AN: I will never ever own Thief Lord, Cornelia Funke has this right. Nor do I own Twilight, SM does. Twilight won't be included in this fic for a while, bare with me people! Also, no Mosca or Riccio, they left a LONG time ago and the story is over but they didn't get any help from Ida or Victor. Esther and Max have left and Barbarossa still owns his shop. Scipio's secret hasn't been reveled, yet.


Hornet and Prosper are walking around the maze of Venice. Believe it or not, they are lost. Sighing, Prosper leans against a wall and rubs his face.

"Well, I have no idea were we are." Hornet sits next to him and places her head on his shoulder.

"Maybe if we looked on a roof we could see were we are." She says slowly as the idea dawns on her. Prosper gets up and starts to climb a ladder. Pulling Hornet up, he sees a black figure in the distance. It isn't moving. "Over there Prop!" Hornet points to the Stella. He grabs her hand a makes her look at the dark, human figure. She gasps and quickly goes down the ladder and runs towards it. Prosper follows the suit.

When they get to the garbage corner, were the figure was, they see it is a girl. She is no older then 15 and has black hair with a purple tint. She is rather tall, but really skinny. But what really gets to them is the amount of cuts, bruises and scars that mark her body. They also can see a small outline of a tattoo under her short sleeve shirt. Her bottom half is covered in snow and up to her elbows is too. She is blue in colour and in a crocked star position.

"Who would leave her like this in the cold?" Hornet asks, indicating to the thin, green shot sleeve top that is hanging loosely on her frame and a pair of black, tight mini shorts. She has no shoes on.

"Someone who doesn't love her enough. Come one, we'll take her home." Prosper grabs one arm and slings it over his shoulder, Hornet does the same and they pick her up so the soles of her feet are touching the ground. "We should hold her higher." Prosper looks at Hornet.

"How can we?" She whines.

"Hold hands." They do so behind the girls back. "Now slide them so they are under her knees." Each holding on to one arm and each others hand, the girl is now is a ball shape. She whimpers once before remaining silent for the rest of the trip to the Stella.

"Who's that?" Bo asks as soon as Prosper and Hornet come through the door. "Why is she sleeping?" Prosper shakes his head.

"Bo, go and clear the spare mattress in the girls bathroom please." Hornet whispers. He nods and runs off. They slowly follow and softly put her on the empty bed mattress as she quietly moans.

"No, stop." She says so quietly that it would have been silent if Prosper and Hornet weren't right next to her. Hornet strokes her hair.

"I wonder what she has been through." Prosper whispers quietly to Hornet. They hear the door slam from the main entrance. They cover her up with a blanket and close the door behind them.

"Don't tell Scipio about her. Not even you Bo." Prosper says, while bobbing down to the boy who waited outside while the other two were placing the girl down. He leaps into Prosper's arms. "Promise me Bo."

"I promise I will no tell Scipio about the girl." The boy looks at his brother seriously. "Pinky promise." He holds out his pinkie. Prosper smiles and hooks his pinkie around Bo's.

"Pinkie promise." He nods.


"COOL SCIP!" Bo yells as Scipio passes him a golden goblet with rubies and emeralds on it, making a snake on the side. He smiles at him.

"We should be able to get a decent price out of Barbarossa. Prop." He nods to the dark haired boy. "You know what to do." He starts to pass out the other loot, which includes a small statue with pearls, diamonds, emeralds, rubies and sapphires all around it. "This is Aphrodite, the Greek Goddess-"

"Of love." A new voice finishes. It sounds worn out and rather low. It was a bit scratchy too. "She had several affairs and when Zeus, the leader of the Greek gods, found out, he punished her by making her marry the ugliest man of Mount Olympus, who also made weapons and Zeus's lighting bolts." She smiles at Bo. "She was the most beautiful girl in the world.

"Who are you?" Scipio's voice sneers. She raises her eyebrows at him.

"Ask your friends… um… Oh, yeah. Prosper and Hornet." She smiles at the two. "I could hear you, and I thank you." She bows her head in respect. When she looks up, she smiles softly at Scipio. "You must be the infamous Scipio. Pleasure." She holds out her hand. After a minute of looking at it, he takes it into his.

"Give us a minute please." She nods and slowly walks up the stairs. She grabs a book from Hornet's bed and listens to the show.

"What were you thinking?" Scipio hisses.

"Do you see what she is wearing Scipio? That's what we found her in, in the SNOW, Scipio. We couldn't leave her. We were all like her once. We got rid of the Conte, Victor and Prosper's and Bo's Aunt and Uncle. We can take care of this girl." Hornet growls back.

"You barely have enough food and money to let you go by. How do you expect to take care of this girl?" He sneers.

"We will MANAGE." She stares him down. HE doesn't even flinch.

"I will stop eating if it means we can keep her." Bo smiles and Scipio smiles.

"That won't be necessary because I am sure she is leaving soon. Right?" He yells to the girl.

"This girl can't go anywhere." She leans against the banister, her book shut and she looks down at Bo. "You don't need to stop eating Bo. I can carry my own weight." She smiles at Scipio. "Please Scipio? It would mean the world. Just until I can find my brother and friends." She pouts. Scipio sighs.

"Fine, not for long though." She smiles. "What is your name anyway?"

"Alexandra."