"WHAT?!" the five teenagers cried out.
"Ernesto let Victoria go?" Avigail asked, a look of dismay on her face.
Juan had a look of outrage on his face. "Seriously – when he was so close, too?"
"Some love story this is," Dolores scoffed. "When you think everything's going to end happily, the worst happens!"
"But it can't just end like that!" Dai exclaimed, throwing his arms up sadly.
Kiko looked at her fellow exchange students, before she spoke up, "I don't see what you're all getting so upset about."
The others looked at her in confusion, wondering if she was listening to the same story as they were.
"He did the right thing," the young girl continued. "When it comes to love, you have to be willing to make sacrifices for your beloved – you have to be selfless."
Mary Beth and Guicho looked at one another with smiles on their faces.
"Smart girl," the security guard remarked.
Mary Beth nodded. "Indeed – what De la Cruz did was very selfless," the tour guide continued. "But of course, this story doesn't end at his act of selflessness."
"It doesn't?" Dai asked, sounding hopeful.
The tour guide shook her head. "No, not at all."
As the Riveras rode Pepita back home, they couldn't help but question Victoria on how she had been during her stay at the mansion – as it boggled their minds on how a man like De la Cruz could change.
"Mija, what did you do to make him free you so willingly?" Julio asked his daughter.
"I didn't do anything, Papá," Victoria answered. "He just let me go on his own."
Julio didn't seem entirely convinced, as he gave his daughter a skeptical look. "Are we talking about the same man who tried to poison your abuelo here?"
"He's different, Papá," Victoria insisted. "He's changed a lot during our time together."
"Are you sure you didn't do anything?" Óscar questioned her.
"After all, something must've happened in order for him to change," Felipe added.
"Well," Victoria started, "I did kind of wound his pride a bit at first, as we didn't exactly get along in the beginning… but then, when I ran off and was cornered by rogue wolf alebrijes, he stepped in and tried to save me – though, I ended up saving him instead." The twins laughed, while the others looked surprised upon hearing that De la Cruz had tried to rescue her. "And sure, I was mad at him when I learned that he tried to murder Papá Héctor, but I ended up forgiving him in the end after he proved himself…"
"And I guess that dress was a gift from him, along with the shoes?" Rosita asked, smiling as she saw her niece twiddle her thumbs.
"Maybe," the forty-three year-old replied.
"Speaking of that dress, you should probably change out of it once we're in the shoe shop," Imelda said. "It's Día de Muertos, after all – we're visiting our living family, not going to a fancy party."
Normally, Victoria would've been overjoyed to not be missing out on visiting her family this time of year – but instead, a part of her felt guilty for leaving Ernesto behind. He had done a lot for her, and yet she left him alone on his very last night. What a cruel joke it all was – to die once, only to be forgotten by the world and die again.
She tried to push back her bitter feelings, as Pepita landed in front of the shoe shop.
"Here it is: home sweet home!" Héctor proclaimed as he got off the jaguar alebrije's back.
"Gracias a Dios," Imelda muttered, following her husband.
One by one, the rest of the family got off the jaguar and headed inside, while Victoria stayed behind for a moment.
"I'm sorry, Ernesto," she whispered as she looked up at the night sky. "I'm so sorry…"
"Victoria, are you coming?" Julio asked, standing on the porch as he waited for his daughter.
"Sí, papá – ya voy." She nodded, then followed her father into the shoe shop.
Once the family was inside the shoe shop, Andrés emerged from his hiding spot. "They're back," he whispered, an uncomfortable feeling forming in his nonexistent gut.
He ran off to tell his uncle, leaving the Riveras unaware of his former presence as they prepared for the holiday.
"Is everyone ready?" Imelda asked, looking at her family as they were all set to head to the Marigold Grand Central Station and cross the bridge. When they all nodded, she said, "Then vamonos!"
Just as they were ready to leave together, there was a knock on the door. They all looked at each other, before Victoria stepped up to answer the door. When she opened it, she came face to face with the last person she wanted to see.
"What do you want?" Victoria demanded, her brow furrowing.
"Oh Victoria, thank heavens you're back!" Bruno cried out, feigning concern as he barged into the shop, followed by his nephew and a couple of townsfolk. "Where have you been? You were missing for months!"
"And the shoe shop was closed for so long," a man named Gustavo chimed in. He and his fellow townsfolk had followed Señor Acosta and his nephew out of curiosity of where the family had been all this time, as they had been unsure whether to believe him at the gathering or not.
"Surely, you must have some type of explanation, yes?" Bruno asked, grinning maliciously as he took a step forward towards Victoria, who backed away in disgust.
"That's none of your concern, Señor Acosta," Héctor spoke up, stepping in between his granddaughter and Bruno. He tired of the fifty year-old's attempts at courting his granddaughter, as it was clear that she wanted nothing to do with him.
