Chapter 3

Them

The Apartment was dark and dimly lit just how she liked it. However the darkness that usually brought her much comfort only made her grow more fearful. She anxiously paced the length of the living room waiting for her communicator to sound off, but it remained as silent as the dead. Jinx continued to feel uneasy in the dark apartment, looking around at the dark art that covered the walls and bled into the decor.

She thought back to what she'd seen back at the tower, but didn't know what to make of it. Her specialty was cures, not demonology, and even at that she never called on demons for assistance, only spirits. She knew that even Raven's knowledge may not be quintessential, but she was without a doubt more qualified than her.

Still, the communicator remained quiet, causing Jinx to become more anxious. She a few moments passed and she heard a loud crash coming from her right and turned to face it. She looked over to her sliding glass door and found a small amount of blood smeared on the glass pane. In fear, she stepped back and examined the door. She noticed a large black bird of reasonable size lying on her sun porch. Its motionless body, lying still and lifeless, tugged on the girl's heart strings. Jinx, slowly began to approach the door with caution in her steps, knowing the bird could be an omen or something of that sort. When she reached the door she slowly opened it as the bird appeared to lay dead at her feet. Slowly kneeling down and looked at the lifeless creature. Its black feathers were glossy in the moonlight, giving the deceased creature an elegant, yet macabre appearance. For a moment she felt the need to touch it and reached out her hand. As her fingertips were about to make contact with its sleek feathers, the image of blood once again appeared on her hands. In horror she quickly stumbled back into the apartment, forgetting to close the slider door.

Once in the apartment the panicked girl rushed to kitchen in haste to wash blood from her hands. Holding her hands under the running water the girl scrubbed, but they wouldn't come clean. Her panic became even more overpowering as a rush of guilt worked its way into her mind. This feeling only made her scrub harder as she became hell-bent on cleansing the blood from her hands. Jinx could feel her fear beginning to burn in her cat-like eyes, as warm tears formed in the pools of pink. The burning was soon followed by faint sobs and cries, her hands beginning to sting from how raw they'd become. At this point, Jinx realized that the blood on her hands was now her own as she looked down at her damaged flesh.

She slid down to the cold tile floor and began to weep, still looking down at her bloody hands as it pooled in her palms. She looked over and noticed her slider door was now closed. Her breath tightened and her eyes became wide as she recalled not taking the time to close it in her panic. In fear she clutched her knees, frozen in horror at what was now possibly in her home. The silence was deathly and the air became cold. She felt an eerie feeling fall upon her like a set of eyes moving on her skin. Her heart stopped as a loud banging could be heard, causing hot tears to come running down her face. The sound could then be heard again as Jinx realized it was a knock at the door.

"Jinx, it's me Raven, let me in."

Jinx felt a sigh of relief flood over her as her muscles released themselves.

"Oh thank god," the girl said letting go of her anxiety and wiped away her tears. She slowly pulled herself up, her hands still slick with blood. Taking hold of a towel the girl moved to the door and quickly swung it open as she continued, "You scared the hell out of…" Jinx stopped short as looked down in shock to find three small children staring up at her with soulless black eyes.

An overwhelming wave of anxiety crashed over her as the little boy in the middle said, "Please let us in."

333

Raven absent mindedly looked at the people around her while she waited for Robin to return with their order. It wasn't the most stimulating thing for her to do, but it was hard not to. The constant vibration of emotion was all around her and she unwillingly found pleasure in it. She looked at a young couple to her left who were very much in the throes of love and couldn't take their eyes off one another. To her right was a young woman who expressed a troubling sorrow which she tried to block out, but her empathy seemed to be pulling at her.

"Alright, one pumpkin spiced tea with three sugars and honey for you, and one black coffee for me."

She looked up at the young man as he placed her tea down in front of her and smiled. Looking into his blue eyes she found peace. However, taking a sip of her tea she couldn't help but feel the depressed girl's thoughts invading her own as she found it even harder to shut her out.

"So when did you decide to tell Jinx we're dating?"

"I didn't, she figured it out on her own."

"So how do you know she won't say anything?" Robin inquired in a curious tone.

