THE STORY OF ARPEGGIO AFTER SLY TURNED MATTERS TO CLOCK-LA CONTINUED: I watched Neyla as she hoarded her load into a bag with a dollar sign marked on it. It was faint at first, but I finally caught what she was saying. "This is BLOODY brilliant! If only Arpeggio coud see me when I'm RICH!!" Neyla continued loading gold into the bag until she decided it was full enough. Then, she tucked the top under her arm and pulled-only the bag didn't budge. "Oh, poop. Now I'll have to put some of it back!" I watched as she unloaded the bag to about half the weight she had had it before. Then she dragged it along. As I watched I had that feeling that someone was watching me. I turned quickly and saw two eyes staring at me in the dark. I could tell they belonged to some sort of cat-like creature. I spun to look for Neyla, thinking she might have spotted me. But when I looked, I found she was still unloading. I looked back. The eyes didn't look nearly as menacing as hers, anyway. "Who...WHAT are you?" I asked softly, looking into the eyes of my attacker. "Who, me?" the creature asked. The voice was that of a female's. I nodded. "First, who are YOU?" she continued. "No, no, I asked you first." I said, shaking my head and putting my wings on my hips. "Okay, okay." she said, not sounding the least bit afraid or worried. The creature emerged from the bushes, and I found she was a tall wildcat. In one hand she carried a scepter that ran into a point at the end. The other arm lay plainly at her side. "My name is Kara. I am a sorceress. Well, a thief too. I use my abilities to help me in theiving." she explained. "So...are you a part of the Cooper Gang?" I asked, shaking a bit. "No, but I have been searching for them for........reasons that I can't explain right now." she said with a shy grin. "So what, pray tell, are you stalking ME for, then?" I asked, my fear easing a bit. "Well, I-is that Constable Neyla?!?" she softly shouted. "Y-yes..." I said, hoping Neyla hadn't heard her. I turned to where Neyla was now tugging the bag along the road. "Well, what are we waiting for?!? Let's go get 'er!" Kara's scepter flashed a bit. "No! No! Wait!" I whispered sharply before she could do anything. "What are you stopping ME for?!? Neyla is a double-crossing crook! As I was saying before, I was watching you because I read in the paper about how she trashed your blimp. I didn't think you were still alive! Everyone says that you're dead!" "I am stopping you because I know that it wouldn't be proper to just waltz over there and attack. We need a better plan." Kara stopped. She brought her free hand to her chin. "You know...you're right. Maybe I could plan something. But I'd need...y'know...some brains for the operation." she said, looking my direction. "Where is THIS going?" I asked, raising an eyebrow at her. She just smiled slyly at me. I didn't like that at all. It made me feel uneasy. "You and I could conspire together to stop Neyla! It'd be perfect! And you could be the brains, and I would do all the thieving we need and-" "Ah, ah, AH!" I said, putting a feather up to shush her. "As you should very well guess, in my situation I will need to have a lot more trust in you before we can start ANYthing like this." "I have proof you can trust me!" she said, the sly smile still remaining. She held a photograph out to me. "This is me with my second cousin Rajan, twice removed. We're pretty close, as you can see in this picture. Although he's pretty angry with me now, for having a crush on the hippopo-" she stopped suddenly, and covered her mouth with her free hand. "Never mind all that. But anyway this is REAL proof." I shook my head. "I don't know...it could be a-" Suddenly, a projection of Rajan came from Kara's scepter. "Kara! While you're in Paris, don't forget to tell Dimitri about my new rug I had made just for him! It's very important that you-" "Okay, I got it, cousin Rajan! I'll tell him, already!" she waved her hand over the projection and it disappeared, inturrupting Rajan's protests. "If that's not proof, I don't know what is." Kara said, grinning smugly and lowering her scepter. "Alright, alright, I trust you. But we must come up with something quick...my new friend." I said, returning her grin. Then we both looked to Neyla, like two hunters and their prey. We were so close, yet I knew this would be the start of a new and preposterous adventure.