23. Camilo He It

Camilo was excited. He was so excited that he kept shape-shifting between himself and his slightly younger cousin. Even though he'd had his gift for two months he hadn't gained complete control over it yet. He kept slipping into Mirabel as he pranced around the house, doing his best to help out the people decorating Casita.

It was Mirabel's birthday, and she was going to get her gift today. Her door had started showing itself the day after Camilo's ceremony, and had been steadily manifesting. He had been so excited to see the doorknob on it that morning. He felt almost more excited than he had for his own gift ceremony. He was excited to see what gift his favorite cousin would get.

He skipped down the breezeway, taking care to not run into anyone. He hadn't quite figured out how to shift into someone much taller than him, but he was getting there. Abuela said his gift was special, that he was so useful. He loved the bright look she had in her eyes when she looked at him.

He found his cousin in the room they had shared just a few months ago, and he had to focus on not transforming into her instantly. "Hey Mira!" he said, sliding into the room and sitting next to her on her bed. "You excited?"

Mirabel looked at him with a beaming smile on her face. "Yeah!" she exclaimed, raising her hands above her head. "Mama made me this beautiful dress! Papa took me into town today! Tio Bruno said that he'd show me his room tomorrow! And Abuela's gonna tell me a story!"

Camilo smiled at his younger cousin, then he leaned towards her and whispered, "What do you think your gift will be?" Mirabel blinked at him, then shrugged. "I don't know... Maybe teleportation! Or super-vision!" She bounced a little on the bed, knocking Camilo around a little. Camilo giggled, then transformed into Mirabel.

"Hi I'm Mirabel! And I hope I get a gift just as awesome as Camilo's!" Camilo said using Mirabel's voice. Mirabel let out a peal of laughter, then she shoved Camilo away from her. "Stop that Camilo!" she said, and Camilo laughed to match her. "Camilo is so cool! One day I want to grow to be just like him!" he said, and Mirabel giggled, pushing her glasses further up her nose.

"Camilo," she said in a scolding tone she had obviously inherited from her mother. "Be serious." Camilo grinned mischievously, then he transformed into Isabela. Mirabel laughed loudly as Camilo made Isabela's voice sound stuck up and faux-adultish, "I'm always serious Mirabel. We must be serious to be Madrigals. No Madrigal has ever been funny, ever."

Peals of laughter rang from the nursery, and the sound seemed to attract Abuela, who entered with the candle held behind her back. Mirabel grinned at her as Camilo shifted back into his own form. "Mirabel," Abuela said warmly, and Mirabel rushed across the room to wrap her arms around Abuela's legs. "Are you ready mi vida?"

Mirabel nodded, letting go of her grandmother and going back to her bed. Camilo smiled at her, and Abuela focused on him for a moment. "Camilo, will you go and let your tia know we're almost ready?" Camilo nodded, and gave Mirabel a tight squeeze.

"See you in your new room." he said, a large smile on his face. "I can't wait to see it!"

Ten years. It had been ten freaking years since he'd seen his cousin.

He didn't remember her well, but he did remember them being nearly inseparable. He remembered the sadness he had felt when she had been stolen. He remembered the anger, the resentment that he and the entire family had developed towards his uncle. Against Bruno.

He had tried, oh he had tried so much to get Bruno off of the family tree in the dining room. He had taken a knife to the wood, used his fingernails, and had even thought of using fire to get his uncle away from the rest of the family. But any time he got even a chip off of the paint Casita would just regrow his image.

After the first year Bruno's image faded, and none of them knew why. By now both his and Mirabel's pictures were nearly completely gray. And Camilo hated it.

He remembered his uncle better than Mirabel, though he didn't know why. Bruno was tall, and always creeping around the house. He liked to have rats, and his eyes glowed whenever he got mad, which seemed to be all the time according to Camilo's memory.

Mirabel had come home. After all this time. And she believed that their uncle, the man who had kidnapped her, was her father. How?! How could she think that! She didn't remember her own parents! She didn't remember the family. She didn't remember... Camilo.

No. It wasn't her fault. She tended to forget things. She wasn't forgetting Camilo on purpose. She had been brainwashed by Bruno. She had to be! Just listen to her! She talked about him like he was the greatest thing since tres leches!

He didn't mind just seeing her around the house. But he didn't know what to say to her. He wished he could be like Isabela, and have a good reason that Abuela would notice to not spend time with Mirabel. He wished he was like Luisa, who wasn't really bothered by Mirabel's presence. He wished he could be like Dolores, and just befriend Mirabel lickity-split.

