There were only two public telephones in Portorosso. One was at the post office in town, while the other was just outside the train station. When they got there, the group found that a man who had gotten off the train was already using it, so Professor Hamid sat down on the bench next to the phone booth to wait. The wind was chilly, and she pulled her grey coat tightly closed around her neck.

"Why don't you use the phone at Signora Marsigliese's grocery store?" Alberto suggested. That was the phone Luca's parents used to talk to him in Genova, since Massimo didn't have one. "Then you won't have to pay for it."

"Somebody always has to pay for a long-distance call," the Professor replied. "When I called Napoli from the hostel, I asked Signor Gammachio to add it to the charge for my room."

The train's bell rang as it began to pull out of the station again. Professor Hamid looked up for a moment, as if she were questioning her decision to stay, but then she squared her shoulders and sat up straight with her purse in her lap.

Luca sat down next to her. "What was that word you called us?" he wanted to know. "Ab... something?"

"Apkallu," said the Professor. "There's a man at the University of Bologna, Dr. Urbano Cozzolino, who is a specialist in the ancient Near East. He has a picture in his office with a relief from Nimrud showing the Apkallu, the god Oannes and his followers. The fish-people."

"That's what the genie called us, Children of Oannes," said Luca with a nod.

"Yes. I see why."

"Is that who you're going to call? Dr. Cozzolino?" was Luca's next question. He hoped so, because it sounded as if this man could definitely answer his questions about sea monster history. Even with everything else that was going on, Luca was still curious.

"Yes, actually," said Professor Hamid. "He's got some, uh, rather fringe sorts of side interests. He did his PhD work in America, with a man who spent much of career studying how ancient cultures related to the supernatural. I've read a couple of his books and I always assumed they were at least three quarters fiction. Now I'm not so sure anymore... but if we need an expert in magic, Dr. Cozzolino is the closest one I can think of."

They were not the only people waiting. On the opposite side of the main door was another bench, where a man in a beige suit was sitting, checking his watch. He had a narrow moustache, and dark hair aggressively combed and greased into place in a largely failed attempt to disguise his bald spot. He gave them an awkward wave.

"Bawn-jerr-no!" he called out, in a thick accent none of the children could place.

Professor Hamid must have known it, though, because without hesitation she replied in what Giulia recognized as English. "Good morning."

The man put on a huge stetson hat, the same beige as his suit, and began to stand up, as if to join them for further conversation. Before he could speak, however, a distraction appeared in the form of Ercole, rumbling up on his cherry-red Vespa.

The man in the suit smiled. "Aha!" he called out. "You must be Mister Visconti!"

"The one and only," replied Ercole, hopping off the moped to shake the man's hand. "Benvenuto a Portorosso, Signor Harris!" He turned to look at the kids, and gave them a very nasty smile.

Giulia and the boys frowned and looked at each other, to see if anyone had a guess who this visitor was and why Ercole, of all people, had showed up to greet him. Nobody did, so they just sat and watched as Ercole escorted him away, talking just a bit too softly for anyone to hear.

"I don't like that," Alberto muttered.

"That's the boy who was working at the hostel," said Professor Hamid, "the one who told me you three were the experts on sea monsters. Who is he?"

"That's Ercole," said Giulia. "He's just a jerk."

"He doesn't like us because we beat him in the race this year," Alberto added.

"What sort of race?" asked the Professor.

"Triathlon," Giulia told her. "Swimming, pasta-eating, and cycling."

Professor Hamid nodded. "I'm guessing the swimming part was the decisive victory."

"Nope, it was the cycling," said Luca proudly.

"Luca's the fastest in town," Alberto agreed with a grin.

The Professor looked startled, but then smiled. "Pardon me for stereotyping," she said.

Ercole and his guest drove away, and the man using the phone finished his call and stepped out of the booth. He nodded to Professor Hamid, who returned the gesture, and then she and the kids squeezed into the tiny space.

"Operator?" the Professor said to the phone. "I would like to make a call to the office of Dr. Urbano Cozzolino at the University of Bologna."

"One moment, please," said the voice on the line.

They waited, and then Professor Hamid was instructed to insert what really seemed like an exorbitant amount of money, which had to go into the slot one coin at a time. Then they had to wait while the phone rang... and rang, and rang, and rang. Luca counted six, seven, and then eight rings before somebody picked up.

