"Don't tell me you're knackered out already, Starlight."

I lift my head to find Jai standing over me with a half-smile, his tall figure striking against the bright colored lights.

We came to the Blazer Tag Adventure Center in Austin a few hours ago for our first shootout session, and…it turned out to be way more intense than I expected.

I mean, as intense as you can make laser tag.

To be honest, though, I wasn't so much tired as I was uncertain with this whole arrangement. Not that Jai didn't make a good teacher – he had strong technique and knew how to strike a balance between stern and encouraging – but the transition between laser tag and real-life shootouts did not quite register to me.

Would this really help my survival skills? If not, was I just wasting Jai's time then?

I lower my head back down in self-doubt.

So lost in thought, I don't notice Jai sit beside me on the bench, setting aside his laser gun.

"I can get us something from the snack bar if ya like."

I look up again and notice there's no jest or teasing in Jai's eyes, just concern. My hands wring themselves, a nervous habit.

It'd be best to come clean.

"I'm not sure how this helps," I confess in a low tone. "Being here of all places with you, it's awesome, don't get me wrong – but at least with the shooting range I could understand."

I sweep a hand to gesture to the whole place.

"Not here. All the lights and colors and happy faces, even I know it won't be like this out…there."

Because it was going to be dangerous and gruesome and horrifying. Chances were I might see people die in front of me.

I might die.

Dear God, I might even have to kill.

The very thought makes my heart and throat clench and my breathing shallow.

Make no mistake, I know what I signed up for (or at least wanted to believe I did), but if none of this helps and I widd up dying regardless—

A long white tray laden with a cheeseburger, fries, and hotdog suddenly finds it way atop my lap and my thoughts screech to a halt.

"Eat."

Jai's voice, curt and to the point, draws my attention back to him. He's got his own tray of food: a burger, fries, and some nachos – and he's looking at me expectantly, arching his brows down at my food.

"I mean, unless ya prefer I have everything ta myself then…"

Despite myself, I instantly shield my tray with both arms the moment I see him start reaching for my food. I'm even pouting like a little kid right now, geez.

Jai simply smirks before he starts going to town on his own meal.

Even though there's not much appetite in me, I take my time chipping away at my food, thankful my brain has something else to focus on at the moment.

I'm halfway through my burger when Jai speaks up again.

"You don't have to go with her."

Whoa what? I shoot a look of disbelief at him. "Excuse me?"

He pauses his eating and meets my look with a simple side eye. "You. Don't have. To go with her. Not if you don't wanna."

"I-I never said that! There's just been some stuff on my mind is all."

"You mean the fact that you can't wrap your mind around how laser tag counts as combat training."

How does this man keep reading my mind? Am I that obvious?

Suddenly, Jai's hand is on my shoulder.

"Hey, I get it," he speaks in a firm yet gentle tone. "That's how I was my first time doing this, too."

Really? My face shifts into surprise and wonder.

"I'm not joking," Jai continues with a chuckle. "First time Nadine brought the idea up to me, I straight up thought she was fucking with me."

He catches the question in my eyes before I can even voice it aloud.

"Remember when I mentioned someone else who got sick of Asav's shit besides me? Yeah, some of the men who work under her used to be military. They're pretty fond of using places like this for combat practice. No surprise since laser tag's inspired by something similar from the U.S. Army."

Holy crap, is he serious?

Once again, I'm an open book judging by how Jai chuckles at my look of shock.

"Yep. MILES, they call it, and last I checked they still use it for training. Funny how certain things connect, innit?"

No kidding! I never would have guessed such a thing about this game!

But this fun fact reignited hope in me too. After all, if ex-soldiers could get use out of laser tag, then why not me?

Part of me still hesitates at the thought of entering a real gunfight, but then I remember Jai's words from way back about seizing opportunity.

And like that, I'm shoving away the doubt as easily as I am my food, so fast that Jai has to grab my wrist to make me slow down, although there's no mistaking his humored smile.

"Whoa, easy there, Starlight! Why so eager all of a sudden?"

I down my bite of burger and give him my first genuine smile since this session started.

"Cuz I'm raring to keep training! Now hurry up and finish your meal, slowpoke, so we can get back to it!"

XXX

"Noah, we're here."

I jolt off memory lane from Elena nudging me, and realize we've arrived at the nearest village.

The longstanding architecture and mountainside view are what capture my attention first the moment we enter the gates, although we don't waste time as we rush Nathan through the grassless paths between houses towards what I assume to be the infirmary for this place.

Once there, Tenzin, the man we found carrying Nathan, hands off our friend to the local healers, passing off a few words to them in Tibetan.

("He's going to be OK, right?") Elena asks Tenzin in his native language with a concerned face.

Thankfully Elena had the foresight to make us go through that Tibetan crash course with Jeff before we left America, so communication isn't an issue here.

"No need to worry," says a warm croaky voice laden with a noticeable German accent from behind us.

