A/N: Sorry the new chapters are coming so slowly. I am having trouble with this next little bit, but I assure you that this story will be completed! The chapters will also get longer as I go (winks at Neya). And for those of you who think Slade is bad now…just wait. (nudges DeathsLastBreath and somekindafreaky) heeheehee.
Thank you's go my latest reviewers: bananafritz, DeathsLastBreath, Tiffany, deadlyabyss12, somekindafreaky, dan, animefan127, Neya, and Soccer C.C. Please keep reading and reviewing…it's my fuel. A special thank you to Tim and Krista who know me and have been reading along with everyone else and have not run away from me yet.
Chapter 8: Raven's Search – 10 days
Raven was an empath; she could sense others feelings and emotions. Normally she could sense each of her teammates. It was easy to block them out when necessary, but it was a good way to keep tabs on everyone. Of her four friends, Starfire had always been the easiest to read and the most difficult to block. The Tamaranian tended to be very open with her emotions, psychically and otherwise. But Raven had not been able to connect with Starfire since she disappeared over a week ago. She had been blocking at the time of the kidnapping and did not realize the connection had been severed until she had tried to open it.
Since then, Raven had taken to meditating almost constantly. She had to meditate every day to keep her emotion-driven powers under control; that need had increased as she had begun worrying about her friend. Robin was also making things difficult. His normally strong psychic blocks had come crashing down from the stress and Raven was having a hard time blocking him. Finally, she meditated in an effort to find Starfire.
Raven was hoping that one of three things might happen: first, Starfire might break through, even for just a moment and Raven would be able to zero in on her location; second, if she concentrated hard enough, she might increase her abilities and overcome the blockage; or third, if she meditated at various locations in the city, proximity might affect her results. So far, nothing was working.
Raven felt that Star was still alive, but she didn't know why. Maybe it was more that she hoped Star was alive. Changing locations was a slim chance, but she had learned that many telepaths with undeveloped powers (like hers) fared better when they were closer to the person they were trying to contact; touching the person (though not an option right now) helped even more.
So the goth teen meditated…and meditated…and meditated.
Beast Boy had jumped her case a few days ago, insisting that she wasn't doing her share of the searching. She'd had to explain to her teammates exactly what she was trying to accomplish. Robin had agreed that it was a good use of her time and powers; he had also begun regularly asking for updates on her progress. She found this quite irritating since he had to know that she would tell him as soon as she found anything, but she didn't have the heart to yell at him. His expression when he asked was always that of a tired, hopeful, desperate puppy. Even she couldn't be mean to a puppy.