Dangerous Designs Read online

  ***

  The moment he felt the shift in her attitude, his panic eased. At least most of it. "Thank you." He stepped back, rotating his neck and shoulders as the tension eased.

  "I didn't say I'd go."

  "Yes, you did." He closed her sketchbook. "Let's go." As much as he wanted to take the stylus from her, it had already bonded, and the person who'd tried to take it from her had better watch out.

  "Wait. What's the rush? Besides what am I going to tell my mother?"

  "We'll explain that you've forgotten homework and that I have the assignment that you're missing."

  "That's great for you. I don't do homework."

  He shot her a look of disgust. "'Then you should. Do you really just want to work at the corner store for the rest of your life?"

  "I don't work at a corner store," she snapped.

  "No, but that's all you're going to be good for with your education level, isn't it."

  "Arrgh. Who are you to talk?"

  She stormed downstairs. The chanting reached them first. Right, preparations for the ceremony. Rather than disturbing them, Storey and Eric made a quick exit out the back door. Eric's pace picked up outside. He practically ran - back in the direction of the damn mine. When they reached the edge of Lewis Park and the rocks where she'd told him about the portal, she'd had enough.

  "What the hell are we doing back here?" She glared at him and backed up several feet. We're almost at the stupid mine entrance again."

  "We're probably close enough. He dug into his pocket and grabbed a weird silver tool.

  Story narrowed her eyes at him. "What's that?" she asked suspiciously. "I've never seen anything like it."

  "No, it's not common over here."

  "Over here?" She surveyed the deserted park and the overgrown path that led to the mine entrance. How come in all the years she'd lived here, she'd never once gone down that path to the mine?

  "Yes, over here." He grinned, reached out and grabbed her hand. "Just a few more steps. Here."

  Spluttering her protests, she snapped, "I don't want to go with you anymore. I've decided I don't like you. You're beyond irritating, you know that."

  A strange voice interjected. "No, he doesn't know, but the rest of us do."