Luca Junior Novel Deluxe Edition

by Disney Books

“Oh, do you guys need a place to stay?” Giulia asked. She looked up at a tree, indicating a wooden platform positioned in its branches.

  Luca smiled at Alberto, and the boys gratefully accepted Giulia’s offer. They climbed up the tree and onto the platform, with Giulia following them.

  There were three books laid out on the platform, and Giulia quickly scooped them up. “Sorry, this is my—”

  “Your hideout,” Alberto said.

  “Heh,” Giulia chuckled. “Yeah. My hideout. Buonanotte, boys.”

  Giulia descended from the hideout with the books, and walked over to her bedroom window. She climbed through the window, then fell inside, books flying.

  “Slipped!” she said, popping up. “See you in the morning!”

  As Giulia disappeared from view, Luca let out a big sigh. “That was close.”

  “I know!” Alberto said. “Like, how big was that dad human? That guy kills things, for sure.”

  “I thought we were gonna die like a hundred times,” Luca said, realizing it might have been even more than that.

  “Hey, relax,” Alberto said, trying to reassure his friend. “We’re incredible at this human-ing stuff.”

  “Yeah,” Luca said, thinking about it. “You’re right!”

  They sat there quietly for a moment.

  “Did you see me on the bike?” Luca said. “Giulia said, ‘Look up,’ and then all of a sudden, I was riding it!”

  Alberto nodded, but he didn’t seem impressed. “Yeah, yeah, yeah. Our Vespa’s gonna be even better than a bike, though. Because the moment we get it, we’re outta here.”

  “I can’t wait,” Luca said with a smile. He rolled onto his back and looked up at the bright lights sparkling in the night sky.

  Daniela rose from the water and went out into the night in her land monster form, determined to find her wayward son. Lorenzo followed close behind. They looked around for any sign of land monster activity. The coast appeared to be clear.

  “How could my mother tell him about this town of bloodthirsty lunatics?” Daniela said.

  “I still can’t believe he would do this,” Lorenzo replied. “It’s not like him.”

  “Just keep your guard up,” she said. “There’s gonna be land monsters everywhere—”

  Then she turned around and saw a land monster standing right behind her! She went on the attack. First, she knocked the land monster onto the sandy beach. Then she started to smack the creature in the face!

  “Not today, land monster!” she shouted with all the fury she could summon.

  “Daniela!” the land monster protested. “Wait, what? Ow! Ow! It’s me!”

  Daniela instantly realized her error—she hadn’t recognized her own husband in his land monster form! “Ah, you scared the scales off me!” she said, rubbing her husband’s cheek.

  “Gosh, you’re strong,” Lorenzo said. “Owww.”

  “I’m sorry,” Daniela said. “I’m just a little on edge.”

  “No, I needed that. It really woke me up.” Then Lorenzo took a look at himself and at his wife. “Wow! We look horrifying.”

  Daniela examined her hair, which, by land monster standards, was quite nice-looking. “Ugh,” she complained. “Gross. Come on, let’s find our son.”

  But before they could begin their search, they saw an actual land monster approaching this time! Thinking fast, they dove behind some rocks.

  At this rate, how would they ever be reunited with Luca?

  The following morning, Luca opened his eyes and saw a bird sitting on a tree branch. Water droplets dripped from the leaves, indicating a recent rain. Luca smiled, unaware that the rain had gotten all over the platform, causing him to transform into a sea monster.

  His expression changed when he turned over and saw Alberto, who was also in his sea monster form.

  “Oh no. Oh no! Alberto, wake up!” Luca said urgently.

  “Huh? What?” Alberto said. “Ahhh! The sky’s leaking!”

  The boys heard a loud SLAM and stared at each other. Looking down at Giulia’s windows, they saw that the shutters were open. Giulia was in the window, cupping her hands to her mouth. She proceeded to imitate the sound of a very loud, very obnoxious trumpet.

  Not knowing what else to do, the boys vacated the platform, trying to escape Giulia’s view. They disappeared behind the tree just as the back door opened and Massimo leaned out. He was holding a bunch of harpoons in his hand.

  Luca gulped as he and Alberto dried off before anyone could see them.

  Except someone had seen them.

  It was

  that

  cat.

