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Jason perused the pasta options in front of him, comparing the prices while Jay whined at him.
“I really think you should call him. He can help!”
Jason grunted a negative, risking looking down at little him who had his arms crossed, a determined look on his face, legs planted shoulder width apart despite the fact that the bottom of his blood-stained pixie boots were several inches above the blotchy linoleum of the grocery store floor. His pleading puppy eyes absolutely should not have been as cute as they were on a beat up kid in the tattered remains of a Robin uniform.
Jason sighed wishing he’d brought his headphones so at least he’d have the excuse of looking like he was on the phone instead of talking to himself like a crazy person. He wasn’t crazy, contrary to what he’d thought when the ghost had first shown up. Jay was in fact Jason’s own ghost, a piece of his soul stuck haunting his own body until Jason died.
“At least do it for Hanna,” Jay said, floating up between Jason and the shelf so he had to reach through the little shit to grab the box he wanted. He ignored the feeling of frost growing on his bones through long practice.
“If I do it will you shut up?” he hissed and Jay grinned, smile wide and bright as he bobbed slightly in the air. It was a stark contrast to the blood dripping from a gash on his forehead.
“Fine, I’ll call him, happy?"Jason muttered as he headed out of the aisle. An old lady looked at him in question but he ignored her and she thankfully went back to her own shopping without comment.
Jay cheered but stayed blessedly quiet for the rest of the trip. Instead, he bounced up and down, flickering from spot to spot in rough circle around Jason. The constant jerky movement was almost more annoying than the inessant chatter he couldn’t respond to.
Jay waved at every shade between the store and their apartment as usual. Jason could only sort of see them, appearing more as transparent shapes giving the suggestion of people. They were clearer if he looked at them from the corner of his eyes. As usual he resolutely ignored them and let Jay’s enthusiasm make up for his seeming indifference.
The moment the groceries were put away Jay glitched out of the kitchen area and appeared in front of the box of burner phones, hovering expectantly. Jason knew if the kid could touch anything in the living world he would be shoving the phone in Jason’s face.
With what felt like the thousandth sigh that day Jason walked over and pulled out a flip phone with a little piece of tape on it that just said “C” with a little star inscribed in a circle below the letter. He hit the first speed dial and prayed the man would be too busy to answer. Preferably he wasn’t even on this plane of existence and wouldn’t return for several more months. Even he knew his luck was never that good, little Jay next to him was proof enough of that.
“Hey love, please tell me this is a booty call.”
“Constantine,” Jason said, voice sounding far warmer than he intended. He refused to acknowledge how the man’s British baritone soothed a quiet anxiety in his chest. “I have never once called you just for a booty call.”
“A man can hope. It’s all about business with you?” Constantine’s pout could somehow be heard through the phone.
“I woke up this morning and my new toaster started talking to me.”
“You sure it was your toaster and not a hallucination from, I don’t know the ambient fear toxin in the air or something.”
“It’s called fear gas when it’s aerosoled,” Jason couldn’t stop himself from correcting, rolling his eyes. “And I am completely sure it was the toaster.”
“Be right there,” Constantine said and the line disconnected.
“Asshole,” Jason muttered glaring at the phone and snapping it shut. Constantine hadn’t bothered to give him an ETA which was rude even by the Brit’s standards. He dropped the phone into the box after a moment when it didn’t start ringing again, it seemed Constantine was feeling cryptic today.
“He’s coming here?” Jay asked, wide eyes filled with hope and a little awe.
“Apparently,” Jason said, still processing his surprise. Constantine had point blank refused to come within even a mile of Gotham for as long as Jason had known him. He claimed the city was cursed ‘to hell and back’ and being near it gave him indigestion. Given that Constantine had literally been to hell and back Jason called bullshit.
Jay cheered from his place above the couch at the news Constantine was finally coming for a visit. He flitted around the apartment. Moving from one spot to another without bothering to traverse the space in between. The sudden movements around the apartment made him twitchy with the inability to predict where the ghost would pop up next and Jason resolved to find a distraction before he lost his temper at the excited child.
