Dark Matter - The Mors Mortis Trilogy Book 2

Chapter Thirty Three - Copper and Blood

The moment Leah heard Brenton's voice calling to Evans, hazy through Tai and Jared's microphones, she moved, pulling herself inwards and flinging her consciousness back to the live world. She landed in the study quietly, her tred muffled by thick carpets and walls of books.

For a second, she allowed herself to believe that was all she would find in there, that what she and Riley had heard through their earpieces had been misconstrued. But then she turned to the door and saw Marco. He was sprawled on the ground, the carpet surrounding him already stained and sticky with blood.

She closed her eyes and let out a shaky breath as, once again, she heard the deafening bang, the unmistakable roar of Tai's grief.

"I wanted to check you were telling the truth. We only need one anyway."

With shaky hands, Leah adjusted her radio away from Tai and Jared's voices, and back to the line she shared with Riley alone.

"Leah?"

Riley's voice came to her instantly, distorted by static and full of questions.

Leah rubbed her temples, wishing she didn't have to say what she was about to.

"I'm sorry, Riley," Leah said softly. "Marco's dead."

For a long moment, the line between them stayed silent, but then Riley's voice crackled through.

"Just find that knife," she said, her voice gruff. "The sooner you do, the sooner Jared can kill the bastard."

Leah let out a sigh, relieved Riley hadn't lost it again. It had taken all of Leah's persuasive powers to convince Riley to stay in Zarah's room after they'd heard that shot.

Leah allowed herself a second to choke down the anger, to pretend the air wasn't tinted with copper and iron, before she made her way towards the shelves, scanning through them methodologically. She was going to have to work twice as quickly now Riley wasn't there to help. She didn't want Tai and Jared to be in this house any longer than necessary.

Hardback, black writing, golden shading, titled 'Hephaestus mythology'.

Leah muttered the description Jared had given them under her breath. Repeating the words over and over again as her hands ran along the spines of the books. The process was tedious and slow and after only a few minutes of it, Leah's teeth were gritted in frustration.

"Hardback," Leah whispered, her blood pulsing harder as her panic grew. She could hear thuds and footsteps from outside the room, the sounds quickly growing closer. "Black writing, golden shading."

It was just as the title Hephaestus mythology appeared before her eyes that Leah heard the door creak open behind her. Wrenching the book off the shelf, Leah dived behind the desk, scrambling behind its oak frame and curling into a ball.

She heard the door swished against the carpet and then come to a thudding holt. The bump was followed by a grunt of frustration and then the unmistakable noise of something heavy and lifeless being dragged.

Leah closed her eyes and bit back the nausea that sound inspired. She wanted to run out there and grab Marco's body back, to bring him back to the S.I.S where he belonged. But she knew she couldn't. Not if the rest of them hoped to get out of here alive.

After a second longer, Leah focused back on the book, hoping it'd drown out the shuffling and thudding behind her.

Slowly, making sure no sound could be heard, she pealed the cover open and glanced down, her eyes taking in the hollowed-out space in the middle of the pages, just large enough to fit a knife. The only problem was, there wasn't a knife in there.

For a moment, Leah stared at that empty space, her mind unwilling to comprehend what she was seeing. But then her exhilaration cut short, her stomach dropping with complete dread.

She fumbled for her radio, tuning the frequency back to the control rooms signal.

"Andrew," she hissed under her breath. "Andrew, come in."

The line was silent for barely a second and then she heard him through her earpiece.

"Yes, go ahead, Leah."

There was another loud thump behind her and Leah flinched, her hand flying to her gun as she glanced around, checking no one had seen her.

"The knife isn't here," she breathed. "I found the book, but it's empty."

"Are you sure it's the right one?" Andrew asked. "It could be that –"

Andrew's words were cut off abruptly, the line suddenly filling with static, as if Andrew had changed channels mid-sentence. For a moment, Leah sat there, blinking.

"Andrew?" she whispered.

No response came.

"Andrew are you still there?"

The silence only lasted a second longer, but then Andrew's voice erupted back down the line, making her flinch at the volume.

"Leah!" Andrew's voice was thick with panic, almost overwhelmed by a roar of other commands being shouted behind him. They deafened her, filling her head with chaos.

"Leah, can you hear me? Something has gone wrong. You need to get to Tai and Jared. You need to get to them now."

...

Hello everyone!

Sorry this chapter is a bit short! It is very important for the set up of the next chapter though. It's going to be a big one :P 

Next chapter will be out in 2 weeks! What do you all think is going to happen? :P 

Until then!

- Skylar xx