Witch on a Witch Hunt (nanowrimo excerpt)

I've been working on my NanoWriMo novel in process, Witch on a Witch Hunt, and too busy to think about my Blog, so I'm posting a small excerpt. Critiques welcome.

They drove away in silence.  James driving and Jade deep in her own thoughts wondered how Chadak fit in and was startled by her thought.  Chadak.  Chadak?  Why had his name come to mind?  Bits and pieces of whispered conversations from her youth drifted unbidden to the surface of her mind. 

"Unnatural, they are - evil.  They play with life as if it has no meaning and she was playing with that dark child of hers."

"Shhhh, she'll hear."

"No, she sleeps.  She must leave here soon"

"But, she's so young, she's my baby, her father will be devastated.  Surely they are no threat."

"I have spoken, it is law, and you have known the day would come.  Jadeah has reached the age of reason.  It is time, and not a moment too soon."

"Yes, Nana.  When?"

"Soon.  soon.  She is strong and she bested him.  Would you risk her life to the ire of those without conscience?  No, - not yet.  It is too soon.  She is better at the School.  It is time."

"But Nana, you're strong, you're on the Council.  Why do you fear Morana and this boy of hers?"

"Fear? No, child.   I know her and knowing her and her kind, I prepare me and mine and protect them from the dark side.  That boy is but a child, but a child raised in the dark is destined to walk dark paths.  ‘As the twig is bent...'  Ask me no more.  To speak of evil feeds its power."

James's stared at the road and mulled over the interviews at the university.  This Kane wasn't really intimately known by anyone.  He was a loner.  He spurned social invitations.  None of his colleagues knew what his experiments were about.  They could only point to his published papers.  James would review those tonight.  He glanced aside at Jade sitting beside him.  A small crease above and between her eyes were the only signs that some deep thought disturbed her.  "What is it, Jade?"

"Hmm?  Oh, sorry, I was a million miles away.  Did you find anything out at the University?  How does research on nanotechnology fit in?  I reviewed all his papers.  The possibilities are endless if his theories are correct."