Read Deadly Designs (Design Series) for Free Online

between her and her stylus.
    Shit.
    Taking several steps back, she ran, shoulder down, straight at the wall.
    ***
    Eric slipped out of the closet and studied Storey's bedroom. Surely if she'd been back there'd be a sign. Like her backpack, sketchbook or even her shoes could be here. Something would have been disturbed. The trouble was he couldn't tell.
    From what he could see, she hadn't made it back to her home dimension. That matched the stylus's words and her parents' conversation. That left two more dimensions that he was aware of, both potentially full of the enemy.
    Not good. He was very much afraid Storey was in the new dimension she'd created.
    And if so, that could be a huge problem.
    With a final look at her room, he set his codex for home and sent himself back to Paxton's lab.
    Paxton waited for him as the mist dissipated. "Well," he asked impatiently, "Did she make it there?"
    "No. I need to go to the new dimension. Make sure she hasn't somehow gotten into that one."
    "Absolutely not. We can't have any energy moving between that dimension and ours. You know as well as I do that the more we travel the more the energy instinctively aligns into a pathway. If we go over there, the Louers could eventually find their way back here."
    "If Storey is over there, we have to get her back."
    "Go ask your father if he knows anything about her whereabouts."
    Eric frowned at his mentor. "He's not likely to tell me, you know that." Paxton refused to meet his gaze. "You think she might be dead or at least dying, don't you?"
    "It's a distinct possibility. Now hurry."
    Eric strode down the long white hallway. It had taken Storey's comment about the white being everywhere to make him realize how odd his world must look to her. Her dimension swelled with color and chaos. Peace and quiet were hard to find, but the place buzzed with activity. At home, calm ruled and the most excitement on a normal day was watching the sun go down. Nothing ever happened – until Storey had popped in. She'd brought some of the same chaos and color to his world, too. He enjoyed the energy and he really missed the chaos.
    Stupid.
    He missed her even more.
    His father's chambers lay at the end of the hall. As Councilman, his chambers were the largest and richest of any here. He was big on appearances. Not so big on sharing.
    At a white door that looked the same as every other apartment on this floor, Eric took a deep breath, thought of Storey caught in a nightmare dimension, possibly dying, and knocked on his father's door. Hard.
    The door opened under his hand. Eric entered expecting to see his father holding court with the other council members. The room was silent – and empty.
    Eric frowned. "Father. Are you home?"
    "Father?"
    No answer.
    He called out again, moving cautiously into the open space. The room appeared to be undisturbed. But if he wasn't here, then where was he? His father only frequented a few places. Council Chambers, his apartment and Paxton's lab. The only other place would be the private dining room. But at this hour of the morning? Not likely.
    His father was a creature of habit.
    So where was he?
    ***
    Storey hit the wall and bounced off. Duh. Rubbing her sore shoulder she glowered at the dirt wall. "This is ridiculous. Why doesn't anything work properly around here?"
    She walked back and forth along the wall with her hand scraping the surface, looking for some kind of crack or door; any weakness would be a good start. There had to be some way to get past this barrier. And fast. Shit.
    At the far end she turned to look back along the wall. Nothing had changed.
    "Open sesame?" Stupid, she knew it was stupid, but she was willing to try anything. Nothing happened. Of course not. Still, she had to try. "Door open?"
    "Please open the door?"
    Nothing happened.
    Like who said the Louers even spoke English. For all she knew they had a very different language. Not that having another dialect would make any sense, considering the Toran people