Part One: Chapter Ten

Part One: The Witch

“Charlotte?” Ellen knocked delicately. “Charlotte, Mr. and Mrs. DiRagno are attending a dinner tonight.”

“What’s your point?” Chuck grumbled into her pillow half-asleep.

Ellen pushed open the door to peer in on the girl. “They want you to go with them to this dinner.”

“Tell them that I don’t want to go.”

Ellen sighed and sat at the end of Charlotte’s bed. “Charlotte, please stop being a child. Get out of bed.”

Chuck moaned flopping out of the creaking bed.

“You’ve been cooped up in here for two days. You’re not even hungry?”

She shrugged. “I kind of lost my appetite after my throat injury.” Yawning, she rubbed her eyes. She squinted at Ellen before resting her glasses on the bridge of her nose. “When is this dinner?”

“It’s at four. It’s one. You might want to start getting ready.”

 

Chuck adjusted her dress as she was squished between Mr. and Mrs. DiRagno on the car ride there.

The chauffeur tipped his hat to Mr. DiRagno and told Mrs. DiRagno that she looked divine in her awkward outdated floorlength gown.

Staring ahead to the point of nausea, Charlotte sat quietly.

When the vehicle halted, Charlotte lurched forward and gasped at the jerky motion of the car. Preferably, Chuck wanted to avoid automobiles even more than football games and banks, one of which her mother once worked at.

“Hurry up, Charlotte,” Mr. DiRagno commanded frigidly.

After exiting the car, Chuck pulled her dress down so it covered her knees. Though she wore tights, Mr. DiRagno still scolded his wife for allowing the girl to dress as such.

Mrs. DiRagno still told Charlotte that she looked charming in the pale green cocktail dress because it illuminated her eyes. Since it was strapless, Charlotte wore a cardigan to shield her arms from such cold temperatures.

Mr. DiRagno knocked stiffly at the door of the large estate.

A young man with a consistently furrowed brow answered. “Mr. DiRagno, you’re looking quite healthy these days. Mrs. DiRagno, lovely as ever. May I take your coats?”

Charlotte was cloaked behind Mr. and Mrs. DiRagno, slight of figure. She shed her own coat and handed it to the man in with the black vest that blended with his black pants.

“Well, you’re a new face.” He smiled at her. “A Wicca too.”

Chuck recoiled at his complete acknowledgement of her power. “So, what are you?” She queried measured.

With his sleek black hair and his sharp-toothed grin, he answered boldly, “What do I look like to you, my little witch?” His eyes were so fair a green they were almost yellow.

Had Robbie not loved the nature channel as much as he did, Charlotte could not have guessed, “A panther.”

“Whoa, ho, ho, you’re a clever little witch. Who taught you about shifters?”

Chuck shrugged. “Lucky guess. Excuse me.” Pushing past him, she looked to Mr. and Mrs. DiRagno who chatted over wine, to compare them to animals she knew. They bore no resemblance to any animal she’d ever seen. “There goes that possibility,” Chuck muttered under her breath as she studied further behaviors. After twenty minutes of watching them, she shook her head, “This is useless.”

“Can I get you a drink, miss?”

Charlotte bounced out of her haze. “What? No thanks.” She intently stared at each person frivolously exchanging pleasantries, except for one man in the corner. She carried herself slowly from the doorway to this elderly gentleman. “Hello.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Hm, hello.” His lack of hair exposed the top of his head as well as covered the sides. His white neatly trimmed goatee matched his hair and contrasted his classic black suit. His grey eyes held power, but they were much too dark and cold to be that of a witch.

“My name is Charlotte.” Small talk had never been one of her strengths. Her parents often laughed at her behavior at social events.

He nodded, “I know. You’re the orphan witch that Giovanni adopted.” He stared her up and down. “Cut to the chase, girl. I work with teenagers. I know when they want something from me,” he stated uninterestedly.

“Do you and Mr. DiRagno work in the same field?” Charlotte wondered.

The man shook his head. “You have seen how short tempered he is with you. He can hardly stand you. How could he possibly work in education?”

Charlotte cocked her head.  “How do you know him then?” She folded her hands politely in front of her with an encouraging smile.

“We used to work in a lab together a very long time ago. I know where you’re headed, Miss Montgomery. Let it be heard.”

“What are the DiRagno’s?” She asked word by word. Her voice quavered slightly.

“They are power hungry, influential, corrupt, and far more intelligent than an untrained Wicca in her freshman year.”

“I’m a sophomore. I skipped the second grade.”

He rolled his eyes. “As impressive as most may find that, Giovanni DiRagno still holds far more knowledge than you, Charlotte.”

“You still didn’t tell me what they are.”

“Perhaps you don’t need to know.”

She clenched her fists. “Everyone needs to stop telling me that. I can protect myself. I need to know what they want with me.”

“Well, how do you know they truly are not looking for the fulfillment a child brings?” He questioned sternly.

“They could’ve picked any foster kid they wanted and one closer to where they live. It’s not just a coincidence that my grandfather was the most powerful witch of his time. They don’t want a daughter. They want a witch.” She pressed forcefully. “So that leaves me to wonder, why do they want a witch?”

“You tell me.”

She sighed, “I know very little about my powers, even less about the world they come from. My grandfather was supposed to train me, but he… died unexpectedly.”

“Tell me how he died.”

She ground her teeth together. “It’s a bit gruesome. It was a random act of violence. Someone mistook his accent for Irish and they…please, don’t make me go on.” Tears welled in her eyes as she recalled his funeral.

“Well, that is absolute hogwash, isn’t it? Your parents did everything in their power to hide his world from you. It was deliberate violence. He was a witch. Witch hunters cut out his tongue, Miss Montgomery.” He paused for a moment.

“So, they want to cut out my tongue?”

Exhaling, he simply stated, “Search for the reasons witches are hunted. The car crash saved Giovanni and Annette the trouble of hiring a hunter to find a witch.”

Solemnly and hollow, she stated, “They’re going to kill me.”

Reviews

[Ardeth Lane]

I like that guy. Very to-the-point. I think it's nice that someone finally gave her some information though I'm not sure that it was...good information. But one has to wonder why Mr. DiRagno would be so peculiar about her clothes if he only wants her dead. I still think somethings odd about the Mrs too. She seems too okay with letting Chuck live a little. I can see her compromising and helping her get away one day. Oh, and for an observant guy, did Mr. DiRagno seriously not see Chuck talking to this guy? And like, do nothing about it? I think he wants her to talk to him so that she'll be afraid. I think it's a conspiracy. I also think I spelt conspiracy wrong..oh well. Good chapter :)