Sell you a Bridge chapter 273

June 7th 2016 The Nightside 8:00 PM EDT

Leaving the Arcadia Project was rough. Even the absence of the joy and  contentment felt like pain and there was a massive come down once we  stepped back into the alley. I saw Zee subtly wipe away a tear as we all  felt the weight of the world crash back down on our shoulders, and I  felt for her. Still, rather than be depressed or upset, I was just  nostalgic. Even the memories I'd made in the Arcadia Project were free  from darkness and pain, so they weren't having a negative impact on me.

We  all remained quiet as we made our way back to Julian's place, and when  we arrived we quietly bid each other goodnight and headed upstairs to  bed. We didn't go right to sleep, but climbed into bed anyway, Zee and  Drea cuddling up to me, as exhausted as I was. Despite having done  almost nothing throughout the trip, we were all wiped out. It was tiring  being in a heightened emotional state for literal hours on end, even if  it was a happy one. Even my vitality didn't seem to be enough to ward  off the exhaustion.

Still, i didn't go to bed right away, I  looked down at Zee. "So...did it help?" It was obvious in retrospect,  hell it had been obvious beforehand, that Sindella had arranged the trip  as a sort of extended deep dive therapy session. Her insistence on  talking to all of us one by one made it clear she'd been doing her best  to feel out where Zee at least was mentally and try to help her move  past the pain she'd been put through. She'd at least tried to avoid  being too obvious and focusing exclusively on her daughter, but it  wasn't hard to guess her motives.

I liked her even better  for it. It was the sort of thing my mom would have done if she'd had the  chance. Hell, she'd even tried to help me, even if she'd been more  subtle about it. Looking back it was obvious she baited me into talking  about the aftermath of our trip. Sindella was a sweet lady with a good  heart. I was glad for Zee to have her back, she deserved a parent who  wasn't a controlling despotic asshat. Not that she even had that one  left anymore. Someone really did need to do something about Doctor Fake.

Zee's  expression was...radiant. It warmed heart to see how content she  looked. She nuzzled into my side, Staring into Drea's eyes as our  goddess rested her head on my chest. I played with both of their hair  gently. When she finally answered, her tone was almost reverent. "That  was...the perfect day. The people I love most, my mother back, that  beautiful place. This is the best day I've ever had in my life. I've  never had memories I treasure this much. My only small bit of regret is  that Morana wasn't there to share this with us. She would have adored  it."

I let out a long sigh. I'd had that thought myself. I  wished we could have brought her. "If we ever have the chance to come  back, maybe we can arrange for her to visit that place. Hell, maybe  there are other entrances. It's a pocket dimension or something, so it  wouldn't be too weird for it to have access points both here and in  greater London. We should look into who the Arcadia Project belongs to.  Your mom seemed to know them pretty well, maybe she can introduce us. Or  worst case we can just have Jim help us break in."

She  burst out laughing. "Can someone steal peace of mind? Though I guess if  they could Jim would be the first person I would expect to pull it off.  Maybe John could help us find it from the London side. John the elder I  mean, not Junior." I found it sweet that she called him John when I just  thought of him as Taylor. She was obviously looking at him in a  somewhat parental light. Not as a father figure, but maybe some kind of  uncle. Though his obvious crush on her mother was clearly going to make  that awkward.

I was deeply glad I wasn't Taylor,  personally. Suzie scared me shitless, and I couldn't imagine dealing  with her jealous, which she definitely was. The only minor saving grace  was Sindella still being married technically, but somehow I didn't  expect that situation to continue once she heard everything Giovanni had  been upto in her absence. Rapunzel-ing their kid tends to be something  most loving mothers frown upon. Granted most things weren't that simple,  but I didn't imagine she would be happy with things at the very least.  Best case scenario ol' Gio had some serious groveling to do.

I  looked down at Drea. "How about you? Did you have a nice time? I know  you're much more at peace and self actualized and all that shit, but at  the very least it was incredibly pretty there. I hope you at least  enjoyed the scenery even if, as the most well adjusted of us, you didn't  actually need the place for a therapy blitz."

She smirked  at me. "Just because I'm 'self actualized and shit' doesn't mean peace  isn't a balm for my wounded soul Morgan. I have plenty of traumas and  that place is a powerful tonic. It was a wonderful experience, and I had  quite a nice discussion with Sindella. As did Artemis, and surprisingly  Wally. Apparently Sindella knew his Uncle before she died. She was a  big fan of his, and enjoyed getting to know Wally. Speaking of our  redheaded cohort, he seems much more relaxed and at peace than before.  He'd been slowly getting more unhappy during our time here, but with  this visit the stress seems to have been wiped away."

