"The Bookstore has a magic shop?! We should go get our palms read!"
"Maps, please be a little quieter. And it's not a 'Magic store', it's just an extended section of the bookstore."

When Maps had got here, the first thing she saw before even allowing you to ask some things? The bright neon sign that hangs on the door through the glass window that reads "Madame Xanadu's Mysterious Wonders". Grabbing both Damian and yourself by the hand, and again pulling you inside the building that you had just left upon feeling the need to earlier. Part of that was to get Damian alone, but it was more action over brain thinking when you did that.

Being pulled in the bookstore, going from the streets cars and horns albeit quiet during this time of the day, from the cold outdoors. Inside where the warmth is like a blanket. The scent of old books and coffee, and a very faint sound of some acoustic guitar playing over one of the speakers from the cafe. There used to be a jukebox in there, volume always lowered of course. but it was removed after someone played 'Toxic' by Britney Spears eleven times in a row. You have reason to believe it was Tim, when you accidentally gave him decaf instead by mistake.

"Maps-! Slow down, you're going to break something." You exclaimed through a hushed tone, looking over to Damian who had his wrist being gripped just as tight as yours. Visibly uncomfortable, he turned over to share the same expression. Mostly confused, but knowing because after all, this is Maps.

"Possibly my wrist." Damian mutters, stopping in his tracks the moment Maps reaches the tapestry that separates the main Bookstore from Xanadue's small space in the shop. There used to be a door here, but ever since the incident way back when? She's been keeping a purple and magenta tapestry with intricate designs of some female deity that you can't exactly name. Not that you're an expert in any of this stuff, it's just lately you've been reading a lot of books and trying to figure out what that manuscript was about. No such luck, aside from expanding on your Latin just the smallest bit. Even then it's not such a big deal, when it's something anybody can do just by picking up one of the books you read. Some of it's just too confusing for you to even comprehend.

But then it just makes you think about all the things you heard your mother say over the phone that night. Questions like, who is Jason Blood? Who is Johanna Constantine? What is the house of Magic? For all you know, your answers really could be in this room.

The lights are extremely dim, a candle or two are lit. Safely, away from flammable things. considering your mother owns the building, you took a double glance at the flames just for safety measures. As the three of you walked through the pulled away tapestry, a couple chimes gently went off just loud enough for the woman who rents this side of the buildings attention.

Madame Xanadu in all her glory, thick black hair tied off behind her head, loosely having strands hang across over her shoulders. A burgundy ankle length dress with the collar that reaches below her collarbones, a black overlayer of what seemed to mimic a corset and a choker with a dangling pendant that reaches the crevice between her collarbones. She's wearing the usual bronze earrings that make you wonder how heavy they are, and the hair piece that extends to her forehead, letting a couple amethyst beads extend to her hairline, and one in the dead center of her forehead.

"Holy cow." Maps mumbles quietly, inhaling the scent of sage that runs over her sense along with several other herbs in the room. But it's mostly an overwhelming current of sage through the air that leads back to a small metal bowl next to an open window, with a burning smudge stick of white sage.

Damian notices the way that you're looking at some things in the room, and he can't help but let his eyes follow what you're looking at.

It's a skull?

He squints his eyes upon looking at it as it lays beneath a glass case, over some type of velvet padding. Maps makes her way around the room to look at candles, while you just stand off to the side staring at the glass case.

He takes a closer look, actually walking away from you and next to the case to further investigate what's gained your attention so quickly. And when he see's it closer? Yeah, he gets why this artifact has your mind in somewhat of a trance at the moment, trying to figure out what it is.

A small label reading 'Do not touch', as if the skull with three gem like eyes doesn't say that for it's self. A dark shade of crimson that glimmers an even brighter shade of magenta when light reflects off if, two gems for eyes in a place where eyes should be. But the third, is in between and placed higher in the middle of the forehead.

There's a couple cracks in the skull, but one thing he seems to notice completely is that there's almost a seam or hinge in it. Like it's supposed to...open?

"It looks oddly sinister." Damian says out loud to you, turning to give you a bored look. This is when your attention goes from the skull back to him, nodding in agreement.

"Yeah, it looks like a movie prop." You add, trying to shove off this weird feeling in your gut just from looking at it. Damian shifts to the side and makes room for you to stand next to him, crossing his arms while looking away from you. He still appears bored, but also somewhat confused. He's not exactly a hero that involves himself with magic. The entire concept is unfamiliar to him, but he knows that Magic has been used in the League of Assassins on multiple occasions. Hell, one could even argue that the Lazarus pit has some form of magical origin.

"Can you help me?" There's a voice coming from behind you, it's quiet and sounds childish. Like a little girl. You go to turn around, seeing Damian make no movement. Did he not hear it?

"(Y/n), please help me." There it is again, and you look at Damian as he just shifts his weight from one foot to another, unaware of the person behind you speaking.

Widening eyes, you turn around only to see nothing. There's nobody behind you. you're just staring back at the tapestry, eyes wide and dry. The female deity sewn into the fabric seems to mock you as you stare right at it. Like you've just been played for a fool-

"(Y/n)." Damian speaks, prodding his index finger into your shoulder. Turning to look at him, giving him a confused look.

