He was out cold.

He felt at peace, his mind was clear and all he could do was feel. Feel his emotions, his memories, his passions, his dreams. He couldn't hear anything. It was like he was underwater, noise cancelling and he felt like he was floating. Maybe this is how someone felt when they died. Finally at peace….ready to leave the world, knowing it was their time.

"Miguel? Miguel", a voice pierced through his water. He felt a hand on his shoulder and then the hand shook him. It was as if someone was pulling him to the surface of his watery realm because as they shook him, the call of his name grew louder, closer.

"Miguel?", the voice asked, clear and close. Miguel's eyes fluttered open, his deep brown eyes meeting Evita's chocolate brown ones. He was laying down on the cobblestone ground of the alley. It was cold, no longer a comfort like it was when he was in the state of bliss. The boy propped himself on his elbows and looked at Evita again. She was no longer looking at him but the sky. A faint orange glow outlined her body and she seemed to also be semi translucent, the brick wall behind her showing lightly through her. Miguel shook his head, closing his eyes, and then rubbed the back of it, expecting a bump from landing on the ground but to his surprise nothing appeared to his touch.

"You ok, Miguel?", Evita asked, disturbing Miguel's thoughts. He opened his eyes to look back at her. She smiled at him awkwardly but offered him her hand to help him up. He took it gladly and together they worked to get Miguel off of the ground.

"Si, I'm ok", he replied to her. He looked at his hands and then his whole body. He had the same characteristics as Evita, he glowed a little and he could kind of see through himself if he squinted hard enough.

They were in the Land of the Dead….well sort of.

"I thought the candy would take us to the Land of the Dead", Miguel said, looking at Evita in confusion.

"Xibalba said they would take us to where we had to go, not to where we wanted to go", Evita told Miguel about the left out detail, "I guess it only made us go to the realm, but like still here. I think". Miguel nodded, trying to bring in all the details. He sighed, wanting to finish this quickly to get home to his familia. But when he looked up at the sky, his heart almost stopped beating.

It was dark outside.

"How long have we been out?" Evita looked at Miguel a bit confused and then she too looked at the sky, her eyes filling with fear.

"Maybe a few hours…", Evita whispered solemnly. The two children looked at each other, both seeming to know the risk of it already being late. Miguel had to think quickly. He looked around and found a sleeping Dante next to a broken, rotting crate. He walked over and kneeled by the mutt, giving him a couple of soft pats on the head to help him think. Dante woke and gave him the hearty smile, licking Miguel's ghostly face. The grey dog that trotted to the entrance of the alley and barked happily. Miguel stood up and followed the dog.

"Miguel...we can't chase dogs. We need to find how to get to the real Land of the Dead", Evita informed Miguel, her voice stern but a hint of fear still glazed the top of it. Miguel chose to ignore her and came to the front of the alley with Dante, immediately noticing the gold flower petals laid down on the pathway in front of them. An idea quickly popped into his head and he smiled. It would work!

Evita walked up beside Miguel, looking at the flower petals on the ground like he did. She looked at him, hopeful and wondering. He was an absolute stranger to her and vice versa but for some reason, they seemed to just click together making her feel a little more at ease. Yet she didn't know what he was capable of or how easily he gave up on something. She just had to hope that Xibalba was true to his word, if he was, everything would be fine.

"We're going to find mi familia", Miguel told the girl, patting Dante on his head as a 'thank you' for being such a good spirit guide. He then walked out into the pathway and started following the pathway to the way back home. Evita had frozen at the idea so she had to run up to catch up to the walking boy with the guitar.

"Your family? But aren't we kind of fake dead…? Like ghosts, they can't see us", Evita told him, unsure of herself since she never had been a ghost before.

"Not my living family, my….uhm non living ones. They can help us find your family in the Land of the Dead", Miguel explained to her, not looking anywhere but forward. He couldn't get distracted from his path, he needed to get home to be with his family again. He had a very limited amount of time. He wasn't going to wait until sunrise to just come back home, not this time around.

"But I thought that you knew the way around there", Evita said in some shock, it seemed that Xibalba had left out some facts when explaining Miguel Rivera to her.

"Well, I haven't been there for like two years. I dunno, I just think my family who've been there for years will know the area way better than me"

"And we can save time", Evita continued for him. Miguel nodded, looking at Dante with a soft smile.

"Good thinking", Evita said, "Xibalba was right about you".

"Huh?"

"Xibalba said you were a good thinker, like you could think of solutions quickly. He also said you were confident enough to lead". Miguel turned hot at Evita's words. He never thought of himself that way before and it made it even more embarrassing hearing all of this from a complete stranger. Miguel cleared his throat and looked at Evita thoughtfully.

"You seem to know a lot about me….but I don't know anything about you"

"Mhm", Evita murmured, chewing her bottom lip.

"You should tell me some things about you", Miguel pushed a little.

"Like what?"

"Like why do you need to go to the Land of the Dead so badly", Miguel asked, causing a short silence between the two of them. The boy realized that his suggestion might be a little much to ask out of her but he deserved to know, it wasn't like he just jumped into the Land of the Dead with a complete stranger.

"Mi Papa died when I was real young, leaving my mama and I without anything because the estate didn't belong to us but instead to the company he worked out", Evita started to explain, "Mi Mama lost everything, our house, our money, even precious things like our photos for our ofrenda. This all happened so fast and since then we haven't been able to celebrate Dia de los Muertos because we never had anything to help our ancestors cross over. My mama took a job at the company my papa had worked at earning enough to have an older home. It wasn't much but we took it. We forgot about trying to get anything back together to make a new ofrenda for our familia and so this year just last night I woke up with someone in my room. But he wasn't just someone, he was Xibalba".