"Because I threatened her with her life," Raven replied dryly. "We'll tell them eventually…"

"Just not today," Robin said finishing the dark girl's thought, a look of disappointment cast in his eyes.

Raven looked down at the table; the young woman's sadness began to pull at her own. Raven started to become uncomfortable and squirmed in her chair trying to shake the girl off, but with hardly any luck. The silence between her and Robin was becoming awkward and coincidently, was causing Raven to take on the girl's sadness even more.

"Raven where are you going?" Robin asked as she rose from her chair and looked down at him.

"I just need a minute."

She moved over to the lone girl in the corner and sat down in the empty seat across from her. The redhead looked up from the book she was pretending to read and saw the violet haired girl in front of her. Before she could ask the obvious question Raven held out her hand and said, "Hi, I'm Raven."

Confused the girl replied, "Emilie," and took Raven's hand in hers.

"Emilie, that's pretty. So Emilie, I know this is going to sound strange, but your conflict will work itself out. I know you think you aren't capable of making the right decision, but you are. You just need to believe in yourself and what you think is right. Then, I promise you, all the pieces will fall into place"

With that Raven let go of the girls hand and stood up from her chair. The girl looked stunned and slightly shaken. Robin, who was looking on from his seat was used to this sight. Raven being an empath meant she couldn't go into public without helping those in need. Including those who didn't know they were asking for it. It was something he loved about her. No matter how cynical she was or how cold she could come off, she always wore her compassion on her sleeve.

When Raven made her way back to the table and picked up her coat and tea as she looked down at Robin and said, "Let's go."

Robin followed her request and picked up his coffee and followed her out of the café. Once outside he tried to ask her about the girl. She replied that it was simply not her secret to tell, just her job to give her the emotional stability to make the best decision for her. Before the two began their walk home, Robin realized he'd forgotten his wallet and ran back into the café to get it.

Raven found herself alone outside the café. The street was practically empty and hardy anyone could be seen except for a figure in the distance. A white silhouette in a vintage Victorian style outfit walked gracefully in her direction. She wore a fitted pencil skirt that flared about the knees and her fitted white coat was perfectly hugging her curves. As she got closer, Raven noticed her stark white outfit bore black detailing in the form of buttons and ribbons. Her brown hair was pinned up in a flawless updo and her red lips became vibrant against her creamy white complexion.

Once she was within a few feet of Raven the woman looked over at her and smiled as she said in crisp British accent, "My what a lovely face you have, almost lovely enough to paint." The words were plastic and her mannerisms had a rehearsed nature to them, as though starving for a certain kind of perfection.

Raven looked at the woman and cracked a dry smile as she replied to the odd compliment. "Thanks," she then noticed that the woman carried with her a black lace umbrella which she found odd. "What's with the umbrella?"

The woman laughed as though her response was faulty and said, "Well, you never know when it's going to rain."

"No offense, but even if it does rain, I don't think that umbrella is going to do much."

"Oh well I was being metaphorical. I thought a clever girl like yourself would have picked up on that."

Raven rolled her eyes at the woman and looked in the window to see if she could spy Robin making his way out when she heard the woman speak again.

"You know sometimes two birds of a feather don't have the same endeavor." She said spinning her umbrella, "It's actually quite funny how someone as alive as him can love someone as cold as death."

"What the hell is your problem?" Raven spat looking at the woman who seemed oddly plastic.

"Nothing my dear, death quite becomes you, you know. It's what makes your beauty so haunting. But still, your face won't due; I need one that's more alive." Her words were strange and ethereal, leaving Raven bewildered in their wonder.

The woman held out her hand to reveal Robin's wallet. Confusion soon took over the girl's features as she looked up at the woman's empty smile.

"Rae, what are you doing?" A familiar voice said causing Raven to turn around to find Robin looking at her with curiosity.

"Um, nothing, I was just…" Raven turned back to where the lady had stood just moments ago to find nothing but the empty street. In shock Raven felt a cold chill run down her spine, but quickly pushed it away and regained her composure. "I found your wallet; I must have grabbed it by mistake."

"Oh good, I was nervous it might have been stolen."

"You don't even know." Raven chuckled nervously, trying her best to keep her axeity from taking over.

