As they approached Portorosso's harbor Luca and Alberto's eyes lit up at the sight of the first buildings; Giulia smiled for them, but now she felt her stomach hurt, not like that time the pasta made her throw up uncontrollably.

It was more as if someone had punched her and still felt the blow. A pain that wouldn't leave.

"Relax, they'll be fine; just keep them dried, and everything will be alright," she said to herself, not entirely convinced.

Luca was excited to his fullest; at long last, he was going to see the human world, find a Vespa; and now that Giulia had shown to accept them being sea monsters, he felt safer than ever.

Alberto was just as happy, for long he had been wondering if the stories dad told him about the human land were true, and now he was about to see it with his own eyes, and with his best friend! And-

The truth was that he didn't know how to feel about Giulia; he was grateful to be with a human who didn't want to harpoon him, but she was weird and stubborn, but she had offered to show them the place so it would be good to keep her close.

Not like they needed her, of course, but since she had offered herself, it would be rude to say no, plus Luca seemed to be calmer with her as a guide, so whatever it took to make his friend feel good.

As soon as they boarded the port, the boys jumped out of the boat and headed for the stairs that led to the plaza; Giulia, who was going to tie up the boat, saw them and gasped as she released the rope, she quickly passed them and stood in front.

"Guys, wait!" she said, receiving a frustrated look from Alberto.

She sighed; first things first, she would have to warn the boys about the plaza's decorations, it had never caused her discomfort, but something told her that the boys wouldn't find them so pleasant.

"The people around here... they don't like sea monsters."

Hearing those words, Luca paled, his body stiffened, and he could swear that his heart would stop, hadn't Giulia told them it was safe? Didn't all humans think the same?

But Alberto didn't seem to care.

"That's just because they hadn't met me," he responded, passing beside her.

The girl grimaced and grabbed his arm; the boy turned to look at her, clearly annoyed.

"This is serious; the people have wanted to catch sea monsters for ages... and the decorations reflect that."

Luca put both hands on his cheeks, feeling scared; he backed towards the boat.

"You know what, Giulia? You were right; this is a bad idea; let's get back to the island."

Giulia had to suppress an impulse to stop, she didn't want to crush Luca's dreams like that, but she had to make them aware that Portorosso represented some danger; the more they knew, the more they could take care of themselves.

She was about to tell Luca to calm down when Alberto went ahead of her and took Luca by the arm.

"Hey! Silenzio Bruno! Just stay dry."

"You need to be very careful," Giulia continued, "don't do anything weird, and please wait until I finish this."

Alberto rolled his eyes; he was starting to find Giulia very irritating.

"Is almost as if you don't want us here," he said to her.

Giulia opened her mouth as she looked at him in the eyes.

"I´m trying to keep you safe; when you get up those stairs, you'll see a statue of a sailor holding a sea monster by the neck, and he's about to harpoon him."

"A statue doesn't scare us."

Giulia looked at Luca, put a hand on her hip, and returned her gaze to Alberto.

"Clearly."

Alberto looked at his friend; he got angry, not because Luca was scared, but because it seemed that Giulia was calling him a coward.

"Luca isn't afraid; that's a sea tactic to show confidence."

"How effective."

Maybe in other circumstances, she could have believed them, but after all the lies they told her on the boat, she knew she shouldn't believe everything those two told her.

"Guys, I just want to make sure you are safe, the town is quite hostile to this whole sea monster thing, and I don't want you to feel attacked."

"Too late for that, Giulia," Luca continued, shrinking behind Alberto.

Giulia made a face, just what she didn't want to happen, destroy all their hopes.

"Hey... is okay; is just a silly statue that doesn't even look like you two."

"Of course it doesn't; it could never do this justice," Alberto replied, pointing at his whole body with both hands.

Giulia rolled her eyes.

"Of all the sea folks, I have to get stuck with the smuggest," she thought, but she had promised to show them around, and Giulia Marcovaldo always kept her promises.

