12. First night

Julieta led her daughter back to the rest of the family. She noticed her husband and Mirabel working hard not to make eye contact, but chose to not mention it.

She took Mirabel's hand in hers, and presented her before the family. Antonio stepped up to Mirabel's other side and took her other hand, and Julieta said firmly, “She's back, and there is no reason to ask why what happened happened.” She squeezed Mirabel's hand tightly, then let her go.

She walked over to her husband and took his hand, leaving Mirabel standing alone with Antonio in the middle of the courtyard. Mirabel met her eyes for a second, then looked at the rest of the family. She smiled awkwardly and grabbed her right arm with her free hand. She shifted awkwardly, and Julieta was reminded too strongly of her brother.

It was like she was looking at a girl version of her triplet, and it was tearing her heart out. She squeezed Agustin's arm tightly, and he returned the action.

“So...” Mirabel said, and dropped Antonio's hand. She gave her younger cousin a small smile before continuing, “You might all be wondering why I came back.”

The family pricked up their ears. Julieta watched Mirabel closely. She had been wondering that, and found herself enraptured by her daugh- Mirabel. Mirabel's face. Mirabel herself shifted from foot to foot, and then said the words Julieta had never expected.

“The magic is in danger.”

It was like someone scratched a record in her brain. She felt her family stiffen instantly, her eyes flicked to Dolores's face, and she knew that Mirabel was right. There was no way she couldn't... but the magic itself...

Mirabel was talking she realized, and she focused on her words.“Pa- Bruno,” Mirabel caught herself as she was talking, her eyes going to Agustin for a quarter of a second. “Had a... vision. But it wasn't like how he normally does them.” She wrung her hands in front of her, and a sad look grew in her eyes. “He said that the magic was in danger.”

Bruno saw the magic in danger? Then where was he? Her brother's prophecies were never wrong. She knew that painful truth a little too well. Her eyes searched every inch of her daughter's face, looking for any semblance of an explanation.

Mirabel looked like she wanted to fulfill Julieta's unspoken request, but whatever it was died on her tongue. Making eye contact with Julieta Mirabel said, “So I came here to figure out what's going on.”

Julieta opened her mouth to ask after her brother, but she was cut off by her mother. “There is nothing wrong with the magic,” Abuela stated, with absolute certainty. She stiffened, and glared at the youngest granddaughter. Mirabel blinked a few times in shock at her hard words, but otherwise seemed uneffected. 

Typically, when Abuela said something with such finality, everyone would leave it alone. If Abuela said something was true, it was true. But Mirabel didn't follow this unspoken rule.

“Really? I highly doubt that. Papá said something was wrong with the magic. He was forced into a vision. He doesn't get random visions like this one!” Mirabel raised an eyebrow at Abuela, and looked like she was about to argue her point further.

Julieta broke up the soon-to-be fight between Abuela and nieta. She stepped in between them and said in her peace-keeping voice, “We're just happy that Mirabel has come back. If there is something wrong we'll figure it out like we always do. As a family.” She smiled at her mother and then turned to Mirabel.

“It's late,” she said, glancing up at the sky, “I say that we turn in for the night and discuss this tomorrow, once we all have rested.” She heard her mother clap her hands together.

“Yes,” Abuela said, stepping up next to Julieta, who smiled again. “It is late. We'll forgo discussing this right now.” She smiled at Mirabel, who stared silently back. “Let's get some rest, then we'll talk about this bright and early tomorrow.”

Abuela turned towards the others and said, “I believe I'll retire.” She grabbed Julieta's hand and squeezed it. She turned back towards her and said quietly, “Get some rest mi vida.” Julieta nodded, her smile fading a bit.

She was tired. Too tired. Nothing sounded better than just going to her room and falling asleep in Agustin's arms. She glanced at her husband, who was simply staring at Mirabel now.

Mirabel watched as Abuela wished everyone good night. Julieta saw her eyes lingering on the hand Abuela laid on Isabela's shoulder. Her jaw was set and she looked...

Just like Bruno. It was painful. Julieta wanted to rip her hair out it hurt her heart so much.

