chapter eleven

"I can't turn invisible anymore!" Carla cried and continued to wet her twin's shoulder.

After Camilo got over his momentary shock, he exchanged a worried look with Dolores - who was now sitting behind Carla and had a comforting hand on her shoulder - before he starting rubbing her back gently to try and comfort her.

"Carla I- I don't know what to say. I don't know what's happening with the magic, and I don't exactly have the power to give you back yours, but it's going to be okay. I'll help you in any way I can, and you're going to be okay. Dolores will help too, and so will Mami and Papi, and everyone else in the family-"

"It's not going to be okay..." Carla whispered against Camilo's shoulder, cutting him off.

"Wha- no, Carla. I'll it so it's going to be okay. We'll try-"

Carla pushed herself off of her brother's shoulder and looked him in the eyes. "And we tried, mano. Tried everything we possibly could for I'm hopeless."

Camilo didn't have anything to say to that because it true. They tried everything.

Carla took in the silence and huffed out a small laugh. "Even you know it, yourself."

Camilo shook his head. "You're not hopeless."

He saw her about to retort, so he quickly added. "Maybe we just need to go about this another way."

Carla sighed in exasperation before lying back down and pulling the covers over her. "Camilo, stop. I'll be able to get out of this house, I'll be able to help other people, and I'll be able to help this family again... not without my gift..."

Camilo felt his heart shatter at hearing the defeat in his twin's voice. It hurt him even more when he realized he didn't know how to help her. It never got this bad before. It was like her source of hope died along with her gift.

"Alright, that's it!" Dolores suddenly stood up abruptly, pulling Carla's covers along with her, exposing the curled up girl underneath.

"Hey!" Carla exclaimed in protest trying to snatch back her covers, but Dolores was having absolutely none of it.

"No! This has gone long enough. Camilo's right, we need to try a different approach." Dolores said as she threw the covers across the room before grabbing a hold of both her siblings and pulling them along.

"Wait! Dolores! Where are we going? I'm still in my pajamas!"

-

"Dolores, I don't think this is a good idea. I- I'm not ready yet." Carla gulped as she watched the bustling streets of Encanto from behind her older sister.

As you could probably already tell, after Dolores gave Carla a minute or two to freshen up and change, she was immediately dragged out of Casita against her will with Camilo tagging along.

Dolores sighed before stepping aside and behind Carla, pushing her sister in front her, who had suddenly become as stiff as a stone statue.

"Carla, if you're not ready now, then when will you ever be?"

Carla sighed in defeat, knowing that her sister was right. She then looked to her side and raised a brow. "And why are here?"

Apparently, Antonio also tagged along. He just left his jaguar friend to nap in his room - where his Tio Bruno and Mirabel were doing a ritual thingy to see a vision - and was about to go to the kitchen to find a snack when he saw all his siblings leaving Casita together. At first, he thought that they were taking a break from chores and hanging out so he decided to tag along, but now that he knew what was going on, he couldn't help but think that this was much better. This was no doubt going to be a very amusing outing and he wasn't going to just pass up the opportunity to be a witness.

"I'm playing the part of the supportive younger brother!" Antonio innocently grinned up at her and it honestly would've fooled her if she hadn't seen the same look on her twin far too many times to count.

At this, she turned to glare at Camilo who was on Antonio's other side. "You've corrupted him!"

Camilo took a step back with both his hands raised in surrender, "I did absolutely nothing! It was his fault for following in my footsteps!"

"Okay, okay, break it up you two. We're here to try and help Carla with her situation, not argue about how Camilo corrupted Antonio - although we will undoubtedly come back to that conversation later." Dolores sent a sharp look at Camilo at the last sentence, before turning back to scan the busy crowd for anyone in need.

"Oh look! There's our first citizen in need!" She said, pointing at an old lady that was struggling to carry all her grocery bags.

This old lady, in particular, Carla knew. She didn't know her personally of course, but she's spent years listening to her ramble as she carried her bags and escorted her to her home. Carla suddenly felt a pang of guilt inside her chest, realizing she couldn't help Seniora Maria with her groceries today.

"Dolores... I appreciate your faith in me, but I really can't do this."

The girl in question took one look at the downcast look on her sister's face before shaking her head.

Dolores suddenly sang, pulling her sister by both hands as she walked backwards towards Seniora Maria.

As she continued, Antonio perked up seeing that things were starting to get interesting, while Camilo just looked at his older sister as if she had grown another head. Carla, on the other hand, was spewing out protests as she tried her hardest to break free form her sister's grasps.

Dolores let go of Carla's hands and cupped her face so she'd look her in the eye. She then turned Carla towards the still struggling Seniora Maria, and gently pushed her.

Carla froze up and glanced back at her sister and brothers - after Camilo eventually just went along with the sudden singing- who all gave her encouraging looks and thumbs-ups.