Piccoletto

His Secret Revealed

Alberto and Giulia had barely made it up halfway up the hill, painfully pushing the vespa before they heard a screeched meow from behind them. As soon as Giulia heard the noise, she picked her head up and looked out towards the sunset of the ocean. Something sounded familiar. Alberto felt the weight of the entire vespa lean onto him as Giulia let go to turn around.

"Hey! What are you-?"

"Machiavelli!" Giulia shouted, her face paling. "What are you- ? Alberto, quick!"

Alberto watched as Giulia ran to the other side of the vespa and began pushing the vespa towards the vegetation on the left.

"What's going on?" Alberto asked, following her lead and pushing the vespa into some bushes. "Why are you- ?"

As he spoke, Alberto turned around and was hit with the image of a fat, black and white cat walking up the hill. Massimo's cat. Giulia took his forearm and dragged him to the center of the path, abandoning the vespa behind. Alberto realized what Giulia had known ahead of him. Wherever Machiavelli was, Massimo was there too.

Massimo turned from the corner of the hill, revealing himself in the setting sun. Alberto barely got a glimpse, as Giulia immediately shoved him further up the hill with a panicked face.

"Go!" Giulia whispered, shoving Alberto away. "Go get Luca! I'll-"

"Giulia, Alberto!" Massimo shouted, finally fully showing himself as he turned the corner. He had his usual calm stance as he bent down to let Machiavelli hop onto his shoulder. Giulia cursed under her breath as she realized they were both caught and began walking down the hill. Alberto had no choice but to follow suit.

"I'm sorry, Papa," Giulia said as she approached the surly man. "We justs got ahead and wanted to keep training to-"

"Giulietta," Massimo said, a little more sternly. "I thought I said I wanted you for dinner early."

Giulia's face fell and she nodded. "I understand. I'm sorry, I just-"

"And Alberto," Massimo said, interrupting his daughter. "I think it's important that we have a word."

Alberto's face turned red as he slowly trudged down the hill. He looked up at Massimo, but couldn't see past his bushy eyebrows. Massimo put a hand on his shoulder and began walking the two down the hill, back home.

The walk was painfully silent. But Alberto couldn't care less. There were so many things running through his mind. Luca was still with Ercole, who could find out he's a sea creature. Luca's parents had said earlier that morning they were coming to town today to look for Luca. Massimo wanted to talk to Alberto, too. What did he want? Was he going to kick Alberto out? Too many things were set up to go wrong. If Massimo wanted Alberto out of the house, what would he do? What if Luca's parents wandered the village only to find out their son went missing? Because of Alberto?

"It seems you two have a lot on your minds," Massimo said as they approached the house. "You can tell me about it over dinner."

Giulia led everyone to the kitchen, to see that some fish and mashed potatoes were set up on plates, cooler than they should be. Machiavelli jumped off of Massimo's shoulder and went to the corner of the room for his meal. Alberto felt a surge of guilt as he sat down to eat.

"Mangiamo," Massimo said quietly as he took a fork full of mashed potatoes. Alberto and Giulia exchanged glances before slowly going to eat their meal. Alberto's mind began racing as he was figuring out a plan for tonight. He'd go alone. He'd go up the hill to Ercole's house and- he didn't know what then. But reaching Luca would be enough, right?

"So what have you two done today?" Massimo said, trying to initiate conversation. He was well aware that his lighthearted tone wasn't very convincing.