Chapter 13:
(Dolores POV)
I could feel my head spinning as I saw a trail of strange plants begin to grown in my direction. I looked at the path that they took and it went in the direction of Casita. Was something wrong with Isabella's gift now? That didn't make any sense though. She always had the most control. Although I was growing more and more dizzy with the variety of sounds and volumes that were flooding my ears. I forced myself to sit up and make my way back home. As I got closer I saw an even stranger variety of plants along my path. They were different from anything I had seen there before, but it didn't sound like anyone was scared. They were laughing and for a moment, it felt like I had control of my gift again. Like I was able to breathe and focus in on what I wanted to hear.
As I approached Casita, I saw Mirabel and Isabella dancing with flowers on the roof laughing and smiling. It looked like it was actual fun. I couldn't remember the last time any of us had actual fun. Camilo came up next to me and smiled at the sight like I did. "That looks like fun," He said. I nodded my head in agreement and turned to face him, "Remember when we used to have fun?" I asked. He nodded his head, "Yeah. It feels like forever ago." I wistfully spoke, "Forever and a day." They went down into the courtyard and I looked at him. I could hear them still laughing inside as they fell into a pile of flowers. We followed them inside and saw them laying in the pile of flowers. It seemed like they were both carefree just completely in-tune with the moment. They weren't worried about the miracle, the town, Abuela. I wished I could have been apart of something like that. But, the thoughts of Abuela crept into my mind and that was enough to make me refocus.
I turned and Camilo looked like he was about to head over to them when I heard Abuela coming closer. I put my hand on his shoulder, "No." I whispered. He looked at me confused, "Dolores?" I just shook my head and pulled him back. The mood suddenly shifted as Abuela reentered Casita. My breath was quickening as my eyes darted over to Isabella and Mirabel who were still blissfully unaware of what was about to happen. "What is going on?" "Oh no," Camilo whispered as we retreated into the shadows to watch the scene unfold. He looked at me, "What are the odds that this ends up ok?" I just shook my head as my heart sunk to my stomach. He gripped my hand as we watched in silence. We both knew that this was not going to end well, but neither of us were able to walk away.
"Abuela, it's ok. Everything is... We are going to save the miracle... The magic" Mirabel was breathlessly speaking. "What are you talking about? Look at our home. Look at your sister." Abuela's words harshly came out. As I stumbled back as Isabella breath was quickening as she made the flowers disappear. "Please just... Isabella wasn't happy" Mirabel started but Abuela was growing more annoyed, "Of course she isn't happy. You ruined her proposal." "She needed me to ruin her proposal," Mirabel started and I detached from the conversation. What did she mean by Isabella needed her to ruin the proposal. It was her vision. It was what she wanted. Camilo was looking over at me, "Dolores?" He asked as I tried to focus, "YOU HAVE TO STOP MIRABEL!"
It didn't matter how good my hearing was, I knew the entire Casita heard that one. I turned to Camilo and frowned, "We have to do something" he muttered. "What can we do?" I asked and he stayed silent. We both knew that we ere powerless in this situation and all we knew how to do was watch in silence as Abuela continued, "The cracks started with you. Bruno left because of you. Luisa is losing her powers, Isabella is out of control because of you. I don't know why you weren't given a gift but, it is no excuse for you to hurt this family." I sharply inhaled as tears brimmed my eyes. I knew that Abuela was mad at Mirabel but, this was what Bruno feared. This was why he left. Because he didn't want the family to fall apart and now that we were I knew that it was my fault. Every harsh word that Abuela was throwing towards Mirabel I knew it should have been at me. I wanted to go out there and take the blame, but my feet wouldn't move as I continued to hold onto Camilo's hand.
The house began to shake under our feet as Mirabel started talking again, "I will never be good enough for you. Will I?" I took a sharp inhale as the world went quiet. The only sound was Mirabel's words and it was terrifying, "No matter how hard I try. No matter how hard any of us tried." It was Camilo's turn to take a sharp inhale as he squeezzed onto my hand tighter. I knew that we both felt the weight of the statement. The truth was that I knew Abuela thought that I was imperfect. That my gift didn't help anyone. That I was just another person at her disposal to do with as she wished.
