No idea what the title is but I have the story! XD! (chp 3)

Maya and Thermione disappeared too, after agreeing to be back before four thirty. Vedette took a tighter grip of Bastian’s hand and plunged into the crowd after Eve. They went from stall to stall, buying all the things they needed. 1

It was freezing and Vedette’s shoes were soaked through by the time they stepped into a cake shop. The air was warm and smelt of freshly made bread. Even Bastian stopped whining long enough to sniff hopefully at the delicious aroma of cakes and baking. It was warm and dry and the temptation to linger was almost overwhelming but Vedette couldn’t help noticing the pools of muddy water seeping from their shoes onto the floor so she hustled Bastian over to the displays and distracted him while Eve ordered what they wanted.2

They stepped regretfully back into the street and found that the heavy rain had eased off into a fine drizzle. It was easier to see and, as the wind had dropped too; they no longer had to shout to make themselves heard. 3

Vedette handed Eve a plastic carrier bag and she carefully wrapped it around the large cardboard box she was carrying to stop it getting wet. Then they set off again. They headed in the direction of a stall selling shoes. Bastian smiled at the shop assistant and pulled off his sodden trainers.4

Bastian was very proud of his new shoes. They fitted better than his old ones had, they had proper laces, even if Vedette had to tie them for him and, best of all, they kept his feet warm and dry. His old shoes and the wet socks he’d been wearing earlier were bundled up in one of the shopping bags. Normally he’d have jumped in every puddle he could see but he didn’t want to get his shoes wet so he stepped carefully around them. He was so intent on keeping his feet dry he almost didn’t see the crowd of people at the end of a street.5

He was just sticking his tongue out at another puddle he’d succeeded in avoiding when he heard the shouts and turned round. “Ved, look!” There was a large crowd at the end of the street and policemen were shouting and blowing their whistles. A figure had pulled himself up onto the roof of one of the houses and was making his way along the slippery tiles, very carefully. 6

“It’s Maya. I bet he’s been stealing things again.” whispered Eve, looking disgusted.7

“He always gives the stuff back.” pointed out Bastian.8

“That’s not the point. I wonder where Thermione’s got to; he can’t be far.” As though magically summoned Thermione darted out of an alley and ran, deliberately, straight into the nearest policeman.9

Marbles flew everywhere. They bounced off the pavement and rolled into the gutter, making little clinking sounds whenever they hit each other. One of the policemen tried to run along to the next house, determined to cut off Maya’s escape, but skidded and landed hard on the concrete pavement. 10

There was chaos. People slipped and slid as Thermione started making a huge fuss, telling people not to tread on his precious marbles and berating the policeman for running into him, though any witness could have told him that the opposite had happened.11

Normally no one would have listened to a boy no more than fifteen yelling about his marbles but Thermione looked so impressive, standing above them all with his head thrown back, his hands on his hips and his bright green eyes gleaming angrily, that people started to scramble around, picking up the little sparkling balls, wiping the mud off them and returning them to their rightful owner. 12

Thermione stood there, scowling heavily, one arm outstretched as the marbles were dropped, one by one into his cupped hand, but Eve, Vedette and Bastian knew he was enjoying every minute of it. Every so often he put his full hand into his pocket to deposit the marbles but other than that he kept completely still13

“Come on, we’ve seen enough.” said Vedette when there were only thirty or so marbles lying around. 14

“Awwww, I want to see the policemen’s faces when they realise Maya’s got away but left the stuff he nicked lying on the pavement.” complained Bastian as Vedette dragged him up a side street. 15

Maya was leaning against a wall, laughing hysterically. “Did you see their expressions when he started yelling at everyone to pick all the marbles up?” he asked helplessly. Bastian started to giggle too and Eve sighed.16

“You should be a lot more careful, Maya. What if they’d actually caught you? What did you steal anyway?”17

Maya grinned. “Pearl necklace and a ring. And it’s good practice in case we ever need to steal to live.” he said proudly. Eve rolled her eyes.18

At that moment Thermione appeared, a bit red in the face from running. “Hiya. Did it work?” 19

“Perfectly. I put the stuff back, got away and I’m all in one piece.” Maya answered cheerfully.20

“We’ll have to go and buy some more oil though.”21

“What do you mean, more oil?” asked Vedette suspiciously. Thermione scuffed his shoes on the pavement but Maya didn’t seem ashamed at all.22

“We coat the marbles in oil before we use them so people drop them and slip on them more.” he said happily.23

“I guess your jacket will need a wash if you’ve had oily marbles in the pockets then.” said Eve, annoyed.24

By the time they had made their way to the hardware store, bought some oil and traipsed to another market stall to see if they could get a jacket for Maya, it was getting late. The stall hadn’t had a jacket the right size for Maya; with one he had had to roll the cuffs back five times in order to use his hands but the next size down was too tight across the shoulders so they’d given up. 25

“Time to get back or Gem’ll be wondering what on earth’s happened to us.” Eve remarked. It wasn’t as crowded now because nearly all of the stalls had packed up ready to go and most of the shoppers had decided to head for a warm house, dry clothes and a cup of something hot.26

The group of children wove their way through the maze of streets and alleys in a very long route and finally ended up at the back entrance to the library. Bastian crawled through first, then Thermione, then Maya, then Vedette and Eve came last. They were a bit late so they expected Gem to be waiting to greet them, but a swift yet thorough search of the library yielded nothing. It appeared deserted and everything was as they had left it.27

Two hours later, when there was still no sign of Gem, Vedette got to her feet. “I’m going to look for him.” she announced.28

“Me too.” cried Bastian, bouncing to his feet. 29

“No, you don’t, I’m going alone. You stay where it’s safe. If something’s gone wrong I don’t want you around.” 30

Bastian threw back his head and screamed. Vedette tried putting her hands over her ears but it didn’t help. 31

“Neither of you are going.” said Eve sharply “I’ll go on my own. I won’t be long.” Before any of them could stop her she got to her feet and left the room. Bastian stopped screaming and sat looking very sulky. Thermione tried to put his arm round him but he pushed him away and turned his back on them all. Vedette sighed and left him to it.