Luca Junior Novel Deluxe Edition

by Disney Books

  The boys screamed as they fell. At the last possible second, Luca had a thought. He let go, shoving Alberto away from him, and the boys splashed down on either side of the rock, missing it entirely.

  Alberto bobbed up and down in the water, shooting a fist into the air in victory. Luca cheered, and so did Alberto.

  “Yes! We’re alive! I can’t believe it! Yes!” Luca roared.

  “Yeah! Take that, Bruno!” Alberto hollered.

  “What are all those tiny lights?” Luca asked, gazing at the lights dotting the evening sky. The boys were on the roof of Alberto’s hideout, near a warming campfire.

  “Anchovies,” Alberto said. “They go there to sleep.”

  “Really?” Luca asked.

  “Yeah,” Alberto said. “And the big fish protects them.” He pointed at the moon. “I touched it once. I dunno; felt like a fish.”

  Luca couldn’t believe it. Was there anything Alberto hadn’t done?

  “Wow. Your life is so much cooler than mine,” Luca mused. “I never go anywhere. I just dream about it.”

  “You came up here!” Alberto reminded his friend.

  “Thanks to you,” Luca replied, turning his attention to the sky once more. “Otherwise, I never would have seen any of this.”

  After a while, Luca looked at the lights across the water. “Have you ever gone to the human town?”

  “Yeah,” Alberto said. “Uh, no,” he amended. “But my dad told me all about it. So I’m pretty much an expert.”

  “Your dad sounds so cool.”

  Something about Alberto’s demeanor suggested he didn’t feel so lucky. “Yeah,” he answered.

  There was silence, and then Alberto said, “Hey, you remember that time we almost hit that rock?”

  Luca laughed.

  “And we flew through the air, and I was like, ‘YEAAAAHHH!’ And you were like, ‘NOOOOOO!’”

  Luca kept laughing, holding his sides.

  “Wouldn’t it be amazing to have a real Vespa?” Luca said, and the words hung in the air.

  “Yeah. That’s the dream.”

  “Yeah…,” Luca replied, and he fell asleep. This was, of course, a very bad thing, because it meant he wouldn’t be going home. Which meant his parents, who were already so, so worried about him, would be even more worried.

  When he woke with a start, he shouted, “Oh no, I fell asleep!” and woke up Alberto, too.

  Then Luca ran for the steps, heading for home.

  Somehow, Luca had managed to make it all the way home and sneak into his room without waking anyone up. Grandma was sleeping, snoring as usual. Now all he had to do was slip into bed, and no one would know.

  Except that his mom was standing in the doorway, arms folded, staring at him.

  Luca’s mom sat him down at the dining room table. Luca held on to his tail, nervous, as he saw the various human items he had collected spread out on the table.

  “Uhhh…,” was all Luca could think to say.

  His dad was there, too, but it was his mom Luca was worried about. She was sitting on the other side of the room, and he couldn’t tell what was going on in her head. Was she going to scream at him? Punish him? Scream at him and punish him?

  “Daniela, do we really need to go through with this?” Lorenzo said, breaking the silence.

  “With…what?” Luca asked.

  “Son, you’re in big trouble,” Lorenzo said. “You need to promise us that you’ll never sneak off to the surface again.”

  “I’m really sorry,” Luca said, and he meant it. “But you know…it’s not that dangerous up there! Maybe I could show you—”

  “I told you,” Daniela said to her husband angrily. “Our son has a death wish!”

  “But, Mom! We’re always careful—”

  Instantly, Luca realized his mistake, and covered his mouth.

  “We?” Daniela and Lorenzo said in unison.

  “Me and my friend…Alberto,” Luca began. “But it’s okay! He’s one of us.”

  “Ah, yes. There’s usually a bad influence,” said a voice.

  Luca turned to see a sea monster emerge from the shadows. The monster looked just like his dad, except his skin was transparent, his eyes were milky, and he was generally kind of scary to look at.

  “Good thing you sent for me when you did,” the sea monster said.

  “Luca, this is my brother. Your Uncle Ugo,” Dad said.

  “Thanks for coming on such short notice,” Daniela said.

