Fifth Chapter
Facing something monstrous
The following morning, Elio was woken up by a ray of sun coming from the skylight. Gaia, on the other hand, had already got up. The attic, which had been tidied up and put in order, became more welcoming; a space one could take as shelter.
When illuminated by the daylight, the attic did not look as disturbing as the day before. It almost felt impossible that he had got scared so much. He decided to stay in bed and look at the sky, but he soon heard his aunt call him. He was hoping she would not have in mind new task for him. Instead, it was Ercole that assigned a new responsibility to him by placing a straw hat on his head as he was going into the kitchen. Then, he said:
"Eat up your breakfast and then we'll go fishing."
Ercole had already
