Amity and Luz looked at each other for a moment, undecided on what to do, then with a nod of their heads they understood that they had both chosen the same thing and together they crawled out of the kennel. Waiting for them there were three people: one was a boy with a skin tone of light brown, short spiky dark purple hair, light purple-pink eyes and a chin that tapers to the tip with a mole near the left side of the mouth; another was a short, stocky boy, with skin so stained with sand that it looked like it was made of gold, eyes containing small black pupils within the blue sclera of which the left was covered by a tuft of blond hair which was in turn covered by the cap, and also had a white bandage on his lower left cheek; and finally in between the two there was a short but very well built girl with pale skin and short purple-blue hair with mint green hair clips on each side of her head, amber eyes and three freckles on each cheek. That girl was undoubtedly the one who had knocked on the kennel, and she must also have been the leader of that gang, given that when they saw Luz and Amity confused expressions were painted on the faces of all the three of them, but she was the only one to ask: "Who are you? Why are you in the old dog's kennel? And where is he?"
"Uh... from what we understand, he died last night" Luz replied.
Although the blue-haired girl didn't seem affected in the slightest, a great sadness was instead depicted on the faces of the two boys: "What? He died? No! He was such a beautiful and affectionate dog! Why the best people are always the ones that leave us..."
"Gavin, Angmar, please, not now!" the girl blurted out without showing the slightest empathy, immediately silencing her two companions even though an expression of sorrow remained painted on their faces; then she turned back to Luz and Amity: "Let me get this straight... the old dog died, so now you two put some collars and chains on you and replace him? Does the old man pay you very well or do you just your head doesn't work well?"
"Of course not!" Amity exclaimed blushing in embarrassment. "It was that crazy owner of the farm who took us and put us here. We slipped into his field and he, finding us there, accused us of being the ones who steal his chickens, and so he put these chains on us and forced us to act like his watchdogs"
For a moment there was silence, then the blue-haired girl burst out laughing so hard that her stomach started to hurt; it was a laugh without any sympathy, clearly aimed only at mockery. Her two companions looked confused for a moment, but very soon they too followed suit. Luz and Amity became more or less the color of a tomato and they would have gladly thrown a punch at those three rude people, but unfortunately they had cleverly stayed beyond the range of action of the chains. "Pff, this is fun!" the girl with blue hair said through laughter. "If I had known that old imbecile would do this to anyone he thought was guilty of our thefts, I would have tricked some kid and sent them here a long time ago! Oh, that's hilarious!"
"Wait a minute! Your thefts? Are you the thieves who steal the chickens?" Luz exclaimed, and Amity looked pretty indignant too.
"Oh, sorry, you're right, we were really rude, we didn't introduce ourselves. I'm Bria, and these are Gavin and Angmar. And yes, we are the chicken thieves; we like to call ourselves the Gang of the Weasels" the blue-haired girl replied, standing proudly a hand on her chest, as if what she was saying was something to be proud of. "You should know that this is the only farm anywhere near Bonesborough that raises the Galdorstones, an extremely rare breed of chicken, so delicious that some people save up for a whole year to buy one. Well, we don't like wait and we don't like working anyway, so we decided to come and get them ourselves! We've been here three times already!"
Luz was disgusted by those petty thieves, but she tried not to show it. "Three times? And the old dog never noticed?"
"Oh, this is exactly the beauty of it: as I told you, we don't like to work hard, and therefore we didn't want to do all those things that other thieves do. You know, maybe spending whole days laboriously studying a plan and then sneaking in and trying to be as quiet as possible... ugh, who wants to do it? As people usually say: work smart, not hard. So we got smart and found an ingenious solution: we simply made an agreement with the old man's dog!" Bria replied. "The agreement was this: once a week we would come here and steal four chickens; we would eat three of them ourselves, while we would leave the fourth hidden and already plucked behind the kennel, so that the old dog would have that delicious meal available. And in exchange, he pretended nothing was happening and didn't call the old man, who then continued to work in the vineyard while we took the chickens away from under his nose! It's brilliant, right?"
"No! It's disgusting to say the least!" Amity growled angrily. "Because of you three, the two of us are now here in chains! Aren't you at least a little ashamed?"
"Calm down, calm down, mint-haired girl. I understand your anger and you are more than justified in feeling it, after all you are in a bad situation because of us, so I don't blame you for your words... but this is not the time of being moralists, but rather negotiators" Bria said, rubbing her hands with a knowing and evil smile. "I want to propose an agreement to you too, and I'm sure you'll like. Let's do this: now we'll go in the hen-house and we'll steal the usual four chickens, and you won't say or do anything; when that stupid old man will come here and discover the new theft, you'll just have to pretend to be asleep, and when he will wake you up angry, blame your inexperience in this job for what happened. In any case, when the old man has finished ranting and calmed down the hot spirits, he will understand that you two cannot be the real culprits since you are there in chains, and he will let you go. In exchange for your silence you will regain your freedom and as a little extra we will leave you the fourth hen under the large oak tree on the path, so you can share it and have a feast of your own. Consider it an apology gift from us for the trouble we put you through. So, do we have a deal?"
