Ercole and Luca had sailed farther away from the shore of the private beach. In Ercole's mind, Luca couldn't swim and was therefore trapped meaning he was no longer a threat to Ercole on the ocean. It made Ercole feel safe enough to put away his army knife while guiding the boat. But Luca knew better of course. In just moments, he could pretend to fall and drown into the sea, getting Ercole to think Luca was dead. After that he'd go straight to Massimo's house. He'd tell Alberto what happened, and the two of them would- Luca didn't know. What he did know is that he still wanted to be a human, but not in Portorosso. He had plans to convince Alberto to go with him to Giulia's school. Ercole wouldn't be able to reach him in Genova, right?
As the sky became darker, Ercole stopped the boat around half a mile away from the shore. He pulled out the harpoon, which was laying on the boat's floor, and stood up to look into the water. Luca knew he was expected to help Ercole, but there was no possible way he could. For one, his little village of just twenty other sea creatures was situated near the island in front of Portorosso. Luca could see the island, but it was just a speck on the dark sea. There was no possible way Ercole would catch a sea monster, unless Luca got wet. But that fear was trickling away. Unlike Massimo, Ercole didn't make the boat rock too much when he moved, and the ocean was rather calm.
"So where did you see the sea creatures?" Ercole demanded, peering into the water below him.
Luca sighed. He had already explained this too many times, but Ercole was relentless.
"I told you," Luca said. "I was lying. Alberto and I were just joking."
At the sound of Alberto's name, Ercole's face became red with anger and he turned back towards Luca. He had a fishy feeling about Alberto and Luca's relationship and he wanted to know more about it.
"You and Alberto," Ercole said, trying to initiate the conversation. "You're close, correct?"
Luca shrugged. He definitely liked Alberto, almost more than a best friend, but it was hard to put into words. That's why he missed his rose, because it did it for him.
"Yeah," Luca finally answered, being cautious not to reveal too much to Ercole.
"Good friends, perhaps?" Ercole pushed, a sneaky grin spreading across his face. Luca didn't know what Ercole was looking for in this conversation, but all he did know is that it was making him extremely uncomfortable.
"I guess," Luca said, wrapping his arms around his knees as he brought them up to his chest.
"I don't know, Piccoletto," Ercole continued, staring back into the water. "Something's fishy with you two."
Luca couldn't care less. He didn't know what Ercole was trying to point out, and Luca was too tired to think more on the subject. Besides, talking about Alberto would only make Luca miss him more. Everything about Alberto comforted Luca in every way. In fact, being wrapped in his arms at night was the happiest he had ever felt in his life. He resorted to scratching at the cut on his chest.
"And your rose," Ercole continued, sitting down and facing Luca. "Who was it for? You know Giulia isn't a very, how should I say- flowery person?"
Luca looked out into the ocean and realized they were far enough to put his plan into action. All he had to do was stand up, and-
"Who was the rose for, Piccoletto?" Ercole persisted, this time his voice dangerously low. Luca watched as he reached his hand into his pocket, and saw the handle of the knife peek out threateningly.
"It was for Alberto," Luca said, more confused than worried. Why did Ercole care?
"Wait," Ercole said. "You bought a flower for Alberto?"
Luca nodded, his breath quickly shallowing. "What's wrong with that?"
Ercole began to chuckle, which evolved into a full fit of snobby laughter. Luca darted his eyes between the ocean and Ercole, trying to find a way out of the conversation.
"Why are you laughing?" Luca finally said, trying to nudge away from Ercole. Ercole stopped and turned back up towards Luca.
"You can't buy flowers for a boy, Piccoletto!" Ercole shouted.
Luca felt his unease turn into anger at Ercole's bullying. Ercole could hurt Luca in every physical way possible (which he had), but making fun of him liking Alberto angered Luca in a different way.
"Why?" Luca finally argued, putting his legs down. "It doesn't matter if he's a boy!"
