Not quite the same, but it popped into my mind when I saw your fragment:
"Well, his mind had a way of becoming... unfocused. That's the only way I can put it. I could feel the force of his spells bursting around me or rushing past me, and once or twice I came close to being destroyed. But his concentration wavered and never built up into the kind of power I knew he could wield. It's a harrowing feeling facing someone you know could kill you if he put his mind to it."
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2009-03-29 09:43 pm (UTC)"Well, his mind had a way of becoming... unfocused. That's the only way I can put it. I could feel the force of his spells bursting around me or rushing past me, and once or twice I came close to being destroyed. But his concentration wavered and never built up into the kind of power I knew he could wield. It's a harrowing feeling facing someone you know could kill you if he put his mind to it."
John Bellairs, _The_Face_In_The_Frost_