The Aegis of Noah Hart

26-What Friends Are For

"Noah? Noah?"

The redhead finds himself in a daze at the kitchen table. Noah's father waves a hand in front of his face making him drop the corn cobb in his hands.

"Huh? What is it, Dad?"

"Are you kidding? You've been holding that corn for five minutes now. Usually you inhale food like a vacuum, but this evening you've barely touched your plate."

Looking down at his plate, Noah indeed finds a dish loaded with pulled pork, mashed potatoes, and green beans though as he checks the others' dishes he notices their plates are almost empty. After a recent trip to the mall, Alex had returned with a longer table so that more than four people could sit comfortably together for meals. With a concerned looking father and Tychon staring at him on his right, he finds a more stoic duo of Kalista and Alexius, quietly eating their meals and avoiding eye contact with him all together.

"What aren't you telling me?"

David grumbles as he glares first at Noah then the others. Noah gives a nervous smile and shrugs but Alexius and Kalista continue to keep their eyes down only making it more obvious to his Mr. Hart. Narrowing his eyes on Tychon, the boy startles nearly failing out of his seat.

"Wait, don't look at me? I don't know anything."

"What happened? Kalista told me Noah has been acting strange, not talking, looking mad, not going to Velos. I should be happy about the last thing, but I know something's up."

"Kay!"

Noah glares at his friend only to watch her scrunch up her face as she stabs a green bean with her fork and plays with it. David looks around the room once more then turns back to Tychon.

"OK, Ty. Out with it? What happened?"

"Me? I told you. I don't know. I mean, he's been mad ever since he helped that guy with the scar."

"You mean the guy named Schar?"

"Yeah him. I don't know why he helped him though. Maybe he's mad at himself for helping a guy who did a bad thing."

David turns to Noah once more. The two frown and sit in silence for a moment then sigh.

"That could be it, huh. Maybe if he talked about, with his Dad," David continues as he focuses on Noah, "he might feel a little better."

Noah starts to defend himself when Tychon suddenly interjects.

"Of course, he may be mad at himself for letting the cop see his face."

Kay, Alex, and Noah all jump in their seats. David's eyes go wide as he turns back to Tychon.

"What cop?"

"The one at jail when he showed up and turned his flames off. He's the guy you know."

David turns back to Noah in disbelief.

"You shared your secret with Graham? He didn't tell me."

"Um, maybe because I told him not to tell you..."

"Oh," Tyhcon adds, "maybe it's because you not only showed your face to Graham but that Schar guy and his family."

"Shut up, Tychon!"

Noah does his best to utter the words between his teeth.

"His family? The Schar family knows who you are?"

David places a hand over his lips.

"Yeah, that was kind of weird. Not sure how that made Noah mad though."