Author's Note: Here's an update. Only 2 more chapters! Also, it's SNOWING in New York...thanks Mother Nature. Read and Review guys!
Raven never got used to the feeling of going to Nevermore. One moment she was sitting on the floor, the next she was falling through the air and landing on the hard ground. The stone beneath her hands was freezing, and it was quiet. Brushing off the stray gravel from her knees, Raven walked off in search of Knowledge. She heard some faint yelling and laughing in the distance, but didn't stray from her intended path to investigate the noise. She had a time limit and didn't want to boys to be left unguarded for any longer than was necessary.
Before long she reached the stone arch leading into the library. She walked down a few aisles, looking for Knowledge, but when she couldn't find her she began to call out. Her anxiety was increasing with each moment she was here. Time was different in Nevermore. What might seem like a few minutes here could be hours in the real world outside of her head. Growing frustrated, Raven took a few calming breaths. She couldn't afford a run in with anger right now. She took a few more turns and finally found Knowledge bent over a book, acting completely oblivious.
"You couldn't have been a more open place or hear me calling you?" Raven didn't mean to snarl the question, but her patience was quite thin these past few days. Knowledge lifted her eyes from the page in front of her and frowned over her glasses.
"You could have just teleported yourself to where I was. You have that ability, in case you forgot." The empath tried not to blush under the words; lately she hadn't been focusing much on her powers. And it had been a long since she had come into Nevermore for anything more than some mediation.
"I haven't forgotten," Raven defended. "Things have been…intense lately. But I'm not here to talk about that. I need help." Knowledge pushed the book to the side and sat on the table. She waited patiently for Raven to continue.
"I need to create a spell or find one that can reverse magic. Quickly. I've already wasted too much time." Raven thought back to her deaged friends, probably trying to be brave but being so confused about the situation. She couldn't imagine how much of this they might remember.
If she was even able to get them back to normal age.
"It's a bit late to be reaching back here, isn't it?" Knowledge asked, but regardless, she started to scan the shelves for a solution. Raven didn't bother to answer and the two began to search. What felt like an eternity, Knowledge exclaimed in triumph and pointed out to a sequence of runes.
"Here it is. If you know the root of the original spell, you can place it here with this spell and reverse it." Raven read it over and saw that, in written terms, it looked simple enough. She knew the old spell too, thankfully, and continued to read.
It had all the old fashioned elements of any spell she had seen; candles, the subject of the spell, and some sort of protection ring. Filled with a new level of determination, Raven knew she had to try this. It had to work. "Are you positive that this will work?" Knowledge gave her a small shrug.
"Magic is its own entity. But if you get everything right," She pointed to the page the spell was on. "I'm sure it will work in your favor."
"It doesn't normally work in my favor." Raven muttered. She tried to memorize the whole spell.
After she had read it over, and had repeated it aloud several times, Raven felt confident enough to use it. She bid a hasty, and rushed, goodbye and thanks, before sprinting back to the portal. Once she got there, she assumed the lotus position and slowly felt herself coming out of her trance. When she opened her eyes, the dusty interior of the room greeted her. She stood up and called out to the boys. She was about to ask again, but she nearly collided with one chair. Looking to see what tripped her, she let a smile come out.
Robin and Beast Boy had decided to create some sort of blanket nest where she had chosen to meditate. They were fast asleep and curled up around each other. She knelt down and adjusted the blankets so that they were both covered. Robin's eyes fluttered open.
"You're back," Robin yawned and Raven rubbed his shoulder.
"Yes, and I know how to fix this now. Just got back to sleep for now, ok?" Robin nodded and pressed his face where she assumed Beast Boy's shoulder would be. The green boy didn't stir and Raven didn't want to risk waking him up.
She stood by, watching to make sure that the boys were sleeping, before heading off to find the supplies she needed. She located some emergency candles in one of the closets and a can of salt in the kitchen. Calming herself, she wrote out the spell for reference. Raven glanced over at the kids; she didn't want to wake them up, but if there was even the slightest chance of getting them back to normal they had to take it. Upon looking at her communicator, which still had no messages, Raven began to wonder what had happened at the tower.
There was denying in any longer; something had happened at the tower and it was likely that her team was in trouble. But without contact, or going back to see the damage left behind, Raven couldn't judge the situation. Shaking her head, she reattached the phone to her belt anyway and made herself a crappy cup of coffee. If she got the boys back, they could figure something out. But without any way of communication, they were flying blind, so to speak. And nothing made Raven more cautious then not knowing what type of situation she was about to encounter.
