"Hey Luca, I can't find the scraper," Alberto mentioned as he finished gluing the sheet.
Luca looked around; the scraper was nowhere, and without it, the Vespa wouldn't work.
"It's true... do you think the current carried it away?"
Alberto put a hand to his chin as he remembered their last trip; they had finally managed to make the jump, but the Vespa broke when it fell over a huge rock, and even so, it did not take away the feeling of victory they had.
But, in their excitement, they forgot to rescue all the pieces from the water.
"It could be," said Alberto, getting up, putting a hand over his eyes, and looking in both ways. "Tell you what, you go look over there, and I'll go this way."
Luca nodded with his head as they separated; the youngest had to explore near the coast, where he and Alberto contemplated the sunrise after copying his friend's hairstyle.
Luca smiled at the memory.
That day was similar to others; the sun was high, the waves hit the land, the seagulls squawked, everything was fine. Luca was walking a straight line, hoping that the water had stagnated the scraper there, otherwise looking for it in the ocean would be a big problem, and he was not sure they could get another-
Without been discovered by the land monsters.
Now that he thought about it- where did Alberto got all his stuff? He shook his head; he would ask him that later. He continued looking along the shore, stones, some crabs, and snails, but no scratcher.
"Dolphins! Now we'll have to find a replacement," he thought.
In his mind, he was already listing all the objects that could work, and if not, they could always search Alberto's collection; there was no fault, that was until he noticed the new sound.
Luca stopped and listened more carefully, it was coming from the ocean, and each time it heard closer and closer, he looked towards the horizon, and his heart almost skipped a beat when he saw the cause of that noise.
A human boat.
Luca screamed and took cover behind the rock; with his pulse increased, he placed a hand in his chest, little by little controlling his breathing; otherwise, he would have a heart attack.
"A human… what is it doing here?! Alberto said they never came here!"
"They're here to do murders!" His mother's words echoed in his mind; never before had he felt so real.
Something crashed on the shore and dragged some stones, he could hear it, then the sound of the boat stopped, and he heard footsteps on the land.
"Oh no! It's here!"
Luca closed his eyes, expecting that at any moment the monster would appear to pierce him with a harpoon- Until he remembered that, at that moment, he looked just like a human; he opened his eyes in realization.
"Oh," he said, feeling somewhat foolish; still, it will be better not to lower his guard.
Feeling slightly less nervous, he poked his head out of the rock, and what he saw surprised him quite a bit.
The monster was female, probably a girl, perhaps the same age, or a little younger than Alberto; her hair was red, with brown eyes and tanned skin. She wore an orange and white striped T-shirt, blue pants, they seemed to be of the same material as the shorts Alberto gave him, with a patch on the right knee, and on her feet, she wore brown sandals, in addition to wearing a blue hat in the head.
She had one foot on top of the boat, the wind was blowing behind, moving her hair, and her body was masking the sun, but its rays surrounded her figure, giving her an angelical appearance.
Luca opened his eyes, feeling amazed by that land monster, he had never seen one so close, less one a female, and she looked pretty cool with that pose as if she had the world at her feet.
Luca was in awe.
That was until the waves moved the boat, causing the girl to wobble; she had to wave her arms to keep her balance, then Luca thought that maybe she wasn't so imposing after all.
"Wow, wow," the girl said when she managed to steady herself, then giggled, "that was close."
Her voice sounded kind and cordial, which made Luca feel a little more secure.
He also noticed that the girl was carrying a bag slung over her shoulder and a strange square object hanging around her neck.
"Don't forget how to use it," she said aloud to herself.
She pressed a button on the object, and a part of it opened as if it were a clam; Luca's mouth dropped.
What was that thing? How did it do that?
When he thought he had already understood the world of humans, there was always something else that surprised him, and he had to find out what that new object was.
So each time, he was peeking out more and more.
The girl looked for something in her bag and took out a small piece with a cylindrical shape; she put it inside the larger object and then closed the opening again, turned a button on the back, and pointed to the front.
