It was nearly midnight when Zarah spotted him creeping across her lawn, a shape cut from darkness. She'd been waiting two weeks for this. Two weeks of held breath and a panicked pulse. Even though she knew he'd come again, even though she expected it, her heart thudded, a hand raising to cup her throat protectively.

She scrambled away from the window and ran to the bed, shaking the sleeper awake. He sat up fast, took one look at her panicked expression and then nodded, bringing a finger to his lips silently, green eyes reflecting the street lights outside.

She nodded and crawled away, stealing into the next room and waking the woman in there too. There were gentle clicks as pistols were loaded and her companions crept downstairs, Zarah following in their wake, hovering at the top of the staircase as they disappeared into the shadows, hidden from view.

Her heart was in her throat as she heard a tread on the porch steps, a loud knock on the front door. Zarah held still, like they'd told her too, the silence dragging on.

"Zarah?" Jared called. "I know you're in there. Please, I need your help."

He sounded panicked, rushed, pleading, so different to the last time.

But she stayed silent, breath held. It wasn't until she heard him shift, the wood creaking under his weight, that she acted, spinning around and thudding down the corridor.

Jared swore and the door blew inwards, crashing open as he flew inside, just like they'd planned. She turned back to see Danny and Cassandra emerge from the shadows, guns pointed at Jared's head.

He froze, eyes scanning the weapons trained on him before meeting Zarah's gaze.

"I suppose that's fair," he said, his voice hollow, and for a moment, Zarah stared.

She'd come to the conclusion, not long after meeting him, that Jared Caldwell was one of nature's great destructive forces, like a flood or tornado; with a voice of honey, and eyes that pulled you in even as he drowned you. But as he stood in front of her now, he looked cracked and broken, all that destructive energy turned on himself.

"Go back to where you came from, Caldwell," Danny said, voice like steel. "You're not getting to Leah this way again."

Jared shot Danny an agitated glance, but turned back to Zarah. The urgency in his eyes was draining the fear from her. She'd never seen someone look so desperate, so distraught and torn.

"Look, I know you have no reason to trust me, but you need to. The rebels know where Leah is and they're going to attack her. You have to find her and tell her to get out."

The words came out jumbled, frantic, and Zarah blinked in surprise. Cassandra shifted to stand in front of Jared, her gun still trained on him.

"You want to warn Leah about a rebel attack?" Cassandra asked, an eyebrow raised.

Danny scoffed. "How stupid do you think we are? Don't try backtracking now that you're faced with more than just one defenceless girl."

Jared turned to him, his eyes flashing a challenge.

"You being here makes no difference to me," he snapped. "If I wanted to hurt Zarah, I'd still be able to. You'd just delay it a second or so."

Zarah's pulse quickened and Danny growled, launching forward, but just as quick, Jared stepped backwards, allowing Cassandra's gun to press against his temple.

"We don't have time for this," he hissed. "You need to find Leah now. You need to stop this before more people die."

The words came out taut, as if he was trying to strangle them, as if they were strangling him. But Danny's eyes were dark, unforgiving.

"You have ten seconds to leave before I shoot you."

"No!" Jared practically screamed, stepping forward again, making Danny's finger tense on the trigger. "No! You need to –"

"Why would we believe you?" Cassandra asked, her voice hard. "You've proven who you fight for."

Jared spun to face her, and the panic in his eyes sucked the breath from Zarah's lungs.

"Please," he begged. "I'm not –"

"Five seconds," Danny warned.

Jared's eyes flamed with anger, all the vulnerability vanishing. Zarah knew he was considering killing Danny and Cassandra and making her do what he wanted anyway, but then he stepped back, fists clenching, breath rushing from his lungs.

"Fine." His voice came out jagged. "I'll find them myself."

As he spoke the air cracked open behind him, revealing a blackness that shivered and swirled. Danny and Cassandra jerked away in surprise and Zarah's mouth opened wide, staring in horror.

Jared stepped back into it, his eyes locking on Zarah for one unflinching moment, that piercing blue lashed with a darkness that swallowed her whole, and then he disappeared, the opening closing and leaving nothing to indicate he'd been there at all.

Everyone was quiet, tensed as they waited for him to reappear, but he didn't, and after a moment Danny lowered his gun and flicked on the lights, blinking in the sudden glare.

Cassandra shifted, gnawing on her lip, and Zarah glanced between the two of them uncertainly.

"Do you think he was telling the truth?" Zarah asked.

Danny turned, squinting up the stairs at her, eyes tired.

"It's Jared Caldwell," he said simply, as if that answered the question.

"Why didn't he try to hurt you, then?" Zarah asked. "You told me yourself how strong he is. He could've killed you two and forced me to do what he wanted, couldn't he?"

"No," Danny scoffed instantly, reflexively, but then he glanced at Cassandra, his certainty wavering. "Right?"

Cassandra's brow was furrowed.

"Whether or not he could've, it's odd he didn't try," she said.

