A/N: Sorry, this came a little late, but, I had exams, so don't blame me, blame school. But, now I have more free time to write for you guys! Yay! *everyone boos* Oh shut up. :P

Disclaimer: Since we're all so caught up in the moment, the suspense, it's killing me, aghhh!, I will do the disclaimer. I do not own the Thief Lord, or any of it's characters, or the Hangover, for that matter. Only the plot and my characters are mine. You should all know this by now.

Maria

I had ushered Kat off to bed, and was now watching a movie with Marco. One of his American movies, The Hangover. He found it very funny, but me, not so much. My mind kept wandering to Scip and the orphans, hoping Hornet was alright, hoping that they'd all be fine.

The movie ended, and we both went upstairs to go to bed. I changed and fell asleep almost instantly, today had been rather busy.

"Maria, Marco! Maria, Marco!" Antoinette, our head maid, called out frantically. I jumped out of bed, glancing at the clock quickly. Two in the morning.

"What is it? What happened?" I asked. Marco was up too, looking out at us from his room.

"It's Katerina," she said.

"What?" Marco and I yelled at the same time, and we both ran to her room. Marco opened the door with so much force, he could have broken it off of it's hinges. I scanned the room and saw no sign of Kat.

"She's gone!" another maid cried. It was only then that I registered what was happening. My little sister was gone. Marco pulled me into his arms, preparing for the breakdown that might come.

"Did someone take her?" he asked, looking around.

"No, we would have known if someone had entered the house."

"So she left on her own," Marco said. "Why?"

I thought. "Bo," I whispered. Marco and the other maids looked at me, and I stood up. "The blonde boy that was here, Boniface. We were talking about their plan, and how Bo wanted to go with them. Kat was there, Marco! She might be going with them too!" I'd explained everything to them, how Scip was the Thief Lord, and what was going on.

"Scipio wouldn't endanger my sisters ever again. I doubt he'd let her go with them," Marco said, his hand balling into a fist.

"Unless he thought it was safer with them than for her to stay somewhere alone," I pointed out.

"Merda," Marco swore, and then left the room. I followed after him. He went to his room and began to change in a rush. I ran to my room to do the same, throwing on some jeans, a sweater and my boots. I put my hair in a bun and met Marco in the hall.

"You're not coming," he said.

"Yes, I am. If you recall, she's my sister too, and I'm the oldest, I have to keep an eye on you." He began to protest, but I stopped him with a look.

"Fine."

We ran outside, and Marco looked at me. "Where's their hideout?" he asked.

I rolled my eyes and began to run in the direction of the Stella. When we reached it, I pulled on the doorbell twice. Nothing happened. I knocked, still nothing. Then, I tried the handle, only to find the door locked, and then reached for the key Scip had told me about.

We ran inside, and found our fear confirmed.

The theatre was empty.

Scipio

When I returned to the Stella, I found that everyone was already there. It was sundown. I looked to Prop, silently asking him if they'd found Victor and Ida, and he nodded. I then turned to Mosca, who held up one of the two bags he and Bo had filled.

"Good. We leave at midnight. I know where she is."

"Where?" I told them, and they nodded. "You've still got your boat?" Riccio asked.

"Of course, Riccio," I said. "They think we're going tomorrow, but there will still be guards around her, of course. So, here's the plan." I told them about the island's possible security measures, and how we'd get Hornet.

"Scip," Prop began, as everyone started to get things ready. "Thanks for doing this. You know, helping us, from the very beginning, to now. We couldn't do this without you," he said, and I smiled.

"We'll get her back, Prop. I swear." Prop smiled.

Riccio brought Ida and Victor back just before we left. I briefed them on everything that had happened, and told them about what we were going to do. They didn't seem to like our plan, but agreed to it anyway. They knew they couldn't talk us out of it anyway.

Three minutes before midnight, there was a knock on the door. Everyone looked at me, and I went to see who it was. I was met at the door by none other than Katerina Vargo.

"Kat! What are you doing here?" I asked. There was no point trying to hide who I was, if she was here, she already knew.

"I'm coming with you," she said. I brought her inside and locked the doors, thanking God nothing had happened to her on the way here. "You can't send me back home, either, I'll just follow you," she informed me.

I sat her down and croushed in front of her. "Do you know how dangerous that was, Kat? There are people after you, and you were wandering in the middle of the night! Something could've happened to you!" She simply looked at me with her head cocked to the side.

"You look funny in that mask," she said.

"Kat, listen to me. This is going to be dangerous, too dangerous for you," I said, trying to dissuade her.

"Bo's going, why can't I?"

"Merda. Kat, they're not after Bo, they're after you and your family. They won't try to catch him, they'll try to catch you."

Kat thought about this for a minute. "If you didn't take me, where would I go?"

I glanced at the others, wondering where this was going. "Back home, where else?"

"You just said that it was too dangerous for me to be outside by myself. Who would take me back home? Not one of the people here, you need them all," she reasoned.

"Then you'd stay here," Prop said. Kat shook her head, and I finally figured out her logic.

"We can't leave her alone, what if they come here?" I said, rocking back on my heels. Kat was grinning, and I knew she had gotten what she wanted. "Fine, but you're going to have to be disguised."

Bo promptly ran up the stairs to the balcony and returned with some of his clothes and a hat. We tucked Kat's hair into the hat and she changed, so she looked similar to a boy. Prop also smudged some dirt on her, to make her less recognizable.

"Does Maria or Marco know you're with us?" I heard Bo ask Kat.

"No. If they did, they wouldn't have let me come." Bo nodded and took Kat's hand. Mosca and Prop each shouldered a pack, and we waited for Ida and Victor to leave the Stella first.

We followed them in procession, Victor and Ida in front, followed by Prop and I, then Kat and Bo, and then Riccio and Mosca taking up the rear. I directed Victor and Ida when they got lost or confused, but other than that, we didn't speak.

"Here, this is it. My boat," I said, and we stopped.

Victor laughed, looking at the craft. "What are we supposed to do with this ... dinghy? It won't hold all of us!" He paused and looked at me. "Why are we even here, all mighty Thief Lord?" Ida rolled her eyes and shushed him.

"In good time, Señor Getz. All in good time," I promised. "After you, Señora Getz." I helped Ida into the boat, and she helped lift Bo and Kat in next. Mosca, Riccio and Prop hopped in after. I gestured for Victor to get in, and he did so, grudgingly. I jumped in lightly and took my place at the motor.

"Ready for this?" I asked. Everyone nodded, even Victor. I raised an eyebrow at him.

"I still love a good sleuthing," he muttered, and Ida laughed, placing a hand on his shoulder. I grinned and started the engine. We managed to fit everyone in, barely. Bo and Kat were squeezed between Prop and Ida, though the two eight-year-olds didn't seem to mind. I noticed Kat's hand was clasping Bo's, and Bo was blushing profusely. I allowed myself a small smile.

"Now, to reveal my master plan..." I began, and everyone turned to listen.

A/N: Mwahaha! Cliffy! *starts dancing, is hit in the face by a tomato* Sorry, just... I don't know what I was doing there. We're getting into the action now. You don't get to know Scip's plan... yet. Things will start to click and make sense eventually.

Please review. There's a lovely little box somewhere below this...

Translations (Italian - English):

merda - shit