Darkest Designs

by Dale Mayer

  Then she remembered just what that bomb had been.

  Her home. Eric. Her mother.

  She sat upright, and gasped. Clutching her head, she had to wait for the world around her to stop spinning.

  It slowed enough that she could straighten a little more. She dropped her hands and looked around. She was out in the country on a beautiful day. The sun was high, there wasn’t a cloud in the sky.

  Did that mean she was in Eric’s dimension?

  Only there was no sign of Eric. Damn. No sign of Tammy, or her home. Moving slowly she stood up and smiled happily. The world no longer rotated. Even her headache was dissipating.

  Still, as she looked around she realized there were no paths in the meadow, no roads, no signs showing which direction she should travel. Neither did she recognize any landmarks.

  Hell.

  She suddenly remembered her stylus and slapped her hand to her chest where it hung around her neck. It was there. Thankfully. Then she frowned. Even that was different. The connection was different. Disconnected, yet whole for the first time, so maybe the better term was reconnected. Stronger. Some of the rawness had eased and like putting on a new set of clothes, she wiggled to settle in better.

  And what was with the Broken One? Was he still with her?

  Yes.

  She grinned. “Hey you survived. That’s great. What about you, stylus, are you in there?”

  Fainter, weaker than the Broken One, the answer was audible. Yes.

  She did a happy jig. “Good. We all made it. That’s excellent.”

  She spun around, feeling stronger and more alive than she’d expected to feel. After what she’d been through…she could have died. But she hadn’t. She was here, alive and well and still had both styluses safe and sound.

  Life was good.

  “So, where are we?”

  A noise sounded behind her. She turned slowly to see several Louer warriors coming toward her, each holding long poles like the two warrior women she’d seen on her first visit to their dimension. The air whooshed out of her. Damn. She switched to speaking mentally. Stylus, Broken One. I need a little help here. You need to tell these Louers that I’m not here to hurt anyone.

  We did.

  And?

  No answer.

  Come on guys, they’re getting closer. I could use a way out.

  They know you have Tammy. They are not happy.

  Storey eyed the look on the approaching Louers’ faces. Stone-faced as usual. How could anyone tell if those people were happy or mad? Well the damn poles pointing at her gave her some indication.

  Did you explain that Tammy leaving with us was a mistake? That I’ll happily go and get her?

  They don’t believe you.

  Just then a high pitch sound screamed through her head. She knew what was coming. Tell Paxton. Eric. Get help.

  And the world around her went black.

  She pitched forward to the ground. Out cold. Again.

  ***

  “Eric?”

  His shoulder was shaken, then again harder. “Eric, wake up.

  The next shake hurt. He groaned in protest. “Stop. I’m here. I’m here.”

  “Then sit up. I need to make sure you aren’t injured.”

  “I’m fine.” But he rolled onto his back and stared at the white ceiling tiles of Paxton’s lab. And then his gaze landed on Paxton. His mentor’s face flushed, then grew pale, then flushed again as waves of emotion rolled across his face. His hair, normally slicked back, was standing on end, giving him a frazzled appearance. An appearance that had become much more common these days. He let his eyes close again.

  “You don’t look fine,” Paxton snapped. “You’ve been unconscious for a long time.”

  Eric snapped his eyes open. “How long?” He struggled to sit up. “Where’s Storey?”

  “I don’t know. To both questions. I wasn’t here when you arrived so I don’t know how long you were out. And you arrived alone. I was going to ask you about Storey.”

  Eric tried to remember what had happened. There had been that weird, world-tilting scenario in Storey’s room. That had been crazy. But Storey had been there. Or part of her had been. He just didn’t know what part, where the rest had been, or where any of her was now.

  “Can you talk to your stylus? Contact hers?”

  Paxton scurried for his stylus and tablet on his workbench. Eric struggled to his feet. He was so glad to be home. But not if Storey wasn’t there with him. Damn that girl. He needed her to stay out of trouble for once.

  “Where’s Tammy?” He looked around. Where was the little girl? Had Paxton taken her home? “Paxton, what happened to Tammy?”

  Paxton spun around, horror on his face. “She should be here. She has to be.”

  Eric groaned. “Didn’t you feed her? Talk to her? Get the stylus to talk to her?”

  Paxton’s eyes grew round. He became even more flustered. “I never thought to. I couldn’t talk to her. She was sleeping. I just left her to sleep. In truth I’d hoped she wouldn’t wake up until you returned. I didn’t know what else to do with her.”

  “She’s a child Paxton, you can’t just forget about her. She’s also a Louer. Do you have any idea what kind of trouble she can get into out there?” Eric was almost shouting as he stumbled forward, fear helping to power up his strength as he ran through the lab and conference room, searching under and over all the furniture. “Tammy?”