"Hello?" a voice growled. "I hope this is important. I am supervising a deferred examination and I asked not to be disturbed."

"I'm sorry," said Professor Hamid. "Am I speaking to Dr. Cozzolino? You might remember me. My name is Hafsah Hamid. You and I had a rather, uh, impassioned argument, when I attended your talk about your advisor's work in Jordan."

"Oh," said Cozzolino. "Yes. The Egyptian lady. I hope you're not calling just to continue that discussion..."

"No, not at all," she assured him. "In fact, I believe I may owe you an apology. I've just seen the most remarkable thing. Um." She looked at the children and licked her lips. "I've come to a little town in the Cinque Terre to investigate a possible Romano-Egyptian shipwreck, and the young people who found it told me there was a bottle in the wreckage with a genie in it..."

She was gritting her teeth, as if in expectation of being laughed at, but the statement seemed to get Cozzolino's attention at once. "A genie?" he asked, with sudden urgency. "Did they make any wishes?"

"One of them did, in fact," said the Professor. "I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it myself, but..." she glanced at the kids and swallowed. "Maybe I should let them explain this."

"Yes, please, let me talk to them," Cozzolino said.

The Professor handed the phone to Giulia, while Alberto and Luca leaned in close to listen. They could hear distant voices, and the sound of a door being shut and locked. Then papers moved around, as if somebody were looking for something.

"Hello?" asked Giulia.

"Yes, hello," said Cozzolino. "Are you the one who made the wish, Signorina?"

"Yes, Sir," she replied. Was he going to as just what she'd wished for? Would he believe it if she told him? Professor Hamid was willing to believe in genies because she'd seen sea monsters, but did that work the other way around? She couldn't show him over the phone.

"And it came true? Has that hurt anyone?"

"No," she said. "My parents are a little upset but my wish wasn't the problem. It's what the genie's done since. He's been making people disappear and we don't know where he took them or what he did with them."

"All right... have you had an opportunity to ask him?"

"No," she repeated. "We don't know where he is. We saw him once, at the shipwreck where we found the bottle, but we don't know where he went after that."

"I see." The man's sign rustled in the earpiece, and she could hear more papers being moved. "Let me see here... I know that once you've lost control of a genie there are ways to get it back, but it's not exactly easy." Giulia heard book pages flipping. "That wish you made... do you want to tell me what it was?"

Giulia winced. "Not really."

"All right. Did you... use it up, so to speak?"

What did he mean by that? "Yes?" she said. "The genie said I got one wish, so I used it."

"No," said Cozzolino, "what I meant was... is what you wished for still around? Say... say you wished for a chocolate bar. Did you eat the chocolate? Because if you did, then it's gone and you can't get it back. Or did you wish to do something and now you've already done it? For this to work, it needs to be something you still have."

"Yes. I still have it," said Giulia with a sinking feeling. At that moment she knew in her gut that the only way to fix this was going to be to take her wish back. That would probably make her parents happier, and she could stop worrying about how she was going to keep it secret at school... but Luca's mom had been going to teach her to cook, and she'd wanted to learn how to understand whales and to try watching the goatfish, and all those other things they'd talked about doing when they thought it was forever.

Luca had realized the same thing, and thought immediately of her telling him to take the biggest helping of dessert because it wasn't like she'd never be able to come back. That was a silly thing to be concerned about, but... they'd made plans. Giulia would still be their friend if she wasn't a sea monster, just like she'd been before, but he'd had so many more things he wanted to show her.

"All right, second question," Dr. Cozzolino said. "Your friend said the genie came out of a bottle. Do you still have the bottle?"

"No, Sir," said Giulia. "We looked for it when we were cleaning my room, but it was gone. We think the genie might've..."

"It'll have destroyed it," sighed Cozzolino. "It knows you can use that to recapture it. Mannaggia! Okay." He took another deep breath. "I'm not sure... what is this genie made out of? Is it a water spirit? Air? Please say it's not air..."

"Sand," said Giulia.

"He leaves it everywhere," Alberto added. "Every place he's been, there's sand all over."

"Oh, good," said Cozzolino, relieved. "That's perfect. Do you have any of that? The sand?"

