Ruby stepped closer. “Maddelyn. Try to relax. You need to stop feeding it more power.”

“I’m trying… I can’t!”

“Yes, you can. Remember the breathing techniques I taught you. Don’t panic. Relax. Reduce the size. Think small. Stop the flow.”

Nothing was happening. The rate that it was growing had slowed, so I concentrated on that.

Slower… Smaller… Smaller… Small.

It started to shrink and I breathed a sigh of relief. My hands were shaking, but I had to ignore that and keep thinking small.

Ruby reached her hands out to me. “That’s it. Keep going. You got this.”

The orb slowly faded to nothing and I felt my magic recede.

Ruby looked directly into my eyes. “This is why I’m teaching you control. You did well to listen.”

I sighed again. “That was intense.”

“Yes, but you will get it. It just takes time.”

Time. I shook my head. I just wanted to go home.

I must have looked worn out because Ruby announced that we would continue the light lesson next time. We spent the rest of the lesson practicing moving objects with magic instead.

─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───

At the end of the lesson, Ruby turned to us. “That’s it for today, but feel free to follow me to observe the advanced students doing their practical assessments. If you don’t want to watch, I’ll see you next lesson.”

I shot up out of my seat thinking that this was exactly what I needed right now. I had to know what was in store for me — like, what kind of things I could do using magic once I’d learnt the basics.

My excitement sank when I remembered that Blake was picking me up. I couldn’t believe I’d forgotten. I wanted to go with him, but I just had to watch the advanced students. Even if it was just for a little while.

I turned to Ruby. “I just have to do something real quick. I won’t be long.”

“Okay, but make it very quick if you want to watch. Kellie is first up.”

“Thank you!”

“You remember where the room is? It’s downstairs.”

“Yes.”

I rushed outside and found Blake standing near the front doors. He lifted his chin in greeting.

“Hi. Um, can I ask a favour?”

He frowned. “Yeah, sure.”

“Do you mind if I stay a little longer? The advanced students are doing a practical exam and I’d really like to watch what they do.”

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He looked at his watch. “It’s already six o’clock.”

“We don’t have to stay for the whole thing. Just the first one or two. Please? This is important to me. I need to know what sorts of things I’ll be learning. I don’t even know what kinds of things I can do with magic.”

He looked like he was going to protest, but then he smiled. “Okay.”

“Thank you!”

“But I think I should stay here.”

“Why?”

“Well, my ex is in there and I don’t want to upset her. She might fail her test.”

“Oh. Okay.” It was nice that he was being so considerate of her feelings. “I won’t stay long. I promise.”

I raced back inside and headed down to the basement area and was glad to see the door had been left open for me. This room was a lot bigger than ours and had different equipment set up on tables for working with crystals and gemstones and had targets on the wall and some floor mats in a fighting area. I could understand why this room was hidden downstairs away from the main areas. How would we explain all of this stuff when we were only supposed to be studying crystals?

Ruby told us to sit in seats along the wall and I found it hard to sit still. She spoke to Malcolm, then the students. All the students from the beginners’ class were here. So I wasn’t the only one who wanted to see what was possible.

It looked like they were ready to get started and my excitement ratcheted up a notch or five.

There was a table in front of us with a variety of wooden blocks, balls, coloured crystals, and a few different types of candles.

Ruby smiled. “Kellie, you may go first.”

Kellie stepped forward, looking nervous. She took a deep breath. With a flick of her wrist, a ball that was half the size of a soccer ball rolled off the table and onto the floor. She controlled where it bounced and stopped it in mid-air before floating it back to the table.

My heart raced as I took it all in.

She waved a hand and some of the blocks on the table stacked themselves into a tower as if she was getting ready to play a game of Jenga. They were so neat; it would take a lot of skill to get that right.

I was impressed and intimidated at the same time. Next, she placed a candle on the top of the tower and lit it.

It was quiet enough to hear the air conditioner.

Kellie lifted the candle and rearranged the blocks while keeping it in the air above them. The blocks formed a bridge with a pylon on each end. She placed the candle on one pylon while lifting another one onto the other and lighting it as it was flying to its destination.

There was a look of awe on most of the faces in the room. There were a few girls with expressions that looked like disdain and one girl in particular was glaring at Kellie with a look of hatred.

Kellie placed a number of coloured crystals along the length of the bridge, then caused the flames on the candles to flare up into tall, thin towers of flame, then go out.

Those flames made me nervous as I pictured the whole building burning to the ground, but I made myself take some deep breaths and relax. I shook my head. My imagination was too vivid.

Kellie lifted all the items and they whirled around each other like a slow-mo mini tornado, then placed them in their original places.

The concentration needed to keep that many objects in play at the same time would be so intense.

Everyone clapped when she was finished and Ruby’s face showed obvious pride. Kellie’s cheeks turned red and she stepped back into the crowd.

“Well done, Kellie. That showed a high level of control and had a high level of complexity.” Ruby looked around the room and smiled. “Felicity, you may go next.”

A pretty girl with long, black hair stepped forward. The same girl who was giving Kellie a death-glare. I instantly disliked her.

Felicity smiled as she stacked blocks into a tower, shorter and wider than Kellie’s. She waved a hand and two candles flew to the top of the tower and she lit them with a click of her fingers.

As she raised her arms and lifted the candles up high, I got the distinct impression that she was trying to outdo Kellie. I wasn’t even sure why I thought that; she’d only just started.

Felicity had a look of concentration on her face, but she had beads of sweat on her forehead. She was struggling to keep them both in the air. She said something under her breath and the candles steadied themselves. When she waved her hands, the flames from both candles whooshed upwards and reached the ceiling. There were gasps from the others and panic seized me. The images of the building on fire were raging through my brain again and I stepped back, ready to run.

Ruby stepped in, arms raised. “Enough!”

The flames disappeared in a blinding flash and Felicity’s eyes rolled back into her head as she collapsed like a rag doll.