  “Of course,” Uncle Ugo replied. “Hello, Luca. Nice to—”

  But before he could finish his sentence, Uncle Ugo froze and made weird gasping sounds, like he was having an attack.

  “Oh, he’s okay,” Dad said. “Just punch his heart. Just a little tap.”

  Luca was horrified, but he obeyed anyway. He flicked Uncle Ugo. A second later, Ugo gasped as his heart started up again.

  “Thanks for that,” Uncle Ugo coughed. “Too much oxygen up here. Not like the deep. As you’ll learn.”

  “What?” Luca asked. He didn’t like where this was going.

  “Sure, there’s no sunlight, but there’s nothing to see anyway…or do. It’s just you and your thoughts. And all the whale carcass you can eat. Little bits of it just float into your mouth—you can’t stop it, you can’t see it.” Uncle Ugo rambled on. “C’mon, no time to waste!”

  “Mom? What does he mean?”

  “You’re going to stay with Uncle Ugo for the rest of the season,” Daniela answered.

  “No!” Luca said, panicked. “I can’t!”

  “Two seasons, then. Want to go for three?”

  “Why are you doing this?” Luca asked.

  “The world is a very dangerous place, Luca!” Daniela replied. “And if I have to send you to the bottom of the ocean to keep you safe, so be it.”

  “You don’t know what it’s like up there!” Luca said, his voice rising.

  “I know you! And I know what’s best for you,” Mom said. “It’s done.”

  Luca glared at his mom.

  “Hey, look me in the eye,” she said. “You know I love you, right?”

  But Luca wouldn’t give his mom the satisfaction of a response. Instead, he whirled around and headed to his bedroom.

  Daniela wanted to say something that would make everything better, but she had no idea what that would be.

  Luca fumed in his room. He looked at his bedroom window, then at his bedroom door.

  In that moment, he knew what he had to do.

  Luca left through the window, unaware that his supposedly sleeping Grandma was watching him leave.

  “This is so unfair!” Luca said, raging. He had headed right for Alberto’s place and was now pacing the floor as Alberto listened. “They’re sending me to the deep! To live with my weird see-through uncle! What do I do?”

  “I dunno,” Alberto said. “Stay?”

  “Up here?” Luca asked. “They’ll come looking for me.”

  “Okay,” Alberto replied, knowing his friend was right. “That may be true. But…will they come looking for you over there?”

  Alberto looked toward the town of Portorosso.

  “No way,” Luca said. “That’s crazy!”

  But Alberto was undeterred. “I mean, that place must be full of Vespas. There’s gotta be one for us.”

  Luca thought for a moment, staring at Portorosso. “A real Vespa…,” he said, his voice trailing off. “Could we even survive over there?”

  “You and me? We can do anything!” Alberto insisted. “We’d swim right over to Vespatown, track down Signor Vespa—”

  “Wait, do you really think there’s a Signor Vespa?” Luca asked.

  “Makes sense, right?”

  “Yes. Continue.”

  “And we say, ‘Signor Vespa! Build us one of these!’” Then Alberto pulled out the diagram he had made of their custom Vespa.

  To Luca’s eyes, the Vespa looked amazing. It had all sorts of cool features. But the best feature had to
be the extra-long seat, where both he and Alberto could sit.

  “Whoa. This is the greatest drawing I’ve ever seen,” Luca said.

  “Yeah, I know!” Alberto replied. “Luca, think about it. Every day, we’ll ride someplace new. And every night, we’ll sleep under the fish. No one to tell us what to do. Just you and me out there. Free.”

  Free.

  Luca liked the sound of that.

  A while later, Luca and Alberto ran for the water. As Alberto reached the edge, he jumped off, screaming, “Take me, Gravity!” Then he did a backflip off the cliff and splashed into the sea.

  Luca was right behind, and he hesitated, just for a moment. He looked at the town of Portorosso, and he could hear all the reasons he shouldn’t go echoing in his head. Then, at last, Luca said, “Silenzio, Bruno.”

  And with a loud “Wooo-hoooo!” he jumped, joining Alberto in the water.

  They had changed back into their sea monster forms when they hit the water. Now they started to swim toward the town. Luca just wanted to be in Portorosso already. Unfortunately, he was moving so quickly that he failed to notice the big rock he was about to swim into!