Ercole scoffed. "Yes it does! You can't be- you don't know what you're talking about! You're too young, anyways."
Luca violently shook his head, and in an act of confidence, stood up.
"I do know what I'm talking about. It doesn't matter who I buy flowers for! And Alberto would have loved it, I know he would!"
Ercole stood up too and pushed Luca back. Luca's side hit the bench of the boat and he groaned in pain as Ercole stood over him.
"I threw your stupid rose away," Ercole seethed. "Maybe I wouldn't have if you were normal."
Luca knew it was time he had to put his plan into action. He couldn't stay here any longer. Sooner or later his weakened body wouldn't be able to keep him alive for another beating. Luca was tired, and all he wanted was to be away from Ercole. But the only problem was Ercole was standing over him, and Luca couldn't get up and fall if Ercole was still there.
"What are you going to do with me?" Luca finally asked as he watched Ercole pull out his knife.
Ercole switched open the blade and held it threateningly over his head.
"What does it look like I'm going to do?" Ercole taunted, raising the knife above his head.
"No," Luca said. "I meant, what are you going to do with me after- after this?"
Ercole raised a brow and slowly lowered his knife.
"What do you mean?"
Luca could tell he had hit a weak spot in Ercole's words, and tried his best to continue with his defense.
"Are you going to keep me here forever?" Luca asked, trying to scare Ercole off of him. "What will you do when your parents come back? Will you let me go, or will you just have to kill me?"
Ercole's eyes widened at the realization of Luca's words. Ever since Ercole had kidnapped Luca, he had been asking himself the same question, but would always push it away out of fear of what the answer would be.
"I can't let you go," Ercole finally said, stepping away from Luca and sitting back down on his bench.
Luca grunted as he got back up on his own seat and stared Ercole straight in the face.
"I guess you'll have to kill me then."
Ercole looked at Luca with surprise. He never imagined Luca would ever say those words. But Ercole knew for certain that he didn't want to murder Luca.
"I'm not going to kill you," Ercole said, playing it off like a taunt.
"Then what will you do?" Luca persisted, challenging Ercole's every thought. "What happens when the summer is over? What happens when my parents come back?"
Ercole tutted. "I heard you're a runaway. Your parents would never come for you."
The words sliced through Luca like a blade, but he kept his composure and brought up his idea. This was the moment he had been waiting for.
"What if we strike a deal?" Luca asked. Ercole looked into Luca's eyes and cocked his head to the side.
"What do you mean?"
Perfect! Ercole was now questioning Luca! Maybe this plan would work after all, and he wouldn't have to sacrifice possibly revealing his identity!
"What if you let me go," Luca started. "And I wouldn't tell anyone I was with you."
Ercole seemed to ponder over the words in his head.
"You're a dirty little liar," Ercole finally said. "You'd tell."
Luca shook his head. "No, I wouldn't! If I did, they'd have to find my parents, and I'm a runaway, remember? I don't want to risk that. If you let me go, nothing would happen to either of us."
Ercole's eyes darted as he searched his mind for anything to say.
"I'm not letting you go."
Luca's heart began to beat faster. "That's not true. You have to. You can't still keep me when your parents come back. . ."
Ercole scoffed and looked up at Luca with a dangerous look.
"I just found out yesterday, Piccoletto," Ercole said. "My parents aren't coming back from Milan at the end of the summer."
Luca couldn't process what he was hearing. He felt blood pump through his temples as he felt his body tremble under the pressure of what he could potentially be facing.
"So you're not. . . You won't let me go?" Luca whispered.
Ercole scoffed. "Not for now, at least. Just be quiet, we're going to go farther into the sea."
Ercole pulled at the motor and the boat began to speed up. Now was the time. Luca had to stand up and jump as soon as possible.
