The crunch of dry leaves underfoot made me whip around, heart pounding in my chest. There he was, Beta Cillian, standing a mere two feet away, his face carved in that usual unreadable expression of his.

How long had he been lurking there?

"Long enough," he replied, a slight smirk playing on his lips as if he'd just read my mind.

Had I been talking to myself again? Fantastic.

“Yes, you were,” he replied, with that irritating knack of his for reading my mind, ...