  Lucky for him, Alberto pulled him out of the water. In the air, for the briefest moment, they transformed into land monsters. Then they hit the water again and changed back into sea monsters. They continued swimming.

  Thrilled at how alive he felt, Luca kept jumping out of the water, enjoying the quick transformation into land monster before returning to his original form. He and Alberto leapt in and out of the water all the way to Portorosso.

  “Whoa,” Luca said as he broke the surface near a buoy. In front of him was Portorosso—a beautiful human town. Luca had never seen anything like it.

  Almost immediately, they were spotted by a girl fishing in a boat.

  She gasped.

  Luca gasped.

  Alberto gasped.

  The girl shouted, “Papá! What’s that?”

  Immediately, Luca and Alberto ducked out of view.

  “How do we get in?” Luca asked. He spotted something—a sunken boat just beneath them.

  They swam under the boat and put it over their heads. Then they started toward the shore, emerging from the water. They kept walking with the boat so they could change into their land forms beneath it. Passing by an older whistling fisherman, Luca was surprised they’d made it this far.

  Eventually, he and Alberto were able to climb over some rocks and ditch the boat. Then they started toward town.

  “This’ll be a breeze,” Alberto said confidently. “Just don’t get wet.”

  Luca felt a surge of panic. He watched as Alberto took a stride toward town, and a couple of fishermen turned the corner. They carried fishing hooks and dead fish.

  Luca gasped. “Actually, this town seems a little crowded.” He turned, ready to leave, when Alberto stopped him.

  “Hey,” Alberto said. “Silenzio, Bruno.”

  Bruno was still screaming, so Alberto had to drag Luca along, past the fishermen.

  Alberto looked at the men, and, wanting to be friendly, remembered something he’d overheard before. “What’s wrong with you, stupido?” he said.

  The fishermen stared at Alberto.

  “Huh. It worked!” Luca said in disbelief. They had made it past the fishermen and were now approaching a corner.

  “See?” Alberto said. “You just gotta follow my lead.”

  They turned the corner and saw the busy town in all its glory. There were people everywhere, talking, smiling, laughing. Some kids were kicking a ball around, and others were eating something big and green with a red middle. Luca would later learn that the land monsters called it watermelon, and it was delicious.

  Some people were playing a game with little rectangles that looked very much like the objects Luca had found in the field while herding goatfish.

  Luca and Alberto were enthralled by the bustling town and all the people. They hardly noticed when two older women walked near them, each holding something in their hands.

  “Classic human town,” Alberto said. “Pretty cool, right?” The women came closer, and he whispered to Luca, “Hey. You do it now. Just say the thing.”

  Luca watched nervously as the two women ate something. The something turned out to be gelato, which, as it turned out, was like ice cream, which, as it turned out, was delicious.

  “Madams?” Luca said to the women. “What’s wrong with you, stupido?”

  The women gasped, then glared at Luca. Whatever he’d just uttered, it wasn’t good.

  So not good, in fact, that one of the women hit Alberto with her umbrella, and the other smacked Luca with her bag.

  The women stormed off, leaving the boys with gelato cones on top of their heads. The gelato melted down their faces.

  “Maybe I said it wrong?” Luca asked. The gelato dripped into their mouths, and their faces lit up at the taste of the new treat!

  As he enjoyed the gelato, Luca’s eyes drifted around town, where he noticed something quite disturbing. There were numerous statues and frescoes—paintings—featuring the same person: a man with a mustache, who was slaying what could only be described as sea monsters.

  Luca gulped uncomfortably. He grabbed Alberto’s arm and started to drag him back to the water. “Alberto, this is too dangerous!” he said. “Let’s get out of here!”

  “And—and go where?” Alberto asked.

  Before Luca could say anything else, there was a rumbling sound. It reminded him of the motorboats he had heard back in the sea, but this was different. Then he saw a Vespa! A real Vespa!

  Someone was riding it, someone with lots of sea slime in his hair. At least, Luca thought that was what made his hair so tall.

  “It’s Signor Vespa!” Alberto gasped.

