Luca Junior Novel Deluxe Edition Read online

  Copyright © 2021 Disney Enterprises, Inc. and Pixar. Vespa and Piaggio are trademarks of Piaggio & C. S.p.A. All rights reserved. Published by Disney Press, an imprint of Buena Vista Books, Inc. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the publisher. For information address Disney Press, 1200 Grand Central Avenue, Glendale, California 91201.

  ISBN 978-1-368-07857-3

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  Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Scenes from the Film

  “Listen, Tommaso—do we really need to fish near the island?”

  Giacomo studied the old map spread out on a table in the cabin of the small fishing boat. It was night, the sky dark as could be. As the boat made its way out to sea, the tiny coastal town of Portorosso grew smaller and smaller.

  “Eh, you worry too much,” Tommaso replied, steering them farther into the night. He was much older than Giacomo, and much less prone to concern than the younger man. Aside from the men’s voices and pop music playing from their portable gramophone, it was quiet on the water.

  Giacomo peered closer at the illustrated map of the Ligurian Sea and western Italy. He noted the ghastly drawings of sea monsters and other horrifying beasts. There was a fearsome kraken, with its deadly tentacles and cold, unfeeling eyes. He pointed at a spot on the map labeled isola del mare that showed a sea serpent tearing right through the hull of an old ship as a siren watched from an outcropping of rocks.

  “I dunno,” Giacomo said, uncertain. “What if the old stories are true?”

  “Oh, come on, Giacomo!” Tommaso scoffed. “You really believe in sea monsters?”

  Giacomo shrugged. “Too many strange things have been seen in these waters.…” His voice trailed off.

  Tommaso wrinkled his brow. “They’re all just stories. Tall tales to keep us away from a great fishing spot,” the older man insisted.

  “But, Tommaso—”

  “We’re fine. Non preoccupare ti, Giacomo,” Tommaso interrupted.

  Then the older fisherman cut the engine and the boat began to drift, until at last it came to a stop in the dark water. Ready to start fishing, Tommaso took the pop record off the gramophone and replaced it with an opera record.

  “Ah, that’s more like it,” Tommaso said. He loved listening to opera—the soaring arias, the intricate orchestrations. To him, that was the only kind of music for an evening on the water.

  Their boat approached a buoy bobbing in the water with a fishing net attached.

  But they weren’t the only ones nearing the buoy.

  Unnoticed by either man, something was moving through the water—silent and quick.

  A fin broke the water’s surface, but only for a moment, and then it went back under.

  Tommaso continued listening to his beloved opera, unaware of the shadowy arm that reached from the water on the other side of their fishing boat, slicing the rope from the buoy that hung from its hull. The arm took the buoy and disappeared beneath the sea.

  As the men focused on the net before them, the mysterious creature grabbed even more items from the boat: a wrench, a drinking glass—even a deck of playing cards.

  Giacomo thought he heard something, and turned his head. He could have sworn he saw a sea monster in the shadows, peeking over the water’s surface! And it was reaching for the gramophone!

  “AHHHHH!” Giacomo shouted. “What is that?”

  “Oh! Per mille sardine,” Tommaso said dismissively.

  Then the shadowy figure dove back into the water and swam right into the fishermen’s line. Whatever it was, it was becoming tangled.

  The fishermen took notice and began to pull the line in.

  “Tira, tira!” Tomasso urged.

  The boat tipped to one side, and suddenly, a sea monster breached the surface, eyes glowing, as both Giacomo and Tommaso screamed.

  The fishing line was cut and the fishermen stumbled backward, knocking the gramophone off the boat and into the dark water.

  Shaking, Giacomo reached for a harpoon and threw it toward the water’s surface.

  “You missed!” Tommaso said. “Let’s go—before it comes back for us!”

  “I told you they were real!” Giacomo insisted.

  “Oh, what a monster,” Tommaso said, adrift in a sea of fear. “Horrifying…”

  They sat in silence, watching the gramophone slowly sink into the sea.

