Chapter 2

Who are They

Raven placed the box in a chest she kept in the back of her closet. The things she kept locked inside of it were among some of the darkest secrets she'd ever known. Most of which would never again see the light of day. Robin stood at the doorway waiting for her to lock them away, knowing the things she kept there were better left forgotten and never asked about them.

When Raven emerged from the closet she placed the key in a drawer that had a false bottom. Robin knew of the drawer's hidden secret, though his knowing was purely by accident. He'd been looking for where she'd stashed his communicator after a little argument they'd had about him not taking time off from work. So, to teach him a lesson she stole his communicator while he was in the shower and hid it in the last place he'd look; his bed. However, Robin thought she'd hid it somewhere in her room, thinking he would never go through her things without her knowing (wrong) and stumbled on the false bottom by mistake.

Raven of course being as clever as she was knew right away what he'd done, but given the circumstances couldn't really be all that angry with him. However she never told Robin where his communicator was and he found it a month later when he finally slept in his own bed. It was quirks like that that made their relationship interesting though. The fact that they knew each other so well, yet still found ways to surprise one another. They found moments like that refreshing and adventurous.

Raven looked at Robin after reinforcing the false bottom. She could see he still wasn't going to let their passed conversation go as he said, "So I guess we're not telling the team then?"

Raven sighed and sat down on her bed. She didn't want to deal with the repercussions and what they might think. She didn't want them getting involved in her relationship or asking questions about it.

"You know why we can't tell them."

"Raven, Starfire can handle it. She's stronger then you give her credit for," Robin replied.

"Robin it's not that simple."

"Rae, Star and I broke up two years ago. It's over between us."

"She's still in love with you." Raven sighed in frustration not meaning to let something so personal slip.

Before Robin could respond, a loud piercing scream could be heard as it cut through the silence.

"Starfire," Robin gasped as the two ran out of the room and down the hall.

When they reached her room they swung the door open to find it empty, but then heard another scream come from the bathroom followed by a plea for help. Robin burst through the door followed by Raven who carried a look of worry on her face.

"Starfire, what's the matter, what's wrong?" Robin shouted.

"There! In the sink!" The frantic girl screamed.

Raven tried to calm the alien girl down as Robin approached the sink with caution, unsure of what he would find. For a moment the only sound that could be heard was the faucet running. Starfire had finally stopped screaming, which Raven's ears were grateful for, but the mystery of what was in the sink still held her anticipation. Once Robin reached the sink he slowly leaned over and peered in. And to his surprise he found something unusual.

"Star, that's a beetle."

"A beetle!" Raven hissed in frustration.

"That creature is most awful!" Starfire shouted in disgust. "You must dispose of it at once."

"For real?" Raven questioned shooting Robin a look of annoyance. She was grateful that her friend was not in any real danger, but the fact that she was caring on about a simple beetle made Raven's eyes roll in disapproval. Especially because Starfire fought things far more frightening than an insect on a daily basis. So to see her lose it over something that could be defeated by the sole of ones shoe seemed rather ridiculous.

"Star it's fine I'll take it outside," Robin said.

Just then the other three Titans came barreling into the room.

"What happened?" Cyborg asked with worry as the other two looked curious for answers.

"Princess Starry Eye here just found a bug," Raven said brushing off the incident with her usual dry sense of humor.

"Holy shit I thought someone was being slaughtered back here," Beast Boy sighed in relief. "I thought we might have another Wicked Scary on our hands."

"Yeah, well you can't believe everything that happens in the movies," Raven interjected.

"Yeah Rae, you just keep telling yourself that, but I'm not the one who recreated the entire movie."

Shit, I forgot about that, Raven thought, but recovered quickly by telling Beast Boy she would do it again if he didn't shut up.

While this banter was going on Terra approached the sink to see what the big deal was. She looked into the porcelain bowl to find a sleek, black beetle of great size, with six jagged legs and a slightly furry under belly. In the background the sound of her teammates could be heard discussing what should be done with it. She looked down at its head where two sinisterly sharp pinchers could be found. There was something eerie about, something almost unreal that pulled at her subconsciously. She slowly reached down with the beetle in her sights and took it in her hand.

"… So I'm gonna take it outside and let it…"

"Ouch!" Terra screamed causing the other Titans to look in her direction as she threw the beetle down and crushed it under her boot.

"Go," Robin said finishing his sentence out of irony.

"Ah! That damn thing bit me!" Terra scuffed, pulling her foot off of the crushed insect's corpse, a trail of guts and other unmentionables clinging to the bottom of her boot. The gruesome sight causing the others to bear a look of disgust on their faces.

"Nice," Raven muttered dryly and left the room, mutter on as she did so. "Well on that note, I'm gonna go try and repress everything I just saw here today."

