17. Bruno's room

Mirabel hadn't felt this nervous when she had left the only home she'd ever known. Mirabel hadn't felt this scared when she'd reintroduced herself to her family. Her heart had never pounded as loud in her ears as it was now. Staring at the top of the short staircase leading to a room with a depiction of the man she had always believed was her father on it.

Bruno's door was dark, unlike every other magical door in the house. Mirabel felt a deep sense of sadness as she stared at the wood. It looked... sick. Like it was rotten. But the picture of it was burned eternally in the grains. Like someone had taken a fire poker and burned his features into the wood. Mirabel found herself just staring at the door, her eyes tracing Bruno's face and the hourglasses hanging below him.

“Has it always been like this?” She asked, stepping up in front of the door, and she glanced back at Dolores, who shook her head softly. “Before... he left... it was like everyone else's.” Mirabel nodded, and then grabbed the doorknob.

She felt a little surge go through her. Like a static shock that didn't hurt. Instead it made her feel all warm inside. Like the door was simply begging for her to go in. She heard Dolores gasp behind her, and she looked back to where her cousin was standing.

Dolores had her mouth hanging open, and she was staring at the door. Mirabel glanced back at it, and saw Bruno's eyes start to glow a warm orange. She let go of the handle, and the eyes faded back to the dead brown.

The cousins shared a look, then Mirabel grabbed onto the doorknob again, and the eyes lit back up. It repeated it's previous action when she let go of it again, and Mirabel beckoned for Dolores to join her.

“Do you... just want to...” Mirabel asked breathlessly, and Dolores nodded. Dolores grasped the knob, but nothing happened. The door remained just as dead and off as it had before. Mirabel glanced at Dolores, who shook her head. “Makes sense...” Dolores whispered, a sense of deep sadness permeating her voice. “Well, let's go...”

Dolores let Mirabel open the door, and the two of them walked into the half-dead room.

They were met by a bare entrance hall, with a curtain of pure sand in front of them. Mirabel walked up to the sand and stuck her hand in it. “Serves him right...” she said under her breath, then she glanced back at the door. “Uh... Casita... Can you... Turn off the sand?”

To the two girls' shock, instead of the floorboards answering, like they should have, the tiles back in the rest of the house responded to Mirabel's question with a definite 'no'. Dolores and Mirabel shared a confused look, then Dolores asked calmly, “You can't help in here?”

Casita replied with another negative, and Mirabel sighed. “Fine. Thank you for your help so far.” She locked eyes with Dolores, who gave a quick nod. Mirabel held her hand out towards her cousin, who grasped it firmly.

“Let's do this.” Mirabel said, turning towards the hourglass-shaped opening in the wall. “We'll find the truth, hopefully find out what's wrong with the magic, and save the family.” Dolores nodded, and answered, “And we'll set everything right again, so everything will be okay.”

Mirabel nodded, clenching Dolores's hand even tighter. “Let's do this.” she repeated, and the two of them took simultaneous steps into the curtain of sand.

Dolores felt the ground fall out from under her. She was falling... falling... falling... and suddenly... she wasn't anymore. Her hand had slipped out of Mirabel's (surprisingly sweaty) one, and she was left alone to tumble to the sandy pile below.

She managed to curl herself up in as tight of a ball as she could, and rolled herself down the sand dune she found herself on. Feeling a little lightheaded she got herself up and began looking around.

The room she found herself in was one of the most calm and peaceful places that she had been in besides her room. It was large, empty, and she could hear nothing besides her own breathing and falling sand.

Falling sand. It always reminded her of her long lost Tio. He had sand constantly falling out of his pockets or hair. And, seeing the shear amount of the stuff that was filling his room, it made a lot of sense.

She was struck by a sense of panic for a second. She might have fallen safely, but her cousin was a completely different story. What if Mirabel had hit the exact right angle and had broken something? How was Dolores supposed to help her? If it was anyone else with Mirabel they could have gotten something to help, but Dolores was practically useless.

She glanced around, feeling her heart race. She couldn't hear Mirabel's... Mirabel's...

“Plegh! Phh- Ugh! Papá! Clean your room!” Mirabel said, sitting up and cleaning a ton of sand out of her glasses. She shook sand out of her short curly hair, and Dolores felt just a twinge of jealousy at that. She would probably be washing sand out of her hair for weeks.

Mirabel got up and stared at the cavern the two of them found themselves in. “Whoa...” she said, her eyes drawn up to the stairs that they would inevitably have to climb. “This place... well... it sort of sucks.”

Dolores felt a laugh build up inside of her. “You visit the man who raised you's room... and all you say is it sucks?” she asked, and Mirabel shrugged. “Tell me I'm wrong.” she retorted, and Dolores shook her head. “I mean, you aren't... but... I pictured a bigger reaction.” she admitted, and Mirabel laughed.

