The Phantom's Princess.

Ch. 8

Silently walking through the hallway of the hotel, Alexis took cautious steps, her heart pounding at the thought of being spotted and whisked back into the bustling main hall. She was on a mission and she wasn't going back to the hall until Geoffrey was back by her side.

The west wing of the ground floor had been exclusively cordoned off for the evening's function, and she decided that Geoffrey, if still around, would likely confine himself within that designated area. With this thought propelling her, Alexis scanned the surroundings, her senses heightened, keenly aware of the possibilities lurking just beyond each shadowed corner.

A woman's giggle which was drowned out by Ren's voice emanated from behind a stairwell - it seemed Geoffrey wasn't the only one sneaking off with a woman.

Well, I'm sure he's not supposed to be here either, Alexis gathered, reasoning that since they were both sneaking around he would have no need to tell on her, so she walked behind the stairwell and let out a loud throat clear.

"Hey, princess, what are you doing?" he asked, seeming none too bothered that Alexis had caught him in the middle of whatever it was he was doing with his mouth all over the giggling woman.

"Have you seen Geoffrey?" she asked.

"Yep," he said with a laugh that was clearly not due to the question. "He went down that way."

He gave a quick point in the direction of the restrooms and then turned his attention back to the women.

Alexis let out a low groan as her dislike for the women grew. I swear I'm never going to grow up to be one of them, she internally rambled before being cut off by Ren.

"You can't go down there, Alexis. He's ... er ... busy. Give him a few," he said before once again being lost in the embrace of the woman whose giggling lips took over his.

"Sure, whatever," she said before going in the exact direction that Ren had told her not to go.

The restrooms were on the far end of the west side which would mean having to pass by Thomas who was currently sitting by the entrance with Mamax as he kept guard.

Mamax alone would have been easy to slip by, which was probably how Geoffrey and the woman had gotten past in the first place. Despite his complete brute look and sometimes boorish actions, he was a big softy to whom Alexis had assigned her own codename – Teddybear.

She was sure Thomas would have stopped him and perhaps sent him back to the hall, he was, after all, supposed to be chaperoning Alexis, and Thomas was a stickler for following orders. So, her only guess was that Thomas must have recently arrived to keep watch unless Ren had given her the completely wrong direction altogether,

Alexis ducked behind a row of chairs and crawled under the small tables until she was at the closest side to where she could make a run for the restrooms without being spotted. On normal occasions, she hated the fact that she was so delicately built, but right then, when her small stature allowed her to fit underneath the furniture that was acting as her only barrier to Thomas, she was grateful.

She took a final glance over to Thomas who seemed to be distracted at that moment by some youths who were speaking with the doormen. Mamax too was paying attention to the unwanted guests and Alexis took that as her opportunity to run, as quickly as she could to the small corridor that led the way down to the restrooms.

Yes, she silently chanted while fist bumping the air, then, keeping close to the wall made haste down the corridor. They really need to think of putting me on more missions, she thought, proud of her feat so far. They could call me something like The Rabbit because I'm so fast and silent and I can probably ... Her inner ramblings stopped as the sound of small bangs and shuffles became more audible.