Luca 2: The Complete Script

Scene 14 - The Seabound Curse

(Only a little later in the day, after the soccer game, Giulia is in her bedroom, kneeling on her bed and running a finger over all the books on her bookshelf.)

Giulia: (Pausing by some of the books lower on the shelf) These must be the ones they got at the market...

(It cuts so we can see the titles of the books on their spines, which read Il Piccolo Pesce, The Book of Things to Bake, Marty Il Gatto Nello Spazio, and Mostri Del Lago. She then gets to the sea monster fairy tales book her mom sent and pauses with her finger still on its spine.)

Giulia: (Sliding it off the shelf and flipping through the pages, only to stop at one and her eyes widen as she scans it before calling out) Luca? Alberto?

(Both boys come in from opposite directions, Luca coming in from her door and Alberto from her window.)

Luca: What is it?

Giulia: This. (Pointing to the book in her hands)

(Alberto and Luca both look confused.)

Alberto: That's a book.

Giulia: (Eye roll) Obviously. But look. (Plopping it into his hands with the page still open)

Alberto: (Eyes widening) That... does sound familiar...

Luca: Can I see-?

(Alberto hands him the open book.)

Luca: The... Seabound Cuse... I think I've heard about it too...

Giulia: So why didn't you guys say something earlier-??

(Alberto and Luca both exchange a glance.)

Alberto: (Slowly, a bit sheepish) We... kinda forgot about it until now... I mean, no sea monster ever thought it was real...

Giulia: What's a Seabound Curse... like?

Luca: (Holding the book open to a picture of a human with an arrow connecting it to a sea monster) Whatever happened to you—it turns a human into a sea monster.

Giulia: So... it can be undone, right...? (When the boys both pause, a bit more urgently) Right...?

Alberto: That's the thing... In the stories about it, the land monster—sorry, human—never... undoes it. They just... live as a sea monster.

Luca: (Small voice) Forever.

Giulia: (Sitting on the edge of her bed, genuinely crestfallen) So it's... permanent?

(Luca and Alberto both give her sympathetic and nervous nods, with Luca still reading the pages.)

Giulia: That's-... (When she realizes that Alberto is looking at her with worry) Fine. It'll be fine-! I'll learn how to control it, like it says.

(She looks down at her feet for a moment, only to see them momentarily blur out into sea monster feet and she freezes before shaking her head to clear it.)

Alberto: (About to say something to her before noticing how Luca is looking more and more... confused by what he's reading) ...What?

Luca: That can't be true... H-how can...

Alberto: What's not true?

Luca: It says... the curse can't be put on a pureblood human...

Alberto: ...Meaning...?

Luca: You can't just... be any ordinary human for it to work... Someone from your family has to be from...

(The boys look at Giulia in shock as Alberto catches on.)

Giulia: From where? ...Ragazzi, what's going on-?

Luca: (Looking over at her) Giulia... someone in your family was a sea monster.

(And there's a dramatic flare in the music as the scene goes dark.)