A/N – Hey! Just like to thank every for all the reviews. I swear, they're what keep pushing me to finish this. Thanks for being so patient for me to get a chapter up even though I know it takes me so long. You guys are great!! Xo


Despite the cold rain outside, the small room where the thieves gathered every day hadn't felt warmer. Four candles lit up the room, giving the pasty walls an amber-colored glow. Prosper stirred pesto into the pot of cold pasta while Hornet wiped dust off some old plates with a cloth. The two of them were sitting close together and Talia smiled secretly as she wiped dust off the few forks they had; if it weren't for her, Prosper would probably still be oblivious to Hornet's feelings. Then there was Riccio, who sat on the other side of Prosper, wiping pesto sauce off from the side of the pot with his finger and licking it.

"Hey, save some of that for dinner." Prosper said, grinning, "Seriously, I'm going to have to move to the other side of the room!"

Riccio nodded, his red hair getting in his eyes, but wiped his finger along the side of the pot once again giggling. "When is Bo going to get here so we can finally eat?" he asked loudly.

"He said he wanted to get dessert," Talia explained as she carefully laid the forks out onto one of her clean sweaters to keep them from getting dirty, "probably getting some cookies or muffins from the bakery I'm guessing."

Riccio licked his lips at this, but Hornet frowned slightly. She was wearing another one of Talia's sweaters. It was a pastel purple zip up sweater that looked better on Hornet, with the shade of her hair and eyes, than it ever did on Talia. When Talia had pulled it out for her, Hornet treated it as if it were made of gold and swore that she would do her best to never get it dirty.

"But Bo couldn't still be at the bakery," Hornet pointed out, a strange look showing in her brown eyes, "it would be closed now. What time is it anyways? Aren't most things closed now?"

"Yeah," Riccio agreed unsurely, "but then where's Bo?" He was pulling the tail of his toy cat through his fingers now and Talia quickly cleared her voice.

"It's probably just the rain guys." She tried to sound reassuring, "He probably had to wait for it to hold up because it's pouring right now. He'll be back soon."

Prosper nodded. "Besides, you know Bo. He's always running around, getting distracted, doing his own thing."

They left it at that, the four of them all nodding to each other, trying to convince each other it was true. The longer they sat there though, the tenser the air became between the four of them. The light from the candles grew dim as they melted and Prosper's arm was getting sore from stirring the pasta so it wouldn't harden.

"Maybe he got lost," Riccio finally said. Although he was completely serious, Talia couldn't help but smile. Riccio meant well, but there was no way that Bo, a thief, could be lost. It just wasn't possible. Looking up, Talia realized that Hornet was grinning as well. So was Prosper. The three of them eyed each other.

And then they started to laugh.

It started as a small giggle, but in no time it grew. After staring at the three of them in confusion, Riccio found that he was laughing with them as well. It was contagious. It wasn't even that funny, but the four of them laughed loudly. It felt good to laugh, to forget about the pasta in front of them they wanted so badly, to forget why they were scared. Even for a brief moment.

The door to the room suddenly burst open and the laughter stopped immediately. Bo stood in the doorway, completely drenched. In his hand was a bag of cookies, probably chocolate chip, but no one even noticed them.

"I'm being followed," he cried, "there's a cop after me. I knew I shouldn't have come here, but then there was suddenly more than one cop. I didn't know what to do –" A sob escaped Bo's throat and he clutched the top of his head with his free hand.

In one smooth swoop, Hornet was at his side, taking the bag from his side and gently placing it on the ground. She then unzipped Bo's soaking sweater and slid it off of his thin torso. "It'll be okay," she told him, "let's get you into something dry first." Giving him a small hug, she briskly went across the room to grab one of Talia's clean sweaters.

"A cop?" Riccio suddenly cried, "No wait, a bunch of cops? What are we going to do?!"

"First off we're not going to panic," Prosper said as he jumped to his feet, "or yell." He quickly blew out the four candles and the room was swallowed by blackness. No one spoke as they let their eyes adjust to the dark, the only sound coming from Bo's quick and panicked breathing.

Talia got to her feet, shaking slightly. Cops? None of her training had taught her how to deal with cops except to run. She had always expected it to be during the day though, not at night when it was pouring out. She folded her arms across her chest.

"Bo," Talia asked quietly, "how close are the cops? Were they on this street when you came in here?"

There was a moment of hesitation before Bo whispered, "Yeah. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have come here. They probably saw –"

"Don't say that," Prosper quickly said, "you did the right thing."

"Prosper?" Riccio asked quietly, "Do we have to leave? Do we have to find a new home again?"

No one answered. They didn't want to, but they knew it was the only answer. Whether the cops had seen where Bo had gone or not, they couldn't risk it. Chances were they knew he was somewhere on the street. The gang had to get out as soon as they could.

"We'll have to move fast," Prosper said as he emptied the bag of cookies, "and we'll have to split into two groups to confuse them." Placing the cookies onto the sweater with the forks on it, he scooped the pasta into the bag. "Talia, you have big pockets on your sweater, can you put these cookies in them?"

Talia nodded, still unable to speak. They would have to leave here… forever? She couldn't imagine that they were going to leave their home just like that. They didn't even have somewhere else to go. They were on the run.

"Who's in what group?" Hornet asked shakily. Everyone's eyes had fully adjusted to the dark now, and Talia could tell Hornet was hugging the youngest, upset boy.

There was a pause before Talia suddenly said, "Let me take Bo."

"I don't know Talia…" Prosper said uneasily.

"Seriously, I mean it," Talia brushed a curly strand of dark hair out of her eyes, "Bo is who they're after. I'm taller than all of you and I'm not from here, so there's no chance the cops will recognize me. If they see me from a distance they may just think I'm an adult. And Bo can make sure I don't get lost."

"Talia…" Prosper said again.

"No, it'll work." Bo suddenly pulled away from Hornet, "It makes sense, her plan. And we really need to leave."

"Fine," Prosper agreed, although he didn't sound too against the idea, "Hornet, you'll come with me –"

"What about me?!" Riccio cried, sounding terrified of being left behind. This was immediately followed by the whole room shushing him and Prosper hissing, "I was going to say that you'll be coming with me as well."

"Oh," Riccio let out a small laugh, "sorry."

After that, the group decided that they would meet in the park once they were sure they had lost the cops. Whichever group got there first wasn't allowed to leave until the sun had risen and the second group had yet to arrive. That meant that something had happened to the second group and the first group was allowed to look for them. Prosper, Hornet and Riccio would leave first to make sure there were no cops outside. If they didn't start screaming and yelling then Talia and Bo would know it was safe to leave. It wasn't a foolproof plan – it wasn't even close, but it would have to do. It was all they had.


"… 57…58…59…60…" Talia took a deep breath and turned to Bo. He was nibbling on one of the cookies she had given him. "Are you ready to go?" she whispered.

"Yeah… and Talia?"

"Mmm?"

"I'm sorry. Not just about this, but about before how I was so mean to you. I was just being stupid."

Throat too tight and stomach to knotted to speak, Talia hugged Bo to let him know she forgave him. She just wished she was able to tell him she was never angry at him in the first place.

Grabbing his hand, Talia slowly opened the door. Apart from the rain, it was quiet. The two of them quietly jumped over the gap in the stairs for the last time and descended, reaching the front entrance. The rain made it blurry and impossible to see more than four feet in front of them. It was impossible to tell if anyone was there. Bo clenched Talia's hand a little harder and Talia squeezed his hand back to let him know she was there.

Then, together, they blindly stepped out into the night and began to run.