But no. He was... Camilo. He was the cousin who had the weird gift that had freaked her out several times. Whenever he wasn't looking like someone else Mirabel didn't even notice him. But that was fine. She had a lot to look at and think about. She'd notice him eventually.

People would notice him eventually.

Mirabel grabbed his hand as they made their way into town. He had noticed that she had a habit of doing that. She was always holding someone's hand, more often her own. She had these odd quirks, but he wasn't going to bring it up anytime soon. She needed to see what other people were like besides their deadbeat uncle.

Wait. Bruno wouldn't be deadbeat for her. For the rest of the family Bruno was a deadbeat. A scoundrel who had stolen Camilo's best friend. It was driving Camilo mad how kindly Mirabel talked about Bruno even though she knew the truth. How she was so chill when it came to him. The man who had made Camilo's mother feel so terrible that it snowed in their home for nearly a month.

Mirabel's hand was sweaty inside of his, but he didn't really mind. Her eyes were looking at everything around them, even though she'd already been to town before.

"So... Camilo? What do you do around town?" Mirabel asked, but before Camilo could answer he heard a small child call out, "Mirabel! Camilo! You're back!"

He saw Cecilia run towards the two of them, her little braids bouncing on her shoulders. She had a huge smile on her face and she was joined by several other children, called towards the two Madrigals by Cecilia's call.

"Of course we're back Cecilia!" Camilo said, dropping his cousin's hand. "We live right over there. And I couldn't just leave my favorite children in town alone." He smiled widely at the group of kids, who shook their heads at him. "Not you Camilo!" one of the little boys said, then pointed at Mirabel. "It's her who came back!"

Mirabel spluttered for a moment, then said, "Oh. Yeah. Of course I came back. I'm in town with mi primo today. I'm gonna see what he does around here." The kids all nodded, glancing at Camilo. "Oh! You do stuff?"

Camilo giggled, and shifted into Juan, a little boy with dark curly hair and a too-wide smile. "Oh no. Of course not! I never do anything! I just lay around home all day and eat. And eat... and eat..." The kids all screamed then started laughing loudly.

Their laughs echoed in his ears as he shifted back into himself. He grabbed Mirabel's wrist, not wanting to touch her sweat again. "Well, we're gonna help the grown-ups now. We'll be back, 'kay?"

"Okay Camilo!" the kids all said, then most of them waved at the two fifteen-year-olds. "Bye Mirabel! See you!" Mirabel said goodbye to them, then followed Camilo away from the kids.

"They're really cute," Mirabel said once they were out of earshot, and Camilo nodded. "Yeah, they think I'm a little weird, but if I make them laugh then they like me." Mirabel nodded, a small sad look in her eyes.

Camilo looked at her, and tilted his head. "What's up? You look sad." He asked, and Mirabel shook her head, the look fading from her eyes. "It's nothing," she said, and Camilo shrugged. "Sorry," he said, "I just thought that you were... Nevermind."

Mirabel nodded, and Camilo looked back at where they were going. He looked over at a construction project that had been going on for a couple of weeks, and called out, "Yo! Señor Jorge! You need my help? Oh! And I brought my cousin,"

Camilo presented Mirabel to a nice-looking man, who had a bucket of spackle in his hand. Mirabel gasped loudly and said, "You're just like my Tio!" Jorge was caught off guard, and he stared at Mirabel.

"O...kay?" he said in a confused voice. He glanced between Mirabel and Camilo, and Camilo asked, "You mean Bruno? This guy reminds you of him?"

Mirabel scoffed and shook her head. "Of course not! Bruno's my Papá, I have two Tios. Tio Hernando, and Tio Jorge!" The Jorge in front of the two Madrigal's nodded slowly, his eyes desperate for answers that Camilo couldn't provide.

"I didn't know we had... more uncles..." Camilo said, sounding rather shaken. Mirabel let out a peal of laughter, and Camilo stared at Jorge and mouthed "she's crazy. Don't listen to her". Mirabel slapped Camilo on the back, and that startled him enough that he shifted into his dad before settling back as himself.

Mirabel stopped laughing, noticing that neither of the people she was talking to seem to find it funny. "Don't you remember the fearless Hernando? Or the steady Jorge? Come on! Papá said he used to play as them all the time with us before we left!" She searched for... something inside of Camilo's eyes, and Camilo simply shook his head.

Mirabel sighed, then looked at Jorge. "Lo siento Señor, I misread the crowd. My... Tio... is a character my father puts on to entertain us. You simply had the same name and are... Well... You sort of act like him..." A strange look filled her eyes, then she asked in a serious voice, "How old are you?"

Jorge blinked at her, and Camilo quickly got in between the two of them. "Sorry," he said, breaking the conversation up. "She hasn't... been around people a whole lot. Sorry."

