We’d barely settled ourselves back against the branches when the slap-slap-slap-slap of footsteps sounded, getting louder and closer with every passing second. Deah heard them too, and we both leaned forward and peered through the screen of leaves.

A few seconds later, Blake ran into the square, with his guards right behind him. When he didn’t immediately see us, he stared across the square at the Draconi guard who had finally put his phone away and entered from the far side.

“Did you see them?” he called out. “Did they get past you?”

The guard shook his head, and Blake whipped around to face the other men.

“Search everywhere!” he barked out. “They have to be here somewhere. I want them found. Now!”

About half the guards spread out around the square, peering into first one storefront, then another, while a couple of men went down to the street, scanning the sidewalks to see if we’d left that way. But what worried me the most were the three men who hurried over to search around the fountain, less than twenty feet from where we were hiding.

If one of them had sight magic and looked up into the tree . . . if one of them had a hearing Talent and noticed our harsh, raspy breaths . . . well, we were caught, simple as that.

Deah knew it too and she gave me a worried look, but I shrugged back. We were stuck up here, and there was nothing either one of us could do to change that—

Cheep.

For a moment, Deah and I both froze at the sound, our eyes wide as we stared at each other. Then we both slowly turned our heads and looked up.

A large nest made out of twigs, leaves, grasses, and colorful candy bar wrappers was perched in the crook of a branch a few feet above my head. I’d been so focused on climbing up the tree that I hadn’t even thought to check whether any birds or monsters might be up here. But I didn’t need my sight magic to see the tree troll standing on the branch right beside its nest.

As far as monsters went, tree trolls were pretty harmless, since they were only about a foot tall with charcoal-gray fur, long, bushy tails, and black webbing under their arms that let them catch wind currents and hop from one branch or tree to another. But this troll’s emerald-green eyes were narrowed to slits, and it clutched a ripe blood persimmon in its long, curved black claws, ready to throw the fruit and drive us away from its nest. It could easily make enough noise to attract the attention of the Draconi guards still searching for us in the square below.

Cheep.

The troll chattered again, a little louder this time, although the noise sounded more questioning than angry. I stared at the creature and realized that three jagged scars slashed down its face. Relief flooded my body. I’d dealt with this particular troll before, so I knew that he was only protecting his family, hidden down in the bottom of the nest. Even better, I knew exactly what I could bribe him with.

Staring at the troll the whole time, I slowly reached into my shorts pocket and drew out a dark chocolate candy bar. It was all melted, mushed, and squished from the heat and all the running around I’d done, but the troll’s eyes still brightened at the sight of it. I put my finger to my lips, asking the troll to be quiet, then held the chocolate bar up over my head.

The troll darted down the branch, snatched the candy out of my hand, and disappeared back into the bottom of its nest, out of my line of sight. A few seconds later, a couple of soft, crinkle-crinkles sounded as the troll ripped into the candy bar and passed it out to the mama and baby in the nest.

After that . . . silence. The trolls weren’t going to make any noise to give us away.

Deah let out a sigh of relief. Yeah, me too—

“Hey! These doors are busted!” A shout drifted up from the square below.

Deah and I peered through the screen of leaves again. Blake raced over to the Razzle Dazzle, with all the guards hurrying to follow him, including the ones that had been close to our hiding spot. They didn’t waste any time wrenching the locked doors open and storming inside.

Deah moved, like she was going to start climbing back down the tree, but I stopped her.

“Wait,” I whispered. “It won’t take Blake long to realize that we’re not in there. We don’t have time to climb down and get out of the square before he comes back out.”

She gave me another worried look, but she nodded and eased back against the trunk again.

Sure enough, less than a minute later, Blake stormed back out of the shop. He looked around the square, his face twisting into an ugly sneer.

“Spread out!” he yelled. “Search every store in this miserable square! Find them! Now!”

The guards did as he asked, moving away from the Razzle Dazzle and running around the square, breaking windows, busting doors open, and searching every single storefront to make sure that we weren’t hiding inside.

It didn’t take the guards long to realize that we weren’t in any of the shops, and they all converged around the fountain, waiting for Blake to tell them where to look next. One of the men stepped into the shade of the blood persimmon tree and tipped his head back, peering up at the branches above his head.

Deah reached over and clutched my hand, and I squeezed hers back. We both had our free hands on our swords.

“What are you doing standing in the shade?” Blake yelled. “Get over here, and keep looking!”

The guard winced and hurried back over to the others, but Deah and I both kept our hands on our weapons.

The guards searched the square for the next ten minutes, storming into all the shops over and over again, but they didn’t find anything, and none of them came back over to the tree where Deah and I were hiding.

It quickly became apparent that they weren’t going to find us, and Blake’s face turned tomato red with anger.

“What is my dad even paying you for?” he yelled. “Idiots! You’re all a bunch of idiots!”

Blake huffed and puffed and stomped around for another minute before he and the guards finally left the square to keep searching for us. Deah started to climb down the second they were gone, but I grabbed her arm again.

“They could always double back,” I whispered. “Let’s give them a few minutes to go somewhere else.”

She nodded and we both held our positions, leaning back against the branches that supported us.

Truth be told, it was nice to just sit in the tree, rest, and catch my breath. The leaves provided some much-needed shade from the blazing sun, and a breeze danced through the branches, ruffling my ponytail and cooling the sweat on the back of my neck. The sticky-sweet scent of blood persimmons filled the air, creating a pleasant perfume.