"I threw the stuff in my room out the window," said Giulia, "but there's probably still a bunch of it in the houses where the missing people were." She remembered how it had been all over in the Trota house, and on the table in Luca's place, too, though they'd paid less attention.

"Good! Gather up as much of that as you can," Cozzolino instructed, "because if you don't have the original bottle you have to make one that contains some of the genie's own substance. You'll have to find a glassblower..."

"We have one!" Luca said, loudly to be sure Dr. Cozzolino would hear him. "Signor Donzella can do that!"

"My Dad and I used to bring him old bottles to melt down and re-use," Alberto agreed.

"Good, that's a good first step," said Cozzolino, relieved. "I'm going to have to get in touch with my advisor for more information now... there are some manuscripts we need that I don't have access to, but he does. And... what time is it? I'll have to wait a few hours, because it's about four in the morning where he is right now. Can you give the phone back to the Egyptian lady, please?"

Giulia handed it over, and the kids stood around impatiently while Professor Hamid gave Dr. Cozzolino the number for Signor Gamacchio's hostel. She then thanked him for his time and said goodbye, and hung up with a smile that melted away when she saw the kids' worried expressions.

"He's going to talk to his mentor, Dr. Jones, in West Viriginia," she explained. "He's the one who wrote the books I mentioned. He claims to have encountered everything from the Ark of the Covenant to saucer men from Mars. Two hours ago I thought it was all nonsense."

They nodded, but all three remained glum.

"I'm afraid nothing happens quickly in academia," said Professor Hamid. "Especially when your collaborators are on the other side of the world."

"We know that," said Luca, although honestly it had not occurred to him that such things might affect communication. Giulia's textbook had shown him how it was day on one side of the world and night on the other, and one of his classes at school had introduced the concept of time zones, but he'd never thought of it in terms of how it would affect things like communication and travel. "Is Giulia gonna have to give up her wish, though?"

"I don't know," Professor Hamid admitted. "Like I said, when I was growing up I was taught that all djinn are evil, but I also remember reading that some Muslims believe djinn can choose to follow God and do good. I never paid a lot of attention, though, because even when I was little I didn't believe in things like that. I... suppose I'm going to need to re-assess a number of things."

They began walking back up the hill towards the hostel. On the way, Alberto pulled out the drawing he'd made, which was still damp from the fire hose, and unfolded it. "We think we need protection before we go back in the water, so does this count as an another amulet?"

The Professor took the paper and examined it. "That's very well done," she said. "Good job. I think it might. The ancient Egyptians would make amulets out of almost anything. We've found stone ones, metal ones, clay ones, glass ones, and there's writings on things like mummy wrappings that can be considered amulets. I don't recall seeing anything similar on papyrus, but I'm sure it happened." She frowned thoughtfully. "That specific type of Bes amulet, though... I've only seen that in metal and stone, although there might have been clay or paper ones that didn't survive."

"We should try to make more of them one way or another," said Luca, "because the genie was able to recognize us when he saw us on land."

"The ancients would have made that using the lost wax method," Professor Hamid said. "They would make one out of wax, then press clay around it. When they fired the clay, the wax would melt out and leave a hollow. Then they could fill that with molten metal and when it cooled, break the clay to get it out."

"I bet Signor Donzella knows how to do that, too," Giulia offered.

"Yeah, but it sounds like a lot of work, and you only get one of them," Luca pointed out. "We'll need a bunch. And where are we gonna get the gold?"

"Other metals would work, too," Professor Hamid reminded them. "The ancients used a lot of copper."

"I've got a couple of copper pots with my stuff out at the Island!" Alberto said.

They reached the hostel door to find that Uncle Ugo had won the chess game – he was now rearranging the pieces to start again, while Signor Gamacchio suggested things his unusual guests might do to occupy their time in Portorosso.

"We've got a little theatre that sometimes shows movies in the evenings," he was saying. "They're older films, mostly, but as close as many of us will ever get to seeing the world..."

"I have no interest in seeing any part of the world where there's less than a mile of water above my head," Uncle Ugo declared, "and now I've been up here again I'm all the more sure of it."

"You've been up here before?" asked Signor Donzella.