"Look, everything will be alright as long as nobody sees you as..."

"Sea monsters?" Alberto interrupted her.

"I was gonna say aquatic beings," Giulia finished with irritation. "You guys aren't monsters."

That surprised both boys, who looked at each other in disbelief.

"You mean it?" asked Luca.

"Of course! You two saved my life; for me, you will never be monsters."

Again that made them both feel more comfortable. Giulia smiled when she saw that the good vibes returned; that was what she wanted to see.

"Just let me tie this up, and I'll show you around; I promise it will be worth it."

Alberto looked at Luca; his friend smiled and nodded with the head; Alberto just shrugged, he didn't need Giulia, but if that could get Luca to stop being so paranoid, he would accept her.

"Alright."

Giulia giggled.

"Buenísimo, let me hurry."

After making sure the current would not take the boat away, Giulia stepped in front to lead the way, so if she saw someone with water balloons; or splashing from the fountain, or Ercole and his thugs, she could warn the boys. Luckily that day seemed to be like any other, some children played soccer, but no one brought anything to get wet, and best of all, no sign of Ercole.

"Coast is clear."

Alberto smiled and began to climb the steps swinging his arms back and forth; Luca was behind him, he seemed to have calmed down again; Giulia smiled and went ahead of them.

Luca was still a bit nervous; he didn't know what he was going to find. How did land monsters live? Was it remotely like their underwater home? Curiosity was stinging him so bad that he couldn't hold it much longer, so when he got his first glimpse of the town, his eyes lit up like the fish in the sky.

The first thing Luca noticed was the towers; while in the island there was the only one, here the whole town made of them, each one placed after another, creating a sense of enormity.

Each tower was of a different color; orange, pink, and yellow; and the entrances had a big piece of wood, painted in green, as cover.

There were humans, a lot of them, who played with a ball, walked carrying baskets, or were sitting talking; best of all was that, unlike sea monsters, humans had more than one type of clothing.

While his kind only had one-piece dresses for the women and shorts for the men (all made of seaweed,) humans showed a great variety of garments for everyone, each one of a different color which allowed more variety, making it pleasant for the eyes.

Luca let out a sigh of admiration as he went further into the square; he turned to his right and saw three humans gathered inside a building, a bar separated one from the other two, on top of the table there was a strange machine that glowed; the man behind said something making his guests laugh.

After that, Luca looked up and could see two small children, sitting in what seemed an extension of the tower and limited by some black bars; perhaps they were made of the same material as the harpoons, sitting and eating watermelon.

Luca turned his head slightly, and his gaze noticed that the humans had hung ropes between two buildings, and in it, they had put their clothes, the best of all is that they covered the sunlight, so it did not hit him directly in the eyes and could appreciate the scenery.

Luca smiled, everywhere he saw that place was incredible, everyone was so happy, and it seemed like they were all friends.

"How could mom think this was dangerous?" he thought; now that he was there, he didn't see the danger in anything.

Giulia turned on her feet and watched the boys; Alberto continued walking confidently, while Luca was amazed by everything he saw; it was as if he was trying to devour the town with his eyes. She chuckled and spread both arms out to the sides.

"So, what do you think?" she asked them.

"Classic human town, pretty cool," Alberto answered.

Giulia raised an eyebrow.

"I thought you two had never been off the island."

Alberto stood still and raised a hand, but then stopped moving it; he opened his eyes and mouth; while Luca looked at his face.

"Oh, yeah...you see Giulia, it was all a tactic to distract you."

"Right," she answered with a hand on her hip; those two would never make a fool of her again.

"Yeah, sea costume," Alberto answered passing beside her.

Giulia followed him with her sight always smiling; Luca remained still, feeling a bit nervous, this was the second time that Giulia acronym Alberto on the same day, until that moment he had believed that his friend had the answers to everything and that no one could beat him, now he was not so sure.

