Deadly Designs Read online

  “And where is my sketchbook?”

  With the child.

  “Why did she take you?”

  She’d seen others like me.

  “Does she know what you are?”

  No.

  “I found six of you in that cupboard. Are there more?”

  A heavy humming filled the air. Then it was joined by a humming of a different tenor, then another and another. Pretty soon the air buzzed as if a conversation raced around her. They were styluses then.

  No. You have us all.

  “Should I leave any of you behind?”

  No. We are grateful to you.

  “What about the broken one?”

  We are grateful that you picked up the broken one. He is an important member of our group.

  “Can he be fixed?”

  Yes.

  Good enough. She tucked them all safely away in her pockets then returned to the problem of the Louer child. “Stylus, can we write on her arm and send her to the new dimension like we did the prisoners from the war?

  No.

  She groaned. “Why not?”

  I don’t have the code for where her people are. If we sent her over she could end up anywhere.

  Damn.

  “So I’m all alone with a Louer child with no way to help either of us?”

  Not quite.

  Groaning a loud, she asked, “What’s not quite right?”

  You are not alone.

  She spun around, searching for someone else to somehow, suddenly show up. “What do you mean? I thought you said the Louers were all gone except for the child?”

  I did.

  “So…”

  A Toran is here now.

  “Who?” But she knew. Only Eric would have come over and tried to help her.

  Eric.

  Yes! She turned around, listening for him. “Where is he?”

  Not far.

  “How far? Which way do I go to find him?”

  You don’t. He’s following you.

  “Perfect. So I can sit here and wait. Then he can help me deal with the issue of the child.”

  Yes.

  A huge pressure valve inside eased. She wasn’t alone. Thank God. “Stylus, are you okay now?”

  Almost.

  It had said that last time too. “What about the child, is she hurt?”

  No. Hungry.

  That figured. Weren’t all kids? “Did the Louers get settled into their new dimension?”

  In progress. The Louers of this complex moved, but the others haven’t been able to yet. The portal is damaged. Closed.

  Uh oh. That couldn’t be good. Did the Louers even know the child had been left behind? And speaking of children and parents…

  “Are my parents okay? Still together.” Her question slid out, surprising her.

  Yes.

  “That’s not good.”

  Why?

  “My father hasn’t been in my life for a long time. When I created the new dimension I did something to my dimension. My parents are different. Their beliefs are different. I’m supposed to be different. I asked you to reverse what I did, but I don’t think you changed everything back.” She hesitated. “Did you?”

  No. Your words and thoughts weren’t as one. You twisted time.

  “Yeah, that doesn’t sound so good. Can I untwist it? Or twist it back again?

  No.

  She took a deep breath. “Why? I need to reverse what I did to my dimension without affecting the other good changes I made.”

  You can fix this.

  She breathed a deep sigh of relief. Thank heavens for that. “Now if only Eric would show up, things would be great.”

  He’s almost here.

  Storey turned to face the door. Wouldn’t he get a surprise when he saw what she’d found.

  *

  Eric followed the wall deeper into the Louers’ complex, wondering at the weird sounds coming from his codex. Was it broken? Maybe the Louers’ dimension was the problem.

  The light on his codex changed. And a series of symbols sat in the small display window. Mentally he converted it to something understandable. Storey. He came to a sliding stop.

  Her presence was stronger than ever. And close.

  Did he dare call for her?

  If any Louers were here, he should have seen some sign or them by now. He’d almost have preferred it. This lonely darkness was unsettling. As was the constant looking over his shoulder only to find nothing, anywhere.

  “Storey,” he whispered, then shook his head. How stupid. It’s not like Storey could’ve heard that. She’d have to be right in front of him to hear him.

  “Yes?”

  Storey’s pale face flashed in front of him, a huge grin and sheer joy in her eyes. “Did you call?”

  “Storey!” he shouted, and snatched her up into his arms. He twirled her around, holding her close. Oh, thank you!

  “Finally! I’ve been so worried.” With a big grin he put her down then pushed her hair back so she could look into her face. He stared deep into her eyes. “What the heck happened? How did you end up here? Why couldn’t you leave?”

  She laughed and jumped back into his arms. He held her tight, dropping his head to rest on hers. Joy rippled through him, so grateful to have her safe.

  Finally she stepped back, her smile this time a little teary eyed. She sniffled and wiped her eyes. “Am I glad to see you.” In a surprise move, she reached up and hit his shoulder. “That’s for your lousy father.” To be fair, as she had no proof, she added with a sigh, “At least I think this mess is his fault.”

  “I’m afraid it is too, but I don’t have any proof yet.” Eric bit back a sigh. He hoped his father was innocent. Except that concept was getting harder to believe. His father had to have been behind it. There’d been no one else with the motive, means and skill level to send Storey somewhere else. “You didn’t even make it to your home, did you?”

  “No. As I left the party, your father waved at me. In his hand he had my stylus. At least what he thought was my stylus. Oh, he gloated like he knew something bad was going to happen – something I was not going to like. And he was right.” Storey shook her head at the memory. “When the mist dissipated, there were these horrible hands reaching for me. I don’t know if it was crossing the dimension or what but I blacked out. When I came to, I was alone in a large cave-like room.”

