"Caterina, wait for me!"
Leo shouted frantically, his voice echoing through the sunny olive grove as his small leather shoes thudded quickly against the grass.
Caterina Ferrante didn't slow her pace. She adjusted the heavy, velvet-wrapped frame tucked securely under her arm and scaled the wooden ladder leading up to the high branches of the ancient oak tree.
"You have to hurry, Leo," Caterina called back down over her shoulder, stepping onto the treehouse platform. "The sun is already dipping behind the hills, and Papà's car will be at the gates any minute!"
Leo scrambled up the final rungs, his dark hair sticking out in three different directions, his cheeks flushed red.
He lunged toward the heavy cedar door of the treehouse playroom, only to find it locked shut by the bronze electronic keypad Gianni had quietly installed for Caterina's ninth birthday.
