Dark Matter - The Mors Mortis Trilogy Book 2

Chapter Eleven - Three Months

When Leah returned back to the living room, bags packed and hauled over her shoulders, she found Seth sitting on the couch, his head down and hands fiddling with a frayed cushion.

"Hi," Leah said, letting her bags drop to the floor heavily. "Has Andrew called the chopper?"

Seth looked up at her, his eyes unreadable. "Yeah. It should be here soon."

The heaviness in his gaze drew Leah to his side and she sat down next to him.

"Are you okay?" Leah asked, watching him carefully.

Seth wasn't the sort of person who needed words to be noticed. He had a quiet confidence, one that breezed over your skin, commanding attention in the subtlest of ways. But that only made it more obvious when something was wrong. As Leah sat next to him she could feel an intangible unease shifting like clouds and eddies around them.

"Of course," he said softly. "I'm always okay. It's my job to be."

Leah frowned but stayed silent, knowing Seth would start talking if she gave him room to. He was looking away from her, watching whatever was playing out in his head.

"I wish you didn't have to go," he said eventually, his eyes meeting hers.

"I know," Leah said. "But we won't be gone long."

Seth's nodded, his gaze distant. "You know that's what Danny said to me before he died."

Leah tensed. There were walls in his voice that made her realise how fragile the barrier keeping his grief at bay still was, how carefully he kept himself from shattering.

"I need you to come back, Leah," he said softly. "I can't do it again. I just can't. I've watched too many people die for me and every time it nearly killed me."

Leah grabbed his hand and she felt him shaking.

"I will," she promised. "All of us will. We'll take Jared out and then the rebels will have lost one of their best. It'll all be over soon. I'll make sure of it."

He smiled slightly at her conviction, but it was forced. "I had a chat to Andrew before he called the chopper. There's a woman in Sydney, a hedge-witch. I asked him to take you to her once you're there."

Leah blinked, surprised at the turn in conversation. "Why do you want me to see a hedge-witch?"

"If there's anyone who might know how to control your connection with the world of the dead, it's her. She might know how to stop Jared from taking advantage of it."

Seth's eyes met hers, his gaze serious and irises dark as ink.

"Leah, I want you to promise me that if you can fix this without having to go anywhere near him, you will. I know there's history there; whenever he's mentioned I can practically feel the anger rolling off you. But please, avoid him if you can. It's not worth it. No one else in this world is quite as dangerous for you as Jared Caldwell."

Leah swallowed, her mind flashing back to the way Jared's lips had felt against hers; to the longing and anger behind his teeth.

She squeezed Seth's hand.

"You know, I think you might be right about that."

There was a creak behind them and Leah turned to find Riley emerging from the corridor, her eyes guarded. From the stiffness in her body, Leah suspected she hadn't just got there.

"The choppers arriving," she said. "We should get going."

Leah nodded and stood, giving Seth a hug.