Taking her time, she aimed a stream of fire toward the bowl . . . and hit the wall behind it with a radiant flash. The ball of fire burst into white-hot brilliance, then faded to a slow burn. The bowl still stood, completely unmolested.

Theo allowed his hands to drop away.

“Wow, I really suck at this, don’t I?” she asked, staring at the black spot on the wall.

Theo pushed a hand through his hair. “I think that’s a little harsh.”

It had been some variation of the same all day long. Anyone who came to their power so late in life should have trouble adjusting and controlling it, but Sarafina seemed . . . exceptional.

“Don’t try to sugarcoat it, Theo. I suck.”

He sighed. “Yeah, okay, you suck.”

She grimaced. “So no gold stars for me today?”

“You probably just need more practice. Look, your healing ability far surpasses anyone’s I’ve ever seen, and you have a lot of raw power. It’s learning to direct and control it. That’s your difficulty. You just need to train more.”

She raised an eyebrow and cocked her hip. “What about all that stuff you said about witches overtraining, and all we really had to do was tap into our seats and be one with the power?”

He studied her for a moment. “Yeah, well, in your case, you need to train.”

“Okay, let’s do it then. Let me try the candle thing again. I almost got that one.”

He pulled out a new taper and placed it in its holder. Then they stepped back away from it. She could light a candle close-up; that had been the first thing she’d learned to do. The objective here was to light the wick from a distance, something that took considerably more control.

She melted the entire thing, even the holder.

Together, they stared down at the bubbling mess. “That was even worse than the first time, wasn’t it?” she asked.

“Last time you only melted half the stick.”

She sighed. “I’m not giving up. Let’s keep going.”

And he wasn’t giving up on her, either.

They practiced for the rest of the day with varying degrees of success. Sarafina was tireless in her efforts to learn what he was trying to teach her, and little by little she improved.

At the end of the day, Theo pulled her back ten feet in front of the bowl once more. “Try it again.”

Sarafina closed her eyes and concentrated on drawing power and wielding it. An arc of white-hot fire raced from her and exploded in the bowl in a brilliance of sparks, setting off the sprinkler above it. Perfect shot.

She did a little victory dance and then turned to him with shining eyes. “Good?”

Theo stared at the water hitting the faraway fire and smiled. “Much better. I think you’re finally getting it.”