Luca could see that this box-shaped thing had two holes in the front.
"Incredible," he thought; he had to know what it was.
The girl sighed in relief, clenched a fist, and lowered her arm energetically.
"Yes!"
She rummaged in her bag again and took out a loaf of bread, which she threw into the water; quickly a shoal formed and began to devour the snack, the girl pointed the box at them, Luca put both hands in his mouth, afraid that it was a weapon to catch fish.
SHTRAK.
But nothing happened; the box only made a sound; the girl stared curiously at the shoal, jumped out of the boat and onto the rocks, aimed again, and pressed the button.
SHTRAK.
She changed position and repeated the process.
Luca was more than interested, there must be a reason why she repeated the same process so many times, beyond just making a noise, but would it be reasonable to approach her? And more without Alberto? He was the human expert; what if they had to do something so that the humans didn't find out his secret? What if they could see through their disguise?
"But I want to know what that thing does! Is the noise for something? Why does she repeat the same thing in so many places?" His insides were asking for answers, and they seemed to be stronger than Bruno.
Although, Bruno wasn't an easy enemy to defeat.
Trying to act as he thought Alberto would, he set one foot out and started walking towards her but stopped.
"Don't be foolish; it's too dangerous, not worth it."
He'd let Bruno win this one.
He stepped back without bothering to look behind; his foot hit a large stone; he embedded it in it and could not help but let out a great cry, raising his injured limb and screamed while holding it with both hands; he began to jump around so as not to fall.
When the pain disappeared, Luca sighed in relief and placed both feet back on the ground, and there he realized the commotion he caused; and that he had come out of his hiding.
Slowly, very slowly, he raised his head and found that the girl was looking directly at him, and she looked just as surprised and confused as he was.
"Oh no."
...
Giulia was still very young, but there was one thing she did know.
Sea monsters didn't exist.
They were just a mere invention of fishermen, either because they got bored of spending too much time on the sea. Or that they saw pieces of seaweed, wood, or some other object that resembled a shape; or that they confused a regular animal for a fantastic being, or that it was good for tourism.
That was very clear to her; no matter how many stories her father told her, who swore that they had been real testimonies of her grandfather and great-grandfather, she knew they were nothing more than a fairy tale. She loved her papa with all her soul and admired him, it was incredible all the things he could do and the great heart he possessed, but she would never share that silly thought about sea monsters he had.
Although there was one thing she had to admit, the money people were willing to pay for a photograph made it worth it.
Because that summer, like all the others, her goal was to end Ercole's evil empire of injustice. She knew this was her year, no one would make her resign, nor any amount of pasta would make her vomit; she had trained for this the entire year, she will succeed, nothing nor one would stop her.
Except for that, she didn't have the inscription money.
Because as much as her father supported her, the fishing had been terrible lately; it did not matter how many deliveries she made if there were no fish to sell. And all the other summer jobs were taken already, one of the many disadvantages of being a foreigner.
Luckily here, the town's fantasies would come to her rescue; because after another "sighting," the local newspaper had offered a juicy reward for a picture of the creature. Of course, Giulia was not planning to meet any monster; what she did expect was to find something that could pass for a sea creature; an ingenious staging would be enough to fool those clueless of the newspaper.
And better for her, the fact that the others genuinely believed in the existence of these beings would make everyone waste their time searching the ocean, like the lout Ercole and his two henchmen.
She knew that searching in the sea was futile since, in the remote case that real sea monsters lived there, it would be impossible to find them.
So the best place for her little scene would be the island located a few kilometers from Portorosso, which was "haunted" by spirits and sea monsters.
"I'm going to give them their monster," Giulia thought.
Without anyone seeing her, she could focus better on her deception, and thus no one could accuse her of being a cheater.
So after borrowing old Bernardi's camera and dad's boat, she headed to the island.
Her first attempt upon arrival was with a shoal; maybe if she photographs them from a specific angle, she could make them look terrifying, but no, from where she saw they were just fish.