He grabbed his book off the coffee table, but before he could even sit down his stomach dropped as if he’d missed a step on a staircase, his adrenaline spiking. Somehow the feeling was connected with a spot about two feet behind his couch. How a physical feeling could be associated with a location he didn’t understand but he’d come to accept these kinds of things since little Jay had shown up in his life.
He spun instinctively toward the wrongness, grabbing an emergency gun from under the coffee table and aiming it at the offensive area, now rippling slightly like air above the blacktop in summer. He rested his thumb on the safety knowing a run of the mill gun was unlikely to be of any use against something that could create this.
Suddenly the rippling air tore apart creating a ring around a tear in the fabric of their dimension. Constantine calmly stepped out and the hole snapped shut, the air rippling for a second before clearing and Jason’s stomach stopped swooping as abruptly as it had started. He locked his knees to stop himself from stumbling under the sudden change. His gun wavered slightly but stayed trained on the scowling magician.
“That’s a rather rude welcome. You’re the one who called me.”
Jason slowly lowered the gun and tucked it back into its holster, using the movement to disguise the calming breaths he needed to collect himself. Constantine was still standing in his living room when he stood back up. Jason took a moment to look the Brit over.
He looked put together, or at least as put together as Constantine got. His coat was clean and only a little frayed at the edge of the lapels and the cuffs of the sleeves. There was no fire damage to anything he was wearing and his suit was ill-fitting as always but the tie was done up properly and the shirt was a crisp white without a single stain in sight.
“Haven’t you ever heard of a door?” Jason grumbled.
“But that was so cool!” Jay said. Constantine whipped around to look at the ghost then did a double-take between him and Jason.
“Constantine, This is Jay,” Jason said.
“Hi!” Jay’s hand flickered back and forth from one position to another in the ghost version of an excited wave. Constantine took the kid in for another second before turning back to Jason.
“You are haunted by yourself? I thought your problem was a possessed toaster.”
“It can be both,” Jason said, shrugging. “Jay isn’t something I need your help with anyway. I’m used to him by now and I don’t need or want an exorcism.”
Constantine looked between them again, squinting slightly. “When did he first show up?”
“A couple of years ago. It doesn’t matter, I called you about my toaster.” Jason said, feeling oddly protective of baby him. He rarely interacted with living people who could see Jay and he did not appreciate the way Constantine was analyzing the two of them like there was something wrong with Jay’s existence.
“I saw you two months ago.”
“And?” Jason said, not seeing why this was a problem. He was already regretting calling Constantine, his initial happiness at seeing the man rapidly fading into annoyance.
“I can’t leave the city,” Jay said, crossing his arms. “I’m his spirit guide.”
Constantine’s eyes widened at the declaration. Jason had heard this explanation a thousand times since the ghost had shown up. He still had absolutely no idea what it meant and at this point didn’t particularly care either.
It clearly meant something to Constantine though, because he was speechless for several seconds, his mouth opening and closing as if to speak, but no words came out. He visibly collected himself and turned to Jason.
“Well that’s fascinating. It would have been nice to know literally any time before now. Bloody Hell,” Constantine said a little hoarsely.
“It’s not like he was ever relevant to anything we were doing,” Jason said. Constantine stared at him like he was an idiot for a second. before sighing.
“Just show me the damned toaster.”
Jason led him into the tiny kitchen area where the toaster sat innocuously in the middle of the counter. It was still plugged in with his morning toast, long since popped, still resting in the slots.
“That’s not a new toaster,” John said, pointing at it accusingly.
“It’s new to me.”
John gave him a withering glare that might have been more effective if he hadn’t seen the man attempt the same glare covered in exploded plant guts. The self-proclaimed magician then turned to the toaster, pointing at it and saying absolute gibberish.
The waves of gray fog rose from the toaster guts and formed into humanoid shape and sharpening as color bloomed into a young asian woman sitting on the counter next to the toaster. She looked over at Jason, clearly as surprised as he felt. Their eyes locked for a brief moment and Jason felt a wave of gratefulness in his chest, and a deep longing for something he had forgotten. Then she faded back into colorless smoke, retreating back into the toaster’s guts. The emotions faded with her.