Jorge shook his head, muttering something about 'kids these days' under his breath. Camilo glanced back at his cousin, who had a confused look on her face.

"Anyway..." he said, looking back at Jorge. "How can we help? Abuela sent us both into town, and neither of us have projects in need of doing... So..."

Jorge's face brightened. "Of course!" he said, a smile gracing his otherwise serious features. "José is upstairs getting some beams up. He's the only one tall enough to reach where they need to be without a stepstool, and all of those are being used in the kitchen. If you can go and be him for a while... And then... Uh... you..."

"Mirabel!" Mirabel said, a little too excitedly for Camilo's taste, and he had high tastes when it came to excitement. Jorge nodded, and said, "If you can help the women in the living room. They're cleaning the floors after a rather messy paint dump yesterday. That would be great."

Camilo and Mirabel nodded. "Will do," Camilo said, shifting into a tall young man and making his way inside.

The new house was bare on the inside, but it didn't bother Camilo any. He'd helped with this project before, and he knew the insides well. He quickly joined José and started helping with his project.

While he was working he was José. José was a carpenter, and he had probably fashioned these beams. Camilo could imagine himself as José, he envisioned cutting these beams out, and sanding them down. He could feel the calluses on his hands protecting him from the course grains. He felt his mind slip into being José along with his body.

Before he knew it the two of them had completed their project, and José gave Camilo a big smile and a thumbs up. Camilo waved his small thanks away, and shifted back into himself.

That warm fuzzy feeling he'd been having for the past twenty minutes vanished nearly instantaneously. José had a purpose in life. José had a life. Did Camilo have one of those? Was Camilo even Camilo? If he had just spent twenty minutes as someone completely different... what separated Camilo from being José?

He didn't have long to fall into these thoughts as he was called to be Alejandro. Alejandro was a man who was nearly as accident prone as Agustin. He was working to make sure that the railings were safe, and Camilo-jandro went to speed up the process.

Three hours and two dozen people later Camilo felt his head start to spin. He had spent lunch with some of the men working on the house, but he had spent it as Esteban, one of the tailors in town. The man was known for getting his second helpings, so no one questioned it when Camilo used his face to chat with the men.

Dolores might be the ears of the town, but Camilo could find out nearly the same amount of information as she did using his gift. Esteban had four kids, and Camilo spent his lunch break talking about parenting with the men he was with.

Camilo wanted... well... He thought he wanted kids. Did he want children, or did Esteban just really like them? Did he want children running his life, or was he just desperate for someone to see him?

Who was he kidding!? People saw him! The men saw him right now! They were joking with him and slapping him on the back. Of course they saw him! He was being crazy!

But did they see Camilo, or did they see Esteban? Did they see him, or did they see José? Did they see Camilo Madrigal, or did they see his gift? Did Camilo Madrigal even exist?

At the end of the third hour he decided that he and Mirabel should go find other places to spend their time and energy. He let Jorge know that they were leaving, and he received a kind word of thanks from the older man. Then he went to find his cousin.

It took a couple minutes, but eventually he heard the sound of Mirabel singing floating through the house. He felt a smile grow on his face and made his way into the kitchen.

Mirabel was in the middle of the room, paintbrush in hand, and a group of women surrounding her, all painting the walls. Mirabel stopped singing the moment he entered, spinning around and smiling widely at him.

"Camilo?" she said, lowering her paintbrush. "Uh... Your face is... Uh... Not yours." He blinked, lifting up his hand and pressing against his face.

It felt normal, but Mirabel seemed sure that she was right. He glanced over at the bucket of paint they were working with, and knelt down to look at his reflection.

He had José's face on.

He had stolen José's face!

He tried to shift into his own face, but he only ended up looking like Jorge. He felt his blood start to pound in his ears. He had dreaded this day coming. He needed to look like him! What did Camilo look like!

His hair started going bonkers, and he heard a feminine gasp from behind him. All of the women in the room were looking at him as his hair started straightening, and elongating, then shrinking almost entirely into his head, then curling into a bun. Then he felt his face start to change too. Was his nose where it was supposed to go? Why was this happening now? What was going on!?

Before anyone could scream he felt his wrist get taken by his cousin, and he was pulled out of the room. Mirabel pulled him out of the house and towards the back of the building.

There was a grove of trees several yards away, and Mirabel led him under them. His hand started to grow, and lose its pigmentation, but Mirabel didn't seem to care. He felt sick. He just wanted to go home and... and sleep forever.