"I believe it is my concern, Señor Rivera," Bruno shot back. "Your granddaughter is the only woman whose hand I wish to have – she is as much of my concern as she is yours."
"Except she doesn't want to give you her hand," Héctor responded, narrowing his eyes at the man.
Bruno's expression darkened for a moment, before he brushed past Héctor over to Victoria. "You still haven't answered my question yet, Victoria. Where have you been?"
"I can't say," she replied quickly, looking down at the ground in order to avoid eye contact.
"Señor Acosta, I'm going to have to ask you to leave," Héctor said, attempting to throw the man out peacefully, as he wanted to get things over with quickly so that he and his family could celebrate the holiday.
"Not until I have an answer," Bruno persisted, his eyes still on Victoria. "Tell me: what happened?"
Victoria was getting fed up with the fifty year-old's demands, to the point where she blurted out, "I've been in the Land of the Intermediate, living with Ernesto de la Cruz!" She lifted up the hems of her dress, showing off her new shoes. "And if you don't believe me, here's the proof that he exists – these huaraches he made me!"
Everyone in the room – minus the Riveras – gasped upon seeing the evidence, which proved that De la Cruz did indeed exist.
"Is he really a murderous menace?" Andrés asked, remembering what Héctor had said about the man's attempt at trying to murder him.
"Of course not!" Victoria replied, letting go of her dress. "I know that a lot of men who were forgotten in the past have been horrible, but he's quite the opposite – he's really a sweet gentleman…" She smiled fondly as she spoke of the mariachi, "Él es mi amigo más querido."
Bruno was enraged, filled with jealousy at how the woman spoke of the forgotten man. He roughly grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her a bit, asking in a harsh tone, "Don't tell me you have feelings for this… this lunatic?"
"The only loco person here is you," she retorted, glaring at him as she pulled away from his grip.
Bruno scowled, insulted that she dared to accuse him of being insane. An idea then came in his head – if he were to get rid of De la Cruz by 'speeding up' the process of his Final Death, then nothing would stand in his way of him getting his little trophy wife.
"It's worse than I thought!" Bruno yelled, taking a step back as he turned to the townsfolk. "It seems that our dear fellow citizen, Victoria, was kidnapped by this Ernesto de la Cruz! He's been keeping her prisoner for so long, that her affections for him are surely that of a Stockholm syndrome-like phase!"
"No, that's not true!" Victoria cried out, trying to dissuade the crowd from believing him.
"I say we make this madman pay for his misdeeds, before he can cause any more damage!" Bruno shouted, before he held a fist up. "DOWN WITH THE BEAST!"
Soon, the townsfolk chanted in agreement, while some had begun to sing.
"That man should be forgotten."
"He stalks women in the night."
"Set to sacrifice our children to his sleazy appetite!"
"Havoc will fall upon our land if we let him out his cage!"
Bruno then joined in, as he and the townsfolk headed outside, with his nephew trailing behind them.
"So it's time to take some action, folks! It's time to go to rage!
Through the streets, through the catacombs, through the darkness and the shadows,
It's a nightmare, but it's one exciting ride.
And when we pass, what a feeling!
By the entrance of a mansion,
We'll find something horrible when we enter.
It's a man filled with malice and anger.
A criminal – he's cruel just for pleasure.
And although now he is weak,
It'll be a real treat to make him pay!
Make him pay!
Down with the beast!"
As the crowd was ready to head off, Victoria and the other Riveras ran in front of them.
"Those are all lies – he's not like that at all!" Victoria yelled, putting her arms out as an attempt to block their path. "And I will not sit idly by and let you hurt him when this is his last night!"
Bruno grabbed her by the arm and turned to two men. "Fetch a horse wagon!" he commanded. "We can't let her wander around in such a delusional state, or else she'll end up warning the madman!"
Julio watched in horror as the men left to go fetch the wagon. To think, he had thought of Ernesto to be a brute, when Bruno was even worse. "Let go of her or else, bastardo!" he shouted, turning to the fifty year-old.
"Or else what?" Bruno taunted, just as the two men returned with the horse wagon.
"Or else you'll be Pepita's new chew toy!" Imelda threatened him. Just a few seconds after her threat, the jaguar alebrije landed behind her, growling as her yellow eyes focused on the fifty year-old.
"Oh, I don't think that'll be happening anytime soon." Bruno sneered at the Riveras, before he ordered, "Tie up the gato and lock them up, too – we can't have any of them warning the fiend!"
Two more townsfolk pulled out some ropes, throwing them around Pepita and tying her up. The large jaguar alebrije roared, struggling against the ropes' hold on her.
"Let us go!" Héctor grunted, as he and his family was grabbed by the two men.
Bruno watched as the family was thrown into the wagon, then whispered to Victoria, "Sorry, but it's hero time."
