It turned out that Alberto's fingers and toes did go wrinkly if he kept them human in the water too long, which fascinated and delighted Celia – but she spent most of her time at the beach standing in knee-deep water, staring at her toes and balling her fists as she concentrated. When Alberto came closer to see if she were managing to transform, however, she would shriek and splash him, and then laugh when he ducked. Maybe her parents had talked to her about it and she'd decided it didn't matter after all, other than as a way to ambush him.

As the sun went down, Carlotta called them back inside to get ready for bed, and Mike had something to say.

"Tomorrow is Sabato," he said, "so I'm not working. It's supposed to be cloudy, but it's been a dry summer so far. How would you like to visit Pompei Scavi tomorrow?"
Luca nearly jumped out of his seat in excitement. "Yes! We'd love to, Sir! Right, Alberto?"

"Sure," said Alberto with a smile. He wasn't too eager to go wander through a bunch of ruined houses, himself, but Luca had come all this way just to keep Alberto company. It would only be fair if he got to see at least some of the stuff from his book, and he looked so happy that Alberto couldn't have said no if he'd wanted to.

"All right," said Mike. "We'll have to be up bright and early, and you'll want to wear a hat because there's no shade in the ruins. I don't know if either of you have ever had a sunburn..."

"We have," said Luca, wincing at the memory.

"Definitely," added Alberto, who had never even realized it was a problem until Massimo started telling him to be more careful about it.

"Good. Then you know how unpleasant that is," Mike nodded.

"Have you been to Pompei, Celia?" Luca asked.

"Yeah," Celia said. She didn't look very enthusiastic, either. "It's just old rocks."

Luca hesitated and looked towards Mike and Carlotta. He didn't want Celia to be unhappy.

"Luca thinks old rocks are the best thing in the world," Alberto told the little girl.

"Don't worry, Guppy, we'll find something to make it more interesting," Carlotta promised her daughter, "and we'll go for ice cream afterwards, okay?"

"Okay," Celia decided.

Because Mike wanted them to be there early, before there was a long lineup to get in, they went to bed shortly after dinner. Luca was almost vibrating as he wiggled down under the covers, smiling at the ceiling in delighted anticipation. Alberto was a little more thoughtful as he lay down beside his friend. It had been kind of a weird day, but...

... no, he was glad they hadn't left. If they'd left, he wouldn't have been able to help Nonna Sofia with her baking. That had been surprisingly nice, and very different from cooking with Massimo although he couldn't articulate just how. Nor would they have had the opportunity to apologize to Flavia. It hadn't worked, but Alberto was still glad they'd at least tried. He and Luca had also gotten to explore that little island, even if there was nothing much there. If Alberto had lived here, he would absolutely have used it as a hideout. And he was definitely glad Luca would get to see the ruins.

He wasn't happy to know that his family thought the escape attempt had been a stunt. It seemed like a lot of the Scorfanos were just determined not to like Alberto, no matter what he did. What if he explained it to them? What if he just told them that he really had intended to leave, but had changed his mind when he'd seen his father's old cronies at the train station?

They probably wouldn't believe him.

What was he going to do about his father? Alberto didn't like Giancarlo, but as he'd explained to Luca, he didn't hate him and he didn't want him to come to any harm. He couldn't let him get involved in whatever this was, and after what had happened last fall, Alberto didn't trust Giancarlo to stay out of it on his own, especially when he'd already disappeared like that. Nonna Sofia had said that if he came back, he, too, would be given as many second chances as he needed. Somebody had to find Giancarlo and bring him home.

Nobody was going to do it except Alberto. Nonna Sofia was busy, Aunt Diana had her egg, everybody else hated Alberto and Giancarlo both, and the Gennaris just weren't interested. It was up to Alberto and Luca. What could they do all by themselves, though?

Despite all these thoughts running circles in his head like a cat chasing its own tail, Alberto did eventually nod off... only to be woken in the middle of the night by a bright flash and a terribly loud noise. His eyes flew open and he sat up, blinking in the darkness.

"Alberto?" Luca asked tremulously.

