Chapter 6

Jinx cowered before her headmaster, shivering in fear. It was not a harsh verbal beating that had scared her, nor was it any amount of physical abuse. It was his silence, his cold, deafening silence that scared her. She had immediately rushed back to her "school" and reported on everything that had happened (well, almost everything, save for the part about the boy in red offering her freedom)

"How could you have possibly failed?" His voice was cold, quiet and menacing.

"The titan wasn't working a-alone," she stammered out. "I never really even g-got the chance to fight her."

"Really," the sarcastic reply dripped like venom from his lips. "And who was this extra 'problem' you encountered?"

"I am forbidden to speak his name."

Her entire body shuddered with the realization of who she had fought and survived. The headmaster's eyebrows raised.

"You may speak it, I grant you permission." the headmaster rolled his eyes, this girl and her belief in bad luck…

"No sir, I may not. Even to speak his name has brought death to many."

This peaked the headmaster's interest. Who was this person, so powerful that even his most advanced student refused to so much as speak his name?

Jinx produced a black grease pencil, knelt before her headmaster, and proceeded to draw a design on the floor. The headmaster's mouth fell open in disbelief, immediately recognizing the intricate tribal pattern being created on his floor.

"I-it was," Jinx' voice caught, "it was…the b-b-banished one."

Another student walked by, saw the design sketched on the floor, and gasped. "Isn't that the design that silver ma…"

"SILENCE!" the headmaster roared. "Never speak that name aloud!"

The bewildered student, along with Jinx, stared slack jawed at the headmaster.

"They say that he can hear his name said from over 200 miles away. If he's here in the city, you so much as whisper it, and it can spell your doom." The headmaster's head swiveled about, as if he was almost waiting someone to appear.

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A state away, sitting in the drivers seat of my car, my ears twitched, and my head snapped up, looking north-west. I saw red, and fought to keep my temper in check. Someone had said my name, not the name I went by with the Titans, not the name that was printed on my birth certificate, but a name associated with a past I longed to forget. Someone close to home knew who I was, or at least who I used to be.

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Back in H.I.V.E. headquarters, Jinx sat quietly while she watched her headmaster pace nervously back and forth.

"And you say he's attacked no one except you each time?"

Jinx looked up to where the headmaster was now standing.

"Yes sir, he did. The first time, though, I took him as a hostage against the Titans."

"You took the banished one as a hostage?" the headmaster's eyes widened.

"I'm sorry!" Jinx sobbed, "I had no idea!"

"You understand that he has never let anyone live that has ever attacked him before?"

Jinx' hands flew up, covering her mouth, "No one?"

"No one."

The girl had one more question. "Does anyone ever survive a fight with him?"

"Constantly," the old man suddenly showed his age, "he 'toyed' with Poison Ivy for almost 3 months before he finally took her life."

Jinx stared at the old man.

"She was my niece," his voice carried a mournful tone to it. "She went mad just before he killed her. She rambled endlessly, crazily, about whispers in her ear."

Jinx dropped to the floor, sobbing. She remembered those whispers all to well. They stuck in her head, repeating themselves over and over. Was he just playing with her? She had felt freedom for a moment, but what was the price of that freedom? Did true freedom from the H.I.V.E. only come from death?

Well, with what had happened in the last few days, she was sure it wouldn't be long before she found out one way or another.

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I sat calmly next to Raven, having pulled my temper under control. We drove home at a leisurely pace. It would take us a little longer, but I didn't mind the drive, my passenger seemed not to mind either. I actually believed she was enjoying the ride, not having to hang on white knuckle like she did when she rode with the other two drivers on our team.

I looked at the clock, then at the mile marker we were rolling by, and back to the clock. We weren't going to make it back tonight.

"So…you know anywhere around here to find a place for the night?" Raven was sitting there, looking at me. She must have realized the same thing that I had.

"Eh, I dunno. How far did you want to go tonight?" I replied.

"It doesn't matter, we aren't going to make it back tonight anyways."

I shook my head at her total disregard of what happened. This girl could take almost anything in stride.

I suggested we stop at the next motel, and she nodded her head, agreeing with my proposition.

We passed a sign advertising a nearby hotel.

I looked at her.

She looked at me.

We both nodded in unison, seeing the weariness in each others eyes.

I laughed, Raven cracked a rare smile, and we both turned our attention back to the road.

