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Scary Monsters

@dysphoria-sweatshirt @30spiders @sweatersexual @angrylittlesliceofpizza @writer652

Part 1/? - Rocco’s Closet

Part 2/? - School for Monsters

Part 3/? - The Waternoose Family

Part 4/? - The Terrifying Humans

Part 5/? - Hiding Places

Part 6/? - Nobody’s Fault

Part 7/? - Edge of Disaster

Part 8/? - Caged Monsters

Part 9/? - The Journey Home

Part 10/? - Portorosso

Part 11/? - A New Family

Part 12/? - More Obstacles

The rest of the day passed far too slowly. The kids finished their grape-picking and presented the results to Signora Visconti. She was delighted and effusive in her praise of their hard work, and gave them an extra bottle of wine, along with their pay, to take back to the Pescheria. Once they reached home, they gathered up the things they thought they'd need to capture Harry and then re-enter the Monster World - and after that, there was nothing to be done but wait.

Waiting with nothing to fill the time was always terrible, and this seemed worse than usual. Luca, Alberto, and Giulia sat in the yard behind the shop and played card games while the hours ticked by, slower and slower and slower. Luca at one point went in to check the time, thinking it must be suppertime by now, but found it was only half five. He returned to the table with his shoulders slumped, feeling like he was going to curl up in a ball and cry.

Then, just to make things even worse, his parents arrived.

Helena opened the gate for them, and Daniela and Lorenzo walked in with very serious expressions on their faces. Luca knew he couldn't groan out loud, but he certainly did inwardly.

"Luca," Daniela said. "Your father and I have been talking."

Luca felt sick to his stomach. "I have to do this!" he protested.

"Honey." Daniela reached to touch his cheek, but he twitched away. "Please just listen to us."

Luca scowled, but he sat down on the picnic table bench. He hardly needed to listen, he thought. He knew exactly what was coming next.

Daniela pulled another chair over to sit facing him. Lorenzo stood behind her with one supportive hand on her shoulder.

"Luca," Daniela repeated. "We know you want to help. You're very brave, and very responsible, and we are so proud of you. But from what you've said, this world sounds incredibly dangerous, ten times more dangerous than the land, and it really seems like Louise, Curtis, and Mr. Sullivan all decided themselves that they were going to take this risk."

"Sullivan didn't," said Luca. "He was just there, and he had to help because he was in trouble anyway!"

"We've already planned everything and earned all the money," Alberto pointed out.

"And Harry needs to go back to the Monster World," Giulia agreed. "We can't quit now!"

"See? They're going to help, and if you come with me we'll have a grownup and everything," Luca said. "I can't just sit at home when I don't know what's happening to them."

"From your description of these monsters..." Daniela began.

"You're scarier than any of them!" Alberto interrupted.

"You really are!" Luca said. "Even Mr. Waternoose wouldn't want to fight you!"

"I don't plan on fighting anybody," Daniela told them. "I'm sorry, Luca, I hate having to put my foot down like this, and I definitely don't want you to believe we're punishing you because we are definitely not. But the longer we think about this, the more sure we are that we have to say no. We can't let you. I'm sorry."

She wasn't angry, but she was firm, and Luca knew in his gut that was it. He hung his head.

"What about Harry?" Giulia asked. "We promised Ercole we'd get rid of him."

"Ercole will just have to get used to him," said Daniela. "That isn't your problem, either. You can't save the whole world all by yourself, Luca," she added, to her son.

Luca's shoulders sagged further. "Dad..." he began.

"Sorry, son, but I have to agree with your mother on this," said Lorenzo. He came and put an arm around Luca's shoulders, and helped him to stand up. "Let's head home."

There was no arguing with that. Luca kept his head down, and did not speak as his parents led him out of the yard and down the steps to the water. Alberto and Giulia, too, sat in silence as Helena closed the gate behind them.

"I'm sorry," she said to the children. "I know you were all eager to do this, but... I think the Paguros are probably right. Do you want me to stay a few more days, Passerota?" she asked her daughter. "I don't have to go back tonight."

"No, that's fine," said Giulia. "Not if you don't want to."

Helena brushed Giulia's hair back to kiss her forehead, and then went indoors.

