"I was out walking when it suddenly started to glow, " my story began. Then it grew hot, so I let it go. At that point, it started to float." Leofstan narrowed his eyes, and I thickened the worry in my voice. "I tried to move away, but it launched at me, and this happened." I gestured to my arm and looked forlorn. "Your spell attacked me."

In a low tone, he growled, "I have cast this spell countless times. It has never once become unstable." I shrugged, trying to pull my arm back. He didn't oblige. Instead, he dug his fingers into my palm's tender skin and dragged me towards my house.

"Hey, stop that!" I protested as the floor crunched underfoot. "I can walk!"

His manners were quickly deteriorating. "We need to get out of sight. Open your door." Despite not wanting him inside my house again, he had a point. My neighbours were aggressive curtain-twitchers.

"Fine." I unlocked it with my free hand, and we both stumbled in. It had become a competition of who could hold up to whom during the confrontation. Maybe we could both take a nap.

Leofstan's nostrils began twitching as he noticed the smell, and I smirked slightly at the irony. "Happy?" My voice was sharp and sarcastic.

He pushed the door closed. "This might sting." Was all the warning I received as he pushed raw magic into my arm.

Sting was an understatement.

It burnt something akin to my arm being removed, and I hissed in protest. My magic rushed reflexively in defence, finding the invading tendrils. Inside my mind, I mentally grasped the alien power like a blanket instead and pulled, gathering folds to smother the wave into submission.

Leofstan's magic pushed harder, as did mine. But where his seemed like a well-directed arrow, mine erupted like the dancing flames of a forest fire. Raw energy scattered, turning from a blanket to an unstoppable tidal wave. Unable to focus on the single attack entry, it lunged at everything.

The floor beneath us began to crack, and the walls shook. Windows shattered, and glass flew out. The air whipped through the room, pulsating as furniture slid away from the force.

Leofstans dagger of magic suddenly retreated from me, his face drained of colour and eyes wide. "Celandine, pull back!" He screamed over the waves of my magic, now clutching at my hand to steady himself against the waves.

"That's what I'm trying to do!" I roared back, mentally trying to grab anything and managing nothing. The light collapsed from my ceiling in a crash, noise dwarfed by the thrum of power.

"Center yourself!" He cried.

"Center of what!"

That was the moment it dawned on both of us: I had no clue what I was doing.

Dropping my hand and staggering back, he found his footing, leaning forward, arms stretched towards me as if fighting a gale. "Where do you find your balance?" he hollered.

"That makes no sense!" I clenched my eyes tightly. The flow increased, the walls budged around me, and the sofa slammed out the patio doors.

"Think of a tree!" He yelled, trying to step forward.

Desperately, I pictured a tree.

"The creak of the branches." Yeah, they did that.

"The sway of the leaves." They looked very pretty on fire, like the ash in the clearing.

"The buds in spring." Meh, I could give or take.

"The summer flowers."

"Well," I put my hands on my hips, replying. "They just make me sneeze." A distant scatter of rubble escaped, and I opened my eyes, taking a deep breath.

He was sprawled butt first in the middle of the room, clothes torn and burns marring parts of his skin. Panting, he placed his head in his hands, massaging his forehead. He looked almost as bad as I did.

My tide of magic dissipated, the tendrils shimmying away.

"Category 37?" He murmured. Then, he began to half choke, half laugh into his hands. His shoulders were wracked with the movement. "Thirty. Seven." He said slightly louder. Whacking the floor with his palm like it was the funniest joke. "We almost died, and they labelled you as a thirty-seven."

The sound stopped abruptly.

Leofstan looked me dead in the eye, a smile falling from his face.

Almost disbelieving, he repeated, "You could've killed me."

Raising my eyebrows, I shot back, "You should be careful who you cast spells on." I retorted.

He fell silent for a while, looking worse than when he'd stood on my doorstep. "It was a seeking probe to find buried magic." He explained. "Works better when people don't know it's coming, as it can slip through and find foreign tendrils quicker."

"Well, it sure didn't feel like it." I rubbed at my arm.

"Of course it bloody didn't!" He shouted, stumbling to his feet. "It should've only taken a small burst of power, not an army load!" He pointed an accusatory finger. "When was the last time you were discharged?" He stepped closer. "What restraints are you using to stay in check?" He took another step. "How are you holding so much bloody power, category thirty-seven." There was a lot of stress on that number.

I was so busted.

Biting my lip and trying to grasp any plausible story suddenly became impossible. I sighed in frustration. So be it.

"I cheated." Well, that was a load off of my shoulders. "I walked straight into your special council test, gave it a tiny jab of magic and called it a day. Not a single person there checked otherwise."

He shook his head at me.

"But why?" He looked around. "You could have so much..." again with my house. Not that much was left.

"Exactly." I cut him off, wincing as I thought about the repairs. "There is nothing more I want."

He shook his head, running a hand through his hair, dislodging grit. "Well, what school did you train under? How did you avoid an apprenticeship? That sort of raw power can't be hidden."

"I didn't."

"But your parents...."

"Dead." Maybe. I couldn't recall them. It wasn't a trait of my species to look after their young anyway.

"Guardian?" Ha! There was so much hope in his voice.

A cold pit opened in my stomach. "No." Willow was the only person I'd told the truth to. When it came to growing up, there wasn't much I could remember apart from a few hazy memories. Each time I tried recalling anything, the edges seemed to blur. The first concrete memory I recalled was walking along a forest clearing, a stone cave in front of me. I was younger then but very much already mature.

It was like one day, I'd just appeared in the universe and started to live my life.

His mouth opened and closed a few times like one of my fish. "So, who taught you magic control?"

With a deep breath, I answered, "I paid a goblin to show me a few tricks once."

Leofstan put a hand on his stomach, looking as if his stomach contents were about to join us at any time.

"So that's how..." he muttered. "The gem..." he narrowed his eyes. "You were lying. You used completely wild magic, letting it interfere with the casting." A sheen of sweat grew on his brow. He knew his stuff.

My toes were suddenly really interesting.

"Loki knows," he swore. "What on earth have you done? We need to try to remove it immediately."

"You don't say." Holding my hand up to show him the gem again for added effect.

He stared at it momentarily, and then the space around him began distorting as he summoned magic. A twinge from the gem started, and a bead of sweat trickled over his cheek. Entirely unbidden, I felt the last reserves of my power flare in response. Leofstans eyes darted to me, and his power fizzled out. "It's impossible; I can't even look at it until your power is under con-" Suddenly, the man straightened like he'd been hit by lightning, his head swivelling to look off at one of the walls.

He stood motionless, staring off into the distance. Just as I was debating poking him with a stick, he spurred into movement. "I have to go." He blurted, bolting for the door.

Erm, okay. Fine. Whatever.

Pausing at the handle, he turned. "I'll be back as soon as I can. In the meantime, it's honestly a miracle you haven't already levelled half the country, so I'm explicitly forbidding any use of magic."

"Sure." I lied.

"I mean it; any hint of magic, I will arrest you."

"Only fair." I agreed.

"Do not aggravate the gem hex. I will teach you control as soon as I can." He said that last line more forcefully than any spell.

"No thanks."

He opened the door to leave. "It's not negotiable." Then, he slammed it behind him.

"Hey!" Wrenching the door open, I was about to argue, but my doorstep was empty. The git had gone, leaving me with a half-collapsed house, magic remnants everywhere, and he'd filled it with his scent again. Furthermore, he was coming back?

I didn't know whether to bother with more air freshener or move house.