Pepa was the first to talk after Abuela left. “Mirabel...” she only got the first word of her thought out before Mirabel cut her off. “No. It's fine. I'm fine.” She put on a smile, but there was definitely signs of tiredness resting on her face. “She's right. We should sleep. I slept on the ground last night, so anything goes.” She smiled at her family members, then asked, “So... where will I sleep?”

Julieta froze. She hadn't had to worry about a family member without a room... ever. Where would she sleep?

The nursery. They put her in the nursery! At fifteen!

Mirabel sat in the only bedroom that didn't belong to anybody. Apparently, the Madrigals never had guests over to sleep. She thought it was a little ridiculous. Even Casa had a guest bedroom! But... they were nice about letting her stay in there.

She could see the evidence of Antonio's stay in there. The entire thing was animal-themed, and... unfamiliar.

She had slept in that room, a decade before. This room had been hers. It was a room that served all of them. It was the room that... uh... Was it supposed to have a meaning to her?

No. This room had no meaning to her. It was just a room with a bed.

She laid down on her back, fingers laced behind her head. The ceiling had butterflies on it, like the ceiling back at Casa. Her eyes flew over the butterfies' wings, tracing them silently.

This was it. This is what she wanted. She was with her family now. They were all together, one big happy family. She was with them, they were going to love her. She'd figure out what threat Pa- What ti- Bru- No. He was still Papá. No matter what anyone said, no matter how many stupid twists happened in her life. Julieta had said that he was her Papá. It was...

He'd lied to her.

He wasn't her real Papá.

Why didn't he tell her the truth?! What was he thinking?!

She stared at the butterflies, the mariposas. She was... upset? No... not really. Sad? A bit... she really wished that he was her actual Papá. She wished she understood what was going on. She wished he was there to explain everything.

Just as new tears started to build up in her eyes she heard a small knock on the door. She sat up and stared at the door as she answered softly, “Come in?”

In came her cousin Dolores, who pressed a finger to her lips. Mirabel nodded, though didn't understand why Dolores needed her to keep quiet. Dolores was the one with the gift of super hearing, but... whatever she wanted.

“Mirabel,” Dolores said, crossing to the bed Mirabel was on. “We need to talk about the magic.” Mirabel's eyes lit up. The magic? Was Dolores... agreeing with her?

She nodded, goading her cousin on. “Yeah? What about it?” Mirabel found herself regretting how loud her voice was, but Dolores didn't mention it. Her cousin sat down next to her, and said, “I believe you.”

Thank goodness. Someone was on their side.

“Yesterday night, at Antonio's ceremony...” Dolores stopped in the middle of her sentence, staring at Mirabel with a strange look.

Did she have something on her face? Mirabel didn't think she did. She rubbed her right cheek with the palm of her hand, trying to get whatever it was off of her.

“What is it?” she asked, deeply confused. Dolores blinked at her, with her wide, wide eyes. Then Mirabel watched in fascination as Dolores grabbed her wrist and said with finality, “We're going to my room. You shouldn't have to sleep in here. I've got plenty of extra pillows, and there's a couch... or we can share my bed, it's big enough... You shouldn't have to sleep in a nursery.”

Mirabel blinked at her cousin. “Wh- What?” She asked, and suddenly was jerked forward by Dolores standing up and leading her out of the room.

“Where- where are we going?” Mirabel half grasped for the doorframe as they got into the hallway. Dolores pressed her finger to her lips again, and Mirabel found herself quieting instantly.

She was led to Dolores's door, and ushered inside. She did as her cousin wanted, not really knowing what was going.

She was met by a... pretty normal-looking space. They were standing in a large room full of books, and Mirabel felt herself automatically drawn towards the bookshelf. Books had been one of the few solaces she and Bruno had been able to engage in over the past ten years. He'd taught her how to read, something that she remembered clearly in that moment.

She walked over to the nearest bookshelf and reached out towards a dark green book, but she was cut off by her cousin. “You... don't want to read those.” Dolores said, her eyes filled with a sort of regret and disgust.

