Luca Junior Novel Deluxe Edition

by Disney Books

  “Aaaaand, you have to use a forchetta. It’s the rule.”

  “Ugh!” Alberto groaned. “Rules are for…rule people!”

  But the boy had no other choice than to eat with a fork. On that day, Alberto knew frustration.

  Luca wondered exactly how big the hill was that he was on. It seemed that he had been pedaling the bicycle up it for hours. In reality, it was probably a minute. Maybe less.

  He turned and saw an old man walk past him carrying a bag of groceries.

  How was the man walking faster than he was pedaling?

  Luca sighed as Alberto and Giulia walked behind him.

  Eventually, impossibly, he reached the top of the hill. He took one look down and saw how steep it was. It was really, really steep.

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

  Then Ercole rode by on his bicycle. “I know, I know. Ha, ha, ha! And remember, Piccoletto—”

  Ercole repeated the slicing motion across his neck.

  “Forza!” Giulia shouted. “Luca, don’t let him get in your head. You can do this!”

  “Okay,” Luca said, taking a deep breath. “Silenzio, Bruno! Here we go!”

  Then he pushed off, his bicycle picking up speed. Everything was going great until Bruno decided to start talking in his head, and suddenly, Luca said, “Ahhh! Ahhhh! I can’t!”

  Hitting the brakes, Luca watched as the front wheel locked up. He tumbled over the handlebars. The bicycle hit the ground, and so did Luca, and unlike the bicycle, he didn’t stop. Luca just kept rolling down the hill until he collided with a pushcart full of flowers.

  In that moment, Luca knew he did not like rolling down hills and hitting flower carts.

  A little later, the three friends headed down to the shore. It was time to help Giulia practice the swimming part of the race.

  Luca and Alberto were in a rowboat, keeping pace with Giulia. Luca tried to ignore the pain in his arms as he rowed. Alberto slowly rowed with the other paddle as they watched Giulia swim toward a buoy.

  “I guess that’s how humans swim,” Luca said.

  “Ugh, that’s embarrassing,” Alberto replied.

  In the distance, Ercole, Ciccio, and Guido approached in a small motorboat.

  Giulia noticed them instantly, and her eyes went wide as she watched the boat come closer. “Ercole!” she shouted. “Go! Go!”

  Alberto and Luca began to row faster. However, apparently Luca was rowing in one direction, and Alberto was rowing in the other, because their rowboat just went around in circles.

  “Luca! Faster!” Alberto ordered.

  “Why aren’t we moving?” Luca asked, exasperated. Ercole’s motorboat was even closer now, and drawing nearer every second.

  Ercole grinned broadly—it really seemed like he was going to run the boys down!

  At the last moment, Guido grabbed the wheel, turning the motorboat away to avoid a collision. The movement created a wave. The wave missed Luca, but it struck Alberto! He immediately turned into a sea monster, so he ducked down into the boat.

  Ercole turned to Guido, furious. “Guido?” he said, his anger boiling over.

  “I…I slipped!” Guido insisted.

  “Ciccio! Slap Guido!” Ercole commanded. “Again! Like you mean it!”

  Giulia swam over to Ercole, shouting, “Ma sei scemo, Ercole!”

  Luca knew he had to hide his friend, and did his best to cover him with a tarp. But all he succeeded in doing was hitting Alberto in the face and knocking him into the water.

  “Huh?” Ercole said, looking over at the boat with only Luca sitting in it. “Where did the other one go?”

  Suddenly, something broke the surface of the water.

  “Huh? Cosa?” Ercole said, distracted for a moment. But before he could do anything, an angry Giulia tipped Ercole’s boat over, toppling him.

  “Ercole! Che cavolo stavi pensando, eh?” she screamed.

  Ercole’s sweater fell into the water, and the young man fished around for it. “Sei matta! Giulia! It is wool! It cannot get wet! Ciccio, make it dry. Subito!”

  With Ercole distracted by his urgent sweater situation, Luca was able to reach over the side of their boat and pull Alberto aboard.

  Unfortunately, Giulia also chose that moment to come aboard. “Luca? Alberto?” she said.

  Luca quickly threw the tarp over Alberto—and this time, he didn’t knock him into the water.