"Isn't he a God?", Miguel asked, trying to wrap his head around everything she was saying.

"Well sorta. He said he was the ruler of the Land of the Forgotten, where people go when no one is left to remember them in the living world", Evita explained, her footsteps seeming to get heavy with the burden of her story.

"Why did he come to you?", Miguel asked, noticing his spirit guide, Dante, seemed to also be listening in on Evita's story.

"He came to tell me that my family was fading away and if I didn't find them to get their photos on this Dia de los Muertos, that they would be forgotten forever", Evita told Miguel, "So I made him a bet, it seemed he was pretty keen on it so it was easy to make one. If I found my family and gained their photos before the sun rises tomorrow, he will restore my family's ofrenda in my house so I can remember them every Day of the Dead".

"What if you can't?"

"I stay with him in the Land of the Forgotten". Miguel's eyes widened.

"So...so you just die?! You don't even have the chance to live with your family again?", Miguel asked in disbelief. Evita shrugged a little.

"I guess so, but I mean, how hard can it be to find your family?", Evita said. Miguel sighed. She really did need his help but how could they find her family that quickly?

"What's someone if your family's name?", Miguel asked.

"Xibalba said that I should try to find Mano-", Evita started but was quickly interrupted by Dante's barking. The two kids had stopped in front of a building called "Rivera's". Miguel looked at Evita, watching her take in the building.

"Well uhm...here we are", Miguel introduced, forgetting about his question.

"This is where you live?", Evita asked, her eyes sparkling in awe, "It's so big!" Miguel laughed a little, funny that she was astonished by the home that he thought of as too family for his big family. But before he could say something, he started to her a mutter in his household. A bunch of voices were talking, saying his name, wondering where he was. Miguel started towards his family's ofrenda for that was the source of all the voices. Evita followed suit, staying behind Miguel alongside Dante. She was taking caution but Miguel couldn't blame her, they were no more than new acquaintances, she didn't know what to expect.

As Miguel drew nearer to the ofrenda her started to recognize the voices.

"What do you mean you didn't see him at the plaza?", his Papa's voice came.

"I never saw him there, mi amor. Are you sure he isn't here?", his Mama came in next.

"I'm certain he isn't here, mija. I checked everywhere, twice!", his abuelita then said, making Miguel's insides twist. He was going to be in so much trouble.

"It's ok, mi amor. They'll find Miguel soon", consoled the most recognizable voice to Miguel. He smiled.

Papa Hector!

Miguel looked at Evita with a huge grin, confusing the girl. He grabbed her wrist and brought her right into the ofrenda, passing right through his troubled Mama. As he did, he heard gasps from his relatives and once he looked around the room, he saw them all. Papa Hector, Mama Imelda, Mama Coco, Papa Julio, Tia Victoria, Ta Rosita, To Oscar, and To Felipe. They were all here and he could see them. He was so happy to them all again, but they didn't seem too happy to see him.

"Mijo! What are you doing here?", Mama Imelda asked quickly, storming up to her grandson. Miguel flinched a little but otherwise stood his ground as he saw Hector follow suit.

"I was going to say that he may not be able to see us but seems so…", Hector said, wrapping his arm around Imelda's hip, "What are you doing here, mijo?" Miguel looked at the rest of his concerned family members and sighed a little.

"I'm helping a friend", Miguel explained to them, "Her name is Evita Sanchez and she needs to find her family before they're forgotten. She really needs our help". He looked behind him to smile at Evita only to find her frozen in terror at the sight of the skeletons around her.

"Evita, it's ok. This is mi familia", Miguel introduced.

"Papa Hector"

Hector waved with a warm smile.

"Mama Imelda"

Imelda gave a faint smile, concern and anger still filling her eyes.

"Mama Coco"

"Hola, Evita"

"Papa Julio"

"Hola", Julio waved awkwardly.

"Tia Victoria"

Victoria just stared at the girl, not sure what to think.

"Ta Rosita"

Rosita smiled happily and gave a cute wave to the girl.

"And To Oscar and Felipe"

The twin skeletons waved, unsure of what they were doing.

"Well, thank you for the introduction, mijo but how are we supposed to help?", Hector asked, letting go of Imelda and walking up to his great-great-grandson.

"I thought that maybe you might know where we could find her family in general, like where we could find the Sanchez's", Miguel said, mainly speaking for Evita because it seemed she was still trying to take in the whole dead people thing.

"Miguel, there's a lot of Sanchez's and barely know any of them. I need a first name or something", Hector said to him. Miguel thought for a second and then looked back at Evita.

"Weren't you looking for someone specific?", Miguel asked her. Evita looked at the skeletons again and rubbed her temples, taking in a shaky breath.

"Y-yeah...I'm looking for my great-great-great grandfather, Manolo Sanchez"

Hector's eyes widened in astonishment, his smile grew from where one ear should be to the other (since he's a skeleton,he has no ears).

"You mean you're related to the Manolo Sanchez?!", Hector asked, his excitement only growing. Everyone just stared at him, wondering what the oldest skeleton was thinking of.

"Uhm...si?", Evita confirmed, unsure of herself.

"Papa Hector, do you know him?", Miguel asked. Hector chuckled.

"Do I know him? Every musician knows Manolo Sanchez, well if they're my age", Hector claimed.

"I have no idea who this Manolo is", Imelda put in. Hector sighed a little.

"Well I guess my age and a musician"

"Who is he, Papa Hector", Miguel pushed, wanting to know what the heck his grandfather was talking about.

"Manolo Sanchez is one of the best musicians to ever live"

A/N Note: Please take some time to review if you are enjoying this story! It would really help! Gracias! I hope you decide to keep reading!