"Right here," Alberto said. Neither of them could see anything in the blackness, but when Alberto reached over, he found Luca's shoulder. Luca grabbed his hand in both of his own.

Then there was another flash, as lightning lit up the clouds outside. By this light, Alberto could see Luca silhouetted against the window, and a few seconds later, the thunder rumbled so loud it almost shook the house. Out in the hallway a light came on, and there were hurried footsteps as one of the adults ran to check on Celia.

"Oh, no," Luca moaned. "It's raining!"

It certainly was. A gust of wind blew a curtain of drops against the window, hammering loudly on the glass. Beyond that, the sea was lashing the beach in high, foamy waves. Alberto felt around for the alarm clock on the night table, and waited for another lightning flash so he could see the hands.

"It's only two," he said. "It'll be done by morning." If their day at Pompei Scavi got rained out, Luca would be inconsolable. They were only here for another week.

As they lay down again, it occurred to Alberto that if they'd somehow ended up here last summer and Luca had tried to drag him off to see a town that had been buried thousands of years ago, Albert probably would have been like Celia, complaining it was nothing but rocks. He would hae wanted to visit the exciting big city of Napoli, or climb Mount Vesuvio or something, and him and Luca might even have ended up fighting again. It would probably have depended on how badly Luca wanted to go.

Having friends was a lot of work. It had been a lot of work from the beginning, when Alberto had been almost desperate to keep offering Luca interesting things so he wouldn't get distracted and leave for something better. Then later on, it had become a very different kind of work, as Alberto realized that he needed to help Luca as much as he needed Luca to help him.

Having a family was also hard work. Alberto had tried to get them to like him, but they weren't trying to get him to like them – and now nobody liked each other.

In the morning, Alberto woke to find the light in the room was grey and gloomy, and rain was still running down the windows. Luca was already up, but was just sitting on the edge of the bed, watching despondently.

"Tomorrow's Domenica," Alberto offered. "Maybe the weather will be better, and we can go then."

"Yeah, maybe," sighed Luca, but as Alberto had anticipated, he was miserably disappointed.

All the other things Alberto had been thinking about pushed themselves to the back of his brain. He had a job to do today, and that was to keep Luca busy and make him feel better.

He thought about that over breakfast. There were plenty of things they could do indoors, like play games or watch television, but that wasn't going to be enough. Maybe they could head out into the bay. Weather didn't matter underwater. Alberto didn't really want to do that, though, because there was the possibility of running into somebody he was related to. Where could they go where there wouldn't be any Scorfanos?

Carlotta and Mike could also tell that Luca was upset, and they, too, did their best to make it better.

"There's a lot of artifacts from Pompei Scavi at the National Archaeological Museum," Mike offered. "They've even got a lot of the frescoes. They took the originals off the walls so they wouldn't get damaged in the open air, and put them in the museum while there are replicas in the ruins."

Alberto hadn't thought of still going somewhere on land, but as long as they were inside it ought to be all right. "That's a good idea!" he said. "What do you think, Luca? It'll be almost the same, and like I said, the weather might be better tomorrow?"

"Sure," said Luca, without enthusiasm.

Alberto frowned and looked at Mike – how could they make it sound better?

There was a knock on the door. Carlotta got up from her chair and promised to be right back, and went to answer it.

"There's a special exhibition on," Mike added, "about how the ancient statues were originally painted. They've got some replicas on display with the colours. It makes them look totally different from the bare marble."

That made Luca look thoughtful.

"Oh, good morning," Carlotta said to their visitor. "What can we do for you this morning?"

"Buongiorno, Signora Gennari," replied the voice of Signor Granchio. "I'm here to take the boys to Portici."

Alberto's mouth was full, and hearing this nearly made him choke. He quickly washed his mouthful down with water, and he and got up to see what was going on. Luca was right behind him.

Signor Granchio was standing on the step, wearing a yellow rain slicker and carrying a black umbrella. His beat-up car was waiting on the street. Carlotta had placed herself in the doorway, as if afraid Granchio might try to force his way in.

"Alberto," she said, "were you expecting this man?"

"No," Alberto said, coming closer. "You said you didn't want to take us," he reminded Granchio.

