Declan's powerful presence washed over me and he directed all his attention towards me. How did they know how powerful I was, or would be? I wondered if it was because of Em, if she had reported back about my struggle to control my powers, or if it was from my parents after their shock of my complete change in physical appearance. I still thought that this was all a mistake. I acknowledge that I have powers, but I seriously doubted they would be powerful. Mum and dad had told me about the various sects around the world, including the one they had grown up in. They had told me about the classes to control their powers, but neither of them really struggled with them as they were so easy for them to control. I tried to imagine what it would've been like to grow up around the magic and the runes.

I did hold a slight bit of resentment towards my parents for not telling me. This was going to be a massive part of the rest of my life. The shock and the control issues would've been helped if I had even the slightest idea that this world existed around me. They never explained to me why they left the Sect. But to be fair to them, they didn't think I would even notice and I didn't blame them for trying to hide me from this world.

"What do you think Casey?" Declan looked at me expectantly. I realised I had been zoned out for quite a while. I think Declan picked up on this as he repeated himself.

"What do you think about coming back with us to the Sect so that you can be trained properly and control your powers?" That small smile was playing on his lips again, but this one felt slightly more forced. I don't think they were really giving me a choice. They were telling me that I had to leave my childhood home, in order to go with people I had never met before so they could train the powers that I had only found out about last week.

"Well this is all quite overwhelming to be honest. Can I have some time to think about it?" I looked at my mum and dad for guidance, they were both looking worried. Declan's smile dropped slightly, before it returned.

"Of course, as you said, you only discovered our world two weeks ago. I'm sure your parents have their own opinions, they will guide you to the right decision, I'm sure." Declan said. He sounded disappointed that I didn't immediately jump at the opportunity, but way too much had happened over the last couple of weeks. I needed to get my head straight.

After the Governors had left, I told my parents and Em that I was going on a run to clear my head. I went upstairs quickly to get changed, and just before I walked out of the door, my mum grabbed my arm and gently turned me towards her.

"I know you've got a lot to think about sweetie, just remember, we left the Sects for a reason," she told me.

"That doesn't help when I don't know what that reason is mum." I turned and started jogging away. I didn't mean to sound so harsh, but I couldn't help but feel slightly sorry for myself. I had to make decisions about a world that I didn't know which would affect me for the rest of my life. Not only that, but Declan had said that due to my power, it was more than likely that the decision I made would affect the people around me just as much.

"Ugh" I grunted. I hated this. I started running a little bit faster, trying to clear my head. I stopped paying attention to where I was going, and just let the path take me where it wanted to. The town slowly started transforming into trees around me. I sat myself down in a clearing and started doing my breathing exercises.

Breathe In.

Breathe Out.

Breathe In.

Breathe Out.

Once I felt myself calm down, I decided to see what I could do. Everyone kept mentioning how powerful I was, so why couldn't I give some magic a go? I kept my breathing calm, which was basically the main thing Em had been teaching me in the few lessons we had managed to have over the last few weeks, and closed my eyes. I reached my hands towards the ground and tried to imagine my power flowing through them.

Nothing happened for a minute. Then two.

Then I felt a warmth from inside my stomach, which slowly started to spread throughout my body. I felt the power reach my fingertips on the grass, and then a rush as the power moved from my body, to the ground around me. I opened my eyes and was astounded.

It appeared as though time had slowed down around me. The blossom off the trees was very slowly lowering itself down to the ground. The rain drops that had fallen earlier in the day while I was walking home had started hoovering off of the plants that they hand landed on and gently started swirling around me. The strong smell of the wet nature filled the air, an uplifting freshness that always made me feel better. The light dancing between the tree leaves made it look as though there were small fairies flying around and the flowers around me started opening themselves out of their buds, embracing the sunlight from above. The colours around me enhanced and the grass, which had previously started to look quite dry, had been invigorated with new life, turning a lush shade of green. I stared at everything around me in awe, not comprehending how this was all happening. How I was making all this happen. As I was looking round, I realised that it didn't just appear like everything had slowed down, it had actually slowed down!

