Noah's Adventure - 11. S,S,S, S

I left Grandma and my uncles to talk, and as I descended the stairs I could hear Uncle Luca’s low voice drifting from the living room where he was talking to the boys. I walked over and quietly sat beside Shiloh, studying him.

“Why didn’t you tell me Caleb was your cousin?” I asked softly.

Shiloh stiffened.

“Wait—you saw Cousin Caleb?” Shane said, practically vibrating. “I forgot he lived in Bowie!”

“I could feel something between you two,” I continued. “Not romantic or anything, just… tension. Familiarity.”

“I never said he was my cousin,” Shiloh snapped, glaring at me. “And after what he did, I’ll never forgive him.”

“It was just a guess,” I said quickly. “Unless you were in some long-distance thing, nothing else made sense. And you didn’t deny it. Then Shane pretty much confirmed it.”

Shiloh’s jaw worked, but he didn’t argue.

“Shi, that’s not fair,” Shawn said gently. “Mom and Dad forgave him.”

I glanced at Luca. He was taking everything in, clearly debating whether to step in. He had to know what this was about… right?

“Silas,” I said quietly. “Shawn, Shane, Silas, and Shiloh. The quadruplets.”

The room went dead silent.

I’m pretty sure I heard old Mr. Jones down the street fart. That’s how quiet it got.

“How did you—” Shiloh’s voice cracked, eyes filling. “I never told you.”

“My family has… secrets,” I said. “When we touched at the store, I saw things. Your memories.”

“My memories?” Shiloh repeated, panicked. “So you just—what—invaded my privacy?” He shot to his feet and stormed toward the back door.

I started to go after him, but Uncle Matt caught me from behind.

“Patience, young grasshopper,” he chuckled. “Let Uncle Nathan handle this.” I watched as Nathan and Luca slipped outside after Shiloh.

“So,” Shane said, scooting closer with a grin that was pure chaos, “what precious secrets did you learn about me?”

“Just that you’ve got the smallest dick of the whole bunch,” I said deadpan.

Uncle Brody choked from the dining room. Grandpa chuckled without looking up from his laptop.

“Funny,” Shane muttered. “Real comedian.”

“I try,” I shrugged. “Everyone keeps telling me not to quit my day job.”

“I just hope this doesn’t screw up Shiloh’s progress,” Shawn said quietly. “Between Silas and then Mom and Dad—”

“Your parents too?” I asked, shocked. “They didn’t show up in what I saw.”

“Probably because he’s blocked them out,” Shane said bitterly. “Those bastards.”

“What did they do?” I asked, genuinely concerned. More than ever, I wanted to find out—if only to help him carry whatever he was carrying.

“That’s Shiloh’s story,” Uncle Matt said firmly. “No one—and I mean no one—gets to tell Noah but Shiloh.”

“Unless I touch him again and find out,” I muttered under my breath.

“What was that?” Grandma asked, appearing on the stairs with that knowing look. God. Did she know when I choked the chicken?

“No, Noah,” she said with a wink, “some things are private.”

I hadn’t even spoken out loud.

I looked out the back door. Shiloh sat on the lawn, talking animatedly with Nathan and Luca. I wished I could go out there and explain myself. It wasn’t like I meant to see anything. Stupid Tristan.

“I agree, sweetheart.” Grandma rummaged through a cabinet. “Tristan can be stupid and reckless.”

“Why now?” I asked, making her pause.

“No one ever knows why Tristan does what he does,” she said softly. “But there’s always a reason. I reached out to Grayson for help—with your mother, with the inheritance, and now with Tristan.”

“Are we ever actually going to meet this Tristan person?” Shane asked, climbing onto a bar stool.

“No, silly,” little Brody said without looking up from his coloring book. “He’s dead.”

“He’s dead?” Shawn and Shane chorused.

“Duh.” Brody sounded personally offended they didn’t know this.

“Is this like The Sixth Sense?” Shane asked. “All ‘I see dead people’?”

“No, dear,” Grandma said lightly. “That movie got it all wrong. We hear dead people. And see your innermost thoughts. Like how you’re still wondering if you’ve got the smallest dick.”

“Grandma!” I shouted. “What did you just say?”

Grandpa didn’t look even remotely surprised. He set his glasses down, amused.

“My wife with the ever-so-quick comebacks,” he said proudly.

“Mom, that was inappropriate on so many levels,” Uncle Matt groaned, echoed by Brody.

“My house, my rules,” Grandma declared, daring him to argue.

“I say worse things,” a voice commented behind me.

I didn’t need to turn around. I knew the voice instantly.

Tristan.

“Tristan,” Grandma said sharply into her coffee mug, “you better check yourself.”

She was arguing with thin air. No one else seemed to hear a thing.

The back door slid open. Shiloh came in with Nathan and Luca. He stood there, eyes down, shoulders tight. He looked like he wanted to sink into the floor.

“Dude—Mrs. Jacobs roasted Shane,” Shawn said gleefully, earning confused looks from Nathan and Luca.

Shiloh ignored him. He looked straight at me.

“Can we talk?” Shiloh said, voice thin and shaking.

Everyone shut up at once. Even Grandma froze mid-sip.

Shiloh wouldn’t meet my eyes.
His hands were trembling.
Luca tried to step toward him, but Shiloh shook his head hard, like one touch might break him.

“Noah…”
He swallowed.
I could see tears forming, but he kept blinking them back like he was fighting himself.

“This is about Silas,” he finally said.

The room seemed to suck in a breath.

A glass slid off the counter and shattered on the tile. Nobody had touched it.

Shiloh flinched but forced himself to keep going.

“Everyone keeps saying I should tell you.”
He exhaled shakily.
“So here it is.”

He finally looked up at me — eyes full of grief and fury and something like fear.

“Silas is dead. And Caleb is the one who let him die.”