The Descendent Protectors

Chapter Eighteen

"Noah, calm down!" I yelled, pushing him backwards with all my might. His fists were clenched by his sides and his eyes never left Xavier. "He saved me!" I defended Xavier.

Noah's eyes snapped down to my face, the rage slowly dissipating and confusion taking over. "What. The. Hell. Happened?" He demanded.

"I will tell you if you'd just back off." Instead of stepping back, his eyes remained studying my face, and I could see the rage burning behind them.

"Nora!" Ariel's voice came from down the hallway. I let my hands fall from Noah's shoulders and turned to greet her, her worried eyes inspecting my face and widening the second they fell on my forehead.

I spoke before she had the chance to open her mouth. "It's nothing. I'm fine," I mumbled, but Ariel shook her head fiercely, yanking me forward by the sweater into a crushing embrace. I hugged her back and patted her shoulders, reassuring her that I am, in fact, fine.

"Where have you been?! We've been calling your cell non-stop but you never answered and just this morning I found it by your tub. And Paul's been hurt! He's been hospitalized because apparently someone attacked him last night. We've been worried sick, Nora-" I interrupted Ariel's long rant by slamming my palm against her mouth to stop them from moving, knowing it's the only way I could silence her.

"Stop. I'll explain everything."

Her wild eyes searched my own, then slowly relaxed as she breathed in. She glanced down at my hand still covering her mouth and nodded, so I removed it and lowered it to my side. I realized then that we were still standing in the doorway so I turned to walk towards the living room, and on cue, the rest followed behind.

I sat down on the couch and Ariel took the seat next to me. I motioned for Xavier to take the seat across from us and he offered me a tight smile, moving to sit down. Noah, however, refused to - and stood all jittery in front of me with his foot impatiently and anxiously tapping against the floor.

"I fell asleep in the bathtub," I began to explain the filtered events of last night from the very beginning, fully aware that random details matter the most to my friends. "When I woke up and left to the room, I found that a burglar had broken in." Ariel gasped sharply, while Noah's eyebrows furrowed. "He threatened me but I fought him off and ran away. In the process, I stumbled to the floor and got slightly hurt," I pointed towards the small gash on my forehead. "But Xavier helped me sort it all out, so there's nothing to worry about now."

I refused to even glimpse Xavier's way, since I could practically feel the disapproval radiating off of his body. I had been thinking the entire ride back about what I'd tell them, and now that I was put on the spot I realized that I couldn't have my friends worrying about me any more than they already were. Plus the problem was sorted out and there was nothing to worry about, so why make it a big deal when we can all move forward and pretend it never happened?

"Oh, Nora.." Ariel's voice broke, and she wrapped her quivering arm around my shoulders and pulled me to a comforting embrace. I allowed her to do so, even though I was practically boiling now beneath the heavy sweater, and my conscience was yelling profanities at me for lying to the people who cared about me the most.

I blocked out the thoughts and buried my guilt deep into my unconscious.

Noah sighed and ran his fingers through his tousled hair. "Are you alright? He didn't hurt you, did he?" His voice came out in a low hiss.

I shook my head, reassuring him that I'm perfectly well - all thanks to Xavier, who speaking of, was burning daggers at me with his sharp gaze.

"Did they take you in for questioning?" Noah asked. I looked up at him in confusion, not fully understanding his question. He rolled his eyes, "to file a report against the burglar, Nora."