A Monstrous Mistake

Chapter 4: Silenzio, Bruno!

The door that Alberto had pulled them through turned out to be the entrance to a stairwell. They followed the stairs down into the basement. After a few minutes of exploring, they found a room full of flattened cardboard boxes. 

"Okay," Alberto said as he started stacking flattened boxes. "The plan is that we sleep in here tonight, then find Francesca's door in the morning. We'll just tell Sulley that we're writing our school-thingy on doors. Then, as soon as they aren't looking, we jump through and head home." 

"Okay," Luca said, stacking his own pile of cardboard, "but I don't think it'll be that easy. Remember when those doors landed in the ports? Their lights didn't flash until they'd landed. Maybe they need to be powered by something to actually work."

"Well...maybe we can ask them to show us how it works? I'll bet Sulley's scared kids before; he looks scary enough." 

"That might work." Luca sat down on his pile of cardboard. While it sagged under his weight, it made a decent bed. "Don't take off your water pack."

Alberto, who'd begun to take it off, paused. "Why not?"

"If someone comes in here, it's going to be hard enough to explain what two sea monsters are doing in here. It'll be a lot harder to explain what two humans are doing in here."

"Silenzio, bruno. Everyone's gone home for the night. We won't get caught. Besides, I can't sleep with that thing on." He then took off his water pack and collapsed onto his cardboard bed. Luca tried to lie down with his on, but then took it off a minute later. Alberto was right; it was impossible to sleep with. Without the water packs, the boys turned human fairly quickly.

They were silent for a moment. Luca thought that Alberto had fallen asleep, and was surprised when he spoke. 

"You still awake?"

Luca rolled over to face Alberto, whose bed was on the other side of the room. "Yeah."

"You know what's funny?"

"What?"

"This is the complete opposite of what happened last summer. We're in a place full of monsters, and we have to stay wet so we don't get caught."

"Yeah, I realized that, too. I just wish that we were doing it for a Vespa and not because we're stuck here."

Alberto laughed a little. "A Vespa would be much better. I'm still going to get one, someday. One better than Ercole's. That's why I'm working as a lifeguard."

"You're a lifeguard now?"

"Massimo said it would give me something to do when we weren't fishing. Plus, if I want a Vespa for next summer, then I need all of the soldi I can get."

"Wow, I feel like I've missed a lot." He heard Alberto turn to look at him in the darkness. 

"Hey, the second we get home, we'll spend the whole summer having as much fun as we can. You still need to teach me how to ride a bike, remember?"

Luca found himself laughing in spite of the situation. He remembered how Alberto had written him about Massimo not letting him near a bike after the Portorosso Cup. Apparently Alberto's disregard for safety made the fisherman nervous. 

"The second we're back in Portorosso, I'll teach you. I promise." 

"Grazi. Let's get some sleep." Alberto rolled onto his back. In a minute he was snoring. Luca rolled onto his side. 

Alberto wasn't worried, but Luca was. True, their current situation was a lot like last summer. But at least then they'd had Giulia to help them. Now, they were basically on their own. 

Lying in the dark, listening to his best friend snoring, Luca made a decision. He would protect Alberto, no matter what it took. No matter what, he'd get him home.

---

Luca was awoken that morning by a piece of cardboard hitting him in the face. It took him a second to remember the events the previous night, and why he had been sleeping on a pile of cardboard. 

Alberto had already put his water pack back on and returned to his sea monster form. He gestured for his friend to hurry up. Luca glanced at the clock as he hooked on his water pack. It was already eight-thirty. 

The two darted up the stairs. Alberto made it up first, and paused at the door. Luca could hear voices on the other side. Monsters coming in to start the day. The boys looked at each other, nodded in sync, then exited the stairwell.

They were only in the lobby for a moment before Sulley and Mike walked in. Luca took a breath and tried to sound more confident than he felt. Because he'd actually been to school, they'd decided that he'd be the one to do most of the talking. 

"Good morning, Sulley," Luca greeted the monster.

"Hey, kids. Sorry, I don't think I got your names yesterday."

"Oh, right. I'm Luca. And this is Alberto." Alberto lifted his hand in a small greeting. "We were actually wondering if you could help us with research for our report? We're doing it on doors."

"Sure. What do you want to know?"

"Where do you...keep the doors you use?"

"The door warehouse. It's easily the biggest part of the building. Must be over a million doors in there."

"Could you show it to us?" Alberto, forgetting that Luca was supposed to be doing the talking, butted in. 

"Nope, not a chance." Mike, who'd been quiet for most of the exchange, spoke up. "It's only supposed to be employees in there."

"Come on, Mike." Sulley argued. "They just want to see it. A quick tour wouldn't hurt anything."

"Yes it could! It could hurt our chances at breaking the all-time Scare Record! We can't break that if we're caught breaking the rules!" He turned to Luca and Alberto. "Sorry kids, but no tour."

"Darn," Alberto said, his face full of utter disappointment. "There goes our report. I know it would have been way better if you'd been willing to personally show us the warehouse. I mean, you obviously know a lot about it."

Luca realized what Alberto was doing, and had to hide his grin. His friend was surprisingly good at talking people into things. Sulley seemed to realize it, too, and smirked a little. Mike, however, took the bait.

"Well," he said, clearly relenting, "good grades are important...Okay, one quick tour. But you two had better get an amazing grade on that report. And" he added, pointing to himself, "you need to give credit where credit's due, got it?"

"Yes, sir!" Alberto said. 

"Alright, follow us." Sulley began leading the way towards the door warehouse.