"I couldn't yesterday because I was working," the man said, "but I had a think about it last night and I changed my mind. We can stop in and ask about your father, and then if the weather improves we'll go to Ercolano. It's a place like Pompei, where the volcano buried a Roman city, but they haven't dug up as much of it."

Luca frowned. "And it's called... Ercolano?"

"Yeah. Named after the Greek hero, Ercole," Granchio explained.

Alberto snickered, while Luca covered his mouth with one hand to hide his grin.

Mike now came to join them at the front door, with Celia tagging along behind him, half-hiding behind her father as she wasn't sure what to make of this stranger. Mike appeared worried, too, and Carlotta didn't want to move out of the doorway. The reason why became clear a moment later.

"So you two know this man?" Carlotta asked the boys.

"Oh, yes," said Luca.

"He's a friend of my father's," Alberto explained. "He gave us a ride home the other day."

Carlotta relaxed a little, but remained overall guarded. "I suppose... as long as it's all right with Alberto and Luca. Though I think we should just ring Zia Sofia and let her know where they're going."

She made Signor Granchio wait on the step while she did so, but Zia Sofia must have reassured her, because once the phone call was over she returned to the hall and let him in. Luca and Alberto got bundled up in raincoats, hats, and boots, and Carlotta made sure they had towels in their bags just in case, despite Alberto protesting he didn't need one.

"I can just Change back, remember?" he said.

"Then yours can be a spare for Luca," she replied. "Do you need money for lunch?"

"I'll buy them something," Granchio assured her.

"I've got some money Nonna Sofia gave me," said Alberto. When he'd first started earning his own money last fall, he'd spent it freely on candy and comic books. After saving up to buy a bicycle, however, he'd started to learn some financial planning, and Alberto was now determined to save both Massimo's and Nonna Sofia's money until he really needed it.

"You can telephone if you need anything," Carlotta added.

"I know. Nonna Sofia also gave me her number."

"And I've got my book," Luca added, "so we can find other things to see if it keeps raining."

Carlotta nodded. She still wasn't happy just letting the boys leave with a stranger, but Nonna Sofia's word was mostly good enough. "All right, well... be back in time for supper, okay?"

"We will," Alberto promised.

"I won't let them wander off," said Granchio. "I kept Alberto's dad out of trouble for years, and this fellow must take after his mother because he's not nearly such a bother."

Alberto beamed. Just when he thought everybody here hated him, apparently he'd managed to make at least one good impression.

They climbed into Granchio's car, and he started the engine. The rain continued to hammer on the roof, and water swished under the tyres as they drove through puddles. Granchio put the radio on, too, so they could listen to music.

"Thanks for coming back!" Alberto said, shouting over all these sounds.

"You're welcome!" Granchio replied. "I just kept thinking about it all night, and I guess keeping your dad from getting himself killed is just a habit I can't quite kick. Like these things." He shook a box of cigarettes. Alberto feared he might light one in the car, but he stuffed them back in his pocket instead. "What do you think of the family, Alberto?"

The most polite thing Alberto could think of to reply to that was, "there's a lot of them."

Granchio chuckled. "When my Dad married Isidora Scorfano I was excited about having all these new cousins. I was a pretty lonely kid so I thought I was gonna get to hang out with them all. But the twins were way older than me, Leo didn't want to hang out, and Diana was a girl, so it was just me and Giancarlo."

"What sort of stuff did you guys do?" Alberto wanted to know. He'd never thought of his father as having been a child, although obviously he must have at some point.

"I hadn't been much interested in the land before, but he used to drag me up there," said Granchio, sounding rather cheerful about it. "We'd pick people's pockets or fish coins out of the fountains to buy coconut or Gelato, and sneak around in places we weren't supposed to go until ew get in trouble. Whenever we did, we'd always have a laugh because the humans didn't know what we were."

In some ways that sounded much like what Alberto and Luca had gotten up to for half of last summer, just hanging around in Portorosso seeing what humans got up to. On the other hand, it also sounded quite different. He and Luca hadn't gone around stealing money. At the time, they hadn't even known what money was. Later, when Alberto had come to understand that Human Stuff was actually people's belongings and tools rather than just neat things for him to collect, he'd made an effort to give some of it back. It didn't sound like Giancarlo had ever figured that out.