  “Tammy, where are you?” He spun around to the helpless Paxton who stood in the middle of the room wringing his hands. “Ask your stylus where she is.”

  Paxton’s face brightened and he raced back to his stylus.

  Eric groaned softly. He had to remember that using the stylus wasn’t intuitive for Paxton. For Storey, using her stylus had become instinctive.

  “It says she’s here,” Paxton announced.

  “Where?” Eric chomped down on his impatience. “Where is here?”

  “In this room apparently.” Paxton spun around, staring at the empty lab. “But she’s not. Is she?”

  “No. She’s not.”

  And that wasn’t good.

  “What’s going on, Paxton?” His voice took on a demanding tone. He hadn’t intended that, but worry eclipsed everything, including manners at the moment.

  “I don’t know,” Paxton muttered, shaking his head. “I am trying to find out.”

  Eric reined in his impatience. Pushing Paxton wasn’t going to help. To make sure, he strode across the room and checked the main door to the lab. Locked. Even Tammy couldn’t have undone this door. She had to be still here. He glanced at the portal. “Could she have activated the portal in any way?”

  “No no. She couldn’t.” Paxton’s terrified gaze zipped from the portal to Eric and back to the portal. He shuddered and bent his head over his stylus and muttered, “Not possible.”

  “Well something happened to her.”

  Eric couldn’t stand doing nothing so he searched the entire room again. “Where had she been sleeping?”

  Paxton waved off in the direction of the far corner. “I moved her over there.”

  There was a blanket on the floor.

  Eric strode closer then came to a shuddering stop.

  The blanket moved – slightly. But it lay on the ground flat. He crouched down to view the surface of the blanket from a different angle. Oh no. He bowed his head. “Paxton,” he whispered. “We’ve got a problem.”

  “Yes. Yes, I know,” Paxton snapped. “I’m trying to get answers.”

  But Eric already had one answer. He could see the vague outline of some energy. He could only presume it to be Tammy. Probably caught in the same dimensional shift as Storey, Tammy was almost invisible.

  So where was the rest of her?

  And if that had happened to Storey, where was she?

  Storey woke to the king of all headaches. Why? Then she remembered the Louers and their damn telepathic weapon. Man, if her people could figure out how to do that…


  Part of her was getting royally pissed off over getting knocked out so often. With effort, she managed to assess her latest location. She was alone and there appeared to be nothing around her. Dirt walls and, she patted the flooring, dirt floors. And a squared off ceiling. How much had the Louers managed to build in the short time they’d been here? Probably not much.

  She stood and walked the room. It reminded her of the room she’d been banished to in their old dimension by Eric’s father – just much smaller. With that in mind she said, “Lights on.” No lights. “Door open.” No grating sound to say that a door had opened. So maybe they hadn’t gotten that far yet in their building. “Stylus? Some suggestions for getting out of here would be good.”

  She turned around and jumped back, her hand slamming to her chest. Two female Louer guards stood in front of her. Damn. They motioned her to the side. She smiled amiably and followed their instructions.

  “Ah Stylus. Could you please tell them I mean no harm?”

  They don’t believe you.

  “Is this about Tammy again? If they let me leave I promise I’ll bring her back.”

  Yes. They believe you are responsible.

  “I returned her last time,” she protested. “I’ve never cheated them. Lied to them. Why won’t they believe me?”

  This isn’t the group that loves Tammy. This is the group that captured Tammy and held her hostage. They have reconciled with Tammy’s father, but now this has happened and they believe you are responsible. They have Tammy’s body. But she is unconscious and they are being blamed. They need you to fix this.

  What? Tammy’s body? Only her body? Damn. When was she ever going to catch a break? “Did we do this to Tammy?”

  Yes. She should have been in her dimension when the shift happened. Everyone needed to be in their own dimension. Or connected to their dimension in some way. Like Eric.

  “But I was in my dimension. It didn’t help me,” she grumbled.

  You are the only one that needed to leave your dimension.

  Ah shit. Just to clarify, she asked, So Eric is all right, but he took Tammy to Paxton instead of home, so she wasn’t in the right place when this happened?

  Correct.

  Storey remembered how odd Eric had looked. So faint, yet so distinct because of that weird shift. She stopped walking. He’d been caught inside the portal. “Is Eric okay?”

  Yes. He was locked in the portal. He saw and felt the shift, but was safe inside the tunnel.

  She released her pent up breath. “Thank heavens for that.”

  A pole poked her in the back – hard. She jumped back. With a hand up to say okay silently, she moved in the direction indicated, finding a doorway opening in front of her.

  Going back to telepathic communication she asked the stylus to tell Paxton what had happened.

