LIFE ON THE Sanctuary proved odd the following two weeks. Very few Paladins inhabited the castle, going in and out on surveillance. Josh never knew when he had his afternoon classes. Sometimes his trainers were out, sometimes they were resting, but other times they had Jodas shoot him a message to come to their classroom.

The days Josh didn't have training—and even some of the times he did—he made up for it by going into the forest and practicing. If he needed a partner, Boomer or Mara would offer.

Sparring with Boomer led to fewer lip battles, though.

Hisato started emphasizing Josh's light usage during class with instructions to meditate outside of them, and as much as he hated meditating, he did it every evening, Peter's jab about his limited abilities edging him to push further.

Are you going home tonight?

Josh twitched during his current attempt to meditate. "Later."

It's past midnight, Boomer pointed out. Your parents should be asleep now.

With a sigh, Josh opened his eyes. He extended his legs and stretched. "Mom hasn't been sleeping until late," he said.

Which was exactly why he was avoiding going home. His mom did her best not to make him feel guilty, but she couldn't help the small things, like how she couldn't sleep until she was near the point of passing out, or how she tried to question every person when they returned to the Sanctuary.

Josh hadn't lost faith in the rescue mission, but that couldn't make her pain stop hurting him. It was far worse when his dad showed any effects of Eli's kidnapping.

Yeah, he didn't want to go home yet.

Avoiding them probably doesn't make them feel any better.

"I'm not avoiding them, per se. Oh, don't give me that look," Josh said, and Boomer huffed. "I'm training. Ioana is trying to only use established teams for the search, but who knows if I'll be needed?"

Training and avoiding your parents, Boomer grumbled. I love having you here, but your parents have to miss you.

"I thought you wanted me to use lightning."

If you keep this up, I'm going to shoot lightning up your butt.

"You know, I really thought you wanted to hang out with me." When this earned Josh an exasperated glare, he grumbled and stood up. "Fine, fine. I'll head home."

Good. Boomer licked Josh's cheek despite his protests.

"You stupid giant lizard," Josh said as he scooped up his sword and shield from in front of a tree.

You tiny, elementless human.

Josh shot his dragon a glare as they started toward the Sanctum exit. Boomer looked straight ahead, his lips curled back into a proud grin.

Their walk through the forest proved silent. Boomer's presence chased away any sense of uneasy deja vu that the trip could bring. He had realized this the first night after Eli's kidnapping and followed Josh every time he left the Sanctum in the dark.

Wait. Boomer stepped in front of Josh to cut him off.

Josh peered around his body. They had almost reached the entrance back into the Sanctuary. He noticed the small spark of light a moment before Boomer spoke.

Jodas, are you opening the portal?

Relax, dragonling, Jodas growled back. I will not be bested again. A Paladin is simply returning for the night.

The Elder Dragon had probably thought he could never be bested before, but Josh heard the troubles of invoking Jodas' wrath. Ioana got sent a mile away from her group the other day.

Josh and Boomer proceeded forward in time to see Hisato step out of the portal.

"Thank you, Jodas," he said. "Could you—" Hisato paused when he spotted Josh and Boomer. "Nevermind. Just who I needed."

Frowning, Josh pointed at himself. "Me?"

Hisato nodded. "Were you headed to your quarters?"

"Yeah."

"Great. We can walk and talk then."

With a confused farewell to Boomer, Josh followed Hisato into the Sanctuary. Despite leaving him, Josh could still feel Boomer's presence, as curious about Hisato's reasons as he was.

"So, what did you need? Something about classes?" he asked.

"A new point of interest has popped up. Ioana is having me take you, Mara, and Cale to watch over it." Josh jolted at the news, but Hisato continued speaking, running a hand through his already disheveled hair. "If any more spots have energy surges, we will have to break up groups."

Josh's mind wheeled. He would be able to do more in the rescue besides sit around at the Sanctuary. Surveillance couldn't be fun, but it was something. No more sitting on the sidelines while others fixed the mess.

"Elisa already informed Cale and Mara. We will meet by Jodas at noon. Understood?" Hisato asked.

"Yes," Josh replied.

They lapsed into silence as they walked to the living quarters. Joshopened and closed his mouth a few times, but he finally pursed his lipstogether. During class, he could keep his questions down easily. Now, tiredfrom the lateness and the hours of training, it proved more difficult.

"Just say what you want to say," Hisato said, a small smile in his voice.

Josh glanced down at his hands and frowned. "You can't... You can't just tell me how to use my element, right?"

Hisato chuckled. "I'm surprised it has taken you this long to ask me, honestly. But, sadly, no, I cannot. Knowing and understanding are two very different things," he explained. "You need to understand why you're connected to your element by understanding yourself. Which can take years."

