Chapter 4
The atmosphere in the small room was charged- after all, it wasn't often that this particular group was called together. For that matter, this would be the first such meeting that Huliana and Talia were to attend. Their confusion at being attended in this meeting was evident, as they kept shooting bewildered glances at each other as they entered the room.
They moved to the far end of the room and sat on the sumptuous leather couch next to Ash, their current favorite torture victim. He smiled at them in mock anxiety, moved as far towards the end of the couch as was possible, and turned his attention to the leader of Circle Daybreak.
Said leader was currently pacing the length of the library. As soon as it became clear that everyone was present, he paused in his pacing, opened his mouth as if to say something, closed it again, and resumed his pacing. He quieted only when Hannah reached out and placed a restraining hand on his arm.
"There has been a threat to my daughter's life."
The words hung in the air and it was a tossup as to what surprised the assembly more: the news of the threat or the unusual bluntness from the nearly lifetime politician.
"What, Mindy?" Huliana's clueless question echoed in the shocked silence. Talia hid her face in her hands in embarrassment, Ash snickered, and the rest of the room alternated between astonished looks and outright indignation. Talia hissed through her teeth "Relena" and returned her face to her hands while Huliana blushed in mortification.
After things settled back down, Thierry was all business, though when it came time for assignments, he did look rather dubiously at the two of them before he soled out the jobs.
"Rashel. As Relena still insists on going through with all of her meetings and campaign appearances despite the threat I want at least two new bodyguards hired and assigned to her day and night-she goes nowhere unaccompanied. I leave you in charge of security for my daughter-consider yourself off Wild Power duty. You will have to find new hires, though- I want everyone else to stay where they are." Rashel nodded, though Talia thought she looked rather paler than before.
"Aradia. Can you head up the team of witches investigating the origins of the threat?" At her nod he continued. "Good, then you will get the note for say… the first week. At which point you will trade with Huliana and Talia who will be using their backgrounds in forensic science to determine the origin using the envelope. I hope you two can at least handle that?" At this both shrunk even further in their seats and nodded.
"Ash. You're on information duty. Spread the rumors and gather them. We are in great need of the Mansion's biggest gossip." Ash nodded, though he looked a little miffed at being called a gossip. He was a "gatherer of intelligence" and a "distributor of misinformation."
Everyone in the room seemed to be waiting for something. Thierry glared at them, his turbulent emotions barely restrained, "Well, what are you waiting for?" he snapped, "Get to work."
And they did.
***
Ok, two short chapters. We're sorry! It was really more of a situation where I wrote one chapter, Jeslyn wrote the other, and I couldn't find it. I found it now! Yay!
Anyway, please please PLEASE be patient with us. We will have a longer chapter soon, and hope to make this less confusing!