Their Guardian

Chapter 8

They all started at her for a minute longer with Noella awkwardly staring back. She pulled the blanket over her head and attempted to hide herself in it, leaving only her eyes out. From their prospective it looked like a little cloak. It was something she did when she was uncomfortable, and right now was a prime example of that. 

It caused the two men into the kitchen to start chuckling under their breath while looking at the other two to see their reaction. The other two were both smiling softly and seemingly confused in how to approach this.

After the two boys were done laughing they returned their attention to her and the sweet sounding man found a special place in her heart. "Would you like some pasta? We just got done making it." 

"Yes please," Noella said, swiftly standing up while keeping the blanket wrapped around her as she waddled to the table. 

The two started laughing loudly as she plopped in an open seat, not even trying to hide their amusement. It didn't take long for a beautiful pasta dish to be placed in front of her, and the others had started filing in. She ended up sitting between the sweet sounding man and the woman and Noella found herself moving closer to the man. The woman scared her. 

"So, Noella, why did you come back to Moscow?" Booker said.

"One-how do you know my name? Two-reasons." She said trying to keep hostility out of her tone. She would have rather stayed away.

"We know you have had the dreams too..." The sweet man said softly, obviously trying not to spook her.

Noella looked down at her food which suddenly became very interesting and tried to become invisible. She was not comfortable with this level of attention or how much they knew about her.

"I didn't know what they were, but I certainly didn't think y'all were real." Noella spoke quietly, and she noticed the looks they shared. 

"We all went through the same thing, eventually we found each other. You're one of us now. I'm Joe, and this handsome man beside me is Nicky." He said smiling softly at her with a level of adoration she hadn't experienced in a while. 

Honestly, all of them looked ecstatic that she hadn't freaked out and bolted. At least she thought all of them are. The woman was exceptionally hard to read. 

"You're Book right? I heard him say your name while you were on the ground," She said looking up inquisitively, not trying to be mean at all.

"That's correct, and the woman who kicked your ass is Andy." He said, obviously trying to point out that she had lost too. Fair enough.

 Noella turned her attention to the woman. She was clearly waiting for her to say something back.

"You tapped out first, you know," Noella said without looking back at him. This caused chuckles to break out from the couple. Still, no one took their eyes off her. It was freaking Noella out, and she knew nothing about them, and they obviously knew a lot about her. It was quite unfair and more importantly it was freaking her out. 

She had been relatively calm up until this point and she was reaching her boiling point. All they were doing was placating her. She wanted to know what the fuck they wanted. 

"What is this? What do you want from me? Hell, why me? Where did these Dreams come from?" She said quickly, if they were going to do something they would have, meaning she had no clue what they want from her and it's finally making her panic. She's been on edge for the past few months making her more prone to a mild breakdown.

"Hey, hey, hey, calm down." Joe said putting a hand on her shoulder in an attempt to soothe her. 

Noella stood up and backed away from the table immediately, "Please don't touch me." She squeaked out still out of breath from the mild panic attack. Despite all these months she still hated being touched. It made her feel powerless again, and she would never, ever let herself be in that position again.