Chapter 7

Scipio was sleeping in her bed when Alex got up to the box several minutes later.

"Ladro" she whispered under her breath, and debated whether she should attempt to stay up for a third night in a row. That idea was quickly abandoned, destroyed by good sense, and Alex slid quietly under the blanket next to the sleeping boy.

Unlike the night before, Scipio slept more soundly, only mumbling in his sleep once or twice. Alex slept soundly until the first rays of light came through the air vents of the old theater.


The next morning everyone was up earlier then usual, despite the fact that they had all gone to sleep much later then usual. They awaited the arrival of Ida, anxious to learn the story of the five million lire wooden wing that now sat on the edge of the stage in the Stella.

Ida arrived on time as promised, and as the rest of the group piled out of the Star-Palace, Scipio noticed that Alex was not following. "Aren't you coming?" he asked, going back into the main room. She stood in front of the wing, staring at it, clearly wrapped inside her own thoughts. She shook her head, as if to dispel the thoughts from her head physically.

"No, I've got other plans." she said, as she walked past him towards the door.

He followed, but instead of going outside she just ushered him out the door, where the rest of the group was waiting for their once-leader. Scipio stared as Alex leaned against the doorjamb, smiling at them.

"You have to come!" little angelic Bo cried out, running up to her and clinging to her jacket. She stroked his blonde hair softly and grinned.

"I have other business to attend to, besides if I go there will be no one to tell your story to." she watched as Bo backed away resignedly, straight into Prosper's protective hold.

"Mind your brother. Don't be too late, all of you, don't worry me to death." Riccio and Mosca nodded in respect of her motherly attitude, though Hornet was too busy conversing with Ida. Bo had already taken to skipping down the alley, while Prosper and Scipio shared similar hesitant looks. Despite their inability to comprehend Alex's reasoning for staying behind, the two boys and everyone else left. Alex kicked around inside of the old Star-Palace for a while, before quietly leaving for the heart of the city.

When they returned in the afternoon to find Alex waiting for them, there was quite a ruckus. Bo was spouting fabulous tales of a merry-go-round and unicorns and men who became boys and vice versa. While they had been away, Alex had laid out the dining table with tons of fruits and sweet breads, and so for the first time that day they sat down for a meal.

"We've got to release Sophia today, to contact the Conte." Mosca reminded the table.

Most of them nodded, some of them merely continued eating.

"We should release her somewhere high, to give her the best chance of finding her master." Mosca noted.

"Il campanile di San Marco." Alex suggested.

"Perfect!" Scipio said, smiling. They were all agreed on it.

"Now that Bo has regaled me with some very out-there stories of a magical Merry-go-Round, would somebody like to tell me about last nights avventura." Quickly, a chorus of voices rose from all sides of the table.


"...then we brought it home and woke you up. The end." Bo finished, with a definite look of pride.

"Incredibile" Alex said, giving Bo's shoulder an affectionate squeeze.

As they walked toward San Marco's square, Scipio observed both Bo and Alex casting long glances at the four golden horses that marked the entrance. He made no remark, but grinned to himself. At the campanile, Alex stopped.

"Scipio will wait down here, with me." she said, quickly shooting the look of wanted compliance at Scipio, and touching his arm slightly.

The others didn't seem to notice all that much, except Prosper who carried the woven basket. He looked back at the two before entering the campanile, and though Scipio tried not to he knew he had responded with a rather defiant face. What was so defiant about the action of staying behind with Alex, Scipio did not know.

"Why did you keep me back?" he asked, turning to Alex who was kicking a pebble around the cobbled stone.

She wrapped her arms tightly around herself, to keep out the cold.

"Company." she replied.

"Well then why didn't you go too? We could have both gone." he rolled his eyes.

"Don't like heights." she replied airily, staring hard at the ground and at the pebble.

There was a short, stunned silence from Scipio, as he watched her kick the pebble once more.

"Says the girl who climbed all the way to my window," he said. It was the first time he had talked about that night, first time he had made any mention of what she had seen, and Alex took much effort in trying to conceal her surprise. Scipio sensed her shock.

"Oh don't look at me like that!" he said, turning away from her. He jammed his hands into his pockets and hung his head.

"I wasn't giving any special look," she said, standing just a step behind him, with his back still turned to her.

Scipio sighed desperately.

"What can I do? Huh? I have no home." Sadness rose in his voice.

"You have the Star-Palace." Alex reminded, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"For how long? Five million lire will last, for a while. But I'm not a real thief, I can't keep them clothed and fed forever," he turned to her, head still hung. Alex put her slender hand under his chin, fingers up, to lift his eyes to the level of hers.

"You've done all you can. They can't live under your shadow forever, you know, and they shouldn't. Soon they'll come into their own, and things will be okay," her voice was quite soft, and Scipio was inclined to believe her.

"How do you know?" he voiced the bit of doubt he had.

"Things always are. Even when you think they're not." was all she replied.

But the words were comforting, to Scipio at least. Alex knew in her heart that he was right, there might not always be jobs, and what with no rich father to steal from, her own resources running out; what if the Stella were to be sold, and the group found out? But she tried to look confident, for Scipio.

There was so little he understood about the real world, yet so much pain he had already received from it. The bruise on his cheek had darkened and begun to fade already, but she could see that the memory had not.

Alex's thoughts were broken by the happy sounds of Bo as he came out of the campanile.

"She's gone! She's gone!" he cried out, running up to Alex, who immediately let her hand fall to her side.

"Is she? Well, then we've got the rest of the day to ourselves." she smiled, gathering Bo up in her arms, placing him on her hip and turning with Scipio to watch the rest of the group file out of the double wooden doors.


"Ladro"-"Thief"