Darkest Designs (3 page)

Eric laughed with relief. Splotchy meant there was still some communication. “That sounds like Storey's vocabulary.”

Paxton snorted. “Another of her influences.”

There was no arguing with that comment. Storey had dropped into their world – literally – and they were forever changed. They needed to get her back safely to where she belonged. “But we can communicate. First off, let's make sure she's okay. I'd hate to think of her lying somewhere with a broken leg.”

When there was no answer, Eric glanced at his mentor. The confusion on Paxton's face had him asking, “What's wrong?”

Paxton held out his hands, palms upwards. “There is
nothing
In-between. It's empty space. In theory she couldn't be hurt. There's nothing for her to have hit in the fall – unless she was carrying something. By that same logic, she should be unconscious from the pressure. The absence of atmosphere…I'd think.” But he looked doubtful. He turned back to his stylus. “Let's find out what the stylus knows.”

Not much was the answer that trickled in a few minutes later. The stylus said it was caught In-between, and had no information as to how to get home. It did confirm that Storey had been pushed from the portal just before the arrival at Paxton's lab and that she hadn't been physically hurt in the process. Just as Paxton started to ask another question, the communication was cut off.

Instead of feeling better, Eric paced, his mind full of more questions. Unfortunately, uninjured from the fall didn't mean she was
still
unhurt or if she'd suffered emotional or mental trauma.

Paxton seemed to think both were inevitable under the circumstances. But to Eric, Paxton was once again underestimating Storey. She was tough mentally. Stronger and more adept than any other female in Eric's acquaintance. But not even she could withstand atmospheric pressure issues like Paxton had described. If there was no atmosphere, she wouldn't be able to breathe either. And that meant it was all over. The stylus might not even know that yet. Eric shook his head at the puzzle. Did the stylus know when its owner was unconscious? Dead? It must, because the bond between stylus and owner would break. That was how the stylus had come to be Storey's in the first place – the bond between it and its previous owner had broken when the owner became ill. But if it was no longer bonded, could it still communicate with other styluses?

He shuddered. So many questions and no answers.

“Oh dear.” Paxton murmured. “We need to be able to talk to her stylus.”

That definitely understated the problem. Eric glanced at the monitor in front of him. “Why can't we access our archives here and see if there is anything helpful?”

“My stylus is looking for answers.” Paxton rubbed his face. “We just have to be patient.”

“Patient? Storey could be dying right now.”

“Actually,” Paxton took a deep breath, looked up at Eric, and in a low voice said, “It's more likely that she's already dead.”

S
torey fell into nothingness. Again. She twisted in panic as her body went into freefall.

The thing was…she wasn't falling fast like a six story drop. More like she was on a slow descent – almost as if there was little to no gravity. And it appeared endless. What the hell? No wind whistled past her ears, but her hair floated gently upward from the force of changing altitude, not streaming her like she'd expect.

And she should have stopped by now.

Suddenly she did.

“Ohhmph.” She groaned at the shock as much as the pain. Her face had smashed flat against a hard surface. An invisible surface.

“Stylus what is going on?”

The humming in her head reassured her. That at least was normal. She paused, her thoughts hiccupping on the idea that speaking to a pencil was
normal
and having it answer back was
normal
too. 'Cause neither would have been something she'd have considered ‘normal' any other time except this last week. Lord her life had changed!

“Stylus, what am I lying on?”

Nothing.

“I can see that. How is this happening? It's like the rules of normal reality don't exist here.”

They don't. You aren't in the Louers', Torans' or your home world. In theory there might be no rules here. Or you might be able to create the rules you want.

That made her stop and think. The suggestion didn't feel wrong. As she considered the strangeness of what had happened to her since she'd arrived, it started to make even more sense. “Like stopping?” she questioned. “I was wondering about why I hadn't stopped falling, when all of a sudden, I stopped.”

Maybe.

She closed her eyes, took a breath and said, “I'm falling.”

Instantly her body dropped, leaving her stomach back where she'd been resting.
Shit.

“Stop!”

She stopped, coming to another jarring slam against nothing. She laughed. How freaky cool was that? She rolled over and sat up. On nothing. “Now that's weird.”

It would seem this reality answers to your thoughts, even instructions.

“And how cool is that?” Still, playing here for an hour or two was not the same thing as being stuck. But was she stuck? Could she get out the same way she'd stopped falling? She wouldn't know until she'd tried.

“I want to go home.” Nothing. Then, getting all the way back to her reality might be a bit of a stretch. How about the one she'd left to arrive here? “I want to go back to Eric's dimension.”

Try instructions not requests.

“Take me back to the Torans' dimension.” Old habits rose to the surface and she added, “Please.”

Nothing changed. “Okay, maybe there's a time delay?”

I don't think so. Everything is instant here.

She frowned. “Then what am I doing wrong?” She stood up and turned around. “Is anyone here? Can anyone hear me? Hello.”

A faint echo sounded.

Hello.

