Black Holes - The Mors Mortis Trilogy Book 3

Chapter Ten

"Thank you," she said softly, and he nodded and left, closing the door behind him.

Leah glanced at Arelie and Mark. They were both watching her, their eyes sunken and their postures tired.

She wasn't entirely sure why they still brought her in for these talks. At first, it'd seemed obvious. She'd resisted arrest, she'd broken Arelie's neck, she'd opened the portal and doomed the whole world. Simple.

But as the weeks progressed, things had grown more convoluted. They'd started asking her questions that strayed further from her crimes and more towards the live world: how her portal had worked, how Jared's worked, how she'd lost control, what control felt like, what being alive felt like.

She wasn't sure if her answers were helping, but Arelie and Mark acted as if they did. And God, she hoped they were right too. If something she said could help fix this, maybe she could breathe again, maybe she wouldn't have to spend every second praying for a do-over.

"How's the investigation going?" Leah asked, voice husky.

"Not well," Mark said. "Nothing we've tried so far has worked. The portals keep expanding."

Leah flinched at the condemnation in his tone, but she nodded.

So far, the police had been kinder to her than she deserved. If the roles had been reversed, she knew her anger and fear would've made her irrational; that she would've been tearing around this room screaming. But all the officers she'd run into had been business-like. Cold and furious, sure, but not vindictive.

Even Arelie had done nothing crueler than tell her hard truths.

"What can I do?" Leah asked.

"You can tell us if anything's changed," Mark said. "Have the fragments of the portal become any less painful?"

Leah glanced at Arelie and found her old friends' eyes narrowed in a way that still made Leah think of spray-painting buildings and shoplifting booze. She knew Arelie had been undercover when they'd met, but it was still hard to reconcile the memories Leah had with the girl sitting here now.

"A bit," Leah said. "I've been trying to find the source of it."

"And have you?"

"No. Whenever I try, it feels like shoving my consciousness into knives. If I push forward, it's like my insides start to tear."

Mark's jaw tensed, but he nodded, and Leah's gaze flickered to the two-way glass behind his head. Every time she'd been in here, that glass had drawn her eye. She was sure there were more officers behind it, their scowls fixed on her.

"Okay," Mark said, standing up. "We're going to need you to come with us."

There was something different in his voice, something that rung with finality, and Leah's heart gave a half-hearted pulse.

"Am I going back to my cell?"

"No."

Mark moved to the door, walking out of it and muttering something to the guards outside, and Leah waited, expecting Arelie to unlock her handcuffs from the table, but the room had fallen still.

Leah glanced at Arelie to find her frozen, staring after Mark, her face white.

"Are you alright?" Leah asked.

Arelie's expression smoothed, and she shot Leah a glare.

"Of course. No thanks to you, though."

She stood, grabbing a key from her belt and unlocked one of Leah's hands, winding the chain away from the bolt on the table before locking Leah's wrist in again. The movements were harsh, rushed, and Leah peered into Arelie's face, trying to figure out what was bothering her.

"I know I fucked up, Arelie," Leah said softly. "I know you tried to stop me, and I'm sorry I didn't let you. I'm so sorry. Whatever I can do to fix this, I will. It doesn't matter what it is."

Arelie stared at her and then she grabbed Leah's arm, hauling her up. Something cold pressed against Leah's hip, there one minute and gone the next, and then Arelie was directing her towards the door.

"This martyr act of yours has come a bit late," Arelie said. "And I doubt it'll last when you realise what Mark is planning."

And then she shoved Leah out the door and into the arms of the guards in the corridor. Leah blinked as she took in the number that'd crowded in. Four guards, plus Mark.

Arelie nodded at the officers, her eyes hard.

"You can take her," she said, and then she walked off, not looking back once.

For the first time, Leah felt something pierce through the fog of depression and self-disgust that'd shrouded her since she'd died, but she didn't complain when the guard to her right grabbed her elbow and directed her further down the corridor.

The rest of the guards surrounded her, boxing her in, and Leah peered beyond their shoulders, trying to figure out where they were headed.

There were only two other rooms here, both mirroring the one she'd just emerged from, but as they walked towards the furthest one, Leah caught sight of smoke curling out from beneath the doorframe, a darkness that seemed to throb and pulse.

Acceptance flooded her body, making her shoulders drop.

The fact it'd taken them this long to do this was honestly the only surprise.

"You didn't need to bring all these guards," Leah said quietly, and though Mark didn't react, she knew he heard. "I'm not going to fight you."

Mark swung the door open, revealing the portal that hovered beyond and the guards backed up, forming a line behind her.

Leah glanced at Mark one final time.

"For what it's worth, I'm sorry," she said. "For everything."

Mark tilted his head, not exactly accepting her apology, but acknowledging it.

"I know," he said, and then he pushed right against the small of her back, and Leah fell into the portal and was ripped away.  

...

Next chapter out in two weeks!

- Skylar xx