"So..." started Aphrodite as she and Scip walked down an alley.
"What the hell was I doing running out in front of you?" Scipio said with a grin.
"Yeah."
"Well what were you doing, Cara? Running that fast down one of Venice's alleys? Its dangerous you know."
Aphrodite decided not to tell him and instead said, "Cara has a name and its Aphrodite so please stop calling me Cara."
"Whatever you say, Cara."
Aphrodite just got damn sick of him acting like that so she stepped in front of him, causing him to halt.
"What?" he demanded.
"Listen." she hissed. "You stop calling me that or I'll tell who ever's at that place your taking me that you were flirting with me."
"Blackmailing? Please." he pushed her away and stepped in front. Then, having seconds thoughts, turned around and said, "Fine. I'll stop if you don't tell them."
She pulled his ponytail lightly. "That's a good boy."
Scip laughed. "Now look who's flirting."
"I wasn't flirting." Aphrodite said quietly. She could feel her face becoming red. "It bothers you, doesn't it? People pulling your ponytail?"
Scipio looked at her suspiciously. "How did you know?"
"It bothers most people." Aphrodite said lamely. "So why not you?"
Sometimes it was good to have a big imagination. Lies came faster. Though she wasn't sure how good lieing was.
But what else could she say? That she had read it in a book called The Thief Lord that told almost everything about him and everyone else? No way. No sane person would believe that.
Scipio just shrugged. "Whatever you say, Ca..Aphrodite."
Aphrodite smirked. "You better not get into the habit of calling me Cara or else even if I don't tell them, they will start to get suspicious."
The Thief Lord laughed. "Don't worry. They won't hear me."
For a while neither of them said anything. Aphrodite broke the silence.
"So what were you doing, outside in the middle of the night?" she asked.
"I'm the Thief Lord, remember? Anyway, enough questions. Here we are.
Scipio stopped in front of a door that said 'NO ENTRY'. A rope hung from the top, which Scip pulled two times, then waited a few seconds before pulling it again. Aphrodite heard a bell ringing inside.
"Questions?" Aphrodite scoffed. "You're the one who asked the last que..."
Scip put a hand over her mouth. "Quiet." he hissed. He then took his hand off of her mouth.
She was about to say something back to him when the door was opened by a boy that looked no older than eight or nine.
He had spiked hair and rotten teeth.
Riccio, Aphrodite thought.
"Hey Scip!" Riccio said. "You know you're late again!"
"Riccio," Scip said with a nod. "Meet Aphrodite. Aphrodite meet Riccio."
Riccio grabbed Aphrodite's hand. "Hi." he said with a wide grin. "And welcome to the Stella. We are sponsored by the Thief Lord and are like one big happy family for orphans and runaways. May I get you a mattress?"
Aphrodite laughed. This was going to be interesting. But Scipio just sighed.
"Skip the formalities, Riccio, and let us in."
"Whatever." Riccio stepped to the side and before closing the door, peaked outside to make sure no one was watching. When he knew the coast was clear, Riccio shut the door, locked it, then ran up beside Aphrodite.
"You know," he whispered. "The Thief Lord brings in every orphan and runaway in town. I wouldn't be surprised if he brought in a lost puppy. He's already given Bo two kittens."
Aphrodite tried to hide laughter.
She could hear talking from the room up ahead and also she smelled burnt pasta.
Yes. This was going to be interesting.
Suddenly, Scipio stopped and turned around to look at Riccio. "You go ahead." he said to the younger boy. "I'm going to fill Aphrodite in on everything. Please don't tell anyone about her yet."
The boy grinned. "Sure." he said before walking towards the room like nothing had happened.
Scipio turned to Aphrodite. "OK. Listen. First rule. No one. And I mean no one may follow me outside when I leave."
Aphrodite nodded.
"Good. Second rule. when you're talking about me to anyone besides everyone who's here, use the name Thief Lord."
"Yes sir."
"Last but most important, you cannot tell anyone, anyone, about the Stella. Got it?"
Aphrodite nodded again.
"And one more thing," Scip put a hand on her shoulder. Even without high-heel boot he would have been a little taller than her. "You also can't tell anyone about the flirting. We keep that to ourselves, remember?"
"Of course I do."
Scip nodded. "Good. Now follow me. Time to meet the others." He walked toward the other room, Aphrodite following close behind.