Shortly after the incident Robin suggested that the two go for a walk through the park before heading home. Raven thought about telling him of the strange woman, but for some reason couldn't. There was something odd about the encounter that made her question its reality and began bring it to reason.

Still she found the boy's arms around her comforting as they cut through the park. The stars glistened in the night sky as the slight scent of autumn filled the air around them. Not a sound could be heard except the light call of the wind singing through the night. Raven found herself lost in the moment under the starry arches with the man that she loved.

"I love Raven," Robin whispered lightly against her ear. "You know that right?"

Raven took a deep breath before responding, it wasn't his love for her that she questioned, but her love for him. Not that she didn't love Robin, she did, but she feared her love for him to be toxic at times. Which was why she became so offended by the lady's words, she feared them to be true. She couldn't help but wonder what he saw in her. She was a short tempered, lone wolf with an attitude, yet he found her endearing.

"I love you too Richard." She said calling him by his given name.

His smile became radiant as he pulled the young woman in a kiss and held her there for a long moment. When their lips parted they walked hand in hand until they reached the spot where Robin parked his motorcycle. They soon found themselves back at the tower and as they walked through the front door they were greeted by a foul scent. The two looked around to find Cyborg cleaning up the remints of broken glass that lay scattered across the carpet. It was then Raven's eyes caught a dark stain that she eminently knew was blood.

"What happened here?"

"Oh, I didn't hear you two come in." The robotic man said in a tired voice. "I'm not really sure, Beast Boy said something about a game that got out of hand."

"Is that…"

"Blood, yeah. Terra got pretty sick tonight and ended up with a bloody nose. Freaked everyone out including Jinx, and I thought that girl had a strong stomach." Cyborg chuckled.

"Is Terra alright?" Robin asked with a concerned look on his face.

"She'll be fine, I ran some tests and everything looked normal, but I'm gonna run more tomorrow if she's still not feeling well."

"It doesn't smell like she is gonna be fine." The violet haired girl said questionably.

Both boys looked up at her with questionable looks. She realized that her morbid sense of humor may have been a little misplaced, but she couldn't help it, being a bit of a cynic was kind of her thing. However, something still didn't sit right with her. The stain was quite large for a simple nose bleed and judging by the unmistakable scent of vomit, whatever was wrong with her didn't seem normal.

"Are you sure Terra is alright?"

"As far as the tests show everything is normal, but I am waiting on the results of some blood work I did. They should be ready by the morning." Cyborg replied picking up the last of the glass.

"You look really tired Cye, why don't you go to bed. Raven and I can finish cleaning this mess."

Raven looked over at Robin with a look of disapproval, but quickly locked it away when she saw how relieved the mechanical man looked after all he'd been through. Cyborg always got stuck with the cleanup and not just with physical messes, but metaphorical ones. Whether it was picking up the pieces of a shattered ego or the just another broken glass, he always remained the pillar that kept the team standing.

Raven nodded her head to indicate that she'd be more than willing to aid in the cleanup which Cyborg greatly accepted. The mechanical man soon retired for the night after telling the two what was left to clean. It was soon after that Raven found herself vigorously attempting to scrub stained blood out of the already red carpet. This she was thankful for. If it had been any other color she probably wouldn't have succeeded in getting most of the discoloration out. Robin on the other hand was busy trying to clean the left over vomit that Raven refused to touch.

"I think we are going to need a new carpet." The Boy Wonder said in defeat.

"I think you're right." The two birds looked up at each other and smiled as Raven said, "We should probably call it a night."

Robin nodded in agreement and moved to the kitchen to put all the cleaning supplies away. Raven who was not far behind stopped dead in her tracks as she felt as though a pair of eyes were watching her from somewhere she couldn't see. She looked around slowly, trying to locate the strange presence, but became distracted when she saw that the group photo was missing from its usual place. A question began to form in her mind, but before it could completely take fruition she heard the sound of Robin's voice break through her walls.

"Rae you ok?"