No! That was Bruno talking; he needed to shut him!

Giulia just- was too observant, that was all; trying to forget it, he looked at the towers, he liked their colors.

That's when he saw it.

On one of the walls, there was a picture; a sailor over a creature that resembled a whale, but this one had a tail, like the ones female sea monsters had, she also had a fin that covered her whole back; the human was embedding her with a harpoon.

Luca gasped; Giulia may have warned him, but not even that could have prepared him; he looked to the other side only to find another; the monster looked like an eel, with two fins as arms and a sad expression as the human was killing it.

And to make matters worst, at the center of the plaza was the famous statue, it was just like Giulia had described it; the human was big, tall, and buff, while the sea monster succumbed at his might.

Luca shallowed, he was feeling threatened; his feet began to move automatically back towards the port.

His friends had walked a little forward, only because Giulia noticed a pair of footsteps were missing that she looked over her shoulder, she saw that Luca wasn't following them.

"Luca, what's wrong?" she asked, approaching him.

Luca didn't answer, he was too scared, then Giulia noticed the statue.

"Oh, he saw it."

"Hey, is fine," she said grabbing him by the hand, she had to admit that, despite knowing each other for so little, she felt fond of Luca.

He was cute, kind, and innocent, and she felt guilty for kicking him before.

Also, something told her that Luca was the one who had the initiative to save her.

Alberto also stopped, and when he noticed that Giulia was holding Luca's hand he felt- angry. Why was she doing that? They had just met her, it took a lot longer for Luca to get comfortable around him, he ran away the day they met! Besides, she had kicked him, and now they were best friends?!

Worst of all was that Luca did seem a lot calmer with Giulia's gesture, he looked at her and smiled.

"Don't worry, I won't let anything happen to you," she promised.

Alberto grinned, he could look after Luca and himself, they didn't need that snooping human; he was about to snatch Luca from the claws of that land monster when the girl also grabbed him by the hand.

"Come on, I know what will make you guys feel better," she said as she led them to one of the towers.

Alberto blinked, everything happened too fast; one moment he was about to tell Giulia that they no longer needed her, and next she was dragging him and Luca to who knows where. He looked at his friend to see how he reacted; Luca just shrugged.

Giulia was very sorry that the boys had to see that, especially Luca, since Alberto didn't seem to mind, or maybe he had not noticed them, luckily she knew what the boys needed, there was no problem that a good gelato cone wouldn't solve.

The building she was taking them was called "Gelateria"; Luca didn't know what that word meant, he was going to ask Alberto when they came to a table, this wasn't a rock it seemed to be made of metal, and the chairs weren't like the one in the Vespa, they were larger and also had legs.

"Okay, you sit here," Giulia said as she sat Alberto in one of the seats, then she turned to Luca and did the same: "and you sit here."

She placed a hand on the table.

"Be right back," she started walking backward while waving her arms in circles, "with the best gelato in Liguria."

She entered the store and peeked out from the window, put both hands to her lips, and blew out a kiss:

"Mua!"

And run to the counter.

Luca looked at Alberto without knowing what to say.

"What's this gelato thing?" he asked.

Alberto shrugged, Luca bit his lip, if his friend, who was the human expert, didn't know what it was, what could he expect? Was it poison? No, Giulia wouldn't go through so much trouble just to poison them, would she?

A new voice distracted him, it didn't sound like a normal voice instead, it was - raspy, and it came accompanied by many others, like a crowd, Luca looked behind him expecting to find a mob, but he only noticed two old- women sitting at the next table and a strange box-

The voices came from the box!

Luca understood, it was like the magic singing lady machine, but this was smaller and didn't seem to need a handle to work, instead, it had two small buttons and the sound output was circular without a cone, it also had a small gray stick on the top.

Luca let out a sigh of admiration as he took his body off the table to get a better angle.

There was more than one magic singing machine!

