The Phantom Stranger is his guide to the past of the DC Universe, where he meets with many important figures of the past, including an Atlantean sorcerer who warns him away from magic, a young Merlin and Jason Blood prior to him being bonded to Etrigan, Zatara (father of modern-day hero Zatanna) and Sargon the Sorcerer, before being returned to the present. Tim is then passed over to John Constantine, who shows him the present world of magic, traveling to America to meet Madame Xanadu, the Spectre and his (then) host Jim Corrigan, Baron Winters and an adult Jason Blood. When the Trenchcoat Brigade discover that Tim is in imminent danger from the Cult of the Cold Flame, Constantine leaves the boy in the care of Zatanna while they face the cult in Calcutta. On Hallowe'en, Zatanna takes Tim to a club called Bewitched, a place populated by a number of villainous black magic users in the Vertigo/DC Universe. In an ill thought-out move, Zatanna seemingly breaks a cardinal rule of magic—not to reveal one's true name to possible enemies—when she introduces Tim to the club owner, Tannarak. Soon, the revelers start to attack Tim and Zatanna, and are stopped only by the reappearance of John Constantine. Despite blithely putting Tim in danger, Zatanna makes quite an impression on the young boy and comes to play an important role in his later life.