"What are you staring at?" You look so dumbfounded, wide eyes, raised eyebrows, parted lips. The whole nine yards, just shocked. How the hell could he not have heard that?

"Just trying to figure out who that is, is all." You mumble, referring to the deity on the Tapestry.

"Ereshkigal." Damian answered for you, causing you to turn and look at him with a raised eyebrow, sticking your hands on your hips after pulling them out of your pockets. You gave him somewhat of a misbelieving smirk, like you were asking him to explain.

Damian squinted a bit before speaking, as if trying to remember something he was taught a long time ago. You know Damian isn't religious, but he was taught a lot about several cultures, not to mention all of the reading Tim said he does. You've seen Damian reading all kinds of things, so you can't really say that you're shocked he knows a thing or two about dietys. Especially when he's named after a word that is usually used to describe greek gods. Damianos , to Tame.

"I think a Mesopotamian-"

"-Of Darkness, Death and Gloom." Maps says loud enough for the two of you to hear, holding a book in her hands and reading from it. Both you and Damian turn to look at her, she just gives an awkward shrug.

"Kinda reminds me of your dad." She says in a deadpan, shrugging her shoulders again. You crack a small smile upon seeing Damian just roll his eyes. Both of you walking towards Maps, he pulls the book out of her hands and puts it back on the empty spot on the shelf.

"(Y/n)? Oh, is your mother in today?" You turn your head to the voice, it's Xanadu actually acknowledging the three of yours existence after possibly holding in silent laughter while watching Maps goof off, Damian attempt to apply science to all of this, and you just spacing off.

"Because I would like to speak with her about some issues regarding the ownership of the building." She reaches below the counter, and the three of you come closer to see what she's pulling out.

"Why has she sent me the deed for the store? She's told me countless times that it's yours to have when you're old enough." She adds, speaking softly yet formally as she hands you a stack of papers that look like they take too much time to even read. You just let your eyes go all the way down while flipping to the last page, your mother's signature.

"She sold the store?" You asked, looking at the number alongside her name. Maps peeked over and her jaw dropped, seeing just how much your mother was able to sell the store for.

"And everything in it, as well. Which includes the rent for the upstairs apartment." Damian said, taking the papers and looking at them. At least he could make sense of this, after all he's going to be the one taking over the Wayne Company someday.

"The future investments too," Damian says to you, pointing at a line in the third paragraph that clearly states, (How you can understand it), is that every investment your mother made in advance is going directly to Xanadu.

Damian didn't say this out loud to you, but he saw that all the money is being wired to a foreign offshore account.

"Thas' a lotta zeros, man." Maps quietly mumbled from behind Damian, eyes wide.

"Do you know how much chocolate you could buy with that?!"

The room goes Silent and Maps takes it as her que to awkwardly wander off to go look at the crystals and herbs again.

"Damian? Can I have a moment alone with Xanadue?" You ask him, reaching out for his hand to get the paperwork back. He complies, brushing his fingers against your hand when giving you the papers back. He knows you can't feel it, but he lets his fingers linger on your hand for a moment before giving you a soft look, walking away to go make sure Maps doesn't break anything.

Damian kind of understands it.

To put it into perspective, it would be the same as Bruce telling him that he's for sure going to get the company. Only for Bruce to sell it to someone else. Damian knows that is not going to ever happen, but the closest thing to anything like that happening would be for Tim to get the company instead of Damian. So yeah, if you're a little upset over losing the bookstore? Damian would get why. So when you asked him to give you and Xanadue a moment, he left. And he knows you're a mature person, so it's not like he'd have to hold you back and keep you from threatening someone who you might view as trampling all over a family business.

You wait for Damian to leave before talking. Seeing him with his back turned and reaching up on higher shelves to get Maps something she's pointing at, because she can't reach.

"Did my mother tell you anything?"
"Only that you, her and Laura are leaving." She answers in a stern voice. But she can't keep it up, knowing none of this is your fault. Her eyes go soft, as if she feels bad for you.

"The store will still go to you, I'll make sure of it. I know that this place has been in your family for generations, I wouldn't take that away from you-"

"-They're all liars. I don't care what you do with the store!" Your voice is loud, a yell. But it doesn't reach where Maps and Damian have wandered off to. Slamming your open palms on the desk, paper in hand.

"I'm going to be having none of that here, your grandfather was a good man and ran this store just as his own mother and father did. You can't blame your entire family for a few things (m/n) is trying to prevent." She leaning across the desk and staring at you with the most unmoving facial expression ever. Eyes narrowed into a stern glare, and you could swear you feel some type of warm energy flowing through the air just as she gets more irritated.

In other words? You'd rather get the 'Bat-Glare' than have this.

"I'm sorry, I also wanted to apologize for what I did a couple months back. I had no right to get angry like I did, sorry." You said nervously, looking away and rubbing the back of your neck before removing them from the glass table.

