Authoress' Notes: Thank you for the 2 reviews. I got quite a few hits for this story. I'm hoping some of you that read the first part, were curious enough to read this next part… maybe even sneak a review out of a few more of you. ;-) I love feedback. So any suggestions would be very welcome. Anyways, I hope you enjoy the next part.

What Lurks Within: Part Two

The bombshell statement stunned the entire titan's team into utter silence, except for Beast Boy, who had promptly feinted.

"Oh no, friend Beast Boy, have you expired all ready?" Starfire shook the green youth, who didn't respond much, expect to moan.

"You had been start explaining yourself, right now."Robin marched over to Cass and grabbed her arm. "What do you mean he's going to die in seven days?!?"

Cass cleared her throat to speak. "That's what happened the last time Devi left that mark on someone."

"Who exactly are you?" Robin released her arm.

"No, the more pressing question is how does this mark cause a person's death?" Raven glided over to Beast Boy and pressed her hand tentatively over the angry red lines. The lines pulsed under her fingers and repelled her hand. "This is a very powerful spell. Who exactly is this Devi and where does her power come from?"

Beast Boy's eyes opened slowly and he blinked at Raven, "Please tell me I just imagined all of that."

Raven bit her lip and tried to think of something comforting to say, but Cyborg interrupted her.

"Sorry, BB, no such luck, but we'll figure out how to help you. I can run some tests on you back at the Tower."

"I don't know if that will help. This is very old magic."

"We gotta try something."

"Yes, we cannot simply abandon friend Beast Boy to such a horrid fate." Starfire fretted. "Is it a very horrid death that awaits our friend?"

"Any death that awaits me is horrid! I'm too young to die! I haven't own a chick-attaching moped for longer than three hours! I haven't see Paris! I haven't…"

"Beast Boy calm down. We won't let you die." Robin regarded his youngest team member. "Cyborg, when we get back to the Tower, start running whatever tests you can, Raven, you start going through your library see if there is anything you can do for him, and you," Robin looked at Cass, "you are coming with us and you are going to explain everything you know about this Devi person."

***

Back at the Tower, Cyborg hooked a very nervous Beast Boy up to the monitoring machines and tried to discover if there was anything physically affecting the changeling.

Robin, Raven and Starfire sat in the common room and listened to Cass as she began to recant the tale of how she came to Jump City.

"I run a school in the jungles of Peru. I study demonology and help train psychics."

"Interesting but it doesn't explain Devi." Robin wasn't in the mood for long drawn out stories; he needed to know how to help his teammate.

"I know. I should explain that I've been studying demons for over 15 years. I discovered that sometimes a demon is actually part of an eco system. I've made it my life's work to either convince demon to co-exist or destroy them if they can't be reasoned with." Cass drew a breath. "It was about 4 years ago that I woke Devi up."

"She's a demon?" Raven questioned, she hadn't perceived a demonic aura from the other woman, but the encounter was brief.

"No. She's of Mayan descent, sort of."

"I do not understand, what is a Mayan?" Starfire questioned. "Is is some kind of horrid flesh eating creature?"

Robin answered, "No, Star, they were group of people in South America, but most of them disappeared over a thousand years ago." He turned his attention back to Cass, "How can she be sort of Mayan?"

"Well she is Mayan, it's just that… Let me explain I was fighting a Chupacabra in the jungles a little north of my school and I woke Devi from a thousand year sleep. It must have been some kind of spell that suspended her, because she was encased in amber when I found her."

"Like the mosquitoes in Jurassic Park? Cool." Beast Boy snickered as he and Cyborg entered the room. Then he seemed to rethink his own situation. "Cool, I guess, if she wasn't gonna," he gulped, "kill me."

"There's nothing physically wrong with him. Whatever that mark is, is purely supernatural." Cyborg shook his head and looked at Cass, "So how do you wake a girl that's been frozen in amber for a thousand years? It's scientifically impossible."

"There isn't any scientific about certain magicks" Raven floated into her lotus position.

"Very true. To answer your question about Devi, I woke her when the Chupacabra threw me through her amber encasement and my blood mixed with hers. She saved my life that day and I've been trying to help her ever since."

"You've been tracking her for 4 years? And you haven't caught her? How many people has she hurt in that time?" Robin's anger flared.