Luca spread his feet apart, ready to make sure he wouldn't trip over once he fell. In an instant he stood up, and went to step closer to the edge. Just as Luca bent his knees to jump, Ercole immediately stopped the motor. From the power of the brakes, Luca was flung forward toward Ercole. Luca hit Ercole's chest head on and screamed as he felt something penetrate his thigh.
Ercole pushed him back towards the bench, sending Luca to crash on his side as his hands reached for his right leg. Ercole stood up as Luca immediately pulled his hands back, palms bright red. Luca looked up to see what happened and realized that Ercole still had his knife by his side when the brakes sent Luca flying. Luca looked back down at his now bleeding thigh and began to panic.
"Che cazzo!" Ercole screamed, not realizing what had happened. "You idiot boy! Why would you-"
Luca screamed out in pain, interrupting Ercole. His vision was blurry from tears as he tried to understand what was going on. All he knew was that his leg stung painfully, and that blood was quickly staining the bottom of the boat. Ercole still hadn't understood what happened. With his knife-free hand, he grabbed the scruff of Luca's neck and pulled him up to his feet.
"Che diavolo c'è di sbagliato con te!?" Ercole screamed, sending spit flying into Luca's face. "Don't you know better than to-"
Ercole looked down. Something had fallen on his ankles and he saw red droplets of blood beginning to sprinkle down on his shoes and the floor of the boat. Ercole instantly made the connection and looked down at his hand. His knife was still held tightly in his palm, but streams of blood were going down from the blade and into Ercole's palms.
Luca screamed more, frantically trying to wipe away the blood that hid the wound on his leg. Little dots of green sprinkled the right side of Luca's body from the splash of water Luca made when he fell. Luckily, both Luca and Ercole were both too busy with Luca's wound to realize.
"Mamma mia," Ercole said, looking between his knife and a sobbing Luca. Ercole had given Luca every possible bit of pain for the last twenty-four hours. He had punched, scratched, cut, even drugged Luca half to death but still- seeing him bleed like this was surprising to him as well.
Ercole, trying to rip his gaze away from the gore, pulled the motor to begin his trip back to shore. He couldn't let Luca bleed out. He knew that as soon Luca got better he'd suffer the consequences, but that only took up a small part of his mind. He lifted Luca over the broken bench and made him sit in the front corner of the boat. As the boat sped back through the water, Ercole looked underneath his seat and opened up the wooden wall under his bench that flapped open like a door. He pulled out a first aid kit and a lantern for fishing at night. The sun was barely visible by now, and several stars had popped out over the last few minutes.
Ercole swiftly pulled out some gauze and bandages from the first aid kit and crouched in front of Luca, trying to get access to his leg. Luca was absolutely petrified at what was happening. Sure he had gotten cuts as a kid, but he never really bled. Sometimes he'd cut himself on a rock and some darker substance would leak out of the scratch and float up, but this was something else. The blood was bright red on land, which Luca wasn't at all prepared to understand. And he had never bled this much before. He sobbed as he keeped his palms pressed up against his thigh, screaming as he tried to crawl away from Ercole.
"Let go, let go!" Luca screamed as Ercole attempted to grab Luca's wrists. "Don't touch me!
Don't touch me!"
Ercole grunted in frustration as he finally got a hold of Luca's blood soaked wrist and began to scream.
"I'm trying to help, Piccoletto!" Ercole bellowed, fighting to keep Luca's hands away from his wound. "Don't touch it, you'll just infect it!"
Ercole pushed Luca's hands out of the way and grabbed his knee, forcing Luca to straighten it. It was hard to locate the wound through all the blood, but as soon as Ercole saw it, he slammed down three layers of quaze and pressed down hard. Luca bawled at the pressure and tried to push a stronger Ercole away. Ercole was unperplexed by Luca's hands and began wrapping the bandages around Luca's thigh. As soon as he tied it off, he grabbed Luca's wrists and made Luca slam his palms over the bandages.
"Press down!" Ercole shouted over the wind as the boat approached shore. "Put pressure to stop the bleeding!"