The bell on the door jingled as Professor Hamid and the children came in, and Signor Gamacchio looked up, worried. "Welcome back, Professor," he said. "Did you miss your train?"

"No... these three persuaded me to stay a little longer and look into some things," the Professor replied. "I hope the room is still available. I've asked a colleague to contact me here."

"No problem at all. I don't think Mirella has even been in there to clean it yet," Signor Gamacchio replied.

The kids did notice Professor Hamid taking a sideways look at Uncle Ugo, still not sure what to make of him. Was she going to think all sea monsters were like him? Maybe not. She'd thought Luca and Alberto were perfectly ordinary, so she must understand that Uncle Ugo was odd even for a sea monster, right?

It was also difficult to miss how nervous Signor Gamacchio suddenly looked, and Luca remembered that they'd asked him not to let Professor Hamid find out that Uncle Ugo was here. He had better reassure everybody that this was okay, or at least as okay as anything could be right now.

"Professor," said Luca, "the other gentleman is Signor Donzella. He's the underwater blacksmith we mentioned."

"Oh, so we're telling her now," Signor Gamacchio said, his relief audible.

"Silvestro," Donzella introduced himself.

"Hafsah," she replied. She looked relieved, too, probably because Donzella was so much more ordinary-looking than Uncle Ugo.

"Luca, you've still got that amulet, right?" asked Albert.

"Yeah. Right here." Luca gave it to him.

Alberto stepped forward to show the object to Signor Donzella. "You think you could make more of these?"

Donzella took it and held it up in his uninjured left hand. "I don't see why not. I'd just need the metal and a couple of pieces of cuttlebone."

"Cuttlebone?" asked Professor Hamid.

"Yes. It's perfect for copying small metal items," he explained. "It'll take an impression of them and hold the shape, and it can withstand the temperatures when you pour metal into it. How do humans do it?"

Before the Professor could answer, the bell on the door jingled again, and three more people arrived. The first was Ciccio, proudly holding the door for Giordana, who had Arturo in tow. Arturo was wearing his new shirt and hat, and his aunts had found him a pair of trousers and sandals besides. Giordana's long curling hair was up in a ponytail today, and she had on a rather old-fashioned floral dress with a white collar.

"This is Signor Gamacchio's," Ciccio announced. "He sells books and newspapers, and he's also got rooms upstairs he rents to people from out of town, like the lady there. Good morning!" he added to the people already in the room. The shop, not really intended for more than four or five at a time, was now quite crowded. "This is Giordana. She's staying with her great aunts so I offered to show her and her brother around the town." He looked at Alberto for approval of this plan.

Alberto gave him a thumbs-up.

"Attinia's kids? Good to know you're okay," said Signor Donzella.

He had been told already that Arturo and Giordana were in town, but this was the first they knew about his presence. Arturo must have recognized his voice, because he immediately addressed the man by name.

"Signor Donzella, is Silviolino here, too?" Arturo asked hopefully. Donzella's son was about Arturo's age, and the two boys sometimes played together.

"No, he was with his mother," Signor Donzella replied sadly. "Luca promised me they're going to find everybody, though."

The bell then jingled again. People moved back against the shelves to make room as the door opened to reveal the man Ercole had met at the train station, still in his suit and stetson hat. He was carrying a suitcase with a number of stickers on it.

"Skyoozi, sonny," he said to Ciccio, and then pushed past without waiting for him to finish getting out of the way. "There's supposed to be a Simon Gamma-Chio here somewhere?" he asked in his thick accent.

"That's me," Signor Gamacchio replied, standing up straighter behind the counter. "Can I help you, Signor...?"

"Dave Harris," the man introduced himself cheerfully. "Looking for a place to stay for a couple of days. This ain't exactly five star accomodations but the kid said it was the only place in town... if you got room, that is," he added, looking around at the crowd of people in the little shop.

"No, no, there's room. Just a moment here." Signor Gamacchio got out his receipt book flipped through it, looking for an empty page. "What brings you to Portorosso, Signor Harris?"

"Visconti kid said he was gonna shop me a sea monster," Harris replied.

It had already been quiet in the room, with everybody wary of this stranger. Now the kids could have sworn they heard everyone stop breathing. Signor Gamacchio looked around at a crowd that consisted of rather more sea monsters than human beings, swallowed, and said, "oh?"

