Luca Junior Novel Deluxe Edition

by Disney Books

  Try as he might, Luca couldn’t sleep. He just lay in his bed, thinking. He looked over at his grandma.

  “Grandma,” he whispered. “Did you really go up to the—”

  Suddenly, Grandma snored loudly. She wasn’t awake. She was fast asleep with her eyes open!

  Luca sighed and turned away.

  The following morning, Luca was out in the fields bright and early. He had gathered a bunch of rocks and made what he thought was a pretty decent representation of himself.

  Turning to the goatfish, Luca said, “Okay, everyone. This is, uh…Smuca! Yeah. He’s in charge now. Got it?”

  The goatfish looked at Smuca, then at Luca, and went about their business.

  Luca turned away and swam toward the surface of the water. A few moments later he was just about to break through, but he backed off. He was afraid, unsure of what might happen. After all, the first time he’d gone on land wasn’t his fault—it was an accident. This time it would be on purpose!

  Summoning his courage, Luca approached the surface again, then backed off again.

  “Wow.”

  The voice startled Luca, who turned around and saw the sea monster from the other day, arms full of stuff, staring at him.

  “That was hard to watch,” the boy said. Then he handed some of the stuff in his arms to Luca. “Here. C’mon.”

  The boy left the water. Luca took a deep breath, held it, and went right after him.

  At the surface, Luca watched in disbelief as the boy transformed from his sea monster form into a land monster! He looked so different. Now he had brown, curly stuff on top of his head. Hair, maybe? The boy flipped the hair, and water went all over.

  Luca took a step onto the beach and dropped everything he had been carrying. He tried to shake the water from himself like the boy had done.

  And then he transformed.

  Luca was mystified. He was a land monster! The only sign of his previous form were his seaweed shorts! He turned around, looking for his tail, only to see that it, too, was gone.

  “Wait,” Luca said. “It feels like it’s…still there.”

  “Yeah, that’s called phantom tail,” the boy said. “You’ll get used to it.”

  Luca picked himself up off the beach, and fell right over.

  “Right,” the boy said. “Walking. Don’t worry—you’re in luck. I basically invented it.”

  With effort, Luca rose on his legs and managed to stand up without falling down.

  “To start, stack everything, one on top of the other. Like a pile of rocks,” the boy said, watching Luca adjust his body with a loud grunt. “Great. I mean, fine, whatever. Now, walking is just like swimming. But without fins. Or a tail. And also, there’s no water. Otherwise, it’s like the exact same thing. Give it a try.”

  Luca looked at the boy and took a step forward. He fell onto the sand.

  “That’s not it,” the boy said. “Try it again.”

  Luca tried it again, and fell onto the sand again.

  “Oh! Try to lead with your head,” the boy advised. “No. More belly.”

  Luca had no idea what that meant, but he kept on trying.

  “That’s…that’s lying on the ground,” the boy said. “How about this. Just take a step without even thinking about it.”

  “I don’t know how to not think about something!” Luca said, completely out of his element.

  “Okay, okay,” the boy replied. “Watch.”

  The boy stood up and walked over to Luca. “Point your feet where you want to go. Okay? And then just catch yourself before you fall.”

  Luca gulped and pointed his feet forward. Then he got up and took a step.

  This time he didn’t fall over.

  Then he took another step.

  And another.

  “Good…good…yes. Yes!” the boy shouted.

  Luca was walking! “I’m getting it!” he yelled.

  “Not bad, kid,” the boy said. He reached out a hand to introduce himself. “Alberto Scorfano.”

  “Luca Paguro,” he said. With great confusion, he took Alberto’s hand, and his new friend pumped it up and down. He didn’t know that was called a handshake.

  “Piacere, Girolamo Trombetta,” Alberto said. Noting Luca’s confusion, he continued. “It’s a human thing. I’m kind of an expert.”

  “What does it mean?” Luca asked, eager to learn. “The thing you just said?”

  Alberto looked at Luca, then suddenly changed the subject, “C’mon, I’ll show you some more stuff!”

  The two boys carried Alberto’s stuff up a hill until they arrived at the base of a small abandoned-looking tower. An old weather-beaten ladder rested against its side.

  “Mother of pearl!” Luca said. “You live up here?”