He was going to get closer when he noticed the ladies.

One was slim and tall, she had a dark red scarf on her head, which matched the long-sleeved shirt she was wearing, she also wore a yellow tablecloth, with an orange skirt with heart prints, gray sandals with transparent black stockings, next to her chair was a brown bag, and behind it an umbrella.

The other one was shorter and plump, she wore the same scarf as her companion but in a lighter tone, her blouse was green with flower prints, the same color only that some were lighter than others, her apron was lemon-like her stockings, while her skirt was more of a moss shade, she also wore brown flip-flops.

They both ate with a small scraper.

"Gross!" Luca thought, what a strange human costume.

The food was a strange thing that glowed, it looked very soft, and it was also green, placed on a cone.

The women dipped their scrapers into the food, took a piece off it, and then carried it to their mouth while chewing with their mouths open, they both turned to see him, rolling their eyes in his direction.

When he realized that they had discovered him, Luca let out a little cry and looked down at the ground, feeling ashamed.

"How rude! Well, just don't look at them and everything will be fine," he told himself until he noticed that Alberto was watching them, with a smile from ear to ear, "At least he looks friendly."

The ladies saw each other, and then back to Alberto, narrowing their eyebrows; Alberto was surprised by the sudden change, but he quickly clenched his eyebrows and put an arm on the table, then rested his chin on his wrist.

"Do you want to intimidate me? Well, they don't know that Alberto Scorfano doesn't get intimidated by anyone! " the boy thought.

Luca gritted his teeth and looked at the ladies again, something told him that, unlike Giulia, those two weren't so friendly.

And it seemed his worst fears were true, because the ladies narrowed their eyes and growled, and he had to admit they looked threatening.

Alberto imitated them, growling too.

Everything was silent as the duel of gazes continued, the only sound was of the wind blowing, dragging a crumpled newspaper in the shape of a ball that passed in front of them.

Luca swallowed hard, he hated that silence, he could swear he was listening to his insides; since it seemed that Alberto wasn't going to give up, Luca thought that the best thing would be to calm everyone, let the ladies know that he and his friend were not a threat.

So he put an arm on the table, gave a nervous laugh, and raised his hand, bringing his five fingers together in the middle, then he said the quintessential human salute:

"What's wrong with you stupido?"

But the reaction wasn't the expected.

The ladies gasped, and the tall one got up very indignant, throwing the umbrella, pointed the food at him as Luca shrunk in his seat.

"Did I say it wrong?" Luca thought.

"What did you say to me?!" she yelled at him.

Luca was about to apologize when Alberto raised both arms.

"He said, what´s wrong with you stupido!"

It was bad enough that those two were looking at him with anger, but attacking his friend, oh no, he wasn't allowing that!

"Why you?!" the woman continued.

Her partner stood up and adjusted her headscarf, squeezing it tight.

Luca shallowed.

"We should have stayed on the island," he thought.

Meanwhile, inside the store, Giulia was tasting the gelatos, this was the first time the boys will try the dessert, she couldn't go wrong with the flavor, it had to be the best of all, that was why she was trying all again, that and she loved the free samples.

"Hmm," she said after tasting the chocolate one, "let me try, that one."

And she pointed to the pistachio flavor with her plastic spoon.

"You already tried that one," the female employee replied, clearly tired.

"I forgot how it tastes," she replied with a smile, God how she loved the free sample policy.

Annoyed the worker gave her another spoon; Giulia tasted the gelato with her mouth open.

"Oh yeah, it's good."

If it weren't for how good she felt, and for the music of the store, she would have heard the screams from outside, the ladies had gotten up and were yelling at the boys while Alberto tried to defend himself, the chubby lady repeatedly hit him in the head with her bag, three times to be exact, while Luca could only cover his mouth as Alberto was beaten.

Alberto managed to slip away and they both took refuge on the other side of their table, while the ladies yelled all kinds of vulgarity at them.

