I do not own anything relating to the Teen Titans.

Opening the Closet Door a Crack – Chapter 13

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Not watching the small green snake slither into the darkness for fear of giving their companion away, the titans rapidly crossed the antechamber and left the building. At reaching the street, a myriad set of emotions played across their faces. On the cybernetic teen, a combination of relief at being away from that horrific statue and a furtive nervousness. On the face of the princess from the stars, anger at having to retreat from the situation and confusion over what happened.

Anger also showed on the faces of the other two titans, the grey sorceress and the boy detective, but for different reasons.

"What was he playing at?" fumed Robin, "He could have lost the leader while he was dithering. And why didn't he turn into a mouse like he usually does? Snakes are too slow. Damn him, goofing around again. We need that info." He was building himself into a raging temper.

At that, Raven lost it. Using her black energy, she picked the Boy Wonder up and slammed him into a nearby building. In retrospect, it was a good thing that most of the buildings were derelict and falling to pieces anyway, as the force from her throw was such he could have been seriously hurt if the wood hadn't already been rotten. She picked him up again and brought him back to the group, slamming him into the ground this time, all the while screaming,

"YOU STUPID, SELF-CENTERED, SELF-ABSORBED, SELF-RIGHTOUS, EGOTISTICAL, INCONSIDERATE, DOMINEERING, DICTATORIAL, DELUSIONAL.."

She probably would have continued with her string of insults, and her slamming, if Starfire hadn't intervened at this point. Running over to Raven, she grabbed her around the shoulders and shook her. Normally, when a human does this, it is a gentle shake to bring the person to their senses. Starfire was not a human. Needless to say, Raven's teeth rattled a bit and she was in danger of a concussion.

"Friend Raven! Please! Why are you doing this to Robin?"

With her concentration broken, the black energy dissipated and Robin lay on the ground panting.

"Starfire, she can't answer you when you're shaking her," interrupted Cyborg.

Realizing that Raven was completely dazed from her shaking, Starfire stopped and simply held on to her friend until she was able to re-gather her wits. By this time, Robin too had regrouped and, groaning with aches all over, rose to his feet.

"What was that for?" he asked Raven.

"HOW DARE YOU…" began Raven, already losing her temper. Starfire tightened her grip on the sorceress' shoulders and she began to calm down, or at least run out of breath. Starfire relaxed her grip, slightly.

In a rather distracted tone, as if he were hearing more than just the current conversation, Cyborg said, "Oookaaay, let's take this slowly. Raven, not that Birdboy doesn't deserve it," Robin gave him a nasty look at that, "but what's he done this time to deserve killing."

Raven looked at Robin with a glare that said if she could, she would introduce him personally to her father and leave him there. "What the boy genius here doesn't know is that Beast Boy told me that he was afraid to change here. Animals have a major problem with the scent of this town, that's why nothing, not even insects, are here. He was afraid of changing and losing control, running out on us. He was willing to stay human regardless of the consequences so that he wouldn't desert us. HE WASN'T DITHERING, YOU ASS, HE DIDN'T WANT TO CHANGE!"

Robin held his chin in his right hand, considering. "Hmmm, so that's why he chose a snake. Clever. I have to give him credit. I wouldn't have thought of that myself."

The Boy Wonder's reaction stunned the others. "What do you mean?" asked Starfire.

"Oh, snakes smell though their tongues. Therefore, as long as he kept his mouth closed, the air of this town shouldn't affect him too much. It'll give him a chance to penetrate the Order for a short time until he finds something and can change back to human."

"Why didn't he change to some animal that has no sense of smell?" asked Cyborg.

"Guess there aren't any. He's the expert. He'd know what's available. If he thought a snake worked best in this town, well, now that I know I'm not going to challenge him."

"NOW YOU WON'T CHALLENGE HIM!" Raven began again. "WHAT EVER GAVE YOU THE…."at this, Starfire tightened her grip on the grey girl's shoulders again and she stopped speaking and concentrated on simply breathing.

"Does it occur to you, friends, that Raven is more than usually concerned with the condition of friend Beast Boy?" the Tamaranean warrior inquired. Although both boys smirked, it was Robin who answered her.

"Probably doesn't want to lose a convenient punching bag. Now that I know what it's like to be thrown through a wall, I'm convinced BB is stronger than he looks. I couldn't handle a steady diet of this." The boy detective tried to loosen up his aching muscles, "I'd be in traction within a week. He gets thrown, what, every other day?"

"Seems like every couple of hours," answered Cyborg.

Raven turned a bright red and shrugged out of Starfire's grasp. "I'm going to meditate. Do NOT disturb me." With that, she assumed the lotus position and began chanting her mantra. The three remaining titans looked at each other and smiled.

"What do we do now?" asked Cyborg.

"We wait. Eventually, we'll hear from Beast Boy," answered Robin.

Changing to a snake was always momentarily disconcerting to Beast Boy. It was only for the briefest moment, but it was there nonetheless. While a snake had many uses (definitely the animal of choice for escaping ropes or slithering down narrow passages), most animals, especially humans, had arms and legs, or at least legs. Going from a limbed creature to a limbless creature caused a momentary touch of claustrophobia. It wasn't enough to distract him from his mission, but it was there. Until he realized that the lack of limbs was natural, there was some initial discomfort. Usually in the midst of battle, there were other concerns (survival) that distracted him from the discomfort.