  “Yeah. Me and my dad. He’s not even here a whole lot, so I pretty much just do whatever I want.”

  “Isn’t it dangerous?”

  “Yeah,” Alberto said. “It’s the best. Everything good is above the surface.”

  Then Alberto’s eyes widened as he prepared to illustrate for Luca all the good things above the surface.

  AIR!

  “Air!” Alberto yelled. He took a deep breath, inhaling as deeply as he could. But he accidentally inhaled a bug and Alberto had to help him cough it out.

  GRAVITY!

  Luca had no idea what gravity was, so Alberto demonstrated. He scrambled to the top of the tower and yelled, “Gravity! Also known as—”

  He jumped off the tower and into a tree…then he fell out of the tree.

  “—FALLIIIIIING!”

  THE SKY!

  Alberto pointed. “The sky…clouds…sun…”

  Luca noticed the brilliant yellow orb that floated in the blue sky.

  “Whoa, don’t look at it!” Alberto said, covering Luca’s eyes. Then he chuckled, uncovering them. “Just kidding. Definitely look at it.”

  Luca screamed, temporarily blinded by the bright yellow orb. He did not look at it again.

  “And then…there’s human stuff,” said Alberto, rubbing his hands together. He climbed the ladder to his home and Luca followed.

  Inside, Luca couldn’t believe what he saw. A big mess! There was human stuff everywhere. Old, rusty things littered the place.

  “As you can see, I’ve been collecting for a long time,” Alberto boasted. “So ask me anything.” Luca immediately focused on the gramophone.

  “Ah, yes, that’s the Magic Singing Lady Machine,” Alberto said. “It’s broken, unfortunately.”

  Looking at the machine, Luca saw a handle, and began to turn it. Suddenly, the gramophone came to life with a woman’s beautiful singing voice.

  “Whoa!” Alberto said. “You unbroke it!”

  As they listened to the music, Luca’s attention drifted over to a big poster hanging on Alberto’s wall. On it was a large, boxy thing on two wheels. “What’s that?” Luca asked.

  “Oh, that’s just the greatest thing that humans ever made,” Alberto said. “The Vespa. You just sit on it, and it takes you anywhere you want to go. In the whole stinkin’ world.”

  “‘Vespa is freedom,’” Luca read from the poster. Then he slowly looked around the room at the incredible collection Alberto had been gathering. “Are you gonna make one? I think you have all the parts.”

  Alberto’s eyes widened as he, too, gazed at the objects that surrounded them. There was a wheel over there, and something else that could be a wheel, and a rocking chair that could work as a seat.

  “I do have the parts,” Alberto said, stunned. “I am gonna make one! You wanna help?”

  “Me?” Luca said. “Yeah! Wait. No, I can’t. I gotta go home.”

  “Right this second?” Alberto asked.

  “Yeah. If my parents found out I was up here…,” Luca mused. “Oof. It would be bad. So thank you, but goodbye.” He looked at the Vespa poster sadly. “Forever.”

  Then he looked at the poster again.

  One Hour Later

  “Okay, b
ut now I really do have to go,” Luca said.

  In just an hour, they had managed to build the basic framework for their Vespa scooter.

  “Okay,” Alberto said.

  Another Forty-Five Minutes Later

  “Seriously, I have to go, like, now,” Luca said, looking at the Vespa, which they’d found wheels for. “Like, right now.”

  “Uh-huh,” Alberto answered.

  And Two Hours After That

  “It’s even better than the picture!” Luca cried. He looked at their one-hundred-percent homemade Vespa, full of excitement.

  “Yeah, it is,” Alberto agreed.

  At last, Luca said, “Oh, gotta run!” and he bolted for the ladder.

  “See ya tomorrow!” Alberto called as Luca waved goodbye and disappeared.

  “Luca? Where have you been?” his mom called.

  Luca rushed into the house, hurrying toward the table for dinner. Don’t say surface, he thought. Don’t say surface.

  “Surface,” Luca said, quickly covering his mouth with his hand.

  “What did you just say?” Daniela said, her eyes narrowing at her son.

  “What’s wrong with your foot?” his dad shouted.

  Luca looked down at his foot and saw that somehow it was still human! “Ahhhhh!” he shouted.

