The Solstice – the shortest day – fell that year on December the twenty-second. To the humans this represented the depths of winter, but to the sea monsters, it was a turning point. From here, the days would get brighter and the water would get warmer as spring approached, and that was something to celebrate. They'd lost several days they would normally have spent preparing for their festival, but nobody even thought about cancelling it. As the feeble winter sun rose just before eight in the morning, they were already at work surrounding the reef they used as a gathering space with glowing jellyfish and strings of colourful shells that would clink in the currents. Those with wares to trade or food to distribute set up on the flat stones that surrounded the reef, and the gutweed meadow was cleared to use as a racetrack.

A few minutes after eight, Luca and Alberto came to knock on the Pescheria door, where they found Giulia already awake and waiting for them. Dressed in her bathing suit and the seagrass hat Luca's grandmother had knitted for her, she kissed her mother goodbye and followed them into the water.

"It's not gonna be fancy," Luca warned her. "Usually they take the kelp and weave it into a big sculpture, like a person or a whale or a seahorse, and fill it with treats. Then you have to break the strands to get the treats out, because you're breaking your connection with any bad luck you had last year. But they didn't have time to build it." He was slightly worried about this, even though he knew it was just a superstition. The last week or so, after all, had been pretty unlucky.

"That's okay," Alberto told him, "because Giulia will be back to see it next year, won't you?"

"Sure will!" Giulia agreed with a bright smile.

"But we're still going to have the races," Luca went on, "and my family will be trading our fry, and the crab club will be there, and Signora Branzino and Signora Trota invite the dolphins..."

"Luca, you don't have to tell me about everything," Giulia laughed. "I'll see it when we get there!"

There had seemed to be an awful lot of sea monsters when they were all standing around on the pavement and beach at Portorosso, but somehow there appeared to be even more when they were gathered in what functioned as their own piazza. The adults were already gossiping and trading, having started early to get their pick of the wares on offer, and a group of children were chasing after an inflated pufferfish they were using as a ball. Silvio Donzella was trailing this group, calling to them.

"You can't do that!" he shouted. "The way humans play it, you're not allowed to use your hands!"

"Why do they need so many rules for everything?" Giola Aragosta asked him.

"That's just the way they do it!" Silvio insisted. He spotted the three older kids arriving, and waved to them. "Tell them that's not how humans play football, Alberto," he said, pointing to his friends.

"He's right, it's not," said Alberto.

"Well, we're not humans," one of the other children pointed out. The rest of the group continued on their way, leaving Silvio behind. He sighed.

"I just wanted to teach them a new game," he said.

"It's okay, Silvio," said Luca. "You still got to watch the match with Arturo." The two boys had to beg and plead with their mothers to be allowed, but Attinia and Giorgia had ultimately agreed as long as Concetta and Pinuccia supervised the entire time – not hard when all the boys would be doing was gazing spellbound at the television set.

That did brighten Silvio up, and he nodded. "And Dad came to stay with us at Uncle Alonzo's," he said. "Him and Mom are talking about fixing up the old Cormorano place, but you know the kitchen doesn't work." That house had stood empty since Old Man Cormorano had died four or five years earlier. The kitchen vent hadn't produced any hot water for at least a decade before that, but Cormorano hadn't cared because his adult children had used to bring him meals.

"Well, we know where the vents come from now," said Luca. "Maybe we can figure out how to get it unblocked, or if not, maybe we can even build a new one."

"Really?" Silvio asked.

"Sure! Giulia and I will be back at school then," Luca told him, "but Alberto can help."

"Definitely," Alberto agreed. "We're the ones who discovered them, so all three of us are kind of experts."

"Thanks!" said Silvio. "I'll tell Dad!"

Their first stop in which Giulia decided to call the Piazza del Corallo was the booth the Paguro family had set up to trade batches of their goatfish fry. Lorenzo was elsewhere, but Daniela and her mother were present, with lots of ten or twelve fry in closed baskets for people to choose from. Luca smiled, and clutched the bag he'd retrieved from its hiding place under Giulia's bed.

"Welcome back, Bubble," said Grandma, the first to notice their approach. "Whatcha got there?"

Luca grinned. "Presents for everybody!" he said, and pulled out the first. "These are for you, Grandma. Sometimes when humans aren't near the sea they still like to go swimming, so they build themselves little ponds indoors, and they use these to play cards in the water!" He presented her with a deck of waterproof playing cards, fastened with an elastic band. "They're coated in something so the water won't make them all floppy like it did the one I found in the pasture."