For a few minutes, Alberto and Giulia sat there in silence. Alberto leaned his head back, looking at the first few stars winking into view above. To be honest, he didn't like the idea of going back to the Monster World very much earlier. Nobody there had liked them, it was much harder to stay wet there than it was to stay dry in Portorosso, and the food hadn't been very good. They'd barely escaped the first time and there was no guarantee they'd be able to do it again. But as he'd pointed out, they'd made that whole plan and earned all that money - and more importantly, Luca really really wanted to.

Alberto himself wanted a lot of things, like a Vespa and comic books and a bell for his bicycle, but if he didn't get something right away he usually lost interest in a couple of weeks and moved on to something else. Luca was different. When Luca wanted something, he wanted it with every cell in his body and he didn't get to distracted. Alberto had come to realize that if Luca hadn't been allowed to go to school in Genova, he would have spent the entire winter moping about it, and now he was going to do the same about this.

"Right, then." Alberto stood and rolled up his sleeves. "We need a new plan."

"New plan for what?" asked Giulia morosely, leaning on her knees. She was contemplating a summer with both Ercole and Harry doing their best to make her miserable. She wasn't sure if they'd cooperate or if they'd make it a competition and she couldn't decide which would be worse.

"For how we're gonna kidnap Luca after we kidnap Harry," said Alberto.

Giulia sat up, brightening momentarily, but then she frowned again. "His mom will kill us."

"She'll have to wait until we get back from Monster World," Alberto said. "Come on. What would you have done if Luca's parents had said he wasn't allowed to go to school with you?"

"I'd've been down about it," Giulia replied, "but I wouldn't have done anything."

"Well, I would," Alberto declared. "I would have take him there on our Vespa myself. Are you gonna help, or not?"

Giulia got to her feet. She, too, knew that when Luca wanted something he wanted it intensely, and this was clearly something that meant a lot to him. "I'm coming," she decided.

"Great!" Alberto nodded. "I've already got an idea."

She snickered. "Uh-oh."

Twenty minutes later, the two of them were standing outside the Visconti house, throwing pebbles at a particular bedroom window. After a couple of hits, the window opened, and Harry looked down at them.

"I'm not leaving," he informed them, and started to close the shutters again.

"Wait!" Giulia said. "We need your help!"

Harry hesitated, then leaned out again. "With what?"

"You know how Luca wants to go back and help Louise?" Alberto said. "His parents dont' want to let him do it. They're keeping him at home, so we need to help him escape."

"That means we need a boat," Giulia added, "but my dad will definitely notice if we take his. Ercole's got one. Can you guys help us?"

"If you do," Alberto said, "we'll owe you a favour, big time."

That was something Harry understood. "What kind of favour?"

"Whatever you need," said Giulia. "We're desperate!" She crossed her fingers behind her back.

"Let me see if my new brother is still awake," Harry said.

Ercole had been expecting them, but not for Harry to be the one letting him know they'd arrived. He was in his pajamas with his hair mussed as if he'd already been in bed, and yawning as Harry dragged him out the back door to meet their guests. His expression was suspicious. This wasn't the original plan, and for a moment Giulia was afraid he was about to ask why they hadn't brought the net with them and how they were planning on kidnapping Harry without it.

Luckily, he was smarter than that. Ercole's first question was, "where did the other one go?"

"That's why we're here," said Alberto, and explained the situation.

Ercole listened with crossed arms and an annoyed expression, not sure why any of this was his problem. He jabbed a thumb in the direction of Harry.

"What about him?" he asked.

"We need a lookout," said Giulia innocently. She gave a quick wink.

Ercole must have understood. "Right, right," he said. "Let me get some real clothes on."

"We'll wait," Giulia promised.

"My new mom has called a tailor all the way from La Spezia to make me new clothes," said Harry proudly. "She told him it's a very special job."

"It's the same fellow she gets to make little jackets for her dogs," Ercole said, and went back indoors to change.

He returned a few minutes later, still running a comb through his hair, now carefully oiled into place. Alberto and Giulia urged him and Harry to stay quiet as they made their way back down to the piazza. There, a bit more caution was necessary - even aside from the whole kidnapping plot, it was too late in the evening for young people to be wandering around unaccompanied, and anybody who saw them was likely to insist they go straight home. They kept to the shadows as they crept out onto the pier and climbed into Ercole's boat.