  Machiavelli was sitting there atop the fence, watching them. He had seen everything! Luca knew that the cat knew what they were, which made him super anxious.

  “Oh, there you are!”

  It was Giulia, and luckily, both Luca and Alberto had changed to their land monster forms. “Uh, buongiorno,” Luca said.

  “All right, ragazzi,” Massimo said to the kids. “You want that entry fee, you gotta earn it. Giulia, you make the deliveries.”

  Giulia grabbed a list from Massimo and hopped onto her fish-cart bicycle. She pedaled away. “I’m on it!” she called. “Already makin’ ’em! Ciao!”

  “You two are coming with me,” Massimo insisted.

  Luca gave Alberto a nervous look. But Alberto didn’t seem to be nervous—or if he was, he didn’t show it. Instead, he seemed fascinated by the multiple knives that Massimo had.

  “Which knife do I get? Huh? Huh?” Alberto asked.

  “You don’t,” Massimo said.

  The water was calm as Massimo took his fishing boat out of the harbor.

  “Buongiorno, Massimo!” an old fisherman said from a passing boat. “You’ll keep an eye out for those sea monsters, right? We’re all counting on you!”

  Massimo grasped the harpoon, showing it off. “Don’t worry, Tommaso. I’ve got my eyes peeled.…They won’t get away.”

  Luca laughed again, more anxious than ever. He and Alberto were sitting in the back of the fishing boat. Even Alberto looked worried now.

  The wake from the other boat hit Massimo’s, and the small fishing boat began to rock with the waves. Luca lost his balance and very nearly fell overboard.

  As the boys struggled to avoid falling into the water, Massimo seemed not to notice. He just hummed an opera and kept his eyes fixed on the sea.

  Another wave rocked the boat, and Luca was thrown to the other side.

  “Hey, this isn’t a joyride,” Massimo said. “Make yourselves useful.”

  When they had boarded the boat, Massimo explained what he wanted the boys to do. They reached over and started to pull up some fishing nets. Luca couldn’t help noticing that Machiavelli, who had unfortunately come with them, was watching his every move. The cat hissed at him.

  Alberto’s attention drifted to Massimo, fascinated by the man’s missing arm.

  “A sea monster ate it,” Massimo said.

  Alberto looked horrified, and Massimo laughed. “Ma, no. This is how I came into the world.”

  Then Massimo pulled a fish onto the ship. “Not a great catch today.”

  “It might be because we’re over a haunted fish graveyard,” Luca suggested.

  Massimo looked puzzled as Alberto jumped in. “We know it’s not haunted,” he explained. “The fish think it’s haunted.”

  Now Massimo looked really puzzled.

  “This time of day, most fish will be riiiiiight about there,” Alberto said, pointing somewhere in the distance.

  “Hmmm,” Massimo said, wondering if the boy had any clue what he was talking about.

  A while later, Giulia rode her fish-cart bicycle down to the marina. She pedaled furiously, trying to make the trip in record time. When she pulled into the marina, Giulia skidded to a halt and checked her time.

  She shot her fist into the air and cheered, “New personal best!”

  Looking up, she watched as her father and the boys returned fr
om their fishing expedition. She did a double take when she saw the massive amount of fish they had caught.

  “Santa Pecorino,” she said quietly, in awe.

  “Your friends do know fish,” her father said, and he slapped Alberto on the back, nearly knocking him into the water!

  “Benissimo!” Giulia said. “Let’s go sign up!”

  Daniela and Lorenzo found some land monster clothes hanging on a line to dry. Now that they were dressed to blend in, they approached the town of Portorosso.

  “Okay, okay. What’s our plan. Think, Daniela!” she said.

  “Hey,” Lorenzo said. “Everything’s always on you. I want to step up.”

  “Uh…you sure?” Daniela said skeptically.

  “Oh, yeah,” he said, spying something. “I got this one.”

  Lorenzo saw a kid sitting all by himself on the seawall, eating gelato.

  “Oh, hello there, young man,” Lorenzo said. “You’re not fooling anyone.”

  The kid stared back.

  “Did you really think you could get away with this?” Lorenzo continued.

  “Lorenzo,” Daniela said through gritted teeth. “Uh-uh…Lorenzo…”

  “You thought we wouldn’t find you,” Lorenzo said, and now the kid was looking pretty nervous. “Well, it’s time for us to go home.”

