Chapter 8: The Meeting

I'm back with another chapter. Classes in school are over, and it's really starting to feel like summer. The weather is pretty muggy right now, the air conditioner is on, and it is raining outside- a perfect atmosphere to write in. Well, over in my neck of the woods, two of my three Regents are over with- Math A and Global History. Now I only have to worry about Chemistry on June 23, which I bet will be the hardest. Now, onto other things. I've this chapter in mind for a while, but I wanted to finish my first two Regents. Once again, thanks to all those who reviewed!

And in response to JessicaShade'sWiccaSide's question, I start school on September 9th, I believe.

One quick thing. I put in this chapter names from countries around the world, such as French and African names. I hope they all sound okay- I looked up some common first and last names from each country. Okay, here's the next chapter.

                                                                                                                           JadeMoon

Morgan's POV

(recap from last chapter)

            I sat on the toilet seat, waiting for the results of the test to appear. I was so nervous, I had practically backed out. But no. I couldn't now. I held my breath as the results began to appear.

            I shook the test slightly, and a minus sign appeared. Oh, thank God, I thought. I looked to the box that the test came in and realized with a start that I had bought a two pack. I glanced at the test in my hand and chucked it in the trash bin. I picked up the box and extracted the second pregnancy test. I wanted to be sure that I wasn't pregnant, so I decided to do the second test. I once again sat down on the toilet seat and once again held my breath, waiting for the results to appear.

Hunter's POV

            I sat in a conference room and spun my chair around a few times. I was bored out of my skull. Across the mahogany table, I saw Max Davis check his watch and cast a look toward the door. It opened, and six people filed in. They sat down quickly around the rectangular table and looked at Max warily. "Where were you?" he asked them.

            "We went out to lunch and stayed a little too long," a woman with long black hair said. "We missed the bus," she finished sheepishly. "Sorry."

            Max sighed and straightened his papers. "Very well." He cleared his throat and looked at me. Everyone turned to see what he was gazing at, and each gave me curious looks. "This is Hunter Niall," Max said. "I told you that he would be coming." The other people in the room nodded and gave me small smiles. "Hunter, these folks are some of the best agents in the New Charter. Let me introduce you." He pointed to the woman with the long black hair and said, "This is Blair Oldman. She is also a former member of the ICW, and the best American agent we have." I knew I had recognized Blair's accent- she must have been from the South.

            Max pointed to the woman next to her- she was young, probably around 30. "This is Veronique Aiton. Our best French agent. Do you see the pattern now?" I nodded- apparently Max had gathered the best agents from countries around the world. Veronique waved to me. I smiled back. Max gestured to the dark man on Veronique's right. "That's Matunde Yegon, from Kenya. And on the other side of the table, we have Ferdinand Knapp, from Germany." I gazed at the very handsome boy sitting on the right hand side of the table. He was even younger than me. Conscious of my gaze, Ferdinand turned to me.

            "I know what you're thinking," he said in his thick German accent. "I'm too young to be in the New Charter?"

            "No, not at all," I replied. "I was just wondering how old you are."

            Ferdinand smiled. "Eighteen. I graduated from school a year early. I went to a regular school with non-Wiccans." I smiled knowingly, having suddenly thought of Morgan.

            I saw a fleeting smile on Max's face that quickly disappeared the moment I looked back at him. He cleared his throat and said, "ight, moving on. This is Dharma Patil, from India. And, last but not least, Sakura Ishikawa, from Japan." I smiled at the two women and turned back to Max.

            "So, what are we all doing here?" I asked Max.

            "I have organized this meeting to bring down Amyranth. I have told you, Hunter, who is in charge of Amyranth, but I haven't told the others." He directed his attention to the other six people. "Iona MacEwan is now Amyranth's leader." A collective gasp filled the room, and some of the people muttered to themselves in their native language. Max ignored the whispering and continued. "We have reason to believe that they want Morgan Rowlands."

            I looked up so quickly that I caused a crick in my neck. "What?" I asked sharply. "Why wasn't I told this?"

            Max looked at me boldly. "I didn't want to get into it when I met with you earlier. I knew that you would react like this."

