by Disney Books
“Yeah…yeah! And then the Vespa will be ours and we’ll ride away, together!” Luca continued.
“Luca, that’s crazy,” Alberto said.
“Well, maybe I’m crazy!”
Then Luca ran right off the roof, shouting, “Take me, gravity!” He landed in a heap on the ground. He looked up and saw Alberto staring back at him.
“What are you doing?” Alberto asked.
“I’m okay! I’ll be back tomorrow! I’m gonna fix this!” Luca said, running off.
The day of the race arrived.
And Luca had a plan.
“You want to split up your team?” Signora Marsigliese asked, incredulous.
Luca stood at the registration table, holding a rusty bicycle encrusted with barnacles. “Yes, if it’s allowed,” he said hopefully.
“Luca!”
He turned to see Giulia, who was on her way to the starting line. She ran over to him. “What are you doing here?”
“Don’t worry,” Luca said. “We’ll race separately. You won’t get in any trouble.”
“You can if you want,” Signora Marsigliese said with a shrug. “But I don’t recommend it.”
Before Giulia could stop him, Luca ran off. “Thank you!” he called out.
“But how are you gonna—I mean, what happens when—You can’t swim!” Giulia shouted at Luca.
Giulia looked back at Signora Marsigliese, who gazed at her sympathetically. “Alone again?” she said.
Giulia scowled.
Daniela and Lorenzo were still wandering the streets of Portorosso, looking for their son. They had spotted Luca a couple of times, but hadn’t come close to actually talking to him.
Suddenly, the priest grabbed them and pinned ribbons on their chests. Then he shoved them down behind a table. “Volunteers!” the man said. “You’re late!”
Then Daniela looked at the table and saw rows of water cups. Apparently, this was all set up for the big race they had been hearing about, the one that was happening today. The priest must want them to be judges of some kind. This was perfect!
“One cup for each kid,” the priest said.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. One cup per kid. Got it,” Daniela replied.
Lorenzo wasn’t sure of what was happening, but he knew enough to trust Daniela, so he followed her lead.
“Ohhh…yes!” Lorenzo said.
Then the priest handed them a bucket with a scrub brush. “For when Giulia…you know.”
They did not know. And something told Daniela they did not want to know.
Giulia waited at the starting line, unsure of how this was all going to work out. She looked around but saw no sign of Luca. Her eyes drifted to the crowd of people that had assembled, and she smiled when she saw her father with Machiavelli.
“Forza, Giulietta!” her father hollered.
Then Ciccio and Ercole walked right up next to her. Ercole took out a container and poured something all over Ciccio.
“Ciccio, hold still,” Ercole said, annoyed. Then he turned to look at Giulia. “Olio d’olivia.” Olive oil. “He will cut through the water like a knife. An oily knife.”
At that moment, both Giulia and Ercole spotted Luca. He stomped over to the starting line, wearing a full-body diving suit that he had taken from Alberto.
“Oh, this makes me laugh,” Ercole said. “HA, HA, HA. I guess even your terrible friends don’t want to be friends.”
Luca looked at everyone assembled at the starting line, but mostly Giulia and Ercole.
“Luca! This is a very bad idea!” Giulia yelled.
“Hey! Vagrant! Can’t afford a proper swimsuit?” Ercole jabbed.
“Signore e Signori!” Signora Marsigliese called out. “The Portorosso Cup is about to begin! We know there’ve been a few sightings lately, but fear not! If any sea monsters show up today—we’re ready for them!”
She turned and pointed to the harbor, at the fishermen in the boats, with their nets and their harpoons.
Luca gasped. He looked over at Giulia, and she made a motion that said “Get out of here now!”
But he didn’t.
“Swimmers, take your mark!” Signora Marsigliese said.
Taking a deep breath, Luca attached the helmet to his suit.
Then the sound of the starting pistol echoed in his helmet, and all the contestants dove into the water!
All of them, that is, except Luca.
He just stood there, frozen, his pulse quickening, head shaking. Could he do this? He couldn’t do this. There was no way.
