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And he’d wait to approach until after the stone-merchant paid her, this time He didn’t want to cost a fellow street rat any more meals

Evvy rose with the dawn, not because she wanted to, but because Mystery was perched on her collarbone, kneading busily, her thin, needlelike claws hooking into Evvy’s skin Once Mystery had been petted, the other six cats wanted affection, too At least they were not hungry this e heap of one of the Ibex Walk inns just as a cookmaid tossed out a bowl full of meat scraps Heibei the Lucky s there at the saetables The meat went to her seven coetables and added a three-day-old round of bread for a feast of her own

Since she ake, Evvy decided to visit Golden House as soon as it opened If that crazy boy thought to find her there, he’d probably coh Nahione by then, if Nahim let her She couldn’t think why he wouldn’t, but no one had ever accused her ofwhen Evvy arrived Instead he produced the polishing cloths and returned to working on his accounts She sighed inwardly in relief and picked up the first stone to catch her eye, one in a basket of turquoises She couldn’t have said why this stone called to her and not another, only that it would like polishing Once she finished it, she placed it in the bowl Nahih the turquoise basket for more such pieces

She was tired by the time the Golden House clock struck twelve Sadly she put down a basket of peach-coloredshe handled once her bones started to ache would turn gray and lifeless in her hands, its value and beauty gone She folded her cloths and draped the at Nahih the contents of his belt-purse He stopped and frowned, then smiled at Evvy She blinked Should she run? He’d never smiled that way before, as if his teeth hurt Still, she’d proo, and she hated to disappoint theerly she held out one hand, ready to bolt if he did anything odd

He dropped not one copper dav or two, but -- three, four, five copper davs into her paled his irl," Nahi important ached ferociously "I don’t knohat you do, but those stones you polish are the ones I sell first"

"Hehe cheated you," his neighbor called fro here, almost a year now, the two men had needled each other constantly "He wants to keep you working for him"

Evvy shook her head and slid the coins into a sed tunic Usually she just took the money and left, but five whole davs seeave Nahim a smile only a hair less odd than his own, then left before he tried to take his money back So confused was she that she didn’t see yesterday’s stranger ee frouard shout "Hey," but thought nothing of it

Only when she turned down a side corridor did she look back The jade-eyed boy was following her Where he’d coht he could track her, he was mistaken She’d been followed in Golden House before, by people anted to kno she got in and out without the door guards turning her away

Quick as a ap between two eiant rolls of carpet stacked against the wall She headed for theap between them, and vanished

When she started to run, Briar tossed out a vine of his power, letting it wrap around her She ht be out of view, but he could now follow her as he liked, without spooking her Squinting in the dies in Golden House, he found his vine and tracked it It slid between two very large rolls of carpet Only when he was right in front of the in the wall of the souk, one barely visible in the shadows

Briar shouldered through the gap and into the street outside Looking for his vine, he found the girl She was three blocks away, turning down a narrow side street

Briar followed, picking up speed in the less crowded road She led him a proper chase, around one turn and another, down the twisting ways that threaded through the city She ale hammam, or bathhouse, on the Street of Tent to see hisrates over the s as hand and foot holds, to reach the roof

Briar followed, embarrassed that he was not as quick to climb as she, and relieved to be above the streets Too often those narroith their small s, seamless front walls, and twists and turns ave hiood lead Trotting along ni laundry, baskets, children, wos She leaped the short walls that divided one house fro farther away from Briar

Neither realized others followed Two male Vipers kept pace in the street below; a female Viper pursued them on the rooftops, careful to stay two houses behind Briar