"Well, considering your situation." She looks you down, the bandages on your legs growing loose. the dark purple bruising that's only slowly fading away on your wrists. Your eyes irritated and red.

"You're forgiven." She says, lips just barely twitching upwards. It's not really a smile, but it's close enough. The dim light in the room only adds an emphasis in the creases in her dark skin, yeah she might just be smiling.

"Thanks." You return the look, placing your hands behind yourself and resting them on the small of your straightened back. You looked beyond Madame Xanadue outside of the window, looking right through the smoke leaving the smudge stick.

There she is. Throat drying out and tightening, taking a step back out of fear, one of your hands darts up and reaches for your chest. Staring through the smoke, there she is.

There's a little girl just standing there, staring at you.

Her face looks badly burned, and as far as you can tell? She there's only empty sockets where her eyes should be. A thick viscous black liquid only takes the empty space there, skin as black as chackle through the smoke. She's wearing a white nightgown covered in soot, her left arm hangs limp by her side, whereas her right stops at the elbow. Like it's been torn off, still bleeding.

"The cult is waiting." When she speaks it sounds like there's more than one person talking. Your free hand goes to clutch your mouth as you feel your stomach churning. Nausea.

"(Y/n)?" Madame Xanadue says, snapping you away from the girl in the window.

She's gone when you look back.

Madame Xanadue turns around to look at what caught your attention, only to see a small bird perching on the windowsill next to the burning smudge stick. Sighing in relief, she says you should probably get back to your friends.

"Yeah, I'll do that." You mumble quietly, but she reaches out and gently takes hold of your arm before you have the chance to walk away.

"Go find a quartz, will you? Bring it back here when you find a good one." She says, before letting go of your arm, a peaceful look on her face. Slowly nodding, this is when you actually go back to Damian and Maps, at the large wall of rocks and crystals.

You feel ominously cold while walking away from where the window is, and it feels like someone is glaring at you. Shivering at the thought, you appear behind Damian and Maps. Both teens turning around to give you knowing looks. If only they actually knew.

"Xanadu said I can keep one, and since you seem to know all the best ones," Trailing off for Maps to let her mind finish, smiling widely she stands on one of the lower shelves instead of asking for Damian's help to reach for one of the smaller crystals.

"Are you okay?" Damian asked, hands in pockets and hair in his face. you only give him an off look before standing on the tips of your toes. He gives you an odd look, but your fingers go through his bangs and push his dark hair back. Feeling your nails scratching against his scalp, he closes his eyes for a moment and opens them again when you stand on the flat of your feet once again.

"Can't exactly do that when you have gel in your hair, it's really soft Damian." You state with a fond smile, letting your hands fall to your sides. The dark bruises just an inch on the inside of the sleeves of your black coat. Hiding away, but still visible from Damian's point of view.

"You can't feel anything in your hands." He replies, a dull look in his eyes while his lips just part slightly. He just wants to mess his hair up again if it means you'll run your fingers through it.

"Correction, I can't feel anything in my fingers and halfway through my palm." You retort with a smirk, pushing some of your hair back behind your shoulder. In doing so, making the collar of your coat uneven. Popping one side up while the other remains down.

"Mind if i interrupt your awkward flirting? Because I found a good one." Maps exclaims, shoving her hand between both you and Damian with an open palm, revealing a clear quartz crystal that has teal flecks on the inside.

"We weren't-" Damian starts, red growing in his ears and heat flooding his face, staggering back a bit and giving Maps a irritated expression, knitted eyebrows and parted lips.

"That's really pretty, thanks for helping Maps." You said calmly, letting her hold onto it before putting it in your right palm. Holding it between both your hands to keep it from falling to the floor. You give her a closed eyed smile, and she only returned the favor by pumping her fist in the air and announcing something about how rocks are neato.

"I just need to run this over to the counter, it'll only take a moment." You say quickly, but Damian has something to say about it.

Reaching out for your arm and yanking you back, since you had already started walking, you nearly fell all the way backwards. but Damian placed his hand on the small of your back while his other was securely on your shoulder. Pulling you back slowly, so you don't fall on the ground or him.

"I think Maps can do it." He said in a deadpan tone. To which Maps raised an eyebrow and spoke up, "I can?" She replied, Damian nodded his head before speaking again.

"I want to talk to you for a moment," He says loud enough for Maps to hear, she understands this is probably Robin stuff so she doesn't ask. Walks over, taking the clear quartz from your hands and running it to the counter herself. Probably talking about Xanadu about all the types of books and everything else in the store too.

"Alone." He finished, voice quiet and his lips close to your ear. Feeling his hot breath on the shell of your ear only made you hold in your breath for a moment, just waiting for the next thing.

You slowly nod your head, completely aware of the fact Damian's caught onto something by now.

"Alright, you have me. What is it?" You ask, but he doesn't tell you right there. He's leading you out of this section of the bookstore, but he doesn't exactly know this place. As well as you do, obviously.

"Is there any place quiet we can go, that isn't outside in the cold?" He said, looking around the bookstore with somewhat of an interrogating look. Biting down on his bottom lip, before turning back to you.

"Y-Yeah just follow me."