Dangerous Designs

by Dale Mayer [paranormal/YA]

  Storey hadn't had the same restrictions. She'd taken the steps to find out just what she could do.

  Unbelievable. Shocking really. He pulled himself out of the dangerous bout of admiration to study the doorway Storey had opened, then backed up several feet. She'd drawn a hallway, as if the picture on the wall was a portion of the wall itself. Using the doorway to her bedroom as the vanishing point in the distance, she'd created a long hallway to her room. A perspective drawing with her room as the single point in the center.

  Brilliant, really.

  Eric turned to face his mentor and received another shock.

  Paxton was terrified.

  He'd never thought to see fear on Paxton's face. Consternation, even worry, anger, but fear, now that was a new one. One he didn't like.

  "Oh, dear. What are we going to do?" Paxton held his hands together and stared at the wall.

  "What's going on here? Where's the girl?" His father bellowed from the doorway.

  Eric stiffened. Maybe it was Storey's influence, or maybe, he was just seeing the light for the first time. He pulled the sketch off the wall and folded it.

  "The girl? Storey has gone home."

  Eric braced for the storm to hit.

  "What? You took her home? How dare you? You will be punished for this."

  Years of being educated in a strict school, where obedience and respect for his father, their leader, was all that held Eric back from letting the words spill over. He could only stare in disgust at his father, a father who'd been absent from most of his life. "I didn't take her back."

  "Not directly, but you let her leave," Paxton cried out in anguish. "Oh, dear. This is terrible."

  "She was never a prisoner, Paxton. She came at my request. To show you her picture. Realizing that no one here would listen to her or wanted her help, she decided to go home."

  "She was supposed to have been your prisoner. It's your fault," snapped his father.

  "Why? I was told to retrieve the stylus. Nothing about trying to keep Story captive. Not that I could have," he added thoughtfully, staring at the wall.

  "You could have used chains and the dungeon. At least they'd have gotten the job done."

  Cold settled into Eric's chest. The dungeons were for the worst of the worst. Dark, wet and miles underground where prisoners went insane or, more often than not, died of neglect. Originally built for a different purpose, the only prisoners ever sent there were traitors. People who went against the Council. If they'd planned that for Storey, he was glad she'd escaped. Since when had his people been so harsh, so unforgiving? Being on the inside, he'd never questioned his way of life or those in power. No one did. Everyone had what they needed. At least as far as he knew. Why worry? For the first time in his life he questioned the morality of his government. "Our dungeons have never been for anyone but slaves, when we had them, and the worst criminals in our society. There's so few of them the dungeons aren't worth maintaining. I hardly think Storey's actions warrant such a punishment."

  "Well, possibly not the dungeons." His father backed down on that point. "But we can't just have her running around loose on the other side. Who knows who'd she'll tell? What damage she'll do?"

  Eric shook his head in disbelief. "She's just a kid."

  "She's already caused damage." Paxton came to Eric, as if willing him to understand. "You have to see the truth here. She can't be left to do as she pleases."

  Eric cocked his head, fear for Storey and a deep-seated anger slowly building, twisting into a fury he'd never known. "What is it you're planning to do?"

  "You must bring her back, of course. Even a dimwit like you should be able to see the sense of that." The sneer on his father's face sharpened.

  The fury boiling behind his self control was going to kill him. He swallowed hard. "Really. I'm to bring her back so she can be your prisoner? So you can take away her memories, force her to be a lab rat for you to study?"

  Paxton suddenly rose to his full height. "Don't use that tone with me. Of course she must come back. She still has the stylus."

  "Which is soulbound to her. They can't be separated anymore."

  "We don't know that. Sarcov has almost recovered. He might be able to bond with it again."

  "It can only bond with one person at a time."

  "Right. So now you see how important it is to get it back," his father snapped.

  Eric stared at the two men, his anger being quietly drowned by fear. "You can't take it away from her unless she dies or, as in Sarcov's case, it appears as if death is imminent. Storey is neither of those."