No, wait. That was Bruno talking. “Silenzio, Bruno.”
Then Luca dove into the water.
Giulia was determined to win the race, and was swimming with all the heart she had to give. But Ciccio was ahead of her, and the other competitors, too. She wondered if maybe that olive oil really did give him an advantage.
But then she noticed that fish started to swarm around Ciccio. And they weren’t leaving him alone.
Aha! Giulia thought. The olive oil must have been attracting the fish. Maybe they were hungry. Maybe they would…eat Ciccio? There was no way they could be so lucky.
Behind her, and behind everyone else, was Luca. He was also underneath them. The heavy diving suit he wore was meant not for swimming, but for walking on the ocean floor! So there he was, trudging along. No matter how much effort he put in, no matter how hard he tried to move forward, he just couldn’t keep up with the group.
Even worse, Luca noticed that the suit had developed a leak. He picked up the pace, exerting even more effort.
Above, Giulia had rounded the buoy and was already swimming back to shore. She passed Ciccio, who was having great difficulty in the water now, as fish were nipping at his skin. The fish actually were trying to eat Ciccio!
Ciccio freaked out. The fish were really only nipping at him a little, in a way that couldn’t possibly do him any harm, but Ciccio didn’t seem to realize this.
Giulia was the first one out of the water, and she ran right past Ercole. He looked back at the water and screamed, “Swim, Ciccio! C’mon! Swim!”
Running right to the pasta stage, Giulia sat herself down, ready to go. The surprise pasta was unveiled, a narrow flat noodle, and she exclaimed, “Ha, ha! Trenette!”
Meanwhile, beneath the surface, Luca’s suit was filling with water as he continued to move forward, one soggy step at a time.
Back on the shore, the judges were getting nervous. They knew that Luca was still in the water, and they weren’t sure what to do. Maybe it was time to go in after him?
They were just about to send people in to fetch him when he finally emerged from the water! He slogged his way past Ercole, who, of course, being a complete jerk, tripped him.
Luca fell, and ducked under a table. He wiggled his way out of the heavy diving suit and used the tablecloth to dry himself off. A moment later, he transformed into his land monster form and took a seat at the table.
He was sitting next to Giulia! She rolled her eyes at him like she couldn’t believe what he was doing and how dangerous it was.
Luca stared at the plate in front of him, piled with pasta that looked like wide ribbons. He tried to get some on his fork, but it just wasn’t working.
“Come on, come on…,” he said.
Giulia was eating as fast as she could, her mouth crammed full of pasta. She watched him fumble with the fork. She couldn’t take it anymore, and in a very exaggerated way, showed him how to twirl the pasta around the fork to eat it.
“Thank you!” Luca said.
“Don’t thank me!” Giulia said, her mouth still full.
And just then, Ciccio emerged from the water, screaming because little fish were still hanging on to his oil-soaked skin, still nibbling.
“Stop crying! Tag Guido!” Ercole yelled, as Ciccio screamed. “Imbecile!”
Ciccio managed to do that as Ercole pushed Guido over to the pasta competition. “Andiamo! Run! Run!”
Guido sat down and started to eat li
ke a maniac.
But Giulia had already finished. She slammed her fork onto the table, and the crowd went wild!
Alberto sat there in his hideout, looking out the window. In the distance, he could see Portorosso. He knew the race was happening right now. The race that he was supposed to be taking part in, along with Luca and Giulia.
Yet, here he was. Sitting in his hideout.
Alone.
His eyes drifted to the sky above, and he noticed the dark clouds rolling in. A storm. With a storm came rain.
Alberto groaned.
“Finito!” Giulia cried as she stood up from the pasta table. Immediately, she grabbed her stomach. She hobbled over to the bicycles, groaning with each step. Ercole glared at her angrily as she got on and rode off.
“Per mille cavoli!” Ercole screamed. “Guido! Faster!”
And faster was exactly what Luca was trying to be. He was stabbing and twirling pasta as quickly as he could and eating it as he watched the other kids finish their dishes, stand up, and tag their partners for the bicycle portion of the race.