"Oh well, they will be nice photos for mom."
That was only her first attempt; she still needed to explore the island in search of materials to build her monster; she hoped it to be a laborious, quiet, and lonely day. That was why she was so surprised at hearing the scream, and much more when she looked up and saw another kid.
...
Luca didn't know what to do; none of them was making any move; the girl just kept looking at him.
"Say something, say something, or she's going to suspect!" Luca thought.
He opened his mouth, but no words came out of his lips, just babbling.
"Come on, come on, she's going to find out."
Luca was trying to find the right thing to say, but his mind couldn't seem to find the words, too nervous to think clearly.
"Well, aren't you going to say hi?" The girl finally said.
...
Giulia did not know what was going on, but it seemed that she hadn't been the only one with the brilliant idea of taking photos on the island, although-
She had never seen that boy in town, and he seemed very nervous as if he had never interacted with another person in his life.
"Maybe he's just shy," she thought; and found it to be the most reasonable option; it would be best to make him feel confident so she would take the first step.
"Oh... eh..." replied the boy putting one hand on his waist and tried to support the other on the stone next to him; not noticing he was too far, he was about to fall; he waved his arms nervously but was able to hold on with both hands off the rock before falling. "Hello, obviously."
With his balance regained, he continued with one hand on the rock and the other on his waist.
Giulia smiled; he was striving to look confident and calm, but she already sensed that he was timid and somewhat clumsy, but he looked friendly.
"Hello, I'm Giulia; I came here to take some photos for the contest," she continued while pointing to the water.
A small fish was finishing the bread; he raised his eyes to see her; he backed away until hiding under a rock.
Giulia smiled and raised the camera, with the lens set on the boy, who was still watching her; now he looked calmer, still in the same position.
"What's your name?"
"Ah… Luca," he answered with some doubt.
Giulia smiled; Luca in the shot gave her a funny idea; she could paint him as a sea monster and take the picture; he was good with poses.
"Are you here for the contest too?" She asked.
"Contest?"
"Yes, or why are you here then?"
"Oh… you know, Surface stuff," he said, smiling sheepishly.
"Surface stuff?" Giulia asked, narrowing an eyebrow; what did he mean by that?
But before she could ask him, Luca spoke quickly, as if he realized that he had said something wrong and wanted to fix the situation.
"I mean… yes! All those things that we like, here on the Surface," he took his hand off his hip and moved it to the sides, in an explanatory way; when he finished, he returned it to its starting place and smiled, adding: "here in the top."
Giulia was confused, and she believed that word did not do justice.
Luca spoke like a foreigner, but not like one of another region or country, or continent for that matter; he seemed a stranger to everything, he talks strangely, and he looked very, very nervous.
Luca swallowed hard, as he wishes Alberto were with him; no matter how hard he tried, it was clear that the girl would not believe him to be a human; he could already see the confusion in her eyes.
He was trying to think about all the things Alberto told him about The Surface, but in none of them did he recall anything about dealing with land monsters.
Giulia looked sideways, realizing something.
"Where is your boat?"
All the boats left from the port, and she left in the afternoon when all the fishermen returned to the dock, all the ships wherein their spot, she had not seen any out of place; and the other port was miles away from Portorosso, it made no sense someone could navigate so much to get to that island.
Luca opened his eyes and raised his eyebrows at the question.
"It's... this... uh." He never imagined that Giulia would throw a question like that, although it was obvious, how else could they have gotten there?
He couldn't take it anymore; he had to go for Alberto; it was clear that he couldn't handle the situation himself.
"I'll go get it, and then you can see it."
Luca separated himself from the rock and extended both hands in front with open palms.
And he disappeared, only to poke his head out shortly after and then hide again.
Giulia was speechless; he was strange but in a good way.
...
Luca clasped both hands together and gritted his teeth.