  "Oh, don't be naive. She's dangerous. Of course, she's going to have to die – eventually."

  No. No, surely that's not what he was hearing. Eric shook his head slowly like a bull with a red flag being waved in his face. "You want me to bring her back so you can kill her?"

  "Well, I wouldn't put it that way." Paxton tried to smooth the harshness of the conversation over. "We might need her."

  "Her name is Storey. The least you can do is call her by her proper name."

  "What are you talking about? She's one of them." His father's outrage boiled over. "They don't deserve our respect. They're animals. Mindless in their actions, eating and killing their way through life with no consequence for their future."

  Eric reared back. "And what's so different about what you're suggesting? Didn't you just tell me to go and get her, so you could kill her?" He sneered. "How dare you put yourself on a pedestal above her and her kind? Is this what you've raised me for? To view myself as better than the others just because they live on the other side of the veil?"

  "We are more advanced than they are. Our technology is superior, so are our energy capabilities. We must protect our way of life." Paxton tried to appease him. "These humans would overrun us with sheer numbers, strip us of our knowledge, our resources. You can see that, right?"

  "We don't have any information on what they can or cannot do. Storey said something else that's true. We've gone over to her world time and time again, bringing back anything we wanted or needed to develop our technology. That's the only reason we've developed beyond them. We've never once shared what we've learned, including the new medicines and healing lasers that have wiped out illness here. No. She's right – we've stolen everything from them."

  "Nonsense. We're doing what we've always done. We've lived like this for centuries. How can you start to judge our ways now? That girl is dangerous. Look at how you are speaking to me. You've never talked back before." His father snorted at him.

  Eric frowned at the truth of his father's words. When his father had said to do something, he'd done it – blindly. Regardless of right or wrong. There'd been a time or two when he'd wondered at the wisdom of the orders, but had followed them regardless.

  How horrible was that? Shame filled him for his past actions, or lack thereof, and for his own treatment of Storey. She deserved better. He'd tricked her into coming over here and hadn't even taken her home again.

  "Now, I want you to go there and bring her back." His father drew himself up to his full height which, being more than a foot shorter than Paxton at his side, made him look ridiculous. "And I want you to go now."

  Eric tilted his head and studied him. Paxton waited, holding his breath. Eric ignored him. "And if I don't? Then what?"

  His father's face turned beet red and absolute rage shone from his eyes. He gritted his teeth and stuck his jaw out. "What did you say to me?"

  "I asked you what the penalty would be if I refuse to commit murder." Eric raised his eyebrows. "That is what you are asking of me, isn't it? If I bring her back, you will kill her. That makes me an accomplice in the eyes of the law."

  "No. I am not going to argue about this. This person, this girl, has threatened national security. She doesn't get a trial and there won't be any charge of murder. She is a danger to us all."

  "Says you."

  His father went seriously quiet. When he spoke again, his voice was flat and dark.
"I am going to make myself clear right now and we will never speak of this again." Steel shone from his eyes. "I am ordering you to go to the other side of the veil, retrieve the girl, and bring her back here. Should you fail to do so, you are guilty of the same crime of which she is accused. And then..." he paused for effect, "a team will go over there and do what you weren't willing to do yourself – by force if necessary."

  Paxton closed his eyes and bowed his head as if the worst had happened.

  A chill swept over Eric. This was his father. The father he'd idolized growing up. The father he'd respected all through his brief years. The father he'd done everything to impress was ordering him to bring Storey back to be killed – or be killed himself.

  ***

  "Storey? Is that you?" Her mother burst into her bedroom. "There you are. I swear I seem to spend half my time looking for you lately."

  "I'm here, Mom. What's up?" Storey hated the coolness in her own tone. Her day hadn't been the best to begin with. She warmed her smile.

  "Oh, Eric didn't come back with you, did he?" Her mother peered around the corner of her room as if looking for signs of him hidden in the closet.

