Elchanan realized that Avi had probably never climbed a tree before. But they were in grave danger

Elchanan’s palms stung. Mud and little stones from the scramble out of the cave’s second  opening clung to his skin, but there was no time to stop to brush them off.

Follow the wide path until the fork. Then left. Narrow trail. He repeated Matt’s instructions to himself, over and over . Avi was running right behind him; Elchanan could hear the panting of his friend’s breath, the uneven pounding of his steps.

“Elchanan. Wait-a-minute,” Avi gasped. “This path — they’re gonna come after us. They’re faster than us. Stronger. We need to hide. Stefan… he knows we’re missing by now. They’ll be here soon, the path is too obvious.”

He was right. Elchanan had hoped they would get a head start, make it far enough before Ivan and Stefan realized what was happening, but the precious minutes he’d counted on had slipped away all too soon. Matt couldn’t hold him off for long; even now, Stefan could be hauling himself up out of the other entrance and coming after them.

He glanced around desperately. There was nowhere to hide; no convenient caves or rocks or clumps of bushes. Only trees, trees, and more trees, lining both sides of the path and stretching in every direction he could see….

Trees!

“We’ve got to climb a tree,” he said. “High up, where they can’t see us… let’s see — that one over there should be thick enough to hide us.” He tested the strength of a low-hanging bough by clambering up the trunk and grabbing hold, putting his weight on it. It held. “C’mon, let’s go!”

Avi was standing, frozen, at the foot of the tree. “I… I can’t climb that,” he said, voice barely audible. He looked terrified.

Somewhere in the back of Elchanan’s mind, he realized that Avi had probably never climbed a tree before. But they were in grave danger, and the danger was growing with every moment that passed!

He dropped to the ground again. “I’ll help you,” he said. “Please. We need to. They’re coming after us. You go up, I’ll be right here to catch you. Okay?”