Black Holes - The Mors Mortis Trilogy Book 3

Chapter Twenty Four

"How is he still alive?"

Cassandra's voice held all the horror Jared could feel thrumming through his veins.

They'd left Brenton in the study and retreated to the living room, everyone squeezed into the small space. Danny was spread out on a couch in the corner, still unconscious, and Zarah sat beside him. The other three girls had claimed a corner of the room each, Riley and Cassandra with their arms crossed, and Leah staring blankly out the window, as disengaged as ever.

Jared had contemplated going over to her, comforting her somehow, but her expression made his courage fail, and he found himself hovering by the door with Alice instead.

Being hated by Leah was one thing, but being ignored was something else. Every time she looked at him since they'd emerged from the in between, he'd felt like cellophane. As if he wasn't even there at all.

"I don't know," Jared said, rubbing his temples and staring at a particularly baffling image of the ocean at night, hung right above the couch they'd migrated Danny onto. He felt dizzy in here, surrounded by the evidence of this second world his parents shared with Leah.

"He split his soul in two, so maybe the half from here is keeping the other... in existence," he said. "It'd explain why he's in so much pain. They're probably still connected in some way."

"How would that even work?" Zarah asked.

Jared waited for someone else to respond, but no one did, so he shrugged.

"I don't know. But anyone else who gets pulled in there seems to end up dead or like Danny."

He glanced at Leah's brother, and everyone else followed suit, a solemn silence falling in the room. Danny looked greener than a couple hours ago, more feverish, and Jared couldn't help but feel the significance of that. Ghosts didn't get sick. Not like this.

"So you think the live half of Brenton is just wallowing in that dark place?" Cassandra asked, her eyes still fixed on Danny.

"It's called the in between," Jared said. "But yes. I do."

Riley, who'd been quiet so far, sitting in her corner with her arms crossed and her face set in a scowl, sat up straight.

"Well, then we go back in there and get him. He'll be so grateful that he'll tell us what he knows. Problem solved."

Jared's eyes narrowed, unable to help the dislike that slashed through him.

"I wouldn't say that's problem solved. He's been in there for weeks. He might've gone mad. If you'd cared enough to get him out earlier maybe all of this would've been fixed already."

She gave him a mocking smile, as if she knew how thin the ice separating him from violence was. And how capable she was of cracking it.

"I didn't say I left him in there because I didn't care," Riley drawled. "I've been busy."

"Right. And if you hadn't been, you would've done something sooner?"

"No," Riley grinned. "I would've put on some popcorn and enjoyed the show."

Yup. That did it.

Jared plunged straight into the dark coldness that'd been churning inside of him as long as he could remember, and he jerked towards Riley, vision turning red.

He'd had enough of playing nice. He'd had enough of being quiet and tiptoeing around the S.I.S and smothering every emotions and thought and instinct. He'd never been good at the diplomatic side of things. Action always spoke louder for him. And right now, Riley was everything he'd always hated about the S.I.S — their callousness, their single-mindedness, their arrogance.

Alice had preempted what would happen though, and the moment he took a step forward she grabbed his arm, fingers digging in deep. He knew if he wanted to break free, he could. Easily. But he let her hand remain, let her will still him.

"She's just trying to rile you up, Jared," Alice said softly, and he knew she was right.

Riley had been itching for a fight from the moment she'd barged into his room at the police station.

For a moment, Jared just glared at her, but then he took a breath, letting common sense wash in, and stepped back. Riley pouted, like a game had just been ruined, and everyone's eyes shifted between him and her, trying to figure out who the bigger issue was.

Everyone's except Leah's that was. She just continued to stare out the window, so still it was impossible to tell if she was even breathing.

"Perhaps it'd be best if everyone put their feelings about Brenton aside," Cassandra said, and Jared tore his gaze from where they'd become fixed on Leah, waiting for her to acknowledge something. Anything. "None of this is going to work if we're at each other's throats."

Jared swallowed, and focused on the hand Alice still had on his arm — that small amount of human contact that wasn't aggressive, or hesitant.

"Fine," he said. "What's the plan, then?"

Cassandra glanced at Riley and Zarah, who nodded, as if there'd been discussion while he was with Brenton.

"The way we see it, we have three problems," Cassandra said. "We need to get Brenton out of the in between so we can question him, we need to stop Seth from using the knife on himself before we can talk to Brenton, and we need to look after Danny."

She cut off when Danny suddenly twitched, as if hearing his name, and Zarah jumped up from her seat beside him. He didn't move again, though, and Zarah settled back down carefully and Cassandra continued.

"We should split into groups. Riley and I can go see Seth. Riley was the one who convinced Seth that killing himself was a good idea, so she can talk him back out of it. Jared and Leah, you know the in between the best, so you can go there. Zarah can stay here and look after Danny with Alice."

Riley's eyes narrowed, but she nodded, and when Jared glanced at Alice she gave him a small smile, a squeeze of encouragement.

"Fine," Jared said, though the idea of returning to the in between made his skin crawl. He was painfully aware of Leah across the room too, of the fact even that news hadn't elicited a response from her.

Before he could say anything though, Riley moved to Leah's side and squinted out the window too, back in the direction of town.

"You might need to do something else, too, Zarah," she said, and for the first time since Jared had met her, Riley sounded slightly guilty.

Curious, he looked out the window too, and instantly he knew why. The portal Riley had opened near the police station was clear on the horizon, looming over the centre of Narra like a dark sun.

Cassandra and Zarah came to his side, and for a moment, everyone was silent.

"Did you open up a portal over the police station?" Zarah asked, her voice carefully neutral.

"Yes," Riley said, shooting Zarah a guilty glance. "We needed it."

Zarah sighed, and Jared could hear days of exhaustion in that sound. "Of course, you did."

...

Next chapter out in two weeks!

- Skylar xx