  “Aaaaaaaahhhh!”

  The scream didn’t come from a couple of frightened fishermen. It came from the ocean depths. Specifically, from the mouth of twelve-year-old sea monster Luca Paguro.

  Luca floated in front of an undersea barn, its doors wide open. Nothing was inside.

  His family’s goatfish, which were supposed to be in there, were swimming all over the place, eating everything in sight.

  “Fish out of the barn!” Luca exclaimed. “Fish out of the barn!”

  One of the goatfish bleated.

  Luca shouted, “Caterina! Wait!”

  But Caterina was already off. Luca followed her, swimming right past another farmer feeding some crabs.

  “Good morning, Mr. Branzino—” Luca said hurriedly.

  “Ah!” Mr. Branzino shouted, startled by the interruption. “Hi, Luca.”

  “—and also, I’m sorry,” Luca said, struggling with the goatfish. “How’s Mrs. Branzino?”

  The goatfish kept swimming and Luca left without waiting for an answer. He passed another farmer, Mrs. Gamberetto.

  “Excuse me, ah, ma’am?” Luca asked politely. “Have you, by—”

  “Yes,” Mrs. Gamberetto replied sternly. Then she turned her head, giving Luca an excellent look at the goatfish nibbling on the back of it.

  Luca let out a nervous laugh as he quickly collected his goatfish.

  But another one had gotten away—it was Giuseppe. Luca saw the fish moving along a hill, heading toward the ocean surface.

  “Giuseppe! Get back here!” Luca cried.

  He threw himself at the goatfish, but Giuseppe wriggled free. Luca wasn’t going to give up that easily. He kept grabbing, and at last, he got a solid grip.

  “You wanna run off like your buddy Enrico?” Luca asked. “Because I’ve got news for you. He’s either dead, or he’s…out there somewhere. Seeing the world…”

  Luca’s voice trailed off, as he imagined what it would be like to go out there somewhere and see the world.

  Snapping out of his reverie, Luca said, “But he’s probably dead!”

  Rejoining the flock, Luca looked at all the goatfish before him and took a quick head count.

  “Whew,” he said. “Okay. That’s everyone.”

  Then he noticed one of them had a slight grin on its face.

  “Monalisa? Why are you smiling?” he asked.

  Monalisa just stared as a smaller fish swam out of her mouth.

  “Anyone else in there?” Luca asked.

  And then a few more fish escaped
.

  Luca was so distracted by Monalisa that it took him a moment to realize that Giuseppe was breaking from the herd once again.

  “Giuseppe,” Luca said, exasperated. “What did we just talk about. Giuseppe.”

  But the goatfish kept going.

  “All right,” Luca said, mustering some enthusiasm. “Let’s head out!”

  At last, Luca managed to move the flock along the landscape of farms and silos. His neighbors were already out in the fields, tending to their land.

  “Hi, Mr. Gamberetto!” Luca shouted. He hoped that Mrs. Gamberetto hadn’t told her husband about the goatfish trying to take a bite out of her head.

  “Good morning!” Mr. Gamberetto replied with a smile.

  Whew!

  “Good morning, Mrs. Aragosta!” Luca said as he continued.

  “Hey, Luca,” she replied.

  “Good morning, Luca!” Mrs. Merluzzo said.

  “Morning!” Mr. Merluzzo added.

  Luca smiled and gave a big wave. “Good morning!”

  The young sea monster swam over to the corral on his family’s farm and gathered his flock, herding them toward the pasture. When they arrived at the pasture entrance, he stopped the goatfish and peered inside.

  “Okay, all clear,” he announced, and the fish swam in. “Let me know if you need anything.…Anyone?” The goatfish looked up at Luca with blank stares. “No? Okay!”

  Then Luca swam over to a rock and sat down. He blew a bubble and watched it drift away for a moment before turning his gaze to one of the goatfish. It was poking at something.