Constantine said something but the words were meaningless for a moment before his brain got back with the present and he slammed back into his body, unaware he’d ever left it.
“What?” He asked.
“The good news is it isn’t a demon,” Constanting said, too focused on the toaster to notice Jason’s brief lapse.
“Of course it isn’t a demon! It’s Hanna.” Little Jay said. The kid had his arms crossed looking at Constantine like he had insulted Gotham itself. “I thought you were smart.”
“Why the hell did you call me if you already knew it wasn’t a demon?”
“Don’t look at me,” Jason said, holding his hands up in surrender. “The kid’s the one that insisted. “He’s an annoying little shit when he wants something. I, personally, was hoping you were busy.”
Constantine looked back at the kid, brow furrowing as he squinted as if he could somehow see into the inner workings of Jay’s mind. Jason could tell him that wouldn’t work from plenty of his own attempts. The kid was a constant wildcard.
Giving up, Constantine returned his attention to the offending toaster, reaching out and picking it up, turning this way and that and running his fingers over the exterior. He stopped when he reached a few small scratches on the rear of the toaster near the bottom.
“Was it haunted when you grabbed it?” Constantine directed the question to Jay.
“No,” Jason said. Constantine looked back at the toaster and hummed.
“Where does Hanna usually reside?”
“She lives here. She’s not always strong enough for me to notice, but Jay likes her and she’s polite when I do interact with her. I would prefer if you could fix this without hurting her.”
“Right,” Constantine muttered. Jason could tell the man was trying not to roll his eyes at Jason’s sentimentality. “It looks like this is a spell designed to tie a dead spirit to an inanimate object, in this case this toaster. It was done by a very powerful necromancer, even if they are an amateur and a bloody idiot.”
“What makes you say that,” Jason asks.
“It takes a lot of power to change a ghost’s locus. The area or thing they are tied to in death,” Constantine added when Jason just looked more confused. “Normally a spell like this should be targeted at a specific spirit this one isn’t, it just grabbed the first spirit it came in contact with. Frankly with the density of spirits here I’m surprised it only grabbed one.
“If it’s general to all spirits why didn’t it grab Jay?”
“I’m your Spirit Guide! We’ve been over this,” Jay said, clearly exasperated. Jason sighed, ignoring Jay and looking to Constantine for clarification where the man was focused on the toaster.
“What she said,” he said distractedly, sparing a hand to gesture at Jay before focusing back on the toaster. Jason elected to ignore the strange gendering choice and gave up any hope of Constantine being any use in answering why the title made any difference. Instead Jason grabbed the kettle from the other side of Constantine and started the process of making tea.
The motions soothed and distracted him from Constantine’s irritating muttering and Jay’s sulking in the corner. Clearly Jason had offended the kid somehow. Again. This happened every time the topic of Spirit Guides came up.
“So can you get Hanna out of the toaster?” Jason asked when the tea was done, handing Constantine a mug.
“Of course not.”
Then what the fuck have you been doing?” Jason said, throwing his free hand in the air. As annoyed as he was with Constantine he wasn’t worth spilling tea. Constantine finally turned away from the toaster to look at Jason.
“Onlly the necromancer who cast it can undo this spell. What I can do is find them. Their magic signature is all over this. Seriously, every element of this is overkill, the guy needed about a quarter of the power still residing in this thing. We better hope they’re friendly,” Constantine said with a glance at Jay who had stopped sulking and was now seated criss-cross hovering above the sink watching them like a particularly fascinating tv show.
“Jay can handle himself.” The kid had thoroughly demonstrated that through the years.
“Not what I’m worried about,” Constantine muttered, but contined before Jason could ask what the fuck that meant. “Let’s get this necromancer found.” Unceremoniously Constantine yanked the toaster’s plug from the wall and walked into the living area.