"He said the place was crawling with 'em," Harris affirmed. "I run a sideshow at Coney Island in New York, you see. It'd be a heck of a thing to show the world, eh? A real live sea monster? Blow all those taxidermy mermaids right out of the water. Ha! Get it?" He looked around with a grin on his face, but nobody laughed.

"Tough crowd," he remarked.

Somebody had to say something. Giulia took the initiative. "Santo Parmigiano!" she exclaimed. "Ercole and his sea monsters again!" Luca nodded and grimaced, and Alberto rolled his eyes theatrically.

"A boy his age ought to know better," Uncle Ugo agreed, without missing a beat.

"Even Arturo doesn't believe in sea monsters!" Giordana chimed in helpfully.

"That's baby stuff!" Arturo declared.

Harris chuckled. "A skeptical lot, eh? I'm used to it. People said the same thing about the Abominable Snowman, but I've got him on ice, waiting for me in Paris! Bringing him back to New York with me would be enough, but if I can get a sea monster, too... just you wait! In six months, you'll be bragging that this is the place where Dave Harris of Coney Island got his sea monster!"

Signor Gamacchio swallowed hard. "You can have room four, Signor Harris. You'll be on the third floor, right next to Professor Hamid." The second floor would have put him next to Donzella, and that was far too risky. "She's in town investigating a shipwreck found off the coast."

"A treasure hunt?" asked Harris, interested.

"Historical treasures, Mr. Harris," she replied calmly. "Stones and bottles, rather than gold and jewels."

Harris was clearly disappointed. "Well, lead the way, Mister Gamma-Chio," he said. "I like my meat well done at dinner, eggs sunny-side-up for breakfast."

Everybody else stood and watched silently as Gamacchio led the man upstairs. The door at the top opened and shut.

Ciccio cleared his throat. "Well," he said loudly, waving Giordana and Arturo towards the door, "next stop, the Latteria! I'll buy you some gelato!" He looked at Alberto and grinned – he knew sea monsters liked gelato.

Alberto gave him two thumbs up.

"This town seems like a very... stressful place to live," Professor Hamid observed.

"Not really," said Giulia. "Not usually. This kind of thing only goes on when there are strangers in town."

The Professor checked her watch. "It'll still be a few hours before Urbano can talk to his friend in America. I don't know if you kids want to sit around and wait with me..."

"I should go let out my parents' fish," Luca said, "and the crabs and the fry will need feeding. I should probably take a look at everybody else's livestock, too. Can I have the amulet back, please?"

"Here." Signor Donzella handed it to him. "Too bad there are no cuttlefish up here."

Giulia suddenly thought of something. "No, we've got cuttlebones!" she said. "Signorina Repetto sells them at the Farmacia. People buy them for pet birds to peck at."

"Why?" asked Alberto, puzzled.

"I dunno, it's just something birds do," said Giulia. "If I bring one back, you can make us more amulets, right?" she asked Donzella. "We'll each need one, and you and Uncle Ugo, and Arturo's family..."

"I'd need more than one," he said. "They'll keep the metal in for one casting but not for two. They start to singe and crack. I don't know if I'm gonna be able to help you, though," he warned. "Remember, your doctor told me not to get this wet." He held up his injured hand. He couldn't go back to the forge as long as he had the plaster and splint on his thumb.

"Then we'll just have to do it up here," Alberto decided. "Humans do the same sorts of things, right? I know they make stuff out of metal. You know how to do it," he pointed at Professor Hamid.

"I've seen it done," she corrected.

"I've never worked with metal in air," Donzella added. "I don't think it's going to cool the same way it does in water and I'd hate to damage anything..."

"Silenzio Bruno," Alberto told him. "We'll figure it out. Come on, let's go get those cuttlebones." He grabbed Luca's arm. "If we've got more amulets, Giulia and I can help you with your chores." He started to drag his friends out of the shop.

"You will have to tell Simone you are not on holiday after all," Uncle Ugo said to Donzella.

"We'll be right back, Professor!" Giulia called.

Signorina Repetto at the Farmacia was surprised but pleased to see them again. "Morning, kids," she said cheerfully. "Are you back for your Christmas present?" She had evidently remembered that the boys had said the camera was a surprise for Giulia, and didn't want to name the item in front of her.

