Dangerous Designs, page 39
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Storey rocked back and forth, her stylus in hand, sketchpad resting on her crossed legs. A chill had set in, forcing her to drag her sweater out of her backpack to stay warm. She'd tried to exit this mist on foot, in her mind, and through her pictures. So far nothing had worked. She turned to yet another clean page. At this rate she would run out of paper. Just the thought of it sent her flipping the book and writing on the back of the previous page. "Now what? Stylus, do you have any idea of how to get us home again?"
No.
She retried the same question as she had for the last ten minutes. "Can we communicate with anyone?"
A humming again. Well that had to be progress. "Who?"
Eric.
She brightened. Yeah, something had shifted. And for the good. Straightening her back she asked, "What do I need to do?"
Nothing.
What? "Is he coming here?"
"Storey? Are you there?"
Eric. She jumped to her feet. "Eric! I'm over here. Follow the sound of my voice." She kept talking loudly. She was saved.
"I'm coming. Keep talking." His voice sounded like it was right next to her, that she could reach out and touch him. A hand reached through the mist and brushed her arm. She shrieked. Then a face. Eric.
She launched herself into his arms. "Oh thank God. Am I glad to see you. I couldn't go anywhere. I don't know what happened." She was babbling and couldn't seem to stop herself.
"Shhh. It's okay. I'm here now. You're safe. The codexes are gimpy with the rips in the veil. Let's see if we can get you out of here." He tried to back out of the mist. He could move through, yet the minute she tried, it wouldn't let her pass.
"Weird. The mist thinks it's taking you somewhere. It won't release you."
"That doesn't make any sense."
"No it doesn't. Still, it goes along with everything being wonky right now."
"Can we cancel it?"
He reached for her armband and frowned. "You've just got a simple Codex. That's no good."
"Wait." She reached into her back pack and pulled out his codex. "I have yours, too."
His face lit up. "Great. Then I can take off my father's." He exchanged the codexes. "Mine is a controller. I should be able to clear the codes frozen on your unit." Drawing his brows together, he punched a series of buttons before tapping in a series of numbers.
Storey couldn't help but grin at the familiar musical notes. Such a teenager thing to do. "I like your ring tones."
"Ring tones?" He glanced up briefly, confusion clouding his eyes. "What do you mean?"
"Like the cell phones in my world. Yours plays music when you use it."
With a shake of his head he went back to studying the unit on her arm. "Sorta. Each is a code though."
"Whatever." She didn't care if it played movies, as long as it got her out of here.
"There. Now when I code into the basement, the mist should disappear."
A few minutes after the sounds stopped, the blackness lightened.
"It's working," she cried out.
She threw herself into his arms again. Reaching up, she planted an enthusiastic kiss on his lips. As she pulled back, she realized what she'd done. "Sorry."
"Sorry for what?" he said, his voice husky and soft, his arms wrapped tightly around her. "There's not a man alive that would object to being kissed by a beautiful woman."
A delicate shudder worked down her spine, pooling in her belly.
"Are you alright?" He pulled back slightly to peer deep into her eyes, forcing her to close hers or let him see how much he'd affected her.
"Yes. Yes, I'm fine. Just cold."
He tugged her back into his arms, letting the heat of his body warm her up. "This should help. The mist is always cold. We'll head for the lab as soon as we're in the clear."
Snuggled in tight, Storey couldn't help wishing that they could stay like this a little longer. "Good. I'm so glad you found me. I was running out of options," she admitted against his chest.
He nudged her chin up so he could look her in the eyes. "It wouldn't have happened if you'd stayed home. What possessed you to come back? You knew it would be bad."
"Yes." Then she remembered. Explaining how she'd learned to communicate with the stylus and how it had given the knowledge necessary to protect from the Louers, she added, "I think it might work here too. We have to make sure they're all back in their dimension, or they will have to stay here and we'll be lucky if we can catch those left."
"They'll be exterminated if they're here."
"I know. And maybe that's what needs to happen. Beyond creepy." She shivered, this time for real as she remembered the boney fingers trying to rip through her living room wall.
He gave her quick squeeze. "What's this about speaking with your stylus? Paxton doesn't like that you can do more with yours than he can with his."
She grinned. "They can talk to each other. They were Louers once."
"What?" He moved her back slightly and gave her a little shake. "What did you say?"
It took a moment to repeat what she'd learned from her stylus. "According to Paxton, they were volunteers, except I'm not sure how much was really voluntary when compared to the promise of a better life. Now there are several souls bonded to my stylus, so it's no longer one person but a compilation of several souls together. After so long they've fused together as one unit."
"But Louers? They're our hated enemies."
She took a few steps back and lifted her stylus and whipped out her pocket notebook. "Says who?" she scoffed. "Stylus, were you an enemy of Eric's people?"
Her hand jerked. She held it up to him to see.
"No?" He looked at her doubtfully, and she realized he thought she'd written that answer herself.
"Were you perceived as their enemy, Stylus?"
Yes.
"Were you enslaved to them?"
"Yes," she read to him, holding up the stylus triumphantly. "See. They were Louers."
He stared at her. "How did they get from being slaves to this nightmare they've become today?"
"Stylus can you answer that question?"
Her hand immediately went to work. The Torans believed Louers were trying to rise up against them. They banished us. In the process, we fought back and tried to take some of our old owners as slaves.
Figures. History repeated itself, regardless of which side of the veil humanity inhabited.
"That's regrettable if it's true, yet how does it help us now?"
"I don't know, except all information is power." She turned around. "The mist is gone. Can we leave now?"
"Yes." He focused on his codex and tapped in new codes. Once again musical notes accompanied the flash of numbers and colors.
Please let it take us where we want to go this time.
Black snaked up her legs.
She stepped closer. "I hate this part."