She frowned. “An echo means something has to be here. Sound bounces off objects in order to create an echo. Right?” She couldn't remember much about the science behind the repeating sounds, but she was pretty sure they couldn't exist if they didn't have something to hit and rebound off. She vaguely remembered hearing an echo when she'd been screaming for Eric.

“Hello!” she shouted.

Hello.

There it was again, faint, but definitely an echo. Excited, she strode off in the direction of the sound. She kept her gaze in front of her so as to not look down at the endless nothingness beneath her feet. New reality or not, some fears needed to be kept submerged before she created them accidentally. “Stylus, is it possible that there could be people here? Like yet another reality? Maybe there's a whole new species of people who live in this In-between dimension. I mean, why not? I'm breathing and speaking. Thankfully I don't have to go to the bathroom or have an appetite right now, cause that's just not going to work out too well…but maybe there are others like me here.” The concept brought a smile to her face and a lightness to her footsteps.

We don't believe so.

“But you don't know – do you? And if you don't know, you can only guess.” She laughed. “This is new for both of us. Not just me.”

Since meeting you, there has been much new for both of us.

She stopped, considered the stylus's words and nodded. “True enough. Well, together we can find whatever the sounds are bouncing off of. Maybe that will lead us to a way out.”

Or lead you further from your point of entry.

Ah shit. She hadn't thought of that. She spun around and looked back the way she'd come. Of course, she could see exactly…nothing.

And she'd lost track of how long she'd been travelling. “Do you think I need to keep track of where I landed?” She chewed on her bottom lip, worrying away on that new concern and wishing she'd thought of it earlier. “Did you keep track of it?”

We have noted the coordinates of your entrance point to this dimension and your exit point from the Toran dimension.

She brightened. “So we can go back there at any time, right?”

In theory, yes. However as our knowledge doesn't cover this instance, we can't confirm that.

She pondered that. “I think you should keep track of every step I take here. On all levels. Because we fell a long way in that first drop. Add the other couple of smaller falls and the vertical distance could be huge. It might be hard to get back up there.”

You should be able to think yourself back there.

She nodded. Theoretically that might be possible, in reality, well, that remained to be seen. Should they try to regain their same starting position? But she'd tried that back when she'd first entered the Louers' dimension. She'd ended up in a whole different location.

And if that happened here, she'd lose track of where the echo had come from. She spun around only to realize she wasn't at all sure she was facing the right direction anymore. Damn it.

She stood for a moment, hands on her hips and studied the thick endless fog around her. “Hello?”

No echo. Although there appeared to be something. She turned slightly and called out louder, “Hello.”

No echo. Maybe it wasn't an echo? She turned to the other side and yelled, “Hello.”

Hello.

And damn it. That didn't sound the same at all.

Still, she didn't have much choice but to go forward and find out.

***

“How is it that we have no idea how to help Storey?” Eric refused to contemplate that she was dead. She'd find a way to survive. She was unlike anyone else he'd ever known. And she'd get out of this mess just like she'd gotten out of any number of her other chaotic disasters.

She had to. Anything less was unthinkable.

Paxton opened his mouth…hesitated and closed it again. Then he took a deep breath and said, “I don't think she's alive.”

“I do.” Eric was stalwart in his stance. “There's no way she's not.” He glared down at the stylus in Paxton's hand. “Ask it more questions. There has to be a way to track her.”

“And what good will that do?” Paxton stared at him, concern growing in his gaze. “You can't go in after her. That's not possible.”

Eric studied him. “It is you know. If we can track her on this side, I can set the coordinates, port to where she is, then port home again.”

But Paxton was shaking his head. Tufts of hair flying in all directions. “No. No. That's not possible. You could be lost in there with her.”

“And I could get her back again. We owe it to her. I owe it to her. It's my father who sent her there.”

“We can't lose you, too. No.” Paxton lifted both hands to his head and tugged on the ends of his hair. “No. You can't go after her.”

“Then find a way to leave breadcrumbs for her to follow so she can get out on her own.”

Paxton brightened. Eric could only imagine at what he was thinking. His mentor had been impressed with Storey, but he'd sacrifice her in a heartbeat if it meant keeping Eric safe. Unlike his own father, Paxton cared.

But now Eric had to get Paxton to care about Storey. Enough to help her to get out. And this could be the way. Have him help Storey in order to keep Eric safe. “Let's ask the stylus to track her?”

Paxton sniffed. “I already have.”

Eric rolled his eyes. But not so the older man could see. “And?”

“It's trying to contact Storey's stylus. The communication is getting worse.”

“Could she be moving further away?”

“Or she's…fading.” Paxton shot him a quick look. Eric glared back at him. “But we won't go there yet.”

Paxton refocused on his paper and the stylus in his hand, busy writing down a message. “The stylus has a location for Storey.”

Eric grinned. “Good. I knew this could work.”

“But…” Paxton held up a cautioning hand. “The location is changing.”

“Of course it is.” She wasn't dead. Relief washed over him. He'd been right. “She's going to be moving around. Trying to come back.”

“Maybe, but she needs to be back at the same point she arrived at in order to leave. Otherwise time will have changed.”