"I have to find Alberto! I have to find Alberto!" It was repeated in his head, while at the same time, he thought about how he would explain the whole situation to his friend.
Luckily he didn't have to wait long when he turned around; Alberto was already there.
"Wow! Was that a human you were talking to?" Alberto asked, surprised.
"Yes! I barely got away!" Releasing all the tension he was carrying, Luca took his friend by the arms and shook him. "She had so many questions!"
"Calm down, you were doing great," Alberto replied, smiling, with the same casual and carefree tone he always had, grabbing Luca by the cheeks and pat him on the right, "time for the expert to take over."
That said, he led Luca out of the hiding place; Luca gulped, although he felt much better now that he wasn't alone, a part of him kept telling him that it would end very badly.
When they were exposed, Alberto put an arm around Luca's shoulders, cleared his throat, and waved.
"Hello, human! Uh- fellow human girl fellow human," he laughed before continuing, "hi."
Luca noticed that Alberto had crossed his legs, so he imitated him; he thought it was a way to show confidence among humans.
"And then there were two," Giulia replied as if having a mysterious boy on the island was not enough.
At first glance, his friend seemed to be much more confident and energetic, so maybe he could answer her questions.
"Maybe they are brothers, and he is the oldest; that would explain why Luca looks much calmer now that he is by his side," she thought.
"Seriously, what are you guys doing here?" she hoped she didn't sound aggressive; after all, that island wasn't hers; she was just intrigued to know why and how they got there.
"We live here," Alberto responded quickly, raising an arm.
Luca smiled; that's why he liked Alberto; he always knew what to say.
"You do?" okay, that might explain the absence of a boat, but if that was the case...
How was it that no one in Portorosso knew of the existence of those two? Were they so afraid of stories not to get close? And how had the boys survived so long? And the most important-
"Where are your parents?"
"Oh, they live here too-" Luca had started, but Alberto quickly interrupted him.
"They're dead, long gone."
Luca opened his eyes; that was an answer he hadn't expected.
"Alberto! Are you crazy?!" He thought, but to be fair, maybe it was wiser than trying to convince his parents to go up to the Surface and pretend to be humans.
"Oh my God!" Giulia exclaimed, feeling genuinely bad for them and ashamed of herself for not stopping to think that maybe they wouldn't want to talk about it. "I'm so sorry!"
"They used to live here before they were dead," Luca continued, nervously rolling his eyes to the sides.
"No, no, no, they never lived here," Alberto corrected him quickly, covering his mouth with one hand, "because they died in the shipwreck that stranded us here."
"Oh yeah," Luca giggled nervously, "I forgot."
Giulia- no longer knew what to think. They were talking about it like it wasn't the death of their parents, but an agreeing on an excuse on why they didn't do their homework.
"Maybe it's the trauma," she thought; after years of being stranded here, they have forgotten the accident as a defense mechanism, and that's why they can't agree.
That only made her feel more sympathetic to them.
"No one came to rescue you? How long have you been here?" damn small-town assumptions, if it weren't for their fear of sea monsters nonsense, someone might have saved them long ago. "Get in; I'll take you back to Portorroso."
She stepped aside, extending an arm to indicate them to pass; no longer caring about the silly contest, she had to put those two into safety.
Both Luca and Alberto were surprised by the girl's offer; after all, not in a million years did they expect her to propose them a trip to the town of monsters; in fact, they never imagined visiting the human land.
Luca began to think about how to reject the offer when Alberto separated from him, raised both bent arms, and began to laugh.
He walked towards the boat, but Luca stopped him by grabbing it by the hand; being on The Surface was one risk, but going to the human village was suicide! At any moment they could find out, and if mom's words were to believe-
No, no, he didn't even want to think about it; the best they could do was stay in the safety of the island.
"Oh, you know that's really all right, we had big plans for today," he told Giulia, and then he looked Alberto in the eyes.
"What?" Alberto whispered. "What are you doing?"
Giulia only narrowed an eyebrow again; how could Luca refuse an opportunity to leave that island?