  We already have. They have Tammy.

  Wait. She came to a dead stop and whispered mentally, You said Tammy was here. And unconscious.

  Yes.

  How can she be unconscious here, but be with Eric and Paxton in the Toran dimension?

  She was caught in the dimensional shift. Because she should have been home, part of her went there, but as she was actually in another place, part of her stayed there.

  Storey stumbled. You’re saying she’s been split into two!

  Her soul, her spirit, is in the Torans’ dimension. Her body is here.

  How are we supposed to fix that? And fast? Poor Tammy. Storey hated to hear she’d been hurt. And in such a way. Eric was right. She should have turned right around and returned her to her home after the little Louer had snuck into the transfer with them. Her father had to be going nuts right now.

  Hence the guards. Damn.

  Stylus, do you know how to fix this?

  We need to bring Tammy to her body.

  Right. That sounds so easy.

  And so obviously wasn’t. She was nudged from behind again. She closed her eyes briefly then forged ahead. Where were they directing her? Stylus, talk to them. Explain to them what we need to do.

  We spoke to Tammy’s father. He thinks Tammy was deliberately hurt by this group. He insists they fix this or be banished to their old world.

  Could this get any worse?

  Yes.

  I was being sarcastic, she muttered. Then she noticed where she’d been led. In front of Tammy’s father. Uhm, Stylus? I need help. Now. Can you port us out of here? Can Eric come rescue me? Someone?

  A busy hum wafted around her, filling the air. She understood that meant conversations were going on around her. Discussing her, but not including her.

  “Stop it,” she said crossly out loud. “Stylus. Can’t I be included here?”

  She glared at the circle of stern faced Louers. Damned if she was going to take the blame for this mess, too. It hadn’t been her fault that Tammy had jumped her mid shift. Sure, she should have taken her right back, but she hadn’t known that this would happen. Hell, how would anyone? Up until now she hadn’t known such a thing as a dimensional shift and a soul split was even possible.

  They think I am you.

  What! She had to stop and get her mind wrapped around that tidbit. Because you are the one speaking?

  Yes.

  Well, tell them the truth.

  I tried. They don’t understand.

  She dropped her head into her hands. Now what did she do?

  They want you to fix Tammy.

  She straightened with a small gasp. That’s what I want too, but can we?

  Yes.

  Her shoulders sagged with relief. Thank you. Now…what do I need to do?

  I’ve contacted Paxton. Eric needs to bring Tammy home. We can’t move her body to her spirit so her spirit needs to come here.

  Storey struggled with that. Does he see her? Know where she is?

  Somewhat.

  That did not sound good. Does he understand what he needs to do?

  Yes, we have relayed the message to Paxton.

  Nice. And what about Tammy, does she understand?

  No.

  And an uncooperative Tammy, even if in spirit only, was a bad thing.

  ***

  Eric straightened as he realized how serious an issue this had all of a sudden become. And how unbelievable. “Paxton, she’s here, but without her body.”

  “That’s nonsense.” Paxton rushed over, his face reddening with irritation. “You’ve been spending too much time around Storey. Now that girl has an imagination.”

  “Ask your stylus. I’m right. I know I am. I saw something similar in the dimensional shift. Storey looked something like this, although a little more substantial.” He twisted his head to see Tammy from another angle and she did appear slightly more solid. He shook his head. The things he’d seen and experienced lately were crazy.

  “Um?”

  When more wasn’t forthcoming, Eric straightened and turned to look at Paxton. “What?”

  Paxton held his stylus and tablet up in front of him. “We’ve got a problem.”

  Eric’s eyebrows shot straight up. “Really. I hadn’t noticed.”

  Paxton beetled his bushy brows at him. He tapped his stylus against the hard surface in an irritating series of click. “There’s more. Storey is now a captive in the Louers’ dimension. Apparently Tammy’s body is there and is unconscious, and they are blaming Storey.”

  Oh great. He closed his eyes briefly. Damn the girl could get into trouble. “Don’t suppose there is any good news?”

  Paxton gasped and stepped closer. “My stylus says Tammy is separated from her body.” He glared at Eric as if he had known this all along and was just springing it on him now. “How can this be? Surely, it’s not possible?”

  Eric shrugged. “I wouldn’t have thought so, but…” He motioned to the blanket where Tammy lay, “Look for yourself. The blanket moves with her as she shifts.” He stepped back a bit for Paxton to get closer. “The biggest issue is what are we going to do when Tammy wakes up?”


  Paxton jumped back several feet at that threat. He glanced wildly from the blanket to Eric and back again as if Tammy were going to explode. “Take her away. Get her back to where she belongs.” He waved his hands at Eric, “Now. Before she wakes up.”