  “Are you okay?” she asked.

  Alberto dried off as fast as he could. He transformed back into a land monster before Giulia noticed.

  “We’re good!” Alberto said. “Good, good, good.”

  “Well, I think that’s enough training for today,” Giulia replied.

  As the kids began to row home, Ercole finally looked up from his wet sweater.

  “Argh! Ciccio! The motor! They are slowly getting away!”

  Ciccio fumbled with the motor, failing to start it.

  “Giudo! Slap Ciccio!” Ercole shouted. “Per mille sardine—with contempt!”

  While Guido reluctantly slapped Ciccio, Ercole watched Giulia, Luca, and Alberto make their getaway.

  Almost immediately upon their arrival at the piazza, Daniela thought she saw Luca. She ripped the hat off the boy only to find that it was, in fact, not Luca.

  She moaned, disappointed, as she watched a group of kids play soccer. The ball soon rolled over to Daniela, and she looked at it.

  “Hey! Over here! Kick it!” a kid said, and Daniela kicked the ball. It was a really good kick—so good that it hit a little girl and knocked her right into the fountain.

  “I have an idea!” Daniela said.

  Lorenzo called after her, but she ignored him. She walked over to a group of kids and asked, “Can I play, too?”

  She started to play with them. She was super competitive. Almost immediately, she stole the ball from one of the kids and hip-checked them into the fountain.

  “Oh…okay,” Lorenzo said, taking a step back. He watched as his wife dominated the game. The kids raced after Daniela, but they were no match for her skills. One by one, she played against them, and one by one, she knocked them all into the fountain!

  It took Lorenzo a while to realize what she was doing. Daniela was narrowing the list of suspects by process of elimination! Each time a kid went into the fountain and didn’t transform into a sea monster, they knew it wasn’t Luca.

  “Not our kid,” Lorenzo said as another one went in. “Not our kid…”

  “Let’s see Bianca Branzino do that!” Daniela said, then did the dolphin call better than Bianca Branzino ever could. But they still hadn’t found Luca.

  “Where could he be?” Daniela wondered, catching her breath.

  “Well, at least you won!” Lorenzo said, finding the bright side. “I think.”

  “We just gotta keep looking,” Daniela said, determined.

  Luca and his friends had just reached the piazza. Luca could have sworn he saw his parents.

  Noticing that her friend had stopped, Giulia grabbed him and guided him along with Alberto toward her yard. Luca shook his head, trying to make sense of what he had just seen.

  “Good effort, team,” she said. “You’ve earned your pasta tonight.”

  “Can I please eat with my hands?” Alberto begged.

  All through dinner, Luca had been quiet—quieter than usual.

  Alberto was thoroughly disappointed that he had to eat dinner with a fork. He was in no danger of earning the title Fork Master, which wasn’t even a real title, but he was getting better.

  After dinner, Luca and Alberto retired to Giulia’s hideout in the tree.

  At last, Luca spoke.

  “Uh, Alberto?” he said nervously. “I think I might’ve seen my parents.”

  “No way,” Alberto said. “I told you, they’re not coming here.”

  “But what if they did? They’re gonna send me to the deep!”

  Alberto shook his head. “Listen, relax. It’s never gonna happ
en.”

  Suddenly, Giulia appeared. “All right, boys. Pretty good today, but let’s talk technique!”

  In the yard below, Massimo looked up at the hideout. “Hey, ragazzi!” he said. “I need some help with the nets.” He pointed at Alberto. “You! The big strong one. Andiamo.”

  Alberto didn’t want to leave Luca, but realized he had to. “I’ll be right back,” he said, then ducked off the platform and down the tree. He followed Massimo out of the yard.

  Giulia could see that something was off with Luca, so she said, “Hey, we’re gonna win. And you’ll get your Vespa. Why do you want a Vespa again?”

  “Oh,” Luca said, pondering the question. “Because it’ll be amazing. Every day, me and Alberto are gonna ride someplace new. And every night, we’ll sleep under the fish.”

  He pointed at the bright lights in the dark sky.

  Giulia arched an eyebrow. “The…fish,” she said, playing along. “Heh…good.”