As soon as they entered the room, everyone stopped what they were doing and all eyes focused on her.
"Everyone," Scipio said. "meet Aphrodite. Aphrodite, meet Hornet, Mosca, Bo, Prosper, and you've all ready met Riccio."
Hellos and His came from everyone. She tried to look as if she knew nothing about them.
"Do we have a spare mattress?" The Thief Lord asked.
"Well, Bo refuses to sleep on his own so she can have his." Hornet said.
"Thank-you." Aphrodite said, trying her hardest to sound as if she were still a little uncomfortable around them.
"What about dinner?" Mosca asked. "I only made dinner for the six of us."
"Its...its fine." Aphrodite said. "I'm not that hungry anyway.
"Your loss." Mosca said.
Bo, who was watching her as if he were studying something in a museum came up to her and said, "What's your name again?"
Aphrodite smiled. "Aphrodite." She said, ruffling his hair.
"Aph...Ap...what?"
Aphrodite laughed. "Its hard to pronounce, isn't it? You'll get it right some day."
Bo nodded. "Can I play with her instead of eating dinner? I'm not very hungry either."
Prosper shook his head. "No Bo. You eat your dinner first then you can play with Aphrodite." He frowned. "Aphrodite. Isn't that the name..."
"Of a Greek Goddess. She knows. I pointed that out to her when we met." Scipio said while taking a seat at the head of the table. "You can explore if you want."
"Thank-you." Aphrodite said. She was going to tell him that what he said sounded more like and order than a suggestion but forgot all about it when she found Hornet's books.
15 Minutes Later
"Aphrodite." said Hornet. She had found her with her nose buried in one of her favorite books, Wringer."Aphrodite." she called again, this time tapping her on the back. "Thief Lord's leaving and he wants to say good-bye."
Aphrodite looked up. For a moment she forgot about everything. "Thief Lord?" she asked.
"Yes Thief Lord. Now come on. He's not going to wait forever."
"Oh right." Aphrodite said. She closed the book and put ion on top of the pile she found it on. "Let's go." she said standing up.
Hornet smiled and called down, "She's coming!" Hornet then walked down to the first floor, Aphrodite walking next to her.
"He all ready went to the door." said Prosper when they got down.
"Didn't you at least walk him to the door?" asked Aphrodite.
"No. We never do that any more." Riccio grumbled.
Oh yeah. She had forgotten about the little, "Riccio" incident.
Aphrodite just shrugged. "Fine. I'll just go alone." She then walked down the hallway.
Aphrodite found Scip leaning against the wall, his eyes closed.
"The others seemed scared to follow you." smirked Aphrodite.
Scipio opened his eyes and looked at her. "Well you don't seem to be."
"Well I don't know what they're scared about." she said, rolling her eyes."Anyway, Hornet said that you wanted to say good-bye?"
"Uh-huh." he said. "And thanks for not telling them anything about...well...you know." he stood up straight and walked over to where the girl was standing and put both hands on her shoulders.
For a moment, Aphrodite thought that he was going to kiss her but instead he said, "Can you tell the others that I'll be back tomorrow?"
Aphrodite nodded. "Sure."
"Then I'll be back, Cara." With that he turned and headed out into the night.
"Kind of a long good-bye, don't you think?" Mosca said when she came back.
"You're point is?" Aphrodite demanded. "Anyway, The Thief Lord wanted me to tell you that he'll be back tomorrow."
"Good. He didn't bring any loot this time and our money's getting low." Hornet said. Then she yawned. "I think I'm going to turn in for the night."
"Me too."Aphrodite said.
Upstairs, Hornet got Aphrodite's mattress and put it next to hers.
They climbed in and Aphrodite immediately felt tired.
"So." Hornet whispered. "Do you like Scip?"
Aphrodite just stared at her. "Well of course I do." she whispered back. "He's my friend. You all are."
"No. No. You don't get it. I mean like, like."
"Oh." Aphrodite muttered. "That kind of like. No. I'm not sure."
"OK, then. Good night." Hornet rolled over on her side and soon, Aphrodite could hear the soft sound of her breathing.
But Aphrodite couldn't sleep. It was because she couldn't help but think about how she really felt towards the Thief Lord
GoldMary3: So far one person has guessed right about what the treasure is! Come on! Let's have some more!