Sun and Moon

Prologue

The night was going perfectly. The underdogs had won the Portorosso Cup. And they went to bed like normal. Luca and Alberto in the hideout, under the fish. And gulia in her room next to them.

But when morning rolled around, Luca was gone. There was no note, only a few scratch marks against the wooden fence and on the tiles. Luca had not gone without a fight.

Not only that, but Ercole had also gone missing, but nobody cared about him.

The search for Luca went on for months, with people out day and night searching for the small brunet boy. But it was like he had just disappeared. Daniela, Luca's mum, wouldn't eat or sleep for days. Her scales paled, and when in her human form, she was almost grey in colour, her cheeks hollow and eyes sunken. It took a hard toll on her. But the one who took the full force of the blow was Alberto. He was in dismay. He blamed himself for Lucas's disappearance. He couldn't believe that he disappeared from right besides him, and he didn't even wake up. And by the looks of it, Luca wasn't quiet in his kidnapping.

Alberto wouldn't sleep, going around every house in Portorosso, asking if anyone had seen or heard anything that night. A few people reported hearing the most bloodcurdling scream at around half two in the morning, but they had all dismissed it to be a restless child or they were too scared to investigate.

He became snappy and restless during the day. But the rare nights he spent in the hideout or at the house, Gulia could hear him muttering to himself or chucking things

around. Nobody stopped him. They all tried to understand what he was going through, but nobody could see the full extent of how much it was hurting him. Alberto refused to go near the sea, saying the colours reminded him too much of his best friend. This made him incredibly ill.

After around two months of this, Alberto was deathly thin and looked a mess. His hair was uncut, and he was so pale he was almost white. HE looked like death may catch him at any moment.

But after Gulia went back to school, he started to take care of himself more and got better. And six years passed. And Alberto was twenty.