Half an hour later Jason was down one container of salt and his coffee table, but they were on their way through the streets of Crime Alley. Constantine led the way dangling a steel nut from a string tied around his pointer finger. The little tugs of the nut supposedly would lead them to the necromancer. based on past experience with Constantine Jason bet this had a fifty percent chance of actually working. A seventy five-percent chance it would take them to the necromancer, and a twenty five percent chance it would take them to some other necromancer or just a different be-spelled kitchen appliance.
Eventually they reached a chain-link fence. An empty playground stood on the other side, a large brick building beyond.
“That’s a school,” Constantine said.
“No shit. In fact it’s a middle school. Guess we’re coming back later, there’s only about two hours until they let out.” Jason said, feeling the resignation that this was not going to be resolved before patrol sinking into his bones.
“It’s creepy that you know when school lets out, mate,” Constantine said while winding up the string around his finger.
“Hey! Plenty of people know when school lets out!” Jason protested. Constantine gave him a look but let the subject drop.
“The necromancer is in there?” Jay popped into existence between them.
“Bloody hell!” Constantine said, jumping a foot in the air. Jason relaxed his muscles and released the knife he instinctively grabbed.
“Fucking hell. We’ve talked about this.”
“But it’s so fun! And almost no one can see me, I get to startle a whole new person!” Jay grinned at Jason delighted by their reactions.
“A Spirit Guide with a sense of humor. Of course it bloody Gotham, why wouldn’t it be.” Constantine muttered visibly still getting his breathing under control. He pulled a cigarette pack from his coat pocket, shaking one out into his hand. His motions were slightly blurred and wavy through Jay’s bobbing chest, but Jason continued to watch as the man put the cigarette in his mouth and lit it with a flame from his finger. He took a long drag and held it for a moment before blowing smoke out away from both him and little him. It was surprisingly polite for him.
“Come on, there’s a roof with some nice deck chairs a few blocks from here.” Jason turned away from Constantine and Jay and led the way out of the alley.
“Oh I love that place!” Jay said and popped back out of existence, presumably to head to the rooftop in question.
-
Jason and Constantine had gotten distracted on the roof, as usual and spent far more than the planned two hours on the roof. The sun was nearly fully set by the time the string led them to a small park. What little of it could be seen in the dim lighting of the few functioning street lights was free of trash and debris and well maintained despite the clear signs of age. Jason felt a small swell of pride at his community. Part of Red Hood’s agenda was a campaign to revitalize the parks and communal areas which had faced decades of neglect from the city.
On the other side of the park a child was sitting on the swings, rocking back and forth gently while chattering to a blurry shape of washed out blurry colors centered around the swing next to her.
“Mason!” Jay said from where he was trailing behind Jason and Constantine. Jason took another look around and recognized this as the park the tiny ghost inhabited. Jason had never seen him so clearly without Jay’s assistance. He was usually little more than a wisp of fog under the slide or in the empty sandbox.
The living kid looked over at them at the sound of Jay’s exclamation which was pretty solid evidence the girl was their necromancer. Jason and Constantine had been expecting an adult, but Jason had been around enough magic by now that he was only mildly surprised. Power could take any form, even that of a young child.
Constatine took a step forward, reaching into his pocket with his free hand and Jason grabbed his arm yanking him back to his side.
“Let me handle this,” he hissed. “We don’t need to escalate until we know more about the situation.”
“You can’t trust your senses.” Constantine pulled at Jason’s grip but Jason kept him firmly where he was. Carefully he reached into himself for any sense of evil, but there was nothing except the background hum of Gotham itself.
Before Jason could reply to Constantine Jay swooped between them, flying right through where they were connected. Jason ignored the freezing sensation with long practice, recognizing Jay’s admonishment for what it was. Constantine in turn gave a full body shudder.
“Hi!” Jay said as he reached the kid now hopping off the swing.
“See, fine,” Jason said when nothing further happened, gesturing at the two. The kid had paused, looking at Jay, her face tilting further into the light. She looked around twelve or thirteen which lined up with currently attending middle school.
Jason let go of Constantine, trusting the man would stay put for the moment. Then he stepped into the light of the nearest street light.