She turned quickly, shaking off the strange feeling with a dismissive nature and assured Robin she was fine, just deep in a thought. After the two finished their cleanup they headed down the hall to Raven's room. Once inside they began to get ready for bed. After Raven finished washing off what little makeup she had on, she noticed the red light on her communicator blinking with demand. She'd once again forgotten it, leaving it on her dresser where it was now in plain view. She took the device in her hand and sat down on her bed to find there was only one missed call from, "Jinx."

"Raven, it's Jinx. Please call me as soon as you get this. I can't explain right now. Just call me, ok."

The message sounded frantic as though her friend was in a bit of a panic when she left it. Robin over heard the message from the bathroom and came out curious if it was indeed Jinx's voice he'd heard. Raven confirmed his suspicion and began to return her call. A few long moments went by with no response, making both Raven and Robin become even more unsettled. Their nervous expressions however faded as the familiar voice of the pink haired girl finally came on the line.

"Hello?"

"Oh thank god, Jinx you had us worried, are you alright?"

"Yes, why wouldn't I be?" The young sorceress questioned with little emotion.

"I got your message, you sounded pretty freaked out. What happened?"

"Oh that. I was just afraid to walk home alone, but I'm fine now, really."

Raven found the girl's response strange, one because Jinx wasn't afraid of anything and two she walked home alone all the time. She was more than capable of taking care of herself and it was a miracle if she'd even let her boyfriend walk her to her apartment building.

"Jinx are you sure you're alright?" Raven asked questioning the sincerity of Jinx's reasoning.

"Yes Raven I'm fine, I'm just not feeling well. I'll call you tomorrow alright." The pink haired girl hung up the phone before Raven could even respond, leaving her to the lonely sound of the dial tone howling in her ear.

"That was strange," Robin said taking a seat next to Raven on the bed.

"This whole day has been strange." She replied as Robin wrapped his arms around her and noticed the time.

"Well it's officially over as of now."

Raven smiled weakly while Robin suggested that the two go to bed for the night and crawled under the soft covers. Once the two became comfortable Robin leaned in and gave her a long kiss goodnight and killed the light. The darkness quickly engulfed everything in the room and the two soon fell fast asleep.

333

It was dark, too dark as she awoke to the weight of her body being pressed on the cold, hard floor beneath her. She couldn't see anything and fell into a slight panic when she heard footsteps moving around her. Her vision too incased with black to see who they belonged to. Her ears followed the steps until they were replaced with the sound of weight being placed on old floor boards that seemed to be moving above her head.

Too nervous to move, she pulled herself up right and placed her hands on the cold sensation of concrete. She let her hands move slowly along the cool surface trying to get a better sense of where she was. She took in the scent of dust and debris as it lifted from the floor. She swallowed when her hands fell upon something solid, yet soft. Before she could explore it further the footsteps finally stopped. A long moment of silence filled the room, but was followed by the slow sound of rusty door hinges wining in a chilling agony. The sound was not only abrasive to her ears, but also her skin, as every hair on her body seemed to stand on end.

Raven looked up to where the sound seemed to be coming from and noticed the vague image of a dark shadow moving through a now open doorway. The light that poured into the darkness was only but a shred of moonlight that managed to bleed in from an upstairs window. The thought of ascending the staircase crossed Raven's mind, but the fear of what possibly awaited her proved too strong.

She let her eyes wander, trying to make out the visible shadows around her. Everything was featureless under the pale light. Nothing seemed to move and the only sound she heard was her heart beating loudly in a rhythmic pace. She couldn't help but feel as though someone was watching her and began to wonder how she even got to the strange place.

Suddenly she heard a light fluty voice sing as it echoed from a far direction. It was the voice of a lone little girl softly singing words she couldn't quite make out. Looking around, she noticed a stretch of moonlight peering in from what appeared to be another room and slowly pulled herself to her feet. Moving slowly, she cautiously moved around dust covered furniture and odd shapes she didn't want to make out. As she approached the doorway where the moonlight was coming from she began to hear the hollow words become more clear with every step.

"Ladybird, ladybird fly away home,

Your house is on fire and your children are gone,

All except one,

Ladybird, ladybird, fly away home,

Your house is on fire, your children shall burn!"