  “I don’t think—” Daniela said, but by then, Lorenzo had already pushed the kid right into the water. He was about to jump in after him when Daniela yanked him back.

  The kid was still a kid. He hadn’t turned into a sea monster, let alone their son, Luca.

  And the kid was crying.

  “Let that be a lesson to you!” Lorenzo said.

  “Go, go, go, go!” Daniela ordered. “Run, before its mother gets here!”

  So they ran away.

  “It turns out I don’t got this,” Lorenzo observed.

  “No, but I do. I’ll know my son when I—”

  Daniella gasped as they ran into the piazza.

  It was brimming with kids.

  “—see him,” she said, finishing her thought. “Aw, sharks.”

  Giulia, Luca, and Alberto left the marina and headed straight for the piazza so they could stand in line and submit their entry to join the Portorosso Cup.

  There was a line of kids waiting to do the exact same thing, but it did nothing to dampen Luca’s excitement.

  Something else was waiting to do that.

  Standing in the piazza was a woman dressed in an elaborate costume. Giulia looked at her and grabbed a box of pasta from a nearby display. She held the box so it covered the woman’s face. On the back of the box was a picture of an elaborately dressed, mustachioed man—a man who looked very familiar to Luca. Giulia then lowered the box of pasta, revealing a mustache on the woman, just like the one sported by the man on the pasta box.

  With a flourish and much bravado, she said, “Fellow Portorossans! It is I! Giorgio Giorgioni! Slayer of sea monsters and beloved purveyor of pasta!”

  Luca was terrified. He gasped. That was the face on the pasta box! That was who the woman was pretending to be—the guy on the fountains and paintings they had seen! “Slayer of sea monsters?” he said.

  “Pffft. I could take him,” Alberto replied.

  “Ahh, that’s just Signora Marsigliese,” Giulia explained. “She works for Pasta Giorgio Giorgioni, the sponsor for the race.” Watching the woman, Giulia sighed. “This is gonna take forever.”

  “The finest pasta in Liguria. At a price every family can afford!”

  “Get to the rules!” Giulia yelled.

  “Enthusiasm!” Signora Marsigliese said. “Love to see it! To follow in my footsteps and win my famous race, your team must be the first to brave the treacherous waters of the bay! Devour a mystery bowl of my delicious pasta! And ride to the top of Mount Portorosso—and back!”

  “That all sounds pretty hard,” Luca said, sounding dejected.

  “Yeah,” Alberto said. “Hard to lose! We’re going to win!”

  Giulia grabbed both Luca and Alberto by their heads and turned them so they faced all the kids who had lined up to enter the race. “I love your confidence,” she said. “But the competition looks brutal this year.”

  She gestured at a very tall girl with broad shoulders who was stretching.

  “Carlotta once outswam an angry dolphin!” Giulia said.

  Then there was another kid, with a really, really long tongue, who was eating.

  “Danilo’s fork skills are insane. But the biggest obstacle, as always, will be—”

  Right on cue, Ercole arrived in the piazza, with Ciccio and Guido right behind him. Guido was holding a sandwich for Ercole, as he usually did.

  “Champion coming through!” Ercole announced. “Ciao, ciao! Ay!”

  The crowd parted, the kids shrinking away from the bully.

  “Ercole,” Giulia groaned.

  Ercole walked to the front and put down his entry fee.

  “Aren’t you a little old?” asked Signora Marsigliese.

  “Signora!” Ercole exclaimed in mock outrage. “I’m sixteen!”

  “You said that last year.”

  “But this year it’s true!”

  “You might want to save your money, ragazzi,” Ercole said to the crowd. “This year, Ercole’s gonna make it six in a row.”

  Suddenly, he noticed Giulia, Luca, and Alberto standing there, and he smiled. “I don’t believe it! Spewlia, you teamed up with these vagrants?”

  “Ignore him,” Giulia said.

  “Oh, I wish for you that you could. Unfortunately,” Ercole said with a sniff, “I’m afraid your friends still need to pay the Out-of-Town Weirdo Tax.” Then he snapped his fingers, and Ciccio took the money right out of Giulia’s hand and gave it to Ercole.

