Hurricane - Book 2

Chapter 3

TW in the description - please take care to read it, especially for this chapter

Thank you to skyellux_ for the art!

Giulia POV

Three months. It had been three months since the attack. Three months since she lost her brother and Luca to the mercenary raids. But it felt like much longer. Everday the house grew quieter - more empty. Now, even Machiavelli the cat was gone.

Giulia set a handful of white field flowers over the grave her dad had dug in the backyard. Machiavelli was old and had lived a long life. She only wished that she could hear him yowl at Luca one more time. Mattias put a gentle hand on her shoulder.

"He was a good old cat." He said, adding more flowers to the pile. Those would be the last wildflowers they saw until next spring. A chilling wind blew in the air, announcing winter's arrival.

"Yeah. He was." Giulia said, turning back to the house. She did a lot of that these days. Sit around the house. The Pescheria on the first floor was closed. The fishing season was over - but that wasn't the reason her father boarded up the windows.

The Portorosso she knew and loved was gone. Every since the raid, men wearing black vests began showing up. They all claimed to be representatives of the Visconti family. But that wasn't even the worst part.

After a large group of them stormed into the city hall, stories of "Sea Monster Attacks" and "Monsters Living Among Us" began filling the papers. Everyone in Portorosso knew these stories were lies. They were made up fabrications to justify capturing or killing the Sireni. Sea Monsters had become public enemy number one.

Walking down the streets wasn't safe anymore. Not for anyone. Before entering any buildings, men in black vests would spray you with ice-cold water. Everyone was regularly checked to be a Sireni. And if you were caught helping any Sireni escape - you disappeared. Giulia didn't know where those people went, only that they were gone.

The night of the raid, hundreds of Sireni had lost their lives. Not just on the surface but in the underwater village as well. The next day she and her father witnessed massive ships hovering above the village, pulling up nets and traps.

If any Sireni did manage to survive, they were long gone. Portorosso was no longer safe.

"I need to get some coffee for Papa," Giulia said to Mattias one evening as the sun disappeared over the horizon. The doctor had taken to spending all of his free time with Giulia. She appreciated his company. But any previous flirtations that happened between them were gone. There was simply too much pain to allow for any other feelings right now.

"I'll go with you." He said, following her out the door. She wrapped a red scarf around her neck and put on an oversized brown leather jacket. The scarf was Luca's, and the jacket was Alberto's. Well... they used to belong to them. They were Giulia's now.

She stepped into the frigid air and made her way to the coffee shop across the square.

"You there, stop!" Two men wearing the dreaded vests approached them. Giulia glared at them hatefully.

"It is past curfew; you're not allowed outside." He said, reminding them of the New Laws of Portorosso.

"I have exactly thirteen minutes before I break curfew." Giulia snapped. "And I would already be home if you weren't here wasting my time."

The man sneered, raising the metal pipe in his hand threateningly. It was attached to a small plastic jug on his back. It was, for all intents and purposes, a very powerful pressure washer. If anyone was caught after hours, they got hit with water coming out so fast it left bruises on your skin. Giulia's poor neighbor had lost an eye the previous week.