As Raven entered the room she found it bathed in silvery light. In the middle sat a little girl in a white dress that was stained in a substance that appeared dark purple under the blue cast. She sat with her back to Raven and continued to sing her macabre lullaby. Raven continued to move toward the small girl who seemed to be too engrossed with something in her hands to notice the young woman behind her. Finally, Raven was close enough to the girl to peer over and see what she was playing with. Slowly, leaning over, she looked down at the girl's hands to find a morbid looking necklace. It was made of a strange looking metal and shaped like some sort of serpent-like creature. Its claws and wings spread out triumphantly to the each side. At the bottom of the sinister creature was what appeared to be an eye, being round with a strange blue surface that truly did resemble a human iris.

Before Raven could truly make sense of the strange object, she suddenly found herself looking into the shallow depths of the black eyes of little girl.

"All except one and you'd better run." The little girl said with absolutely no emotion in her voice.

Raven took a step back from the little girl in shock. The little girl didn't move. She just sat in her place and watched the frightened girl with her lifeless stare. Raven could feel the black eyes upon her, leaving a feeling of violation and discomfort. Looking at the smears across the girl's face, Raven realized the stains on her dress were in fact blood, and froze in her place.

The little girl suddenly got up with the necklace still in hand. She cocked her head to one side and took a step toward Raven who took one back in response.

"What are you so afraid of?" She said stepping forward again. "It will all be over soon."

Raven continued backing away from her, trying to keep a steady distance between them. As she entered the next room she stumbled over the object her hands had touched mere moments before. She fell to the floor and landed in a pool of a thick liquid. The substance was dark and she didn't need to see it to know it was blood as she quickly pulled herself to her shaky feet.

"They are coming for you Raven." The little girl said with a sinister chill to her voice.

"Who?" Raven whispered in fear, moving even further into the shadows.

"Them."

As soon the words left the little girls mouth, three sets of hands crept out of the shadows and wrapped themselves around her arms, legs and neck. One covered her mouth, muffling her cry for help as They viciously pulled her into the shadows.

She suddenly woke up with a loud cry as she could still feel their icy grip and sharp nails digging into her flesh. She swiftly swung her covers off her bare legs to find nothing there. Robin who was fast asleep awoke abruptly to the sound of Raven's scream.

"Holy shit, Raven what's wrong?"

Raven took a deep breath and ran her fingers through her hair, realizing it was all a very vivid nightmare. Still, she couldn't help but feel violated at the images that burned themselves into her mind and the sensation of finger nails dragging across her skin.

"I had a nightmare."

In a daze the girl got out of bed, her eyes wide with fear and discomfort. Robin watched her with worry as she robotically moved toward the bathroom.

"Raven what are you doing?"

"Taking a shower."

"But it's three in the morning?"

"Don't remind me." She growled lightly entering the bathroom and locked the door.

She took a deep breath and pulled off her black tank top before turning on the shower. Once the water was to her liking she stepped into the shower and let the water run over her body in an attempt to wash away the feelings of sin and violation.

As the water ran down her skin she suddenly felt a sharp sting radiate from her inner thigh. Wincing she looked down to find a long scratch along the interior surface of her thigh. It appeared to be fresh and quite deep, looking more like it had been carved into her delicate flesh. Gently she placed her fingertips on the unsightly abrasion for further examination, wondering where it could've come from.

While Raven found herself trying to conquer this mystery, Robin was pouring his best efforts into trying to fall back to sleep. Though as hard as he tried, the excitement of his girlfriend's sudden outburst proved too strong a muse. Still, he forced his eyes closed, hoping sleep would find him, but then he heard something. Opening one eye, he questioned the noise. It was the sound of a strange movement coming from the wall behind him. Slowly, he pulled himself up, staring at the wall for answers. He soon rose to his feet and approached the wall, the room still dark around him. Whatever it was lay hidden beyond the drywall and dark purple paint before him. With this discovery Robin placed his hear to the cool surface where he heard a wretched scratching from within its bounds. The grinding being so harsh his features showed a look of revolution and shuddered at the sound.

Just then he heard the door fly open as Raven emerged from the bathroom. "You really need to cut your nails." The girl said in a cynical tone, looking over at Robin who had his ear against the wall. "What are you doing?"

"I think we have mice."

"Yeah his name's Beast Boy, I'll call the exterminator."

