With Or Without You (fourth in Destiny Series)

11) A Coincidental Meeting

Jinx sat shivering in a cage. She was so weak, and tired, she could barely keep her eyes open. She had lost all sense of time.

She knew Kid Flash was looking for her, as were all of the Titans. The only reason she was still here was because they didn't know where to look.

She didn't allow herself to think of the other reason why Kid Flash hadn't already run in to rescue her.

The alternative that would make her skin crawl, a hole to consume her stomach, and her head to spin.

The other alternative that she couldn't bear to consider was that he wasn't coming because he was dead. That Raven, on orders from Slade, had killed her love.

The dark sorceress had to stop this train of thought before she vomited. She couldn't help it though, all she could see was Kid Flash lying in a puddle of his own blood.

Not just him either, all of Titan's West. Red X huddled over Ravager in the throes of death. Pantha on the floor, a look of pure terror on her strong face.

Even, Hot Spot, his glowing body crumpled with every limb facing the wrong way. All of a sudden she felt the temperature in the room drop dramatically.

The hair on the back of her neck stood straight up, and goose pimples covered her body. Her stomach began to churn terribly, and Jinx's head began to spin.

She didn't want to turn around. Every nerve in her body screamed at her not to turn around. Yet she wanted to. Wanted to face the horror that had invaded her life.

Invaded the body of a woman she had almost considered a friend and changed her.

"Did we ever used to be friends?" the question was so innocent, and yet the innocence of it terrified Jinx beyond reason.

The dual voices chilled the pink sorceress to the bone, and she had to fight back bile when she spoke.

"I don't have to answer that," Jinx muttered. She looked up and froze in place as the two sets of blazing red eyes bore down at her.

"We were friends," it was a statement. The dual voices were softer, closer in pitch to each other. "Weren't we?"

"Well I don't know if I'd go so far as calling us 'friends,' " Jinx replied, jutting her chin out. There was a long period of silence before anyone spoke again.

"You once worked for Slade right?"

Jinx was taken aback by the question, but nodded.

"How did you get out?" the creature before her asked.

Jinx was so shocked she couldn't speak. "What are they going to do with me?" Jinx asked finally.

"They want you to perform a spell on me," the dual voices were more separate again. "I'm not sure what it's supposed to do."

"And after that?" Jinx was afraid to ask. Raven was silent, she wasn't sure. She imagined it wouldn't be good. The more she thought about it, the more she didn't like it.

She had no idea what Slade was going to do with this pink woman once had no more use for her. 

"I can't believe you're with Slade now." Jinx was talking again. "You really are your father's daughter."