My eyes flicked around the room we were in. The lights were turned down in here, casting everything in soft shadows. The giants hadn’t looted this area yet, so paintings still covered the walls, and several statues squatted out in the middle of the open floor. But none of them was big enough for us to hide behind, not even for the few seconds it would take to spring a surprise attack. I’d thought we might have to stand our ground by the doorway and risk going at the giants head-on after all, when I spotted a larger statue in the very back of the room.

“Over there.” I grabbed Owen’s arm and tugged him in that direction.

The statue was a life-size scene, some twenty feet wide, and featured a boy in a thatched hat and overalls sitting down and holding a pole as though he were fishing in the pond of white rock in front of him. Next to him, a girl wearing a gingham dress sat on a rope swing, her feet pulled back and her bare toes digging into the ground as if she were about to launch herself up into the air. A maple tree arched over the two of them, its branches stretching up and down, almost like it was reaching out to hug the boy and the girl, before the limbs ran together and formed the back of the piece. Well, it definitely wasn’t abstract art; Bria would approve.

I sprinted to the right. The statue was set flush with the wall, so we couldn’t hide behind it. I’d just turned back to Owen to tell him to get ready to fight after all, when I noticed a shadow on the statue that looked a little deeper and darker than the others. I stepped up onto the carved stone and peered around the girl on her swing. Sure enough, there was a slight gap between the tree trunk and the rock wall that formed the back of the statue. Not exactly the best or most creative hiding place, but it would have to do.

“Up here!” I hissed at Owen. “Hurry!”

He climbed up onto the statue, and we managed to squeeze in behind the tree. The space was small, barely big enough for one person, much less the two of us wedged in behind it. Owen had his back to the tree, while mine was pressed against the rock wall. I wasn’t completely hidden by the trunk like Owen was, and I just had to hope the giants wouldn’t notice half of my head, arm, and shoulder sticking out from behind the tree.

I shifted, trying to squirm even farther into the shadows, but the rocks snagged on my dress, and I couldn’t move without ripping the garment down the back and making even more noise.

“Here,” Owen whispered. “Let me.”