            "You're damn right I was going to react like this!" I yelled.

            "Whoa, why is this girl so important to you?" Blair asked me.

            "She's my fiancé," I whispered. Another collective gasp filled the room.

            "Max didn't tell us that," Veronique murmured to Matunde.

            "You know Morgan Rowlands?" Blair whispered. "Amazing. I always wanted to meet her." I cringed slightly. Morgan hated meeting people who would gaze at her in wonder and ask stupid questions about her power and her father. "I'm not that type of person," Blair said to me. She had read my mind.

            "Sorry," I said. "I'll have to introduce you to Morgan sometime." Blair grinned.

            "Let's get back to the matter at hand," Max said. "Now, some of you are going to try to infiltrate Amyranth. Not you, Hunter. They already know you, and who knows, they could use you to get to Morgan." I nodded. I had no intention of trying to infiltrate. "All of you know about how Ciaran named Morgan as his successor?" Everyone nodded.

            "As I said to Morgan yesterday, I am afraid that Amyranth will force her to take the position of high priestess or will try to take her power again," I added. Everyone turned to me with interest.

            "So she knows?" Max asked me.

            I nodded. "You knew that Morgan hadn't been told beforehand?" I asked him.

            "Yes. I talked to my secretary. She was supposed to tell Morgan, but she never did."

            "Well, I have no idea why she had to know. I can understand her needing to know right now, but she didn't have to know in the past. She was crushed when I told her."

            "I'm sorry," Max said. He sounded sincere. "Anyway, I am turning this into an organization, containing just the eight of us."

            "Shouldn't Morgan be involved?" I asked. After all, we are trying to protect her, right."

            Max met my stare. "Fine. Bring her to the next meeting." I sat back, satisfied. Max checked his watch. "That should be all we need to know for today. Meeting's over."

Morgan's POV

            I gulped and looked at the pregnancy test nervously. Come on, I thought. Just show me a minus sign. I gasped as a plus sign appeared on the test. "No," I whispered. "No, it was negative before. This can't be true." My eyes filled with tears, but I dashed them away hurriedly. I needed a doctor now. I walked to the telephone in my room and dialed the number of my gynecologist. I still used a regular doctor. Luckily, I could come down right away.

One hour later

            I sat in a chair in the doctor's office while my doctor, Dr. Driscoll, flipped through a file. She smiled at me and said, "Well, I have good news or bad news, depending on how you look at it. You're pregnant."

            I felt my face fall. "No," I said. "It can't be true."

            "Then it's bad news," Dr. Driscoll said sadly. "But it is true. I have some books and pamphlets you can use." As I reached for the books, I felt a slight stirring inside me. I could now tell that I was pregnant. I searched deeper and found out that it was a girl. I smiled slightly. "Yes," Dr. Driscoll said, "this isn't bad news at all! Are you married?"

            "I will be," I said. "Now I'll need to get married a bit sooner." Though I wanted to get married sooner, I was still shocked- how could I be pregnant?

            I left the doctor's office and felt tears slide down my face. I wasn't ready for this. Hunter wasn't ready for this. We're too young. Now my parents would know that I had had premarital sex.  Would they welcome a granddaughter this early on?

            I pulled my cell phone out of my pocket and dialed Hunter's number. My heart thumped noisily as I waited for him to pick up. "Hello, love." Hunter's gentle voice calmed my nerves a little.

            "Hi. I…I have something to say."

            "What is it?' Hunter asked, sounding worried.

            "Well, I-I don't know how to say this."

            "Just spit it out, Morgan."

            "I-I can't." I hung up the phone and covered my face with my hands to control my sobs. I climbed clumsily into my car and heard my phone ring. I knew it was Hunter, but I didn't want to talk to him now.

            Ii was amazing that I didn't crash my car on the way home. I could barely see the road through my tears. I pulled up in front of the building and practically tripped getting out of the car. I hurried home and collapsed onto the bed, sobbing.

AN: Hope you liked the update! I really got into the story towards the end. It took forever finding the names. Anyway, you know the drill- review!