  "No, Mom. He had to go home."

  "Oh." She smiled brightly. "He seems like such a nice boy."

  "Yes, he seems nice." Then, looks could be deceiving, as she'd found out.

  "Is he...special?" Her mother's hopeful expression fell as Storey shook her head. "You two looked so great together."

  "Maybe. Unlikely. I don't know. I wouldn't get my hopes up, if I were you." Storey knew her Mom had watched her social life with a wary eye during her relationship with Jeff and immediately afterwards.

  "Well, if it's meant to be and all that." She smiled. "Why don't you come down and have a cup of tea with me?"

  "Who's here?"

  The smile dropped from her mom's face fast. She hesitated. "Do you resent all the company? I never thought." She nibbled on her bottom lip. "We do have a lot of company though, don't we? I'm sorry. It's your home, too."

  Oh, brother. "Mom. Stop. I'm fine with the company. I'm glad you have so many friends. That you're happy with your life and your beliefs." Mostly, anyways, but she wasn't going to open up that discussion. Not now.

  A smile peeped out. "I wish you'd consider joining..."

  "I know. At the moment, I'm not feeling it." Although after what she'd seen today, Wiccan didn't seem as odd or farfetched as it had yesterday. "I'll make my own decision. I just need some time."

  "Then time you shall have." She smiled. "And there's no one downstairs right now. Let's go have a cup of tea and some fresh poppy seed cake."

  "Best offer I've had all day." In a rare moment of concord, the two linked arms and headed for the kitchen.

  Storey could only hope her bedroom would still be empty when she returned. She'd forgotten to consider one tiny problem – how to close the portal she'd created from her side.

  CHAPTER NINE

  Getting along with your mother beat trying to avoid her. Two hours later, Storey headed to her bedroom door, yawning. She had homework to finish but no energy to care about such minor details. Pushing her door open, she came to a sudden halt.

  She gasped, checked behind her to make sure she was alone before stepping in a shutting the door behind her. "Oh my God," she hissed. "What are you doing here?" Leaning against the door, she stared at Eric, who lay half asleep on her bed. Damn, he looked good there. As if he belonged.

  Not.

  "About time you got here. I've been waiting forever."

  "Why? What do you want from me?" Pulling out her computer chair, she sat down facing him, before her knees gave out on her. "And how did you get in?"

  "Same way you did, only I removed the paper as I went through so we couldn't be followed."

  She raised an eyebrow. "Cool. Too bad I didn't think of that. Then again, I wasn't sure if it would work in the first place."

  "Well, it's not there anymore."

  "Thank God. It's a little creepy to have people entering my bedroom from another dimension. Maybe the kitchen or living room, but not my bedroom, thanks."

  He just stared at her.

  "Okay, I'm babbling. Sorry. It's just a little unnerving to have you here out of the blue like that." She stared out the window.

  "They want me to bring you back."

  She tilted her head and studied the look on his face. Odd wording. Hmmm. "And what do you want to do?"

  "I don't want you to go over there again."

  She raised an eyebrow. So much for seeing where the relationship with Eric might go. Long distance didn't quite cut it, as she already knew. Look what had happened to her and Jeff.

  "Good, then I won't. The last visit was enough for me, anyway."

  "They'll send someone else if I don't bring you back."

  The shadows lengthened in the early evening light. "They again." She watched him carefully, sensing more to the story. "How much force will 'they' use to make me go back?"

  His face paled.

  Her stomach twisted. "That much, huh?" She didn't want to dwell on it. They didn't look like the kind of group that lived and let live. "Did they come to an agreement about the Louers yet?"

  Eric shook his head. "I think they're more concerned about you being a loose end."

  Her eyes widened. "They're afraid of me? Of what I might say? Do?" At each successive nod, the knots in her stomach tightened. She closed her eyes. Think, damn it. There had to be a way out of this mess. "What are my options?"

  "I don't know. I've been lying here and going over them. None are great."

