After lots of begging and pleading, Luca finally convinced Giulia to go back to Portorosso with him. Ms. Marcovaldo called a taxicab to drive them there.
Sure enough, on that same shore overlooking Isola del Mare, Giulia witnessed the cluster of maelstroms popping up all over the sea for herself. She grabbed his arm. "Luca."
"Come on. Let's go get him."
"No, I - " Giulia hung back. "No." She didn't want to see her brother like that… all evil and stuff.
Then she noticed something out in the distance. In the center of the choppy, swirling water was her dad's fisher… and her dad.
"Giulietta!" he called, waving his arm.
"Papa! Luca, that's my dad's boat!"
"Alberto wouldn't hurt him," Luca reasoned, then he remembered. He was Alberto's best friend, and yet… Luca ran to shore. Oh no. "He's probably trying to save Alberto."
"Luca - "
"I have to go stop him!"
"Luca!"
He dove into the sea and Giulia watched him transform, his little green tail disappearing into the water.
. . .
After about an hour of waiting on a rock later, Giulia watched Luca pull her sea monster brother out of the water. She hid behind an old ruin.
Alberto shook his scales off, looking drowsy and out of it. "Where am I?"
"Home. Portorosso." Luca glanced behind him. "Giulia, look who I have." Alberto turned around, looking quizzically at the old ruin. "It's okay. He's good now."
Giulia peered from behind the wall, tentatively approaching her older brother.
"Giulia. What - ?"
"Shh." She held a finger out, studying his green eyes for a while. "If you're really Alberto," she began, thinking of a test on the fly, "whaaaat book do I have in the cove behind my desk?"
"I dunno."
"Santa Asiago - it is you!" Utterly convinced, she gave him a big hug.
In the end, it took both Giulia and Luca to push a resisting Alberto towards the harbors. "What's the matter," Giulia grunted. "Are you scared you're gonna create a whirlpool in the town fountain?"
"Nope. Just scared."
"Okay."
Finally they made it to Massimo, who was just getting out of his boat. His thick eyebrows lifted, giving everyone a brief glimpse of his surprised eyes.
"Look who we have," Giulia said, presenting Alberto like a Christmas gift. "Buon Natale, Papa."
"Heyy, Massimo… " he said weakly.
Massimo stared down at him, large and imposing.
Alberto let out a sigh. "Look, I'm sorry for what I said; I was wrong. I wasn't even thinking… okay?" He flashed him a hopeful smile.
Massimo didn't respond.
Alberto shifted his weight, looking all around. "Please say something," he said. "This is getting awkward… and I don't really know what else I can - "
Massimo cut him off with a warm, one-armed embrace. "You scared me to death," he said, and Giulia could tell he was furious because he was using his quiet voice.
"I'm sorry."
"Don't ever do that again. Don't ever do that again. I had the entire town out looking for you." Massimo was still angry, but he let go.
Alberto looked away. "I did want to come back… I thought you were still mad at me," he admitted. "I thought you didn't want to see me anymore."
"Look at me." Massimo turned the boy's face toward him as a tear coursed down his cheek. "You are my son. And I love you so much."
"Yeah. I love you too." And Alberto gave him another hug.
. . .
As Alberto devoured his pasta in the safety of the tent, Luca, Massimo and Giulia kept their eyes trained on him, not even blinking and allowing themselves to miss a single moment of his slow but sure recovery. Who knew how long ago that boy had eaten? It wasn't exactly like being host to a legendary whirlpool monster came with lunch breaks…
"Wow, I was hungry." Alberto glanced up at them. "What are you looking at?"
"Are you back to your old self again?" Giulia asked him.
"I think so… ? Thanks for the pasta, Massimo. It's really good."
"You want me to get you some more?"
"Sure." Alberto handed him back the container, and Massimo went back to the boat where a whole mountain of spaghetti was stored. He came prepared.
Giulia squinted her eyes at her brother. "What?"
"My mama thinks you're evil now."
"… She does?"
"Yeah."
"Oh." Alberto's eyebrows drew together; he was clearly troubled by the news. Giulia continued studying him.
"Are you?"
"No… " He shrunk away from the question. "I-I mean, I don't think so?" He glanced at Luca, who immediately looked away.
