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NEO

N eo was having a good day. A delightful day, in fact. After running into Zula—shockingly, without her hat or ukulele—he decided time was of the essence. Instead of returning to the village to warn his men, he took drastic action and did the unthinkable: strode right into the troll village and officially introduced himself.

One conversation led to another, but the trolls did not believe that the Blue-Feathered Bard was going to steal from them, which was how Neo found himself tied up and locked inside a tiny hut. Which was no bother. Give it time. The trolls would see that he was right. However, when he heard the music of the ukulele, he discovered the door was locked with troll magic. Try as he might, there was no way to escape. What was more embarrassing was that he should have known spells to combat troll magic, but had neglected his studies because of the peace treaty.

Suddenly, the door to the hut burst open and a body was hurled inside. The door slammed, the individual grunted, and Neo straightened up, heart thudding as he took in the prone form of the Blue-Feathered Bard. He quickly swallowed down the grin that threatened to fill his face. His plan had worked. The trolls had listened, and Zula was his prisoner to bring in.

She sat up with another grunt, peering around the hut. When those fierce brown eyes landed on him, he tried to keep his heart from stuttering out. She was furiously beautiful. Her hair had come undone and waved around her shoulders, her feathered hat was askew, and her mouth contorted as she glared at him. Most glaringly, her ukulele was missing.

“What are you doing here?” Zula demanded.

Ah. That. He shrugged, wishing he’d thought of an answer earlier. “I got lost again, wandered into troll territory, and they put me here until morning. What about you?”

She snorted, yanking at the rope that bound her wrists and ankles. “I’ll be off in a moment once I get these ropes undone. Tell me, what’s a farm boy like you doing getting on the bad side of trolls? They don’t lock people up for just any reason.”

Neo stiffened, insulted that she considered him a farm boy and troubled by the fact that his story was quickly unraveling.

“You tripped the magical barriers, didn’t you? How long have you been here?” Zula pointed at his bonds. “I left you hours ago. Tell me you’ve come up with a way to escape.”

“The door is locked with troll magic,” he sputtered.

She was interrogating him, ever so easily, with those dark eyes and the way she moved, fingers slipping into her boot, wiggling free a blade, then slicing ever so easily through the ropes, as though she’d done it before. All the attention was on him, and he needed to turn it back to her.

“You’re the Blue-Feathered Bard,” he said at last .

She paused just long enough to scrunch up her nose, lips turned down. “What gave it away?”

“Did you come to steal from the trolls? What did you take?”

Now he had her full attention. Zula stood and marched over to him, holding the knife dangerously close to his neck. She dropped her voice. “There’s something odd about you. I thought so when we bumped into each other in the jungle, and you’re uncannily familiar. I think I know why—you’re from a rival thief gang, aren’t you? After what I’m after, although I see you’re taking the easy route out, trying to steal directly from me instead of from the trolls. It’s happened before, you know, but I’m the best, the very best. No one steals from me, and no one captures me. So whoever you are, stay out of my way.”

He stared at her, slack-jawed. The story she assumed about him was much better than anything he could have put together. But it was also time to play his hand. He slipped his fingers out of the rope and snatched at the knife.

“Ha!” she yelled, skillfully rolling out of the way, but she let out a small whimper as her body weight landed on her left leg.

Escaping the last of his bonds, Neo took advantage of her pain to lunge at her. Knocking her flat on her back, he straddled her, pinning her down with his weight. “I can’t let you escape now,” he announced, stretching out the rope. No one escaped from his knots. “Where is the jeweled egg?”

Her eyes went wide, and suddenly Neo couldn’t breathe.

She’d punched him in the throat!

His body went slack as he wheezed for air. The world tilted as he slid off her and his ears burned as his head smashed against the floor. He had the presence of mind to kick out his feet and heard a thump, followed by a wail as she fell. Neo willed himself to move, his long arms flailing, fingernails catching bits of skin and fabric.

He felt bad, clawing at her like that, but repeated the words in his mind like a mantra.

She’s a thief. A terrible thief. She deserves this .

The knife he’d forgotten about snagged his shirt, ripping it. His vision cleared as his sheriff badge fell out and clattered on the dirt floor.

It looked like a jewel, lying there.

Neo lunged for it, but Zula was faster. Snatching it up, she flipped it over, and her expression changed.

Neo’s heart sank as a slow awareness came over her face—surprise, pain, fear, and then anger. Her brown eyes blazed as she glanced from the badge to him, and he felt like she’d punched him in the throat all over again.

Odd as it was, he wanted to apologize. Apologize to a thief, when he was the law and he was doing the right thing. Yet the haunted look on her face said otherwise.

He cleared his throat. “I’m Neo, the sheriff, and you, Zula, also known as the Blue-Feathered Bard, are under arrest for multiple crimes related to the crown—first and foremost, thievery.”

The badge came hurling at his face, followed by a handful of dirt that momentarily blinded him. By the time he finished spitting and swearing and clearing his vision, the Blue-Feathered Bard was gone.