  “Hey!” Giulia shouted. “Ercole, you have to give it back!”

  “Ercole doesn’t have to do anything,” he explained. “He’s the Portorosso Cup champion, number one, and number two, his life is amazing and everyone loves him.”

  “They don’t love you! They’re afraid of you!”

  Ercole turned to the crowed, leaning in close. “Raise your hand if you love me.”

  Terrified, everyone in the crowd raised their hand.

  “See? Everyone,” Ercole said. Then he turned to Alberto, “Even you. Boop.”

  Ercole tapped Alberto on the nose. But Alberto had heard enough. “Oh, that’s it. Come on, Luca,” he said.

  “Hey!” Ercole laughed. “The vagrants want to fight? Wow, che bello!”

  Luca wasn’t so sure about this. Actually, he was sure that this was a terrible idea. “Alberto…?” he protested.

  “Silenzio, Bruno,” Alberto said. “Remember, this is for our Vespa!”

  But before any fighting could begin, Giulia wedged herself between the two groups of boys. “Stop,” she said.

  Luca was afraid, but he raised his fists anyway, to protect himself.

  “A Vespa?” Ercole said. “Pfft. Ha, ha, ha! Trash like you can’t ride Vespas!”

  “Ercole, you’re just afraid we’re gonna put an end to your evil empire of injustice,” Giulia said, but frowned as she realized Ercole was saying her exact words at the same time she said them. It was a comeback she had used many times before.

  “Got anything new?” Ercole asked.

  “Yeah!” Giulia said, her mind racing. “Here’s a new one! You look like a…umm…a…uhhh…a catfish!”

  The crowd looked at one another, not quite sure what that meant. Ercole definitely didn’t know.

  So Luca jumped in. “Uh, they’re bottom-feeders, and they also have two sad little whiskers,” he said.

  A collective gasp rose up from the crowd. Then there was a loud “OOOOOOHHH.”

  And then the laughter started.

  Even Guido snickered a little, but he covered his mouth just as soon as he started.

  Ercole was angry. So angry, in fact, that he removed the salami from the sandwich and smacked Guido with it.


  “Listen Piccoletto,” Ercole said, turning his attention to Luca. “I eat kids like you for breakfast. I dunk them in my cioccolata and gnam! Finiti!”

  Ercole made a slicing motion across his neck. Then, he leaned in and put an arm around Luca, which was way more intimidating than anything else he had done yet.

  “So, here,” he said, returning Giulia’s money. “Sign up. I’ll make it my mission to destroy you.”

  Luca felt his entire body go numb.

  “Ha, ha, ha!” Ercole said, joking with the crowd. “It’s gonna be some race, huh? Sorry, no autographs today!”

  As he walked away, he pointed to a boy who still had his hand raised from earlier.

  “You. You can put your hand down.”

  Luca wanted to disappear. Then he felt another arm around him. Except this time, it was Giulia!

  “Ha, ha! Luca! Bravo, we did it!” she said.

  Luca wasn’t sure what they had done, exactly, but at least now he could breathe again. Giulia pulled him away, with Alberto right behind them. They approached a table, and Giulia placed her money down.

  “Giulia Marcovaldo!” the girl said proudly.

  “Ciao, Giulia,” Signora Marsigliese said. “Team of one?”

  “Not today!” she said, nudging Luca.

  “Luca Paguro!” he said.

  “Alberto Scorfano,” said Alberto.

  Alberto sounded a little reluctant to sign up as a team, but the others were too excited to notice.

  “Okay, ragazzi!” Giulia asked as she set a big bowl of rigatoni in front of Alberto. “We have one week to train. Pronti, ai posti, via!”

  Ready, set, go!

  “I got this,” Alberto said. He was just about to dig in when Luca walked over from Giulia’s kitchen, setting down another bowl of pasta. It was spaghetti.

  “Wait, what?” Alberto exclaimed.

  Then came another plate, of fusilli.

  “Every year, they change the pasta,” Giulia said. “You have to be ready for anything! Could be cannelloni, penne, fusilli, trofie, even lasagne!”

  Alberto shrugged and tried to play it off like it was all no big deal. He was about to shovel the pasta into his mouth when Giulia stopped him and handed him a fork.