Victoria shrieked as she was thrown into the back of the wagon. She quickly scrambled to her feet as she heard the door being slammed shut and locked, moving towards it and pounding on it. "Let us out!"
Bruno ignored her, as he left to catch up with the mob, marching through the streets.
"With torches in hand!"
Bruno made his way to the front of the crowd, as he was a hunter in life – therefore, tracking down De la Cruz wouldn't be much of a task for him.
"Bravely, we shall go!"
"We can count on Bruno to win!"
"Call it war, call it threat!
You can bet they all will follow, for in times like this they'll do just as I say!"
Andrés ran up behind his uncle, grabbing the older man by the shoulder and turning him around. "Tío, don't you think you're taking this a little too far?" he asked, attempting to make him see the error of his ways. While his body shook, he tried to keep his tone calm. He couldn't be a coward now, not when everything was in complete chaos, with his uncle as the one behind it all – just because the woman he was obsessed with was in love with another. "Is locking up an entire family and making a forgotten man's last day a living hell all worth it, for a woman who doesn't even like you – a woman who is clearly repulsed by your attempts to court her?"
Bruno was seething, his eyes filled with hatred as he glared at his nephew. He grabbed the boy by the shirt, yanking him closer to his face. "You little shit," he whispered harshly, his voice quiet enough so that no one else heard their little 'conversation.' "Do you want to be next? Because if you ever speak to me like that again, you'll suffer a much worse fate than De la Cruz." He then let the boy go, pushing him to the ground as the mob continued to march.
Andrés' arms and legs shook as he pushed himself to his feet, watching as the crowd faded out of view. He was filled with regret for not stepping up sooner.
"There's a beast running wild, there's no question.
But I fear the wrong monster's released…"
Bruno continued to lead the mob down the streets, as he continued tracking down the catacombs.
"We must go together to fight off this threat.
Together, we'll have victory!"
"We'll speed up the process of that beast's final death, and rid the world of him once and for all!" Bruno shouted, as the crowd cheered.
In the mansion, the Chihuahua alebrijes were lamenting over their situation.
"He was this close, and yet he just sent her away!" Urtzi ranted.
"At least he's learned how to love," Sixto pointed out. "That's one good thing, right?"
"If she returned his feeling, then it would be," Coletta murmured, nuzzling Alípio's sides.
The runt heard a distant sound. "Did you hear that?" he asked, then ran over to the window.
Sixto ran up next to his brother. "Is it her? Is it Maestro's love?"
The four quickly huddled around the window, only to have their hopes crushed as they saw that it was not their master's love, but a mob instead.
"Dios mio, it's a mob!" Coletta gasped.
"The leader must be a suitor who's coming for the master out of jealousy," Urtzi guessed. "Whatever the case may be, she's definitely not the cause of this."
"We have to do something!" Alípio exclaimed. "We can't just let them in – who knows what they'll do to Maestro?"
"Right – quickly, we must barricade the doors!" Sixto barked out orders.
His siblings nodded, and the Chihuahuas ran as quickly as they could downstairs. Together, they pushed as many pieces of furniture as they could against the door to block out the intruders.
"Hearts ablaze, banners high!
We run head first into battle, even though the danger's just increased!"
Outside, the mob arrived at the doors, slamming their bodies against them as they tried to break in.
"Strengthen the song!
Here we go, we're a dozen strong,
And a dozen townsfolk can't be wrong!
Down with the beast!"
On the other side, Sixto, Urtzi and Coletta pressed their bodies against the furniture as they tried to prevent the mob from entering.
Victoria pushed against the wagon's backdoor alongside her family, but it wouldn't budge.
"I have to go back and warn Ernesto!" she cried out as she pushed against the door with all her might.
Héctor might have been an old man, but he wasn't naïve – he had taken notice of the way his granddaughter spoke of his almost-murderer, her actions reminding him a lot of how he had acted back when he had fallen in love with Imelda. "Victoria," he began. He had to know for certain. "Are you… in love with Ernesto?"
"A-Abuelito!" Victoria sputtered out, her markings glowing brightly at her grandfather's question. "What – what makes you think that?"
"The way you talk about him." Her grandfather smiled a little, as he was overcome with nostalgia. "It reminds me so much of how I acted when I was completely head over heels for your abuelita – hell, you're even blushing!"
"Don't be ridiculous, Héctor," Imelda huffed. "Why would our nieta fall for the man who tried to poison you?"
"And isn't he technically four years older than you?" Rosita asked.
"Sí," Héctor answered slowly, "pero Imelda and I were very young when we married and had Coco." He gestured to Julio. "And Julio was sixteen and Coco was fifteen when he began courting her."
"Didn't Ernesto die in his forties anyway?" Felipe pointed out.
"He didn't sound very old when we were in the mansion," Óscar added.
