chapter five

Carla and the rest of her family followed Antonio into his new room with some of the few curious villagers following right after. They all marveled as the room materialized and turned into a beautiful forest ecosystem with an equally beautifully lit large tree at the front and center of it all.

"Woah!" Carla and Camilo exclaimed in unison causing the two to give each other strange looks before they burst into a fit of giggles.

A jaguar suddenly cut through in between the both of them, making them jump away from each other in startlement.

They watched in awe as it swooped Antonio off his feet and let him ride it as it climbed the tree.

Felix cheered for his son as Antonio and the jaguar kept climbing higher, although they all gasped in worry when the jaguar suddenly stopped and launched Antonio into the air and he started falling.

Carla and the rest of her siblings and cousins started smiling in amazement again when they saw that Antonio was safe when he bounced off of a hammock, swung on a snake, and landed safely on top of his new friend — the jaguar — again. Camilo was especially pleased with all the dangerous stuff Antonio was doing off the bat of getting his gift while Pepa and Felix...not so much — although they were still quite excited for their son.

The jaguar brought Antonio back to them and Pepa and Felix wasted no time in coddling their youngest with Carla, Camilo, and Dolores right behind them, wearing proud smiles on their faces.

Pepa stepped aside and let her mother approach Antonio, the Madrigal matriarch looking extremely pleased and proud at the youngest Madrigal.

"I knew you could do it." Abuela said with a big smile on her face, causing Antonio to happily return it. "A gift just as special as you."

"I love how we just don't care that a dangerous predator just entered casita and easily befriended our little brother out of nowhere." Carla said to her siblings.

"I guess it kinda helps that jaguars aren't known to be that aggressive towards humans." Dolores shrugged.

"Who cares? Did you all not see all that cool stuff Antonio just did? I mean swinging on a snake without getting bitten? Do you think Antonio would let me ride his jaguar too?" Camilo excitedly gushed.

"We need a picture!" Abuela Alma suddenly exclaimed.

"What?" Carla couldn't help but blurt out in surprise. "In front of all these people?"

"Everyone, come! Come, come, come, come!" Abuela further exclaimed, excitedly.

"Oh no. No, no, no, no." Carla said as she turned to maybe escape this awkward situation where they all take a family picture as people stare at them.

"Now where do think you're going, mi sol? You're not getting out of this one." Camilo said as he managed to grab a hold of Carla before she could get away.

"Camilo, no." Carla hissed as she tried to pry his hands off of her wrist.

Unfortunately for her, Camilo was understandably stronger than her and seemed mostly unfazed as he continued to drag her towards where the rest of their family was getting ready for the picture.

"Come on, amor. You're never gonna cure that problem of yours if you don't make an effort."

"I making an effort. I just think isn't the good time for that."

"Mhm, sure." Camilo said flatly, clearly not believing a word she just said. "Now stay and put a pretty smile on that pretty little face of yours for the camera!" He added as he situated her in between himself and Antonio.

Carla was about to say something else and maybe attempt another escape but had no choice when she heard her abuela exclaim, "Together!"

Doing her best to push aside the uncomfortable feeling of being watched by dozens of pairs of eyes, she put a hesitant smile on her face as Camilo placed his arm over her shoulder to ensure that she wouldn't get away the last minute.

"La familia Madrigal!"

"See? That wasn't so bad." Camilo said with a carefree smile on his face while Carla just stared at him with a blank expression.

"You're lucky I didn't faint in front of the camera."

After that, the celebration went into full swing with Pepa's side of the family surrounding Antonio as they danced and celebrated. Carla tried to disappear or escape but was stopped by at least one member of her family every time. Heck, even Antonio tried stopping her once!

At some point though, she eventually stopped trying as she grew to realize that it wasn't actually that bad. As long as her family doesn't leave her on her own, she'd stay visible for now and just have fun celebrating with her family.

Unfortunately for Carla's anxiety, she happened to accidentally turn to look at the rest of the crowd the exact moment when a guy with black hair and hazel to almost green eyes was blatantly staring at her in awe.

Carla flushed in embarrassment at the weight of the stare and the guy's eyes widened at having been caught red-handed. They both immediately looked away at the same time to not further embarrass themselves.

Carla was suddenly pulled out from her panicked thoughts only to be given more things to panic about when Mirabel suddenly yelled something alarming.

"The house is in danger!"