The best thing for all the sailors, according to Wiliam, was to assume that the abnormal attitudes were only due to stress and would not be related to the attack of the sirens.

"And what kind of sea beast is this worm?" Ricardo asked a little calmer, knowing that he had not helped kill a poor girl.

"It's not a sea beast..." The captain answered, seeking to lengthen the conversation with Ricardo to find clues about the cabin boy's mental state.

"If it's not a sea beast, what is this thing?" Ricardo asked with certain doubts.

"It's a 'tritoid' or humanoid type creature, whatever you want to call them" Wiliam replied, making other drinks, pretending not to look for anything from the conversation

"So that shit worm has the same status as a human?" Lucas asked, stunned, he couldn't understand how a worm the size of a finger could be put in the same classification as him.

"The same, no..." Commented the captain for Ricardo's fortune.

"A higher status ..." he added after the pause to Ricardo's misfortune

But before Ricardo could comment, Wiliam abruptly interrupted him saying:

"At first, the worm wasn't lying when he said she was Adrienne Vólkova, but the girl was just his 'shell'"

"The real Adrienne, is that worm eating the brains of her dead 'shell'"

The captain looked at Ricardo who was still half stunned, but he did not present any anomaly as Dima had told him, layers the old man had exaggerated a little he thought.

"And why does this worm have a higher status than a human?" Ricardo asked that damaged his pride.

"Boy, how much do you know about the 'Lupins' or commonly called 'friend of the sea'?" the captain asked.

"Is that a Lupin? My dad introduced me to a couple of Lupins, who lived on our island, and they were two old men" Ricardo commented with a lot of doubt.

"Those were the shells of his, boy," Wiliam commented on the basic deduction.

"But more importantly, do you remember if he said anything to you, the governor, about the Lupins?" the captain asked.

"They bring good luck..." Ricardo said, he remembers it because he never understood what his father meant when he told him that those two old men bring luck.

"Is that why you captured him, captain?"

The captain ignored the question and stopped the talk. He approached the box where the worm ate happily and looked at it for a while.

"That's an excellent way of putting it, without offending anyone…" The captain muttered, as if trying to remember the governor's expression.

"We did not capture him, we are just taking him home, he lives in Los Alamos with his father"

"And to ... ?" I try to question Ricardo.

"All the Lupins always walk in pairs, one is the father and the other the son, they reproduce by dividing into two halves, so their relationship is much stronger than that of a human with their children" He was abruptly interrupted by the captain .

"Because it is..." I try to ask Ricardo.

"When we get there I'm going to ask the father to pay me for the trip, just like the governor said: the Lupins bring good fortune and are the current owners of the ocean. These worms are usually pretty rich, so you could make quite a fortune bringing them home." he was abruptly interrupted by the captain.

"But I shouldn't..." Ricardo tried to say.

"Killing the shell, it's a mere formality, I don't want him hanging around the deck and taking an interest in getting another 'shell' with one of the boys" he was abruptly interrupted by the captain.

Ricardo listened carefully, he wanted to ask and say a few more things, but every time he opened his mouth, the captain interrupted him as if he was trying to provoke him.

But Ricardo seems to have interpreted that the captain did not want to talk much about it and at a certain point he simply listened and did not open his mouth.

"Well boy, don't get upset for not having understood Dima's signals, it just so happens that a long time ago we had to transport some Lupins, that's why the boys recognized him and used you in the plan to eliminate the shell" Said the captain when noticing that Ricardo was not getting upset by the interruptions.

Apparently the case wasn't as complicated as Dima had said, so reassuring Ricardo with a few words should go well, the captain thought.

"For the rest, boy, I asked you to come because I have a question to ask you..." The captain commented.