Black Holes - The Mors Mortis Trilogy Book 3

Chapter Thirty Five

"Riley!" Leah screamed, clawing at the air in front of her, trying to figure out a way to open that portal back up. "Riley!"

There was no response though, no flicker of proof that Riley had even been there at all.

Her last seconds in this world were playing on a loop in Leah's head, flickering and faltering like a bad recording. The claw sunk deep in Riley's chest. The surprise coating her face. The blood hadn't even started spilling before she'd been ripped away. With all those creatures. And already wounded.

Leah rounded on Zarah to find her friends face gaunt and pale, her hands shaking.

"Open it back up!" Leah said, her voice desperate.

"I..." Zarah looked like she was about to faint, the effort it took to close to portal taking it's toll. "I can't. I'm only able to close them. Riley is the one who—"

"I don't care!" Leah screamed. "Open it!"

Zarah bit her lip, her eyes welling, but Leah just continued to stare at her. She knew she was being awful, knew that ever since they'd broken her out of police custody, she'd been anything but helpful. They'd needed the Leah who took action, who believed she could fix things, and instead they got a hopeless, damaged wreck who only alternated between being useless or rude.

And now Riley was stuck in that horrible world with all those creatures. Alone and wounded.

Leah's eyes swung to Jared, but he just shook his head.

"I lost my portal when you did, Leah."

"Well we can't just stand here," Leah exclaimed, her voice cracking. "We have to do something."

Neither of them moved though, neither even spoke, and Leah could feel the hopelessness hanging in the air.

A sob tore up Leah's throat.

"Please," she begged, her voice growing hoarse. "We have to try open it."

"I can't," Zarah said. "I'm sorry."

"No," Leah whispered, turning back to where the portal had stood, brushing her hand against the air there, looking for even the tiniest crack. "No."

Leah turned her attention inwards, probing at the jagged edges of her old portal experimentally, hoping something would spark. But still, nothing came to life. There was no churn of dark power, no familiar rush and suction of a portal forming inside her.

In a desperate spurt of rage, she slammed her consciousness into those jagged edges, determined to revive whatever it was she'd lost when she'd died, when the portals had stopped opening for her. But all it did was make her cry out and curl over, clutching her stomach and panting. It felt like she'd slammed a knife into her organs, ripping them open.

"We need to find another portal then," Leah said, trying to straighten, grimacing. "There must be one somewhere nearby. We can—"

"Leah," Jared's voice was soft, but the hand that landed on her shoulder was firm, halting her movements. When she looked up, that mask Jared always held so well was cracking, showing the turmoil beneath. And she knew what that meant, knew he only looked like that when he was giving up something. Someone.

"We can't leave her in there," Leah begged. "You know what that place is like."

Jared's face clouded, but he didn't move.

"Riley is able to open portals," he said. "If she's still alive, she'll come back."

"But what if..."

Leah didn't know how to finish that sentence though. She'd been in the in between long enough to feel the heaviness there, to understand what it did. Somehow, she knew that dying there was not the same as here, or even the live world. It felt more permanent.

"If she's not able to open a portal herself, then she's already beyond our help, Leah," Jared said. "You know that. And you know that jumping into another portal now won't help anything. We wouldn't be able to find her without drawing another army of those creatures down on our heads."

Leah stared at him for a moment and then squeezed her eyes shut, pressing the heels of her palms into her eye sockets. The tears welled around them, spilling across the heel of her palms and down her wrists.

"This is all my fault," she whispered, and Jared pulled her into him. At first his touch was harsh, rigid, as if he wasn't sure he was allowed to be touching her at all. But as she sobbed into his chest, she felt his muscles loosen, his chin rest on the top of her head.

They stood there for a long time, long enough that Leah heard movement around them, people coming and going, and when she raised her head, Zarah and Cassandra had left.

"They've gone back up to the house," Jared said in answer to her blank stare. "They both needed to rest."

Leah nodded and stepped back from him, wiping her nose, unable to meet his gaze.

"Do you want to go back?" Jared asked.

Leah shook her head, sniffing.

"No. Not yet. I..."

She didn't know how to finish that sentence, but Jared just stared at her for a second and then nodded, picking up the weapons he'd discarded.

"I'll be at the house," he said. "If you're not back in a couple hours I'll come back down."

"Okay," Leah said, and she turned back to the space the portal had occupied, watching the breeze ripple through the leaves. She heard Jared moving away, and she sat down in the dirt, pulling her jacket tight as she stared at that blank space and prayed it would split open, that she'd see a slash of darkness and a flash of red hair tumbling through.

She was still there when the light began to fade, when feet crunched towards her and someone sat close beside her, draping a blanket over her shoulders and radiating body heat. She was still there when the moon appeared.

She stayed there all night, staring, certain she'd see the portal open back up.

But it never did.

And when the sun began to rise, and she was still just sitting there, shivering with bleary eyes and a heavy head, Leah felt the resignation settle in. She looked down at her hands, blinking back to tears.

The person beside her shifted, and for the first time, she glanced at them. She'd known it was Jared the moment he'd reappeared, known it from the fall of his steps on the dirt track, the movement of his breath, but she hadn't been able to look away from the spot the portal had stood, scared that even a blink might make a difference.

In the dim light of the morning sun, she could tell he hadn't slept either, the blue of his eyes rimmed by red.

"You okay?" he asked, his voice husky.

She shook her head. "Not really."

He nodded and fell silent again, fiddling with the fraying edge of the blanket draped over them, his hair falling over his eyes. Leah felt a sudden stab of affection for him — something deeper than she was used to. She wasn't used to allowing herself to care about Jared, to let the feelings simmer instead of shoving them down.

"Thank you," she said softly. "For coming back for us. For always coming back for me."

Jared glanced up at her again, and something flickered in his eyes.

"It's alright," he said, and she had to look away from the intensity of his gaze.

They were silent for a moment longer and then Jared cleared his throat.

"We should probably head back to the house," he said. "Everyone else needed a night to rest too, but..."

"There's stuff we all need to discuss," Leah finished. "I know."

She allowed herself one last look at that innocuous spot where the portal had stood - silent and still - and took a deep breath. Then she stood, bundling up the blanket with her and they started up the path back to the road. 

...

Next chapter out in two weeks :)

- Skylar xx