  Eric closed his eyes. Damn. His father couldn’t have known about her fake stylus. He’d intended to separate Storey from her stylus, thus bringing about her death. Could he have also changed the destination in her codex? Did he even know how to do that? The one was bad enough, but if he’d done them both…well, Eric didn’t know what to think.

  Could his father hate Storey that much? Or was this a desperate act of a desperate man? Could he have thought this was a way to regain his all powerful leadership status – using her as an example to others, perhaps? He’d never had to deal with outright defiance or a potential non-confidence vote before – until Storey. Could this be just about ego?

  Or maybe fear was the basis of his father’s actions. Fear of losing everything he had? Eric had heard mutterings from several displeased council members and presumed his father had as well. Would that have been enough to precipitate these actions?

  Eric would have to let this mess roll around in his head for a bit.

  Right now he had bigger priorities – like getting Storey home safely.

  “It’s going to be fine now. I have my codex and I brought another one for you.” By the time he’d finished speaking, Eric had unclipped the spare on his left and snagged her arm to clip it onto hers.

  He stopped. “What’s this?”

  “What’s what?”

  Eric tapped her arm.

  “I can’t see.”

  “Lights on full.” Instantly the lights turned on, giving Storey her first real look at the large room. She couldn’t believe the enormity of the space they were in. There had to have been many Louers l
iving here to require a room of such size. It was bigger than the community center she’d gone to at home. “Wow. Look at this place.”

  “Wow,” Eric said patiently, “Look at your arm.” He grabbed her left arm and gave it a good shake.

  Staring, Storey frowned at the intricate swirls decorating her arm. They traveled from the back of her wrist to her elbow and around the underside. She felt nothing as she ran her fingers over it. There was no burning, scarring or even loose ink to come off on her fingers.

  “I have no idea. I don’t know when or how I got these.”

  “It’s also not on you; it’s a part of you. Your people have tattoos inked into their skin. These are considered marks of honor in my home. I have no idea if the Louers have something similar in theirs.”

  “Marks of honor.” She snorted. They were pretty cool looking. “That might have made sense if your people had given them to me on the night of the celebration. But not here and now. My arm was clean when I left your place.”

  “Somehow you’ve gained these marks in the time you’ve been here.” He studied her face carefully, a hint of humor in his eyes. “You are the strangest girl.”

  “Oh,” she gasped, “that is so unfair.”

  He grinned. “Only you could be banished to another dimension and come out with marks of honor without having any idea of how you got them.”

  She snickered. “I found a few other things here too.” All humor fell away. Storey looked into his eyes, willing him to understand. “A lost Louer child for one. A little girl was accidentally left behind in the mass exodus of her people. According to my stylus there’s something wrong with the portal and the Louers can’t come back for her. She’s all alone.”

  “What? A single juvenile? Oh, that’s not good.”

  Storey nodded emphatically. “Exactly. I’m glad you understand. So, you’ll help, right?”

  Eric tried to figure out where Storey’s lightning quick mind was going. A Louer child alone probably wouldn’t survive and as much as he didn’t like the idea, it might be a kindness to kill her now and prevent her suffering. But from the hope on Storey’s face, he highly doubted he was going to like her solution.

  “Help you do what?” he asked warily. Somehow he didn’t think he was going to like her answer.

  “Help me return her to her parents. In the new dimension.”

  Oh shit.

  *

  Storey couldn’t believe Eric stood in front of her. Only now that she realized she’d been saved, did she admit to herself how worried she’d been. How alone – how lost – she’d felt. Eric had become such a great friend with the potential to become so much more.

  Unable to help herself, she reached out and hugged him again. As his arms closed around her, she finally realized he wasn’t warming to her idea regarding the child. “Eric?”

  “Hmmm.” His husky voice against her ear melted her insides. Damn it was wonderful to have him here.

  She pulled back slightly to see his expression clearer. “You don’t think we should help her?”

  “Have you seen her? Do you know how old she is? Can you talk to her?”

  “According to the stylus, she’s six.” Storey frowned. Whatever that number meant to the Louers. “We can’t just leave her. She’ll die.” She watched his conscience war with his upbringing. At least that’s what she thought the fight going on behind his eyes was all about. The Louers were hated enemies of the Torans. It was natural for him to be concerned. But a child was a child regardless of her family. They had to help her. That was not negotiable.

  What form that help took was up for discussion. “Can we pinpoint where the Louers are in the new dimension and send her to them?”

  Eric frowned.

  She grinned at his automatic reaction to something he wasn’t sure about. But his morals were good and his common sense sound. He’d come around and probably with a better idea than she had.

  “I don’t know how to do that,” he said. “Paxton or your stylus might though. The first thing we have to do is find a way to talk to the child. If she doesn’t want to come willingly, it’s not going to be fun for any of us.”

  He had a point. Storey turned back to the room with the cupboard-door-looking hallway.

  “There’s a weird hallway in this room. I think she’s at the far end.”

  “Show me.”

  Storey led the way back into the passageway. At the other end, it appeared as if the light was still on. There was no sign of the child in the first room. She motioned at the lit room ahead, then they walked quietly over to see if the child was in the second area.