"Can we hit them back?!" Alberto asked, holding back his tears; what did she have in that bag?!

"Maybe they'll just get tired and go away!" Luca exclaimed terrified, maybe mom wasn't so wrong about land monsters.

It seemed that the little one had a point because the ladies were sweating a lot, and it seemed that they had run out of air, they both sat down again while taking great breaths of air.

"You don't talk that way to the Aragosta sisters!" said the thin one.

"Do people don't say, what's wrong with you stupido?" Luca questioned, genuinely confused.

But that only made matters worse, as the mention of the phrase seemed to renew the sisters' strengths.

"You said it again!" screamed the tall one.

"Why would you say that?" her sister joined as she tossed the handbag to them.

The boys screamed and ducked, the bag passed over their heads, then peeked out again.

"Why wouldn't you say that?" Alberto asked now, confused as Luca, he thought that was a greeting among humans.

To their bad luck, the sisters counterattacked, this time with the umbrella, and the boys couldn't dodge it, the umbrella hit them both in the face, they let out a scream and then rubbed their noses, right where the impact was.

The scandal that was brewing soon caught the attention of all those present, who formed a circle around the scene while whispering among themselves what they believed was happening, luckily, before the situation worsened, a powerful voice could be heard that resonated with everyone.

"Basta! Basta!" Pushing her way through the crowd came a police officer, stopped next to the sisters and asked them: "What's the problem here?"

Luca and Alberto made faces, they still didn't know much about the human world, but they had a feeling that this woman would only bring them more problems.

Inside the Gelateria, Giulia had to spit out the new sample as the taste was horrible.

"What is this?"

"Pesto and raisins," the employee answered without much emotion,

"Ercole choose it, an award for winning last year's cup."

The gelato was a swamp green color, with chunks that looked like onions and cilantro, it looked more like a sauce.

"I must end his reign of terror," she said, more decided than never.

Outside, the sisters explained the incident to the officer, while Luca and Alberto just stood still, expecting the worst.

"These boys insulted us!"

"Throw them in jail and swallow the key!" exclaimed the chubby one as she shook her fists in front.

Fortunately, the police did not seem very impressed, or eager to comply with the ladies' wishes.

"I'm not gonna do that," was the only response from the officer, to the clear disappointment of the sisters, then she turned to see the kids, "I don't recognize you boys, where are you from?"

If she could ignore the worse things that Ercole did, she could overlook a simple joke, even so, she would have to meet the new faces of Portorosso, to at least have the information; from his shirt pocket, she took a notepad and her pen.

Luca's heart stopped, the boat incident had made it clear that their lies did not work with humans, and neither the police nor the sisters, in fact, no one in the crowd, would be as understanding as Giulia, now they were cornered.

"Uh," Alberto whispered and raised a finger.

"Thanks to the fish, he will know what to say," Luca thought.

And he ran out before anyone could realize it, Luca let out a surprised cry as he watched him go, then he looked at the officer, she had followed Alberto's escape with her gaze, before turning her eyes to Luca.

Very slowly, and discreet, Luca began to move in the direction Alberto left.

"Sorry," with that said he ran after his friend.

The three women gasped in surprise.

"I'm gonna chase you next time," the officer yelled at them, while the sisters only murmured complaints and insults to the boys.

The police saw her blog, which was an alphabet soup, and by sheer chance managed to find a new word:

"Monsters."

"Ha! Maybe it's an omen," she said to herself as she closed the word in a circle.

With the commotion over, the crowd began to disperse, just as Giulia was paying for the three gelato cones; in the end, she chose chocolate for herself, pistachio for Luca, and a grape one for Alberto, since they matched the color of their marine forms.

"Grazie," she said after paying.

"I'm sure this will make you guys feel better," she thought as she turned around, there she saw that the boys were gone, and worse still, the crowd that was leaving included the police.

"Oh no."