Black Holes - The Mors Mortis Trilogy Book 3

Chapter Four

Zarah Rai stood outside Narra police station, staring at the officer standing between her and the door. This was the fifth consecutive day she'd tried this, the fifth day since everything changed.

"Just let me in," Zarah said, hoping the desperation she was feeling didn't reflect in her voice.

"No."

"You said I could visit the inmates after a couple of days."

"I lied."

Zarah stared.

It hadn't exactly been a pleasant week.

First, Leah and Riley had appeared in Zarah's house, broke Arelie's neck in her bedroom, and disappeared again; and then moments after the police left, dragging Arelie's body with them, the entire world cracked open and Zarah ran screaming as her entire house was sucked through a portal.

For hours, she'd stood in the street, shaking and making unanswered call after unanswered call to her parents. Only when her battery died, did she give up, crawl into her dad's 4-wheel drive and waited, watching the space where her house once stood and praying her parents would appear.

They didn't.

And for the last five days, Zarah had been sleeping in the car boot, scavenging food, and avoiding the growing anarchy as portals opened again and again, devouring everything they touched and sucking people through.

"When will I be able to visit, then?" Zarah asked the officer.

"When my superiors tell me I'm allowed to let you in."

Zarah fought down a sudden urge to cry. Her parents were gone, her world falling apart, and after spending months being monitored by the police, after being forced to give daily reports and hourly updates via the bugs they'd planted around her house hoping to catch a glimpse of Leah, they were now refusing to let her into the building.

"I know Leah's in there," Zarah said. "You wouldn't have lifted the surveillance you had on me if you didn't have her."

"Zarah?"

Zarah turned to find Danny Azemar loping over, feet crunching against the bitumen.

The sight made her freeze, a nervous energy rushing through her. It'd been months since she'd seen Danny, months since she'd seen anyone else connected to all of this.

"Still not letting anyone in, then?" Danny asked the officer as he came to a stop beside Zarah.

The officer nodded, and Danny's lips tightened.

"Right. Wanna grab a coffee, Zarah?"

The words were softer, kinder, directed straight at her, but they still sent Zarah in a fluster of confusion.

"What?"

"Coffee? There's a cafe down the road."

She considered pointing out that no cafes were open anymore, but Danny's expression made her pause. She glanced at the police officer, at the way his hand was hovering over his duty belt, decked out with handcuffs, pepper spray and a tazer.

"Okay," she said eventually, and she turned, Danny falling into step beside her.

He hadn't changed much since she'd last seen him. In fact, he almost looked like he'd been living in some idealistic limbo this last week. His clothes were clean, his hair washed, his eyes bright. It made Zarah even more self-conscious than she usually was around him.

And usually was pretty bad.

"Don't look back," Danny muttered as they moved. "The guards are becoming pretty trigger happy these days."