  “How about you? What’ll you do when you win?” he asked.

  Giulia smiled. “Ohh…ho-ho, I’ll get up in front of everyone and say, ‘I told you I’d win!’”

  “Yeah!” Luca cheered, then looked confused. “And then what?”

  “Well, that’s it,” Giulia said. “Look. During school, I live with my mamma in Genova. And every summer, I come here, and everyone thinks I’m just some weird kid who doesn’t belong.”

  “I think I know how you feel,” Luca said.

  Giulia was relieved to finally have someone to talk to who understood. “Right? That’s why we gotta win! The town will cheer our names—Ercole’s life will be ruined!”

  Luca stared at her.

  “Sorry. Too much? My mom says sometimes I’m too much.”

  “No way!” Luca said. “Not for me.”

  Giulia laughed as they looked up at the stars together. “You know those aren’t fish, right?”

  “Of course they are!” Luca insisted. “Alberto told me all about it.”

  “Come with me,” Giulia said.

  They left the hideout, and a few minutes later, Giulia had them climbing up onto a rooftop. Then she and Luca began to walk along the rooftops of Portorosso. She jumped effortlessly from one to the other. Luca, afraid at first, followed, surprising himself.

  Crossing her neighbors’ houses, Giulia eventually took Luca to a rooftop that had a little platform. And on that platform was a long metal tube on three legs.

  “This is a telescope,” Giulia explained. “Old Man Bernardi lets me use it. It makes far-away things seem close. Look.”

  She directed Luca to the telescope. He bent and peered through the opening. Inside, he saw a cluster of brilliant lights in the sky, none of which resembled fish in the slightest.

  “See any…fish?” she asked.

  “Then what are all those?” Luca asked.

  “Stars,” Giulia said. “Like the sun. Giant, raging balls of fire!”

  Luca thought for a moment. “So…Alberto was wrong?”

  “And stars are circled by planets,” Giulia continued.

  Luca was beyond excited. He stared up at the sky, trying to take it all in. Then Giulia handed him a book called L’Universo. It was filled with brilliant pictures of the stars and planets.

  Turning back to the telescope, Giulia searched for something in the sky.

  “Look,” she said, showing Luca. “That’s Saturno. It’s my favorite.”

  The planet appeared to have rings around it. Rings!

  Luca imagined what it would be like to actually run on those rings.

  Later that night, Luca sat in Giulia’s room, poring over her schoolbooks. He couldn’t believe all the amazing facts they contained!

  “And we’re all on a big round rock, floating around a star, in the…solar system?” Luca asked, paging through one of the books.

  “So cool, right?” Giulia said.

  “And is there anything beyond the solar system?” he asked.

  “Only a galaxy full of solar systems!”

  “Then what?”

  “A universe full of galaxies!”

  Luca laughed. “And THEN what?”

  “And then…,” Giulia said, “I don’t know! But next year in advanced astronomy, I’m gonna use my school’s telescope. So maybe I’ll find out! That thing’s huge. I wish I could show it to you.”

  Luca grinned and stood up. “Just promise you’ll tell me everything you see!” he said, and in his excitement, he sounded like Giulia. “Sorry. Too much?”

  “Never,” Giulia said, and she meant it.

  “Hey, Luca!” Alberto said, standing outside the window. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you.”

  “Oh, sorry,” Luca said, and he noticed that Alberto was glaring at him.

  “Just come on, let’s go,” Alberto said tersely.

  Staring at the book in his hands, Luca turned to Giulia. “Could I maybe borrow this? Just for tonight.”

  Giulia took the book from Luca’s hands and picked up a pen. She scribbled something on the first page and handed it back to him. Staring at the page, Luca saw that she had written something.

  Luca

  The name was right below the “This book belongs to” line.

  “You can have it,” Giulia said. “The universe is literally yours!”

  “Wow!” Luca said, amazed. “Thank you!”

  Alberto popped up once more and said, “Luca!”

  “Oh—okay,” Luca said, not wanting to leave. He went out the window and joined Alberto.

  “Where are we going?” Luca asked.

  “Come on, I got something to show you.”

  Alberto had led Luca out into Portorosso’s night streets. His head was still buzzing with wonderment from all the things he had learned from Giulia.

