Deadly Designs (Design Series) (7 page)

There was a humming silence.
Yes. Almost.

Storey paused, her mouth open. "Almost?" she asked cautiously.

Child.

Oh shit.
"Oh no. We can't leave a child alone, can we?"

Yes, we can.

Of course the stylus didn't know about balancing morals and right and wrong actions.

"Is the child alone?"

Yes.

"How many Louers are there in this complex?" That wasn't quite the right word to describe this place, but it was all she could think of.

One. The child.

That finished it. There was no way Storey could leave without making sure the child would be okay. Louer or not, the child was alone. "How old is the child?"

She's six.

She? It was a little girl. Storey definitely wouldn't leave her behind, lost and alone. But... "Is she a danger to me?"

A humming sound filled the air.
No. We don't believe so.

Believe? Storey would rather have a more definite answer than that. "Will I be able to communicate with her?"

Somewhat.

Sigh. Why was nothing ever easy? "Where is the child's family?"

In the new dimension.

Well that's good. At least she had a family. "Can we return the child to her family?"

Yes.

Thinking of the less than ideal lifestyle some kids in her human world experienced, she had to know. "Is she a wanted child? Or did they leave her behind on purpose?

Accident. Her pet ran away. She ran after it.

"Pet? I've yet to see anything living here. What type of pet?"

A skorl.

Yeah, that was so not helpful. "Did she find it?"

Yes.

"Can she take the pet with her to the other dimension?"

Yes.

"And no one has come back for her?"

They can't reopen the portal to come back.

Storey straightened as understanding swept through her. How sad. At the same time, she felt much better about not having to worry that she'd be recaptured. "Was she the one I saw on arrival?" It was getting easier to understand the stylus. Some of the words seemed to form in her mind. As if she were only partly reading and anticipating what the stylus planned to say before it actually did. Weird. But a relief. She'd take any improvement to her situation at this point.

She saw you arrive, thought you were her people coming back for her.

"So she left me there and took my stuff?" Storey didn't like the sound of that. Typical.

She thought you were dead.

"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 living 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.