"Why, thank you, Luca," said Grandma, holding them up for inspection. "It'll be good to keep in practice. Old Tommaso in town is demanding a rematch!"

"And this is for you." Luca turned to his mother and offered the second gift, which had been carefully wrapped in cotton padding for the train ride back from Genova. The water was now turning that to mush, revealing a ceramic serving dish in the shape of a scallop, decorated with paintings of mermaids and sand castles. "Nobody else will have anything like it."

Daniela took the dish and examined it with a smile. "They sure won't," she agreed, delighted. "I can serve snacks on it at crab club meetings... just imagine their faces!" She gave Luca a hug. "You did such a good job making sure the fry got fed while we were gone, by the way... nobody else had as many of their hatch survive as we did!"

"Alberto and Giulia helped," Luca told her. "I've got a present for Dad, too. Is he with the crab club?"

"Right over there," said Daniela, pointing out another booth. "I got you presents too, of course, all three of you. They're for you to use on the surface, though, so Massimo's been hanging on to them for me."

Giulia had been helping keep this a secret from the boys. She beamed. "You'll get them after supper tonight, and we have presents for you at Epiphany, too!"

The crab club was only a few booths down, trading crabs, eggs, and larvae, and showing off ribbons they'd won. Lorenzo was deep in conversation with another club member about the proper configuration of the maxillipeds, so the kids kept back to wait politely. While they did, Uncle Ugo drifted over to chat.

"Uncle Ugo?" Giulia asked. "I thought you were going back to the Deep."

"Not yet," said Luca.

"Not yet indeed," Uncle Ugo nodded. "I did come here to celebrate the Solstice with my family, after all. We don't have seasons in the Deep, really... they don't matter much there. I miss them sometimes. Thought not as much as I miss the dark when I see the sun shining down." He looked distastefully up at the surface and the beams of sunlight starting to slant through. "When I return, I will be sure to tell the Librarian she can expect to see you again."

"Will you ask her what she and the genie said to each other?" Luca requested. He was sure that two such old and wise people must have had something to talk about. Perhaps they'd discussed the humans giving the bottles to the sea monsters for safekeeping, or what had happened to the Egyptian library they'd been kept in before that.

"I think she'd prefer if you ask her yourself," said Uncle Ugo. "But does that mean you want me to come visit again sometime?"

"Of course," Luca said. Yes, Uncle Ugo was weird, but it now seemed strange that Luca had ever been afraid of him. He supposed Arturo felt the same way about his 'weird' Aunt Concetta.

"Oh, Luca, there you are," said Lorenzo, finally noticing that they were waiting for him. "Hello Alberto, Giulia. You looking for me?"

Luca smiled and held out his gift for his father. "Happy Solstice and Longer Days Ahead!"

"Ah, thank you." Lorenzo took the objects and examined them. "What are they?"

"Toothbrushes!" said Luca proudly. "Humans use them to clean their teeth before bed, but I thought of when your crabs are moulting and sometimes a bit of the old shell gets stuck." He had been told that it was just such a stuck piece that had left the mark on Signora Branzino's prize crab, which she'd been forced to cover with paint. "These have nice soft bristles, and I thought they'd be perfect for removing those without damage."

"I see, I see." Lorenzo nodded, and held out his arm to give Luca a hug. "Very thoughtful of you, son."

Signora Branzino herself came closer to look. "Hmm," she said. "We'll have to discuss the legality of that."

"We're allowed to use tools to help with moulting," said Signor Labro, another club member.

"Yes, but tools made by humans?"

"The rules don't specify where the tools come from," said Lorenzo.

Signora Branzino glared at them. "I'll bring it up for a vote at our next meeting," she vowed.

Luca shook his head. He liked crabs as animals, but all the politicking the club got up to really didn't seem worth the effort, especially with the entire festival waiting to be explored. "So," he said, to Giulia, "what do you want to do first?"

"I dunno," she replied. She'd been to festivals like the Lanterna in Genova, but never to a sea monster version. "What's good?"

"There's all kinds of food," said Alberto, always hungry.

"Dolphin rides!" Luca said. "I didn't get to try them until I was ten because Mom kept saying I was too little."

"And games," Alberto added. "I'm really good at them."

"And the races later," Luca said.

It sounded like everything was good. "Then we'll do all of it," Giulia decided.