  “Hey, you won’t believe this!” he said, pointing at the sky. “Those aren’t fish!”

  “What?” Alberto said.

  “Yeah! Giulia explained it to me. They’re fires. But like one million times bigger—”

  “Uh, no, they’re not,” Alberto said, cutting off his friend.

  Luca didn’t know why Alberto was being that way, so he walked in silence. Alberto was quiet, too. At last, they reached their destination—the mechanic’s garage they had visited the other day, the one with their Vespa. They looked in the window and saw the beat-up scooter sitting there, with a little sign that said for sale.

  “Soon you’ll be ours, sweet Vespa,” Alberto said with a sigh. Then he put his drawing up against the window. “Take a look. I thought of every single thing we’re gonna need. Also, I added flames.”

  “That’s so cool!” Luca said. Then he started to draw on the window. “And we can bring a telescope, too!”

  Alberto stared at Luca’s telescope drawing, and then he added some lightning coming out of it.

  “No, no, no,” Luca said. “You look through it.”

  He erased the lightning, and Alberto looked disappointed.

  But Luca continued, “Giulia says there’s an even bigger one at her school.” That was when it hit him. “Wait! What if we visit her there?”

  “Why would you want to do that?”

  “It…kinda sounds interesting,” Luca said.

  Alberto wasn’t having it. “The whole reason we’re getting a Vespa is to live on our own! We don’t need school! We don’t need anybody!”

  “Couldn’t we just try it?” Luca asked. “Just for a few days?”

  “Luca, sea monsters can’t go to school. What do you think is gonna happen when they see your fish face?”

  Before Luca could answer, something long and metallic slammed into a nearby sculpture of a sea monster.

  It was a harpoon.

  Someone had just thrown it.

  That someone was Ercole.

  “Hey, look who it is!” Ercole said, his voice full of mock camaraderie. “And with no Giulia to hide behind.”

  Luca watched as Ercole approached in the dark, Ciccio and Guido right behind
him. He wanted to run, but Alberto had planted his feet. Luca knew there was no way his friend was going to leave.

  “Something’s fishy with you two,” Ercole said. “I mean, besides the smell. You’re hiding something.”

  “Is it that we’re smarter than you?” Alberto said. “I mean, we’re not really hiding that. It’s just kinda obvious.”

  Ercole glared at Alberto. “You know, people think I’m a nice guy. Always joking around.” He reached out and grabbed Alberto roughly, shoving him against a wall. “But really, I’m not.”

  “Stop!” Luca yelled.

  Ercole nodded, and Ciccio and Guido took hold of Alberto, keeping him against the wall. Then he shoved Luca to one side. “Wait your turn, Piccoletto.”

  Ercole turned his gaze to Alberto again. “I want to make myself very clear. This is my town, number one—” Then he punched Alberto. “And number two, I don’t want you in it.”

  “I said stop!” Luca thundered, and to his disbelief, he found himself holding the harpoon that Ercole had thrown earlier. It was right up against Ercole’s chest.

  Ercole grinned and took a step closer to Luca. “Put that down, Piccoletto. You’ll hurt yourself.”

  But Luca didn’t put it down. “Let him go,” he said, terrified.

  With a nod from Ercole, Ciccio and Guido shoved Alberto at Luca.

  “Go now,” Ercole said. “Before I change my mind.”

  The two boys backed off, then ran. Luca tossed the harpoon to the side.

  “Nobody wants you here, idioti!” Ercole shouted after them. “Keep running!”

  “Why did you make him mad? We should have left!” Luca insisted.

  Somehow, they had run all the way back to Giulia’s house without anyone following them. Luca was out of breath and angry.

  “We’re fine!” Alberto said, breathing hard, too. “I had it under control. All you gotta do is follow my lead, remember?”

  Before Luca could say anything, Alberto stormed into the backyard.

  The following morning, Luca was rudely awakened by Giulia doing her trumpet imitation, again.

  “Rise and shine!” she shouted.

  That day’s training regimen consisted of Alberto sitting in the family kitchen, filled with bowls and bowls of all kinds of pasta. And eating bowls and bowls of all kinds of pasta. With a fork.