Ercole went to start the motor, but Alberto put out an oar to block him.

"Too loud," Giulia said, shaking her head.

"Are you suggesting we paddle the entire way?" Ercole asked.

"No." She rolled her eyes. "Just far enough that nobody will hear the noise."

"Well, I'm not paddling." Ercole crossed his arms and stuck his large nose up in the air.

"Neither am I," said Harry, mimicking the gesture.

"You two wouldn't be any good at it anyway, with your noodly arms," Alberto sneered.

Ercole's eyes narrowed. "Are you calling me weak?"

"Yes," said Alberto.

"He sure is," said Harry, happy to cause chaos.

"I row the boat all the time for Massimo," Alberto said. "I'll get us there way faster than somebody who never even carries anything heavier than a basket of grapes."

"All right." Ercole reached for the oar. "Give me that."

"I thought you didn't want to." Alberto held it away.

"I said give it to me!"

"Basta, both of you!" hissed Giulia, brandishing her own oar threateningly. "You're going to make noise and then we'll get caught!" She sat down and put the oar in the lock. "Somebody better help me or we'll just go in circles."

Ercole snatched the oar from Alberto and sat down beside her. "I'm bigger than you," he told Alberto. "I can pull a stroke further." He turned around to start doing so.

Alberto smiled and sat back, hands behind his head.

They rowed out of the harbour into the gathering dark, and once they'd made it to where Giulia thought they'd be safe, she lit a lantern and let Ercole start the motor. Alberto pointed him in the direction of Luca's house. They rumbled off.

"You know, this is how Il Papa got Michelangelo to paint La Capella Sistina," Giulia told the boys. "He asked and asked and Michelangelo wouldn't do it, so the Popel said, fine, I hear you're no good at fresco anyway. Then Michelangelo had to do it, just to show him up."

"See?" Ercole asked Alberto. "It is a mark of greatness."

Alberto sneered at him, then sat up and pointed at the bottom of the boat. "Here! Right here! Stop here!"

Ercole turned the motor off and threw the anchor over. The boat came quickly to the end of the chain and dragged it a couple of metres, then began drifting in a circle over where the weight had landed. Giulia took charge.

"Okay, ragazzi," she said, cracking her knuckles. "Ercole, you get ready to start the engine and go the moment we're ready. Harry, you watch out for other boats. I'll look after Alberto." She turned to her foster-brother. "Go get Luca!"

"This was my plan," Alberto reminded her. "I know what I'm doing." He took his hat off and dived into the dark sea.

Giulia watched him vanish into the water, and kept a grip on the anchor chain, ready to pull it up fast. Hopefully they could get this done in a hurry, before Harry realized that they didn't really need both him and Ercole for the task. Ercole's hand was on the motor, ready to start it, and Harry himself peered towards the town, waiting and watching.

Alberto knew where Luca's house was. Sea monsters had an innate sense of the right direction to get to anywhere they'd been before - Luca and Giulia thought it had something to do with the earth being a giant magnet, but Alberto didn't care as long as it told him which way to swim. He soon saw the gentle pink glow of the bioluminescent jellyfish the sea monsters used to light their homes, and headed towards it.

He went around behind the barn so as not to disturb the goatfish, which might make a racket if they thought a predator was close. From there he darted to the base of the little tower where the family stored crops and tools, and rounded it to the place where it joined the body of the house. There was Luca's bedroom window. Alberto pulled himself up to the sill, and peered in.

Luca wasn't there.

Alberto's heart beat a little faster. Time, in the human sense of hours and schedules, was a concept he still had some trouble with but he knew they didn't have much of it. If they didn't make it to the last train to Genova tonight, they would have to go home, and then they'd be caught and everything would be ruined. He glanced back at the boat bobbing on the surface, silhouetted against the moonlit sky, then slithered in through the window like an eel.

Once inside, he could hear the voices. People in the next room were having an argument.

"We've been through this, Luca!" Daniela was saying. "The answer is no!"

"It doesn't sound like a safe place for children," Lorenzo agreed, resolute.

