My lip was numb from my biting it so much. I'd been gnawing on it the entire time I'd been walking, all the while thinking and worrying about Scipio. I'd decided there wasn't much I could do—at the moment—but be there for him and be the best friend I could be, but I still felt anxious. I turned a corner and nearly bumped into someone who had a camera in her hands.

"What is with people and bumping into me? Sorry."

I looked up and saw…Ida Spavento. Staring at me.

Can you say 'Crap'?

"You!" she exclaimed.

I blinked in innocent befuddlement. "Me what?"

She glared at me. "Now, don't play innocent with me," she said sternly. "You stole from my house last night."

"Me? Steal? Madonna, I wouldn't do that!" I said. "Last night I was at dinner with my ragazzo, and then I went home. No, I couldn't have!"

She scoffed. "I doubt it. Last night you were in my house, and you stole some blankets!" Her gaze softened. "I understand if you really need them, though."

Great. Now she was making me feel guilty. Before I spilled my guts and broke into a sobbing wreck in front of her, I nodded to her. "I really must get going. My friends are expecting me, and it wouldn't do to worry them," I said, ducked my head, and pushed past her as fast as I could.

"If you ever need to talk!" she called after me.

I raised a hand but didn't look back.

As soon as I rounded the corner I went all out and kept running till I reached the Star Palace, and I banged on the door. Prosper opened it a few moments later and I smiled at him. "Yo, Prop!" I puffed and then walked inside like nothing happened.

He closed the door and caught up with me. "What's up? Running so fast and pounding on the door as though the Devil himself was at your heels!"

I laughed somewhat breathlessly. "Is it a sin that I wanted to see my friends again? No, Prosper, maybe I'll tell you someday," I said, and picked up Bo as he came running at me.

"Last night you forgot the stories! Tell me a story, Rae!" he whined cheerfully. I laughed and carried him up to the stage.

"How about I act it out for you—paint it into your imagination?" I asked as I sat him down in the front row.

He clapped in excitement. "Please, please, please!"

I laughed and stood on the stage. "What story?" I murmured to myself and took off my jacket and threw it at Prosper, where it landed on his face. I ignored him and thought for a moment, sitting down and sliding my feet out of my shoes.

"Hm…Any ideas, Bo? Give me a theme."

He thought seriously for a moment. "Water. The canals…the sea," he suggested after a bit of pondering.

I grinned. "Va bene!" I said, and leapt up and leaned down over the edge of the stage.

"Now, Angelo, I want you to know that I can only do one part each day—maybe two on good days, but today only one. Would you like me to do it now, or do it tonight, when I could have our Thief Lord's audience and make it a royal presentation?" I asked in a quiet voice.

He looked awed. "Tonight! Scip will love to see this, won't he, Prop?!"

Prosper grinned at me. "You better be prepared, Rae," he said.

I grinned. "I'll go get some props, Prop."

3rd PPOV

Rae walked up to Hornet, carrying a cup of hot chocolate. Hornet was standing at the mouth of the alley that led down to their entrance into the Stella, shivering and trying to keep warm by rubbing her hands together and jumping up and down.

Bo had wanted to wait until Scipio came for Rae to start telling the story, but Scipio hadn't shown up at the normal time, and Hornet had volunteered to wait for him. That had been an hour and a half ago.

"Come on, I'm not waiting anymore," Rae said and handed Hornet a cup of hot chocolate. Hornet took it and held it close, breathing in deeply the sweet aroma as they walked inside. They walked into the theater and Rae walked up to the stage. Just as she was about to climb up onto it, Shasta bounded in, his fur soaking wet. He was barking frantically and jumped on her, pinning her to the ground, barking in her face. "Wha-?" Rae exclaimed.

Shasta howled and kept barking. Rae pushed him off forcefully and Hornet put her cup down so she could grab Shasta's collar. His black, white-tipped ears were flat against his skull, and he whined and howled and barked as if trying to start an earthquake.

"Shasta!" Rae snapped, facing him sternly. He whined and gave a howl, broke off and barked twice, then howled again.

"What's wrong?" Prosper asked, running in with Mosca and Riccio at his heels.

"Shhh!" Rae snapped. "You want me to follow?" she asked her dog, turning back to him.

He barked once—'Yes.'

"What's going on, Rae?" Bo asked worriedly, coming out from behind the curtains.

