"—on. Come on. Come on."

Air brushed back the sleep that had claimed Josh, and then it all pushed upward. His eyes shot open. He didn't take time to examine his surroundings, instantly throwing himself sideways.

Water rushed out of his mouth and nose in a coughing fit. After what felt like dozens of minutes, the coughs passed, leaving Josh gasping for air. Sweet, sweet air. Not the metallic water he had inhaled last he remembered.

"Ugh," he groaned. He pressed his forehead against a dry patch of dirt. His throat may as well have been rubbed raw by sandpaper, and a hammer beat on the inside of his skull.

With each inhale, the memories flowed back to him. He squeezed his eyes together. "Please tell me Cale didn't just give me mouth-to-mouth."

Someone lay their head on his back and rubbed between his shoulders. Based on the long strands of hair tickling his neck, it wasn't Cale.

"It was me, you idiot. Don't scare me like that again," Mara murmured.

He chuckled, multiple remarks about getting mouth-to-mouth from her running through his mind, but before he could make one, his entire body jerked. His skin prickled uncomfortably, and he shuddered.

"Is that supposed to happen?" Aharon's voice asked.

"No, it's not." Cale's tone carried an edge to it. "What happened down there?"

Josh huffed a bitter laugh. "Nice to know you care that I'm alive."

Mara tensed, her hand stilling. Bracing himself, he twisted so he could sit facing Cale. His entire body ached from the movement. Mara placed a supportive hand on his shoulder, but her worried eyes turned toward Cale.

He and Aharon stood near the date tree furthest from the lake, but still closer than Josh and Mara. The young boy sat on the ground with his arms wrapped around his legs. Cale, on the other hand, stood with his arms crossed at Josh and brows drawn together.

"You didn't answer me," he said.

Josh winced as a sudden, harsh twitch summoned more pain. "Boomer channeled lightning through me."

"Caleb—" Mara started, but it didn't work.

"Do you have any idea how dangerous that is?" he snapped. "Your soul may have an affinity for an element, but that doesn't mean you're attuned to it yet. That could have killed you."

What air Josh had regained became useless. He was back under the water, breathing in something that suffocated him.

The fight may have been knocked out of him if Boomer's presence didn't brush across the bond. Guilt, disbelief, outright horror. Never before had Boomer felt so tiny.

They had tried to save everyone. Boomer didn't deserve to feel so horrible for that.

Josh shoved to his feet. Mara's hand applied a little resistance, but it wasn't enough. Even if the painful twitches continued to attack his body, he stood firm in front of Cale.

"What was I supposed to do, then?" Josh challenged. "You were coughing a lung out, Mara was surrounded, and we had no idea how many more of those stupid things were left in there."

Cale took a deep breath as if to calm himself, but fire burned in his eyes. "How about, I don't know, actually forming a plan? Talking to others first? Crazy ideas, I know, but surprisingly, they work."

Josh was almost impressed by the sheer amount of sarcasm dripping from Cale's words. Sadly, the increasing desire to punch the guy stomped out any possibility of positive emotions toward him.

"What other ideas did you have then, genius?" he asked. "Boomer said lightning works best against those things, and guess what?" He gestured toward himself, fighting off the wince at the twitch that seized his shoulder. "I'm the closest thing to a lightning user we have."

Mara opened her mouth to speak, but Cale held a hand up toward her. At first anger flashed across her face, but she must have read something in his expression that Josh couldn't because she pursed her lips and nodded.

"I could have closed the top of the oasis," Cale suggested.

Josh rolled his eyes. "As much as I appreciate all you've done, you can't just keep fixing things until you kill yourself."

Cale quirked an eyebrow. "But you almost getting yourself killed is better?"

Josh flinched. He averted his eyes. As much as he wanted to argue, to prove that the risk that made Boomer feel so tiny was worth it, he couldn't. Cale's point was too strong.

I'm sorry, Boomer whispered.

Josh pressed his lips against the fresh wave of anger. You didn't do anything wrong.

"If it was too much for me," Cale continued, "Mara could have frozen the top of the water. Maybe those monsters could have clawed their way out, but it would have given us time."

Josh mulled over Cale's words, slowly shaking his head. "We needed to do something fast," he said. "I made sure nobody got hurt more than they already were."

Cale's jaw twitched, the fire in his eyes growing. He took another deep breath. "Do you know what a team is?"

"Of course. It's a group of people who work together."

For some reason, that explanation seemed to irritate Cale more. "Brilliant. Now, tell me, has it occurred to you once that you are currently on a team?"

Josh glanced at Mara, as if she would have an answer to this weird line of questioning. It had nothing to do with him jumping in the lake. Her stare remained fixed on Cale, though.

He turned back to face Cale as well. "Yeah, I guess we would be a team."

Cale opened his mouth once, paused, then continued, his voice even despite its strain. "Do you ever plan on acting like it then?"

"What do you mean? I am," Josh retorted, but something about Cale's words tickled a memory. This situation was familiar.

"Really?" Cale gestured to the lake off to their left. "How is jumping into a situation alone, only relying on yourself to fix everything, being part of a team?"

"I was doing my best to protect everyone. I didn't know wanting to protect 'the team' was so horrible."

"That isn't what I'm saying." Cale's control snapped, his voice rising as fury colored his cheeks red. "Ever since you arrived, I've known that you were to join the team I would lead because Xander told me. Do you have any idea how infuriating that has been? You run into everything without a moment of thought of others. Charging ahead like only you can solve the issue isn't heroism—it is stupidity that endangers everyone."