Luca was way behind. But if there was any saving grace to this situation, so was Ercole! There he stood, forcefully shoving pasta into Guido’s mouth.
“Eat, idiota! Più veloce!”
Guido groaned in response.
Another kid who had just finished eating, face covered in pasta sauce, was slumped against a wall. He pointed at Ercole and Guido. “Hey! That’s not allowed!”
“He’s done!” Ercole announced, ignoring the kid as he slammed the fork onto the table, picked up Guido’s hand, and used it to slap his own hand, tagging Ercole into the race. Ercole sprinted to his bicycle and got on.
And, in last place, Luca managed to slurp up the final piece of pasta on his plate. He high-fived himself, dropped the fork, and ran to his bicycle.
Then he let out a loud burp and rode off.
Kids whizzed by on their bicycles as Daniela and Lorenzo attempted to hand out the cups of water. It wasn’t easy, because they were moving so fast! And, frankly, they were still getting used to the sensation of moving around in air instead of water.
“He’s gotta be here somewhere,” Daniela said, scanning the competitors.
“Thirsty? Water, anyone?” Lorenzo said, trying to do his job.
But the kids recognized Daniela and Lorenzo as the adults who had been ambushing and splashing them for days. They dodged the water cups, shouting and yelling.
“Not again!”
“Please don’t!”
“Nooooo!”
At last, Daniela spotted a kid at the end of the racers. “That’s him!” she said, her voice rising. “Luca! Stop!”
The couple lunged for him, but Luca screamed and swerved away from his parents. “Sorry, Mom! Sorry, Dad!” he called out as he pedaled on. “I have to do this!”
They ran after him, but Luca was much too fast.
“Get back here right now!” Lorenzo yelled.
Daniela was too impressed by her son’s amazing bicycling abilities to yell. “Wow, he’s fast!” was all she could think to say.
Luca was tearing up the streets, making up the ground he had lost from the swimming and eating portions of the competition. He passed one racer, and then another, and another!
There came a rumbling sound in the distance, and Luca allowed his eyes to drift upward for just a second—dark clouds were rolling in. He hoped the race would end before anything happened. Then he trained his eyes forward, where he saw Giulia, riding up in front of the pack. He could have sworn that he saw her cover her mouth, like she was trying to prevent herself from getting sick.
That was when Ercole passed her. Adding insult to injury, he slapped the top of her helmet.
“Oops!” he said in a mocking tone. “Scusa!”
Giulia growled. “I’ll catch you on the downhill!”
“Spewlia, you never even made it to the downhill,” Ercole laughed.
Pleased with his performance and sure of his victory, Ercole slowed down for a moment. He even primped his hair in preparation for the cameras when he crossed the finish line first.
So it came as an utter, horrible shock when he saw Luca pass him!
“What!” Ercole screamed. “Impossible! He’s cheating! Arbitro! Arbitro!”
Luca said nothing. He just kept right on pedaling, heading up the hill, pumping his legs as hard as he could.
For the first time in the entire race, Luca thought that maybe, just maybe, he might be able to win!
And then a drop of rain fell on his hand.
“No, no, no, no, no!” Luca said as he looked down and saw the scales appear.
The rain began to fall in the piazza, and the onlookers took out their umbrellas and opened them. Massimo was there, watching curiously as someone grabbed one of the larger café umbrellas. That was certainly unusual.
Even more unusual, whoever had taken the café umbrella was now headed down the street with it.
He wondered what was going on.
Even with the rain, Luca refused to give up. He kept pedaling, even harder than he had before, as if he were in a race against the rain itself. With surprising speed, he made it to the top of the hill.
But now the rain turned into a downpour. Luca had no choice but to pull his bicycle over to the side of the road and duck under an awning—right before the downhill portion of the race.
“Oh, not now,” Luca moaned. “Come on, come on, come on! I’m so close! Please stop!”
Luca pleaded with the rain, but it was no use. He might as well have been talking to a sky full of fish.
Then something made him look up.