"We were finally able to get the Vespa working, and we need to find the scraper," seeing that his proposal wasn't enough, Luca decided to use his secret weapon: "When the Vespa is ready, we can set it on fire as we descend."
Of course, he was not planning to comply; he would convince Alberto not to do so when the time came.
Alberto looked at the boat, then at Luca, and finally, at the island; Luca felt that he had managed to make him change his mind; that until his characteristic smile returned to his lips.
"That place must be full of Vespas; there's gotta be one for us."
That silenced Bruno like never before.
"A real Vespa," Luca said as he thought how great it would be to have a real one for them, everything they could do with it, how far it could take them... he looked at the boat; they already had the outward journey assured, but nothing guaranteed them that they would return. "Could we even survive over there?"
"You and me?" again Alberto put a hand on his shoulders, "we can do anything."
That said, he released him, kicked some sand, and jumped to the boat; when he arrived, Giulia extended a hand and helped him get on; with the two onboard, they both looked at him expectantly.
Luca sighed.
"Silenzio Bruno" was repeated in his head.
With Alberto by his side, nothing could go wrong; they had managed to fool Giulia so they could deal with any human in that town; they just had to make sure not to get wet and to return before sunset; otherwise, he would have to face something worse than any land monster.
His mother's wrath.
...
And shortly after, the three were heading to Portorosso, with Alberto having his body forward, all the air hit him directly in the face, enjoying it in a big way. He adored that feeling, nothing compared to the way they swim, but he had to admit that humans- they managed pretty well.
Meanwhile, Luca had both feet on the seat, hugging them with both hands; he was still a bit nervous about the whole excursion to the human town; he also did not like all the water that splashed the boat with its move.
If only a drop touched them.
"Silenzio Bruno," he repeated himself and instead looked straight ahead; he was surprised to see Giulia looking at him with a smile, which made him feel better.
If Giulia was so good with them- maybe the other humans will be too.
For her part, Giulia felt happy, she was helping two people in need, as her parents taught her, and they were right; it felt so good to help others.
But there was still one thing not clear.
"I have so many questions," she said, "where are you from originally?"
That was a good start, the police could investigate cases of missing children, and it could be that a relative was looking for them. Giulia was excited to think that she might be the one responsible for reuniting a family.
Alberto turned quickly to see her and sat next to Luca.
"Uh... we don't know."
"Yep, we don't know,"
"We were babies when it happened."
"Babies, way too young to remember."
Both of them looked at her with nervous smiles, wanting to see if they had finally managed to convince her.
"Babies?" she asked, every time she thought of understood them… they came out with a new craziness; she looked over her shoulder at the island, then back at the boys.
As if he could read her mind, Alberto hastened to answer the question that she was going to articulate.
"Yeah, a giant lobster raised us."
"Enormous!" Luca exclaimed, raising his arms and legs; then he hugged Alberto, "and very loving."
Alberto hugged him back.
"Okay, this is too much." Giulia thought; she could excuse many things, but now she knew they were teasing her.
"Seriously? A lobster raised you?" She leaned forward with a stern look.
"Hermenegilda," Luca continued, remembering the name of a neighbor, "rocked us to sleep on her claws every night."
He and Alberto began to rock sideways.
Giulia would find it adorable if not been for how unlikely it sounded; believing in fairy tales was a symptom that affected everyone in Portorosso, islanders, and villagers. Giulia was just a city girl who did not believe in nonsense, and she was going to prove it.
"Okay, then why do you know words?" she leaned forward again, placing her chin on one of her hands.
The two opened their eyes, realizing how weak their lie was; in a split second, Luca reviewed how silly their story was; how did it occur to him that they would fool Giulia with such nonsense?
They separated and looked into each other's eyes, hoping that one would come up with the answer to get out of that.
"Eh..." Alberto began, only to jump into the water.
Giulia cried out in surprise and stopped the boat.
"Santa Ricotta!"