Josh hadn't put much of a leash on his anger, but his entire body warmed with the effort to keep it down. He clenched his fist, knuckles aching to relieve the growing tension.

Don't hit him again, Boomer murmured.

He wouldn't, but man, did it feel tempting.

"I'm trying to protect—"

"You're fighting alone." Cale's tense body sagged, and the fight in his eyes sizzled to a mere ember. "I'm the team leader. It is my job to make sure my team stays alive. How am I supposed to do that when there is a kid who keeps trying to take everything on by himself?"

Josh's eyes widened, the new emotion in Cale's eyes dousing any fight left in him. Fear and worry mixed and sucker punched Josh in the jaw.

Cale glanced in Mara's direction, another silent exchange passing between them. She nodded. Sighing, Cale turned back to Josh.

"You're new. Most people bond when they're younger, so by the time they hit your age, they know this. I know you can do actual teamwork because you did well against the louse. But the ogre and Peter and now these frogs..."

Any protests Josh formed died before they reached his lips. He tore his gaze from Cale's to stare at the ground, fighting to ignore the way his stomach rolled.

He was back in the nurse's office what felt like forever ago, fighting to convince Hannah Darren was Josh's problem alone.

How well had that worked out?

Boomer had told him such a similar thing the night before, but he never thought for a moment how it may go past that.

Cale was right. Josh really was a kid, and he had proven time and time again how much he had to learn.

So do I, Boomer said. I'm the one who almost killed you...

Team, remember? Josh mentally nudged his dragon. Means we're both to blame for that idea.

"Hey." Mara stood. She cupped Josh's face in her hands and forced him to look into her eyes.

Despite the ache in his chest, his heart couldn't help a small stutter. Her eyes really were such a beautiful blue, especially when they shone with such brilliant determination.

"There is nothing wrong with wanting to protect people. You know that, right?" When he didn't answer, she smiled sadly and continued. "Josh, you shine so brightly with your desire to do the right thing. Maybe it makes you do, well, less than intelligent things, but you have the heart of a Paladin. We need to figure out how to direct that light."

She looked at him with so much hope and faith that he struggled not to kiss her, Aharon and Cale watching or not.

Aharon's sudden voice shocked him before he could. "Kind of like lightning, isn't it? A bright light with a destructive path that's hard to stop. Imagine being able to direct something like that."

The boy spoke with an innocent wonder, but his eyes told another story. No moonlight image flickered into life. Still, the eyes of the older Aharon stared out from the boyish face.

Josh shuddered.

"That does sound pretty cool," he said, stepping away from Mara but taking one of her hands in his. She squeezed and offered him a small grin.

Cale studied Aharon and shook his head. "Weird way to describe lightning if you ask me." Despite talking to Aharon, he shot Josh an expectant, almost exasperated, look.

Josh blinked in return.

"Anyway," Cale said with a sigh. "If we truly have that settled, we need to figure out what to do from here."

He continued talking, and Mara offered her own thoughts, but Josh could only half listen. Cale was right—Aharon had described it weirdly, and now the child kept watching Josh.

Lightning to him had always been about speed and zapping, not about its unwavering force or how bright it was. He supposed those went together in some way, but Aharon had looked so intentional in his words.

Josh, Boomer started, slow but hopeful. Was he talking about you?

Why would he— Josh trailed off. Young Aharon wouldn't, but the moonlight Aharon from the night before had been swift to guide him.

Aharon's chin dipped, barely visible. Perhaps nothing, or maybe even imagined, but Josh knew it wasn't.

The former Paladin was leading Josh to his element.

When he changed the thought process with everything he had learned, it started to click. He didn't just react fast—he committed, fully and absolutely. He was a force barreling onward, determined in his rightness. A lone streak willing to cut through the dark with his light.

Energy surged through the bond, but this time, Josh knew it didn't come from Boomer.

"Ouch!" Mara yanked her hand away and cradled it to her chest. "You shocked me," she said.

He had, and he could distantly feel Boomer's thrill, but Josh was numb.

"Why can't you just tell me why?" Josh grumbled, tired after another fruitless hour of meditation in Hisato's class.

His teacher opened a single eye. A small smirk played on his lips. "We used to do that," he admitted. "Way back when the world was less peaceful and our Paladins didn't have as long to learn. We have discovered that it proves better for you in the long run if you find out why you're connected to an element yourself."

Josh glared at a nearby leaf and flicked it. It floated in the air for a moment before falling back. "What if I can't figure it out?" he asked.

"Oh, you will," Hisato assured. He closed his eye again, content in the meditation that drove Josh crazy. "It may take time, but once you do, you'll be closer to Boomer and stronger than ever."

The memory played through Josh's mind, every word Hisato spoke dropping another weight into his gut.

Josh should be celebrating his first proper usage of lightning, even if only a small jolt that shocked Mara of all people, but he couldn't.

Because if Aharon would go as far as trying to guide Josh to getting stronger when he remained in his child form the rest of time, something horrible had to be waiting for them in the temple.

Fun Fact: Cale, Josh, and Mara were always meant to be a team with Cale as the leader.  I just did a horrible job at implementing it U^.^ I plan on making that clearer in the future drafts.  Will even use it to add some more (logical) tension between them earlier maybe??? 

Josh did maybe not the smartest move, but his heart was in the right place.  Which seems to be the case with him most of the time 😬😬 But finally Cale is trying to talk things out.  Hopefully this means things will go smoother for our three-man squad from here on out, but we shall have to see.  But also, lightning!  Just took some advice from the maybe creepy child, and it may mean bad news :D Who knows?

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!