“Why not?” Mirabel asked, feeling a bit miffed. Why couldn't she read the books in her cousin's room? Dolores sighed, and answered quietly, “When you hear every secret, you have to let them out somehow. The books in that section are from my fifteen and sixteen-year-old self. There was... uh... That was when my mom was pregnant with Antonio.”

Mirabel dropped her hand to her side, and turned back to her cousin. She nodded, then Dolores showed her into a new room. This one all in pale yellows and reds, dulling the colors of Dolores' outfit.

It was like a pillow had been shoved over her head when Mirabel entered the room. She dug at her ears with her fingernails, but Dolores, sounding further away than she actually was, said, “It's not like that Mirabel. This is a sound-muffling room.”

Their eyes met, and Dolores pointed at her ears.

There was nothing else she needed to say. Papá had taught her the family's gifts ages ago. It was ingrained in Mirabel. Dolores had the gift of super hearing. She could hear anything and everything. All the time. This room must be her favorite one to ever exist.

Dolores sat down on a plush red chair, and Mirabel moved to sit on the matching one next to her. Dolores sighed, then said, “This is much better. If you want you can sleep in here, goodness knows I do a lot.” She smiled at Mirabel, then her expression went serious. “I believe you. Don't listen to Abuela. There's definitely something wrong with the magic.”

Mirabel nodded vigorously. “Yes. What do you know about it? Do you know why it's acting up? Do you know how to fix it?” She leaned towards her cousin, who raised her hands to calm Mirabel down. “I only know that there's something wrong with it.”

Mirabel's face dropped. She had really hoped that Dolores knew more than that. She was about to say something when Dolores said, “Last night, at Antonio's ceremony, my gift went crazy.” Dolores made eye contact with Mirabel and they stared at each other in silence for a moment. Then Dolores continued, “I don't know what happened, I just know that it was like the magic was crying out in pain... If only it hadn't made me do the same.”

She laughed for a moment at her little joke, but Mirabel was taking this very seriously. Dolores shook her head and said, “I want to help you. So I'm going to give you a little advice. First off,

“Never mention this to Abuela.”

It was about midnight when Bruno finally stopped.

He'd taken several breaks throughout the day, but now he was far too tired to stay awake any longer. Every step felt like walking through syrup and he knew that he couldn't keep going on any further.

He lay down on the ground, wrapping his ruana around him. He stared up at the sky above him, and took his mind back to the first time he'd slept under the stars on this side of the mountains.

Mirabel had fallen asleep in his arms. She'd been so small and delicate.

He missed her dreadfully. He was used to being alone, but... he'd gotten used to her constant presence. He wondered how far ahead she was of him. He only hoped that he could get to her before... the future he had seen took place.

As if waiting for the perfect cue, his gift decided that now was a perfect time to activate. He could feel a vision start to form in his mind. It started out as a small headache right behind his eyes, that grew until it felt like it was the entirety of his eyes and forehead.

He didn't want to look into the future. He wanted to be here. Under the beautiful stars. In this beautiful place. He just wanted... wanted...

Just like the townsfolk, his gift didn't care about what Bruno wanted. His irises began to flicker into the acid green of his future sight. His eyes burned as he was forced to stare into the future.

He saw Casita, falling apart, over and over again. There were cracks everywhere. There were.. people in there. They were breaking and falling apart, over and over and over and over and over...

And there was Mirabel. Standing in the middle of the wreckage. The cause of the destruction or an innocent bystander? Why didn't his gift give him understanding of the future along with seeing it?!

His eyes felt like they were on fire. His gift had hurt him before, especially when he suppressed it. But it was never like this.

His hands flew to his eyes, trying to cover them up and still the pain. Now he saw Mirabel, standing in front of... a woman. They were... fighting?

No! Not fighting! They were.. happy? Moving closer... closer...

As quickly as it came the vision faded. Bruno was left alone in the forest, breathing hard and feeling completely drained.

“Thank you soooo much magic,” he muttered sarcastically. “Just what I needed.”

Please just let his family stay safe.