  The adults seemed annoyed to see the older boy who had just ridden in on the Vespa. “Mannaggia. Here we go.” said one person, rolling their eyes.

  “Buongiorno a tutti!” the boy, named Ercole, replied in greeting.

  A priest came running out of a nearby church, hands clamped over his ears.

  “Oh, mamma mia! Please, no more revving,” the priest cried, shaking his head.

  “Ciao, ciao! Ha, ha!” Ercole said, clearly enjoying the attention. “Beep, beep! Pride of Portorosso coming through!”

  Ercole passed the two women Luca had just insulted. “Ciao, belle,” he said to them. “You’re making me blush!”

  “Disgaziato!” exclaimed one of the women, annoyed.

  “Blech,” replied the other.

  A crowd of kids cheered nervously as Ercole rode around the plaza. They seemed fearful of the boy.

  Ercole showed off with a couple of tricks, like riding his Vespa with no hands. This impressed Luca to no end. He wondered how such a thing was even possible.

  Two other kids around Ercole’s age approached him, carrying a long sandwich. Eventually, Ercole stopped the Vespa and dismounted.

  “Now!” Ercole announced. “Who wants to watch me eat a big sandwich?” He walked to a table at a nearby café as his friends set up his lunch.

  “There it is!” Alberto said. “That’s how we’re gonna see the world!”

  He and Luca walked toward the Vespa just as a soccer ball landed in front of them.

  “Hey! Little help?” said the kid who had kicked the ball.

  Luca kicked the soccer ball back but misjudged his strength. The ball sailed across the piazza—and smashed right into the Vespa!

  A collective gasp went up from the crowd, and Ercole looked like someone had just destroyed his life.

  “La mia bambina!” he shouted, rushing over to the Vespa.

  As the vehicle tipped over from the impact of the soccer ball, one of Ercole’s sandwich-holding friends slid under it, cushioning the fall.

  “Oh, mamma mia!” Ercole said, examining the Vespa. “Talk to Ercole. Are you hurt?”

  “Well, my head kinda hurts,” said the kid who had stopped the Vespa from falling.

&n
bsp; “Not you, Ciccio,” Ercole said. “Out of the way! If there is so much as a scratch…” Unconcerned for his friend, Ercole examined the Vespa. Once he was satisfied that there was no damage, he turned to face the crowd. “Someone got lucky today. Who got lucky?”

  The kid who had kicked the soccer ball to Alberto and Luca pointed at the pair.

  Ercole walked over to them, looking them up and down with barely disguised disgust. “Out-of-towners, eh? Let me welcome you. Benvenuti a Portorosso! Ciccio?”

  Ercole untied his sweater and handed it to the still-recovering Ciccio. “I am delighted to meet you, number one. And number two, I love your stylish clothes. Where did you get them? A dead body? I’m kidding!”

  Ciccio chuckled, and so did Ercole’s other friend.

  “Uhh…look, Signor Vespa—” Alberto started.

  “Signor Vespa? Ha, ha, ha. This guy is funny. I am Ercole Visconti, five-time winner of the Portorosso Cup.”

  “The Portorosso what?” Alberto asked.

  “The Portorosso Cup! Per mille sardine—how do you think I paid for my beautiful Vespa?”

  While Ercole spoke, Luca couldn’t take his eyes off the scooter. It was possibly the most beautiful thing he had ever seen in his life.

  As if sensing this, Ercole shouted, “You! Stop looking. She’s too beautiful for you.”

  Luca tried to speak, but only stammered, backing away.

  Ercole sneered. “The little guy can’t even get a word out. And he smells like behind the pescheria.”

  “Hey, my friend smells amazing!” Alberto said, getting right in Ercole’s face.

  “Sorry, sorry! I’ll make it up to him,” Ercole said, but his tone suggested that he didn’t really want to help. “Ciccio. Guido.”

  At that moment, Ercole’s friends picked Alberto up while Ercole grabbed Luca, and they walked the boys over to a fountain. The two friends struggled, afraid of what was about to happen.

  Things didn’t get any better when they actually saw the fountain, which featured a statue of the mustached man killing yet another sea monster.

  “Ah, just a little bath!” Ercole said in a mocking tone. “It’s funny, eh?”