  “Giuseppe,” Luca said, and he swam over to see what had caught the goatfish’s interest. He didn’t know it was the alarm clock from the fishermen’s boat. To the young sea monster, it just looked like a mysterious round object. The clock began to ring, and Luca panicked until it stopped.

  “Whoa,” he said. Then his eyes drifted toward the surface of the water. Bright rays of light shone down, illuminating the farm.

  Returning his attention to the seabed, Luca looked around some more. A rectangle with strange markings floated in the distance. It was one of the fishermen’s playing cards! Luca picked it up, amazed and a bit giddy.

  Luca paced around, spotting a shiny wrench in the distance. But before he could swim to it, a rumbling sound, and a shadow moved across the water above.

  Luca gasped in horror. “Land monsters!” he screamed. “Everybody under the rock!”

  Luca quickly gathered his charges to a small cave. They hid there, waiting for the land monsters to leave. Luca watched in silence as the shadow moved on. For a moment, he wondered what it would be like to pop his head above the surface and see what was really going on up in the land monsters’ world.

  “Luca!”

  The young sea monster jerked his head toward the sound of his mother’s voice.

  “Lunch is ready!”

  “Be right there!” Luca said, and he hid the strange objects near a rock. Then he picked up his crook and herded the goatfish homeward.

  “Come on,” he said. “We gotta get back.”

  “You’re two minutes late!” said Daniela, Luca’s mom. She was waiting for him. “Was there a boat? Did you hide?”

  “Yes, Mom,” Luca said, sounding as though he’d had a lot of practice saying it.

  “Because if they catch even a glimpse of you…You think they come around to meet new friends? Huh? Make small talk? No. They’re here to do murders. So I’m just making sure you know,” Daniela said without taking a breath.

  “Thanks…Mom,” Luca said.

  Daniela continued her reprimands as they swam inside the house.

  “When I was a kid, we’d go weeks without seeing a boat,” she said. “And let me tell you, they did not have motors! Just a sweaty land monster with a paddle!”

  Luca saw his grandma sitting at the kitchen table. Daniela went to prepare lunch.

  “Hi, Grandma,” Luca said.

  “Hey, Bubble,” Grandma answered.

  Meanwhile, Luca’s dad, Lorenzo, was busy with his prized show crabs. He was cleaning a speckled specimen. “Luca!” he said. “Look at Pinchy-Pessa. She’s molting. Oh, it’s magnificent! Now, here’s a champion show crab if ever I saw one.…”

  Luca looked at the crab and did his best to sound interested. “Oh, nice.” Then he looked at the crab’s eye stalks, and right away the creature opened her claws, assuming an attack position!

  “Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Lorenzo warned. “Don’t look her in the eyes!”

  “Sorry,” Luca said.

  “But don’t apologize!” Lorenzo added. “She can sense weakness.”

  The crab pinched Luca.

  “Ow!” he said as Luca’s mom pulled the crab from his ear and guided him over to the table.

  “Come eat, Luca,” she said. “We’d better beat those Branzinos at the crab show this year. Everyone thinks Bianca Branzino’s so great, with her prize-winning crabs and amazing dolphin impression. Please! Anyone can do that!”

  Luca looked up as his mom did an incredibly accurate imitation of Bianca Branzino’s imitation of a dolphin: “AAAAHEHEHEHEHE! Right?”

  “I don’t know why dolphins even sound like that. You know? Why don’t they just talk?” Lorenzo asked.

  While Daniela and Lorenzo pondered the Branzinos and dolphins, Grandma noticed that Luca was remarkably quiet.

  “Luca,” Grandma said. “What’s on your mind?”

  “I—I,” Luca stammered. “Well, I was just wondering. Where do boats come from?”

  His dad had just taken a bite of his meal. He spat it across the table. His mom gasped.

  “The land monster town,” Grandma explained. “Just above the surface. I beat a guy at cards there once.”

  Now it was Luca’s turn to gasp.

