Black Holes - The Mors Mortis Trilogy Book 3

Chapter Eighteen

He glanced at Leah to find her looking too, her gaze running the length of his chest with a dead expression.

Slowly, he lowering the sheet back down, wincing when even that made pain ripple.

"How did they find us?" he asked.

Leah was still staring at the sheets, as if burning the injuries she'd seen underneath into her brain.

"I don't know," she said. "They haven't told me much."

"But they knew we were there?"

Leah closed her eyes, squeezed them tight.

"Yes."

He knew then, simply from her reaction, how Leah had ended up in the in-between, how he had too. He should've realised it already from the times he'd seen Riley appear in the live world, flickering in and out of focus right near Seth Azemar, looking like she was whispering to him.

"They sent us there, didn't they?" he asked.

Leah started shaking, and she hugged herself tighter, still refusing to look at him.

"Leah—"

"Don't."

Her voice was hard, sharp, and her eyes shone bright in the darkness. Jared almost flinched back at the self-loathing he saw there.

"It's not their fault," she said, her voice cracking. "All of this is happening because of me."

Jared's mouth hung open, his brain rushing, trying to make sense of this all. He reached out, wanting to touch her, to fix this somehow, but then the door swung open.

"What are you two doing sitting in the dark?"

The voice was demanding, instantly familiar, and the lights flared on.

Jared cursed and brought his hands up to his eyes, pressing the heels of his palms into the sockets.

"Bloody hell, Riley," he hissed.

"Oh, right. Sorry."

The lights switched off again and Jared lowered his hands, blinking.

Riley stood in the doorway, her hair pulled back into a tight ponytail, with a man and a blonde girl behind her. Jared recognised the blonde instantly. He'd spent enough time tailing Arelie Kaser when he'd first come to Narra to spot her anywhere, but the man he couldn't place.

From the way Leah tensed beside him, though, he was certain she could.

Riley moved to Jared's side, blinking as her eyes adjusted to the dimness, and pulled the sheet off him.

"How are you feeling?" Riley asked, eyeing him critically as Arelie and the man hovered by the door.

"Okay."

"Really?"

She looked down at his chest, and Leah followed her gaze again, guilt and torment drenching her expression.

"Yes," Jared snapped.

"Hmmm." Riley looked at his chest with less interest now. "I suppose a lot of people have been trying to kill you lately. Perhaps you've become a bit desensitised to it."

Jared didn't bother replying to that, but instead looked at the man standing by the door. He'd been quiet up until this point, watching, but when Jared met his gaze, he moved forward.

"We were hoping to ask you some questions, Jared," the man said.

Jared looked between him and Riley, vaguely aware that Leah had shifted closer to him, as if sides were being picked.

"Who is we exactly?" Jared asked, letting some boredom drip into his tone.

"You've met Riley before," the man said, glancing at her. "And Arelie, or so she tells me. I'm Mark. I work in a branch of the defence force here. One focused on inter-dimensional rules and regulations."

"Ah," Jared said, and suddenly Mark's face fell into place: ambushing Leah and Jared when they'd been travelling to the whirlpools, flashing from behind windows of police cars and vans as they chased them. "You're the dickhead who kept failing to catch me."

The corner of Mark's mouth twitched, and Jared felt Leah tense beside him.

"What do you want?" Jared asked.

Arelie stepped forward, her eyes flickering between Jared and Leah with a wariness Mark either didn't feel, or wasn't willing to show.

"We just want to know if you transported anyone between the worlds, like Leah did," Arelie said. "If anyone stayed in a world they didn't belong for a prolonged time."

"Why?"

"Just answer the question."

Jared glanced at Riley, then at Leah. Both their faces were tense, suspense-filled, and Jared realised that whatever answer he gave mattered. A lot. Perhaps enough to bargain with.

If these people had been the ones who threw Leah and him into the in between, he wasn't going to make it easy for them to do it again.

"Yeah," he said casually, lying back. "I moved loads of people between the worlds. It was part of my job."

Mark's face clouded, and a vein on Arelie's neck grew taut.

"How many is loads?" Arelie asked, her voice carefully neutral.

Jared shrugged. "I dunno. Hundreds?"

"Do you remember all of their names?"

"No. Should I?"

Arelie opened her mouth to speak but Mark silenced her with a look.

"That's fine, Jared," Mark said. "We'll leave you to rest. Arelie."

The last word was a snapped command, and when Mark turned and walked out the door, Arelie followed behind him.

For a moment, the room was quiet, the only sound the hum of the electricity, but then Riley turned to him.

"Once again, Jared Maverick, you've managed to fuck everything up. Congratulations."

The smile breaking out on her face contradicted her words though, and not for the first time, Jared wondered if Riley Rodriguez was more dangerous than anyone gave her credit for.

...

As I said in the last chapter, sorry for the delay on this one!

I hope everyone is having a lovely November so far. 

Next chapter will be out in two weeks :)

- Skylar xx