"It should work this time."
"Should?" Was that squeak her voice?
"Like I said, we've been having trouble with the codex travel."
"You said that?" She didn't remember that. Everything else had disappeared from her mind in the excitement of seeing him. Storey closed her eyes at the brief vertigo that always accompanied the transition. Within seconds, the mist thinned before pooling at the bottom of their feet.
Paxton's lab.
"Oh, thank heavens for that." Her breath rushed out in a whoosh, only to be sucked back in shock. The room was full of people.
Staring at her.
"Uh, hello."
Smiling tentatively, she studied them. Tired, dirty and very happy, they appeared relaxed. What a weird combination, especially given the war going on. They smiled back. At least they were friendly. Her gaze wandered around the familiar room and froze at the sight of Eric's rotund father glaring at her. No, that was too light a word. Animosity reeked from him.
Storey glowered back. Asshole.
As much as she hated it, she couldn't stop her back from stiffening or the sense of vulnerability creeping in.
Would he order her to be hauled off to the dungeons? Or had the kill order been rescinded? She'd forgotten to ask Eric.
"Easy," whispered Eric. "He's not a big part of this anymore."
"As long as he wants me dead, he's right in the middle."
"There is some doubt about the sentence, in light of your actions." Paxton rushed to assure her.
Storey studied his features, realizing how much the current situation had aged him. She grimaced. "Nice thought, but excuse me if I don't believe you."
"Don't blame you. Not sure I do either," Eric muttered beside her.
He placed a hand in the small of her back and led her forward. "Give me the codex. It's not going to do you any good." Taking it from her, he walked over to Paxton and handed it over. "This is the broken unit."
"The energy tears." Paxton examined it, turning it over several times. "I might be able to fix it."
"It's not worth it." Eric pulled his father's codex out of the backpack. He handed it over to Paxton as well, then turned to address his father. "Not sure this unit is in working order, either. Might need to be overhauled as well."
Storey watched anger blitz across Eric's father's face. The councilman was not happy. She couldn't help warning Eric. "Uh oh. He's not happy with you," she whispered.
Eric glanced down at her in surprise, then studied the anger and frustration on his father's face.
"Is this her?" a tiny voice piped up, echoing into the break in the conversation.
Storey turned toward the sound to see a waif peering around a tall thin teenager. "Hi, who are you?"
"Sammy?" A smile peeked out, followed by a tinkle of a laugh.
"Well, hello, Sammy. My name is Storey."
"Hi." She ducked behind the teenager's leg again.
Storey wanted to bend down and talk with her, but a robust male stepped in, blocking her view. With his arms akimbo and jaw squared, she realized these people weren't so open to her presence either. Storey smiled. "Beautiful child."
"Hmmm." His eyes narrowed, studying her.
She lifted an eyebrow in question, keeping a relaxed smile on her face. Eric put an arm around her shoulders. "Everyone, this is Storey. She is from the other side of the veil."
Storey shot him an amazed glance. "You told them?"
"Yeah, that whole secretive thing wasn't doing it for me. Besides, I figured honesty might work better, considering we're trying to lift the death sentence on your head."
"Yeah. How's that working out?"
"Half and half."
She shook her head. "Nice. Now that Paxton knows how to stop the Louers, maybe I could go home."
"What?" Everyone turned to look at Paxton.
He shook his head. "No. No, I don't know how to stop them."
"According to the stylus, you do."
"Well, the stylus is wrong," he snapped. "How did you stop them in your world?"
"I erased them." She grinned at the dumbfounded looks staring at her. Eric smirked at her side. "When I went back last time, I added another dimension between the Louers and my world. Don't know how well that's working out though. It's a touchy thing making changes on a large scale. Some unexpected things happen."
"Dare I ask?"
She shot Eric a look and shook her head "No, let's just say I might have to fix a few things when I go back." What were her parents thinking about now? Wiccan, Catholic or maybe by now, they've converted to some no - name cult. Or had everything reverted to normal and her father was gone from her life again? She groaned softly.
"Erased?" Paxton's voice squeaked between them. "How is that possible?"
"With the stylus." At the puzzled look, she added, "The Louers ripped through the veil and tried to enter through my living room wall while Eric and I were there."
Several of the women in the crowd gasped and held their children close. She couldn't blame them.
"Is that the first time they've made it to your world?"
She nodded. "I think so, but I don't know. I imagine they came through in that spot because it's almost the same place as the portal I accidentally created in the beginning."
Understanding lit up Eric's face. "And you jumped through the floor. They came in at the exact place where you'd have disappeared." He patted her on her shoulder. "That's the first time I got that. Wow. That makes so much sense. So, when you erased that Louer, did you also erase the crossing?"
"No, I don't think so." She thought about it again. "Or I recreated it when I crossed over again."
"Hmmm."
Paxton lifted his hands and shook them in her face. "That won't work here. It's not possible."
"I don't know about that. To make it work, I'd have to either remove every tear except one and shepherd them back throughout that hole and erase it afterwards."
Eric shook his head. "Hang on here. Let's go back to that creating a new dimension. How did you do that? And what's to stop them from crossing from that dimension into yours?"
"As I don't know what they're capable of, I can't say that they can't. Keep in mind they haven't before. And consider that that they may not want to for a couple of reasons. To start with, this dimension is a copy of our world, the world they left behind. It's nice and they might be happy there. And second, they may think that this new world IS my world. After all, who'd be there to tell them the difference? Third, they won't know there are other dimensions to go looking for. Why would they? Their current world isn't very pleasant, is it?"
"No." Paxton shook his head. "It's a dark damp place with only a few hours of light each day."
"Nice." She grimaced. "No wonder they mutated into physical beings long removed from the slaves you once had. You could try to understand them before slaughtering them."
