Sorry, Sarque. Well, actually, I’m not sorry at all. I’d say it was nothing personal, but it really is.

Tricking people who want to hurt or manipulate me? Something I’m good at. Getting people to like and trust me? Something I’m bad at.

Whoever had designed the block of flats had obviously worked to a clear set of priorities. Unfortunately, while cost, size, and low-maintenance had made it to the top of the list, aesthetics, good escape routes, and shelter from gunfire hadn’t.

I remember reading a book where some pretentious writer claimed there’s no moment of enlightenment more terrible than when you realise your parents are simple human beings.

My magic senses danger by seeing the futures in which I’m hurt. As I see the futures in which I’m injured or killed, I change decisions that lead to them. But it’s painful. To avoid a future in which I die, I have to experience it. I’ve learned to shield myself from the psychic shock of those visions, taking only a hazy glance, enough to know hot to avoid that future and no more.

Different moves make different sounds – the steady tread of someone walking, the scrape of shifting feet, the patter of someone in a hurry – and with practice you can learn to filter them, picking out the ones that don’t fit in. It’s nothing to do with magic, just simple awareness, a primal skill that anyone can learn but which most people in the modern age have forgotten. But anyone who lives as a predator or a prey learns it fast.

Most people think combat’s about attacks and weapons but it’s not. It’s about movement and information.

Okay – I said – I’m going to tell you something important, so listen closely. It’s something most mages never learn at all. The most powerful weapon you have is your mind. Magic doesn’t mean anything unless you know the right way to use it.

Reluctantly, she promised to be there and not to try to run away. As soon as I was out of sight, Meredith tried to run away.

If this is how you guys run your ops,’ Kyle said, ‘I’m starting to seriously wonder how you’re still alive.