"Wait a minute," Julio cut in. "I think we should let Victoria speak for herself." He turned to his daughter. "Well, mija? Do you love him?"
"I…" she trailed off, beginning to think it over. While they'd had their fair share of arguments in the past, they had formed such a close bond to one another after the incident with the wolves. Not only was he handsome, but he was so nice and considerate – he gave her gifts, played music for her and even danced with her. He made her ghostly heart flutter and nearly skip a beat. He made her feel so happy, so alive and warm – so complete.
In that moment, she realized that her feelings went deeper than just mere friendship – she realized that she loved him.
"Victoria, do you?" Julio asked again.
"Sí, Papá," she answered, nodding. "I do love him."
The others stared at her in complete shock upon hearing her answer, while Héctor smiled a little.
"That's all I needed to know," he said softly. Sure, it was a shock to him and he didn't exactly approve of it – but his granddaughter was in love, and love… it was such a funny, ironic thing. He then placed his hand on his granddaughter's shoulder as he told her, "Don't worry – we'll find a way out of here."
Suddenly, Andrés peered through the small window in the wagon. "Hola," he greeted them, sounding a little nervous.
"Señor Acosta's nephew?" the Riveras said in unison, confused.
Andrés flinched at the title. "Yeah, that's me – but I'm not on his side anymore. I'm here to help," he explained, followed by a bark from Dante, who stood by his feet.
Then, gears began turning in Julio's head. "Niño, could you head into the house and search for something sharp to pick the lock with?"
Victoria caught on quickly. "Like a hairpin!" she piped in.
The nineteen year-old looked down at Dante, who yipped and ran into the shoe shop. He looked back at the two and nodded. "We're on it."
Alípio entered the pool hall and spotted his master standing near the table with the marigold flower, with only two petals remaining. "I'm sorry to disturb you, Maestro, but—"
"—she's never coming back," Ernesto interrupted, his eyes focused on the flower.
"No – there's a mob at the doors," Alípio informed him. "We're under attack, Maestro!"
"What does it matter?" Ernesto asked, melancholy in his tone. "Just let the world be done with me – let them come."
Alípio's ears went down. He left his master alone, heading back downstairs. There, he saw his siblings struggling to hold back the doors, as the furniture trembled from the mob's pounding.
"Does anyone else have an idea?" Urtzi asked his siblings. "Because this clearly isn't working!"
An idea popped into Coletta's head. "I think I got one!" She looked at her brothers. "You know how Maestro has a lot of things which he obtained back when he was alive?"
"Yes, but what has that got to do anything?" Sixto questioned her.
"Surely he must have some old film props lying around," Coletta continued. "If we used those props and the screen projector, then we could be able to scare those ruffians away!"
"That's a brilliant idea!" Urtzi and Sixto exclaimed in unison.
In the Land of the Forgotten, Xibalba sat on his throne, holding his snake staff – its eyes rolled up, as he watched over Ernesto.
A long time ago, he had thought of the mariachi to be an example of how there was little good left in humanity – and yet, De la Cruz had recently surprised him: he fell in love with the granddaughter of the man he almost poisoned.
At first, Xibalba had laughed at the forty-six year-old's predicament and how it was so ironic – but when he saw the relationship between the two blossom, he was actually rather pleased. For once, the mariachi was cleaning up his act and he was earning the affections of the youngest Rivera woman.
So when Ernesto had let Victoria go, Xibalba was very disappointed. Usually, he didn't like being proven wrong – but in this case, he had been waiting for the moment when the two would passionately embrace each other, thus lifting the curse. Unfortunately, the exact opposite happened.
"Looks like I have yet another soul to drag here," the ruler of the Land of the Forgotten sighed as he stood up, still holding the staff. "I suppose their romance was just never meant to be, and that Ernesto de la Cruz was just meant to be cursed – forgotten by the world, and doomed to spend an eternity in this realm."
"What?" a voice hissed.
Xibalba's eyes widened as he recognized the voice, turning to face a skeleton woman around his height. Her body was made of white sugar candy, with black licorice hair and glowing, multi-colored eyes in shades of gold and red. She wore a red dress and sombrero, bedecked with lit candles and marigolds.
"La Muerte, my dear!" he chuckled nervously, waving his hand a bit while he hid the staff behind his back. "How are you, on this lovely evening?"
"Did I just hear something about Ernesto de la Cruz being cursed to be forgotten?" La Muerte demanded, folding her arms as her eyes narrowed at her husband.
He gulped. While his wife was calm and collected most of the time, she could be terrifying when she was angry. "Perhaps?" he replied, his voice quivering a little.
"XIBALBA!" La Muerte screamed loudly, her voice echoing throughout the realm.
Xibalba's wings folded as he backed up slowly, clutching onto the snake staff as though it were a lifeline. Not only was he screwed, but he was certain that he wouldn't be hearing the end of this for a long time.