  The room appeared to be more of a bedroom than anything else Storey had seen in the place, but it didn’t make much sense in layout. There were shapes similar to beds, but wider and shorter and they were stacked liked bunks. There was no bedding. Storey guessed everything necessary had been stripped. Since the Louers hadn’t had much time for crossing over, it made sense that some belongings had been left behind for another trip. Although from what she could see, they’d done a decent job the first time around.

  As she walked into the center of the room, she turned slowly, searching for the child. And found her backpack.

  Yes. The bag sat on the floor, open and dumped. Even from where she stood, Storey could see the granola had been flattened. “I need to get my stuff,” she whispered, nudging Eric’s arm, she pointed to her bag. With a cautious look around, she raced forward and quickly grabbed up the remaining contents. Her sketchbook was missing. Figured.

  Still no sign of the child. Or another door, either. Weird. Then again, what did she know about the doors here? They seemed to just appear. “Eric, I don’t know where she is.”

  “Hiding most likely. It’s what I’d do. Is everything here made of rock?” He walked over to the closest bed like structure and pushed down. “Looks like it.”

  “I wondered too. It looks like they’ve taken absolutely everything they could with them. Well, not quite. There are cupboards in the other room with some weird stuff left behind.” Storey paused and spun around to face him, delight spreading across her face, as she remembered what else she’d found. “Guess what? I found more styluses. Six in all, including a broken one.”

  Eric spun so fast he almost knocked her over. “What? You found styluses? Like our styluses? Here? How?”

  She pulled out two from her pocket. His look of astonishment grew. Flashing a big grin at him, she then tucked the items safely back away.

  “Come. I’ll show you.” Storey led the way back through the tunnel. Inside the dark room again, she pointed to the shelves on the side. “They were tossed in there. I presume the child found mine in my backpack, recognized it and threw it in there with the others.”

  “Lights on.” Instantly light filled the space.

  Eric stared from her to the cupboard and back again. “Chances are that if they’ve been here all this time, they won’t work now.”

  “Maybe.” Storey bent to look, yet again, into the back of the cupboard. And found herself staring into a pair of eyes.

  She screamed and jumped back, her hand to her throat. “Good God. What is that thing? A rat?”

  Eric leaned over to take a look. And grinned. “I think it’s a skorl. We have them at home, but they’ve almost become extinct.”

  Storey took another look. The animal’s small, beady eyes were set wide apart with a small nose. The rest of the rodent-sized critter appeared to be covered in a large amount of dust covered fur. It held out a paw, the fur stopping before switching to brown skin covered digits.

  “That’s the girl’s pet, then,” Storey said. “According to my stylus, when everyone was moving to the new dimension, her pet was scared off and she ran after him and got left behind. Now with the portal the way it is…”

  Eric looked from her to the animal. “Don’t tell me. We’re going to have to save the pet, too?”

  She grinned. “I knew you’d understand.”

  The small roden
t with the big eyes sat on its haunches to stare at them curiously.

  “I wonder if it bites?” he muttered.

  “Probably,” she said cheerfully. “It doesn’t know you. If we could find the girl, she could retrieve it. Too bad they don’t have a cage to carry it. I’ve never seen such a pile of junk.” She pointed to the remaining contents of the cupboard.

  Eric studied the almost empty shelves. “Think about it. They left behind…”

  “…everything what wasn’t needed or useable.” Storey finished.

  “Exactly. They might have more things stored in another location to collect later. If the portal is damaged, maybe they haven’t had a chance yet?” He cast another quick look around. “At least we know this group made it over to the new dimension.”

  “How do we get the pet out safely?” She bent again to take a cautious glance at the animal still sitting at the back of the cupboard. “It’s liable to make a run for it if we try to capture it.”

  Eric sighed. “I really don’t want to stick my hand in there and grab it. That thing is likely to take my fingers off.”

  “True.” Storey grinned at the disgusted look on his face. “Do you think we should take the two of them back to your dimension first? Then figure out how to get her home to her family?”

  He looked up at her from his squatting position. “Paxton would be horrified. Besides, you’re making a big assumption here. We might not be taking her anywhere.”

  Storey refused to be put off. They’d faced much bigger obstacles and overcome them; this was no different. “Any better suggestions? We have to create a game plan. And to see if these styluses are okay. They’re in hibernation, according to my stylus.”

  “You could contact Paxton and ask for advice. I’d hate to bring these two back unannounced.”

  “Except that I can’t communicate very well with it.” The backpack had been emptied. “No sketchbook, no paper. I can ask questions and he tries to answer, but sorting out what I’m writing on a wall in the dark isn’t easy. And he’s not back to full strength, although I’m not sure just what that means.”

  Eric stood up suddenly and reached into his back pocket. He pulled out two folded pieces of paper. “I found these in your bedroom. Use them.”

  She opened the paper up to find the several of the first portals she’d created. It seemed so long ago, but it had been…what…only a few weeks? Her fist pumped into the air. “Yes! We could be home in minutes.” Homesickness hit, draining the excitement from her system. “You went to my place? To try and find me?”