Why had he done that? If he didn't want to talk about it, he could say it;
there was no need to-
Oh no.
She looked at Luca; maybe he could explain why Alberto had acted like that, only that the little boy was no longer in his seat; but had his body outside the boat, holding onto the edge with both hands.
"Sorry," was the only he said before letting go.
Giulia screamed again, putting both hands to her head, got up, and began to search the surroundings.
"They've never been off the island! They probably can't swim! No! No! No!" She began to worry if she did not find something, those two would drown- Next to the engine, there was a life ring, that was a good start.
She took it and threw it into the water, hoping that at least one of them could take it; Luca and Alberto watched it fall into the sea from below, both transformed entirely.
Luca wanted to claim Alberto; he knew that accepting Giulia's invitation had been a bad idea from the start, and not only that, what was he going to achieve by jumping out of the boat? But there was no time for that; they had to get out of there before she saw them, or else they would have the whole town fishing them.
"What do we do?" he asked.
"Relax, there's no way she's following us here."
Alberto had never underestimated someone so much in his life; at not seeing any trace of the boys, Giulia decided to save them the old-fashioned way; they were fortunate that she was the best swimmer in all of Portorosso.
"Hold on; I'm coming for you."
She took off her hat and jumped into the water; Luca looked at Alberto with a frown, to which Alberto just shrugged and smiled.
"Ups, I was wrong."
During her landing, Giulia couldn't help but close her eyes, which gave Alberto time to come up with a plan; he looked down and saw that there was a bit of vegetation, enough for them to hide.
"There," he said, pointing a finger, and they both swam as fast as they could.
They lay on their backs and closed their eyes, Luca praying in his mind that Giulia hadn't seen them, nor that he suspected their hiding place. When the girl regained her sight, she found nothing but water; that did not prevent her from turning her head in all directions, searching for the slightest sign; she noticed the bubbles the boys' swimming had left and that they reached up to the floors.
Giulia put on her serious face and swam towards them, hoping they had not drowned.
"Stay back, please stay back," Luca prayed in his head.
But Giulia had found him; she removed the algae revealing Luca's scaly and green face; she opened her eyes and mouth, releasing a small bubble; that did not look like vegetation.
Luca felt the sunlight hitting him.
"Oh no."
He opened his eyes instinctively, and as soon as Giulia saw those yellow globules and the red iris, she let out a cry and began to swim backward.
"What is that thing?! What is that thing?!" she repeated in her head, one moment, she was looking for the boys, and the next that thing appears in front of her, maybe… "It ate them!"
Luca stammered, trying to find the right words to say to her; maybe he could calm her down.
"It's okay; it's just me."
He got up a little, Giulia screamed again, and kicked harder to get out of there; what she didn't notice was that Luca was approaching her, and at that moment, her kick managed to reach the poor boy's face.
"Uh!" Luca exclaimed as he went back.
Alberto came out of hiding feeling upset; did that girl never give up?
"Swim for it!"
And swam as fast as he could; Luca was rubbing his cheek, Giulia was strong, he looked at the girl who was already returning to the Surface.
"They are going to eat me! They are going to eat me!" She thought, terrified. "I have to go get papa and the other fishermen; they can help me."
Although it might be too late for Luca and Alberto, she could still avenge their deaths; she was so scared to not realized that the creature's voice was the same as Luca's, nor that she had lost a lot of oxygen with her cry.
She was barely halfway when the air ran out; she put both hands to her throat and closed her mouth; that did not prevent her from feeling that her nose was clogged and that his lungs were shrinking; it felt horrible as if two huge hands were squeezing them. With fear gripping her, she forgot all the swimming lessons her dad had given her and began to thrash and kick frantically.
Her movements alerted Luca, who stopped to look at her; he was not an expert on humans, but there was one thing that he was sure of, they could not survive underwater, and Giulia was the living example of it at that moment.
He looked at Alberto, who hadn't noticed the girl's condition, then glanced back at Giulia.