  This would all have been very troubling if it hadn’t just been Luca’s imagination.

  In reality, he was standing in the doorway of his home while his mom waited for him to answer her question.

  “Luca?” Daniela said.

  “Uh, I…”

  “Gonna tell us where you were?” she prodded.

  All Luca could manage to say was “I…uh…”

  “It’s my fault,” Grandma said, jumping in. “I sent him to look for sea cucumbers.”

  Luca looked at his Grandma, relieved. “Right. Sorry, Grandma, I couldn’t find ’em.”

  “Mom,” Daniela said with a huff. “His life is maybe a little more important than your snacks.”

  Grandma shrugged.

  “Thank you,” Luca whispered to his grandma.

  Dinner came and went with no further questions about his whereabouts, and Luca went to bed right afterward. Once again, he found himself unable to sleep. But this time, he was ridiculously happy, thinking about his day—and the day to come.

  “Whoa! How’d you get it down here?” Luca asked. He stared at Alberto, who was standing on top of a hill, holding on to their homemade Vespa.

  “I rode it down,” Alberto said.

  Luca stared at him.

  “I didn’t,” Alberto admitted. “I pushed it out the back window. Took a while to put back together, but it’s fine now. You ready to ride it?”

  Alberto pointed at an incredibly steep hill, at the bottom of which was a small wooden ramp. It looked exactly like the kind of thing Luca would not like to do.

  “Oh. Well, thank you, but no thank you,” Luca said. “I mean, I just think maybe I would die.”

  “Okay, I’ll ride it,” Alberto said. “You hold the ramp.”

  “Uhhh…”

  The next thing Luca knew, he was at the bottom of the hill and under the ramp, holding it up.

  “Sir? Maybe we should sleep on it?” Luca yelled.

  But Alberto wasn’t listening. He jumped onto the Vespa and screamed, “Whatever you do, do not move!”

  “I’m not the guy you want for this!” Luca moaned. “I’m more of an idea man! I—”

  “Take me, Gravity!” Alberto shouted, and he kicked off from the top of the hill, thundering toward destiny.

  But on its way, the Vespa hit a rock. The scooter changed course, and Luca moved the ramp accordingly. Suddenly, the Vespa broke in half. Alberto was now riding the front half like a unicycle, struggling to keep it upright and trying to brake with his bare feet.

  “This is normal!” Alberto shouted. “Stay focused!”

  As the half scooter careened down the hill, it continued to lose pieces—pieces that sailed right by Luca, who managed to duck behind the ramp to avoid getting hit. He peeked over the top and saw Alberto being hurled off the lone wheel. The boy was now somersaulting end over end, rolling right for him!

  “Don’t move, don’t move, don’t move!” Alberto ordered, and Luca ducked under the ramp. Alberto rolled over the top, splashing into the water just beyond and hitting a bunch of rocks.

  “He’s dead,” Luca said to no one. “I’ve killed him!”

  But Alberto wasn’t dead, not by a long shot. He thrust his fists in the air and shouted, “WHOOO!!!!” And he laughed!

  “Wait, that was good?” Luca said, confused.

  “Did you see the height I got?” Alberto chuckled as he got out of the water. “Hey, nice ramping.” He slapped Luca on the back. “Come on, let’s build another one!”

  Luca looked at his new friend and was surprised to find that he was no longer afraid. He smiled and nodded.

  Soon Luca and Alberto were spending every day together, exploring Isola del Mare and working on their second Vespa.

  Alberto took the opportunity to show Luca more of the cool human stuff he had found. There was a sword and a buoy with a rope. Alberto swung the buoy around like some kind of weapon and managed to hit himself in the head with it.

  Another time, Alberto gave Luca some human clothes to replace his seaweed shorts and they danced to music from the gramophone.

  Eventually, their second homemade Vespa was ready. With Luca once again holding the ramp, Alberto set off down the hill. But a seagull attacked Luca and he had to abandon the ramp! Another Vespa was destroyed.

  While Luca was having fun with Alberto above the surface, Luca’s rock creation, Smuca, kept a watchful eye on the goatfish. But because Smuca was made of rocks, that meant absolutely no watching was happening. And Luca’s mom noticed.

