Black Holes - The Mors Mortis Trilogy Book 3

Chapter Twenty Eight

Leah felt like her head was caught in a storm, her inside raging while the world around her stayed eerily still.

If you go the the in between today, you're not coming back.

Jared's words spun through her, cutting deeper and deeper with each rotation.

She hadn't known what to expect when he appeared in her room. Logically, she'd suspected it would get ugly. Jared wasn't the sort of person who held back, who shied from confrontation, and she knew he was growing frustrated with her. Everyone was lately.

But the caution he'd shown her was something else. From the moment he stepped inside, worry had coated his face, disappointment tinging the surface. She'd wanted to reassure him, the way she knew he needed, but their entire conversation she felt like she was underwater; her thoughts hazy and unfocused, her mind drifting even when she desperately tried to stay put.

It'd been like that for days now. Every time she tried to talk, the words got stuck somewhere between her brain and her mouth. Every time she felt, her body smothered the emotion. She'd fought it at first, managing to break out in moments of danger or panic, but it was exhausting, and eventually, she'd given up, letting the emptiness encompass her.

She hadn't quite realised how pathetic that was until now, though. Until Jared had said those words.

If you go the the in between today, you're not coming back.

Jared had said many things to her since they'd met — some awful, some heartbreaking, some kind — but he'd never anything like that. Never anything that implied she wasn't capable.

It'd hit her like a blow, and for a moment, the chaos swirling inside her flooded her senses. All the guilt and anger and grief rose up, drowning her, strong enough that her mind couldn't fight it off, and she gasped, trying to breath around it. By the time she felt like she could, Jared had left, and she blinked at the empty room despairingly.

"Wait," she choked out, jerking forward just as she heard Jared snap something at Cassandra from the floor below and the front door slammed.

"Wait!" Leah called again, but no one responded, and she rushed down the stairs and past a confused Alice, exploding onto the porch just in time to catch Cassandra's black coat disappearing into the trees at the end of the street, heading down the track towards the beach.

Leah rushed after them, trying to catch up, but she'd grown weak since she died, and when she reached the portal, they were already gone, the bush empty and quiet.

Leah stared at the portal for a moment, biting her lip.

She didn't want Jared to be in the in between alone. Not again. But if she followed him there now, how would she find him? You couldn't make any noise there. Or shine any light.

The surface of the portal rippled, bulging out towards her, and Leah moved forward cautiously, lifting a finger. Maybe she still had time. He couldn't have gone far from the portal yet.

Her finger made contact with the black surface, and the portal sucked it up quick, clinging like tar. Her body exploded with coldness, pressure pushing down into her ears, and there was a loud rumble, deep, like thunder. The vibrations echoed through her, coalescing in that empty spot in the pit of her stomach in a sharp, bright pain, and Leah jerked back, her heart pounding.

She looked down at her torso, visualising the spot beneath her ribcage where her portal had once sat. She still didn't understand how any of this worked, but that stab had been frightening familiar. She'd felt it often enough since she'd died.

Maybe there was still a part of her connected to the in between. Or maybe that place had grown even more hostile.

Leah swallowed hard, trying to get her thoughts in order. If she went in there unarmed, she'd just become a burden. The only way she'd be able to help Jared was if she had supplies.