"When he got older," Granchio went on, "he got more reckless, and the stuff he got up to was more dangerous. He wanted to learn how to drive a car, maybe even fly a plane, or climb on trains and go see faraway places. I couldn't always talk him out of stuff anymore and eventually we both kind of had enough. I thought he was an idiot and he thought I was a coward."

"What did you think when you found out about me?" asked Alberto.

"Honestly? I'm shocked you don't have half a dozen brothers and sisters you don't know about," said Granchio.

"I guess I still might," said Alberto glumly. He'd met two of his father's girlfriends, and those were just the human ones.

It was still pouring rain when they arrived at the jewellery shop. It was still open on Saturday, but the weather meant not many people were out shopping. Alberto and Luca checked on their shoes and raincoats to make sure the water couldn't get in, and Granchio dropped them directly at the door before driving away to park his car. They headed up the steps and into the shop.

"Good morning!" Patrizia sang out – then she realized who they were and her expression changed from a welcoming smile to the expression of a woman who smelled something she didn't like. "What can I do for you today?" she asked, already trying to herd them back outside.

Alberto stepped to the side so she couldn't push him out, with Luca scurrying to almost hide behind him as the woman approached. "I'm looking for my father," said Alberto. "Has he been here."

Patrizia frowned at the puddles they were leaving on the floor. "If he has, I didn't see him. He only comes here when he's got shells to sell, or when he wants to see Signorina Sorrentino." She didn't sound as if she liked that relationship any better than Alberto did.

"All right, then, we'll go ask her," Alberto decided.

"Thank you, Madame," Luca said with a nod. "Can we ask one more thing?" He held up a finger. "When we were here before, the same day there was a French man with a beard here. Did he buy anything?"

"That is none of your business," Patrizia replied with a sniff. "I think you two had better run along."

The door opened again then, and a couple came hurrying it with the man holding an umbrella over his female companion. Patrizia shooed the boys back out, and as the door shut behind them they heard her greeting the customers.

"Buongiorno!" she said. "Welcome to Fratelli Rossi!"

Granchio had found a place for his car and was on his way up the steps as the boys descended the steps again. He looked startled to see them.

"That was quick," he said.

"Patrizia says he hasn't been there, so we gotta go ask Polly," said Alberto.

Granchio cocked his head. "You don't like Polly?"

"I only met her once," Alberto said with a shrug.

"She seems nice enough to me," said Granchio. "She's very practical, and he needs that. But then, I was happy to have a stepmom. I know a lot of kids aren't."

They trudged through the puddles around to the back of the building, rain pattering on the hoods of their raincoats and hands kept in pockets to avoid any risk of getting wet. Above the employee entrance was an awning, and two men were standing in the dry spot underneath it, smoking. Alberto wrinkled his nose and tried not to breath as they approached.

"Morning," one of the men said. "Say, you're Trombetta's kid, right?"

"Yeah," said Alberto.

"We need to talk to Polly," Luca told them.

"She's inside," the man said, gesturing towards the door.

Luca and Alberto went in, while Granchio pulled out his own cigarettes and asked one of the smokers for a light. The boys waited a few seconds for the water to drip off before unbuttoning their raincoats and drying their partially transformed hands on their trousers. Downstairs, they found the same scene as the previous visit, with men sitting at benches working on carving cameos and shaping beads. Mindful of Giancarlo's instructions not to startle anybody, they were very quiet as they made their way down the end.

Polly was stringing pearls today, using two pairs of tweezers to tie the string in a knot between each bead so that if the necklace broke they wouldn't scatter. The boys waited politely to be noticed.

It took a couple of minutes, but Polly put down her tools and turned around. Her face, which had been happy and welcoming last time, looked worried and annoyed now. "Hello, Alberto. Did your father send you here?"

"No," said Alberto. "Sorry for bothering you, but I need to know if he's been here since last time."

Polly shook her head. "No, he hasn't," she said, but she sounded like she wasn't finished. She licked her lips. "Come with me."

