"He did," Dylan confirms, nodding. Another pause follows, as he tries to find the most direct route through the next part of this summary of his father's life and death, and then he tries, "It was his life, too. And then some human magic debunker named Thaddeus Bradley went and fucked it all up.

"He exposed Lionel's tricks -- or though he did, anyway. Bradley gave away what he thought were the secrets behind what he did, and while it was bullshit, Lionel couldn't exactly defend himself." Not without giving away the fact that real magic's was a thing, if people even believed that in the first place. He knows how easy it is for humans to just write things off, albeit probably if only so their heads don't explode. He really doesn't blame them.

"It took Shrike a couple years, but finally, he thought he figured it out," he continues, once he gets a handle on the wash of feelings tied to -- all of this, really. "He planned a big comeback, came up with a big trick that would put him back in the spotlight -- something that Bradley couldn't disprove or whatever.

"It would've been great, if it hadn't gone south. He drown in a safe at the bottom of the East River."