That  had been one of the first things I'd noticed when we came out actually.  Wally seemed overjoyed. He'd been on a hair trigger since he got here,  unusually quiet most of the time, and far more serious than I was used  to seeing him. Wally had accepted there was grey in the world, but the  Nightside was worse than grey, it was pretty much charcoal. I truly  believe he would have tried to do something about it, if not for the  knowledge that A the local government forbid it, B he couldn't handle a  full scale assault from all sides, and C, if he went down he would drag  Artemis with him, as well as stop me from finding my cousin and her from  finding her friend.

Wally loved Artemis far too much to  do that to her, so he'd been tearing himself apart ignoring all the  things we'd seen, though to be fair I was pretty sure Taylor had been  subtly helping us avoid the worst of it. Still, for someone who was  raised with the kind of morality Wally was, it was a tough pill to  swallow. Luckily I'd seen enough of his aura to know he hadn't just  inherited staunch moral superiority from his mentor, he'd also inherited  kindness. The Flash was well known for being the lightest of the League  when it came to dealing with his rogues, and that tolerance was what  was allowing Wally to even function in this situation.

So  the Arcadian Project had come at the perfect time, helping him put  everything in perspective and healing the wounds and strain on his heart  and psyche. It wouldn't completely fix him, but at the very least it  would buy us time before he was damaged in a way he might not recover  from. Honestly, seeing the change in him just highlighted how bad it had  been before, and it gave me one more thing to worry about. I'd have to  keep an eye on him going forward, though I was pretty sure Artemis was  already on that. She was even better at reading people than I was (at  least without aura sight) so there was no way she'd missed all that.

I  let out a loud sigh. "Well, at the very least we got some time off. We  have the eye now, so tomorrow Jim can start scouting out Griffin Hall,  and once he has a layout of the wards he and Zee can start work on  cracking them." I looked down at my girlfriend, already starting to look  sleepily cute as she fought to keep her eyes open. "What are we looking  at for a timeline on that baby? I know you haven't seen them so you  can't really say, but just ballpark it for me. Best guess on the  turnaround."

She nuzzled into me, shrugging. "Impossible  to say." She let out a long yawn. "I'm sure Jim will be able to make  good time. Wards are what he does. I'll help as well as possible, but  he's the expert, as we saw back on the moon." She let out a frustrated  sigh, pouting cutely. "Honestly, I just don't have the time to do  everything. There are so many branches of magic to learn. Ward cracking  is useful, but I just don't have the time for it, especially given Jim  already knows more about it that I could learn in twenty years."

I  burst out laughing. "Poor Zatanna, she has so much powerful magic at  her fingertips she doesn't know what to do with it all. Any other  complaints? Should I hold back more in bed? I bet the sex is too good." I  made sure my teasing tone was obviously teasing, but her pout  intensified anyway.

Her  offended snort was exaggerated as she turned her head away in  annoyance. "Sure. The sex is way too much for me. I need a break. How  about a month. Drea and I will both take some time off and you can  handle it yourself." I put on a faux horrified expression and pulled her  face over to kiss her soundly. She melted against me without any  resistance, making it clear she'd been playing around.

When  she pulled back she was flushed and her pupils were blown wide, but she  shook off the distraction, giving me a look promising we would pick  this up later. "Anyway. Yes, there are far too many types of magic to  learn. I've managed to kind of cheat by specializing in rituals though.  Ritual magic is a fascinating field because it uses principles from any  other school of magic to create structured effects without necessarily  needing to be able to cast them yourself. Unfortunately the knowledge  base required for that is staggering. Without my intelligence stat  boosting my recall and learning speed I'd have no hope of making real  progress."

I  hadn't known it made that much of a difference, though I supposed  quantifiable intelligence at least ten times higher than a normal person  had to do SOMETHING. But that left me with a question. "If you're  specialized in rituals then why do you spend so much time studying void  magic? You dedicate hours of time every day you have available to that  grimoire. Isn't that kind of ignoring your roots?"

Zee's  face lit up in a way that only happened when she was excited and wanted  to share. "Because I'm not studying void SPELLS. I'm studying void  structures. Void magic's ability to operate in multiple dimensions  simultaneously is unparalleled. Learning to construct rituals on several  layers of reality allows me to refine my rituals to a level that other  casters can't. These principles already exist, obviously, but they've  been baked into most rituals at the core because normal magic users have  no way to mess with them. It's the difference between learning to use a  bunch of expensive programs and how to code things yourself."

She  continued talking, filling me in on all the amazing aspects of void  magic and how it related to her specialty. I shared a warm smile with  Drea, who found this side of her as adorable as I did, and we both  settled in to listen. In all honesty I didn't care that much about what  she was talking about, but I did my best to listen for her sake.  Besides, magic trivia is a great sleep aid. She was still talking when I  drifted off.