Black Holes - The Mors Mortis Trilogy Book 3

Chapter Sixteen

"So do we have an agreement?"

Zarah looked up at Riley, and felt a bone-numbing weariness.

She hadn't been locked up for long before an officer came and dragged her back out of the cell, leaving Cassandra to watch over Danny. He'd still been unconscious when she left, his eyelids fluttering as he stared at things that no one else could see. The sheen of sweat covering him had reduced slightly though, the colour seeping back into his skin.

Zarah had almost been relieved when she was escorted away. Watching his slow recovery was torturous, filled with guilt and dread and a desperation so stifling she could barely breath around it.

But then she'd seen the room they were taking her too, and that relief had dampened.

The interrogation room, though portal-less now, was still in shambles. Half of the walls and wiring had been eaten away, the floor scattered with debris, and Riley was in the middle of it all, staring at the space where the portal had been with a frown marring her face.

"So just to clarify," Zarah said, kicking at a bit of rubble beneath her shoe. "You want me to help you bring Jared back from wherever you banished him to?"

Riley's face was blank, just the way Leah's had always been, hiding every emotion.

"Yes."

"And you don't think it'll be dangerous?"

An unpleasant smell was quickly filling the room, earthy and stagnant, and Riley glanced down the hole the portal had left, scrunching up her nose.

"I didn't say that," Riley said, scanning the hole for a broken water pipe, or sewage channel. "I imagine it will actually be quite dangerous."

Zarah watched Riley for a moment. She took note of the tense muscles, the bags under Riley's eyes. Zarah wasn't sure where Riley had been this last day. They'd stopped keeping track of her after they'd raided her apartment, but her body said enough.

Whatever was going on here was taking more from Riley than Danny and Cassandra had given her credit for. That didn't mean Zarah trusted her, or wanted to follow her to wherever those portals led, but perhaps it meant Riley wasn't as aligned with the police as they'd presumed, with the decisions that'd been made.

"Why can't you just do it yourself?" Zarah asked.

Riley glanced up at Zarah, her eyes hooded, and a ghost of a smile kinked up the corner of her mouth.

"I've become quite good at opening portals, but shutting them is difficult. It doesn't always stick. You're better at that, it seems."

Zarah didn't know if she should point out that she had no idea how she'd shut that portal, or mention the exhaustion that still hung heavy over her because of it. She still wasn't used to Riley's world, to the cutthroat way these negotiations were done, but she was fairly sure that exposing your weaknesses when someone was bargaining with you wasn't the right approach.

"You've had a pretty rapid change of heart since yesterday," Zarah said, trying to keep her face as unreadable and cool as the girl opposite her.

Riley scoffed.

"Yes, well, realising there are other people in your situation changes things, particularly when that situation is a shit one."

"And what is that exactly?" Zarah asked.

Riley gave her a pointed look.

"One where you have to chose between yourself or the rest of the world."

Zarah let that sink in, let the sacrifice Riley was willing to make — the sacrifice Riley clearly now expected her to make — alter her thoughts, the way she'd argue this.

"Why do you only want to bring Jared back?" Zarah asked. "Isn't Leah in there as well?"

"She is," Riley said. "We already know all the people Leah dragged between worlds, though. There's not much else she can tell us."

Anger soared through Zarah's veins, bringing back some energy with it.

"So, your plan is to just leave her there?" Zarah asked, her voice cold. "Danny was only in that place for a minute and you saw what it did to him."

Riley swallowed, something flashing through her eyes too quickly to identify.

"Leah knew things weren't going to end well for her after what happened," Riley said. "Pulling her out again now won't change anything. It'll just give her more time to panic."

"So you're just going to damn her to that place?"

"No more than she damned both of us," Riley snapped.

Zarah blinked and Riley sucked in a breath, reigning in the anger Zarah knew was flaring strong. It almost made Zarah feel sorry for her. These S.I.S people with their pent up emotions and rules and responsibilities. No wonder most of them ended up here, reliving their lives over and over again, unable to move on.

Zarah knew she was one to talk, that she couldn't claim any more success than they did at finding peace, but at least the reason she was here involved less self blame.

Riley turned away, staring at that blank space the portal had left again.

"I don't think this is Leah's fault," Riley said eventually, quieter this time. "I know it sounds like it, but I don't. What happened to Leah was because of Brenton. It could've been any one of us he did that too, but he chose her. He forced that power on her, that instability."

Riley turned back to her, eyes shining.

"Pulling Leah out again now isn't going to change anything. Not for her, and not for us. The best thing we can do for her is to let it be... quick, without hope."

Zarah swallowed. She didn't want Riley to be right, to believe that the only way to fix this was to destroy the live world and anyone linked with it. But if she was...

A last resort, Zarah told herself. Riley's plan would come as a last resort if they couldn't find another way.

"I'm not helping you unless you agree to pull Leah out," Zarah said. "I don't care if you agree with it or not. I'm not leaving her in there."

The room fell silent, and Riley's jaw clenched. Her eyes flickered over Zarah's shoulder, to the doorway, but when Zarah turned, no one was there.

"Fine," Riley said eventually. "If we can find Leah, we'll bring her back. But Jared's our target. If it's a choice between Leah and him, we can't hesitate."

"Okay," Zarah said, knowing Riley wouldn't concede anymore.

"And when it comes down to it," Riley continued, giving her a heavy look. "When we've made sure we're the only ones who are tainted by both worlds, we go back in. All of us."

Zarah swallowed, trying not to let the fear show on her face.

A last resort.

"Fine," Zarah said.

...

Next chapter out in 2 weeks 😊

- Skylar xx