Deadly Designs (Design Series) Read Online Free Page B

responding to her. Excitedly she tried to marshal her thoughts and figure out her next questions in some kind of coherent manner. "Stylus, are you being held by another person?"
    No.
    "Stylus, are you close to me?"
    Yes.
    Yes. But not in this prison as far as she could tell. So the odds were good her captors, whoever they were, had her stylus and paper. "Stylus, has anyone attempted to use you yet?"
    No.
    "Do the people who separated you from me understand what you are?"
    No answer.
    Of course there was no answer. How would the stylus know what her captors understood and what they didn't? This wasn't getting her anywhere.
    She also needed a washroom and couldn't see any such facility here. In fact, she couldn't see much at all. The lighting was unique. Cool, but definitely weird. Still, it helped to keep back the chilling fear that the darkness let in so easily.
    Now if only she could get the hell away from here before her captors returned. On the heels of that thought came the next pressing fear.
    What if no one ever came?
    ***
    With Paxton continuing to send messages to Storey's stylus, and hopefully to Storey herself, Eric decided to double check she hadn't made it home first, then gotten into trouble. Just to make sure. With Paxton guarding the lab, Eric crossed into Storey's dimension.
    Opening his eyes on the other side, he realized the codex had sent him back to Bankhead mine where Storey had first crossed into his world. He retraced the well-traveled route back to Storey's two-story clapboard house. Approaching from behind, he checked out the back of her house. He couldn't see any sign that the Louers had ever been here. Had it only been days since they'd tried to tear through the dimensional fabric beside Storey's portal?
    The lights were off in the house. Could he port into her bedroom? His codex had taken him there several times, so in theory, it should have the destination in its memory banks.
    Punching the instructions into his wrist unit, he then waited for the black mist to wrap around his legs and transport him to her room. Thankfully, the darkness covered his actions in case any of the neighbors spotted him outside. The smoke dissipated quickly. Relieved, he noted the same childish posters on the walls and everything else that made a typical Storey looking bedroom. In fact, it didn't look any different than when he'd last seen it.
    Not true. There was one big difference. Storey wasn't in it.
    Hearing noises in the hallway, he quickly stuffed himself into her closet, overwhelmingly packed with years' worth of clothes and stuffed animals. And sketchbooks. Would any have her sketched portals? They'd come in handy to rescue her.
    The sounds approached. Damn. He hoped it was Storey.
    Just then the door pushed open and heavy footsteps sounded. A male voice muttered, "Damn lights. When are they going to come back on?"
    "Storey? Are you in here?" The footsteps crossed the floor to Storey's bedside. "There's no sign of her."
    "Are you sure? Oh dear." Storey's mother, at least he thought it was Storey's mother, stood just inside the room, enough that she could see the empty bed herself. "Where could she be?"
    "Storey has never done anything rebellious up to now so maybe we're overreacting. What's the chance she's in the den like we found her last night?"
    "Oh, I hope so. She's probably fallen asleep again with her drawings."
    The lighter footsteps rapidly exited the room and headed down the hallway. The heavier footsteps followed.
    Eric had his answer. Storey never made it home.
    Damn. That meant she'd gone missing from his dimension.
    ***
    Storey's need to find a washroom had gone way beyond bad. When she had no other options, she had no qualms about going outdoors. But this prison was hardly outdoors. It also didn't offer toilet paper. She frowned and dug through her pockets. Tissues, three of them, lay crumpled at the bottom of her hoodie pocket. So that problem was solved, at least this time, but location wise, no.