This was a thick, binder-sized file folder that just so happened to have the unfortunate coincidence of being somewhat angular and rectangularly shaped, which wasn't exactly the most convenient shape to shove somewhere on your person.Therefore, she had to come up with a different plan.
“Unless I'm going to pretend that I'm the hunchback of Notre Dame,” El noted to herself, considering the idea for a moment.“…No.”
All right, Plan B.
El’s eyes went to the walls, finding the two windows of her bedroom thankfully unobstructed but still unfortunately armed.
Annabel had conveniently insisted on putting an alarm on her youngest child's windows when she was a teenager, stating that it would be a good way to make sure that she behaved and didn't sneak out.It had always been somewhat of a deterrent, but El was capable enough of finding a way to sneak around it.
That way involved a screwdriver and several hours of work; one day, when she was sixteen, the girl had gotten the casing of the window lock open, yanked as many wires as possible out of the proper positions, and then sealed it up and acting like nothing changed.She remembered how anxious she had felt as she pulled open the window that time and then tried to remember exactly what window it was that she had done such a thing to.
El had to assume when she was a teenager that she would remember these things forever, didn’t she?She was probably optimistic Enough to believe that after she turned 18, she would never see her mother again as well.Poor, stupid sixteen-year-old El.Modern-day El almost wanted to sigh and gently pat her back…
If only she wasn't currently so frustrated with herself as she looked between the two windows and tried to figure out which one of the two she would have chosen to take apart.Mentally, she reviewed what the house looked like when she was a teenager, trying to remember where Annabel's room was in relation to hers before Annabel had insisted on commandeering at least three other rooms, tearing down the walls, and expanding her bedroom.
“Left,” El decided then because it seemed as likely a choice as any.But then, when her hand was on the bottom of the windowsill, for some unknown reason, she decided to go for the right one instead.
Which turned out to be a really good move, considering the fact that when she flipped over the latch and pulled up on the window, it didn't make a sound.No alarms went off, no lights went off, nothing.When she was a child, it used to make a sound akin to a fire alarm being pulled.But now?
There was always a chance that Annabel would change the alarm system in the time since her youngest child moved out.El knew that she wasn’t stupid.Considering the way that the woman constantly renovated the house like she was Mary Winchester, and doomed by spirits to be haunted forever and possibly murdered if she wasn't constantly working on something so that they couldn't find her, El knew that there was always a chance that she had gotten a new alarm system for that window, especially considering the fact that she had changed the contents of that room.
But El dared to believe in herself as she opened the window, grabbed a handful of files, and promptly tossed them out the window into the bushes to the front of the house.It would definitely lead to an awkward detour with Ryan later that day, but…
Well, El didn’t really have time to think about that, she supposed as she took a deep breath and tried to compose herself, knowing that she had already overstayed her welcome in using the restroom.Her mother would definitely cause a scene when she returned, which would pose its own problem, as El now knew what she knew.
El had little to no idea how she was going to manage to keep a straight face any longer.More than that, she had little to no idea how she was going to manage to get out of there as soon as possible, knowing that you couldn't exactly leave before the main entrees were served, which they hadn't been.All they had were appetizers and finger sandwiches.Annabel didn't believe in hosting a dinner that had less than six courses.
And El didn’t know how she was going to manage to get through courses two through six now.
A part of her almost wished that she hadn't gone to her room all alone only because then she wouldn't have to put on this farce and pretend that she didn't know what was there.But then again, if she didn't go to her room, then she wouldn't know that her mother very well could be a murderer, which wasn't exactly an idea that she liked either.
There had to be some casual way to signal to Ryan what was going on under the table without him making a scene.Or at least to make it clear to him how desperately they needed to leave.El bit her lip at the thought, then bit her lip again as she realized that she was still in her room and making little to no progress toward getting out of there.
She had to focus.
Focusing, in this case, required holding her breath as she peered out the door to the room, her eyes cutting in every direction as she took advantage of her beast in order to try and listen in, if only on the off chance that someone would come along and see her there.The last thing she needed to do was explain to anyone exactly why she had gone into her former bedroom, Especially knowing what was in there now.
But luckily, there were no servants in the hallway at that moment.
Everything was silent, dead silent.She was pretty sure that she could hear a pin drop at that moment, which wasn't a good sign in any regard.It likely meant that the servants were currently dealing with another issue.But so long as that issue had nothing to do with her… El took a deep breath, stepped out of her room, and turned the lock so that it would appear like nothing had happened at all.So long as they didn't have any shifters on staff, no one would be able to tell that she had entered the room.After all, she was a master at avoiding the cameras that lined the halls.
Other people, though?El paled at the thought of anyone else trying to figure out Annabel’s layouts—she was capable of it because she knew the woman all too well.
Or thought she knew the woman all too well.
It took everything in her to pull herself together and try to look like a normal, reserved young woman, and she lifted her head and headed for the dining room once more, her mind currently dwelling on too many what-ifs and not coming up with any way to get out of the situation that she currently found herself in.Silently, El cursed herself for so much as considering going to her mother's house that Mother's Day.She should have known from the very beginning that it was a bad idea.She shouldn't have allowed the woman to get her hopes up like that.
After all, when had Annabel ever done right by her?
The question haunted her, and she returned to her seat, nervously plopping down beside Ryan without even so much as the tiniest hint of the elegance and composition that she had had before.To be honest, she didn't know how to give it back.
From the moment that she sat down, El’s leg was shaking up and down, her hands moving on the table, and everything about her was visibly restless.But, blissfully, she had chosen to return at a moment when Annabel was engaged in conversation, one of the few moments where her mother's eyes weren't trained toward her chair.
Annabel wouldn't call her out then, if only because El had returned earlier and been there the whole time, then someone else would make a comment if Annabel was wrong.And there was nothing that Annabel liked less than being wrong.
Therefore, it seemed El was safe… for a while.
“Ryan,” El tried after a moment, peering over at her mate as he sat locked in conversation with another man, the two seeming to debate politics with an amount of passion that was almost uncomfortable.It was one of the few times when Ryan didn't immediately look in her direction the moment that she had spoken, instead choosing to hit her leg in an attempt to calm her down.“Ryan,” El insisted, Practically spitting her words as she turned to the man, silently willing him to pay attention to her instead.This wasn't the time for him to focus on impressing others.
