Luca finished counting the fish for the umpteenth time to Alberto's desperate look.
"Come on, Luca! This is like the fifth time you've counted them!" He demanded, stretching his arms towards the shoal.
"I'm just making sure none of them are missing," he answered after putting the last one in the cave; he turned around in the water, took his cane, and went to join his brother, "you can't blame me, after losing Enrico I don't want to take any chances, and you know how Giuseppe is, he's just waiting for us to get distracted to escape."
Alberto rolled his eyes; he didn't think Giuseppe had what it took to live on his own, he was sure that the fish would return after a few days of escaping, but Alberto knew that any attempt to convince Luca would be useless, so he just shrugged, and they swam home together. Inside, Lorenzo, Daniela, and Grandma were preparing food.
"Boys, you're three minutes late," Daniela said as she set up the table.
"Sorry, Mom, I wanted to make sure that Giuseppe hadn't escaped," Luca replied as he entered, "hi, grandma."
"Hi, Bubble," she received a kiss on the cheek from his grandson, then she turned to Alberto, "Hello, explorer."
"Hello, grandma," he greeted; at first, it seemed strange, but with time, he felt more comfortable calling the Paguros, mom, dad, and grandma, and they seemed to love it.
Grandma kissed him on the cheek, and then they both took their place while Daniela served them; they hurried to eat since they had been working all morning. Daniela rolled her eyes; ever since Luca had met Alberto, not only had his self-esteem and courage grown, but that same confidence also made him a little more...
Rough.
In other words, having Alberto by Luca's side made her feel much more secure in everything, but they could forget their manners and attack the food like…
Well, animals.
"Boys, don't forget your manners," she reminded them while serving the others.
They both stopped eating and looked up at her, regaining their composure.
"Sorry, Mom," Alberto apologized.
Daniela smiled. Alberto's arrival had also changed her; now she felt safer knowing that Luca wasn't wandering around alone, and even more cause Alberto wasn't afraid of fights; in that sense, he reminded her a little of herself. Luca was more like Lorenzo, a pacifist who never looked for trouble; Daniela would always remember how she had to take the bullies off his husband during their youth. It was funny that Alberto seemed to inherit that characteristic as if he had always belonged with them. He just had to find them.
Despite calming down, the boys soon finished their food before the older ones. Each one took their turtle shell to the kitchen, where the walls were full of holes; in front of the border, there was a rock that served as a table for preparing food, and on the other side was the skeleton of a dolphin, the boys placed the shells in the middle of their vertebrae, and then Alberto hit the wall with one fist.
"Time to work, hooligans," he said, moving his head closer to a hole, from which came a shoal of small gray fish known as 'remora.'
Their bodies were elongated, almost cylindrical, and their fins were long and spiny, with small scales; their most outstanding feature was an oval disk on their heads. The fish swam up to the shells, attached to them by the disc, and began to eat.
"Greedy fish," Alberto continued, crossing his arms, "your only job is to eat, and yet you deign not to do it."
Luca snickered; he knew that of all the fish, the remoras were the ones Alberto liked the least since they were not the most cooperative. And they had to be told to do what they had to do multiple times.
"They're cleaning; that's what matters," Luca mentioned as he swam towards the exit, "leave them, and let's go."
Alberto didn't have to listen twice and went to follow him, but not before giving the remoras one last annoyed look; the adults were still eating when they both approached the entrance.
"And can you tell us where you two are going?" Daniela asked, still looking at her food.
The boys stopped and turned to look at her.
"We're just going for a swim," Alberto answered casually.
Luca just nodded, Daniela was going to argue more, but her mother's voice interrupted her.
"Come on, Daniela, the boys have done all their chores; I think they deserve a break."
The boys looked at each other and smiled; they could always trust their nana; Daniela saw her mother without suspicion, but she didn't flinch; she just continued calmly eating her seaweed. Daniela sighed, looking at her sons again; both boys had their hands behind their backs and were grinning with teeth.