They made their way to the bottom of the stairs, and Mirabel pointed at the giant hand that sat next to them. “'You're future awaits'? Seriously?” She asked, and Dolores shrugged. “You know him better than I do.” she admitted, and Mirabel nodded. “Yeah... that actually seems like something he'd have...” Mirabel said, and then chuckled. “Still corny though.”

Dolores shrugged, the pointed at the stairs. “Well, we can discuss his cornyness as we go up these stairs... Do these seem a bit excessive to you?” Mirabel looked up at the top of the stairs, and let out a solid, “Meh.”

It was such a Bruno thing that Dolores had to stop in her tracks. She was halfway to the wall part of the stairs when she stopped and looked back at her cousin, who had just started on her own accent. “Mirabel, I'm sorry, but you need to stop.” Dolores said, and her cousin blinked at her in confusion.

“Stop?” Mirabel asked, catching up with Dolores. “Stop what?”

Dolores glanced at the embroidered hourglasses covering Mirabel's outfit. She beckoned towards her cousin and said, “This. You need to stop... I'm sorry. You just... act so much like him. It's freaking me out.”

Mirabel tilted her head in confusion, and the two of them started climbing in sync. “I do?” she asked, and Dolores had to school herself to not huff in frustration. “Yes. You do. You do these little... things... that just remind me of him.”

“Is that bad?” Mirabel asked, sounding genuinely curious. Dolores blinked in shock, falling behind her for a second. “Well... it's a little painful. I haven't been allowed to think about him, or you, for a long time... and it's sort of a shock.”

Mirabel quieted. She continued climbing the stairs, but she didn't make a sound besides her breathing. Then she said, slowly and sadly, “I'm... sorry... I didn't mean... I just wanted... I don't even know what I want anymore.”

Dolores looked at her cousin, who was staring at the stone steps in front of them with such an intent glare that it was sort of scaring her. She felt a pang of regret run through her. It wasn't Mirabel's fault that what happened had happened. Dolores couldn't imagine what it would be like to be told to stop acting the way she acted.

Not that anyone saw that anyway.

“Hey, Mirabel,” she said quietly. Mirabel met her eyes, and there were tears building up in hers. Miercoles. “Mirabel,” Dolores reached a hand out towards her cousin, who grasped it tightly. “I'm... I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that to you...”

Mirabel shook her head. “No. I'm sorry. He told me not to come. I disobeyed him... I should have just stayed behind in Casa, then no one would be upset.”

Dolores stopped in her tracks. She stared at Mirabel, who stopped as well. The two of them maintained eye contact for several seconds, then Dolores asked, “He... told you to stay behind?” Mirabel nodded, biting her lip. “He said that it was dangerous here... That people thought that I was hurting the magic...” Why would Tio Bruno say that? Did he really want Mirabel all to himself? She stared at her cousin, and asked, “Did he ever... say who it was?”

Mirabel shook her head. “I don't know. He always seemed... upset, whenever I'd ask him.” Dolores nodded, her hand squeezing Mirabel's. “He wasn't... bad... though.” Mirabel said, a sad smile crossing her face. “He's really nice. I know that he wants the best for me. He does. His ways are just... weird. I'm sure that he can explain everything when he gets here.”

Dolores's eyes widened. “Tio Bruno's... coming?” Mirabel gasped, covering her mouth with her free hand and letting go of Dolores's with her other. Dolores heard a muffled “Miercoles” through Mirabel's hands, and she shook her head.

“Don't apologize,” Dolores said, shaking her head. “I just... I wasn't... I wasn't expecting that you'd know something like that.” Mirabel shook her head, dropping her hand and continuing her accent. “I ran away... but not completely. I mean, he did expressly tell me to stay home... but... I mean... He's coming anyway! Everyone I've been hanging out with have been kids and my family! I don't understand what he was so scared of!”

Dolores watched Mirabel, who huffed, and climbed steadily up. Dolores heard everything that happened inside the Encanto. She knew how to handle pretty much any situation that arose. She had heard difficult things, but she found herself at a loss for words when it came to her cousin.

“I know... that you don't want to talk about that right now...” Dolores said, once again catching up with Mirabel, who nodded a little bit. “But... maybe you can tell me about... your life.”

Mirabel looked at her, and a small smile graced her face. “There's not much to tell...” she said, and Dolores shrugged. “Anything you say will be new to me.” she replied truthfully, and Mirabel sighed. “Well... We live next to a river. I spent a lot of time swimming... And then we have a small garden. And Papá makes killer Sopa de verduras.” Dolores nodded along, watching Mirabel ease into talking.

“We keep rats. They're so cute! The one that Antonio has is Jeff, he came with me from Casa.”

“Casa?” Dolores asked, and Mirabel turned to look at her. “Yeah, our house. It's like Casita, but smaller.”

That was interesting. Dolores thought she would have known if there were other places like Casita. “Is it a magical house?” she asked, and Mirabel nodded enthusiastically. “Yeah. It came to life when I put the front door's doorknob in. Papá says he doesn't know why the magic followed us, just that it did.”

