Disclaimer- I hope you all know I do not own The Thief Lord. Also, I learned something very pleasing. Fanfiction is not illegal. Sweet!

I will update this story once a week from now on. I'll probably post on Saturdays and Sundays. Also, I know in the last chapter I just sort of made Casey a character at random but she will be important to the end of the story, and she won't show up again until then.

Unpleasant Surprises

Angelina dumped the latest batch of money she acquired into the empty large paper cup she had found. She couldn't have more than twenty Euros, not including the emergency money she was keeping, but she wasn't planning to steel more money, not then. The steeling never felt good, even if it was entirely necessary. She'd been skipping meals, but she was okay. She wasn't torturing herself to live off less food.

Being alone wasn't killing her off, either, although she did get bored without other people around. And who knew that fighting for your life would give you so much extra time? Steel, eat, sleep, and… what else was there? Often times she would wait outside the shops and watch the people go by.

One of these times, a woman fainted in front of her. Angelina ran to the woman, and so did a man. Angelina shook her shoulder. She wasn't waking up. Her chest still rose and fell, meaning she wasn't dead. Angelina tried to prop her head up, and felt something liquid. A small amount of blood was staining the woman's hair. She must have scraped her head on the ground when she fell.

The man with her pulled out his phone. He said something in a language Angelina figured was German, and dialed a number. A few more people were asking what had happened.

The woman woke and came to her senses. "What happened?" she asked.

"You fainted," Angelina answered.

Another woman shoed the gathered people away. "Nothing to see here, go back to your own business," she said, also leaving. The surrounding people parted, except for Angelina.

"Signora, what's your name?" Angelina asked.

The woman blinked her eyes. "Ida Spavento."

"You should go to the hospital," Angelina told her.

"Nonsense, I'm fine," Signora Spavento told her. She put one hand to the back of her head.

"You hit it when you fell," Angelina explained. "But really, Signora, you should get someone to get you. At least to make sure you get home okay. Do you have a husband?"

"No. But I suppose I should call someone." She pulled out her cell phone and dialed. Someone must have picked up. She explained her situation to someone named Lucia, and hung up. "My maid will come for me. I don't live far from here." Angelina thought again about how easy cars made everything. Except she wondered if Ms. Spavento would have insisted driving herself home if a car was available.

"Can you stand?"

Signora Spavento shakily stood. "I'm fine." She smoothed out here skirt. Soon enough a plump woman showed up. Behind her came four kids, three of them about Angelina's age. She recognized two of them. One was the girl she had met at the Stella. The other one was the boy she saw Christmas day, months before.

He recognized her, too. He looked at her, presumably thinking. All four of the kids greeted her. None of them resembled each other. Ida introduced them all. Their names were Hornet, Scipio (whom Angelina already knew the names of), Bo, and Prosper. Angelina said her name. Hornet said, "I know, we've already met." Surprise flashed in Scipio's eyes, but it was quickly hidden. What were the chances of the millions of people that lived in Venice or were tourists, these were the people she'd come in contact with. She hoped that Hornet girl would keep her promise.

Over Ida's shoulder she saw a man. "I'm sorry, I have to go," she said, leaving as quickly as possible before anyone could say anything else. She fallowed the man, who appeared to not be doing anything particular, just watching and waiting. She couldn't see his face. She edged her way around him without him seeing her.

The man turned his head to the side. Angelina only saw half his face, but it was enough. She hightailed as fast as possible in the opposite direction he was going. She needed to get back to the Stella as fast as possible. It was him. She knew it. He was her family's murderer.