  Both Daniela and Lorenzo were stunned to discover that their son wasn’t tending to the goatfish, and that he had, in fact, constructed a rock replica of himself instead. They looked all around the fields where Luca normally would have been.

  That was when they discovered his stash of stuff.

  Human stuff.

  A few days later, Daniela and Lorenzo observed Luca in the fields, piling rocks to build his rock structure yet again. They couldn’t believe it. Where was he sneaking off to?

  Daniela shuddered to think.

  Back above the surface, Luca had no idea his parents had discovered the truth about Smuca. He was having too much fun with Alberto.

  Alberto took off at a full sprint for the edge of the land and jumped. He sailed through the air, landing with a big splash in the water below.

  Luca was about to follow, when he stopped and stepped back. He took a deep breath, determined to make a run for it, just like his friend. He ran for the edge, but at the last second, he came to a halt. Or he tried to stop. Instead, he stumbled, slipping right off and belly-flopping into the water with a loud SLAP!

  After their swim, Luca and Alberto were watching the open water and saw a fisherman scream at a passing speedboat. The craft was creating a big wake, roiling the water and disturbing the fish.

  “What’s wrong with you, stupido?” the fisherman yelled.

  Alberto liked the sound of that phrase, so he decided to practice it. “What’s wrong with you, stupido?”

  At the end of another fun day, the two friends ended up in a cove. Luca picked up a couple of sea snails and styled his hair with their slime so it looked like Alberto’s.

  Everything was perfect.

  “Look, we gotta ride together,” Alberto said. He was at the top of the hill with another homemade Vespa, but this time Luca was up there with him. “If you don’t sit on the back and hold on to the front, the whole thing falls apart.”

  “Oh…and who’s holding the ramp?” Luca asked.

  “The turtle,” Alberto said, as if that was entirely obvious. He pointed at the ramp, which was slowly shuffling away. “C’mon, he’s faster than he looks.”

 
Luca wasn’t sure about that, but he really wanted to try it. So he said, “Oh, okay. Here we go!”

  But he didn’t move.

  “You, uh…you coming?” Alberto asked.

  “Nope,” Luca answered flatly. “I can’t do it. Never in a million years.”

  “Hey, hey, hey. I know your problem. You got a Bruno in your head.”

  “A Bruno?” Luca gasped. He didn’t like the idea of having anything in his head, except maybe his brain, which was kind of necessary.

  “Yeah,” Alberto continued. “I get one, too, sometimes. ‘Alberto, you can’t. Alberto, you’re gonna die. Alberto, don’t put that in your mouth.’ Luca, it’s simple: Don’t listen to stupid Bruno.”

  Luca pondered this for a moment, then said, “Why is his name Bruno?”

  “I don’t care. It doesn’t matter. Call him whatever you want. Shut him up. Say, ‘Silenzio, Bruno!’”

  “Silenzio, Bruno,” Luca said weakly.

  “Louder!” Alberto ordered.

  “Silenzio, Bruno!” Luca said, sounding more confident.

  They kept repeating this until at last Alberto asked, “Can you still hear him?”

  “Nope,” Luca replied. “Just you!”

  Then Alberto picked Luca up and put him on the back of the Vespa. “Good. Now hang on!”

  Alberto checked his image in the rearview mirror, and with a strong kick, he sent them rolling down the hill. “ANDIAMOOOOOO!”

  Holding tight to Alberto, Luca could feel the Vespa bouncing on the ground, hitting every rock along the way. It didn’t help that Alberto wasn’t exactly an expert at steering. The Vespa was wobbling all over the place! Which meant that it wasn’t headed for the ramp.

  “Whoooooooo!” Alberto shouted joyfully.

  “AHHHHHHH!” Luca screamed in fear. He closed his eyes tight, then made the mistake of opening them just for a second—as the Vespa began to fall apart! Luca held on to Alberto even more tightly.

  “Silenzio, Bruno. Silenzio, Bruno. Silenzio, Bruno. Silenzio, BRUNOOOOOO!” Luca yelled, just as Alberto managed to steer the Vespa back on course. Amazingly, it hit the ramp. For a brief, shining moment, they were in the sky, flying!

  Then, for another brief moment, they were falling toward the water! Specifically, toward one razor-sharp rock!