Luca hiccuped as he pressed down, trying to stop crying. He only knew that if he annoyed Ercole further he'd pay for it.
As soon as they reached the shore, Ercole rapidly tied the boat to the dock and slid and picked Luca up. He was surprised to find that Luca was scarily lighter than before, but that only made it easier for him to take him up the hill. Ercole had one arm wrapped around Luca's chest, which was enough to keep Luca off of his feet. The other hand was holding Luca up by his waist, so he was almost horizontal to the ground. Half of the reason Ercole carried him this way was to make sure Luca didn't get away. The other half was because Luca's weight seriously surprised Ercole and he would feel too guilty to make Luca walk after stabbing him.
Luca was obviously having a horrible time as Ercole carried him back to the house. He was trying so hard not to cry that pressure had built up in his chest which would explode out of Luca through chokes and hiccups. In Luca's mind, he was being taken back to Ercole's home to be finished off, which forced him to struggle as much as he could against Ercole's grip.
Luca kicked, and pulled, and even tried to scratch Ercole's arms as they got further up the hill. Ercole knew what Luca was trying to do, but he thought it was pathetic. Luca, who had been physically beaten to his core, was still trying to fight back. Ercole was surprised Luca had this much strength for someone so small and weak.
"Stop fighting!" Ercole finally said, brushing Luca's hands away from his arm. "You're already weak enough as it is, Piccoletto."
"Argh!" Luca screamed as Ercole jumped up a bit to better hold Luca. The weight had been pushed down onto Luca's thigh. "Stop calling me that!"
Ercole grunted, trying to keep the wiggling boy in line. He couldn't care less what Luca wanted. All he was focused on now was stopping Luca's bleeding. The bandages hadn't done the best job, and blood trickled down Luca's thigh onto Ercole's.
Finally, Ercole had reached his house, and he struggled to carry Luca as he dug for the keys to the cellar through his back pocket. He finally found them and brought Luca down the steps and opened the cellar door. Ercole walked to the center of the room and tried to set Luca down. He didn't think he'd need to close the door behind him seeing as Luca was bleeding out, but he again underestimated the smaller boy. As soon as Luca had both his feet on the ground, he lunged forward. His injury stopped him from going far and he dropped to his knees as his hand was outstretched for the open door.
Ercole ran around him and slammed the door shut, blocking twilight from Luca's view as he locked it with the keys.
"Let go!" Luca urged, fighting against Ercole who was dragging him back towards the wall.
Ercole panted as he pulled Luca away. "Quit fighting, Piccoletto, before you hurt yourself again!"
"Don't CALL ME THAT!" Luca shrieked, flinging his arms.
Ercole rolled his eyes, more annoyed than worried now. He began removing the bandages and wiped at the blood with some dry gauze left over from the boat. As soon as enough blood was wiped away, Ercole and Luca could inspect the wound.
It was about an inch long, and deeper than the eye could see. Luca's thigh, hands, and leg were drenched with dry blood that formed crackling streams that easily broke off. Luca was surprised at how quickly blood dries.
Luca took a sharp intake of breath as Ercole brushed his fingers near the wound and tried to understand what to do next.
"Please don't touch me," Luca said, rather quietly as he took another sniff.
"What, you want me to just let this be?" Ercole asked sarcastically. "You just want to let it mend on its own? Pfft."
Luca perked up. "That can happen?"
Ercole let out a snort. "Of course not, Piccoletto! Ha! Imagine that, you're a funny boy."
Luca pushed Ercole's hand away from his leg and brought his knees up to his chest. Ercole shouted out since the movement caused more blood to seep out of the wound, but Luca didn't care. He was already drenched anyway. All he'd have to do is take a ba-
Luca gasped at this realization. His eyes widened and if he had ever felt the most panic in his lifetime, it was now. All it took was one action on Ercole's part and everything would be ruined.
Everything.