Chapter Two: Heart With No Feelings

Emma stood at the front door of her new neighbors. She reluctantly raised her hand to knock, then quickly brought it back down. She took a deep breath. This was a bad idea. She went to knock again, but before her hand could make contact with the wood, it swung open. In front of her stood a tall blonde woman, hair held in a ponytail. She held a little boy with jet black hair and the biggest smile she had ever seen by the hand.

"Hi," She said, giving a small wave.

The woman smiled, "You must be the Goodall's daughter."

Emma nodded, "Emma." She held out her hand to shake.

The woman took it. "Nice to meet you. I'm Taylor and this is Matt." Emma looked down at the small boy who his behind his mother's leg.

Emma smiled, "Hi Matt."

"Say hi Matty." Taylor told him. Matt waved. "I'm assuming your parents told you about babysitting Matt?" She asked.

"They did."

"I'm on my way to register him for school. He won't need babysitting for a week or two. We still need to get our schedules settled for work, but I would really appreciate the help."

Emma hoped she didn't regret the next words out of her mouth. "That's what I'm here for."

"Thank you so much." Taylor let out a huge sigh of relief. It was one less thing she had to worry about. Moving to a new town hadn't been her idea, especially with Matt having just adjusted to his previous school. But the look on her husbands face when he told her they'd be expanding, and they'd be able to help more people told her they were making the right decision.

"Again, I really do appreciate it." Taylor told her, closing the door behind her and walking to her car. Emma waved as she watched them leave. Once they were out of sight she began walking toward Gia's house. When she reached the house, Gia was already outside waiting for her.

"Hey. You're usually here before I'm out. Wake up late?" Gia questioned. Both girls started walking towards the school.

"Nope. New neighbors."

"You got new neighbors already?"

Emma nodded. "I'd thought people would wait a little longer to make sure the attacks had stopped for good." Gia said.

Emma shrugged. "Maybe it's because they work for law enforcement. They're used to facing the bad guys."

"Not these kinds of bad guys."

"They offered me a job."

"Really?" Gia looked at Emma questionably.

"As a babysitter."

Gia stopped walking. "Emma?" She frowned.

"I know. But he seems like a nice kid." She defended.

"That's what you said about the last one."

They were across the street from the school. Emma spotted Noah and Jake and when they saw her they waved. She turned to Gia, "Look I know, but it's too late to change my mind now. She looks like she really needs the help and I don't have the heart to tell her she needs to keep looking."

Gia sighed. "Fine. Let's go. The boys are waiting."

Noah had gone straight to the base after school. He knew that he was no longer a ranger, but the place had begun to feel like home.

"Have you been able to make contact with Orion yet?" he asked Tensou.

The sound of Tensou's wheels turning to face him filled the room. "No. No contact yet."

Since Orion had left, the team had wanted to make sure that he had landed safely. It had been a couple weeks and they had yet to hear any news from him.

"Keep trying. I'm sure we'll hear something soon."

Tensou returned back to his work, saying. "Yes. I'm sure he's okay."

Noah wanted to help Tensou find a way to communicate with Orion, but he hadn't realized how behind in his school work he was. He spent a few hours trying to catch up before a message popped up on his phone, distracting him. It was Sandy.

Ever since Jake first laid eyes on Gia, he had been crazy about her and Noah would always teaseed, wondering how he could crush on someone so hard having only seen them. It wasn't until Noah met Sandy that he knew exactly what Jake felt. Unlike Jake, Noah didn't act on his feelings. It was partially due to the fact that she was Troy's little sister but also because he knew the feeling wasn't mutual.

So, when he smiled at Sandy's name on the screen, he silently cursed. "Get a grip Noah."

Sandy had asked him if he was free later tonight. Immediately his cheeks started to flush. Was he free? Of course, he was but should he tell her that. What if she wanted to go out with him? Like on a date. He didn't give his brain enough time to convince him to say no, typing out a quick reply letting her know that he in fact was free.

Great. Can you come over? I think there's something wrong with Troy. He won't talk to me.

Noah's smile fell. He was concerned for his friend but also upset that he had thought this could mean something else.

I'll come by later. He quickly typed back.

He let his head fall onto the table. A loud thump passed through the room causing Tensou to cry out.

"Noah! Are you okay? What happened?"

"Any chance you know where to find a heart that can't feel?" his voice sounded muffled but Tensou could make out his words.

"In a monster. But why would you need one, Noah?"

Noah laughed. "Thanks, Tensou. I needed that."

"I thought you needed a heart. Is something wrong with yours? Should I tell the others?" Tensou began to move in circles around the base.

"Everything's fine. Don't worry. I'm heading out now. Let me know if you find anything." Noah said and starting to pack his stuff.

Sandy banged on the door, calling out to her brother. "Troy! Open the door."

"Go away, Sandy." He yelled back.

"If you don't open this door I'll break it down." Noah had told her that he would be coming by, but she still wanted to get her brother to tell her what was wrong.

"Sandy leave me alone."

"I'm not going anywhere. Not until you tell me what's wrong." He didn't say anything. She waited. Maybe he was considering telling her. Seconds became minutes and silence is all that came from the other side of the door. Then the unmistaken sound of branches breaking reached her ears.

"Troy! Troy!" She banged harder on the door. She ran to the window in her room and saw the shadow of someone disappearing in the trees.

She made a dash for her phone. She couldn't call her parents, they were out of town for a meeting. So, she called the only other person she trusted completely.