“Hello,” he said, keeping his hands loosely open at his sides, clearly empty. The girl glanced between him and Jay a few times, frowning.
“Can we come over there?” Jason gestured between himself and Constantine, now standing slightly behind him. The girl looked at Constantine for the first time and scrunched her nose in clear disgust.
“You can come over, but he has to stay by the slide, he stinks.”
“Oy!” Constantine looked supremely offended for a man who often stunk even to normal people.
“You heard her,” Jason said while Constantine spluttered. He started walking into the park, Constantine followed but obediently stayed at the slide about halfway across the park. He ended standing a few yards away from where Jay and the small necromancer were waiting at the swingset.
“I’m Red Hood, is there something you want me to call you?” Jason asked when he was level with Jay a few feet in front of the girl. She squinted at him for a moment considering. Her eyes flicked to Jay and back for a brief moment before she spoke.
“I’m May.”
“It’s nice to meet you May.”
“Am I in trouble?” She asked, more uncertain now that Jason was in her space. Not for the first time he regretted that his Red Hood uniform was designed to be intimidating, even without the helmet.
“You’re not in trouble,” Jason said. Constantine made an objecting noise behind him and he turned to glare. The magician shut up, at least the intimidation factor was useful for something tonight.
May looked between them dubiously, clearly she didn’t believe Red Hood.
“Ignore him,” Jason said, gesturing at Constantine. “You’re not in any trouble. We just wanted to ask a couple of questions about this toaster." Jason took his backpack off slowly and pulled his new toaster out. May watched him, perfectly still.
Jason held it out to show her the little inscription. May reached out and brushed the toaster with her fingers.
Hanna uncurled from the slots, resolving into a disorienting flickering afterimage in the shape of a petite woman standing next to the toaster. Jason got the impression of a kind smile and gentle amusement.
“Oh my God it worked!” May exclaimed, snatching the toaster from Jason’s hands. As she pulled the toaster toward her Hanna solidified into full color. She had none of the seethrough waviness of Jay or even the gray wispiness of any of the spirits Jason had spoken to with Jay’s help in the past. Constantine cursed loudly in British in the background but Jason ignored him.
“Hi! I’m May! What’s your name?” the tiny necromancer asked, completely focused on May.
“My name is Hannah,” the ghost said, only a faint whispered echo to suggest she was a ghost.
“Hanna lives with Jay and me,” Jason said. “She was pulled into the toaster when I brought it home yesterday. Can you tell me why you made the spell and left it incomplete in an alley?’
“How do you know I did it?” May turned to Jay, clutching the toaster to her chest and glaring mullishly. Jason elected not to point out her previous excitement about the spell working. He tried a different track.
“My friend over there is a magician and he can track magic signatures. Everyone who uses magic has a unique signature and he can find them and follow them to the caster.” Jason said when May only looked confused. “The magic on this toaster matches yours.”
May frowned looking between Jason and Constantine for a moment before sending a pleading glance to Jay and Hanna looking for help.
“You can trust him,” Jay said. “Promise!”
Jason failed to hide his surprise, Jay was rarely this helpful in dealing with ghosts, he generally left it to Jason to do his own persuasion.
“As I said, you’re not in any trouble,” Jason repeated. May looked down, kicking at the compacted dirt under the swings. Jason stayed quiet giving her the space to think it over.
“I just wanted a friend,” May said, still looking down. “I can talk to the ghosts on the street but they can’t move. Everyone treats me like I’m crazy, and I just wanted a friend who could travel with me and I could talk to whenever I wanted.” The park was silent for a long minute as everyone absorbed that information. Jason very carefully didn’t think through the implications of the future of a lonely middle schooler who just wanted to talk to the dead.
“You’re not crazy,” Jason said gently. May looked up at him, shoulders hunched but a little glimmer of hope on her face. Jason wondered how many people had ever said that to her. He doubted it was a large number, if any.
“Magic like this can be very dangerous,” Constantine said, showing more tact than Jason expected of him. He slowly crossed the few yards from the slide. May watched him warily but didn’t otherwise object.