In this case, the need to trail the master of the Order took priority. Making sure to keep his mouth completely closed, the small green garter snake slithered through the darkness along the side of the dim room. As snakes also tended to be quiet creatures, saving rattlesnakes, the green teen was able to make his way close to the group of cultists, none of whom were speaking. Upon seeing the titans depart, the various cultists began to drift away from one another to resume whatever task they had previously been engrossed in.

The last to leave was the leader, who continued to watch the door carefully for several moments after the titans left, as if considering, weighing options. With a lurching motion, he turned and made his way to one of the black curtains towards the back of the room, a small green snake following him. Behind the curtain was a passageway, painted in the same swirling blue-green wave motif as the main room. As the leader shambled his way down the corridor, it appeared this was the general décor of the entire complex. Passing by several rooms, all of which were empty, the color scheme was the same in each.

However, as they made their way towards the rear of the building, Beast Boy's eyes were caught by one room that was NOT empty. Despite the general gloom, he saw a room that had a table, lamp and a number of books and papers on it. Deciding that he could always resume his trailing of the Order leader, he slithered into the room and moved behind the door before resuming his human form.

Once in his natural form, he loosed his arms and legs again, getting used to have limbs. He also opened and closed his jaw several times, as the need to keep it closed while in snake form, while of utmost necessity, was profoundly unnatural, snakes needed to use their tongues for guidance. After being sure that he was again in human form, with all of its working parts, Beast Boy examined his surroundings.

First, and most importantly, was the door. If he was going to investigate the room, he needed to close and, preferably, lock the door behind him. Unfortunately, there was a deadbolt on the outside of the door, not the inside. This seemed to be of recent vintage as there was the mechanism for a bolt inside as well, but the actual bolt was missing. On the outside, the bolt existed. Obviously, someone had turned this room from a sanctuary into a prison. The shapeshifter worked the actual metal rod on the outside of the door from its holdings so that he could use the bar on the inside. Quietly, he closed the door and inserted the bolt in the mechanism, sealing himself in the room.

This, of course, made the room pitch black; fortunately, Beast Boy's eyes were better than the normal human's and he could still make out a number of features. Unfortunately, nothing was available to stuff under the door to prevent any light from being seen. With a sigh at its necessity, the changeling stripped off his shirt and stuffed it at the crack under the door.

With these precautions taken, Beast Boy lit the lamp on the table. It was not an electric lamp, but an old fashioned hurricane lamp supplied with oil. A box of matches was situated next to the lamp for lighting. Lighting it, he began to examine the table.

There were numerous papers, books, pens, maps and other items on the table. Letting out a breath at the work ahead of him, he cursed Robin again. He was the expert at investigating, not him, why couldn't he be here? Well, there was no helping it. Beast Boy began to riffle through the papers on the desk.

The first, most obvious book was lying, closed, right in front. There were a number of papers stuffed inside it. Beast Boy opened it up. It was not a 'regular' book with printed words but instead was a journal.

"Dude, hasn't this guy ever heard of a blackberry? Who writes anymore?" he thought. Thumbing through the pages, he thought the writing looked familiar but he couldn't place it. Figuring that he didn't have much time, the green hero tucked the book under his arm for later. Shuffling through the remaining papers, he saw a number of maps, some of the South Pacific, some of the South Atlantic, some of Antarctica. He left the maps alone and began to examine the books. Many of them were atlases, some were reference books, some seemed to be old journals.

Then Beast Boy moved one book that uncovered an old, battered book. His heart froze. "No. Shit. It can't be. I would have sensed it. Shit, no I wouldn't. I've been suppressing my animal senses in this damn town. Shit. Shit. Shit."

With a great deal of trepidation, Beast Boy lifted the battered book. Looking at the familiar cover, he opened it up and examined the front page. He closed it quickly.

The Mad Arab Alhazrad's Necronomicon.

The book was largely in tatters. Pieces were falling out. Many pages were missing. Yet, it was indeed a partial copy of the hideous tome. Beast Boy backed away quickly. "I don't believe it. A week ago I'd never heard of it, now I've been around three copies."

"Now what do I do? If I was smart, I'd get out of this room RIGHT NOW!" He sighed. "But, the others need this info to track down that professor dude. OK, don't go near the book, don't look at the book, don't admit the book exists."

This was easier thought than done. Even an incomplete copy held a malignant draw to it. It was probably similar to the same desire that Eve felt when tempted by the tree of knowledge of good and evil. You weren't supposed to be there….and yet….and yet.

Since Beast Boy was repressing all of his animal senses in this malodorous town; he had little resilience to the desire. Still, ever since the elixir given by his parents to him as a child to cure him from Sakutia, he was never really far from his ties to the natural world. Rising up from the depths of his being, the entirety of nature shouted out to his senses, "NO! THIS IS WRONG!"