"Camilo," (was he Camilo? His body wanted to respond to that name like he always did) "Camilo?" Mirabel said in a serious voice, and he (it?) forced itself to look at her. Was that It's name? Mirabel stared at him with an equally serious look, and she asked, "Are you okay?"

The voice that came out of its mouth was indeterminable as its own. It couldn't even tell if the voice was male or female, young or old. It was just a voice that let out the most pathetic, "Yeah. Of course." that It had ever heard in It's life.

"Camilo. You need to calm down." Mirabel said in a soothing voice. It didn't know what was wrong. It didn't know why it needed to calm down. It was just there. It was fine. Everything was fine. It just got like this sometimes. Sometimes It felt like Camilo. And It always responded to that name whenever someone tried to get It's attention. But Mirabel was trying to calm It down. So It would try.

It followed Mirabel as she showed It how to breathe. It could feel It's body morphing around It's consciousness. And finally, finally, It found a form it was comfortable with.

He started feeling more calm. There was less... stuff... going on in his mind. Mirabel smiled at him, and she said, "Good. You had me scared there for a second. Are you okay?" She dropped his hand and patted his arm uncomfortably, and he nodded.

"Yeah," he said, shrugging a little. "I just get that way sometimes. I just spent a lot of time as other dudes, and forgot myself for a little bit. I'm fine."

Mirabel didn't seem to believe him. She threw her arms around him, and started talking in a voice so low that Camilo (he was Camilo again!) bet that not even Dolores could hear her.

"Speak up Mirabel!" he said with a laugh, and Mirabel repeated herself. "You don't have to do that Camilo. You need to take time to be you."

Take time to be Camilo? But Camilo never did anything worthwhile! The only thing Camilo was good at doing was being other people! That was his gift after all. That was why people liked him. Because he was anyone and everyone. Camilo didn't have likes or interests. He was whatever people needed him to be.

"But I'm just Camilo," he whispered over his cousin's shoulder, and he felt Mirabel stiffen. She let go of him, pushing herself away from him. Like he was a disgusting monster. She stared at him with a hard look, and said in a voice that could rival his mother's when angered, "Yes. You are just Camilo. And you are amazing. Get that? You are perfect. Just the way you are. And you don't need to be anyone else in order to have value."

Camilo blinked at her, then said, "Uh... Okay?"

Mirabel looked like she wanted to pull her hair out. "Okay? Okay!? No! That's not okay! You had a panic attack a minute ago because you didn't know who you are! How long has that been happening? You think that you aren't... You aren't..."

Then Mirabel did something that Camilo never expected. She burst into tears. Camilo was great at handling babies when they cried, because he could always just shapeshift into someone who could make them smile. He was good with kids when they cried because he could contort his body into something to make them laugh. But he was completely oblivious with what to do when it came to a female cousin who you haven't spent time with in ten years.

"Camilo... I think you are amazing. And not because of your gift." Mirabel said, sniffing and wiping her tears away. "And I wish... I wish... Ugh! What the heck is wrong with this family?!"

Camilo stared at her as she stood up in a huff and held a hand out towards him. "Camilo, we're figuring out what you like to do. Now." Camilo blinked at her, then said, "Uh... I already know what I like doing."

Mirabel blinked at him, then said in a serious tone, "It better not be shapeshifting. Because if it is I swear to God himself..."

"No!" Camilo said, jumping up and smiling to try to diffuse the situation. "It's acting! And not shifting acting, though I do like that as well. I also like babysitting, and annoying Isabela..." Mirabel stared at him, then she breathed a small sigh of relief.

Camilo placed a hand on her shoulder, then said, "Yeah. Mirabel. You don't need to worry about me. I just get these little panic attacks every now and then. But they don't last very long and I'm always back and ready to serve the community in a jiffy!"

The look Mirabel sent him sent shivers down his spine. But Mirabel seemed to have lost the fight she'd had just a few moments before. "Well... Those panic attacks shouldn't be happening in the first place..." she said quietly.

"Well, they do... and I don't think there's anything to change-"

Camilo was cut off by Mirabel pulling him into another hug. Mirabel pushed her face into his chest, and said, "There is Camilo. There is always something to change that. We'll talk to your parents, and we'll figure out ways... Oh I wish Papá could have taken you with us. And Luisa. And Dolores."

Camilo wasn't crying. He didn't cry. Not anymore. There certainly weren't tears in his eyes as he wrapped his own arms around his cousin.

Who cared if Bruno had brainwashed her. Maybe she was right. Maybe he should have kidnapped all of them. Maybe everything was better.

Camilo Madrigal hugged his cousin because Camilo depended on it. The scary monster inside of him couldn't rear It's ugly head if she was there.