As night came upon them, Acey sat on her mattress and leaned against the railing of the balcony. Scipio had left much earlier, and she already missed him. He was so easy to talk to, and he could always make her laugh. It was crazy that they had just met, and she felt like she had known him her whole life.

"What are you thinking about?" asked Prosper, the only other person awake.

"Oh, nothing really," she said with a small smile as she turned to face him. "Why are you still awake?"

"I was just about to ask you the same thing," he said, sitting on his and Bo's mattress. The little boy had fallen asleep much earlier; completely worn out from the day. "I had to make sure Bo was asleep."

"I can't sleep," she admitted, pulling up her warm and worn blanket. "You and your brother are really close. I was never that close to my sister."

"You have a sister?" he asked, genuinely interested. "What was she like?"

"Oh, April was alright. She's younger than I am, by two years... she's about your age. I dunno, we just never got along, is all. She was the athletic one, while I couldn't play sports to save my life. I was the 'smart' one, I suppose..." she explained, a bit of sadness in her voice. "Our relationship wasn't like you and Bo's."

"Ah," he said, nodding. "So you wouldn't save your little sister from an aunt?"

"Well, yeah, but after that she could manage on her own..." she said thoughtfully, starting to wonder if what she had said was true.

"Well, 'night," he said, pulling up his own blanket.

"Yeah..." she said, lost in thought.

-x-

The next morning, Acey awoke to Hornet's voice.

"Come on, wake up!" she said, not unkindly, from down below.

"Yeah, yeah... I'm awake," Acey answered, her voice drenched in sleep. "What time is it?"

"Probably six a.m," Hornet replied, looking outside.

"Si-six?!" Acey cried, standing up. "Why so early?"

"We have stuff to do."

It turned out 'stuff' meant shopping for food and such.

"Come on, Bo, we can't get any pastries right now," said Prosper, pulling on the boy's hand.

"Awww, why not?" asked Bo, looking disappointed.

"We need the money to buy other things," he said, and Bo gave up.

"When I publish a book," said Acey, getting on her knees to be level with the little blond child. "I'll buy you lot's of cakes and pastries. But, for now, we have to get some other things."

Bo nodded, reassured. Prosper watched her curiously. How had she done that?

Shopping was the boring part. All they needed were regular things; Food, drink, thread, medicine, etc. But, after that, they decided to get lunch with the extra money.

"Scip won't care," said Mosca, and Riccio nodded in agreement. It was settled then. Lunch it was.

They found a quiet cafe by the Basilica San Marco (Where they had first met Acey), and a large table in the corner.

The waitress looked at them suspiciously, but didn't say a word. As Riccio, Mosca, Hornet, Bo and Prosper flipped eagerly through the menus, Acey looked out the large windows.

Tourists, guides, children. A man and his son.

She watched the man and his son for a while. The boy looked suspiciously familiar. Where could she have seen him before? She hadn't been in Venice that long an-

Then it hit her.

Of course she recognized him.

But, he wasn't supposed to be there. And who was the man? His father?

No, Scipio didn't have a father.

Did he..?