"Shasta wants me to follow him—he keeps saying 'danger' and 'you come' over and over," Rae said, and knelt down in front of her dog, who whined softly. "Just me?" She asked him, holding his head still between her hands.

He barked once.

"Guys, I'm going to let him go and I'm going to follow him," she said.

"Wait, we'll go—" Mosca began, but Rae glared at him.

"I'm going. Just me. Shasta says that it's only me." Mosca gulped at her look. She looked back at Hornet. "Let him go," she said.

Hornet hesitated. "Rae, shouldn't—" she began.

"Let him go!"

Hornet let go of the Border Collie and he bolted to the door. Rae pushed past Prosper, shoved the door open, and girl and canine disappeared into the night.

Shasta was low to the ground as he led Rae on, like how Border Collies do when they're herding sheep. His ears were swiveling around at every slight noise. Rae took this to mean that she should be careful, and she ran as silently as she could in the shadows, her hat pulled down so that no one who glanced her way would notice her by her light skin. Finally, Shasta crept up to a familiar wall.

"Scipio's house?" Rae whispered, confused. Shasta put his left forepaw up in a 'shake' motion to signal a silent 'yes'. Rae bit her lip and looked up at the wall, following his gaze. "Don't move," she whispered, and then climbed the wall. When she reached the top, she sat down for a moment and looked up at the building, trying to see where she should go. There was a light in behind the curtains behind the door to a balcony, and—judging from her knowledge of the house—she knew it to be Scipio's. Carefully using a tree to climb onto a window ledge, she balanced there and planned her way up.

Wow, this feels…cool, she thought to herself. She hadn't planned on writing this (or most of the things that had happened), but she liked it so far. This endeavor made her feel like a superhero or something.

She took a step back, then propelled herself forward and jumped. She managed to grab onto a higher balcony's decorative ledge, and dropped onto the balcony underneath. Another jump and she was one level higher…and on Scipio's level, too, which was a bonus. There were two balconies between her and Scipio's, but the space in-between each balcony was just safe jumping distance. She carefully crouched on the metal railing on the balcony she was on, jumped across to the next, and landed on her feet on the balcony. She did the same once more, and then she would just have to jump one more time and then she'd be at Scipio's room, and she'd be able to find out what was wrong.

The glass doors that led to the balcony were open and the white curtains inside were closed, and they waved in the cold Venetian wind. Rae shivered slightly, a bad feeling settling in her gut. She had a hunch that she should take care to be unnoticed.

Rae prepared herself to jump onto Scipio's balcony and just as she jumped she lost her footing and came up short. She was hanging by one hand from the floor of the balcony, her feet dangling over a swamp of blackness and trees; she was wearing her gloves, thankfully, and they did a good job of protecting her hand from the scraping cement of the balcony. But her fingers felt like cold, rough knives were sawing at them.

She ground her teeth and blinked away pained tears as she brought her left hand up and fixed her grip. She thought for a moment. This was like the time on the monkey-bars where she wanted to get on top, but was hanging in the middle of the bars. She had swung herself so she had gotten enough height in her lower body to hang on with her legs to the bars in front, and then she had used her flexibility to pull herself up.

She began to swing sideways, right-left…right…left…

Soon her feet came up to the balcony, and she managed to hook her right foot in the balcony's metal railing. She pulled her left foot up and used that to help push the rest of her up so she could grasp the top of the railing. Finally, she pulled herself up and sighed, catching her breath. All this had been done quietly, with only the sound of her breathing able to be heard. She swung one leg over the railing, and then the other.

She was safe!

She silently walked over to the curtains and looked into the room through a small opening between the white cloth. Scipio's room was simple: A nice bed, a bookcase, a dresser and a mirror, and a closet. There were two doors. The walls were a warm cream color and the borders and ceiling were white. The floor was wood, and the room had a feeling of safety and warmth and love.

The door to the hall was open, and she could see all the way down to the stairs. Scipio himself was walking up the hall to his room, his head held high. His dark eyes were hard and defiant, as though he wanted to say something to somebody but wasn't able to. He didn't need to, in Rae's opinion—his eyes were enough to say "I hate you", and much more expressive than words. He was wearing a black jacket that was unbuttoned and underneath he wore a white shirt. His collar was unbuttoned, revealing purple bruises that looked suspiciously like fingers. He walked inside his room and closed the door, locking it with a flick of his wrist. Just as he was turning around, there was a sound like a raging bull rampaging down the hall. The door shook on its hinges.

"Open the door you little brat!"

It was the Dottore.