Amity was already about to retort that she had no intention of stooping to the level of a common thief, but before she could, Luz tugged on her shirt. "You're not be thinking of accepting, I hope!" Amity exclaimed.
"No, not at all" Luz replied, and her eyes moved strangely as she did so. "But, Amity, if you think about it, this is a win-win agreement for everyone except that old man, and we also have reason to be angry with him, and we would gain materially if we accepted". Her every word was designed to contain the truth, so even though her intentions were different from what she let on, her nose didn't grow an inch.
Amity was dumbfounded for a moment, then she began to follow Luz's gaze and realized that the puppet was pointing to both the door of the hen-house and a large stone not far from them. It didn't take long to figure out what she had in mind. "Uh... are you sure? I mean... it seems like something that is not morally acceptable and above all... dangerous" she said, pretending to be referring to the agreement proposed by Bria.
"True, but what would change if we didn't? These thieves will go away and wait for us to be handed over to our parents in shame, and then they will come back and take the old man's chickens anyway. Isn't it better to act now?" Luz asked, speaking back as if she were referring to the agreement and not something else.
"Listen to your friend, mint-haired girl. She's clearly better than you at understanding what's best to do in certain situations" Bria urged; judging by her expression she seemed sure she had already convinced them. "Be our accomplices for this brief moment, and then you can go back to being honest moralistic people as much as you want. In life sometimes you have to do some bad action if you want to get what you want"
Amity remained silent, thinking carefully about the pros and cons of Luz's idea, but then seeing the puppet's encouraging look she decided that her plan was worth following. "Ugh, okay" she grumbled, and then she turned to Bria: "We accept the deal. But you make sure you respect it!"
"Don't worry, mint-haired girl. We may be thieves, but we always respect the agreements we make... sure, unless we find a more advantageous one with someone else, but hey, you two don't have to worry about it because there's no one here to apart from the five of us, so no one can offer us a better deal!" Bria replied satisfied, then she clapped her hands and turned to her two companions: "Alright, guys, let's hurry up! I can't wait to try seasoning one of those tasty chickens with crab dip!"
Even though it wasn't of interest to her, Luz couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at those words: "Crab dip and chicken? It's an unusual combination"
"Yes, but I heard it's very good. And then today we went to the beach to have fun and we caught a crab there, so we might as well try it!" Bria said, and nodded to Angmar, who showed a small cage containing a large brown crab that was snapping his claws angrily. "Our dear Angmar had to roll in the sand three times to catch him! Look at him, he's still so covered in sand that you could think his skin was golden!"
Willow and Gus had been watching the situation the whole time by standing silently in Luz's pocket and peering through a microscopic little hole, and as soon as Gus saw the crab his hairs stood on end. "Hey, I know that guy! It's Mattholomule!" he said to Willow, who quickly covered his mouth. The two arthropods exchanged a look of understanding, then without being seen they got out of Luz's clothes and walked away; the puppet clearly felt them walking over her body and realized that they were gone, but she couldn't ask them why since she would have revealed their presence, and she was sure that wasn't a good thing.
The crab looked like he was ready to shout some insult, but Angmar put him away before he could do so. The three thieves headed towards the chicken coop and locked themselves inside so they could prevent the chickens from attracting the old owner's attention with their squawking. As soon as she was sure they couldn't hear them anymore, Amity turned to Luz: "Let's see if I understand correctly: do you want to use that big stone to block the door?"
"That's right! If we just call the old man, then the thieves will definitely escape. But if they're stuck in there, he can catch them and bring them to justice!" Luz responded by quickly explaining her plan.
Despite having played along until then, Amity didn't seem convinced at all. "Have you considered what might happen if your plan fails? They'll take it out on us!" she pointed out to her.
"Yes, but the plan won't fail, I'm sure of it! And as I told you before, I'd rather try to do something than stay feeling sorry for myself!" Luz told her. "Come on, Amity, now's not the time to be a coward!"
Amity's eyelid twitched in irritation. "I'm not a coward, I'm just cautious!"
"But sometimes caution is not what is necessary in life. You have to jump in and take the risk!" Luz responded by grabbing the large stone. "So, will you give me a hand or not? It's too heavy for me to throw it down there on my own, and those three thieves could finish catching the chickens at any moment!"
