Of Silk and Death.

Chapter 21

I walked George to the elevators, holding his arm, pretending we were leaving the ballroom to do something harmless.

After Peter and the woman disappeared from view behind the door of the service stairs, I saw Reginald and Isaac walk to the door and wait a moment before going in themselves.

George and I stood and stared at a few paintings as we strolled through the gallery, trying to go unnoticed by the guests, staff members, and the police.

George rubbed his tired eyes with his fingers, and I stroked his shoulder to encourage him to help me. I then asked him if he wanted to go for a quick run to the men's restroom, and he agreed.

As I waited next to the restroom door, I noticed the front desk worker was back behind the desk. I pouted, upset, knowing I couldn't take the axe next to the elevators. As I couldn't pull that off, I then decided to change my plans.

It would take time, but the closest option would be to go up the elevator to the sixth floor, take the axe on that floor, and then go down to the fifth.

When George finally left the bathroom, I grabbed his hand and walked him quickly to the elevators. He stared at me, a little concerned, but I couldn't talk to him as people could hear us, so I just raised my hand in front of his face, refusing questions.

We then awaited the elevator in silence. When it arrived, we walked in, and I sighed, frustrated.

Unfortunately, before the doors closed, I saw the front desk worker suddenly stop on the key rack, noticing something. He had discovered two keys were missing.

"Shit!" I whispered, my eyes going wide as the doors finally closed.

Knowing it was a matter of time before Father would be alerted of the matter, I thought twice about going to the sixth floor, believing it would be better to just go with the revolver to the fifth. It was a revolver, after all, a pretty powerful weapon. But then the one left not holding any weapon would be completely helpless.

As the elevator went up, I reflected upon this dilemma when, all of a sudden, the elevator just stopped.

Both George and I looked at each other, confused. I observed the floor indicator and saw we were stuck between the fourth and fifth floors.

"What?" I asked, not comprehending what was happening.

"Why are we stopping?" George whined.

For a moment, I wondered if it was her. But that would mean Peter had been taken or was dead. I tried not to think about it while we stood there, seconds passing, but it kept sneaking inside my mind.

I looked at the elevator ceiling for a minute, trying to see if the spider's acidic liquid reappeared. Even though I wasn't sure it was her, I still pressed George against the elevator wall and told him to grab the handles.

"Why?" George yawned, tired. "What is happening?"

"I think it might be her," I said, doing the same thing.

"What?" George asked, confused, "What are you talking about?"

Suddenly, the elevator began shaking, making me gasp in fear.

"Just quiet!" I whispered, panicked. "Hold on tight."

But then the elevator started doing something that I didn't expect.

Instead of dropping down, it slowly began going down as a regular elevator would. I frowned, bewildered, as the elevator looked like it was functioning normally. Still fearing some kind of attack, I pulled the revolver out of the bag, which surprised George.