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I pulled up into the parking lot of the little motel. It wasn't fancy, but it did look clean. I stepped out of my car, waited till Raven had closed her door, hit the button on my key fob to lock the doors, and we both headed into the lobby.

An older lady sitting behind the desk greeted us cheerfully, "Welcome to Gram's house in the hills," she said.

I smiled back at the older lady, and strolled over to her desk. "I need two rooms for the night," I told her.

"Sure thing hun," she replied. She reminded me of somebody's gentle grandmother. As a matter of fact, she probably was somebody's grandma.

A frown appeared on her face as she was going through the paperwork in front of her.

"I'm sorry hun, I've only got one room available. It's got two separate beds in it, but it's the only one I have."

"Oh, ok," my face fell. This could be a long night if all the hotels were booked.

I turned to walk out, but I heard Raven was there in front of me.

"It's ok, we'll take it," she said, looking around my arm towards the lady behind the desk.

I looked down at her, "You sure you're ok with this?"

She bit her lip, but nodded to me.

"You're tired," she said. "No need to push yourself any farther on my behalf."

I nodded, knowing she had already made up her mind, and turned back around to the grandmotherly lady sitting behind the desk.

"Here you go," she said, holding out a key.

I reached out and took it from her, listened to her directions on how to find the room, and turned to walk out.

"Ya'll have a good night," our host said.

Both Raven and I turned and waved good night.

"Stay out of trouble you two." she said cheerily.

Half the bulbs in the street lamps mysteriously blew out at that very moment. Raven stomped out towards my car. I turned and winked to our host again, and followed the dark girl out towards my car.

We pulled up in front of our room, and got out. Raven headed for the door, and I headed for the trunk. I pulled a duffel bag out of the back of my car, and made my way into the room. At first glance, it wasn't fancy, but it was clean. The beds were made immaculately, the floor freshly swept and vacuumed. That's what counted tonight. A clean place to shower and sleep. I threw my bag on the bed closest to the door, claiming it as my own. Raven was seated in a lotus position on the second bed, looking around the room. For someone as gothic as she was, she sure did look cute right then. I almost told her, but thought twice about the consequences that could have.

Raven's head tilted, her gaze moving towards me "This is kind of embarrassing," she said, her face blushing a furious shade of red.

Now this I had to hear.

"I don't have any other clothes," her cheeks, if it was possible, turned even darker red. "Would you mind if I - errr - borrowed something of yours to sleep in?"

I smiled at her. "See now, that wasn't to hard, was it?"

She rolled her eyes at me.

I attacked my duffel bag, looking for something fit for the dark beauty sitting next to me. Exasperated, I gave up, and looked over towards Raven. She sat there still looking at me.

"Why don't you just pick something out yourself," I said.

She picked herself up from the bed, and wandered over to where I stood. Picked a few things out for myself, and slid the bag over towards her.

"I'm going to take a shower," I announced.

She nodded, and I went my way, leaving her to whatever she wanted to do.

Once in the bathroom, I quickly stripped myself of my clothing, removed my concealing contacts, and stepped into the refreshing water. I stood there for a while, letting the water pound against my back. I eventually washed up, letting the water wash away my stress and fatigue.

I finally turned the water off, and stepped out of the shower. Dried and dressed, I made my way back out to the room. Raven was sitting on her bed again, a towel rolled next to her, a wad of my clothing in the middle of the roll.

Raven made her way to the bathroom, and I collapsed on the bed, reaching for the remote for the television. I flipped it on, just in time to catch the opening scenes from the local news.

The news was just about over by the time Raven stepped back out of the bathroom. I glanced once…glanced twice… and had to force myself to stop staring. Raven was standing there in one of my white tank tops and a pair of lightweight knit pants - black (of course) with a white and blue tribal pattern running down the right side. She was definitely more…filled out…than her crime fighting costume let on.

"Well, how do I look?" she asked, one eyebrow raised curiously.

How do you say DAAAAAMMMMNNN! - without getting beat to a pulp?

"You look great!" I said with a smile, carefully dragging out the last word.

She actually grinned. Granted, it wasn't a full on smile, but I did see both corners of her mouth turn up, and a twinkle in her eye.

We sat and watched the end of the news together, her back in the lotus position on her bed, while I was stretched out luxuriously on mine.

I finally broke the silence.

"You know, you don't have to be so serious all the time."