Cassandra's words filled Zarah with a hard resolution. She didn't like Jared, she didn't trust him, but there was something, deep in her gut, screaming that he'd been telling the truth.

"I'm going to warn Leah," Zarah said, jumping down the steps to land in front of the two of them. "She should know, even if Jared's lying."

Danny was already shaking his head before she'd finished speaking.

"He's probably trying to flush her out, that's why he wants her to run."

"Then I won't tell her to leave, I'll just warn her they're coming."

Danny's mouth opened, and then closed again, his face falling into an adorably conflicted expression. There was a lot of Leah in her brother, a lot of her determination and daring, but there were other things too. Softer words and harder muscles. A gentleness that years of looking after others had intensified.

"It'll make thing worse for you," he said softly. "You know it will."

Zarah swallowed, trying to ignore the worry in his voice. She knew he was right. She hadn't wanted Danny and Cassandra to see what'd been happening to her ever since Leah pulled her to the live world; all the nausea, the crawling of her skin, the vertigo. But being with them 24/7 had made it hard to hide that she was fading in and out of focus daily, fading between this world and another she didn't belong to anymore.

"I don't care," Zarah said sternly. "If all this is as serious as you've told me, what happens to me doesn't matter."

Danny's eyes narrowed, his mouth opened to speak, but Cassandra interrupted him before he could start.

"You aren't going to take no for an answer, are you?"

"No, I'm not."

Cassandra sighed. "Fine. If you think it's –"

The door crashed open behind them and Zarah jerked back with a yell. Cassandra and Danny spun around, raising their guns simultaneously, waiting for Jared to burst through the door once more. But instead, five figures charged inside, clad in black bullet proof vests and police caps, handguns pointed at the three of them.

"Stand down," a burly man barked. "Lower your weapons to the ground and place your hands on your heads. You're under arrest for intent to disturb the void and aiding and abetting those who already have."

Danny and Cassandra backed up until their bodies were blocking Zarah's, their guns trained on the policemen.

"Disturbing the what?" Danny asked.

A sixth figure stepped into the house, clad in combat gear. Her blonde hair was tied back into a tight knot, brown eyes narrowed characteristically, and the air rushed from Zarah's lungs, her eyes widening.

"Arelie?" Zarah gasped.

Arelie grinned darkly at her old classmate.

"Nice to see you again, Zarah," she said. "It's been a while."

Zarah just gaped as Arelie turned and nodded at the men. "Take them."

The five men advanced and Danny and Cassandra backed away.

"What's going on?" Zarah yelled at Arelie's retreating back. "We haven't done anything!"

Arelie turned around, fixing Zarah with a withering look.

"You've been in contact with Leah Azemar in the live world and you're trying to connect back to her again. We need to ask you some questions, please come quietly."

A foreign rage was swelling in Zarah's stomach, and she started slipping again, her mind blurring the lines between this reality and the next.

"You can't arrest us! You're not even a –"

Zarah's speech slurred as her vision went black, her body swaying with the familiar vertigo and nausea, that stretching of her skin. For once, she welcomed it, her confusion egging it on. Getting here was always easier when her emotions were running high, usually she fought it back, but right now it was exactly what she needed.

Take me to Leah, she chanted mentally. Take me to Leah.

Her skin stretched further, her body running hot and cold.

"Zarah Rai!" she heard Arelie scream. "Do not connect back to the live world. I repeat, do not –"

"Lower your gun!" Danny interrupted. "Don't fucking point it at her."

"You do not get to tell me –"

"Lower it!"

There was a bang, a bullet ripped through her forearm, and the room erupted into chaos, giving Zarah the final kick she needed. She was thrown backwards, jerked into a whirlwind of noise as the room fell away. She held her breath, lungs screaming, chest aching, and then it all stopped, silence ringing in her ears.

She gasped, grabbing the bullet wound as it throbbed, and opened her eyes to a dim room.

Leah was sitting in a longue chair, a girl with hair like flames holding a TV remote beside her. They both stared at her, wide eyed. For a moment, no one spoke, and then the redhead groaned, throwing the remote down onto a pillow.

"Not again," she moaned, turning to Leah. "I thought these ghosts of yours were meant to be dead? Why is this one bleeding every time she shows up?"

Leah jerked up from the couch, rushing to Zarah's side and trying to grab her arm, but her fingers just passed through, splitting Zarah's skin apart like smoke.

"What happened?" Leah asked, her voice panicked. "Did Jared –"

"No," Zarah interrupted. "That's not why I'm here. But he did come to see me."

Leah blanched, her gaze darkening with trepidation and Zarah swallowed, her head swimming with pain.

"He wanted to warn you. The rebels know where you are. They're coming."  

...

Hey everybody!

Sorry for the wait on this chapter. Hope you all enjoyed it. Things are heating up again, in both the live and dead worlds hehe.  

This chapter goes to @MPearl7! Thank you for all your votes :) 

Next chapter in two weeks! (It's gonna be a big one ;) ;) ) 

Until then!

- Skylar xx