They started at Signora Mitilo's booth where she had vegetables for sale, as well as a variety of snacks. Luca chose his favourite of these: sea cucumbers on sticks, stuffed with spices and wrapped in kelp. Giulia thanked him, then bit into hers carefully. She didn't know what to expect, but it tasted a bit like a spicy sausage, though with a texture more like panna cotta. From there, they headed down a row of different carnival games, to see what they could try their luck at.

"Oh, look at those," said Luca, pointing to a row of toys that had been hung from a rope as prizes. The biggest of these was a wood and shell whale, nearly thirty centimetres long and with the parts attached together so that when it was pulled through the water, the whole thing would undulate up and down like the animals did when they swam. "Signora Granchio and her husband make those. I used to have one, but I got it stuck on some coral and it broke."

"I'll win you another one," Alberto decided.

"You don't have to do that," said Luca.

"I'll do it anyway. I'm really good at these," Alberto promised. He swam up to the men running the booth with a smile on his face.

"Three tries," the man said, and offered Alberto three pebbles, then signalled to the two children assisting him. They unfolded a set of fans carved from driftwood, and used them to set up a swirling current in front of a set of targets shaped like monstrous-looking fishermen in boats, set up on the rocks beyond.

Alberto grinned over his shoulder at his friends. "Watch this."

Giulia leaned closer to Luca. "Is he actually any good at it?"

"I dunno," Luca admitted. "I sort of remember seeing him and his father at festivals sometimes, but I never paid much attention back then. Mom was usually hanging on to me to keep me from wandering off."

"Number one..." Alberto wound up and flung the pebble through the spinning current, and neatly knocked down the first target.

"Oh, hey, he actually is," said Giulia. "Good job!"

"Number two," Alberto tossed the second one, and another target went down. The two children redoubled their efforts to make the water spin as fast as they could. "And number... three!"

The third one, unfortunately, went awry – it was caught in the whirling current and deflected, only bouncing off the top of the target before drifting down to the sea floor.

"Oh!" said Luca. "So close!"

"Aw, man," Alberto grumbled.

"Here you go, Alberto." One of the men took down a smaller and less elaborate undulating toy, this one resembling a line of fish and built to wiggle side to side, and presented it to him. "Great effort!"

Looking sheepish, Alberto turned and offered the toy to Luca. "Here you go. Longer Days Ahead, Buon Natale, whatever," he said.

Luca took it with a smile. "Thanks, Alberto," he said. "The whale one was so big I wouldn't have had anywhere to keep it anyway."

They tried several other games. Most of these involved having to account for complicated currents in some way, though one was an attempt to untie a knotted rope, blindfolded, using only the end of a person's tail. Luca was quite good at that last one, and won a handful of sweets he shared with his friends. Giulia was predictably terrible at all of them, but she didn't mind too much. She was still new to this world and with a little practice, she was sure she'd get better.

After the games, their wanderings around the Piazza del Corallo brought them to where the Trota family had set up on a flat stone to trade the jewelry Attinia had made. Signora Trota herself was not there at the moment, so Giordana and Arturo were in charge. Arturo waved enthusiastically when he saw the three coming.

"Oh! You got one of Signora Granchio's fish toys!" he said.

"Yeah, Alberto won it for me," Luca replied with a smile.

"So lucky," Arturo groaned.

"I'm surprised you're still here," Giulia teased. "I figured you'd have run off for more hot chocolate."

Arturo scoffed. "Not on the day of the festival," he said, "but I'll definitely go tomorrow. Giordana's gonna be doing my chores for me."

"That's nice of her," Luca said.

"No, it's not," Giordana herself snorted.

"If she doesn't, I'm gonna tell Mom the truth about her boyfriend," Arturo said smugly.

Luca and his friends exchanged a look. They were pretty sure the attempt to keep that a secret could only end badly.

"I'm going to tell her eventually," Giordana informed them. "I'm just going to kind of ease her into it, you know?" She looked at the kids as if hoping for approval, and met Giulia's eyes.

Giulia quickly looked away, and Arturo reached out and pinched his sister.

Giordana squeaked, then sighed rather theatrically. "I'm sorry, okay?"

Giulia cautiously raised her head.

"I'm sorry for what I said the other morning," Giordana told her. "I was angry and I wanted to go home, and that was just really mean of me. It all turned out okay but even if it hadn't, you were just trying to be nice."

