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Chapter 1

"Catch her!"

"C'mon, she's this way!"

The voices seemed to come at Kodi from all directions. She spun wildly, calculating what to do. The kids chasing her were big and lumbering, more suited to pounding her to a pulp than chasing her. Kodi could outrun them if she pushed herself.

Clutching her bundle to her chest, she sped down an alley and out onto a main road. Travelers arriving for the midsummer festivities clogged the streets with their horses and wagons. She had to swerve to avoid them, losing valuable speed.

Kodi cursed herself silently. What had possessed her to nick gold from the Thief Lord? She'd nearly been nabbed at his hideout. She would be nabbed here if she didn't figure something out quick. The Thief Lord had killed kids for less than she'd done. Sure she'd been hungry, but who wasn't? None of the other street kids had gone completely crazy. Kodi ignored the small part of her mind that told her she wasn't like other street kids. She couldn't think about that now.

Resigned to the inevitable, Kodi wasn't expecting to find a way out when she hit a dead end on Cart Street. Then her shirt caught on something- something that might save her. An ivy trellis stretched from the ground up on the house in front of her. She could climb the trellis and be safe on the roof. There was no way the delicate ivy and the slim beams that supported it would take her pursuers weight. The problem was that Kodi wasn't sure if it would take hers. Tentatively, she tied her bundle in place with her frayed sash and took a step toward the ivy.

Heavy footsteps thudded against the cobblestones. There was no time to think. With a muttered prayer to Lakik, god of luck and thieves, Kodi climbed up on the trellis and scurried out of reach, leaving her followers standing below.

For one agonizing moment, the plants tiny tendrils stretched and then firmed, holding her firmly in place. Kodi sighed with relief, and then stiffened. There was nothing left to stop her chasers from pulling down the trellis. The kids walked forward menacingly, as if they planned to do just that, but suddenly stopped. It was as if they could go no further. Finally they just walked away.

Kodi frowned. That was strange. Those kids weren't stupid. Fools didn't rise in the ranks of thieves to become the Thief Lord's personal guards. Kodi didn't store much faith in the gods, but it seemed like Lakik had answered her prayer after all.

Kodi continued to climb the trellis. It was hard going. The sharp ivy leaves tore holes in her already patched clothes and jabbed her mercilessly, leaving bloody tracks on her light brown skin. Her curly black hair swung in front of her face and blocked her view.

She was almost halfway to the roof when trouble hit. Her temples started pounding. "No!" she whispered miserably. She couldn't think of a worse time for this to happen. Soon she would hear a roaring in her ears, and bright light would eat at the corners of her vision. The plague of Kodi's existence was back, the reason she never joined a gang, the reason she had to scrape by on what she could steal for herself- it was coming back to haunt her again.

Kodi barely managed to tumble onto a rooftop before she lost consciousness completely.