"Fine," said Luca, "but can I at least sleep in my own room, then?"

"No," said Daniela.

"You don't trust me!" Luca complained.

"Not when you're obviously trying to sneak away again, no, we don't!" Daniela informed him.

Luca didn't reply, and Alberto knew why - he couldn't argue with that. He'd slipped out of the house to run away to Portorosso last summer, and now he was planning on doing it again. Alberto wouldn't be able to do anything if Luca was forced to sleep in his parents' room, so he had to do something now.

He slipped back out the window and backed off a little ways. It was important that he be out of breath when he arrived .

Alberto aimed himself at the door, and swam as hard as he could. He came bursting in, trailing a current that knocked things off shelves and startled Lorenzo Paguro's show crabs, which began running around in a panic. Alberto himself tried to stop but plowed right into Daniela, who shrieked in surprise and dismay as they both crashed against the kitchen wall, knocking down the bundles of herbs she had tied to the ceiling.

"Alberto!" she exclaimed. "What under the waves..."

Alberto extracted himself from the tangle of limbs, tails, and seaweed, panting. His heart was hammering, not only because of the exertion but because of what he now needed to do. This wouldn't be the first time he'd lied and there was no way it would be the last, but it was going to have to be the greatest performance of his life. "Luca!" he called out. "Giulia's hurt!"

"What?" Luca asked. He grabbed Alberto's arm to pull him out of the mess.

"What?" echoed Daniela, gathering up the drifting herbs. "What happened?"

"We were up in the treehouse after you left, and one of the boards broke and she fell!" Alberto panted, hanging on tight to Luca's shirt. "Massimo's called the doctor and everything, come on!" He swam for the door, dragging his friend behind him.

"My crabs!" Lorenzo exclaimed, trying to herd them up.

"Wait for me!" Daniela protested as the boys fled. For a moment Alberto's stomach sank, thinking she would be right behind them, but then she yelped in pain as one of the crabs grabbed her tail fin. "Lorenzo! Control your crustaceans!"

"I'm trying!"

"Swim for your life!" Alberto whispered to Luca. He dashed ahead to tug the anchor chain, signalling to Giulia to reel it in before Luca's parents could see it. Seconds later, he burst out of the water with a splash that soaked both Ercole and Harry, and set the boat rocking violently as he landed inside.

"Porca paletta! Was that necessary?" asked Ercole, grabbing a mirror to check his hair.

Alberto didn't even bother to answer. He reached in the water to pull Luca up after him.

"Start the motor!" Giulia said. "Start the motor!" But Ercole was still looking at his reflection. Giulia pushed him out of the way and yanked on the chain herself.

The motor stalled.

"Come on! Come on!" Alberto urged. If Luca's parents caught up they were never going to get away.

On the second try, the motor coughed to like. Ercole snatched the throttle back from Giulia and turned them towards their agreed getaway location on shore. This was not the harbour where they'd come from, but another little quay directly below the train station. The boat sped along, skipping in and out of the water as it went.

Luca was only just starting to catch his breath. "Thanks, guys," he panted.

"Hey, I helped you run away from home once," said Alberto with a dismissive wave. "What's one more time?"

"It was my idea!" said Harry.

They pulled the boat up below the train station, and Luca, Alberto, and Giulia climbed out. Giulia counted the money to make sure they had all of it, and then the three of them turned to face Ercole and Harry.

"Thank you, Ercole," said Giulia, as if the words tasted bad.

"You might not be totally terrible," Alberto agreed, equally grudging.

Ercole sniffed - and then it was time. "Oh," he said, "I almost forgot." And he reached under the boat's seat and pulled out a net to throw over Harry. Alberto and Giulia jumped on him to tie him up. Harry yelped and struggled, but his many legs quickly got tangled, and Alberto stuffed a gag in his mouth. Ercole pulled out the second item he'd stashed in the boat ahead of time, a suitcase, and they stuffed Harry insite.

"So we are even, then," said Ercole cautiously, as the kids zipped the suitcase closed around the struggling monster. "I helped you kidnap Luca, you take that little bug away, and nobody owes anybody else anything, ever."

"Correct," said Giulia. "Nobody is allowed to call this in as a favour later. You two are our witnesses," she told the boys.