  Both Daniela and Lorenzo were making “Stop!” gestures at Grandma, who either didn’t see them or saw them but didn’t care.

  “Mom! What are you doing?” Daniela asked.

  “He’s old enough to hear about it,” Grandma said with a shrug.

  “You’ve been to the surface?” Luca said in amazement. “And…and done the change?”

  “Nope! Nope! The end! Shut it down!” Daniela exclaimed.

  “I was just curious—”

  “Yeah, well, the curious fish gets caught!” Daniela said. “We do not talk, think, discuss, contemplate, or go anywhere near the surface! Got it?”

  Luca wanted desperately to hear more of Grandma’s stories of the land monster town, but he knew there would be no convincing his mom. “Yes, Mom.”

  “Here,” Daniela said, handing Luca a snack. “Now let’s get back to work.”

  Sensing her son’s disappointment, Daniela continued, “Hey. Look me in the eye. You know I love you, right?”

  “I know, Mom,” Luca said, and he left the house, thinking of the world above.

  Luca swam back to the fields, his herding crook in hand, and picked up the shiny wrench he had spotted earlier. He held it in both hands and sighed. Then he noticed something shining in the distance. Swimming toward it, Luca saw a drinking glass.

  He picked up the glass and brought it to his face. Turning it around, he looked through the bottom, which magnified everything in the distance.

  Then he gasped when he saw something else! Swimming as fast as he could, Luca finally reached it. It was a wooden box with a large metal horn sticking out of the top. This was what land monsters called a gramophone, although Luca didn’t know it.

  As he got closer to the gramophone, Luca was unaware that something was watching him.

  Something wearing a diving suit and carrying a harpoon.

  A diver!

  The diver was only a few feet away when Luca suddenly turned around, saw the figure, and screamed.

  He swam away from the diver, slammed into a rock, and dropped his herding crook.

  “Boo,” the diver said, taking off his helmet. Luca was shocked to see that underneath, it was just another
sea monster—a kid who looked to be around his age. “It’s fine,” the sea monster said. “I’m not human.”

  “Oh!” Luca said, laughing nervously. “Thank goodness.”

  “Here, hold this,” the other boy said, handing the harpoon to Luca.

  “Uh…,” Luca said, uncomfortable about holding the weapon. He watched as the other boy squirmed out of the diving suit and began to pick up the human items from the seafloor, including the gramophone. “Do you…live around here?”

  “Down here? No, no, no, no, no,” said the boy. “I just came for my stuff.”

  Luca watched as the boy picked up Luca’s herding crook and swam off.

  “Hey! Wait! That’s mine!” Luca said, swimming after him. “Sir? You forgot your harpoon, and—”

  “Oh, yeah. Thanks,” the boy replied, and took the harpoon. Then he exited the water with his armful of stuff, including Luca’s herding crook.

  Luca was stunned. He couldn’t believe the boy had just left the water!

  A second later, the crook broke the surface of the water and hooked Luca. He struggled against it, but he was pulled out of the water and onto the sand!

  Luca’s hand felt weird out of the water. He looked down as it started to transform. His blue scales were disappearing! Luca screamed and flopped back toward the sea.

  “First time?” the boy asked.

  “Of course it is!” Luca shouted. “I’m a good kid!”

  “Hey,” the boy said. “Relax and breathe.”

  Luca did his best to listen. He breathed, looking around. He saw the bright sky above, and the trees and grass dotting the landscape. He had always wondered about the world above the water. Now he was finally seeing it for himself.

  “Well?” the boy asked. “Isn’t it great?”

  “Uh, no!” Luca answered. “It’s bad, and…and I’m not supposed to be up here. Good day.”

  Then Luca raced back into the water.

  The boy noticed that Luca had forgotten his herding crook. He picked it up. A moment later, Luca returned, taking the hook.

  “Thank you,” he said, and walked away.

  He came back one more time.

  “Good day,” he said politely. “Again.”

  Then Luca disappeared beneath the water.