Eric's father stomped to his feet. "That's enough. What do you know of our world? You come here and cause trouble, yet still come out smelling like royalty. You're not. You don't belong here. You don't belong with my son."
Storey turned to face him. His beady eyes glowed with hate. She lifted her chin. "No, I don't. I have my own world to go back to." She refused to let this man intimidate her after all she'd been through already. They had no idea.
"Then go home and don't ever come back."
She snorted. "Would love to. Not sure I can, considering that the tears in the veils are making travel very iffy right now." That didn't mean she couldn't travel by drawing though. Not that she was ready to tell him that. They still hadn't solved the Louer problem.
Paxton nodded his head. "That's quite right. Quite right, indeed." He wrung his hands and shuffled his feet. "She can't travel now."
"So fix it. That's your job. Take care of it. Then ship her home. Today." The councilman settled back and crossed his arms over his ample stomach.
Storey's heart, always willing to forgive, hardened. He was an asshole. She opened her mouth to give him a piece of her mind when Eric's hand squeezed her shoulder. "Steady," he whispered before turning back to face his mentor. "Paxton, any idea of how long it could take?"
Paxton shook his head vigorously. "Oh dear. I don't know. I just don't know. I can't fix the tears with the Louers travelling back and forth."
"So we have to stop the Louers first?"
"Right." His head bobbed up and down. "I think so."
Storey glanced over at Eric to find him studying her, a questioning look in his eyes. "I can't deal with them all. Not this way."
"I know. The problem, as I see it, is the lack of information. There's no way to know how many have crossed into our world or how many more might come in a second wave."
"We don't want that to happen. This has to be sorted out and fast."
A weird sound ripped through the air. Storey backed up. Her stomach dropped. She knew that sound. It ripped through the room again. The crowd of people, sprawled across the floor, just starting to relax, jumped to their feet and cowered in a tight group.
"They're coming! Save us!" Hysteria erupted and the group scattered, with some people trying to hide under the tables and chairs. Eric's father jumped to his feet and raced to the door. "Save me."
Storey snorted. "Figures."
The councilman glared at her. "It's their duty. My life supersedes theirs." He turned to glare at Eric, still standing at her side. "Eric, take me to a safe place."
The ripping sound sliced through the room. Storey jumped at the noise and spun around. She couldn't see the Louers, yet past experience told her it wouldn't take them long to break through the last barriers. She wondered how many there were in existence. Paxton wouldn't know and the Louer population could have changed drastically over the centuries.
The others screamed and huddled lower. Mothers huddled protectively over their children. Storey took out her sketchbook and stylus. She couldn't afford to hide. Besides, there was no place left. She sat down in her favorite position on the floor and opened to a clean page. She'd need a new sketch book soon. Could she use the back side of her drawings or would that mix two together and create something she really didn't want to see? Best to not try for now.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm getting ready," she whispered nodding in the direction of the space over the monitors. "That's going first."
She spoke softly. "Stylus. I need your help. The Louers will be here any moment. How can I stop them from entering this room?"
Seal it.
She grinned. "Perfect. Let's do it." She put the stylus to paper and studied the picture slashing down at double speed. It raced across the paper, stopped, scribbled in place before continuing at a pace so fast she couldn't discern the lines as they appeared as part of the picture. Then her hand stopped. She shook out her arm as she studied the image in front of her.
Eric leaned over her shoulder. The picture showed Paxton's lab, the full essence of this space down in a few strokes. A plastic layer appeared to cover the entire space.
"Sealant?" She laughed. Looking up she caught the panicked look on everyone's face. She bent her head. "Hey, Stylus. How about sealing each Louer and sending them back to their own space."
Too many.
"Hmmm. This world is also too large to seal, correct?"
Correct.
She rambled ideas aloud. "So how can we seal the space or the Louers? If we could do that, could we send them home any easier?"
Eric squatted beside her. "You do realize you're sitting here in a life and death situation and talking aloud to a pencil?"
Casting a quick glance around, she realized her actions weren't exactly confidence building. "Eric, I have to toss out questions and see what rises for answers. The stylus isn't good at offering information. It answers my questions, though. Think of this as a brainstorming session."
He nodded. "Go for it."
Shooting him a quick smile of thanks, she returned to talking to the stylus. "Is there a way to put a tracking number or something similar on each Louer so that we can move them home as if sent by computer or codex?" She wasn't making any sense. She knew that, yet somewhere in there had to be an idea, a starting point.
"What are you thinking?" Eric frowned.
"I'm trying to figure out a way to track them all and then send them home before sealing the door, somehow for ever. That's presuming they don't have technology that allows them to return. Can we put a codex on each one and send them back or something similar? Obviously not that, as it would give them our technology."
"We can't go and catch them all in order to do that."
"Maybe we don't have to." She asked the stylus, "Stylus, can we do something like that?"
No.
"Okay. I can't just erase them one by one. I can't seal every room one at a time. There has to be something more global."
"Like what?"
"The stylus can track each one," she stared at her pen. "Stylus, that's correct isn't it?"
Yes.
Storey nodded. "Eric, do you have a way to move supplies across dimensions? Or large items from one spot to another? Like supplies to another city?"
He pursed his lips. "Yes, we can. We place codes on the items and send through the gates, using codexes to set the destination." He studied her face. "Where are you going with this?"
Excitement bubbled through her. "Now we're getting somewhere. Why can't we can track them, slap on codes and ship them home? The next issue is how to subdue them?"
Eric squatted beside her. "That could take a long time."
"I know. I was hoping more people would have styluses and could help. Either that or have Paxton's stylus give us all locations and teams can go out at the same time. I doubt there are more than a dozen here at one time."
There were 50 in the first sweep. Her stylus moved freer on its own.
"How many are still here?"