Luca and Alberto nodded seriously.

Ercole extended a hand. Giulia shook it.

"Now we go back to hating each other, Spewlia," said Ercole.

"Correto, Catfish."

Ercole started the engine and puttered off again, and Giulia and the boys set to work dragging the suitcase up the stairs. Harry was heavier than he looked and had to be tugged up each step individually, making a muffled yelp of protest with each bounce. The kids ignored this as best they could, and hoped the gag would hold. If he worked it free enough to shout, they would have a real problem.

At the top, they approached the ticket office. Alberto, the tallest, strutted up to the window and flashed a confident grin as he presented the man with their money. "Three children for Genova!" he said.

The clerk peered over his half-moon glasses at them. "Are you three travelling alone?"

"Yes," said Alberto.

The clerk was clearly skeptical. "Where are your parents?"

"They said we're old enough to do this ourselves," Alberto replied. Behind him, Luca and Giulia nodded eagerly.

"Do you mind if I call them?" the clerk asked. Like almost everybody else in Portorosso, he knew that Luca, Alberto, and Giulia were a unit - and that while well-meaning, they were good at getting into trouble.

"You know there's no phone at the Pescheria," Alberto told him.

"Don't worry. I'm right here," said Helena Marcovaldo.

The kids spun around. She'd been sitting in the waiting room with her own small bag, and they, intent on their own mission, had entirely missed her. The kids grouped closer together, but they knew it was no good. They were caught now and would be dragged back home. Luca would have to face the wrath of his parents, and heaven knew what everyone would think when they found out Harry was in the suitcase.

Helena came closer and leaned in to talk to them. "Did your parents change their minds, Luca?" she asked quietly.

"Yes," he whispered, but could not meet her eyes while he did so.

"I thought so," said Helena with a resigned nod. "This is extremely important to you, isn't it?"

"Yeah," Luca repeated.

Helena straightened up. "They're with me," she told the clerk. "They wanted to pay their own way, but if it's a problem, I'm here."

"It's no problem," the clerk said, relieved. "I just wanted to be sure they weren't up to any mischief." He took the money, and handed each of them a ticket. "Have a pleasant trip."

Luca breathed such a sigh that Alberto and Giulia grabbed his arms, afraid he would pass out from sheer relief.

The train pulled up a few minutes later, and the four of them boarded. Helena's suitcase went in the luggage rack above the window, and Harry's was pushed neatly under the seats. It thumped against the floorboards a couple of times as he struggled inside, earning a strange look from the conductor until Alberto started swinging his legs as if kicking in boredom. That seemed to be enough of an explanation, and the man moved on.

"I don't suppose your mother is ever going to forgive me," Helena remarked.

"Probably not," Luca agreed. "She's probably never going to forgive me, either. Maybe they'll even send me to the Deep after all." He shivered.

"You don't have to come if you don't want to," Giulia said.

"No, I gotta do this," Luca replied, determined. "Even if I do end up in the Deep. It's not fair to Louise. She got in so much trouble trying to help us."

"You know, a lot of things aren't fair," Helena told Luca.

"That's what Mom says," Luca said. "I say it's not fair and she goes, the world isn't fair, Luca. But just because the world's not fair doesn't mean I have to be."

Helena chuckled. "Your mother's lucky you're so quiet, Luca. If you wanted to be rebellious you'd be an absolute terror."

The train they'd caught had been the last to leave Portorosso that day, and it was very dark by the time they arrived, yawning, in Genova. There was no chance of sneaking into the museum tonight - their plan required them to start in daylight. Instead, they collected their things and went back to Helena's apartment

At some point during the train ride, Harry's suitcase had stopped twitching, as if the prisoner inside had fallen asleep. Luca was slightly worried that he might have suffocated, but when they dragged him down the steps to the platform, the bumping woke him up, and he began to make noise again. They hurried home and unzipped the suitcase on Helena's kitchen floor.

Immediately, Harry spat the gag out, and began yelling.

"This is unacceptable!" he declared. "When my father he... I mean, when my new mom hears about this... when either of them hears about this! They're gonna..."

"We don't care," said Alberto.

