Chapter 1

Italy

A girl sat up in her bed, she rolled off her small bed and examined herself in the mirror she normally would have smiled, but now was not the time. A body stirred in another bed, then sat up, it was her friend Rachel, she was a young American with pitch black hair. The girl silently put on her skirt and walked over to the bed.

"Where are you going Luna?" Rachel asked.

"Away from here." Luna said brushing the young girl's hair out of her face.

"You're leaving me?" Rachel asked quietly. Rachel was seven and had a walking problem.

"No of course not, when I find a place to stay I'll come back." Luna promised, even though in the dark she had her fingers and toes crossed. She couldn't ensure that Rachel would be safe there. "I love you." Luna said to the young girl, she smiled then fell back asleep.

Luna grabbed her packed bag, and ran down the old steps of the printing factory; she walked passed Marko's room. Next to the door was a coat rack on one of its pegs hung a black trench coat, Luna snatched it and put it on tying the belt around her waist and buttoning it up, she slung her bag over her shoulder. Opened the doors to the factory and ran off into the night.

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"Bo! Bo where are you?" Prosper shouted through the big house.

"Right here Prop." Bo said from behind him.

"Riccio, Mosca, Hornet!" Prosper shouted. Hornet came stumbling down the stairs and almost fell onto the hard stone, but Prosper caught her. They smiled at each other, but their moment was ruined by Riccio.

"Prosper and Hornet sitting in a tree K-I-S-S-L-M-N-O-P!" he sang mockingly. Mosca pushed him in the back a bit.

"Anyway, what's with all the yelling Prop? We could have sworn the Carabinieri were after us." Hornet said after regaining her balance.

"I can answer that. Victor and Scipio are coming down tonight, and Victor and myself are going out, Scipio will watch you." Ida said walking in from the kitchen.

"That's a laugh." Mosca said.

"Why can't I watch…?" Prosper started.

"You could, but Scipio wanted to see you all, and I thought it would be good if you could just be one of the gang in stead of the leader for once." Ida explained, she really did care, no matter what anybody said.

"I guess." Prosper smiled thank thankfully.

"Can we go down to Piazza San Marco?" Riccio asked looking at Ida and Prosper hopefully.

"I see no reason why not. All right, but be back here at about 5:30." Ida instructed.

The four walked proudly down the streets and into Piazza San Marco when they finally reached their destination they didn't know what to do, so they looked around at cart merchants. Hornet saw nothing to her appeal so she sat down on the edge of the fountain and watched Bo play with pidgins.

"Scusi, but you are sitting on my skirt." The girl next to her said.

"Sorry." Hornet said shifting her weight to let the girl take her skirt up.

"Grazie." The girl said than ran off into the crowds. Prosper came and sat down next to Hornet.

"Nothings, catching your eye?" he asked.

"No, you?" she asked.

"Only the boy playing with the pidgins, he's causing quite the attraction, I think I should stop him." Prosper stood up. But Hornets hand grabbed his arm.

"Oh let him be Prop. He likes it, and everyone else thinks he looks like a little angel." She said pulling him down to sit. "Besides, it's not like Esther is still looking for him anymore."

"I guess your right." Prosper sighed. Soon Bo came over.

"Prop, when do we have to be home again?" he asked.

"5:30, why?" Hornet asked then grabbed Prosper's arm and looked at the watch. "Prosper its 5:25!" She said.

"MOSCA, RICCIO!" Prosper screamed and the two boys were at his side in a flash.

"We gotta, go now." Prosper said. Then started running through the crowds, Hornet, Bo, Riccio, and Mosca behind him.

When they finally reached Ida's house it was almost 5:40, Ida and Victor were sitting on the patio laughing. They came up panting.

"There you are, I was starting to get worried." Ida said.

"Scipio's inside he's doing something, I can't remember what though." Victor said.

The small group trudged inside, Scipio was sitting at the table with sheets of paper in front of him, he was so absorbed in what he was doing he didn't even hear them come in.

"Well, this makes us feel special 'the silent treatment'." Hornet said with attitude. Scipio looked up.

"I'm sorry." he said then walked towards them, he didn't know really how to say hello, but Bo did; he ran up and gave Scipio a very big hug.

"So, Thief Lord, how've you been?" Hornet asked.

"Good and you all?" Scipio said.

"We're doing great with Ida!" Bo said.

"Mosca, Riccio?" Scipio asked.

"Earning our bread, occasionally stealing our wine." Mosca said slyly.

"That's the boys I taught well." Scipio said with a laugh. "Any word on Barbarossa, Prosper?"

"Nothing, except for the fact he got sent to a boarding school and told everyone to call him…" Prosper said and Hornet and Bo chimed in. "The Thief Lord."

"You didn't tell us that." Riccio said disappointedly.

"Oh, sorry." Prosper said.

"Well anyway, what should we do tonight?" Scipio said with the sparkle in his eyes he always wore when he used to play 'Thief Lord'.

"Sorry to interrupt, but Ida and I are leaving now." Victor said from the doorway.

"Boss, I don't think I'll be able to finish the Arabello's paperwork by tonight." Scipio said.

"Don't worry about it, they seem very forgiving." Victor said, and Ida came in to say good-bye. Scipio put his arm around her shoulders.

"Have her home by eleven o'clock." He said jokingly. "PM."

"I'll do my best." Victor said.

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It was two days after that girl had sat on her skirt, two days since she had seen a boy playing with pidgins, two days since a boy had called out two peculiar names, two days since she'd been in Piazza San Marco.

There was no place for her to go. Everywhere Luna turned she became more lost in the labyrinth that was Venice. She became hungry and ran to the back door of a restaurant, there was a half open door in the back, just like the restaurants in London, she snuck through it and found herself in a small kitchen. A chef was standing at the stove; on an island counter in the middle were seven baguettes, she snatched one. Stupidly she stood up, the chef at the stove turned around; Luna ducked out the door she had entered through, but the shout of: "Thief, theft, catch that girl." Was clearly heard.

All this for some bread? This is so stupid. Luna thought.