Robin tried to follow her, but before he could make it out of the room he felt the death grip of his ex-girlfriend smothering the life out of him.

"Oh, thank you Robin!"

"For what, I didn't do anything." Robin managed through what little breath he had.

"Don't be foolish," Starfire squealed. "I requested your assistance and you came to destroy that awful creature."

While this was taking place Beast Boy was examining Terra's beetle bite.

"You ok, Terra?" He asked taking care not to touch the tiny wound. Though it wasn't deep or serious, it still possessed a painful appearance. Its razor sharp pinchers had broken the skin causing it to bleed lightly. At this discovery he turned on the faucet and reached for a wash cloth. "This might sting a bit," he warned motioning the cloth toward Terra's hand.

"On second thought, I think I'll just take care of it myself," The thin blond said with a hint of hesitation in her voice.

Beast Boy looked puzzled and questioned why the girl looked fearful of having him clean the bite. "Terra I'm sure it's not gonna be that bad."

Still she waved her hand in revolt and insisted that she would do it herself and left the room in a hurry. Cyborg looked at the green boy with a shrug as they both wondering what all the fuss was about.

Meanwhile Raven had finally reached the peace of her room and closed the door tightly behind her. By this time her tea had become lukewarm at best and her patience had been tested far beyond its limits. She found Starfire's outburst childish and irrational, not to mention Terra's brutal bug murder disgusting and disturbing. Not that she thought Terra to be cruel for doing it, but more so that she didn't need to see it.

Raven approached her bookcase and pulled out a large book, bounded in dark leather. Sitting down on her bed she began turning the pages looking for answers to the mysterious box. The old book was heavy and its dried leather face wore the age of wisdom. Its pages were discolored and delicate, threatening to tear under the greatest of ease. The inked words were written in an old tongue that most wouldn't recognize as Latin.

Raven was actually quite fluent in Latin as well as several other dead languages such as ostrogothic, Koiné, Celtiberian, Old Norse, and Mysian. Languages were something Raven had always been quite good at. Even as a child in Azarath she spent most of her days learning different languages from the world of her mother. Taking in all the different characteristics and structures of each individual language, but Latin was by far her favorite. She even became quite familiar with other Latin based languages, like French and Italian. Including older variations of the languages like old French and English. However, none of these languages resembled the words that had been carved into the box. This troubled Raven a bit. Not only did she not have any knowledge of what the box possibly contained, but she didn't even know what it was.

She began flipping through the pages looking for anything that could possibly hold answers to her many questions. After about an hour she closed the old book and placed it back on the shelf then moved to her desk. A few moments later she found herself rummaging through an old drawer till her fingers felt the requested object resting at their tips. She pulled out an old piece of charcoal, followed by some loose sheets of paper. It was then Raven opened the drawer that contained the false bottom and pulled it free to retrieve the key. With all the objects in hand she entered her closet and opened the chest. She looked down at the old relic, its evil pouring out of the chest where it had been somewhat contained. With cautious hands she reached down and took the box in her grasp and placed it on the floor. All the while thinking of how much she hated touching it, feeling its sinister aura invading her own, almost making her sick.

Once the box was free from her hands she placed a piece of paper over the top, and began to rub the charcoal over it, creating a rough looking replica of the mysterious words on the white sheet. She continued this action with a fresh sheet on every side until all the words had been replicated.

After this task was complete, she placed the horrid box back in its cage and locked it in the dark where it belonged. Once again placing the key under the false bottom to insure her secrets remained hidden. She placed the papers on the desk and took out a new book hoping to find some sort of starting point for her search. Hours began to roll by and still nothing tangible revealed itself. She began to rub her temples in frustration. She couldn't believe after the amount of time she'd spent researching that she had absolutely nothing to go on.

Reaching for her mug she once again found herself aggravated that she was fresh out of tea. In retaliation she groaned and began to stretch, her muscles protesting and hesitant to release themselves. She soon heard a knock at her door and with a light flip of her wrist the door pulled open revealing her masked lover standing in the entryway.

"You look tired."

"Yeah that's what happens when you run out of tea." Raven responded wittily. "Mind getting me a refill?"

"How about I do you one better," Robin smirked and entered the room. "How about I take you out to your favorite café?"

Raven paused a moment and thought of the request. She knew that she should probably stay in and keep up the research, but she also knew that she was far too burnt out to keep reading. She looked down at the pages in front of her, which were becoming a bit blurred as her eyes struggled to adjust.

"That's probably a good idea, I'll get changed."