"You will care!" vowed Harry. "My father with ruin your lives! You'll never have work anywhere in Monstropolis! You'll never work anywhere! He'll buy that stupid fish shop out from under you and shut it down!"

"We don't live in Monstropolis," said Giulia.

"And Massimo wouldn't sell the Pescheria no matter how much money you gave him," Alberto said.

Harry sputtered and looked around for the nearest adult to back him up. "Are you condoning this behaviour?" he demanded of Helena.

"Apparently I am," she said. "If I weren't, I would have gotten them off the train or called their parents. Which reminds me." She looked at Giulia. "You, young lady, are not going through any closet doors. Luca and Alberto can hide in that world. You can't."

"I know, Mom," said Giulia.

"You can't stop her from coming! Not after you helped me and Luca!" Alberto protested.

"No, Mamma's right," Giulia told him. "Anyway, I gotta go back to Portorosso and find another kid with a monster in his closet, so we can give you a quick way back home. We'll catch the monster and prop the door open." She looked proud of this plan.

"Thanks, Giulia," said Luca. "That's a great idea."

"If I'm going to be a hostage, can I at least have something to eat?" Harry asked, annoyed.

"I think we all need a snack and a good night's sleep," Helena said. "Let's see what we've got."

She made them all sandwiches and cocoa, and then got out extra bedding so that Harry and Alberto would have places to sleep.

"I don't want to hear anybody screaming in the middle of the night," she added. "We don't need any more chaos. That goes for all little monsters, including the human ones." Helena looked straight at her daughter.

"Yes, Mamma," said Giulia dutifully.

"Si, Signora Marcovaldo," Luca and Alberto chorused.

Harry said nothing.

There was very little conversation as they settled down for bed. There was an unspoken agreement among Giulia and the boys that they would all lie down and shut their eyes right away, because they knew Harry would try something the moment he thought they were asleep. They wanted to catch him in the act.

Sure enough, the lights had been out only about twenty minutes when they heard the floorboards creek. Giulia reached over and turned on a lamp, and all three sat up to see Harry creeping towards the door.

"I am going to the bathroom," Harry said indignanly.

"We'd better show you where it is," Giulia said.

"I've been here before," Harry reminded her.

"Just in case," she said, glaring at him. Harry glared back with all five eyes.

Since Giulia was a girl, it was Luca and Alberto who had to get up and stumble down the hall with Harry to the bathroom. He shut and locked the door, and they waited outside through the sound of running water, followed by a series of thumps and mutterings.

"Is there a window in there?" asked Alberto.

"Yeah." Luca rubbed his eyes. "It doesn't open, though. The lock's been stuck for years."

Alberto nodded.

A few more minutes went by, then Harry opened the door again, annoyed but defeated. He did not speak to Luca or Alberto as they escorted him back to bed.

There was relative quiet after that. The three kids did their best to stay at least partially awake, one ear always listening for anything suspicious. They were all tired, though, and eventually they dropped off one by one. Alberto was first, and started snoring. Giulia pulled a pillow over her head to block him out, and was asleep shortly thereafter. Luca tried the hardest to keep his eyes open, but at last he, too, had to close them.

All three were abruptly awakened by the sound of shattering glass.

They sat up, blinking in the darkness. The kitchen clocked chimed for three in the morning, and floorboards creaked in the hall.

"Is everybody okay?" Helena asked, cracking the bedroom door open.

Giulia felt around for the lamp and turned it on, and looked around the room. Luca was in the other bed, rubbing his eyes. Alberto was sitting on the mattress they'd put on the floor for him. Harry was nowhere to be seen.

Suddenly wide awake, Giulia scrambled out of bed and past her mother to try the bathroom door. The boys, who'd come to the same conclusion a split second later, were right behind her, and all three cried out in dismay when they found the door was locked.

"Harry!" Giulia banged on it. "What are you doing?"

There was no reply. Giulia rattled the knob.

"Calm down. Here's the key." Helena reached up to take it down from the ledge above the door frame. She got it open, and the kids crowded around her to see what was going on in the bathroom.

The room was empty. The lights were out. The window was broken.

#dun dun duuuuun #i bet he'll be back in a few hours with his metaphorical tail between his several sets of legs #good luck getting back to portorosso on your own harry #fic rec

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