Who am I? The question thundered through my mind.

I needed to walk off my excess energy. Where could I go? How safe was I alone in this new place?

I stepped into the garden, feeling the coolness of the night air. The moon was a thin silver crescent in the sky, casting long shadows across the lawn. It was so dark. I was used to the city and street lights everywhere, but here it was dark and the number of stars I could see in the sky mesmerised me.

Roses glowed white in the moonlight. The breeze picked up, and I wrapped by summer cardigan around me. I felt a pull to be outside. It was more than just curiosity. It was a pull to find peace.

I could hear Marcus's voice in my head. "I just want to keep you safe, Evie," he'd say. I could hear the concern in his voice. "It's not safe for you to be out at night."

I shook my head. I didn't want to hear his voice. He'd broken my trust and my heart. I hadn't said it yet to him, but the relationship was over. I just needed to find the right time to tell him.

I wanted to be out in the garden. I wanted to walk out into the night. I wanted to feel the earth beneath my feet. I wanted to touch the leaves of the lavender bush as I walked past, releasing their scent.

The attraction became stronger as I walked towards the old oak tree at the end of the garden. Its branches seemed to reach out to me like ancient arms. As the wind blew, its leaves whispered secrets, and I longed to hear them.

I ran my hands over the rough bark of the tree. My hands tingled. It was a sensation unlike anything I had felt before, but I craved more of it. A sensation that connected me to something deep and powerful.

I leaned against the tree and closed my eyes. I straining to understand the whispering leaves. It was like I could feel the earth's heartbeat under my feet, beating through me, in time with the tree.

I was part of something bigger. Something I didn't understand, but felt familiar. "Home," was the word running through my mind. "I've come home." The uneasiness of homesickness and separation from Marcus faded.

I couldn't hear his voice in my head standing here. It was just me and the garden. The whispers in the dark brushed against my senses and drawing me in.

I sat down on the damp earth, my hands resting on the soil. It was cool, almost cold, but I could feel energy. The earth clung to my skin, the particles of soil filling the lines on my palms. I closed my eyes and breathed in the earth's smell.

Gideon's words came back to me. "There's more to you than you realise, Evie," he had said. His voice rumbled deep in his chest. I smiled.

Agnes crossed my mind. Her touch had been light on my arm, but her fingers seemed to radiate warmth, the same warmth and energy I could feel emanating from the soil. She healed a cut with a touch.

Could I be like them? Did I have some hidden power within? Why was I in Llyncroft if the ward only let the arcane in?

I focused on the sensation in my hands. The earth was cold and damp, but with an undercurrent of warm energy. I took slow, deep breaths, trying to connect with the nature around me. I listened to the leaves rustling in the wind and the distant hoot of an owl.

At first, it was like sitting in a garden after the rain. My trousers were wet and there was soil under my nails. Then I felt it, a pulse beneath my hands, as if the earth was responding to my touch. My heart raced in response.

I concentrated on the connection. It started hesitantly, like a fern uncurling, but it grew stronger with each breath. The earth seemed to know me, to welcome me as part of it.

As I sat still, the world around me glowed. Faint lines of light flowed between the plants. A glowing cobweb creating a matrix between every living thing, the roses, lavender and the oak all had their place. None was more important than the other.

The garden wasn't just a collection of plants and soil. It was a living, breathing thing, and I was part of it. I could see a line of energy emanating from me, connecting me to the spider's web of light.

I could feel every growth, every breeze through the leaves. Each root and bud were part of me.

Curious, I reached out to touch a line connected to a rosebush. My hand passed straight through the ethereal connection as if it didn't exist.

When I had affected the plants around me, I had been emotional.

I tried again, trying to communicate to the rose the beauty I saw in it and the love I felt for it. This time, there was a faint buzz when I reached out.

I wondered what would happen if I tried to pluck the line like a harp string. The rose swayed as if moved by the wind, but to my amazement, it moved towards the breeze, not away.

The question, who am I rolled through my mind again. I didn't know any more, and there was so much to learn. The only problem was while I love learning, I hate not being good enough. Now when I got things wrong, not only would it be my pride which would get hurt, but I could damage living things around me.

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