Black Holes - The Mors Mortis Trilogy Book 3

Chapter Forty Eight

The next time Leah opened her eyes, she was staring at a dark sky.

She'd fallen into a fitful sleep, the blood loss sending her into a haze of fever dreams. Behind her eyes, monsters leapt from every direction, cutting through people she loved, dispelling them like smoke. Sweat broke on her skin, cries tore from her throat.

But running an undercurrent through it all was Jared, murmuring her name, pressing cool cloths against her forehead. At one point, she was lifted into his arms and lowered back down onto soft sheets.

That was where she lay now, she realised; in a bed pressed up against a floor-to-ceiling window. She was curled on her side, her face close to the glass, and the sky vast above her. She blinked up at it for a long moment, her tongue thick in her mouth and her head foggy.

"Leah?"

She rolled over at the voice. Jared was in the bed beside her, sitting up against the headboard with the book they'd stolen from Maud open in his lap. His eyes were dark in the shadows as he leant over and pressed the back of his hand to her forehead, checking her temperature.

"How are you feeling?"

His words were a murmur and Leah glanced around the room. Where they were and the reason why was coming back to her slowly, the information drip feeding into her consciousness.

"I'm okay," she said.

She glanced at the sheets covering her. Her leg still hurt, but the stabbing pain had dulled to a throb, and when she pulled the covers back, she found her calf bandaged, the fabric relatively fresh and free of blood stains, recently changed.

Her head still pounded though, dehydration hanging heavy.

"I'm thirsty though," she said, and Jared jumped up, moving to the bathroom. She heard the tap run and then he was back, pressing a glass into her hand.

She drank it down quickly and he took it back to refill.

"How long have I been out?" she asked as he returned and handed her the glass once more.

"About a day," Jared said. "I've been keeping an eye on the street, but I haven't seen any sign of Alice."

His jaw ticked and Leah closed her eyes, giving herself a second to process that information. She knew Jared must want to be out there, looking, knew that her injury had held him back.

"Are the creatures still there?" she asked.

Jared nodded.

"They're..." he trailed off, trying to find the right words. "They seem to be guarding the house, or at least coming in and out of it a lot. There's always a few hovering outside it."

Leah peered back out the window. She had to crane her neck to spot Jared's old home, about half a street down. He was right. Tall, elongated shadows prowled the street outside it, moving in and out of sight. On the horizon behind them, the first hint of sun kissed the sky.

"We need to get back in there," she said. "I have to try closing the portal again."

She stared at the house for a moment longer and then lay back, analysing her leg once more, gauging how much longer she'd need.

"I think I'll be okay by the afternoon, maybe we could..."

She trailed of when she looked up and found Jared glaring at her, fire in his eyes.

"What?"

"What do you mean 'what'?" he said. "Do you really think I want you to try closing the portal again? It nearly killed you last time."