"I can't let her die," he thought, as terrifying as she was, and that she had kicked him, he couldn't leave her to fate, his conscience would never forgive him, besides, not counting the jar, Giulia had been very kind to them, she didn't deserve to go down yet, and not like that.
So Luca swam towards her; seeing that his friend was not following him, Alberto stopped and observed that he had returned to help the human.
"Sure, now you silence Bruno," he said, annoyed, but without hesitating for a second, he went to help him.
Giulia was on the verge of losing consciousness; her eyes were going to close, with her last thought being one of regret, for thinking that she would never see her papa nor mama again, and the pain she was about to cause them.
"Mom ... Dad ... I'm sorry" she didn't know if she could cry underwater, but if possible, she was doing it.
Until she felt hands on her arms, and then something scaly, Giulia opened her eyes and noticed that Luca had placed his arm around her shoulders; she was going to scream when Alberto arrived and grabbed her by the other arm.
"They are going to eat me! They are going to eat me!" She was thinking terrified, now she didn't know which of the two was worse, drowning or being eaten by sea monsters, and it seemed she was about to find out.
She prepared herself to feel her skin being torn from the bones by those fangs, only that nothing of the sort happened; she just felt rising, surprised she analyzed her captors, both of them wagged their tails and had their eyes focused on the boat.
"Are they planning to eat me on the Surface?"
When Giulia was afloat, she felt better than ever; she began to take large breaths of air, allowing her lungs to get oxygenated.
When the boys verified that she was okay, they let her go and moved away, still with their eyes fixed on her, if she tried something.
When she finished recovering, Giulia looked at the two monsters, the look they had was- expectant, as if they were waiting to see what she would do, and although it was something strange, it was better than if they saw her as a delicious meal.
"Y- you save me," she coughed, "why?"
"We couldn't let you die; it wouldn't have been fair," Luca replied.
Giulia coughed again while she examined both of them more calmly- looking at them closely, they didn't seem so scary, Luca was somewhat cute and Albero a little funny; could it be that the stories were wrong? In hindsight, neither of them was aggressive towards her; they acted like regular boys their age, maybe- they weren't that different from each other, although one thing was clear.
"Santa gorgonzola… my dad was right."
...
They got back into the boat, with Giulia sitting on her side and the boys on the other bench, she had both hands on her arms and was rubbing herself, although thanks to the sun, she would soon dry, and the heat would return to her body.
Luca and Alberto were a bit uneasy; a part of them still believed Giulia might try to hurt them, or maybe it was because of her gaze. Although she did not want to make them feel uncomfortable, Giulia couldn't take her eyes away.
They looked- incredible.
"Oh wow," was all she could say.
She always believed papa's stories were just fairy tales. Never considered that sea monsters could be another species of animal; maybe the missing link from when the first living beings moved from the sea to the land, or they could be descendants of the dinosaurs.
"What if the dinosaurs that managed to survive the meteorite impact moved to the ocean? And over time, they evolved in them?"
Thousands of theories ran through Giulia's mind; Alberto shook himself dry, and Luca wiped the water off his body with his hands; both of them returning to their human form.
"Santa mozzarella!" she rioted to her feet; she did it so abruptly that the boat rocked sideways, taking the boys by surprise, who also staggered and fell from their seats.
It was one thing to see sea creatures, for which there might be a logical explanation for their existence, but it was quite another to see them being capable of change into humans! Some reptiles, like chameleons, could blend in with their surroundings, but what those two did took it to an entirely different level.
And she still had a question to ask them; after all, those claws and fangs that they had must be for something-
"You're not gonna eat me, right?"
"No," Luca replied, sitting up, then he opened his eyes, realizing something, and raised both hands to his face in fear, "are you gonna eat us?"
Alberto looked up at her.
"Ugh! No!" she answered, feeling disgusted; she had no problem eating fish- but if those fish spoke to her... she didn't feel like it so much anymore.
She put both hands to her head, trying to gather her thoughts.