  "List those you've considered."

  He appeared to choose his words carefully as he listed off choices that included him never going back, going back and helping his people after negotiating her return, hiding by moving to another part of the planet so the people coming behind him wouldn't be able to find her.

  As he rambled on, she had a distinct sense that something was wrong. "Okay, out with it. Something else happened. What?"

  He sat up and swung his feet over the bed. "They'll kill you if you go back."

  She swallowed. Hard. "As a conversationalist, you suck."

  His lopsided grin slipped out. "Sorry. Not used to this kind of conversation."

  The grin did it, easing the weight on her chest threatening to suffocate her. She grinned back. "Yeah, it shows. So they don't want to leave any witnesses behind, huh?"

  "Something like that."

  Silence fell.

  "You're serious, aren't you?" How had everything gone so wrong? A few days ago life had been normal. She'd been wishing for something new and different to come into her life. A death squad from another dimension wasn't what she'd had in mind. "So, if I go with you they will kill me. If I don't go with you they'll send a team over to retrieve me then kill me anyway? Where's the option that lets me live?"

  "I think that's the run part, so they can't find you."

  "Except you have technology that allows your people to track me, while I don't have anything to help me evade your people. So that's hardly an option." She studied the fatigue in his eyes. He looked like he'd been to hell and back. "What happens to you if I don't go back with you? Anything? Or just a slap on the wrist because you didn't follow orders?"

  He stood up straight, his face lean and ravaged. "Death. The Council says I will face a death sentence if you don't go back with me."

  Storey couldn't believe it. Studying his face in disbelief, she found the truth in his pain. Eric's father was head of the Council. If he'd ordered his son's death over this...he was a monster. "Why would your father do that?"

  "According to him, you're a threat to national security and that outweighs his parental concern."

  "Bullshit."

  He winced.

  She laughed bitterly. "Sorry, but that's a load of crap. There's no way I'm a security issue. He's power tripping."

  "Maybe, but it's effective. He issued the order in front of witnesses. It has to be
carried out. There is no rescinding that kind of order."

  She stood and stared up at his face. Nothing like parents to remind you of your humanity. "I'm sorry. It has to hurt to hear your life has so little value."

  He snorted. "You think?"

  "I'm not going back there. Not so they can use me as a lab rat and then kill me out of their own fear."

  His eyes stared down at her, closed briefly then opened, bright blue lights shining deep. "I know and I wouldn't want you to."

  "Except that means your death."

  "I know," he said, his face seriously grim, his decision clearly made.

  She respected him in that moment.

  "Okay, this is ridiculous. Now that we've settled that, let's come up with a way to make this right for both of us."

  "Do you think that's possible?"

  It was that faint hope peering from deep inside his eyes that settled her determination to find a solution. One where they both got to live.

  ***

  Eric stomped on the hope trickling through him. It wouldn't do to put too much credence in Storey's skills. What she'd achieved so far was phenomenal. But he had to face reality. Paxton hadn't helped after his father had stormed off. "You shouldn't have pushed him like that."

  "I pushed him?" Astonished, Eric could only stare at his beloved mentor.

  "Yes, you forced him to declare his intentions with the girl. He can't back down now. We might have found a way around this mess but for that."

  "Like what?" he scoffed. "She's right, you know. We're all about us. Not about them. Everything is our way. The mistake was ours in the first place."

  "She didn't have to pick up the stylus," Paxton said fretfully.

  "She hardly had a choice – it called to her. You said yourself that it wanted to go home. No one is looking at that. People need to realize she's a victim here. The stylus targeted her. She didn't mean to do this. She had no idea that she could do any of this."

  "Regardless of how this started, she's in the middle of it now. We have no solution to the Louers either."

  "She'd have been happy to help."

  Paxton snuck a glance around the room, then leaned forward to whisper, "Do you think so?" At Eric's nod, he said, "Then go bring her back. Please. Our very existence is at stake here."