The Thief Lord

Out in the alley a few women were gossiping. They fell silent when they saw Victor come out of the abandoned movie theater, but he greeted them as if there was absolutely nothing strange about him being there. As they watched, he carefully closed the boarded-up door and went home with his tortoises.

26 The Break-in

"Now, would you believe this?" Riccio shouted when they discovered the empty bathroom and Victor's scrawls on the wall. "We'll have to catch him again right away."

"Oh yes? And how?" asked Mosca. On the blanket was the radio. Assembled. Perfect. Mosca sat down next to it and started to riddle with the dials. The others were still standing in front of Victor's scribbled message.

"Well, we have to believe him, we've got no choice," Hornet said. "Or do you want to go looking for a new hideout right now, Riccio?" she asked. "And what about the break-in and the deal with the Conte? Do you want to forget about all that just because the snoop has told us to?"

"No, I don't," said Riccio. "He'll only find out about the break-in once it's done. And by then we'll be long gone with our money. Somewhere."

Riccio stared at Victor's scrawl. Then he turned abruptly and vanished into the auditorium.

Hornet wanted to follow him, but Prosper held her back. "Hold on," he said, "do you still want to steal the wing? Don't you get it? Scipio has never done a break-in in his life!"

"Who's talking about Scipio?" Hornet crossed her arms. "We'll do it without Scipio. The Conte won't care who gets the wing for him. And once we've got the five million, we won't need anyone. No adults, and definitely no Thief Lord. Maybe we should do it tonight. The sooner the better. What do you think? Are you with us?"

"And what about Bo?" Prosper shook his head. "No. If you really want to risk your neck, that's fine. I wish you luck. But I won't do it. My aunt's coming to Venice in two days' time. By then Bo and I will have left the city. I'll try to sneak us on to a ship or an airplane -- anything that'll get us away from here. Other people have done it before. It was in the paper a few days ago."

"Yes, and I could kick myself for reading it to you. Don't you understand?" Hornet's voice sounded angry, but there were also tears in her eyes. "That's even more crazy than sneaking into some house. We all belong together now, you and Bo, Riccio, Mosca and me. We're sort of a family now and ..."

"Hey guys, come here!" Mosca shouted from the men's bathroom. "I think that snoop really did repair my radio. Even the cassette's working again."

But Prosper and Hornet didn't react.

"Think about it!" Hornet said. Her voice sounded so anxious it caused Prosper to have second thoughts. "Please!" Then she ran after Riccio.

Dinner was canceled. None of them was hungry and one by one they settled down into a troubled sleep. Prosper dreamed he was with Bo, back in the train that had brought them to Venice. They were looking for a seat, but whenever Prosper opened the door to a compartment, Esther was already sitting behind it. Suddenly Victor stood in front of them. Prosper turned around and yanked open the nearest door he could find. But behind it was nothing but darkness. Black, limitless darkness. Before he could draw back he had already fallen into it. And Bo was no longer with him.

Prosper woke up suddenly. He was drenched in sweat. Around him was nothing but the cold black night. Prosper felt for the flashlight that he always kept next to his mattress and switched it on. Hornet's mattress was empty. She was gone -- and so was Bo! Prosper jumped up. He ran to Riccio's mattress and pulled open the sleeping bag. Nothing but grubby stuffed animals. Mosca's blanket was thrown in a heap just covering his old radio.

They were gone. All gone. With Bo.

Prosper guessed immediately where they would be. He ran to the cupboard that held everything Mosca had collected for the break-in: a rope, the floor plans, the sausages for the dogs, shoe polish to blacken their faces -- all had vanished.

But why did they take Bo? Prosper wondered in desperation while he got dressed. How could Hornet have allowed it?

The moon hung high above the city as Prosper rushed out of the movie theater. The alleys lay empty and gray wisps of fog floated eerily over the canal.

Prosper ran. His steps rang out loudly on the pavement, adding to his fears. He had to catch up with the others before they climbed over the wall, before they broke into the house. His head was full of images of policemen carrying off a struggling Bo, taking away Hornet and Mosca, dragging away Riccio by his hedgehog hair.

The Accademia Bridge was extremely slippery in the fog. High above the Grand Canal, Prosper fell and grazed his knee. He fought for breath and continued his long journey on shaking legs. Soon, there was only one more alley to go through before he'd be stumbling into the Campo Santa Margherita. The house of Ida Spavento was on the right, nearly at the opposite end of the square. None of the windows were lit. Prosper ran up to the door and listened. Nothing. Of course not. The entrance to the alley that led to the garden looked very creepy.

After a few steps through the pitch-black darkness the way became lighter. The garden wall of the Casa Spavento rose between the closely built houses in front of him. There was a dark shape sitting on top of it. As soon he saw it, Prosper felt both angry and relieved.

The figure on the wall looked down at him. Despite the blackened face he recognized Hornet immediately.

"Where's Bo?" Prosper gasped. "Why did you take him with you? Bring him back here right now!"

"Calm down!" Hornet hissed back. "We didn't bring him along. He followed us, and then he threatened to wake up the whole Campo Santa Margherita if we didn't help him over the wall. What else could we have done? You know how stubborn he can be."

"Is he inside?" Prosper nearly choked on his fears.

"Catch!" Hornet threw him the rope she'd been rolling up. Prosper automatically tied it around his wrist and climbed up. The wall was high and rough and he cut his hands on the jagged stones. Once he'd reached the top, Hornet quietly gathered up the rope and helped him to lower himself into the garden. His mouth was dry with fear as he finally reached the ground again. Hornet threw him the end of the rope and then she jumped down herself.

The dry leaves crackled underneath their feet as they crept toward the house. Mosca and Riccio had already started working on the kitchen door. Riccio had blackened his face like Hornet. Bo hid behind Mosca's back when he saw Prosper approaching.

"I should have left you with Esther!" Prosper hissed angrily at his little brother. "I'm taking you away right now, come on." He tried to pull Bo from behind Mosca's back, but Bo slipped away.

"No, I'm staying!" he shouted -- so loudly that Mosca immediately pressed his hand over Bo's mouth. Riccio and Hornet looked anxiously toward the top-floor windows. They stayed dark. "Just leave him, Prosper, please!" Hornet whispered. "It'll be OK."

Mosca slowly took his hand off Bo's mouth. "Don't do that again, please?" he breathed. "I thought I was going to die."

"Are the dogs here?" Prosper asked.

Hornet shook her head. "At least we haven't heard them yet," she whispered.

Riccio knelt down again in front of the kitchen door. Mosca shined his flashlight at the lock.