"Well." She patted his hand, turning to go. "Even if you do turn evil, you'll still be my brother."
"Thanks." Alberto nodded once. "Giulia."
Once Giulia was gone, Luca kept watch of his friend's every movement. It was good to have him back… but at what cost? When would he turn back this time?
Alberto noticed this. "What's up with you?" he asked.
Luca opened his mouth, his tongue too thick to choke out pleasantries.
"Hey." Alberto reached over, nudging his knee. "What's wrong? Are you mad at me?"
Luca shook his head.
"What is it, then? You can tell me."
It occurred to Luca that they had switched places; Luca was the one holding back and Alberto was the one begging to know what was wrong. "You scare me," he finally spat out, getting it off his chest.
Meanwhile, Alberto looked shocked, like he was trying to mentally process what just came out of his friend's mouth. "I do?"
Luca nodded. "The way you lash out. The way you change. Whenever I try to save you, I don't know which one of you I'm getting."
"I did something bad again, didn't I?"
Luca looked up at him, not having the heart to answer.
"Tell me." Alberto steeled himself, crossing his legs. "Tell me what I did. I want to know."
"It was really bad, Alberto," Luca said. "Like, really bad."
He inhaled, then nodded.
With a shuddering breath, Luca recounted everything Alberto had done and said under Charybdis' spell. Luca watched his face transform, the weight of the revelation crashing down on him as he tucked his arms protectively under his legs. "It's not your fault," Luca said lamely.
"Yeah, except it kinda is."
He hadn't just killed one sailor; he'd killed multiple sailors. Upended a whole ship, wiping out numerous ecosystems… the Mediterranean looked like one big haunted fish graveyard. Alberto had torn apart families, homes - including Luca's. If his family had been hurt…
Was he somehow betraying them by trying to save his friend?
This was all so confusing; Luca rested his head on his knee.
"Hey." Alberto crawled over to him, shaking him reassuringly. "Don't give up on me yet. I can fix this."
"I'm not giving up on you," Luca said, his head down. "I don't want to give up on you… but I can't keep doing this. Defending you, saving you. Our home is gone. You almost killed my family."
"I know. I… gosh, Luca. I don't even know what to say."
Luca lifted his head, his face wiped clean of expression. "I don't even know who you are anymore."
"Whoa." Alberto was taken aback. "How can you say that? I'm your best friend. You know exactly who I am."
Luca studied him. He looked the same… now. "No," he finally stated. "I don't."
Wincing, Luca reached into his back pocket and pulled out the torn-taped drawing of him and Alberto - riding their Vespa, enjoying their little cones of gelato, happy as clams - and tossed it on the ground in front of his friend.
Alberto stared as it floated down, the same betrayed look crossing his face as when Luca was the one doing the betraying.
"Luca." He tried to catch his arm, but Luca walked right out of the tent. "Luca… Luca, wait!"
He pretended he didn't hear.
. . .
"Papa! Papa! Luca! Papa!"
Swimming out of his dreams, Luca jolted awake from behind the boulder. He found Giulia on the beach, clinging to Alberto's back and digging her heels into the sand, trying to keep him from walking into the sea.
"Alberto, arresti!" Giulia screamed, but his eyes were red and glowing and he moved like he was in that same trance from before. "Stop! Stopstopstop!"
Snapping out of it, Luca ran to join Giulia. "Stop. Stop, Alberto, stop."
"Alberto!" a deep voice rang out from behind them. Luca and Giulia felt Massimo's large arm cut through them, trying to pull them back. But it was almost like Alberto was being pulled by a stronger force, a much stronger superhuman force than all of their efforts combined, his webbed feet crossing the shoreline into the water.
"No… no!" Giulia spluttered as she and her father fell forward, half-dragged through the shallow waves. They let go; if they kept hanging on, they would surely drown.
Sure enough, Alberto's tail vanished into the water. Luca jumped up. "I'm going in there after him."
"No, Luca." Massimo stopped him. "He'll hurt you again."
"I don't care." Luca kicked off his shoes. He knew he shouldn't have left him all alone.
"Be careful," Giulia called, cupping her hands over her mouth. She wouldn't know what to tell people if her friend came back with a hole in his head.
If at all.
Oh, as time goes by
And it all becomes clear
We can see the deceit
We see the lies
. . .