Raven watched a smile pull across Robin's face as he left to get ready. Once the door was closed, Raven slipped out of her uniform and pulled out a torn pair of jeans. She also pulled out a pair of fishnet stockings and slipped them on in an attempt to stay warm. The fall in Jump City was mostly a continuation of summer, but it cooled down a bit more at night. Once she finished pulling on her stockings she followed with her jeans. Finally she put on a black sweater and tied a purple scarf around her neck. As she was loosely tying her black combat boots she heard Robin knock at the door. Once again she opened it with her black energy then grabbed her black vintages style coat to meet him in the hall.

"You look great." Robin said after checking to make sure none of the others were around to hear his compliment.

Raven smiled and thanked him as she shut the door behind her. The two walked down the hallway side by side until they reached the main room. Raven hated moments like this. One, because she knew Robin wanted their relationship known yet he was forced to hide it. She too didn't like lying to her friends, but couldn't help but avoid the conflict.

"Hey guys, where you off to?" Questioned a lazy Beast Boy, who didn't look away from the TV.

"Just out for coffee." Robin said brushing off the question and continued to move toward the front door.

"Cool."

Once the two reached the door, Robin reached out for the handle, but before he could place his hands on the nob the door flew open to reveal a pink haired girl standing in the doorway.

"Hey love Birds, what's going on?"

"Jinx, what brings you to this neck of woods?" Raven asked in surprise to find the young sorceress at her door. Ever since Jinx left the Hive she'd become quite the ally, not only to the Titans, but also to Raven. "I thought you were in Blue Valley with Kid Flash?"

"I was," the pink haired girl said with a sly tone, "but I got tired of that one cow town."

"So what are you doing here?" Robin asked.

"We invited her." A voice said as Terra had emerged from her room where she'd been hiding for most of the day.

Raven looked at Jinx with question. It was strange for Jinx and Terra to spend time together. Not that she and Raven were even the best of friends, but they shared a certain understanding and Terra was part of that understanding.

"You two leaving so soon?" Jinx questioned in a playful manner.

"We're going to get coffee." Raven responded in annoyance.

"Oh, so that's what you call it."

Raven shot Jinx another look, but this one said far more than the previous one.

"You really need to lighten up," Jinx said in a dull tone. "Have fun with your coffee."

Raven shook her head and remained silent as she and Robin walked out of the room, leaving the three Titans behind.

Once Raven and Robin were no longer in ear shot Jinx turned to the group and said in a mischievous voice, "So are you guys ready to start?"

333

When Raven and Robin reached the garage they found a consumed Cyborg intently working on his car. Raven decided to take the opportunity and ask him if he wouldn't mind reviewing the surveillance footage to see if anything could be found to reveal who left the box. Cyborg smiled and said he would do it first thing in the morning. Raven returned the smile as she got on Robin's civilian motorcycle, (the one he only rode without his mask.)

Back inside the tower, Jinx was busy having Starfire and Terra light candles that smelled of herbs and oils while she set down a heavy wooden board that was much older than her. It was what most people knew of as a Ouija board. Its old letters had been carved into it alongside the images of the sun and the moon which represented the opposition between light and dark. Once all the candles were in place and the board was prepared, Jinx had Beast Boy turn the lights out. While everyone sat down in a circle she told the three teens to be as quiet as possible.

This was something these few Titans had been dying to do for a long while. But with Raven hell bent against the use of a Ouija board, the opportunity hardly ever presented itself. Not to mention Robin and Cyborg would also never approve and frowned upon the idea, especially because Raven felt it was dangerous.

A few moments went by and Beast Boy was finally able to stop himself from giggling as he could hardly even take the situation seriously. Jinx then began to ask a few basic questions.

"Ouija, Ouija, Ouija, is there anyone out there who would like to speak to us?" The four looked down at the dial, but it remained still. "Don't be shy, we are willing to listen."

A few moments later their fingers began to glide along the letters and numbers until the word hello was spelled.

"This is such bullshit," Terra snapped.

"Shut up," Jinx demanded and began to ask another question. "I apologize for my friend, are you still there?"

The dial slid and landed on yes while Beast Boy tried to hold back his laughter.

"Do you have a name?" The dial began to spell out a word and Jinx called out the letters aloud, "M, A, Y, B, E. Maybe. What does that mean?". Once again the dial continued to move and spelled, "I'm not telling you."

"Creepy." Beast Boy said as the others nodded in agreement.

Once again Jinx told them to be quiet and to be "respectful" to the spirit then asked another question. "Are you a good spirit?" The dial once again moved, but this time it spelled out a very long arrangement that Jinx was able to untangle as, "Who said there is only one of us."

"Beast Boy is right; this is of the creepy." Starfire squealed, causing the others to jump in surprise.

Jinx began to feel a little uneasy, but composed herself and continued with another question. "How many of you are there?" The dial moved and responded with 3. "Are you from the sun or the moon?" The dial once again began to spell out a word that Jinx read aloud. "N, E, I, T, H, E, R, Neither. Then where are you from?" Jinx again read the letters aloud as Beast Boy recorded them on a piece of paper. "The pit? You came from a pit?"

