Disclaimer: I do not own W.i.t.c.h.


"A Guardian's Past"
Chapter 9: "Inside the Lair Household"

"Irma!" Her father called to the girl. "I suggest you come down here right now. You can call you friends for backup if you want!"

Irma could tell from his voice that he was angry. Oh, man. What does he want now? And why would I need the others?

She was surprised to see Agent Medina and McTiennan sitting at the table. Why are they here this time? She groaned.

"Irma!" Agent Medina said cheerfully. "Glad you could make it. We never finished our little interrogation yesterday."

Yikes! I forgot all about that! Irma quickly ran into her room. "I need to call the others. I can't get out of this alone." She picked up the phone and dialed a number. She had quickly memorized all the Guardian's phone number for reference.

"When somebody finally answered with a monotonous, "Hello. Will speaking."

Irma smiled with a desperate gleam in her eyes. "Will, thank goodness I caught you!"

-later-

"So, Will." Agent McTiennan spoke with a hearty voice. "We spoke with Matt Olsen earlier today and found out that he's petsitting your dormouse. He said that you'd be busy for the next few days?"

Will laughed nervously under the agent's suspicious stare. "Yeah... That's right." Yeah, busy fighting off a monster in another world. "Why do you ask, Agent McTiennan?"

Mr. Lair looked at the red haired teenager with the same look as his partner "Well, Will, we find that a bit... what's the word? Misleading? What I mean is that why would you let Matt look after your dormouse when you're obviously not that busy. I talked to your mom and she said you're either at home or out with you friends like any other normal teenager."

"And, besides, couldn't your mother take care of it?" Agent Medina spoke softer than the two men.

"Well, my mom works at Simultech when I'm at school." Will was more confident with a defense. "If it's at Matt's, it can be taken care of better since he works with animals. And when he goes to school, Mr. Olsen can handle it."

"That may be true, but I still don't buy it." Mr. Lair frowned at her. "I still think you girls know more than you're letting on about Elyon's disappearance."

"That's enough, Tom." Mrs. Lair's voice was assertive, yet quiet as she entered the kitchen. "The girls may or may not know, but there's no need to keep asking them about Elyon. They aren't going to tell you what they know if they don't want to."

"But, Anne--!" Tom started to protest, but his wife's silent gaze made him stop. "Alright. I'll quit asking them."

"Mom..." Irma breathed.

Anne looked around the group of six girls and smiled.

-in Irma's room-

"That was weird." Those were first words out of Irma's mouth when they got to her bedroom. "She's never done that before. Mom's usually all for Dad's investigations."

"Do you think she knows?" Elyon looked at the Guardians with a worried, longing expression. "Do you think she knows about you all being Guardians and about Metamoor?"

"I haven't told her anything. Have any of you?" Irma frowned at the other girls."

They shook their heads. "Why would we tell your mom when we haven't told ours?" Cornelia responded in her usual stubborn way. "Why do you ask, Elyon?"

"Well, it was her look." She said quietly. "The way she said it... I just sensed that she knows something and that was why she defended us."

Taranee shook her head and sighed, her beads shaking. "If Mrs. Lair knows, that's bad. Nobody can know what we after school and if she tells our parents, it's all over with."

"I agree with Taranee." Will spoke up. "If our parents found out - if anybody found out - they'd put a stop to it. We still have to stop Dalthar. We can't have anybody interfere."

"Will's right!" Irma stood up and threw her right hand in the air. "One for all and all for one! Who's with me?"

The others followed suit. "Defeat Dalthar!"

-a few minutes later-

As all but Irma left the Lair household, Will turned to Anne. "Thanks, Mrs. Lair, for-"

"It's alright, Will. A girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do, right?"

Anne closed the door. And then there's the fact that I know what you girls aren't telling. But it's understandable. I mean, Elyon was in another world for months at a time. Who would believe you?

Who else knows? Next chapter is where it gets interesting... Look forward to it!