They had a magic house. What did that mean? Would the magic follow any Madrigal? Could they start and entire colony of magic houses? Was Casa simply an extention of Casita? How did that all work? Dolores opened her mouth to voice her questions, but Mirabel was already talking about other things.

“I'm pretty sure that Casa was stealing Tia Julieta's food... I never really put two and two together... but now that I've seen the plates at this place... Speaking of plates, I didn't know there could be so many! When I made breakfast this morning there was like, eight thousand!”

Dolores couldn't hold back a chuckle that escaped her. She looked at her cousin... and felt her heart drop as she saw how high up the two of them were.

There had to be at least fifty feet between them and the hard ground down below. She had been this high before, but typically there was at least some sort of safety railing between her and the ground. Here, there was nothing.

She looked up at the rest of the steps, and felt her heart sink further. Mirabel on the other hand was just trudging along. “How are you so calm?” Dolores asked, and Mirabel gave her a confused look.

Then Mirabel looked where Dolores was looking, and said, “Oh. That. Yeah. It's Papá's room. I guess it just feels... like home? I know that nothing that he has would ever want to be a danger to me. It just looks weird. He's like a spider. He looks all creepy, but he's actually just keeping the bugs away.”

Dolores had to admire her cousin for her bravery. Because there was no way on earth that she would ever feel this way about anywhere.

After a short eternity, the two girls got to the top of the stairs. Dolores felt like pulling her hair out when she was the gaping hole separating the two of them from the place that they needed to get to. Mirabel let out a loud groan.

“Papá! Why does your room hate me!?” Mirabel cried out, and Dolores couldn't help but laugh a bit. Mirabel looked at Dolores, then said sternly, “Wait here.”

Dolores watched her grab the wooden posts for the rope handrails. Mirabel struggled for a minute to pull it out of the ground, but eventually it gave way under her strong hands. She pulled the rope away from the ground, and Dolores's eyes widened as Mirabel chucked the wooden post as far as she could at the wall above them on the other side.

Mirabel successfully made a rope swing across the cavern under them, and she pulled hard on the rope to make sure it wouldn't break. She looked at Dolores with a smug look, and asked, “So... You wanna go first... or should I?”

After a moment of just staring at her cousin Dolores seemed to process what Mirabel had said. “Oh, uh... you can go.” Dolores said, waving her hand at the rope. Mirabel sighed loudly and turned towards the cliff. “Alright, I can do this... I can do this... For the miracle. For Papá. And... maybe a little for me.”

There were no words to discribe how scared Dolores was as she watched Mirabel swing out on the rope. She could hear the rope strain, hear Mirabel's heart pick up speed, hear her feet flail under her...

As quickly as Mirabel had left the stair side of the platform she was on the other side. Mirabel froze as soon as her feet hit the ground, then she let out a loud 'Whoop!' and turned to look at Dolores. “I did it! Did you see me!?” Her face was split by a large grin, and Dolores nodded, smiling back.

Her happy feelings were quickly crushed as she realized that she was next. Mirabel grabbed the rope from the air and threw it back to Dolores, who caught it without thinking.

The fall would be so... so far... She watched a pebble fall off of the ground in front of her, and she could barely hear it clatter to the ground a minute later.

No. Don't think about that. Just swing across, like Mirabel had. Everything would be okay.

She'd never even told Mariano how she felt...

The next thing she knew she was swinging across the gorge. And then she was landing on the ground in front of Mirabel. Mirabel let out another cry of excitement, then Dolores heard a loud Crack! She felt the ground beneath her started to fall down...

Dolores let out a very Camilo-like scream, and was only saved from a painful death by Mirabel grabbing onto her arm. Dolores fell down about a foot, but Mirabel's grip on her was strong.

Mirabel's feet were planted in the ground, and Dolores knew that if she let go in any way they would both be goners.

Mirabel said words that Dolores wished she never heard, but was completely true. Mirabel grunted, then said, “You're very sweaty...”

Dolores felt her grip start to give out, and she let out a small squeak. Mirabel's eyes widened like she had just realized what was happening. “Dolores!” she shouted, “Oh my gosh! Mierda!” With Luisa-like strength Mirabel pulled as hard as she could and Dolores was pulled forwards.

The two cousin's fell safely to the ground, Dolores banging her calves against the stone. A loud crash was heard a second later, and the two of them froze. It took Dolores a second to realize that she was safe, but when she did she let out a shocked laugh.

“We're okay... we're okay...” Mirabel said, sitting up and looking at Dolores. “I mean... I'm okay... are you okay? I nearly killed you! But we're still alive! Are you okay?”Dolores nodded deftly. “Yeah... I'm fine...” she looked at her legs, which had a bit of blood on them, but it was better than the alternative. “I'm fine... Let me just catch my breath.”

Mirabel nodded, then stood up. She stared at the hall in front of them. “Whoa.” she said under her breath. “So this is the entrance to the vision cave...”

Dolores nodded, and Mirabel began to walk towards it. This might be a mistake, but they were here, and there was no point in going back now.