1 dead, 7 wounded and taken home. 2 escorted the injured home. 40 left on this side.
"Forty isn't so bad." She winced. Just 40 opportunities to be captured or killed.
"I want to help." The burly man from the group stood up. "I want to help. She's created a safe place for everyone, so they can stay here while we go hunting."
"I'm going, too."
"And me."
Before they realized what had happened. All the males in the group had stepped forward. Eric studied them. "Are any of you trained for codex use?"
"I'm in the reserves," said one of the younger men.
"I still think this is a bad idea," protested Paxton, facing the group. "You have no weapons, they are bigger and stronger and meaner. None of you know what you're doing."
"Has anyone got a better idea? Do you have an army here? Security forces?" She asked everyone in the room in general. "We need to solve this ourselves before they return in greater numbers now that they know how minimal your defenses are. Paxton, with the help of your stylus, can you organize teams to rescue your people from the Louer's dimension? If we can get them together in groups and send over teams with codexes, you could take them home very quickly. We need to make sure the Torans are here and the Louers are back on their side. Then we should be able to seal the tears while opening up the dimension in-between."
Frustrated, Eric ran his hand down over his face. "Storey, I don't want you doing anything dangerous."
Sadly she looked into his beloved face. When and how had he become so important? So special to her? "Any of us could die on this mission, including you. There's no choice. The window of opportunity is now. Their numbers are down. Once their numbers grow, there won't be any stopping them."
"She's right. If we're going, let's get a move on."
Eric looked around. "Two trained in codexes? No more?"
"Send one over to retrieve your people. Make sure more codexes are taken over there. Let the men who are prisoners use them. You'll move people much faster that way," Storey said.
Eric glanced over at his father, as if considering his participation, then shook his head. Storey agreed. Leave the troublemaker behind.
"Fine. Two codexes, then two teams. One to do retrievals and the other to deal with the Louers."
"Right. Can we find a way to speed up the process? I won't know how long things are going to take until we get started. Paxton is needed here, otherwise I'd say take his codex as well."
"What about his stylus?" The same burly man took several steps toward Paxton, who backed up ahead of him.
"That won't work, his is soulbound, too." She lifted her stylus. "Can you give us coordinates right now for several Louers, a small group? Preferably in close proximity to where we are now?"
A distinct deep humming filled the air. Several women ducked even though Storey tried to reassure them all was well. "It's my stylus. He's locating Louers."
Her hand jerked, and the message appeared as if by magic. There are 9 Louers approaching the Center.
"Nine in one bunch. A bit many? The location means we need to take them first before they take over the rest of the building" Storey stood up and walked over to Eric. "I think we should go as a group and see how we fare. Seven of us against 9 of them is completely doable, particularly if we have the element of surprise."
Eric looked at the eager faces around them and gave in. "It's almost a third of them. Not exactly a small group. We'd be better off going for a couple at a time."
Paxton shook his head. "No time."
"Right." Eric shrugged. "We'll give this a try and evaluate after this test group."
"Stylus, are the Louers armed?"
No.
"Where is the best place to capture them?"
In the basement.
"Except that's where they caught all of us." Eric stood with his hands fisted on his hips.
"True. Where and how, Stylus?" Humming picked up as the stylus computed information. In the meantime, Storey checked over her backpack, making sure she was as prepared as possible.
In the anteroom on the outside entrance to the basement. They will enter there.
"Eric, do you have weapons to use?"
"Some."
"Stun guns? Tranquilizers? Something along those lines? You keep saying how advanced you are, so what do you have?"
"We are more advanced."
Exasperated, she said "Then you should be able to subdue these things before we even see them. Don't you have gas you can put into this small anteroom? For that matter, you should have the ability to pipe gas into the ante room without us ever venturing near." She turned to the councilman. "You run this place. Surely you have defensive measures in place?"
He stared at her, disdainful fury marring his pudgy face. "Why? We've never needed anything like that before. We don't live in your society where you make war on each other all the time. We've never worried about our safety until you came here."
Storey groaned. "Not that again. You know what the problem is with your world? You're all talkers with no action. You'd talk yourselves to death if given a chance – at least that way you wouldn't have to worry about the Louers finishing you off."
She snatched up her bag off the floor. "I'm going down to the basement to do what I can to slap codes on these nine. Then we can ship them back where they came from. Either come with me and help or stay here on your fat butt and do nothing like you always do."
She strode to the door, pulling her small notepad from her pocket. "Stylus. Directions please."
Go through the door and turn left.
"Wait," cried out one of the women, "What about the sealant on this room? If you go out it will break the seal and we'll be vulnerable again."
Hmmm. As much as she had no use for the councilman, the women and children didn't deserve a life of servitude with the Louers. "Stylus, can it be resealed?"
No.
"Can we leave without disturbing the seal by using codexes?"
Yes.
She spun around searching for Eric. "Eric, are you ready?"
"Yes, just checking the status of the armory."
"How come you have an armory if you don't need such a thing," she asked mockingly of Eric's father. That pompous windbag really pissed her off. She wouldn't mind if he was captured again. It's not like he was doing anything to help save his people.
Eric shot her a sideways look. "Because at one point in time, we did need it. Therefore, for a long time we kept the training and weapons current. Then the threat died off and well..." He shrugged. "That could be a problem too. The weapons might be there, but I'm not sure what condition they are in. We'll go and see." He motioned to the other men. "Okay. We'll go there first."
"Then let's move or we'll be too late."
He walked over, that wide cocky grin back on his face. Reaching out for her arm, he nodded to the others. "I'm dialling now. Step over."
The group rushed over in time for the black air to swirl around their feet and block out the rest of the room. About damn time. This place would crumble with old age before anyone got down to business.
"Still as impatient as ever, I see," murmured Eric beside her.
She bent her head to hide her grin. If he only knew.