She looked over at me, "Yes I do. It isn't safe if I let my emotions run free."

I gave her a confused look.

"It's just better this way."

I wasn't going to push her any farther. I knew when she was good and ready, she would share what haunted her with me, just like I may choose to share my own inner demons with them at some point.

Raven sat with her eyes closed next to me, deep in meditation. I was about to roll over and go to sleep when she spoke.

"You meditate as well, don't you." she asked

"Yeah, I do, but not the same way you do.

"Meditate with me." Her tone of voice was almost more of a plea than a question or statement.

I gave her a confused look.

"I get so lonely when I have to meditate. Having someone sit with me at least gives me the sense of not being so alone."

So there was a real person under her hard persona. The girl did have feelings just like everyone else, she just chose to hide them for some reason.

I climbed over to her bed, and knelt down on the mattress, facing her. I sat in my own kneeling pose, every joint in my body flexed, while she sat in the traditional lotus.

Her eyes met mine, and a gasp escaped her mouth. It was then that I thought about the contacts that I wasn't wearing. My blue contacts were sitting in their case back in the bathroom, and she was staring straight into the true color of my eyes. Her blue eyes stared straight into my silver ones. The light reflected off of them in the dimly lit room, making them shimmer.

"You're eyes," she muttered.

"I know, they've always been this way," I replied.

"But they were blue just a bit ago."

"I wear contacts, it keeps…it keeps the team safe."

Raven still stared into my eyes.

"I haven't lived the," a beat, "the cleanest past." my head fell, my silver eyes searching the surface of the bed.

"If you don't want to talk about it, you don't have to," she said, knowing all to well the secrets she kept."

"No," I responded, "the team needs to know - to know that I could put them in danger if we're not careful."

I could feel the confusion in Raven's mind.

"I won't go into details, but when we get back to the tower, search where you can on Silver Mane. It will explain everything."

The girl across from me nodded.

"Well, how about that meditation thing." I asked, a smile lighting my face again

"Yes, I would say it's about time we get to that."

And with that, we both closed our eyes, each of us working our way towards our respective meditative trances.

Raven turned her mind inward, moving her consciousness to her mindscape, to the place she kept her emotions.

My mind turned outwards, exploring the room, exploring the motel, and eventually exploding outwards through the entire town. There was one place my mind did not dare to touch, and that was the blue eyed girl sitting in front of me. Her mind was a veritable black hole, threatening to pull me into it, and not let me go. She was in an introverted meditation phase, and she was good at it. All her surroundings were blocked out, and there was nothing else in the universe to her, other than her own thoughts. My meditation was a polar opposite. My mind exploded away from me, exploring, searching, and journeying everywhere and everyone that it found.

We sat there, in our respective meditative trances facing each other, eyes closed. Neither one of us broke our concentration even once, even though we could feel each other's presence. It was - relaxing. I had never thought of meditating with someone else before, but just having the presence of someone else there in my proximity was a very comfortable feeling.

It had been just over an hour when I felt her trance break. I had been ready to break out of mine for almost 15 minutes now, but I held on to it, waiting patiently for her. I finally let mine drop.

"Thank you." she said.

I smiled back at her. "I enjoyed myself, did you?"

"I got a lot done, if that's what you mean."

I gave her a weird look, but shrugged it off.

I rolled off her bed, and made my way back to my own.

"Ryk," her voice had a questioning air to it. "what were you doing when we were meditating?"

I looked back at her, one eyebrow raised.

"I could feel your presence all around me, but you never once actually touched my mind with yours."

I was amazed she could even feel my wandering mind.

"I meditate differently from you," I replied. "I could feel you turn every thought of yours inwards, concentrating on yourself, but I turn myself outwards, letting my mind go, searching through everything I can find."

"Oh," she replied. "Thank you for respecting my privacy."

I nodded, "You're my friend, I wouldn't do that to you. I know you have things to hide, and I know you have a reason for it. You will tell me on your own when you are good and ready."

She nodded, biting her lip.

I walked over to the light switch, "well, we've had a full day, probably time to get some sleep."

Raven nodded, and I flipped the switch. I crashed in my bed, pulling the covers over me.

"Umm, Ryk?"

"Yes Raven?"

"Roll over."

I laughed, and rolled over, facing away from the suddenly bashful Raven. Sleep took me, and I happily fell over the edge, welcoming the darkness.

End Chapter 6