We crept down the hallway, trying to keep pace with the curator without giving away our location. My brain was in overdrive thinking of all the things that could go wrong. What if she turned around? What if a guard came out from one of the many doors and spotted us? And why had Mom even sent us on this mission?
Samuel, on the other hand, seemed to be having the time of his life. He had taken the lead, and was slinking along the wall. His black clothes helped him blend in to the shadows, though the glint of the bike chain from the low lights gave him away.
My thoughts were cut short when the curator ducked into her office. The double doors swung shut behind her with a heavy thud, masking the sound of Samuel's footsteps as he rushed forward. He began wrapping the door handles with the chain, humming some tune as he did. I placed my ear against the door and strained to hear what the curator was doing inside, for fear that in an instant, should would try to come out. I heard nothing but the shuffling of papers and her talking excitedly to herself. Something along the lines of what a pleasure it was to meet my mother and how grateful she was to have 'the honorable Dr. Kane'. Whoops. Might have blackened that opinion by the end of today.
I head a click and glanced at Samuel, who was smiling triumphantly at me. The chain was tightly attached by a bike lock to both of the handles. I felt immensely guilty for locking the woman in her office, but I didn't have it in me to disobey a direct order from my mother. I began walking back down the hallway. I did not want to be there when she realized she was locked in.
"What's that?" Samuel suddenly asked. I looked back the wing we'd come from and saw bright blue light streaming from the Egyptian gallery. It was as if our mom had installed a giant glowing aquarium or covered the walls in bioluminescent bacteria.
Samuel locked eyes with me, fear and confusion flickering across his face. "Honestly, do you have any idea what she's up to?"
"None," I said. "But she's been acting really strange lately. Thinking a lot about Dad. She keeps his picture..."
I didn't want to say more. Thinking about Dad, and the amount of sadness in my mother's eye's talking about him, made it feel like there was a large chunk of taffy in my throat. Fortunately, Samuel nodded like he understood. As I would come to find out much later, Samuel knew just as much about that sadness as I did.
"What's in her workbag?" he asked.
"I don't know. The one rule we had was that I never looked in it."
Samuel scoffed and raised an eyebrow. "And you never did? God, that is so like you, Carla. You're worse than a two year old when it comes to knowing when to follow instructions."
I wanted to defend myself, but just then a tremor shook the floor, shaking the glass panes of the displays next to us.
Startled, Samuel gripped my arm. "And speaking of when to follow instructions. You're not just going to listen to Mom and stay put, will you? She could be in trouble?"
That order had sounded pretty good to me, until Samuel pointed out that Mom might be in trouble. Though I didn't know what kind of trouble she could have gotten herself into inside a nearly abandoned museum. Samuel sprinted off down the hall, leaving me almost no choice. I'd be damned if I let both my mother and my younger brother face something without me, even if the latter was incredibly aggravating. I double checked the lock on the door before sprinting after Samuel.
Author's Note: I am so, so sorry for how late and short this chapter is. Everything in my life right now has been spiraling out of control with hospital visits, projects, and essays galore! Everything's ok, I'm just really busy and in the time that I do have, it's very hard for me to relax enough to write something you all will (hopefully) enjoy. So please be patient with me over this period. Thank you so much!
Cat
