Black Holes - The Mors Mortis Trilogy Book 3

Chapter Fifty Two

Leah's heart was pounding a hundred miles a minute as she peered at Jared's old house, watching the orange glow of sunset creep down the roof and walls until they were bathed in gold.

They'd broken into a weatherboard cottage across the road, setting up at the front window for the afternoon, watching and waiting. Zarah was on Leah's left, shifting her position every couple minutes — shaking one leg out, then another, sitting down cross-legged, then rising to her feet — her nervousness announcing itself in rustles and shuffles.

Leah had tried not to let it bother her, but the enormity of what they were about to do sat heavy on her shoulders, and it took a conscious effort to not fidget too.

Jared, in comparison, had seemed unaffected, his only movement the occasional brush of an arm against hers.

"How do you think they're going?" Zarah asked, her voice quiet.

Leah glanced up the road, in the direction the others had gone. They'd run over the plan several times before they'd split up, and she hoped that by now, Danny and Alice were in position, ready to drag the creatures away from the portal once the sun set.

"I'm sure they're fine," she said.

She scoured the horizon again though, trying not to let her trepidation show. It wasn't fear for Danny and Alice that dragged her eyes back there. At least, not for the most part. They knew the plan, knew their job. It was the people they hadn't been able to warn that made her skin tighten, made her heart rate spike.

"How far behind were Cassandra and the Brentons again?" she asked.

Her tone was carefully calm, but she still felt the words shatter the small amount of peace they'd managed. Jared tensed beside her, Zarah's eyes flicked to her and then away again. And for a moment, no one spoke.

It was a question that'd hung unvoiced all afternoon. Zarah and Danny had told them that Cassandra was hurt, that she'd demanded they go ahead while she look after the Brentons. But they still should've arrived by now.

"Not too far," Zarah said. "Their progress would be slow, though. They're probably close."

Leah knew Zarah was trying to be comforting, but the words only made her anxiety notch higher. Close was the worst case scenario. Close meant danger.

"Right," she said, her voice tense, and Jared's arm brushed hers again, the contact solid enough that she doubted it was accidental.

"Cassandra's smart," he said softly. "She can handle herself."

Leah gave a tense nod, but she didn't look at him. She couldn't.

The weight of the information Arelie gave them, and what it meant, had turned every thought of Jared into a emotional maelstrom, and Leah didn't know how to deal with it. Not with everything else going on.

But then Jared sighed and shifted, glancing over her shoulder at Zarah.

"Could you give us a minute, Zarah?" he asked.

His voice was quiet, travelling through the silence, and Leah sucked in a breath.

For a moment, all she could feel was panic, a certainty that she wasn't ready. She knew what conversation they were about to have, and that they needed to have it. But she didn't want to. She didn't want to hear the resignation in his voice, the regret in his words. She didn't want to have to face the reality of what came next.

Zarah looked at Leah in the quickly falling gloom, checking. But the moment she saw Leah's expression, she nodded and rose to a crouch, shuffling outside.