Regaining mastery of his desires, the shapeshifter looked at the cursed book. While he was deciding his next course of action, that decision was taken from him.

The doorknob rattled.

The attempt to open the door was followed by a pushing against the door. As the door did not budge, the attempt to force entry ceased. Now that he was no longer distracted, Beast Boy heard the familiar slopping, twacking sounds made by the cloaked members of the Esoteric Order of Dagon.

"Looks like I've overstayed my welcome. Let's see if I can get out before he…it…comes back." As he moved towards the door, he heard the footsteps get closer. This time, joined by several others. The changeling froze. Several bodies seemed to push against the door to no avail, still, it seemed that they were determined to enter the room.

"Trapped! OK, now what? Let's see, if I change back to a snake, I lose anything I try to take out of here. If I change to anything else, I lose control of my abilities because of the stench of these people. Wonderful. Looks like it's time to call in the cavalry."

Beast Boy took out his communicator from his pants pocket. Before opening it, however, a thought struck him. "Hey, wonder if their copy has the page Star blew up? That would get us off the hook with the college doc." Although the pounding on the door grew more intense, the teen moved over to the Necronomicon and opened it to where, presumably, page 359 would be.

The page was there.

"YES!" the green teen thought to himself, "GOT IT!" While he was looking at the page, a rather disturbing sound came from the door.

The chop of an axe.

"Oh, boy. I'm in trouble now." Ripping the page out of the malevolent volume, Beast Boy thrust it into the journal he still had tucked under his arm. Quickly opening his communicator, he tried to contact his friends.

"Beast Boy to Titans. Anyone, respond. Come on guys, pick up, pleeeeese."

Robin answered the call. "Beast Boy, where are you?"

"Rob, I'm in major trouble. I found all sorts of cool stuff, but I'm locked in a room and the hooded dudes just took an axe to the door. You got to get me out of here NOW!"

"Why don't you change?"

Beast Boy looked at Robin through the communicator, "DUDE, are you MENTAL? How am I supposed to bring back what I found if I change? Besides, these guys will probably step on me. Just get me out of here before they use that axe to turn me into Beast Boy cutlets."

The axe had just broken through the door. It appeared that there were a number of cultists outside the door, eager to get in. The axe continued its methodical work on the door.

"GUYS! They just broke through, GET ME OUT OF HERE!"

"Beast Boy, where are you?"

"I DON'T KNOW. THERE'S NO WINDOWS HERE. GET ME OUT!"

Robin looked at the others. Raven had left her meditation to see what was the commotion. The four titans looked at each other.

"Any ideas?" Robin asked.

This looks like a good place to pause until next time. Might be a while before I update. I'm going on vacation next week (first time in two years) but I'll try to squeeze one more chapter in before I leave.

Meanwhile, the hits have accelerated BIG time. I am extremely grateful to my readers. I'm now over 1100 hits for this story and received more than 200 since the last chapter. Wow. I know that ForceisStrongWithThisOne and Novus Ordo Seclorum get far more (deservedly so), but I consider this a success. By the by, I promo'd Collateral Damage last time, but Force's Joker's Shadow is fantastic. I highly recommend it. (And if you think I leave cliffies, see what he does.)

On to the reviewers:

KenzieCat- I'll update as soon as I can. I'm enjoying this story immensely (happy to see you're enjoying it as well, whether writing or reading, this is fun) and will continue until the horrible conclusion. Hey, it's Lovecraft, it has to be horrible.

ForceIsStrongWithThisOne – Glad you are enjoying the creepiness. Here's a little more with a cliffhanger. I acknowledge that you are the cliffie master, but I'll try to follow in your footsteps.

DownwardSpiral1 – Ahhhh, but who did the thread represent. Sometimes there are NO good choices. The three hags know who the thread represents (so do I). Don't be too quick to jump to conclusions. There is FAR more coming down the line.

ThingOne – 12? You write well for a 12-year old. My heartiest congratulations. Not giving away anything here, but yes, the statue is Cthulhu. Also, just to explain. My thinking on why BB is more sensitive than Raven is that these people are NOT supernatural. Raven would respond to the supernatural. However, they are NOT natural. You'll find out in another chapter or two. Consequently, Beast Boy, the epitome of nature, has an instinct revulsion to the unnatural. Why did they let them go? Remember (that goes for you too Downward), these were 20 normal (?) people against five superheroes. The odds were not in their favor. They took the course of expediency.

Novus Ordo Seclorum – Well, he stayed undetected for a little while. Is Carter here? That remains to be seen. If BB gets out of his current jam, a few clues may be unveiled in that journal he's carrying. Also, as you can see from this chapter, BB's response to Robin was not passive-aggressive. Raven had it right. It took a lot of fortitude (and some quick thinking) for BB to change in this terrible town.

Hot Dog 285 – Glad you're enjoying it. Hope this chapter continues to meet your expectations.

SoulSeekerthe13th – Ahhh, where does the dreaming end and reality begin. I'm sure Beast Boy is hoping to wake up real soon. Keep reading, the lines will continue to blur. (NO! This is NOT a dream! There will be consequences in this story.)

Until next time, my friends, sleep well.