Daniela rolled her eyes but smiled.
"Okay, but come back before dark."
The two jumped for joy.
"Thanks, Mom! Of course, we will!" Luca thanked her as he left.
"And please be careful," added Daniela.
"Come on, Mom, he's with me," Alberto continued, pointing to himself with both thumbs.
Daniela admitted that that made her feel calmer. Alberto genuinely saw Luca as his little brother, and he was always taking care of him. Besides, he had shown to be strong and determined, and she knew that as long as Luca was with him, he would be safe.
"Hey, you two, come here."
Luca and Alberto stopped and looked at each other before approaching again. Daniela smiled and placed a hand on each cheek of her children.
"Look into my eyes; you both know I love you, right?"
They both smiled; it was always comforting to hear it, especially for Alberto. It had been long since he cared about his father; he rarely thought about him anymore, but... Those times when he did, the pain returned; it was not as intense as before, but it brought back unpleasant memories. Being reminded that he now had a family that loved him, and would never leave him, was the best thing in the world.
"We know, Mom," they answered in unison, smiled, and swam towards the horizon.
...
"Come on, Luca!" Alberto yelled as he jumped out of the water.
Luca watched as his friend spread his limbs before diving back in. Luca smiled and pushed himself up, coming out too; he gave a triumphant cry as he stretched out his arms in front; he dived in again while Alberto waited for him. Seeing him back, his brother smiled and swam forward again.
Luca narrowed his eyebrows and tried to catch up with him, he began to kick and wag his tail more intensely, but no matter how hard he tried, he could never reach him. Alberto was always faster; he didn't know if it was because he was two years older or because of the shape of his tail fins, but what Luca did know was that one day, he would equal Alberto, or better yet, surpass him.
For today, he would do his best to reach him.
Realizing that Luca was behind, Alberto stopped and swam up to him.
"You keep falling behind, little brother," he said playfully.
Luca just smiled.
"I'll bet you one day."
"I'm sure you will," Alberto replied with a smile.
They both laughed, then Alberto noticed a rock near them where they could rest; he pointed at it, and Luca nodded. They both swam to it and lay down; the older one put his hands behind his head; while Luca placed his hands on his stomach. They both sighed while they saw the waves; it was a beautiful day, although somewhat boring.
"Do you want to explore the tower?" asked Alberto.
"I don't know," he replied. Last time they had found interesting things, but the Great Fish wasn't in the sky. And Luca didn't feel that going out without the protection was a good idea, "we should wait until we can change."
Alberto rolled his eyes.
"Come on, humans never come around here anyway."
"I know, but..."
Luca's words were interrupted by an engine; both boys opened their eyes and got up. On the surface, they could see a boat coming. Luca looked at Alberto; he was just as surprised; they swam behind the rock, only their heads sticking out.
The boat stopped staying still for a few moments without moving. Luca didn't know what to do, an instinct inside him told him to get out of there as fast as they could, but the other one... he was dying to see a human, see how they moved in the ocean.
However, his fear won; he was gonna escape when Alberto came out of hiding to go to the boat.
"Alberto!" He exclaimed, taking his friend's hand, "What are you doing?"
His brother turned and placed his hand over Luca's.
"Luca, they are humans; don't you wanna see what they are like?"
"They are like you and me when the Great Fish is up."
"Yeah, but don't you wanna see a real one?" See their machines? How do they dress?"
Luca bit his lip. Alberto knew his weaknesses; his curiosity could always overcome his fear, but...
"Is too risky."
Alberto released him and started swimming towards the boat.
"Just one look and that's it; we'll keep our distance."
Luca gritted his teeth and looked behind him; they were far from the community; if something went wrong… no one would hear them; they would be on their own. For a moment, he thought about going home and asking for help, but…
He couldn't leave Alberto alone if something went wrong, and he left, and when he returned, Alberto was gone...
He would never forgive himself; he couldn't live knowing he abandoned his brother.
"Alberto, wait!" He pushed himself with his tail to reach him.