Giulia honestly hadn't expected to ever be friendly with Giordana again, and there was a part of her that didn't want the apology. She would have preferred to just awkwardly pretend it had never happened rather than confront it, because now they were going to have to talk about it... and she still wasn't sure Giordana hadn't been right. "Well... you had a point," she said. "I'll never exactly be a real sea monster, like you guys."

"Even if you won't, it doesn't matter," Luca said loyally.

"Yeah," Giordana agreed, twisting her skirt in her hands. "It doesn't matter, because humans are just people, like us."

"Exactly," Alberto agreed. "Good job, Giordana."

She glared at him. "Don't patronize me."

Giulia held out a hand. "I'm not mad," she said. "Friends?"

Giordana took her hand and shook it, which Giulia only belatedly realized wasn't something sea monsters normally did. She must have learned about the custom from Ciccio and Guido.

"Oh, good," said Arturo, with all the world-weariness of a nine-year-old repeating something he's heard the adults say. "There's nothing worse than girls fighting! Anyway, Aunt Concetta and Aunt Pinuccia say Silvio and I can watch television at their house every week as long as we promise to help weed their garden in the summer! So I need to know: are land weeds bad? Because one of the human kids told me he has a plant that bites. He made that up, right?" He was trying to sound confident, but the idea clearly worried Arturo. "Land plants don't bite. Right?"

"Well..." said Luca, knowing Arturo wouldn't like the answer.

"That's Maurizio and his Venus Flytrap," said Giulia. "It does bite, but only bugs."

Arturo's eyes opened wide, then narrowed in suspicion, only to widen again as he realized she was serious. "How can it tell?" he asked.

"Hey!" another voice suddenly exclaimed. "You three! I've been looking for you."

Everybody froze. The speaker was Signora Trota, swimming back from wherever she'd been. Luca and Alberto moved forward a bit, ready to defend Giulia if they needed to. Signora Trota had been polite enough to Signorina Repetto and had allowed Arturo to watch the football game, but she was also the one who'd talked about how sea monsters used to lure humans into the water and drown them. If there were a list of people who wouldn't want Giulia around, she was near the top of it.

But now she stopped a metre or so away, and held out a handful of something. "Could you do me a favour, and pass these on to the human who commented on my bracelets?"

"Of course!" said Luca, relieved, and took the objects from her.

"What are they?" asked Alberto, looking over his friend's shoulder. The things appeared to be two little pendants, each made from a single small shell with a tassel of coral beads dangling, but there was no bail or pin to fix them to anything wearable.

"They're for her ears," Signora Trota explained. "I didn't know how they make them stick, but... well, I thought since she took the trouble to give me a compliment, and since Arturo and Giordana said she helped my aunts find some of the things they'd need, it might be nice to make her something." She looked embarrassed about it, as if she couldn't believe she'd gone out of her way for a human.

"We attach little posts to them and put them through a hole in the earlobe," said Giulia. "I'm sure she can find somewhere to have that done for her."

"But why don't you give them to her yourself?" asked Luca.

"Oh, you three know her better," Signora Trota replied. "Anyway, I'm a little old to be traipsing around up there."

"Aunt Concetta and Aunt Pinuccia are both older than you," said Arturo, "and they live up there all the time."

"My Grandma visits regularly," Luca agreed.

"And Ciccio's dad," Arturo added with a grin.

Giordana's gills flared in alarm, but then she was forced to smile as her mother turned to talk to her.

"That reminds me," Attinia said, as Arturo snickered behind her back, "did you tell him that he and his father are welcome to join us after the festival?"

"Er... they're very busy," Giordana replied. "It's a special time of year for the humans, too..."

"That's no reason to neglect such an important occasion," her mother said. "I'm starting to wonder about this boy..."

Luca, Alberto, and Giulia moved on. A pod of dolphins had stopped by for the festival, and they'd been fitted with harnesses so children could ride them. Giulia had never seen a dolphin up close before, and they were bigger than she'd expected, easily large enough to sit astride and ride like a pony. They would swim straight up and leap out of the water, flipping over in midair. The littler kids shrieked in delight, even as some of them lost their grip and went tumbling back into the water on their own. It was huge fun, but Giulia did notice that it took place as far from shore as possible, where Alberto's island blocked the view from town. This was the first Solstice Festival they'd held since officially becoming friends with the humans in Portorosso... maybe it would take a while before it occurred to them that they didn't need to hide anymore.

