Deadly Designs (Design Series) Read Online Free Page A

men cried out in unison. "Soul bound."
    Paxton then asked, "Then where is Storey's stylus?"
    We don't know.
    Eric pushed forward with the questions. "But you can communicate with it, correct?"
    Yes.
    "Then where is it?"
    It doesn't know.
    "Is it in this dimension?"
    No.
    "Is it in Storey's dimension?"
    No.
    The questioning continued until they determined that the stylus was in the same dimension as Storey, but not close to her. Close enough for her to communicate with it, but not close enough for her to see or touch it.
    Eric ran his fingers through his hair. "Well, thank heavens for that. I was afraid she'd lost the stylus somehow. How long before their separation affects Storey's health?"
    Paxton raised his gaze to Eric's. He frowned, intense worry developing in his eyes. "I don't know. That's why we didn't take it from her when she was first here, remember."
    Eric straightened. "I thought I saw the Councilman with a stylus in his hand. I wondered at the time…but there's been so much going on, I didn't think about it any further."
    "My stylus said it isn't here, remember." Paxton watched him. "But they are valuable. Priceless in fact." His voice lowered. "If he has one, I need to see it."
    Eric's mind locked onto the memory of Storey creating a dummy stylus. Could that possibly be the one his father had? Really?
    Storey might have let down her guard in the celebratory atmosphere after the battle, but she was pretty cagey. She'd have kept a firm grip on her real stylus.
    He closed his eyes briefly, and bit back the curses that threatened to pour from his lips. Another side effect of having Storey in his life, no matter how briefly. People in his dimension didn't swear. It was considered a grave insult and showed a complete lack of respect to the person being spoken to. Unfortunately swearing appeared to be a natural part of her upbringing.
    "Eric? What's the matter?"
    Eric turned to look at his mentor. Paxton had been horrified by Storey initially, but had come to respect what she'd been capable of doing. After all, it was because of her they'd won the war. So fast and so efficiently, it had been a non-war, really.
    "I'm remembering something Storey did when we were on her side of the veil. Using the stylus she created a copy of it, hoping the duplicate might fool the Torans who'd planned to separate it from her."
    Paxton's mouth dropped then slowly closed as he processed the concept. "Did it work?"
    Not knowing exactly what 'it' referred to here, Eric clarified. "The new stylus appeared to be identical but when she tested it, it didn't work. I'm not sure if we ever asked the stylus why, but we assumed at the time it was a dud. Although Storey wondered if it didn't work because it had no souls bound to it."
    Paxton's face shifted and changed with understanding, finally coming to rest with a reflection of wonder. "How could she even think to try such a thing?"
    Eric grinned. "That's the joy of Storey. The way she thinks and processes problems and solutions is so different from us. It makes her ideas seem radical."
    Paxton walked over to where the Councilman had been sitting. "He can't have a real one because your stylus said it wasn't here. Therefore he has to have the fake one, but thinks he has the real one."
    The two stared at each other, letting the issues settle in.
    Eric groaned. "Do we know if we can send messages back? We need to find her."
    "I don't think so, because she hasn't got her stylus to receive the messages." Paxton pulled gently on his long white beard. "Although we can't underestimate her."
    "Let's try to reach her anyway." Doing anything was better than doing nothing.
    Paxton grabbed his writing tablet. "And let's see if we can find that empty stylus."

CHAPTER 3
    S torey sat back on the dirt and wondered what else she could do. She needed her stylus. Holding her zipper pull, she started scratching again. "Stylus, can you come to me?"
    Her hand jerked.
    No.
    Storey gasped in joy. It was here! And