Storey rocked back and forth, her stylus in hand, sketchpad resting on her crossed legs. A chill had set in, forcing her to drag her sweater out of her backpack to stay warm. She'd tried to exit this mist on foot, in her mind, and through her pictures. So far nothing had worked. She turned to yet another clean page. At this rate she would run out of paper. Just the thought of it sent her flipping the book and writing on the back of the previous page. "Now what? Stylus, do you have any idea of how to get us home again?"
No.
She retried the same question as she had for the last ten minutes. "Can we communicate with anyone?"
A humming again. Well that had to be progress. "Who?"
Eric.
She brightened. Yeah, something had shifted. And for the good. Straightening her back she asked, "What do I need to do?"
Nothing.
What? "Is he coming here?"
"Storey? Are you there?"
Eric. She jumped to her feet. "Eric! I'm over here. Follow the sound of my voice." She kept talking loudly. She was saved.
"I'm coming. Keep talking." His voice sounded like it was right next to her, that she could reach out and touch him. A hand reached through the mist and brushed her arm. She shrieked. Then a face. Eric.
She launched herself into his arms. "Oh thank God. Am I glad to see you. I couldn't go anywhere. I don't know what happened." She was babbling and couldn't seem to stop herself.
"Shhh. It's okay. I'm here now. You're safe. The codexes are gimpy with the rips in the veil. Let's see if we can get you out of here." He tried to back out of the mist. He could move through, yet the minute she tried, it wouldn't let her pass.
"Weird. The mist thinks it's taking you somewhere. It won't release you."
"That doesn't make any sense."
"No it doesn't. Still, it goes along with everything being wonky right now."
"Can we cancel it?"
He reached for her armband and frowned. "You've just got a simple Codex. That's no good."
"Wait." She reached into her back pack and pulled out his codex. "I have yours, too."
His face lit up. "Great. Then I can take off my father's." He exchanged the codexes. "Mine is a controller. I should be able to clear the codes frozen on your unit." Drawing his brows together, he punched a series of buttons before tapping in a series of numbers.
Storey couldn't help but grin at the familiar musical notes. Such a teenager thing to do. "I like your ring tones."
"Ring tones?" He glanced up briefly, confusion clouding his eyes. "What do you mean?"
"Like the cell phones in my world. Yours plays music when you use it."
With a shake of his head he went back to studying the unit on her arm. "Sorta. Each is a code though."
"Whatever." She didn't care if it played movies, as long as it got her out of here.
"There. Now when I code into the basement, the mist should disappear."
A few minutes after the sounds stopped, the blackness lightened.
"It's working," she cried out.
She threw herself into his arms again. Reaching up, she planted an enthusiastic kiss on his lips. As she pulled back, she realized what she'd done. "Sorry."
"Sorry for what?" he said, his voice husky and soft, his arms wrapped tightly around her. "There's not a man alive that would object to being kissed by a beautiful woman."
A delicate shudder worked down her spine, pooling in her belly.
"Are you alright?" He pulled back slightly to peer deep into her eyes, forcing her to close hers or let him see how much he'd affected her.
"Yes. Yes, I'm fine. Just cold."
He tugged her back into his arms, letting the heat of his body warm her up. "This should help. The mist is always cold. We'll head for the lab as soon as we're in the clear."
Snuggled in tight, Storey couldn't help wishing that they could stay like this a little longer. "Good. I'm so glad you found me. I was running out of options," she admitted against his chest.
He nudged her chin up so he could look her in the eyes. "It wouldn't have happened if you'd stayed home. What possessed you to come back? You knew it would be bad."
"Yes." Then she remembered. Explaining how she'd learned to communicate with the stylus and how it had given the knowledge necessary to protect from the Louers, she added, "I think it might work here too. We have to make sure they're all back in their dimension, or they will have to stay here and we'll be lucky if we can catch those left."
"They'll be exterminated if they're here."
"I know. And maybe that's what needs to happen. Beyond creepy." She shivered, this time for real as she remembered the boney fingers trying to rip through her living room wall.
He gave her quick squeeze. "What's this about speaking with your stylus? Paxton doesn't like that you can do more with yours than he can with his."
She grinned. "They can talk to each other. They were Louers once."
"What?" He moved her back slightly and gave her a little shake. "What did you say?"
It took a moment to repeat what she'd learned from her stylus. "According to Paxton, they were volunteers, except I'm not sure how much was really voluntary when compared to the promise of a better life. Now there are several souls bonded to my stylus, so it's no longer one person but a compilation of several souls together. After so long they've fused together as one unit."
"But Louers? They're our hated enemies."
She took a few steps back and lifted her stylus and whipped out her pocket notebook. "Says who?" she scoffed. "Stylus, were you an enemy of Eric's people?"
Her hand jerked. She held it up to him to see.
"No?" He looked at her doubtfully, and she realized he thought she'd written that answer herself.
"Were you perceived as their enemy, Stylus?"
Yes.
"Were you enslaved to them?"
"Yes," she read to him, holding up the stylus triumphantly. "See. They were Louers."
He stared at her. "How did they get from being slaves to this nightmare they've become today?"
"Stylus can you answer that question?"
Her hand immediately went to work. The Torans believed Louers were trying to rise up against them. They banished us. In the process, we fought back and tried to take some of our old owners as slaves.
Figures. History repeated itself, regardless of which side of the veil humanity inhabited.
"That's regrettable if it's true, yet how does it help us now?"
"I don't know, except all information is power." She turned around. "The mist is gone. Can we leave now?"
"Yes." He focused on his codex and tapped in new codes. Once again musical notes accompanied the flash of numbers and colors.
Please let it take us where we want to go this time.
Black snaked up her legs.
She stepped closer. "I hate this part."
"It should work this time."