"No, no, you don't understand." Cass pleaded to be heard. "When I woke her up 4 years ago she was confused, but she wasn't evil. I don't really think she is now, either, I think she's being controlled. When Devi, first awoke I had trouble controlling her violence in battle, but other than that she was very loving and gentle. She was just a warrior." Cass looked at Starfire, then down at her hands.

"When did the trouble start?" Robin drew a deep breath.

"As I said at first she was violent and confused. I taught her to speak English and we agreed she wouldn't speak Mayan anymore, only because it seemed to bring out the darker side of her. For all that time she was a trusted friend, but 6 months ago she started slipping back. She was speaking Mayan again, losing herself in battle; so I banned her from battles in South America. The worst of it happened 3 months ago, I was investigating a poltergeist in New York City, my friend in New Jersey had contacted me for help."

"You're a ghost buster too?" Beast Boy questioned.

"I prefer, spirit mediator." Cass smiled sadly at him before continuing. "We were in New York and we had finished for the evening, so I stopped to get Devi and me something to eat and… Well when I came out of the shop, Devi was on top of this man."

"Was she hurting him?" Starfire wondered.

Cass rung her hands in her lap. "No. She was tearing off his cloths and whispering his phrase, 'Ashure newgrant…'…"

"…varis cura." Beast Boy finished. "What does it mean?"

"I'm not sure. If it is Mayan than it's an older form than any text I've ever read. I managed to pull her off of him, and I noticed that mark on the man's neck, but I didn't think anything of it. I thought she just scratched him. We left for Peru first thing in the morning."

"How did you know that he died seven days later, if you weren't even there?" Raven's eyebrow arched, although it was unseen beneath her hood.

"Because it was on the news, he jumped from the Brooklyn Bridge. I wouldn't even have known it was same man, but my friend contacted me and told me about the mark on his neck. When I went to confront Devi about it; she was gone, just disappeared. But I found a replica of the bridge in her room, with a model of a broken man on the floor. She's been on the run ever since. I know my friend is still in there." Cass wiped the tears from her cheeks.

"Is there anything you can do for him?" Robin asked.

"Maybe, I have a friend Opi, she helps teach at Catacombs. She's an expert with physic links. She may be able to break it." Cass looked at Raven, "You're a Wicca, is there…"

"There isn't." Raven snapped, flipped her hood back and landed on the ground. "I'm not familiar with this form of magick. I would need to study the Mayan text that Devi used when she was a practicing priestess."

"She wasn't a priestess." Cass argued.

"Are you certain? Her powers are quite well developed."

"Devi learned her magic at Catacombs. She was princess, who was sacrificed to a mountain god." She turned her attention back to Robin. "The problem is that, Opi won't leave the school. She's too dedicated to the kids there. I think she can help your friend, but we'll have to go to her."

"Fine. We'll leave as soon as we get a few things packed. Cyborg, get the T-ship ready. The rest of you pack a change of clothes, we're going to Peru." Robin barked his orders.

Cass cleared her throat nervously, "Um, I hate to impose, but do you have a bathroom I could use?"

Robin nodded, "Sure. Starfire, escort her to the woman's bathroom."

Beast Boy groaned and held his head in his head, "I don't feel so good. I'm gonna lay down." He plodded slowly out of the room after Starfire and Cass.

After the room was quiet for a moment, Robin scrutinized Raven's expression. "What is it, Raven?"

"Something isn't right about this." Her hand touched the clasp of her cloak. "Don't tell her what I am. I don't need anyone trying to exterminate me when we are at this school."

He nodded, but persisted, "There's something else isn't there?"

"Nothing I can put my finger on yet. I can get a better sense of Devi's power once I see her room and touch some of her things. She may not be there, but her aura will linger."

"And Beast Boy?"

She flipped her hood up over her face. "I can see what I can do, after I study the Mayan texts. I don't want to risk mixing magicks if I don't have to."

***

Her person was alone at last. Devi brushed her mind against her pet's mind. Her influence was strong over such a simple mind. "Where are you going?"

"Peru."

"Good." She smiled, her image appearing in the mirror. "I will follow you there. Be assured, I am with you. Now tell me about Raven."

***

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