Chapter Seven - Part Five

“I’m sorry, Witches? If he knew about it I hadn’t heard… Naomi, where did you happen to come by that information, if you don’t mind my asking?”

Diane was obviously trying very hard not to lose her perfect countenance. Apparently, hubby-darling had left out a few minor details of his business trip to his wife, and judging by the strained look on her face, Diane wasn’t very happy. And looking back at my grandmother’s suppressed rage, I had to work very hard at forcing myself not to smile.

“Charles mentioned it to Mathew last night.” was my light-hearted reply, purposefully omitting Ethan’s name. “And if he really went away to deal with the Witches, I can’t help but feel a little worried for him. It sounds a little dangerous –”

“Oh, I wouldn’t worry much about it, dear.” Diane quickly assured. “Charles is quite capable of handling himself; he’s probably just trying to help Harbor’s Elder in doing a little damage control. Creating cover-ups for the Humans for this sort of thing are always tricky, and sometimes other Packs get together to deal with it.

“True… it’s funny that he wouldn’t ask the other Leaders to join him… But then again, he’s probably just being… noble.”

“Of course,” she replied, with a falsely cheerful smile. “We’ve had trouble with Witches in the past and Charles has always dealt with it swiftly. Sometimes he just prefer to deal with things in his own way.”

Yeah, tell that to the other Leaders I thought, with sarcasm. But as a matter of fact, I probably would at the very next meeting. After all, the fact that Charles would short his own Leaders out of important knowledge about the Witches was something the others should probably know… Leaving such details from his wife was one thing, but hiding this from the Leadership was just as unwise.

There were a few seconds of awkward pause as Diane and I struggled with finding the right words to say from there.

“Well, Diane, as always, it was really nice seeing you.” I said, standing. “In case he comes home early, can you let Charles know that I had to go out of town for a couple days to help out a friend? And I’ll stop by again when I come home.”

“Take care, Naomi.” my grandmother said, standing now as well. And though her visage wasn’t nearly as warm as it had been upon my arrival, she still managed to give me a tight hug. “And I’m so glad to see that you’re getting to know others, but you’ll stay wary for me, won’t you?”

“Always. Diane, is everything ok?” I said in concern, and wondering for the first time if perhaps Diane had sent the mysterious note.

“Real loyalty is so hard to come by in this town. I just want you to be careful who you trust.”

And truer advice my grandmother never gave.

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