Rebecca clicked her tongue. "Choose your words carefully. If you're to ever monetize your abilities, you'll need to speak properly to your clients."
She nearly laughed. Even in the nineteenth century, people still told others off for swearing.
Not that "damned" or "hell" was really swearing any more in her time. But she'd just have to keep her f-bombs to herself, when she needed to vent some frustration. Otherwise she might give someone here a heart attack. "Sorry. As I'm sure you probably learned working with Evelina, things are different in the future."
The other female smiled. "Yes, they are. Still, part of Evelina's services included helping those from the distant past or future to better acclimate to our time. Just because she usually helped people find their fated ones or perfect match didn't mean it was always an easy adjustment. I actually envy females in the future, with all they can do. I'm one of the few who understands how restrictive it is for them in this time."
Since Yesenia could easily get sidetracked learning about past clients or more about how Evelina turned her abilities into a business, she brought the conversation back to her training. No matter what her future held, her first priority was helping her brother and sister. "Okay, so I have all this power. Can you please help me learn how to control it?"
Rebecca sat up a little taller. "Right, then let's get started. The first lesson is going to be how to stoke the fire of your magic yourself, and then how to douse it again."
"So it turns on and off like a tap?"
"That's a good way to phrase it. Taps were rather new back when I helped Evelina, but everyone understood fire."
It was bittersweet to be excited to learn something so basic. Her kind shutting her out back in the twenty-first century was going to keep holding her back, even now. Taking a deep breath, Yesenia silently vowed she'd show all those motherfuckers what she could do, no thanks to them. "Okay, so tell me all the steps needed to do as you say. No matter how frustrating or boring, I'll do whatever it takes."
Rebecca cleared her throat. "I'll hold you to that. Now, close your eyes." Once she did, Rebecca continued, "Mentally imagine going to the area where you felt the heat when I touched your hand earlier."
She imagined the space in the center of her chest. "Okay."
Rebecca continued, "Now, magic naturally wants to flow outward, and our bodies unconsciously allow it. However, a fae witch must find a way to keep it inside until they have enough to direct it as they see fit. Focus on trapping the energy inside you, constantly pushing it towards that central area."
Yesenia tried to do as Rebecca said. But she couldn't feel anything, nothing that could be magic, let alone could push it toward the center of her chest. It was as if she had no power whatsoever, like she'd imagined her whole life. "Nothing's happening. I can't do it."
Rebecca's firm yet gentle voice replied, "I suspect part of it is because you were told you didn't have any magic for so many years, and it affected your self-confidence. Ignore those voices and inner doubts. I showed you that you have power. You felt the burning inferno in your chest. Now it's time for you to believe you can do that on your own and show your magic who is in charge."
In other words, she had to whoop some magical power’s ass into doing her bidding.
Blocking out all the taunts, and sneers, and looks of pity Yesenia had endured over the years, she focused on that warm, toasty feeling from before. In order to achieve it, she needed to gather her power into one place.
She imagined taking a bulldozer-like vehicle through her fingers, her arms, and into the center of her chest, pushing anything it encountered into that central area. Once her visualization finished, a tiny spark flickered inside her chest.
Encouraged, Yesenia oh so slowly did the same tactic with the rest of her body. By the time a small ball of heat danced in the center of her chest, she felt as if she'd just run two marathons back-to-back and was about to collapse from exhaustion.
Still, she somehow found her voice. "I have something."
"Good. Now, you must let it go again and allow it to flow naturally through your body. Be careful not to imagine directing it into any one place, or you'll inadvertently trigger your abilities."
Even though she wanted to whine that it'd taken a hell of a lot of work to get even a tiny fraction of the heat Rebecca had showed her, she did as instructed, removing the invisible barriers.
Little impulses fanned out through her body and Yesenia did her very best not to wish it to go in any one direction.
Once she was back to feeling a sort of empty normal, if that was the right phrase, she finally opened her eyes. "It's done."
Rebecca glanced at the small watch pinned to her blouse. "Your first attempt only took twenty minutes. That's a very good sign."
Twenty minutes to contain that tiny spark of power? No wonder she was fucking exhausted now.
Still, she did her best to hide her frustration. Rebecca was only trying to help her, after all. "What should the time be eventually?"
Rebecca's dark brown eyes studied her a beat before answering, "Almost instantaneous. And whilst I see irritation on your face, you should be proud of how quickly you accomplished even a spark on your first try. I've known fae witches who took four hours to do what you just did for the first time."
If she'd had to do that exercise for four hours, Yesenia probably would've fainted. "Now what?"
"We'll do it at least once more, provided you have enough strength to manage it."
No matter how tired she felt, all it took was an image of her sister in Derek's cruel clutches to give her a second wind. "I can, and I will."
And so she went about repeating the exercise, hoping that if she completed her tasks quicker than most, then she would be able to fully tap into her magic sooner rather than later, and save her siblings before it was too late.