As I expected, Cannaregio river was full of people.

“It is going to be hard to see anything.” I said discouraged.

“Let me fix this.” He said, and grabbed my hand again.

He guided me to the entrance of a very elegant restaurant at the side of the river. A man in tux was blocking the entrance.

“I am sorry, sir, but we don’t have more tables.” He said.

“But we have a reservation.” My friend said.

Wow, so he had made reservations for such an awesome restaurant? Wait, Reservations? Those are always made under a name, right? Perfect opportunity to discover his!

“Search us as medico della peste, for two”, my friend said.

Well, he had thought about that one too.

“Here it is. This way, signor, signorina.” The man said, and guided us to the restaurant.

The place was amazing. There were chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, beautiful portraits in the walls, and every table had flowers and at least three sets of cutlery per person. I was feeling quite underdressed for that place, and it was definitely more expensive that what I could afford.

“This is the table you asked for.”

We were in the second floor of the building, in the balcony, where there were just four tables. The table we were directed to was for two, right in front of the railing. I approached the place and looked around. From this place there was a beautiful sight of the river. We would have an amazing view of the regatta!

“I hope you are hungry.” My friend said, sitting in the table and taking a menu. “Would you like to share a pizza? This place is known for its pizza.”

“I…” I started. This could be uncomfortable. The place was great and everything, but… “I am sorry but… I don’t think I can afford this place…”

I had brought all my savings to the trip, that was true. But this place seemed crazily expensive! And I had noticed everything was even more ridiculously expensive when there was something related to the carnival close by. A simple glass of water could cost more than a meal in other place.

He stood up and came close to me.

“Querida mía” he said, smiling to me, “you don’t have to worry about the bill. I am inviting today. Let me spoil you a bit.”

“But…” I started, still not sure about it.

“You can pay for the drinks later, how does that sound?” He said.

“Ok” I finally agreed.

I let him guide me to the table and even offer me a seat.

“Also” he said, as he was seating again, “I told you I wanted to help you build great memories of this trip, didn’t I? So, let me” He said softly, and I felt myself blushing.

“You already have, with or without this place.” I admitted.

I could saw a grin under the mask.

“So I guess I don’t owe you a trip on gondola, do I?”

I felt my cheeks hot again, and thanked for my mask again, which would cover the red in my face. Wearing a mask was very handy at these times.

“No, you… really made my last night amazing. Thank you.”

This time, he smiled sweetly.

“And wait until you see the regatta.”

And so I spent the boat parade in the balcony of this beautiful restaurant, sharing a pizza with my amore mio. I felt a bit out of place with the mask on, but I noticed we weren’t the only ones wearing the mask and so relaxed. And oh, the boat parade! There was a gondola with a beautiful woman in a dress that had its own light; there was pole dancers, fire jugglers, flying medusas, and my favorite: the flying woman.

“Look at her!” I exclaimed. “amore mio, she is flying!”

People looked at me as I talked a bit loud, but I couldn’t care less at that moment. I was mesmerized by the view of this girl. Of course, she wasn’t flying: she was hanging from a hot air balloon with a beautiful draw of a renaissance street, with the people walking over it, the horses, the carts and the buildings.

“I can’t see anyone controlling the hot air balloon.” I said. “How are they controlling it?”

“Look closer”, my friend said, and hovered over me to point something. I felt my face hot and my heart beating fast. “There is a boat there, you see? And there is a wire connecting the boat with the hot air balloon.

“Ah- y-yes, of course.” I answered fast. I was surprised with myself. I didn’t even knew much of this man, yet I felt like I was falling in love with him.

I kept watching the boat parade in awe, and at some moment, I noticed that my friend was not at my side. I shrugged it off and thought he was probably in the bathroom. After all, where else could he have been?

I would later discover he was doing something much darker.