We all turn to see a much older white man with balding silver hair, adorned in similar clothing as the villagers, exit the same building Nathan just went in, accompanied by a little girl I assume to be Tenzin's daughter on account of her running into the man's arms.

He greets us with a smile as he approaches, only to pause for a moment before catching himself and clearing his throat. I don't realize it until later, but he'd been looking at my exposed necklace.

"Ahem, my apologies. I am Karl Schafer, one of the liaisons for Tenzin's village. I speak from experience when I say your friend is in very good hands. The village doctors will do everything in their power to ensure he makes a full recovery."

Hearing that seriously helps settle me and especially Elena down. We didn't need any more friends dying on us.

"I must say, though," the old man continues, ushering us to follow him. "Your friend was quite lucky Tenzin found him when he did. Someone in the village had reported seeing smoke and fires in the distance, so Tenzin went to investigate."

("An understatement,") Tenzin utters. ("If not for the wreckage, I would have thought you all mad for being out here dressed as you are.")

I rub my nape in embarrassment. ("Not like we had much choice.")

Schafer pats my shoulder in an assuring manner. "No point in lamenting what can't be helped. What matters is you are alive and well, with your friend soon to be the same. Now then, we were just about to start preparing dinner. You two seem like you could use a good meal."

Elena and I exchange an amused look. No argument there.

XXX

The next few days spent waiting for Nathan's recovery are interesting, to say the least.

Lucky for us, the villagers are a very welcoming bunch, offering us food, water, shelter, clothes more suited to the climate here.

I even got the OK from the leader to take photos of some places. What a guy!

Unfortunately, this place doesn't have signal so I can't call up Jai to vent to him about everything that's happened, but hey, that'll just make seeing him once I get back all the more relieving.

Besides, after the madness from before, it's nice to be someplace calm and safe.

The day after our arrival, though, I get an unexpected surprise.

Elena and I are just wrapping up breakfast with Tenzin's family and Schafer, when the latter, after thanking Tenzin for the meal, stands up with a faint grunt.

"Now then. Noah, there's something I've been meaning to discuss with you."

I blink in surprise at being singled out so suddenly. "Uh…sure. Does it need to be in private?"

Schafer shakes his head with a chuckle. "Not necessarily. After all, any friend of Sara Collins' grandson is welcome to be included."

Right away, my eyes widen, my thoughts going a mile a minute. I point at Schafer, unsure my ears heard him right. "You knew my grandmother?"

"Indeed! Her expedition had come into conflict with mine some decades back, she and I the only survivors."

A flash of shame crosses his face, but he quickly smothers it before continuing.

"She saved my life, even when she would have been well in her right not to. In doing so, she opened my eyes to a great many things. However, much like your friend, for a time we too seemed as though we'd be lost to the icy drifts. That was until one of the villagers so happened to come across us and brought us here."

Seems like a recurring theme around here, I muse as I lean forward with my elbows on the table, interested. "And our necklaces?"

("A token of goodwill,") Tenzin smoothly explains.

Schafer nods as he gestures to my necklace with one hand and then the one around his own neck with the other.

"They took us in, fed us, sheltered us – it was only fair we returned the favor – and in turn your grandmother and I did what we could to help keep what they had been guarding for generations safe. These necklaces, my boy, are proof of that vow."

I grip my own necklace, directly over my heart. My throat starts to constrict.

"Is that why her visits back home started petering off," I ask in a voice slowly growing thick. Elena's hand touches my shoulder in concern. "Why she eventually stopped coming back at all? Was what she and you keeping safe that important that she had to stay?"

Schafer sighs, shaking his head. "More than you can imagine. You see, this village has for ages guarded the entrance to Shambala, the location of the legendary Cintamani Stone, an item capable of great and terrible power."

Elena narrows her eyes. "How great and terrible a power are we talking?"

"Enough to put all the world at risk."

My hands start to wring each other.

When I speak, my voice comes out even thicker now, choked. "The last letter she ever sent, she said she couldn't afford to see us anymore, that we needed to let her go."

Schafer's face softens as he regards me again, a sad smile taking shape. "Because she could no longer bear the thought of leaving the safety of all to chance, let alone yours, not after she learned of Lazarevic's intentions."

Too much. This is too much.

I lower my head to hide the tears. I can feel Elena's hand on my back and Schafer's on my shoulder.

"Not a day went by that she didn't mention you," the latter goes on. "All the little adventures to faraway places you would dream up and tell her. She told me that if staying here would make the world safer for you, even just a little, then she would gladly remain here until the end of time."

That does it.

I could never handle crying in public. Too many bad memories of folks mocking me for it.

No one's mocking.

No one's laughing.

In fact, there's no sound except me crying as I hunch over to hide my face in my arms.

Someone's arms wrap around me, and I can't tell who, but…maybe that's OK.

Cuz sometimes you gotta just let everything out.

Right, grandma?