"Should?" Was that squeak her voice?
"Like I said, we've been having trouble with the codex travel."
"You said that?" She didn't remember that. Everything else had disappeared from her mind in the excitement of seeing him. Storey closed her eyes at the brief vertigo that always accompanied the transition. Within seconds, the mist thinned before pooling at the bottom of their feet.
Paxton's lab.
"Oh, thank heavens for that." Her breath rushed out in a whoosh, only to be sucked back in shock. The room was full of people.
Staring at her.
"Uh, hello."
Smiling tentatively, she studied them. Tired, dirty and very happy, they appeared relaxed. What a weird combination, especially given the war going on. They smiled back. At least they were friendly. Her gaze wandered around the familiar room and froze at the sight of Eric's rotund father glaring at her. No, that was too light a word. Animosity reeked from him.
Storey glowered back. Asshole.
As much as she hated it, she couldn't stop her back from stiffening or the sense of vulnerability creeping in.
Would he order her to be hauled off to the dungeons? Or had the kill order been rescinded? She'd forgotten to ask Eric.
"Easy," whispered Eric. "He's not a big part of this anymore."
"As long as he wants me dead, he's right in the middle."
"There is some doubt about the sentence, in light of your actions." Paxton rushed to assure her.
Storey studied his features, realizing how much the current situation had aged him. She grimaced. "Nice thought, but excuse me if I don't believe you."
"Don't blame you. Not sure I do either," Eric muttered beside her.
He placed a hand in the small of her back and led her forward. "Give me the codex. It's not going to do you any good." Taking it from her, he walked over to Paxton and handed it over. "This is the broken unit."
"The energy tears." Paxton examined it, turning it over several times. "I might be able to fix it."
"It's not worth it." Eric pulled his father's codex out of the backpack. He handed it over to Paxton as well, then turned to address his father. "Not sure this unit is in working order, either. Might need to be overhauled as well."
Storey watched anger blitz across Eric's father's face. The councilman was not happy. She couldn't help warning Eric. "Uh oh. He's not happy with you," she whispered.
Eric glanced down at her in surprise, then studied the anger and frustration on his father's face.
"Is this her?" a tiny voice piped up, echoing into the break in the conversation.
Storey turned toward the sound to see a waif peering around a tall thin teenager. "Hi, who are you?"
"Sammy?" A smile peeked out, followed by a tinkle of a laugh.
"Well, hello, Sammy. My name is Storey."
"Hi." She ducked behind the teenager's leg again.
Storey wanted to bend down and talk with her, but a robust male stepped in, blocking her view. With his arms akimbo and jaw squared, she realized these people weren't so open to her presence either. Storey smiled. "Beautiful child."
"Hmmm." His eyes narrowed, studying her.
She lifted an eyebrow in question, keeping a relaxed smile on her face. Eric put an arm around her shoulders. "Everyone, this is Storey. She is from the other side of the veil."
Storey shot him an amazed glance. "You told them?"
"Yeah, that whole secretive thing wasn't doing it for me. Besides, I figured honesty might work better, considering we're trying to lift the death sentence on your head."
"Yeah. How's that working out?"
"Half and half."
She shook her head. "Nice. Now that Paxton knows how to stop the Louers, maybe I could go home."
"What?" Everyone turned to look at Paxton.
He shook his head. "No. No, I don't know how to stop them."
"According to the stylus, you do."
"Well, the stylus is wrong," he snapped. "How did you stop them in your world?"
"I erased them." She grinned at the dumbfounded looks staring at her. Eric smirked at her side. "When I went back last time, I added another dimension between the Louers and my world. Don't know how well that's working out though. It's a touchy thing making changes on a large scale. Some unexpected things happen."
"Dare I ask?"
She shot Eric a look and shook her head "No, let's just say I might have to fix a few things when I go back." What were her parents thinking about now? Wiccan, Catholic or maybe by now, they've converted to some no - name cult. Or had everything reverted to normal and her father was gone from her life again? She groaned softly.
"Erased?" Paxton's voice squeaked between them. "How is that possible?"
"With the stylus." At the puzzled look, she added, "The Louers ripped through the veil and tried to enter through my living room wall while Eric and I were there."
Several of the women in the crowd gasped and held their children close. She couldn't blame them.
"Is that the first time they've made it to your world?"
She nodded. "I think so, but I don't know. I imagine they came through in that spot because it's almost the same place as the portal I accidentally created in the beginning."
Understanding lit up Eric's face. "And you jumped through the floor. They came in at the exact place where you'd have disappeared." He patted her on her shoulder. "That's the first time I got that. Wow. That makes so much sense. So, when you erased that Louer, did you also erase the crossing?"
"No, I don't think so." She thought about it again. "Or I recreated it when I crossed over again."
"Hmmm."
Paxton lifted his hands and shook them in her face. "That won't work here. It's not possible."
"I don't know about that. To make it work, I'd have to either remove every tear except one and shepherd them back throughout that hole and erase it afterwards."
Eric shook his head. "Hang on here. Let's go back to that creating a new dimension. How did you do that? And what's to stop them from crossing from that dimension into yours?"
"As I don't know what they're capable of, I can't say that they can't. Keep in mind they haven't before. And consider that that they may not want to for a couple of reasons. To start with, this dimension is a copy of our world, the world they left behind. It's nice and they might be happy there. And second, they may think that this new world IS my world. After all, who'd be there to tell them the difference? Third, they won't know there are other dimensions to go looking for. Why would they? Their current world isn't very pleasant, is it?"
"No." Paxton shook his head. "It's a dark damp place with only a few hours of light each day."
"Nice." She grimaced. "No wonder they mutated into physical beings long removed from the slaves you once had. You could try to understand them before slaughtering them."