He saw Alberto running toward him, carrying a huge umbrella like one they had seen at the cafés down at the piazza!
“Luca!” he called. “Just stay right there!”
“Alberto,” Luca said, stunned.
“I’m coming for you!”
At that moment, Ercole came over the hill on his bicycle. He slowed down when he saw Luca under the awning.
“What’s wrong, Piccoletto? Afraid of a little rain?” But Ercole wasn’t done yet. “And there’s the other one. For the last time, you two don’t belong here. Get out of my town.”
Ercole rode by and kicked Alberto, knocking him over. The umbrella went flying as Alberto rolled toward Luca. He got up right away, but it was too late—he had already gotten wet, and was now revealed to be a sea monster!
Ercole suddenly stopped. “Ahhhhh!” he screamed. “Sea monster! Right there!”
The crowd gasped at the sight of the sea monster in their midst, and so did the other racers.
Ercole yelled down the hill, “Ciccio! My harpoon! Veloce!”
Luca looked at Alberto. He was still under the awning, dry, looking at Alberto in his sea monster form, standing in the rain.
Giulia had now joined them on the hill and saw what was happening. She hit her brakes.
Luca looked at Alberto and took a step toward him.
“No, stop!” Alberto said, and backed away. “Just stay there! You’re still okay.” Then he looked at the crowd and ran at them, shouting, “Andiamooooo!”
“Alberto, wait!” Luca yelled, but there was nothing he could do to stop his friend now.
Cries of “Sea monster!” and “Stop that thing!” erupted from the mass of people. Several people in the crowd threw a net, capturing Alberto, who fell to the ground, helpless.
“Don’t let it get away!” someone yelled.
“No!” Luca said, and with great determination, he pedaled his bike out into the rain. Immediately, he transformed into his sea monster self.
It was the first time that Giulia had seen Luca as a sea monster. “Santa Ricotta!” she said.
Luca rode right through the crowd that had gathered around the trapped Alberto. Then he held out his hand and pulled Alberto onto the bicycle.
“What?” Ercole shouted, unable to process what was happening.
Luca pedaled down the hill as Alberto
tossed the net aside.
“Whoa! You really are crazy!” Alberto said.
“Yeah, and I learned it from you!” Luca replied.
Alberto hugged Luca.
“Let’s get to the water,” Luca said as they rode past Ercole. A second later, Ciccio handed a harpoon to Ercole.
“No, Ciccio!” Ercole yelled, angry at his friend’s lack of timing. He raced down the hill after Luca and Alberto, harpoon in hand.
Giulia was right behind them.
“Out of the way!” Ercole shouted, hot on the heels of Luca and Alberto. One way or another, he was going to get those sea monsters!
He hoisted his harpoon, ready to throw. This was the moment Ercole had been waiting for!
Alberto glanced over his shoulder and saw what was coming. “Luca!” he said, and forced his friend to swerve, suddenly going off course. The bicycle veered right into an apartment, over a balcony, and down a flight of stairs.
There was a lot of screaming as they went from the stairs and onto the roof of an apartment building. They jumped off the roof, and somehow, miraculously, ended up back on the racecourse, right behind Ercole and Giulia!
“Son!”
Luca turned his head briefly as he saw his father and mother standing by the side of the road under a tarp.
“You shoulda left when I told you,” Ercole said, readying his harpoon. “Now I gotta kill some sea monsters!”
Luca leaned to one side, transferring his weight as he tried to evade Ercole.
But Ercole was closing in fast.
Ercole and that horrible harpoon.
Then Giulia caught up with Ercole.
“So long, evil empire of injustice,” she muttered.
The next thing Ercole knew, Giulia collided with him, and their bicycles went flying! Ercole let go of the harpoon as they crashed and hit the ground.
Giulia sat up, woozy, and gave Luca and Alberto a thumbs-up. Then she grabbed her arm and held it close to her body. She was hurt!
Luca knew what he had to do. He hit the brakes and the bicycle came to a halt.
Massimo stood in the crowd in the piazza, staring at the sea monster boys in astonishment.