Disclaimer: I do not own The Thief Lord or any of the characters. All rights go to Cornelia Funke.
They were all walking to the address that Victor had given them: Fondamenta Bollani 223. All of them were tense, not knowing what to expect, the huge house they were confronted with was defiantly not what they were expecting.
Prosper turned and looked at Hornet, she slightly nodded her head encouraging him to knock. He raised his hand and knocked three times against the massive oak door that fronted the house.
A girl in a white apron opened the door and looked at Prosper sternly. "We don't want to buy anything!" She exclaimed and began to shut the door.
"Wait!" Prosper shouted, "I'm here to see Scipio."
She looked at him curiously then opened the door once more and beckoned him inside. As soon as he slipped through she shut the door, leaving the others on the other side out in the cold of the Venetian winter.
Prosper looked around the huge foyer he found himself in. There was a fountain which looked to be made of gold in the centre of the room by a huge staircase that wound its way up the house to a second floor that looked as grand as the foyer Prosper was in.
There was a sound of thudding feet to Prospers left so he turned just in time to see Scipio enter the room from what looked like a huge library just off the foyer. He was dressed in the finest clothing that Prosper had ever seen. Scipio's face morphed from one of annoyance to one of pure fear as he saw that Prosper was waiting in the entrance to his home. Scipio turned as if to run back into the room but Prosper was having none of that.
"Scip, why?" That simple question made Scipio stop and look back as if surprised he had an opportunity to explain himself. He was obviously not expecting one.
"I wanted to help them but if they knew I was rich they wouldn't let me. So I lied." Scipio said in a small voice, still so obviously scared of rejection.
Prosper looked at him and saw him properly for the first time, he was just a scared little boy who wanted to help and then got in too deep.
"It's okay. I forgive you, I won't tell the others, I promise." Prosper said trying to comfort and stop Scipio looking so scared and forlorn.
"Really? You forgive me?" Scipio said as Prosper nodded, "Thank you!" he exclaimed as he ran and jumped on Prosper giving him a huge hug.
"No problem," he chuckled, "I best go tell the others it wasn't you. See you later!"
Prosper opened the door and walked back out into the cold venetian air. He saw the others all stood over by the canal side so he slowly walked over while shoving his hands in his pockets to try and retain some of the warmth they gained from being in Scipio's house.
"Well?" Riccio said as soon as he saw Prosper walk over, "Was it our Scipio?" The others all looked at him intently, all waiting anxiously for an answer.
Prosper hated lying but it was better if he lied, he owed Scipio that much for looking after him and Bo even though all they caused was trouble
"No, it was some other random rich kid who looked kind of like him. The snoop probably just mistook him for our Scip" Prosper said as they all set off back to the Star Palace.
"Good." Mosca said and the rest all nodded in agreement. Prosper just picked up Bo and carried on walking with the rest of them.
At least Scipio was safe from the judgement of the others, things were starting to look up.
AN: Thanks for reading, please review and tell me how to improve