She led them out of the workshop and into a room set aside for people to take their breaks and eat their lunches. There was only one man in there, sipping a cup of coffee and reading a newspaper. Polly asked him to leave, and he did, and then she leaned on the counter and looked down at the boys, unsure what to think of them.

"What you told me the other day, about your father having a married girlfriend in Barcellona," she said. "Was that true?"

Alberto felt a little bad about that now. Saying it had been purely spiteful. "Yeah."

"Why did you tell me?"

Alberto shrugged one shoulder. He considered several replies, then settled on the one that was the second-closest to true. "Because he did, and I thought you should know that."

"You don't get along with him, huh?" asked Polly.

Alberto shook his head.

"I wondered about that when he said you lived with your mother's relatives up north," Polly said. "Did he tell you that you were going to be meeting me that day?"

"Nope," Alberto said.

Polly sighed. "Of course not. Gianni can be very charming but he really doesn't think things through sometimes."

"Madame," Luca spoke up. "Sorry, but we're actually looking for Alberto's father because he hasn't been home. Nobody's seen him, not even his mother, and he didn't even come to see Aunt Diana when she... she just..." He had to stop himself and think for a moment. "She just found out she's going to have another baby."

"Well, congratulations to your aunt, then," said Polly, "but I'm afraid I haven't seen Gianni at all. I assumed he was hiding from me because he didn't want to talk about what Alberto told me."

"Thanks," said Alberto glumly. Another dead then, then. Maybe Giancarlo had left Napoli entirely. That might be good, since it would keep him from getting in trouble with his former friends, but he might get in trouble somewhere else if his family weren't around to keep him in line. Alberto turned to leave.

"Wait," Polly said. "If he's not keeping away from me in particular, where is he? Did something happen?"

"We don't know," said Luca.

"He met a guy he used to know," Alberto said, "and they've been in trouble before."

"There was a man talking to Patrizia while Signor... while Signor Trombetta spoke to Signor Rossi. She was showing him the jewellery," Luca explained. "Alberto's father went and talked to him afterwards and nobody's seen him since."

"What kind of trouble are we talking about?" Polly asked. "What is this man's name?"

"He's friend," said Alberto. "I think it's Godin. Something like that."

"He stole some stuff," Luca said.

Alberto inhaled through his teeth and poked Luca in the side. They couldn't talk about that here... this place was full of expensive things. If they found out that Giancarlo was a thief he would lose his job.

It was too late, though. "What kind of stuff?" Polly asked.

Luca swallowed, and said nothing.

"Boys," said Polly. "What kind of stuff? What's going on?"

Alberto realized that if they refused to tell, she would assume the worst. His father was going to lose his job either way... and it would be all Alberto's fault. Did Nonna Sofia's second chances include that? Lucrezia had said that one of her rules was that Giancarlo had to have a job. If Alberto explained that it was his fault, would that help?

"Boys," Polly repeated.

"A bank," said Alberto. "He robbed a bank."

Polly swore, and then quickly cleared her throat. "Sorry, I just... I think you two had better come with me. I'm not angry at you," she added, "but we need to talk to the owners."

Luca and Alberto followed as she climbed two flights of stairs up to Signor Rossi's office, where she knocked on the door. A voice called out that it would only be a moment. A minute or so later, the door opened, and two men looked out. One of them was Signor Marcello Rossi whom the boys had briefly seen the other day, with his thin face, slicked-back hair, and very narrow moustache. The other man looked identical, and was even dressed in the same clothing – a tan-coloured suit and a tie with a pink and white marbled design that looked very much like the shells they used for cameos. The only visible difference between the pair was that the second one did not have the moustache.

"Hello, Polly," said Marcello Rossi. "What can I do for you?"

"Gianni's sons just came to see me," she began.

"No, I'm just Alberto's friend," Luca put in.

"They recognized a man who was in the shop the same day they were here. Apparently he's a friend of Gianni's... and he's a known thief."

The two Rossis looked at each other, and then stepped to each side to let Polly and the boys in.