Eric's father stomped to his feet. "That's enough. What do you know of our world? You come here and cause trouble, yet still come out smelling like royalty. You're not. You don't belong here. You don't belong with my son."
Storey turned to face him. His beady eyes glowed with hate. She lifted her chin. "No, I don't. I have my own world to go back to." She refused to let this man intimidate her after all she'd been through already. They had no idea.
"Then go home and don't ever come back."
She snorted. "Would love to. Not sure I can, considering that the tears in the veils are making travel very iffy right now." That didn't mean she couldn't travel by drawing though. Not that she was ready to tell him that. They still hadn't solved the Louer problem.
Paxton nodded his head. "That's quite right. Quite right, indeed." He wrung his hands and shuffled his feet. "She can't travel now."
"So fix it. That's your job. Take care of it. Then ship her home. Today." The councilman settled back and crossed his arms over his ample stomach.
Storey's heart, always willing to forgive, hardened. He was an asshole. She opened her mouth to give him a piece of her mind when Eric's hand squeezed her shoulder. "Steady," he whispered before turning back to face his mentor. "Paxton, any idea of how long it could take?"
Paxton shook his head vigorously. "Oh dear. I don't know. I just don't know. I can't fix the tears with the Louers travelling back and forth."
"So we have to stop the Louers first?"
"Right." His head bobbed up and down. "I think so."
Storey glanced over at Eric to find him studying her, a questioning look in his eyes. "I can't deal with them all. Not this way."
"I know. The problem, as I see it, is the lack of information. There's no way to know how many have crossed into our world or how many more might come in a second wave."
"We don't want that to happen. This has to be sorted out and fast."
A weird sound ripped through the air. Storey backed up. Her stomach dropped. She knew that sound. It ripped through the room again. The crowd of people, sprawled across the floor, just starting to relax, jumped to their feet and cowered in a tight group.
"They're coming! Save us!" Hysteria erupted and the group scattered, with some people trying to hide under the tables and chairs. Eric's father jumped to his feet and raced to the door. "Save me."
Storey snorted. "Figures."
The councilman glared at her. "It's their duty. My life supersedes theirs." He turned to glare at Eric, still standing at her side. "Eric, take me to a safe place."
The ripping sound sliced through the room. Storey jumped at the noise and spun around. She couldn't see the Louers, yet past experience told her it wouldn't take them long to break through the last barriers. She wondered how many there were in existence. Paxton wouldn't know and the Louer population could have changed drastically over the centuries.
The others screamed and huddled lower. Mothers huddled protectively over their children. Storey took out her sketchbook and stylus. She couldn't afford to hide. Besides, there was no place left. She sat down in her favorite position on the floor and opened to a clean page. She'd need a new sketch book soon. Could she use the back side of her drawings or would that mix two together and create something she really didn't want to see? Best to not try for now.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm getting ready," she whispered nodding in the direction of the space over the monitors. "That's going first."
She spoke softly. "Stylus. I need your help. The Louers will be here any moment. How can I stop them from entering this room?"
Seal it.
She grinned. "Perfect. Let's do it." She put the stylus to paper and studied the picture slashing down at double speed. It raced across the paper, stopped, scribbled in place before continuing at a pace so fast she couldn't discern the lines as they appeared as part of the picture. Then her hand stopped. She shook out her arm as she studied the image in front of her.
Eric leaned over her shoulder. The picture showed Paxton's lab, the full essence of this space down in a few strokes. A plastic layer appeared to cover the entire space.
"Sealant?" She laughed. Looking up she caught the panicked look on everyone's face. She bent her head. "Hey, Stylus. How about sealing each Louer and sending them back to their own space."
Too many.
"Hmmm. This world is also too large to seal, correct?"
Correct.
She rambled ideas aloud. "So how can we seal the space or the Louers? If we could do that, could we send them home any easier?"
Eric squatted beside her. "You do realize you're sitting here in a life and death situation and talking aloud to a pencil?"
Casting a quick glance around, she realized her actions weren't exactly confidence building. "Eric, I have to toss out questions and see what rises for answers. The stylus isn't good at offering information. It answers my questions, though. Think of this as a brainstorming session."
He nodded. "Go for it."
Shooting him a quick smile of thanks, she returned to talking to the stylus. "Is there a way to put a tracking number or something similar on each Louer so that we can move them home as if sent by computer or codex?" She wasn't making any sense. She knew that, yet somewhere in there had to be an idea, a starting point.
"What are you thinking?" Eric frowned.
"I'm trying to figure out a way to track them all and then send them home before sealing the door, somehow for ever. That's presuming they don't have technology that allows them to return. Can we put a codex on each one and send them back or something similar? Obviously not that, as it would give them our technology."
"We can't go and catch them all in order to do that."
"Maybe we don't have to." She asked the stylus, "Stylus, can we do something like that?"
No.
"Okay. I can't just erase them one by one. I can't seal every room one at a time. There has to be something more global."
"Like what?"
"The stylus can track each one," she stared at her pen. "Stylus, that's correct isn't it?"
Yes.
Storey nodded. "Eric, do you have a way to move supplies across dimensions? Or large items from one spot to another? Like supplies to another city?"
He pursed his lips. "Yes, we can. We place codes on the items and send through the gates, using codexes to set the destination." He studied her face. "Where are you going with this?"
Excitement bubbled through her. "Now we're getting somewhere. Why can't we can track them, slap on codes and ship them home? The next issue is how to subdue them?"
Eric squatted beside her. "That could take a long time."
"I know. I was hoping more people would have styluses and could help. Either that or have Paxton's stylus give us all locations and teams can go out at the same time. I doubt there are more than a dozen here at one time."
There were 50 in the first sweep. Her stylus moved freer on its own.
"How many are still here?"
1 dead, 7 wounded and taken home. 2 escorted the injured home. 40 left on this side.