Amity had the expression of someone who would have much more liked to step back, but perhaps out of pride or a spirit of justice or even just a moral scruple she still went next to Luz and helped her lift the stone; with a lot of effort the two girls took aim and then threw it in front of the chicken coop door, where it stuck, blocking the way. At that point Luz and Amity started making a lot of noise, banging their chains and calling loudly for the owner, and at one point Luz even tried to imitate a dog's 'woof-woof' before stopping because Amity was looking at her as if she were completely stupid (and the puppet herself had to admit that she wasn't entirely wrong). All that mess had the desired effect and the old man's head emerged from the grape field. "What happens now?"
"There are thieves!"
"What!? And where are they?"
"In the hen-house!"
"I'll arrive immediately"
The old man ran towards the farm and entered a nearby shed, and came out armed with a rope and a large club; after which he reached the chicken coop and after moving the stone with a strength he didn't seem to possess, he entered violently, so much so that for a moment he seemed to knock the door down. There was a loud crash coming from inside, and then the old man came out, dragging Bria, Angmar and Gavin tied like salami behind him. "So it was you all this time, eh? I could teach you a lesson you wouldn't easily forget, but I'm a gentleman; so I'll just take you to Bonesborough police station and hand you over to the authorities and ask for the most merciless judge thry have to be assigned to you, so you'll stay for a few years behind bars and you'll learn that crime doesn't pay!"
The three petty thieves became agitated and tried to say something, probably a plea, but the old owner had also gagged them and so no sound came out of their mouths. Amity and Luz couldn't help but giggle at that scene; seeing those pompous thieves scared like that gave them a strange satisfaction. As she laughed, Luz felt the familiar pattering of Gus and Willow along her back, segnaling that the two arthropods had just returned and they were hiding under her clothes again; strangely, for some reason it seemed to her that there was also a third arthropod among them.
After tying Bria, Angmar and Gavin to a post to prevent them from escaping, the old man headed towards Luz and Amity with a cheerful look: "Good work, girls. I finally managed to capture these criminals. How did you discover them? My old dog never noticed anything!"
Amity was about to reveal the disgusting agreement between the dog and the thieves, but Luz put a hand on her shoulder and stopped her with her gaze; Amity didn't understand why the puppet wanted to keep it a secret, but she decided she would ask her later, and so she told the first excuse that came to mind: "Just luck. Seeing that we were new here, those three delinquents tried to offer us a deal, proposing to divide the loot, and so we became aware of their presence"
"Oh, so they were even willing to bribe my guardians?" the old man exclaimed indignantly, gripping the club in his hand so tightly that he almost broke it even though it was made of solid wood.
"Apparently yes, but we didn't even think for an instant about accepting and in fact we deceived them to capture them" Luz replied with a lot of confidence in her voice. "Because neither Amity nor I are criminals. I may be a puppet with all the flaws in the world, and believe me I'm not joking about this, but it never crossed my mind to commit theft; and Amity may be a little snooty, pompous and arrogant, but she's honest"
Despite the final compliment Amity didn't seem to like that description of her, but before she could protest the old man burst into a loud laugh: "Ah ah, well done! I was wrong in judging you, I hope you can forgive me for my hasty decisions" he said, and taking a key he opened the collars and freed them. "You are free to go. Is there anything you want as a thank you and apology from me?"
"Just… don't tell anyone what happened here, okay?" Luz said, remembering well how Amity had reacted to the thought of someone finding out that she had been put in chains to act as a guard dog.
"As you wish! Thank you and see you then!" the old man told them; the two girls greeted him, and then ran away, heading back towards the main road.
In the original book, Pinocchio, after becoming the farmer's guard dog, is visited at night by a group of seven weasels who reveal to him that the dog Melampo was their accomplice in the thefts, and offer him to be their accomplice in exchange for a chicken; Pinocchio, however, pretends to accept the agreement and imprisons them in the henhouse and then calls the farmer who captures them and then gives them to an innkeeper to cook, and then frees Pinocchio as a reward for having been trustworthy. In this AU, the role of the weasels is covered by Bria, Angmar and Gavin (who call themselves the Gang of the Weasels, even though they are human), who propose a slightly different deal to Amity and Luz given that it also includes to give them back their freedom (basically, they do everything to corrupt them), and the two girls imprison them working together; furthermore the old man doesn't take the three thieves to the innkeeper to be cooked, for obvious reasons, and simply hands them over to the authorities. The fact that the chickens that Bria, Angmar and Gavin try to steal are called Galdorstones is a reference to the canon series, where they aim to find the Galdorstones and steal them from the guardian; the fact that Angmar rolled in the sand to capture Mattholomule shortly before instead serves to justify the fact that in the canon series he has golden skin (sincd he is a demon, which he is not here)
