Dangerous Designs Read online

CHAPTER FIVE

  Storey woke energized the next morning. It was Saturday. She planned on going to the mine. By way of her floor – as soon as she figured it out. As much as she'd told Eric he could come, she wasn't planning on telling him about her private entrance.

  She grabbed up her favorite pencil and sketchbook. Opening to the right page, she laid it down on the floor. As it hit, something caught her eye. Her heart sped up and she crouched down for a better look. The door in her picture had unlocked itself. She might just be able to get through.

  First she had to get dressed She didn't want to end up in some unknown world dressed in nightclothes again. After donning jeans and tee shirt, pulling sneakers out of the closet and brushing her hair, she stood on her bed and considered if she'd forgotten anything. Her backpack was still packed with water and a flashlight along with chalk to mark her locations. She’d get it right this time.

  After a few moments pondering the contents, she added her pencil and a smaller sketchbook. And felt like an idiot. If anyone saw her preparing for a trip through her bedroom floor, well, they'd have her committed.

  She stood up, took one deep breath for courage, and jumped.

  And went right though the floor.

  Her knees buckled, sending her to one side. Instead of being afraid, she laughed, joy and relief mixed with a sense of exultation. She wasn't crazy. This wasn't her imagination. She'd really jumped through her floor. No damage. No broken beams or flooring or ceiling.

  Just a doorway in her sketch. How amazing was that?

  Standing up, Storey searched the darkness, listening for identifiable sounds. She'd thought long and hard about what she'd do once she made it back here. Cocking her head to one side, she realized she could hear...nothing. No sounds of water running down the walls, or mice scrabbling against the ground. Not even a bit of breeze whistling down the tunnels. Nothing.

  She clicked on her flashlight sending light slicing through unforgiving darkness. "How could anything be so absent of light and sound?" She frowned. Her voice didn't even echo. How could that be? She didn't remember much of her science lessons on light and noise, but thought emptiness helped create the echo effect.

  So weird. Standing still, she sent light out as far as it could reach in all directions. Then she checked out the space behind her.

  Nothing. No walls shone back on her. Turning the light onto the floor, she studied the type of flooring and wondered at the smooth look of the planks. So perfect, they didn't appear real. It wasn't what she'd expected.

  Then she checked out the ceiling. The light went into endless darkness. If there was a ceiling, it was so high as to be untouchable. She knew she hadn't jumped more than eight feet. Her knees hadn't hurt on landing.

  So, if she'd jumped through the same hole and landed in the same black nothingness, where was the damn door?

  Taking out her chalk, she drew a large circle with an X in the middle of it. She wanted to mark her position so she didn't get lost. At least this way if she were to jump again, she'd be able to check that she landed at the same place. She didn't want to consider that she might have ended up somewhere new.

  First things first, she needed to find the door. Last time it had been behind her. With her flashlight showing the way, she turned, searching behind her for the door. Last time that first slice of light had appeared to be a long way away. In truth, it hadn't been more than thirty or fifty feet.

  She paced off thirty paces and stopped. She couldn't see anything anywhere. Looking behind her, relief swept through her at the X on the floor in the bright beam of light. Good. She just needed to do this systematically. Taking a deep breath, she moved forward another thirty paces. Still nothing showed in her light. Uneasiness squirmed in her stomach. Keep going forward or try a new direction? Deciding to move another thirty steps, she paced again, and then stopped and drew another big X, labeling it number two. Then she backtracked to her original spot and paced ninety paces in the opposite direction. By the time she finished, she'd created a square with four Xs at the corners and a big X in the middle. Not much help, considering she had yet to find a perimeter wall.

  She stood in the middle and puzzled over it. What kind of tunnel could have no walls? Not possible, surely. She tried to visualize the space. It had to be a natural cave to require no support beams or walls. Damn. Why hadn't she brought a bigger flashlight? Oh wait, maybe because she didn't have one!

  Her cell phone rang. Such an ordinary thing, and so normal in the midst of so much abnormal, its very mundaneness surprised her. How could she get reception in here? "Hello?"

  Static filled her ear. Figured. "Hello?"

  She tried answering several more times, then clicked it off, returning it to her pocket. A moment later, the musical notes on her phone sounded again. A text. Hmmm. She clicked on it to read the incoming message.

  Where the hell are you?

  Eric. And pissed.

  She answered. "I'm in the mine. I told you to come if you wanted." After she hit send, she waited, a half grin on her face. He wouldn't take it quietly. Her instinct proved right as a text came right back. "I'm on my way. WAIT."

  "Like I have a choice." She sniffed at his autocratic response. "Then hurry up. Where the hell is that door?"

  She passed the time by walking out to each of her circles and spent several minutes studying the darkness around her. There appeared to be nothing here. Walking back to the middle, she sat down to wait. Within minutes another text came through. She hopped to her feet. Eric said he was approaching the door. She waited for the welcoming sliver of light. It never came. Nerves bunched as she waited and worried. What if he couldn't open the door? He'd done it once. The wait seemed interminable. She chewed her fingernails as she waited and waited.

  Damn it. She sent him another text, reading aloud as her fingers whipped across the keyboard, "What's wrong?"

  "I've opened the door. Where are you?"

  Shit. She hopped to her feet and spun around looking for the doorway. He wasn't there. Shakes and shivers wracked her slight frame as she realized the enormity of her situation.

  She'd landed in a different place.

  Eric had come to the rescue. He was at the door to the mine. He'd actually managed to open the locked door again, clearing one of the hurdles she'd worried about, but she wasn't there.

  So, where the hell was she?