"No, we need a cuttlebone," Giulia said. "Actually, a few cuttlebones, since we're probably going to wreck some."

That was a curious request as far as Signorina Repetto could tell. "Whatever for?"

"Long story," said Alberto.

"Signor Donzella is going to show us how to use them as moulds for jewelry," Giulia explained.

"I've never heard of that. You'll have to tell me all about it," Signorina Repetto said. She took a couple of the items off a shelf for them. "I'll keep one back, if you don't mind. Signor Bruzzone has that pet parrot that goes through them at an alarming rate, and he'll be upset if I haven't got one for him."

Luca stood silently for a moment, then cleared his throat and spoke up. "Signorina Repetto... when we were here a few days ago, you had a newspaper, and you said there was an article about somebody catching the Abominable Snowman?"

"Oh, yeah!" Alberto exclaimed. "He's here in town!"

"Who? The Snowman?" asked Signorina Repetto, startled.

"No, the man who caught him," Alberto said. "He's got a funny accent and he's staying at Signor Gamacchio's hostel."

"Oh, I see." Signorina Repetto was visibly disappointed. "What's he doing here?"

"That's the thing," said Luca. "Ercole told him we have sea monsters."

"Oh, dear. Well, don't worry," she assured them. "He won't hear a word from me. Especially not if he's the kind of man who traps monsters to put them in cages. Imagine thinking that's a way to treat your neighbours!"

"Do you still have the paper?" Luca wanted to know.

She thought about it. "I don't remember seeing it again. Ercole might have taken it with him when I sacked him later that day. That boy just doesn't understand what 'work' means," she added, shaking her head. "He thought I was going to pay him for standing around all day talking about himself."

"That must be where he got Signor Harris' name," Luca observed.

"I'd say Aristide Visconti needs to have a word with his son, but he was just the same at that age, I remember," Signorina Repetto sighed. "Four cuttlebones... is there anything else I can find for you today?"

"No, thank you," said Giulia, "unless you have an idea how to keep a plaster from getting wet in the water."

"What kind of a plaster?" asked Signorina Repetto.

Giulia hadn't mentioned it for any particular reason besides that it was on her mind. It hadn't occurred to her that the farmacista might have a solution. Now she suddenly realized that of course, Signorina Repetto was the obvious person. Everybody went to her shop for bandages and medicines, and she knew almost as much about them as Dr. Calcagno. She'd probably dealt with this exact situation many times.

"Just a little one, on a thumb," Giulia said. "Signor Donzella broke his finger trying to get a mantis shrimp out of his forge."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Signorina Repetto replied. "A rubber glove might do the trick. Tape the end of it to his arm really tight, and you can usually take a bath just fine, as long as you don't submerge it all the way."

Since submerging all the way was what Signor Donzella would need to do in order to use his forge, that wasn't going to work... but it was an idea, and she mentally put a pin in it to think about later. "Thank you, Signorina Repetto," she said, gathering up the cuttlebones.

As they left the Farmacia, Luca looked distant again. Both Giulia and Alberto noticed it, and it was Alberto who asked him, "what are you thinking?"

"I'm thinking it's a very long way to Parigi," said Luca. "That's where Signor Harris said he was keeping the Abominable Snowman."

The other two hadn't thought of that. "Um. I think we'd better worry about what's going on here before we try to save the Abominable Snowman," Giulia ventured.

"Yeah, I know," said Luca. "If we had that newspaper we could find out more about it, and more about Signor Harris." He was very worried about this man. Portorosso was now supposed to be a safe place for sea monsters. If people like Harris started turning up looking for sea monsters, it wouldn't be safe anymore at all.

"He won't be here long," Alberto promised. "After a day or so of everybody but Ercole denying that there are any sea monsters in town, he'll leave."

"Word will get around fast, and nobody's going to help him," Giulia agreed. Signorina Repetto would be telling all her customers for the rest of the day, and everybody who stopped into the shop below Signor Gamacchio's hostel would hear about it, too. Ciccio would tell his father, who would tell his customers... the whole town would know in no time, and even those who weren't too sure how they felt about sea monsters living next door wouldn't want this foreigner taking any away.

"I hope so," Luca said. They didn't need any more problems right now.