"No," the dial pointed, "The Pit"

"Are you… evil?"

The dial didn't move as the four remained quiet and still waiting for a response. Just then, a glass broke causing the teens jump in fear.

"What the hell was that?" Beast Boy cried out.

"Friend Jinx, make it stop please." Starfire pleaded.

"Ok, alright, I'm going to close out the board." But when Jinx tried to pull the dial down to "goodbye," it kept moving to "no".

"Jinx quit it, just close out the damn board already." Beast boy demanded, but noticed the look of worry on the young sorceresses' face as she said, "I can't, the sprite won't let me."

The other two girls looked worried and Beast Boy seemed just as disturbed, but when the candles all blow out and the room became cold. All four could feel something that was not of this earth began to creep around them.

Jinx was still very fearful, but swallowed her apprehension and continued, hoping to find a way to put the spirit to rest. She asked one more question and hoped she would get an answer. "Who are you?" The dial moved one last time and Jinx spelled out the following letters, "T, H, E, M."

"Them." Terra whispered to everyone's surprise.

"Who is... Them?" Starfire asked when all of the sudden a cabinet door slammed closed from the kitchen and a vulgar scratching sound could be heard from the walls. The noise was slow and harsh, resembling sharp nails clawing at wood as the vigorous grinding could be heard above and around them. Jinx told everyone not to move for a moment. But a loud crash of glass breaking caused everyone to cry out in fear as a picture frame containing a group shot, hit the wall. It Shattered into pieces and fell to the floor in fragments.

"Somebody turn on the light please!" Starfire screamed as the green boy shot up and run for the switch.

It was then, Jinx looked down to find a dark liquid pooling on the board. She looked up at Terra who was sitting before the black substance and when the lights flicked on was horrified to find blood pouring from the blonde's nose. Not only had it covered the board, but it had run down her neck and stained the collar of her shirt.

"I don't feel well." Terra said in an aloof state, her voice foggy and her eyes distant.

Starfire and Beast Boy looked extremely disturbed as it appeared Terra had been bleeding for quite some time. Just then the door flew open, causing everyone to once again jump as Jinx pushed the Ouija board under the couch. Cyborg revealed himself with a look of concern as he said, "Is everything ok up here, I heard screaming?"

He looked over and noticed Terra covered in blood as she began to vomit, causing even more worry and panic. Everyone pulled back in a moment of revulsion, but quickly pulled themselves together to aid their friend. Beast Boy ran to her side and pulled her hair back as she purged, while Cyborg retrieved a pot from the kitchen. He called out to Jinx to go for a washcloth. Jinx shot up and quickly walked to the bathroom, she herself trying to hold down her own bile at the sight she'd just seen. Once she was in the bathroom she flipped on the light and closed the door. Pressing her back against it, she wearily noticed her hands were smeared with blood. In a slight state of a panic, Jinx rushed to the sink and turned on the faucet, scrubbing the blood off in a vigorous fashion. When she was done she splashed cool water on her face in an attempt to pull herself from the shock she felt. After a few deep breaths she grabbed a towel and began to pat her face dry.

When she looked up in the mirror she was horrified to see the very image of death looking back at her from the mirror's reflective surface. Her features were plagued with a deathly white and blue, causing an icy appearance on her flesh. But what frightened her most was her eyes. Appearing cold and dead with a gray cast to them that reeked of decay, making her eyes look more corpse like than anything. In a mix of disgust and revolution, Jinx pulled back and hit the wall behind her in a panic, then shot out of the bathroom and down the hall with fear on her tail.

When she reached the main room she found the others gathered around Terra. Cyborg turned to the visibly unsettled girl who was now trying to hide her anxiety. Jinx hardly stopped when his eyes fell upon her and kept moving toward the front door.

"Jinx did you get that wash cloth?" The mechanical man asked.

"I have to go, I'm sorry," she responded with haste and quickly moved toward her exit.

Cyborg seemed disturbed and off put by the girl's odd behavior and looked to the others for answers. "What was that about?"

Starfire and Beast Boy shot each other a quick glance that Cyborg hardly noticed, both shaking their heads at his question.

Once Jinx was safely outside the tower she pulled out her communicator. She had no idea what she'd seen in the mirror or what even happened. She just knew something wasn't right and needed to call the one person she thought would understand.

"Raven, it's Jinx. Please call me as soon as you get this. I can't explain right now. Just call me, ok." Jinx hung up the communicator and prayed to whatever god that would listen that Raven would call her. She began to make her way home beneath a sky of uncertainty with only the looming feeling of fear to keep her company the entire way there.