Read Online Dangerous Designs by Dale Mayer [paranormal/YA] - Free Book Online Page A

haven't done anything." So much for his understanding. He didn't look well. As a matter of fact, he looked closer to passing out than anyone she'd ever seen before. "Are you okay? You look like you're going to faint."
    "Faint?" he cried out in horror.
    "Hey, chill. I don't want my mom running up here."
    He sank down on the bed beside her, shaking his head. "I'm trying to keep my voice down. You're a little tough on my ego."
    Storey closed her eyes and prayed for patience. "Ego? You are one weird guy, you know that?" Opening her eyes, she stared at his stunned, almost devastated eyes. "Okay, please explain. What is going on? Why are you upset and what do you think I've done?"
    In a hushed, thick voice, he said, "Unleashed thousands of demons from the world in between."
    Storey stared at him. Figures. She'd finally met a guy who seemed to like her, was a dynamite kisser and sure enough he had looney tunes playing away inside his head. "Huh? What did you say?" She shook her head. "No wait. Never mind. Look..." She stood up and walked to the door, opening it. "It's gotta be time for your medicine or something. It's definitely time for you to go home."
    He stared at her with empty eyes. She started to freak a little. "Did you hear me? You need to go home. You said you were supposed to earlier and I understand now. No problem. I won't tell anyone. Just...please go."
    With a shake of his head, he stood up. "I can't do that. I need you to meet someone."
    Storey shook her head. "No way. I'm so not going to meet any of the people in your life."
    "Look I'm not sick. I don't need medicine. I need you to understand that this pencil, this stylus is special. It creates doorways – as you've found out. Somehow, you've opened a door that has remained sealed for hundreds of years. Even I don't understand the repercussions here. But," he emphasized, "we have to fix this."
    "Fix what? I don't understand. You aren't making any sense."
    "Like what you told me earlier down by the mine made sense?" He closed his eyes briefly. "You trusted me to listen to you and now I'm asking you to listen to me. The stylus enhances your abilities. In your hand it can create doorways." His blue eyes opened to blaze down at her. "Please. It won't take long. We could be there and back in an hour. I need you to show these drawings to someone."
    Peering into his eyes, Storey wondered how to tell if someone was late for his dose of anti-psychotics. "Where?"
    "Not far."
    "Not far doesn't mean much."
    "This is important. Vitally important. Please. What harm could it do to talk to him?"
    He reached out and grasped her hand. Staring deep into her eyes, he pleaded, "Please. We have to go show him this." He flipped the sketchbook around so she could see the picture. A picture on a different page.
    "Show him what? That's just something I drew before falling asleep last night. I was doodling on the door."
    "Look at it closer," he ordered.
    Playing along, she took another look. The markings looked different. She realized the doorway stood slightly ajar. Just then Eric shifted his fingers and she could see the picture clearer.
    There, wrapped around the wood, as if trying to force it wider open, were eight long, knobby fingers.
    ***
    The moment he felt the shift in her attitude, his panic eased. At least most of it. "Thank you." He stepped back, rotating his neck and shoulders as the tension eased.
    "I didn't say I'd go."
    "Yes, you did." He closed her sketchbook. "Let's go. Now." As much as he wanted to take the stylus from her, it was clear that it had already bonded, and the person who'd tried to take it from her had better watch out.
    "Wait. What's the rush? Besides, what am I going to tell my mother?"
    "We'll explain that you forgot your homework and that I have the assignment that you're missing."
    "That's great for you. I don't do homework."
    He shot her a look of disgust. "'Then you should. Do you really just want to work at the corner store all your life?"
    "I don't work