“You need to learn how your magic works, and how to control it.”
“I know what I’m doing,” May said, a little of her fire coming back.
“You have the raw power, but there is so much more you can do with it. You need someone who can teach you what you are capable of.”
May stared at Constantine, frowning for a moment before turning to Jason eyes wide and pleading.
“Can you teach me then?”
“I don’t have magic like you. But there’s a community of people in the Alley who do have magic and will be able to teach you. I can introduce you to them.”
“But you do have magic!” May said, pointing accusingly at him. Jason looked over at the dead Robin floating next to him, blood forever congealed on the uniform that had gotten them killed for ever believing he could be magic.
“Not anymore," He said, failing to keep the pain out of his voice. May opened her mouth, clearly ready to argue but Constantine stepped between them.
“He’s not the same kind of magic,” he said. Jason frowned but was happy to let the magician say whatever he wanted if it would get her to drop the subject.
“But you’re the same!” May said, gesturing between Jason and Jay, “And you feel dead even though you’re alive!”
Jason failed to repress a flinch at the reminder. May glared at him for a moment before Jay touched her shoulder. She turned to face him. Their eyes met and they stared at each other. Jay went still in a way Jason had never seen. Even the wavy movements of his body seemed to freeze as if time had stopped just for the two of them.
As suddenly as the stillness had begun it broke. Jay went back to being made of swirling fog and started up his normal fidgeting. May shuddered gasping for a moment before turning to Jason before he had a chance to ask if she was okay.
“Okay,” She said, nodding decisively at Jason. “You don’t have to teach me. I can learn from your magic friends.”
The park was silent for a long moment while Jason tried to make sense of whatever had just happened. With a shake of his head he took a deep breath and let it go. This was just another quirk of little Jay that he would never understand.
“I can take you tomorrow after school,” Jason offered.
“That’s okay, I know where they are now,” May said. “I don’t need an introduction, she said they would welcome me without one.” She gestured at Jay and Jason glanced at him but the little shit just grinned at him, reveling in Jason’s confusion. He seemed completely unbothered by being misgendered for the second time that day.
“Thanks!” She said, turning to go.
“And Hanna?” Constantine cut in sharply before she could take more than a step. “She belongs with her tether; keeping her away will not end well for her or you.” He visibly struggled to keep his tone gentle and Jason was oddly proud of him, he had never known Constantine to have anything approaching tact.
“Okay, I guess,” May said and scraped her nail across the symbol on the back of the toaster creating a new scratch through the previous symbol. Without feeling a single physical sensation Jason’s ears popped and a shockwave burst from the toaster through his body and he knew with certainty that Hanna was back in his apartment.
“Bloody Hell, kid,” Constantine said, all tact once again gone.
“Do you want the toaster back?” May asked, unphased by the raw power she had just unleashed.
“Thanks,” Jason said, voice strangled as he accepted the offered kitchen appliance.
“By Mr. Magician and Jay! Thanks Jason!” May called as she practically skipped out of the park. Jason jolted at the use of his name, but was interrupted by Jay flickering into being in front of him at eye level.
“I like her!” He said. “But don’t worry, I still like you best.” Jason frowned in confusion before deciding to chock it up to his ghost’s general weirdness and letting the odd details fall from his mind.
“Right, that’s sorted. I guess I’l head back to my side of the pond.” Constantine said. Jason surprised himself by how much he wanted the man to stay. He hadn’t realized he’d missed real human contact until he faced the knowledge of losing it again.
“At least let me make you dinner,” he offered. “As payment if nothing else.”
Constantine stared at him for a long moment, a flash of surprise across his face quickly buried under the intense scrutiny.
“Fine, as payment. But it better be bloody good. And I’m staying for breakfast too.”
Jason grinned at the Brit’s grumpy acceptance. He led the way out of the park and back toward his apartment as Jay flickered in a rough circle around them. Quietly to himself he admitted that maybe calling Constantine had been a good idea, even if he would never admit it to Jay.