“Come on, Dara. Snap out of it. This is practice. You need to be able to heal without even thinking about it. Please, just focus and do this for me. Please?”

“Fine” I mutter under my breath, running my hands through my hair. Jolie killed this poor little guy the least I could do is bring him back to life. Give him a fighting chance.

Fine, what did I have to lose anyway?

Jolie puts the rabbit down on the ground in front of us, and from the corner of my eye, I catch Declan watching us intensely.

I crouch down beside the rabbit, unable to look it in the eyes. Bringing my magic forth, I place my hands over his little body, telling the Emerald magic to heal the rabbit. My blue magic seeps from my hands and hovers over the rabbit's body. I wait for several minutes and nothing happens - his heart is still unmoving. Throwing my hands up in the air I curse.

Jolie kneels beside me, grabbing a hold of my hands giving them a squeeze.

Relax, Dara; go deep into your soul and tell your magic what you want it to do. If you don’t communicate, it won’t happen. Breath and focus. This rabbit’s life depends on you.

Her words hit hard.

I need to try again. Breathing in and out, I refocus myself, going within and transporting my magic out. Once it’s there, ready to use, I tell it to heal the rabbit.

Again, nothing happens. I continue practising, bringing the magic forth and willing it into the rabbit's belly. After ten minutes go by, and there is no response, I want to give up. Sweat starts to drip down my face. Blair’s face pops into my mind. I let him down, but I wouldn’t let that happen again.

I push everything within me into the little guy’s form. Visualising what I desperately want to happen, it takes a mere minute, then I’m shocked at what I am seeing - the still body is now beating up and down at a frequent pace. I glance up to see Declan coming closer to us and his face lights up, seeing the now alive rabbit. It slowly gets up and hops away into the forest.

I look up to see Jolie smiling brightly as she watches the rabbit disappear into the undergrowth. When she looks back at me, I can tell she’s proud, but I know we aren’t done yet, not by a long shot. I may have healed the rabbit, but it wasn’t instant and I needed to work on that.

Jolie says, “Good Dara, but not perfect. We need to work on this. You’ll have to practice until it becomes second nature.”

We continue practising magic until the sun begins to set. I’m utterly exhausted, but Jolie is still pushing me to continue.

“Come on, Dara. Focus. Clear your…”

As I lean over panting, I put my hand up stopping her mid-sentence. “I’m done. Please, I can’t even move. I’m exhausted.”

“Do you think you get to rest when we’re in battle?” she snaps. “No Dara, you don’t get to bloody rest. You always need to be ready to fight.”

“Jolie…”

“Just go home, Dara, but you need to get your shit together and push past this exhaustion. It’s time to pull your head out of your arse, snap out of everything else you have going on and focus on what’s important.”

She storms off in the opposite direction to home.

Declan comes to stand beside me. “Don’t worry about Jolie. She’ll go and cool off. She just wants you to be ready and to be the best and most powerful person in Silvia.

No pressure at all, I think to myself.

We walk back home in silence just enjoying each other’s company. As we walk in the door, I’m greeted with a delicious smell. I round the corner into the kitchen, wondering who’d be cooking dinner since Anna and Albert have moved out. I stop in my tracks when I see Harlan leaning over the stove, tasting the sauce. Wow, who would’ve thought the cocky bastard knew how to cook?

Oliver is also in the kitchen, placing plates on the table ready for dishing up. I catch sight of Blair sitting at the table. I walk over to him and sit next to him.

“Are you okay? Are you sure you should be out of bed?” I ask, worried sick that he’s pushing himself too far too fast.

He puts up his hand, stopping me. “Chill out, Dara. I’m fine. I’m fully recovered. When will you get that through your head?” he snaps.

I move back in my chair, confused. It’s not like Blair to get angry at me. I try to let it go, not wanting to make a fuss. But inside my heart is squeezed tight against my chest. I try to reassure myself that he didn’t mean anything by it. He’s just tired.

The rest of dinner is spent in complete silence. The guys notice my mood and decide to let it go. As soon as I’m finished, I wash my plate and run up the stairs. I don’t want to be around anyone right now. I lay down on my bed, and as soon as my head hits the pillow, I’m out.