I lost my concentration with the realisation that I had actually slowed time and before I knew it, everything reverted back to how it was before. That also meant that I was splashed in the face by all the water that was hovering around me.

"Of course something like that was going to happen." I muttered to myself. I stood up and shook myself off slightly. I felt much calmer than I had when I started running, almost as if all the pent up emotion inside me had been able to flow out and into the world around me. Until I heard something behind me. I panicked slightly before I saw who it was.

"That was amazing Casey! But you shouldn't be out here doing that alone, who knows who could've walked through here, or what could have happened if you lost control." Em walked up to me, but she looked happy for me nonetheless. "Let's try something smaller. Sit back down and focus on the flowers around you. Feel the water inside of them, how they react to the sun, and how they have planted their roots. Focus on making the flower grow."

I focused on her words. I sat myself down and cupped one of the flowers in my palm. I felt the same sensation as before, the warmth inside my stomach. I tried to control my power in a more direct way, so it didn't affect everything around me. My hands became warmer and the flower started to glow golden. I held the flower with two hands which was the only reason I saw the runes appear on the back of my hands. I watched as the runes became deeper and easier to see. They looked like lines, almost as if someone had artistically tried to write 'MPM', but I had no idea what it meant.

ᛚᛁᚠᛖ

"Life." Em breathed as she stared at the runes glimmering on my hands. "Casey, do you know what this means?"

"I didn't even know that I could do this, how could I know what it means?" I replied, feeling the frustration rise in me again. How was I supposed to know what any of this meant? I've known about all this for a couple of weeks now but no one had actually sat me down to tell me anything! And the frustration rose, the power flowing through my fingers started to flicker.

"Keep control Cas." Em murmured. I don't know why that made me feel angry, but it just pushed me. My hands stopped glowing and I dropped the flower.

"What if I don't want to? No one has asked me about how I feel about any of this. I just wanted to come out for a run and to leave this all behind! I wanted some peace and quiet!" I was breathing heavily by the end of my small rant. Em stood up.

"I know it's stressful. I'm sorry I followed you out here. I just wanted to check if you were ok. I shouldn't have pushed you." I immediately started to feel guilty.

"I'm sorry Em, I'm just tired and stressed. Do you mind heading back and I'll follow you soon after?" I looked at her apologetically.

"Yeah, no worries. I understand. Take your time." Em turned and walked out of the clearing. Now that I wasn't channelling my power into the forest, everything seemed dull. Life. That was what Em had said. I gave life to the forest, albeit slightly uncontrollably. And to the flower. It felt incredible.

I stood up to start making my way home, but suddenly felt overwhelmingly tired. I started taking a few steps back the way I came, before my legs gave way and I passed out on the ground.

By the time I came to again, the woods around me had grown dark. I must have been asleep for quite some time. I shook my head awake and started making my way back towards the house to the chaos which I was sure would greet me as I got there. As expected, mum was fairly worried by the time I got home.

"No text! No phone call! No idea where you had gone! You could've been dead in a ditch for all we knew! -" Mum kept going. It always amazes me how such a normally quiet woman could project her voice when she was mad.

"- We thought they had taken you!-" Mum continued shouting until Dad interrupted.

"Enough!" My dad rarely shouted, and I could see mum's face turning red. Partially from the remaining anger towards me for being home so late, and partly from the embarrassment of what she had let slip.

"Mum? What do you mean? Who would take me?" I stepped forward. What did they mean? Who would want to take me and why?

"She should know." My mother turned to my father. "I know we weren't going to tell her yet, but if she has to answer the council, she should know what she might be getting herself into." Mum pleaded. Dad sighed and ran his hand down his face.

"Cas, it's time we told you the whole truth. About the new world you're discovering, why you are so important, who the Midnight Council is, and why they will stop at nothing to get a hold of you."