Crow startled at the sound of Penelope’s voice. He turned to see her moving to sit up in her bed. Apparently, she hadn’t been asleep like he had thought. He hesitated, wondering what to say to her. The thief had been planning to sneak out and brush up on his technique by hitting a few easy targets before the sun came up. With the Younisian palace so close, he wanted to be as prepared as he could get, and that meant shaking off some dust. But he couldn’t let Penelope know that.

He lingered awkwardly in the doorway, avoiding her searching eyes. “I was just going out for a walk,” he lied. “Don’t worry, love. I’ll be back before morning. Just go to sleep. We probably won’t have any time to rest again before tomorrow night, so you should get some shut eye while you still—” he paused, hearing a break in Hartley’s snores. He glanced at the middle bed, where the boy was rolling over from one side to the other.

[i]Don’t wake up,[/i] Crow tensed. It was one thing to shake Penelope off his tail, but it was quite another to lose the stubborn young thief. Fortunately, Hartley settled down again after a moment, and his soft snores resumed.

Crow let out his breath in relief. He turned to leave the room, hoping Penelope would take the hint that he wanted to be alone. If she tried to follow him, he knew she would stop him from stealing. He needed to leave her here if he wanted to get some practice in.

“Goodnight,” Crow whispered, reaching for the door handle. He prayed silently that she would be too tired to object to him taking off on his own. [i]It’s just one night,[/i] he pleaded. [i]Please don’t try to follow me…[/i]