Alberto stopped and turned to see him.
"Just a look, okay? I promise."
Luca smiled, confident that Alberto would keep his word; the two swam up to the boat, only they didn't dare stick their heads out; they just surrounded it. Luca opened his eyes: it was a big piece of floating plastic, or at least that's what it looked like; it was white and seemed made of rough material. At the back, it had what appeared to be knives in the shape of a star. Luca remembered that, when the boat moved, they had created a foam behind it, like when they swam on the surface, so that star must be how the boat moved.
"Wow," he said in amazement.
"Pretty cool, right?" asked Alberto, giving him a slight nudge.
Luca nodded.
Alberto was about to get his head out of the water, but Luca pulled him back.
"Alberto!" Luca told him with a tone that was somewhere between scolding and worry.
"Come on, just a peak. I know you wanna see how it looks from the outside."
"Yeah, but..."
There was an explosion; something hit Luca and sent him to the bottom.
"Luca!" Alberto screamed.
The boy screamed as he flailed to try to escape; he was trapped in a net. Alberto was swimming after him as fast as he could. Luca repeatedly shouted his friend's name while looking confused and terrified in all directions.
"Don't worry! I'm getting you out! I'm getting you out!"
With his claws, Alberto held on to the net; he was about to rip it when the trap was pulled towards the boat; it was with such force that Alberto had no choice but to let go, and he was thrown away by the impact.
"Albertoooooooooo!"
Alberto quickly recovered, stopped his movement, and looked towards the boat. The net was attached to a rope that was taking it back to the ship. Alberto narrowed his eyebrows.
"Luca!" he yelled; and went after him, now more than ever, glad he was the faster of the two.
It didn't take him long to reach it. Alberto took the ropes and began to pull. Luca understood what his friend was thinking, so he squashed his body against the net and began kicking in the opposite direction as he was dragged. The effort seemed to work because the pulling stopped.
"It's working! Luca! Don't stop kicking!"
Luca closed his eyes as he kicked harder. Alberto pulled again; the net wouldn't resist; its edges were already breaking.
"That's it, Luca! Now I'm gonna…!"
A harpoon wounded Alberto in the shoulder; the boy screamed and put a hand to the wound. The weapon had managed to pierce his skin; the attack was so sudden that Luca stopped swimming and was immediately sent back to the boat.
Luca looked up, then back at Alberto, slipping an arm out of the mesh and reaching out to his brother.
"Alberto!" he yelled as he was led away.
The purple one was checking his wound; a trickle of blood had started to come out, but when he heard Luca's voice, he forgot his pain and started swimming toward Luca. He wouldn't let anything happen to him.
But another harpoon hit him, this time in the stomach. Alberto screamed again, now the stinging pain had spread to there; he looked up only to find himself with a monster; he thought it was human because the figure coincided with the one he and Luca adopted out of the water. But there was something strange with it: his skin looked like the one of a seal, his face had a circle in the middle, and on his feet, there were fins. While on his back, he had a strange cylinder, and worst of all, he carried a fishing rifle.
Alberto felt a fire inside him; that monster had hurt him; and made Luca a prisoner. He pulled out his claws and showed him his teeth; that fool was gonna pay.
Releasing a roar of war, he went towards the monster, he was about to reload his weapon, but Alberto gave him no time. He rammed him, causing the human to drop his pistol, which sank to the bottom. Alberto's first instinct was to attack his face with his claws, but the human managed to hold them. Alberto tried to get rid of him, but something was wrong, he had lost strength, under normal conditions he should be able to finish off that human with no problem but...
"The harpoon," he thought, just like the puffer fish, the tip must have been poisoned.
The human laughed as he squeezed Alberto's wrists harder, the boy didn't want to, but he couldn't help it; he screamed.
"Stupid beast!" the human mocked, and then he punched him in the face.
Alberto groaned; he wanted to defend himself, but no muscle responded not even his tail. He tried to raise his head, but even that was rough. He could only hear the monster laugh; showing his teeth, Alberto turned to see him.