Cyborg knew something was wrong the second the alarms went off and no one swarmed in to contain them. Starfire led the way up a flight of stairs, her hands glowing, but no one stopped them. Upstairs, the hall broke off into two rooms. One room had some beds and a meager kitchen in it; the other had a series of computers. Even more unnerving, the screens showed what was their old cell and rooms in the tower. Speedy moved to walk in, but Cyborg held him back.
"We don't have time, we need to move." Casting one last look at the room, the group continued down the hall. They made it outside and realized that they were on a roof. From where Cyborg could see, there wasn't anything near them, just woods. A few moments of searching led them to a ladder, and one by one, except for Starfire, they got off the building. Once they were on the ground they were running. The alarms were still going, but no one was after them. Before long they were under the cover of the trees and Cyborg stopped.
"We need to split up." Speedy glared at him.
"Did you not watch Scooby Doo as a kid? Or a horror movie? You don't split up when you're running from the bad guys!" Speedy cried. Aqualad brushed some mud from his leg.
"Cyborg's right. No one is coming after us. My guess is that they think we can lead them to Raven. Splitting up might be the better option."
"It's not safe to discuss right now. We can debate about this later, but we need to keep moving." Starfire urged. They were sitting ducks right now, and the longer they stood here, the greater chance of getting recaptured by the thugs.
Casting one last look at the shady building, Speedy shook his head and started to walk forward. Before long they were all moving at a jogging pace; Cyborg had a plan to get in touch with Raven, but he wouldn't try anything until they got into an area that they recognized. As they passed over a hill, Starfire caught a glimpse of a sky scraper.
"I think that looks like Jump." Starfire wanted to fly higher to double check, but they didn't want to give themselves away if they were being tailed.
"It could be." Aqualad was panting pretty hard. He hated running; swimming was so much easier and he hardly ever had to rely on cardio so much. Cyborg opened up a screen on his arm.
"I'm picking up regular signals from Jump. They must have taken us just outside of the city. Probably figured that Raven would be somewhere close." Cyborg frowned when he saw that all of their communicators were offline; the thugs had probably destroyed them as soon as they could.
"Which means she certainly isn't in the city, great." Speedy was just imagining the places Raven and the boys could be hiding out beyond Jump.
"There are other places she could go. If anything, she went to one of the safe spots." Cyborg gave up trying to figure out the cell towers and started hiking up a ridge. He was regretting not paying more attention when Robin and Beast Boy showed him how; eventually, Starfire had to fly him up. By the time they got back into the outer lengths of the city, it was getting darker out.
"We should stop for the night," Aqualad suggested. Even if they knew the area, hiking in the dark wasn't a safe, or practical, idea to act on.
That caused a whole slew of arguments. Speedy and Starfire wanted to continue; Cyborg and Aqualad thought it would be best to stop until it got lighter out. Eventually they came to an agreement. They would stop for a few hours, until dawn came, and rest in shifts. They didn't make a fire, it was warm enough outside, and sleeping on the sand was something that they hadn't done in a long time. Speedy drew the first shift, and he set himself up against a rock, twirling a stray arrow in his hands. The thugs had taken his only bow.
Even though it was humid outside, Speedy would have liked to have a fire. The light would have been comforting. Nearby, the others were shifting restlessly. Starfire was curled up on her side and Cyborg was flat on his back. Aqualad was sitting up, staring out at the city. Not for the first time since coming to Jump, Speedy wondered just when things might be going back on track. Raven had to know that something had happened; the question was whether or not she was going to come and check. He had no clue if more traps were out there.
"What're you thinking about so hard over there?" Speedy stopped himself from jumping at the voice. Cyborg was looking at him, his red eye glowing in the dark.
"How this is going to be one hell of a story to tell." Beast Boy would probably get a kick out of it, provided he could remember it all. Cyborg chuckled.
"Ya, but then again it's been a while since anything weird happened." Cyborg glanced over at Starfire. "She's going to tear the city apart looking for them."
Speedy shook his head. "I highly doubt Raven's in Jump. She wouldn't that risky." Cyborg glanced down at his scanner; he had been running it off and on trying to locate Raven's communicator. Judging by his looks, either Raven was completely out of range, or she had turned it off. Neither option seemed good.
"You should get some rest." Cyborg startled him out of his pondering. "I'm not gonna be sleeping for a while, might as well have someone get some rest." Speedy didn't fight him on it. If he were in this situation, he knew he wouldn't be sleeping up his team was back together.
Throwing one last glance at Cyborg, Speedy fitfully tried to get some rest.