"It's almost time for the races," Luca said. "I gotta run home and get Giuseppe. Do you guys wanna come, or would you rather..."

He was interrupted by a splash from above, one that didn't sound like a dolphin re-entering the water. People looked up in alarm, and there were worried cries when they realized that an anchor was descending into their midst.

Giulia recognized the anchor and laughed. "It's okay, everybody!" she called out. "It's just my Dad!"

The anchor touched the bottom, raising a cloud of silt and scaring away a crab that had been hiding under a piece of coral, and a moment later Massimo came sliding down the chain. Other people who'd been nearby sidled away, but the three kids came hurrying to greet him and tell him about what they'd been doing so far.

"Signora Trota gave us earrings to give to Signorina Repetto," said Luca.

"I got to ride a dolphin!" Giulia said.

"I knocked down two targets in the whirlpool game!" Alberto said.

"You're all having a good time, then?" Massimo asked, ignoring the stares. He didn't care what the sea monsters thought of him joining their number, but he would have something to say to anybody who was unkind to Giulia.

"Yes!" said Giulia.

"You're just in time for the races, actually," Luca repeated. "Last year Catarina came in third... she's still the fastest, but I think Giuseppe knows his name better. I don't know how he'll perform under pressure, though."

"He's an underdog," Alberto said. "Like the rest of us."

Around them, the people who'd moved away were coming closer again, holding murmured conversations or just staring openly at Massimo. Children were hiding behind their parents the way human kids in Portorosso had done when Luca and Alberto had first been revealed by the sudden downpour during the race. Some of these were the same people who'd been perfectly polite to Giulia earlier, and she wondered if that were because she had her friends with her... or perhaps because she was a child and her father an adult. Or maybe it was because Massimo was easily among the largest and most intimidating of the sea monsters, just as he was among humans.

Luca's parents decided that now was their turn to step up. Daniela Paguro came hurrying up to greet Massimo with a big smile, and kissed him on both cheeks.

"Massimo! So nice of you to stop by," she said, and offered him a handful of bubble algae. "Have some of these. It's wonderful to finally be able to offer you something to eat! No more of that ridiculous diving suit. I haven't known what to do with a guest I can't feed. There's something just not right about it. Isn't there, Lorenzo?"

"Doesn't seem very hospitable," her husband agreed. "You got your fish, son?"

"Going right now, Dad," said Luca, and dashed off.

"All right, then, we'd better find seats," Lorenzo decided.

"It's best not to sit too near the finish line," Daniela told Massimo. "All the interesting stuff happens in the middle."

People were already lining up along both sides of the gutweed meadow, where ropes had been strung up to mark the racecourse. At one end, kids were already gathering with their goatfish, painting numbers on their sides to easily distinguish them. At the other, more were waiting at the finish line.

Luca returned leading Giuseppe, who had the number 4 painted on his side, and delivered the fish to his friends. "All right," he said, "I need you two to take him down to the starting line. You let him go there, and then I have to call him to come to me. Whichever fish reaches their owner first is the winner." He looked at Giuseppe somewhat doubtfully. "Sometimes he doesn't want to come if he thinks he's in trouble, so be nice to him."

Giulia petted the fish' head and nodded. "Are we allowed to urge him on?"

"You can cheer for him, but don't call his name," Luca warned. "He might get confused."

Alberto and Giulia took Giuseppe to the starting line and took up a position between Basilio Storione and Alessia Pianuzza, each kid holding a fish of their own. Basilio moved over to make room for them, and Alberto jabbed at a mark on his arm.

"That's where Giordana bit him when they were kids," he said.

"Really? You're gonna bring that up?" Basilio asked.

Alessia looked at Giulia with a frown. "Are you the one who used to be a human?" she asked.

"Yeah, that's me," said Giulia.

"Oh." Alessia said nothing more, but she did move a little further away.

Signora Aragosta was officiating. She raised a flag. "Pronto," she said, "pronto... e via!" The flag swirled through the water as she brought it down.

Giulia released Giuseppe and Alberto shooed him to start. At the same time, down the far end, Luca began calling to him.

"Giuseppe! Come here!"

Other kids also began to call for their fish.

"Rafaello! Veni!"

"Come to Mamma, Azurrina!"