The human just kept kicking.
"Goodnight, sweet prince," the bastard laughed as he waved goodbye.
And it was the last thing Alberto heard; because his eyes closed, and everything went black.
...
"Alberto, wake up, Alberto!" The jolts in his arm, and Luca's screams, caused Alberto to gradually open his eyes.
At first, he felt confused; because he didn't remember anything. The first thing he saw was that he and Luca were in the water, only that they couldn't see much. There was only darkness on their sides, and Luca was scared.
But this was not like the other times. Luca was scared to death, nervously looking everywhere, clenching his teeth, continuing to wag his tail, and playing with his hands.
"Luca... what's wrong?"
Then he remembered everything, he put a hand on his wounds, and the harpoons were gone, and in their place, they had put a strange white thing on him. He thought it was a jellyfish, except it didn't feel so slimy.
"Luca?"
Then he noticed that his friend kept looking up, which made him realize that was the only place where the light came from.
Alberto got closer to Luca and noticed that above them, there were some bars; he looked everywhere and understood why everything was so dark and sealed.
They were in a cage.
"No," he said in a small voice.
He clung to the bars; the poison was losing effect, and he would soon be at full strength.
"Alberto, don't!"
Luca tried to warn him, but it didn't matter; Alberto felt a jolt run through his body. He screamed and let go of the edges; his hands were burning. Luca quickly went with him.
"What did I tell you? These things are too stupid for their own good," someone outside said, followed by laughter.
Alberto felt anger when he recognized that voice; it was that of the human who had attacked them.
The monster peeked out from the bars; the boys had to look up to see it.
From where Ercole was standing, he had a pretty good view of the boys' prison; in his hand, he carried the electric rod.
"You two are lucky the gringos want you alive," he said, pointing the stick at them.
Luca gasped and shrank back. Ercole smiled; maybe they were not so stupid after all; then he noticed that the purple one looked at him with hate. Ercole laughed; that aberration would give him more work, but there was no animal he could not control.
He turned and walked away.
"Make yourself comfortable, freaks. It's gonna be a long trip."
And he disappeared. Luca looked scared at Alberto; he did not need to be a genius to know what that human was referring to, now they were his prisoners, and they were being taken away from their home.
"Alberto… what are we gonna do?"
Alberto looked everywhere; there was no way for them to escape, and if they tried to get out through the gate, the human would know.
He didn't want to admit it, he wished to tell Luca that everything would be fine, but he knew it was a lie, and Luca would know it too because the truth was that…
"I don't know, Luca. I don't know."
...
Daniela looked scared toward the horizon, it was already night, and there was no sign of the boys. She had her hand over her heart; she trusted Alberto, but...
They had never taken so long, something was wrong, and she knew it; something inside her warned her.
Lorenzo approached her, he was scared too, but he did not want to say it out loud, not wanting to upset his wife more than she already was.
"Do not worry. I'm sure the boys are with a friend or exploring around. I bet they are heading home as we speak."
"You think?" asked Daniela, without turning to see him.
Lorenzo just nodded, but that didn't seem to calm his wife.
"Yes, but we can look for them if that makes you feel better."
Daniela nodded again, only this time more frantic; she was tired of sitting idly by; she wanted to do something. At least that way, she would feel like she wasn't wasting time.
Lorenzo quickly went for a jellyfish; he took his wife by the arm.
"Don't worry, we will find them."
But nothing he said seemed to reassure Daniela nothing could until she was sure of her boys' safety. Lorenzo realized this because he stopped insisting and instead accompanied his wife.
"I will ask the neighbors to help," Grandma said as they left; she trusted the boys, but... this time was different; she had a bad feeling.
Daniela turned to look at her.
"Yes, Mom, please."
Grandma didn't waste a minute and took a jellyfish for herself, the three of them gathered at the door, and then they each went their own way.
"Boys, where are you?" Daniela thought.