"Okay, so you're boys, but you are also sea monsters."
"The preferred term is incredible handsome aquatic beings superior to anything humans have seen," Alberto said, raising a finger.
Giulia rolled her eyes.
"I just hope they don't all have the same ego as this one."
"Right- Guys, this is huge! We are before the scientific discovery of the year!" She raised both arms in the air, "what am I saying about the year!? Of a lifetime!"
That would guarantee her a ticket to any school in the country.
"I gotta tell everyone!"
Giulia walked to the front of the boat; while Luca and Alberto exchanged worried glances. What had they done? If Giulia gave them away, they would endanger their entire community, their family, friends.
"My name could be in history books!" Giulia continued to boast as she put one foot on the tip of the boat, and best of all.
The people would stop seeing her as a weird kid, they would finally treat her with respect, she would be the girl who proved the existence of sea monsters, everyone would claim her name, she would leave Ercole humiliated, and she would not even have to win in that stupid race.
Who would want a stupid photo when she could bring two live
specimens?!
And the face of papa when it was his daughter who proved that he was not crazy- everything sounded perfect, except for one detail.
"And you're gonna be..." seeing the boys and their worried looks, she knew why he shouldn't tell anyone, "in a tank, in the aquarium in Milano if they don't dissect you first."
Glory was within reach, but at what cost? True, she barely knew the boys, but in that short time, they had already saved her life, risking their identities instead of letting her die with the secret.
And they were children, almost her age, as much as she hated the town's people treating her like a freak, she couldn't do that to them.
"I would have the glory in my hands," she said, then sat down, "but if I do, I'm a terrible person... I can't tell anyone."
And in a town that glorified the hunting of sea monsters, it will be better to stay quiet.
Meanwhile, Luca and Alberto sighed in relief; they had a perception of the internal battle that Giulia had fought, but they were not even close to finding out the moral conflict she went through; in addition, they had another question.
"What's dissect?" Luca asked.
"Is when they cut you open-" she stopped when realizing they wouldn't enjoy the gory details, "let's not get into that."
She looked towards the island; at less now, she understood the boys better; could a lobster have raised them? Could they talk to the marine fauna? Or were they just stories made up on the spot? She had just met Alberto, but she had a feeling he was pretty good at making up stories in no time.
"I better take you back to your island."
"Oh, uh, we're not gonna go to Porpoposso?" Alberto asked.
Giulia laughed innocently.
"Portorosso, you've never seen it, huh?"
They both shook their heads; Giulia bit her lip and looked towards her town; it was a bad idea as people had hunted sea monsters even without having proof of their existence; what would they do when they had two in front of their noses ?! And how would his father react ?! It was too risky, not worth it.
But.
Now that they had been so close, the desire to search might be too great to contain; they could return any day and explore the town on their own.
They had jumped out of a moving boat, they were capable of anything, and they had already shown their ignorance of many human customs, which would only make them more suspicious.
So maybe- having a human guide was a good idea, she could keep them at bay, safe, and they didn't know that she was a freak, it would be nice to spend time with someone who treated her well.
"I just have to avoid them getting wet, that's all."
"I guess I can show you around for an hour or two," there wasn't even a need to go with papa, a quick trip to the plaza, a few gelato cones, and back to the ocean.
Easy, she hoped.
Luca and Alberto smiled, and Giulia's heart melted; there was so much curiosity, so many desires to explore and learn in the eyes of those two, that they reminded of herself.
It would be unfair to turn it off; they just had to be careful.
So Giulia started the engine, and the trio headed for the coast.
Now that their secret had come to light, and Giulia had proven okay with it, fear had left Luca.
"Mom was wrong; land monsters can be friends!"
He and Alberto were at the top, letting all the sea breeze hit them in the face; Giulia couldn't help but feel happy for them, she would also be excited if she was visiting such a new place, but the more they were getting closer to Portorosso, she couldn't help but feel scared.
"Am I doing the right thing?"