"Forty isn't so bad." She winced. Just 40 opportunities to be captured or killed.
"I want to help." The burly man from the group stood up. "I want to help. She's created a safe place for everyone, so they can stay here while we go hunting."
"I'm going, too."
"And me."
Before they realized what had happened. All the males in the group had stepped forward. Eric studied them. "Are any of you trained for codex use?"
"I'm in the reserves," said one of the younger men.
"I still think this is a bad idea," protested Paxton, facing the group. "You have no weapons, they are bigger and stronger and meaner. None of you know what you're doing."
"Has anyone got a better idea? Do you have an army here? Security forces?" She asked everyone in the room in general. "We need to solve this ourselves before they return in greater numbers now that they know how minimal your defenses are. Paxton, with the help of your stylus, can you organize teams to rescue your people from the Louer's dimension? If we can get them together in groups and send over teams with codexes, you could take them home very quickly. We need to make sure the Torans are here and the Louers are back on their side. Then we should be able to seal the tears while opening up the dimension in-between."
Frustrated, Eric ran his hand down over his face. "Storey, I don't want you doing anything dangerous."
Sadly she looked into his beloved face. When and how had he become so important? So special to her? "Any of us could die on this mission, including you. There's no choice. The window of opportunity is now. Their numbers are down. Once their numbers grow, there won't be any stopping them."
"She's right. If we're going, let's get a move on."
Eric looked around. "Two trained in codexes? No more?"
"Send one over to retrieve your people. Make sure more codexes are taken over there. Let the men who are prisoners use them. You'll move people much faster that way," Storey said.
Eric glanced over at his father, as if considering his participation, then shook his head. Storey agreed. Leave the troublemaker behind.
"Fine. Two codexes, then two teams. One to do retrievals and the other to deal with the Louers."
"Right. Can we find a way to speed up the process? I won't know how long things are going to take until we get started. Paxton is needed here, otherwise I'd say take his codex as well."
"What about his stylus?" The same burly man took several steps toward Paxton, who backed up ahead of him.
"That won't work, his is soulbound, too." She lifted her stylus. "Can you give us coordinates right now for several Louers, a small group? Preferably in close proximity to where we are now?"
A distinct deep humming filled the air. Several women ducked even though Storey tried to reassure them all was well. "It's my stylus. He's locating Louers."
Her hand jerked, and the message appeared as if by magic. There are 9 Louers approaching the Center.
"Nine in one bunch. A bit many? The location means we need to take them first before they take over the rest of the building" Storey stood up and walked over to Eric. "I think we should go as a group and see how we fare. Seven of us against 9 of them is completely doable, particularly if we have the element of surprise."
Eric looked at the eager faces around them and gave in. "It's almost a third of them. Not exactly a small group. We'd be better off going for a couple at a time."
Paxton shook his head. "No time."
"Right." Eric shrugged. "We'll give this a try and evaluate after this test group."
"Stylus, are the Louers armed?"
No.
"Where is the best place to capture them?"
In the basement.
"Except that's where they caught all of us." Eric stood with his hands fisted on his hips.
"True. Where and how, Stylus?" Humming picked up as the stylus computed information. In the meantime, Storey checked over her backpack, making sure she was as prepared as possible.
In the anteroom on the outside entrance to the basement. They will enter there.
"Eric, do you have weapons to use?"
"Some."
"Stun guns? Tranquilizers? Something along those lines? You keep saying how advanced you are, so what do you have?"
"We are more advanced."
Exasperated, she said "Then you should be able to subdue these things before we even see them. Don't you have gas you can put into this small anteroom? For that matter, you should have the ability to pipe gas into the ante room without us ever venturing near." She turned to the councilman. "You run this place. Surely you have defensive measures in place?"
He stared at her, disdainful fury marring his pudgy face. "Why? We've never needed anything like that before. We don't live in your society where you make war on each other all the time. We've never worried about our safety until you came here."
Storey groaned. "Not that again. You know what the problem is with your world? You're all talkers with no action. You'd talk yourselves to death if given a chance – at least that way you wouldn't have to worry about the Louers finishing you off."
She snatched up her bag off the floor. "I'm going down to the basement to do what I can to slap codes on these nine. Then we can ship them back where they came from. Either come with me and help or stay here on your fat butt and do nothing like you always do."
She strode to the door, pulling her small notepad from her pocket. "Stylus. Directions please."
Go through the door and turn left.
"Wait," cried out one of the women, "What about the sealant on this room? If you go out it will break the seal and we'll be vulnerable again."
Hmmm. As much as she had no use for the councilman, the women and children didn't deserve a life of servitude with the Louers. "Stylus, can it be resealed?"
No.
"Can we leave without disturbing the seal by using codexes?"
Yes.
She spun around searching for Eric. "Eric, are you ready?"
"Yes, just checking the status of the armory."
"How come you have an armory if you don't need such a thing," she asked mockingly of Eric's father. That pompous windbag really pissed her off. She wouldn't mind if he was captured again. It's not like he was doing anything to help save his people.
Eric shot her a sideways look. "Because at one point in time, we did need it. Therefore, for a long time we kept the training and weapons current. Then the threat died off and well..." He shrugged. "That could be a problem too. The weapons might be there, but I'm not sure what condition they are in. We'll go and see." He motioned to the other men. "Okay. We'll go there first."
"Then let's move or we'll be too late."
He walked over, that wide cocky grin back on his face. Reaching out for her arm, he nodded to the others. "I'm dialling now. Step over."
The group rushed over in time for the black air to swirl around their feet and block out the rest of the room. About damn time. This place would crumble with old age before anyone got down to business.
"Still as impatient as ever, I see," murmured Eric beside her.
She bent her head to hide her grin. If he only knew.