He added the last part hesitantly, an almost apologetic tone underlying his words. Josh deflated. Of course. If it was that simple, Hisato would have told him by now.

"That sucks. I thought it would make me more useful on the field."

"You aren't wrong," Hisato admitted. "It is better to have access to your element, and normally you wouldn't be sent on a big assignment until then. But surveillance missions aren't dangerous."

His last mission shouldn't have been dangerous either, but Josh kept that to himself.

Am I going to have to curl around you and not let you leave? Boomer grumbled.

I'll be fine. What's the worst that can happen?

I don't know, but you'll find a way to make it happen.

Okay, that's not entirely unfair, Josh said.

He and Hisato separated when they reached the hallways to the living quarters. His parents had gone to sleep, or at least they didn't come out of their bedroom as he crept toward his room.

He paused and stared at the door adjacent to his. Swallowing past the lump in his throat, he placed his hand on door. An empty room lay on the other side. No small body curled up on the covers, snoring as he awaited school the next day.

Tomorrow. Tomorrow he would be out there, helping with the rescue. Dragging his hand away, Josh walked into his own room. He flipped on the lamp by his bed and opened the third book in the Mystical Mysteries series. Eli's teacher said he needed to read up to that book while out "sick."

Not that he would need to.

Sinking back into bed, Josh began to read.

Josh's eyes weighed heavy, his body only held upright by the knowledge of why he was in the Sanctum rather than napping after his restless night. Even lunch had done little to wake him up.

Mara stood to his right, closer to him than she was to Cale, who stood on the other side of her. Josh easily could have taken her hand, but he tried to do that less around Cale. His constant glares caused Mara to squirm.

They also made Josh want to punch him in the face, but that wasn't as important.

If he tried that now, Cale could parry with a blade. He wore two at his waist. Josh had his own sword strapped to his back with his shield. Mara's bow rested on her shoulder while daggers remained hidden in her thigh sheathes.

With their weapons ready and backpacks of material lying in a pile by Jodas, they were ready. At least, they would be when Hisato showed up.

"Hey, guys." As if summoned by Josh's impatience, Hisato walked into the Sanctum. "Sorry for the wait. Our position will be a bit far from the spot of interest, so I thought I should grab some binoculars."

"Too far even for our enhanced eyesight? How open is this place?" Cale asked.

Hisato adjusted his backpack and indicated for them to grab theirs. While they did, he said, "The closest decent cover to Castlerigg Stone Circle is a small group of trees around three hundred feet away. During the day, we will be fine. At night though... The help could be useful."

"Makes sense," Cale admitted, slinging his pack onto his shoulder.

Josh lolled his head toward Mara. "Where are we going?" He knew that Ioana, Akachi, and Hisato had gone to the pyramids, and Cale's parents went to Area 51—apparently a place full of realm breaches—so he expected all areas of interest to be well known. The only stone place he knew about was Stonehenge.

"Castlerigg Stone Circle is in Keswick—in England," she amended at his confused look. "England has a lot of stone circles. Stonehenge is the most famous, but I believe Castlerigg is popular as well."

Not popular enough for Josh to have heard about it, but at least his Stonehenge thoughts hadn't been too far off.

"Well, Jodas, I believe we are all ready," Hisato said.

With a rumble in his chest, Jodas closed his eyes. He summoned the portal moments later.

"Thank you very much." Hisato bowed his head.

Jodas replied with a small dip of his own.

Well, at least Jodas likes one person, Josh said. See you when I get back, Boomer.

Don't get attacked this time.

Josh rolled his eyes. Yes, because I planned for that last time.

Hisato stepped through the portal first, then Cale, Josh, and Mara followed. The portal spat them out in a grouping of trees. It couldn't be too thick because Josh caught a hint of the outside both ways.

They went to the left and stopped behind enough trees that they had cover but also a clear view of the open grassy land in front of them. A circle of large grey stones provided the only break in green until the small line of trees at the other end of the field.

"So that's the stone circle?" Josh asked.

"Yes," Mara replied.

"And what do we do now?"

"Now," Hisato said, taking a seat against a tree, "we watch."

Fun Fact: Fun fact about dragonling I guess, because man, I am struggling with this chapter's fun fact xD I actually have a discord server that used to be for all Wattpaders and then became mostly for a close friend group that is called Dragonling.  Also, dragonling is, like, the equivalent of an adolescent, with a couple other stages coming before that.

It seems Josh isn't having the best time coping with everything :/ Good thing he has Boomer there for him.  Josh may just need that lightning up his butt to get sense in him though.  Or maybe being out on the field will help.  Out on the field where I'm sure nothing will go wrong :) 

Let me know your thoughts on the chapter down below, and if you enjoyed it, don't forget to vote and comment! I also have a discord open to anyone who wants to join, and we have a section there to discuss the book :D It's in my bio if you'd like to join!