Polly waved Luca and Alberto in first, as if she were afraid they'd run away. Alberto's heart was in his throat. He was realizing more and more that they'd made a terrible mistake. They should never have come here. Then they wouldn't have had the opportunity to let anything slip. Now he and Luca were about to get into the biggest trouble they'd ever been in. Both boys had their heads down and their shoulders stooped as they sat down on a fancy sofa across from the Rossi brothers' desks.

"I feel like I've been sent to the headmaster's office," Luca murmured.

"That's a bad thing, right?" asked Alberto.

"Very bad." Luca nodded.

The two men pulled up a couple of chairs to sit on the other side of the coffee table, while Polly took a seat in an armchair that matched the sofa – all three had a similar pink and white pattern to the men's ties.

"Tell me about this man," said Marcello Rossi.

"He's French, and he's got a beard," Alberto repeated. Those were the only two things he really knew about him. "I think he used to work with my father as a diver. He was talking to Patrizia while d... while Gianni was talking to you, so I knocked on the door to tell him about it. I didn't want him getting in trouble."

"What kind of trouble has this man gotten your father in?" Rossi asked.

Alberto looked at his hands in his lap. It was pointless to keep quiet, really, but he couldn't bring himself to speak.

"Alberto, isn't it?" the second man asked.

"Are you two wins?" Alberto blurted out, just to have something to say besides answering the question. "Two of my uncles are twins, and some of my cousins."

"No," said the one with no moustache. "Marcello is three years older."

"Milo and I just look a lot alike," Marcello agreed.

Alberto nodded, and then sat there silently.

"Alberto," said Marcello.

"I can't tell you. You'll be mad," said Alberto. He felt like he was six years old and had jsut broken one of his father's possessions and was trying to lie about it... and yet the truth was obvious and he was going to be punished anyway. Why hadn't they just gone to the stupid museum?

Polly spoke up. "He told me that this Frenchman had robbed a bank," she said.

Alberto wanted to curl up and sink right through the sofa into the floor. They should never have come here. They should have just left it alone and let Giancarlo get up to whatever mischief he wanted. It was not, as Michele Gennari had said, Alberto's responsibility to look after him. He should have forgotten about it, like everybody told him to.

"I know there was at least a small article in the newspaper about us getting the contract for the Queen of Danimarca's tiara," Polly added.

"You think he's here for the diamonds," said Milo.

"That makes sense," Marcello agreed. "Cameos are distinctive. They'd be hard to sell, but diamonds are diamonds." He got up and went to put a hand on Alberto's shoulder. "Thank you for bringing this to our attention, son. I know it must feel like you're betraying your father, but I promise you, you've done the right thing."

It didn't feel like the right thing to Alberto. "I didn't come here to tell you that," he said. "I just wanted to ask Signorina Sorrentino if she'd seen him, because nobody has."

Luca nodded. "You haven't seen him, have you, Sirs?"

"We haven't," said Milo, "but we don't expect to unless he's bringing us shells to sell, and he only does that every fortnight or month."

"That's what Patrizia said," Luca said.

After that there didn't seem to be much else to say. The brothers Rossi thanked them one again, and thanked Polly, and then the woman escorted them back out again. In the hallway, she paused before taking them back downstairs.

"I know you don't like me, Alberto..." she began.

"It's not that I don't like you," Alberto told her. "You're just... you know."

"Your father's girlfriend," she nodded. "I'm just sorry we got off on the wrong foot. I think if we got to know each other, you and I would probably get along quite well. I can tell you have a lot of your father's charm." She thought for a moment. "I don't suppose we'll get the chance now."

"Nope," said Alberto.

It was still raining outside. Signor and Granchio had been chatting and smoking with the people on their break under the awning, but when he saw the boys coming he put out his cigarette and took them back to his truck.

"I'm guessing that didn't go very well," he said, unlocking the door. A few drops of water fell on the back of his hand as he did, revealing silvery scales. He brushed it away, and opened the door.

Alberto shook his head. "I want to go home."

"I can't take you home, but I can take you back to the Gennaris' if that's what you want," said Granchio. "Hop in."

"I'm sorry," Luca said quietly as they took their seats. "I shouldn't have said that but it just popped out."

"It's fine," Alberto replied. He wasn't mad at Luca. This was his fault, and his alone.