Sixth Chapter: Inside Her Mind

"I found a way to talk to Starfire."

It took me a few minutes for that comment to sink in. She found a way… to talk… to Starfire? But… how?

My surprise must have been obvious, because she shrugged and did a mental check on the symbols in the middle of the ring of candles while I just stood there in shock.

"B-b-but how!" I voiced my doubt loudly.

She turned back to me and put a finger to her lips. "Shh! Beast Boy and Cyborg knew that I could talk to her, but they didn't want me to do it. You'll have to be quiet if you want to. Now, everything is all set, so take my hand."

I stared at her. "Ex-excuse me?" I stumbled for words.

She rolled her eyes. "Just do it, and read from this book with me." She raised one hand and offered it to me, and raised the other and held it out, trying to balance the heavy book.

I gently grasped her hand, as if it were poison. To my surprise, it was warm. I honestly don't know what I had been expecting. Snake skin, perhaps?

"Before we read, you're going to have to touch Starfire."

I blushed. Again, she rolled her eyes. I reached out to touch Starfire's arm. It was cool and limp. I recoiled instinctively.

"You have to." She said. I gulped and set my hand down on Star's arm again. Unless you have ever touched a dead or dying friend that you would do anything to save, you have no idea how I felt. And with the added guilt of possibly causing her current condition, I suffered even more.

I cringed and looked back at Raven. She gave me a small, reassuring smile. "Ready?"

I stared at her for a moment. "Who could be ready for this?"

Her smile, however small it was, instantly dropped from her face and was replaced by a scowl. "Now we have to read." She commanded without a single word to my comment.

We read slowly, but I still fumbled with my words. Who made up the Azarathean language, anyway?

"Amous, dinju, arben, cynia," we said slowly. "Camous, arcon, psarmin, linua."

Then I saw a flash of light so blinding that I had to close my eyes.

"Get ready," I heard Raven say from my right. Ready? For what?

And then I felt myself dropping down into nothingness. My mind raced. Where would we land? Where were we going? And how were we going to talk to Starfire?

Another unexpected burst of light lit my vision, and even though my eyes were closed, I could tell we were in a bright, sunny place. Just as suddenly as the light had come, I felt the ground under my feet. I fell forward and noticed the grass under my hands. I opened my eyes and looked around in wonder.

A sparkling lake was a few feet from my face, with fresh, green grass surrounding it, and what looked like an orchard on the other side. The trees there were also bright and colorful, and I began to doubt that some of those trees weren't human. After all, who's seen a pure white tree? Or maybe a yellow or purple one? Not to mention a deep blue one…

Actually, they were all different colors; every tint in the rainbow that you could want!

"Where are we?" I muttered softly, more to myself than to anyone else.

"Her… mind…" I heard a weak voice say.

I looked down and saw Raven sitting there on the ground, her head in her hands, and in apparent pain. Without a thought, I stumbled over to her. "Raven, what's-"

"I'm going to leave you here, okay? You can stay, but I can't. It was too much work simply getting us into her mind, so-"

I didn't here the rest of the words; I was having a conflict with myself between two main issues; how did we get in Starfire's mind, and what was wrong with Raven.

The latter of the two skirmishes instantly became the top priority as I saw her gasp for breath, still smiling comfortingly. "You have to… find Star…fire…and get her…out…" She closed her eyes.

"Raven!" I asked, afraid of being left in this strangely inhuman habitat without any idea how to get back to reality. "Is this why they didn't want you to do the spell?"

She nodded.

And then, before my eyes, she seemingly dissolved into midair. "Raven?" I repeated, this time less anxiously. Wherever she went, I was sure that it would be better than here. "Great," I muttered loudly. "Now I have no idea how to get out of this freakish place!"

"It… isn't freakish!" Came a voice.

I spun around and stared at the speaker.

"Starfire!" I practically yelled as I got to my feet. "You're…is this really…you know…"

"I don't know what you're blabbering about," she said snappishly, "But I hate having a complete stranger in here. How did you get in here, anyway?"

I watched in horror as her hands and eyes glowed bright red. I realized for the first time that she was not in her usual outfit. Her clothes and eyes, where they were supposed to be purple and green, were instead a dark crimson.

She continued, "I probably won't ever know, now will I? Anyway, I do know one thing: how I'm going to get you out."