thought it was impossible... - Then the girl looked at us carefully and asked a question that put me in a bit of a stupor. - Who was the third?
How? That's how she figured it out?!
"Ivy, but for you, Pamela Isley. If you want to join, ask Mr. J, but know that I'm against your presence, even though you're beautiful. - The pretty blonde declared, her snub nose poking up.
"I didn't want to, and it wouldn't work if you didn't want it to. - The sorceress put the talismans back into the pouch. I got the feeling that she was a little unhappy with my assistant's words.
"And why wouldn't it work?" I asked the obvious question. - And can you actually tell me your conclusions?
"All these Satanist orgies started for a reason. During sex, auras are revealed and if one of the partners is magically gifted, and he really should have a lot of energy, he can, so to speak, "recharge" the other participants of the action. Of course, it can happen during ordinary sex, but you both got magic, so the conclusions are obvious.
Okay, so that's how I got the extra points in the seventh beginning, all I have to do is have sex with Ivy and Harley. Cool, ah ha ha ha! Coolest pumping ever. Eh, too bad Ivy's gone and who knows when she'll be back...
While I pondered, the enchantress continued.
"And it won't work, because there must be complete trust between all partners. And if I've heard about couples who pumped magic in such a way, I've heard about three people for the first time, although it is theoretically possible.
Holy crap, Ivy really likes me!
"Wait... Are you jealous?!" My charming companion stared at the enchantress with shock.
"You're imagining it. - Quinn squinted at the magician, who folded her arms across her chest as if trying to defend herself. - ... ... ... ... ... Okay, jealous. Happy? I'm strong and I can't completely trust a man, because he might just use me to get to the secret knowledge!
"Poor thing. - Harley moved closer to Zatanna, putting her arms around her. - It's so awful...
"I don't want other people's pity!" She pulled out of the embrace, pulling back the tailcoat.
~Boom~
The floor shook sensitively. Eh, as he knew that nothing could go quietly and peacefully, especially in the city of Superman.
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone