A Stars Sign

Chapter 4 - Why does it have to be so steep?

Street lights began to appear on the narrow street as the group walked closer to the town of Anacapri in the early hours of the morning. The sun yet to rise over the ocean, the town was completely empty.
"Yes, finally, we made it!" Cooper puffed slouching over to catch his breath whilst rubbing his feet in the process, as his Apple Watch pinging away.
"Could your watch be any louder Cooper, you're going to draw attention," Medika snarled.
"No way! I actually completed my step goal and swim goal all before sunrise, that's a new one for me," Cooper said, scrolling through his stats.
Medika rolled her eyes charging ahead, as they walk through the sleeping town.

Only one person was out and about on the street, the man stopped and stared at them yelling out in Italian.
Medika turned to Opal whispering, "Opal, do you know what he's saying?"
"Nope, I know little Italian, I'm not fluent," Opal laughed.
"We speak English sorry!" Medika yelled back. He quickly walked over to the group wearing a bakers apron, looking like he was about to start the working day.
"Mi dispiace, I thought you were Italian, did you just come from the beach? You are wearing life jackets? And yours is burnt?" The man questioned with a thick Italian accent pointed to Rowan's life vest covered in black scorch marks from earlier.
Rowans face turned bright red as he tried to hide behind Cooper.

Cooper nodded his head replying, "The Blue Grotto."
The man's face turned pale, "The Blue Grotto? I'm surprised you made it out alive, things happen down there."
"Wait, you know about it?" Opal commented. "Many stories of that place have been told by locals around, some are true, others not so much. It use to be a beautiful spot to swim and boat, but something has changed and no one knows why."
"Do you know Luigi by any chance?"
"Luigi? He's the a captain of a tour company right? He's a lovely young man, and looks after the locals here on the island."
"Yeah that's him! He was touring us around the island when all of a sudden a freak storm came upon our boat, we lost him out to sea."
"Oh... he'll be alright, he's the best swimmer in all of Capri, if you're ever looking for him, Luigi always docks at Marina Piccola, he gets free mooring for all the help."
"Grazie Mille sir, we'll go find him now." Opal replied.
"Prego, arrivederci!" The man waved them off with a confused expression as the group walked further in town.

Cooper stumbled over to a park bench near the bus stop, "I'm waiting here till I can catch a bus down, my poor feet!" He whined, rubbing his bare feet, the warm glow of the street light shining down on him and the lonely bench.

Medika walked over from the darkness of the street and gazed at Cooper exhausted, "I'm just wondering Cooper, how do you have the money for the bus? All our cash is back on the boat."
"You have got to be kidding me!" Copper shouted, planting his face in his hands, sulking.
"There, there Cooper, maybe you have flying powers so you can just fly off to the marina for us," Medika jokingly said as she patted his back.
Cooper sprung up from the bench, "For real, I actually could!"
"You don't want it bro, I'm afraid to get angry now," Rowan commented whilst gazing down at his hands with a sad look on his face.
"Let's not joke about this Cooper," Opal said as she put her hand on Rowan's shoulder.

Copper shook his head, "I'm going to try anyway, you can't tell me what to do Opal!" He shouted as he ran past them and with a giant leap, he jumped into the air, realizing he couldn't fly quickly falling for the cobble stone path.
"Ahh no!" He shouted as he reached his arms to the floor a big slab of cobble earth rose up out of the ground catching him midair.
"Ow!" Copper moaned pushing up from the piece of earth.
"Oh crap!" Medika exclaimed running over to help Cooper off the slab, whist Opal and Rowan weren't too far behind.
"I'm not doing that again," Cooper grumbled brushing pebbles off this chest. "Wait, I did that?" Cooper laughed in surprise.
"Yes, I don't know how but please fix it before anyone sees it!" Opal answered, frantically looking around.
"I don't know what to do?" Cooper questioned as he started to try and push the cube of earth back down.
"Get down you... thing!" He said, using all his muscle to squish it down.