"No, for real. I hear scratching in the wall."

Raven turned puzzled and uneasy, flicking on the light. "Did you say scratching in the wall?"

"Yeah, but it's stopped. I'll talk to Cye when he wakes up."

Raven nodded and took a seat on the bed while Robin got dressed, mentioning he was going for an "early" morning workout.

"And by the way my nails are trimmed." He added, leaning in and giving Raven a quick kiss and left the room.

After he left, she sighed and looked down at her thigh again. Deep down she knew she was only trying to make sense of something she didn't yet understand. In frustration she combed her fingers through her damp hair and slipped off her black robe to get dressed. Not wanting to attract any attention to her cut, she pulled on a pair of black jeans and a loose sweater that fell off her right shoulder a bit. She knew by not wearing her uniform she would be subjected to numerous questions, but at least she had answers for those.

After getting dressed she took a seat at her desk and picked up where she left off. Looking through the old book, she began reading anything that referenced to a box or black eyed children. She didn't find much about either, just a few things about cursed boxes and a few more stories about child spirits, but nothing seemed to fit right. She knew that it was possible the box was cursed, but the object in question didn't quite fit the description. There was nothing about strange writing or the box being nailed shut. If anything it strangely reminded her of an nganga. A powerful objected capable of great evil used in the Palo religion. The object's purpose is to entrap a sprite so one may harness it's power for their bidding such as revenge or fortune. And where a nganga is used for black magic it is a commonly feared object among those who believe in it.

However, an nganga is made of an iron or steel cauldron or pot and is normally wrapped in chains and pad locks. Inside you'd find an assortment of dried blood, black feather, metal spikes, knives and other strange things that are meant to keep a powerful sprite at bay for eternity. Still there was one thing the two objects had in common, once closed, they were never to be opened. This thought only drove Raven's fear that whatever was in the box was evil. Why else would someone go through the trouble to nail it shut and carve those strange words into it?

After a few hours of more dead end reading, Raven put off the search for a well needed cup of tea. She entered the main room and found almost everyone present except Terra. After putting her water on she turned to find Starfire looking exhausted and Beast Boy practically falling asleep in his tofu.

"Is everyone ok?"

"Yes, friend Raven, I just had a terrible slumber." Starfire replied.

"Yeah me too, I spent most of the night taking care of Terra. I didn't know a girl could puke so much."

"Well I just lost my appetite." Raven replied in a graveled voice as she poured her tea and took a seat next to Robin. "So Terra's still sick?"

"Yeah, she was up most of the night. She finally fell asleep around 3 o'clock. Thank god."

3 o'clock? Raven thought and furrowed her brow. Before she could ask the green boy anymore questions, she heard Cyborg's voice command everyone's attention.

"So did anyone hear an odd scratching noise last night?"

Raven noticed Starfire flinch at the question, but remained silent.

Robin however, lifted his head from his newspaper to acknowledge the robotic man, "Yeah I heard that, we may have a mouse problem."

"That's what I thought, I'll get right on it after breakfast."

Raven kept quiet, even though her suspicions were strong, she didn't want to alarm anyone until she had more answers. A few moments went by as Robin and Cyborg continued their conversation of the possible infestation when Cyborg noticed a missed call on the monitor and went to retrieve the message. Once the mechanical man vanished, Robin turned his attention to Raven who was staring off into space which he found unusual for her.

"So Raven, you figure out anything about that box?" He asked causing a spark of interest in the two other worn Titans.

"No, not really. So far none of my books have any information on it. I don't even know what langue it's written in."

"You looked pretty sure of what it was yesterday." Beast boy said with question in his voice. "So you must have some idea."

Raven felt a hint of frustration at Beast Boy's statement. She often wondered how someone as unfocused as Garfield Logan could notice such things. But before Raven could respond, Cyborg entered the room again with his face as pale as death. His four teammates looked up at him with worry as he struggled to find the words he was intent to deliver.

"Cyborg what's wrong?" Robin asked placing down his paper and rising up from his chair.

The mechanical man looked at him with disbelief in his eyes as his lips began to move to deliver the words that none of the Titans would ever forget, "It's Jinx, she's… dead."