The crowd cheered. Giulia could see Luca's parents, waving their arms and urging Giuseppe on, while her father was next to Uncle Ugo, who was munching on something. The fish, for their own parts, mostly just looked confused. Giuseppe swam a ways towards Luca, pulling out ahead of the rest, then paused to investigate a shell on the bottom.

"No!" Giulia said. "Keep going!"

"Giuseppe, come on !" Luca insisted. "We talked about this!"

" Dai !" Giulia heard her father shout. " Forza, Giuseppe! "

Next to Giulia, Alessia was bouncing up and down as she watched. " Veloce , Marabbecca! Go! Go!"

This was a mistake. As Luca had feared, calling the fish' name confused it, and Marabbecca – number seven – turned around to swim back to the starting line, even as Alessia's brother shouted to it from the other direction. The Pianuzza family and their friends panicked, yelling and waving.

Giulia took pity. She kicked off the bottom to loom over the returning fish, shouting wordlessly and waving her arms to frighten it. This did the trick – Marabbecca turned and fled in the other direction.

"Hey! Don't help her!" Alberto protested.

At about that time, Giuseppe decided the shell was no longer interesting and went to rejoin the race, which put him right in Marabbecca's path. The two fish collided and went spinning away in different directions, bleating in confusion. The audience cried out and cheered. Marabbeca tried to keep swimming upside-down, while Giuseppe righted himself and looked around as if not sure where he was.

"Giuseppe!" Luca shouted again.

" Andiamo !" Alberto urged.

Giuseppe took off, swimming towards Luca, and Marabbecca appeared to decide she was supposed to be chasing him. Giuseppe soon noticed, and if there were one thing goatfish could do very well, it was fleeing from perceived danger. The two fish were neck-and-neck, as much as creatures without necks could be, as they approached the finish line. It looked as if it might be a tie, but then Marabbecca, perhaps now believing they were both trying to escape some bigger predator, plowed right into Giuseppe for a second time. He went tumbling head-over-tail to the bottom, where he got tangled in the gutweed just a metre or so from the finish line. Marabbecca dashed into the arms of Alessia's brother Cosimo, and the crowd erupted in cheering.

The rest of the fish crossed the finish line while Giuseppe was still struggling to free himself from the algae. Finally he pulled his head out, and swamp up to Luca.

Luca sighed and brushed some mud off him. "You tried your best," he said.

Giuseppe bleated proudly.

"Congratulations, Alessia and Cosimo!" said Signora Aragosta, as she draped the victory wreath around Marabbecca's neck. Cosimo held the fish up to the sound of cheers from the audience, but Alessia came and removed the wreath, then broke it in half.

"Hey!" Cosimo protested.

"Luca's team helped," said Alessia, "and if they hadn't, they might not have lost." She offered half the wreath to Luca.

"You don't have to do that," Luca told her, "but thank you." He showed the half-wreath to Giuseppe, who started eating it.

Alberto and Giulia were already on their way to rejoin Luca, but his mother got there first. "Don't worry, sweetheart, you'll beat them next year," she said, giving him a hug. "You watch out," she added to the Pianuzza family. "We'll be back!"

Several eyes were rolled. Everybody in the community knew what Daniela Paguro was like.

Massimo also arrived, to embrace Giulia and Alberto. "You did very well, Giulietta," he said.

"At what?" she asked, a bit puzzled.

"You did not get upset," he clarified.

"Oh!" Giulia realized. "I didn't really have anything to get upset about . There's no Ercole here to rub my face in it if I lose." Not that having won the Portorosso Cup meant Ercole would leave them alone now, they had proof of that... but it really just didn't seem to matter anymore.

Alberto, competitive by nature, hadn't even thought of that. He'd still been sulking a bit about Giulia's interference allowing Marabbecca to come in first. Now he rethought that a bit... it was true. This was just a race for fun. There were no reputations or Vespas riding on it, and the only prize was knowing you'd won. So he made a scoffing noise and said, "yeah, it's just a race."

"Thanks for helping," said Alessia shyly. She was several years younger than Giulia and the boys, around the same age as Arturo and Silvio, and while she was speaking to Giulia, she was looking warily at Massimo... specifically at his missing arm.

Alberto grinned. "It got cut off by a harpoon – sssssht!" he said, mimicking the noise and the action of throwing one.

"Really?" asked Alessia, horrified.

"Alberto," said Massimo, making it a warning.

Alberto laughed. "Nah, he was born that way. No human is gonna do that to any of us, I promise... and I live with them, so I'm basically an expert."