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
Chapter One 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 He's either dead or you 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