I tuned back in as the conversation went to Tío, "Bruno left because you only saw the worst in him." "Bruno didn't care about this family," Abuela said trying to wave off the argument. I knew she was wrong and I grabbed the skirt of my dress in anger when Mirabel started, "He loves this family. I love this family. We all love this family," I looked to Mirabel grateful that someone else finally saw what I always knew about Tío. He loved all of us more than anything in this world and was willing to leave us behind to protect us all. "You're the one that doesn't care," Mirabel continued and the cracks began to get worse. We had to duck as the foundation was shaking, "You're the one that is breaking our home." Abuela was fuming at this point, "Don't you ever..." But she never got to finish before Mirabel finished, "The miracle is dying because of you," The cracks immediately got worse. Camilo took a step forward but, I held his arm back, "We need to get out of here." I said but, my voice was nothing but a whisper. I could hear the cracks all over and knew that it was only going to get worse.
Mirabel began running deeper into the house to get the candle. Camilo and I were going up the stairs when he stopped me, "Dolores you need to stay here. You can get hurt." "So can you," I said trying to push forward but he forced me back, "Dolores it is not the same risk and you know it." I was taken aback. Camilo never talked about my gift like this. I knew that his shapeshifting was more helpful, but I didn't care about that. "Camilo I'm your big sister. It is my job to keep you and Antonio safe before anything else. No matter what my gift is." I said firmly placing my foot on the next step. He had this look on his face almost like he was apologizing, "No it isn't. Someone has to put you first Dolores." He pushed me back "Casita," Was all that he said as he ran up the stairs. The stairs themselves went flat turning more into a slide and I slid to the ground. I got to my feet but the tile forced me back towards the door of Casita. It never got me passed the threshold but it wouldn't let me any deeper into Casita.
I watched as Isabella began swinging on a vine to go help Mirabel but the cracks spread to her door and she fell to the ground. Casita helped catch her but I was even more panicked for Camilo now. "Camilo" I called out, but my voice was barely a whisper, as I watched him run along the balcony changing form. Casita kept forcing me back closer to the exit as my hearing was going haywire. I couldn't tell what was close or far away but as I watched the house falling apart Camilo jumped when all of the sudden he lost control of his gift and changed back into himself, "No." I said but, Casita caught him. He rolled on the floor and I let out a breath. He was alright. He was going to be alright. I kept looking around and saw my family scrambling trying to move around the debris as the house was falling apart. I couldn't do anything to help and was completely powerless as I had to watch everything continue to unfold.
I looked back into the center of the courtyard and Antonio was just standing there. I could see everything crashing down around him, "Antonio." I tried to make my way forward but Casita still wasn't letting me go any deeper into the house. The animals from his room were rushing past us, trying to get out of there as soon as possible and without Antonio's control they had little regard to trampling us on their way out. As they passed my eyes stayed locked on him as I tried to figure out some way to get him out of there. He was my little brother I had to do something but, nothing was coming to mind. I watched as the door was about to fall on him but Papa picked him up. I let out an exhale when I saw that he was safe. Papa started running towards the door telling all of us that we had to get out. Mirabel was still trying to make her way up to the candle while Casita was rolling the floor bringing us towards the exit continually causing me to lose balance.
That's when the terrifying thought dawned upon me. "Tío Bruno," I whispered. I hadn't seen him leave. Did he know what was going on? Did he make his way out? I couldn't hear anything as I tried to figure out where he could be. He was always in the walls of Casita what if he was trapped inside. Someone had to get him out of there. I tried to scramble to my feet and rush forward but, I could feel myself being pulled back. "Casita, please" I begged in a whisper but nothing changed. Suddenly a huge wave of tile forced all of us out the door of Casita and I looked up and saw the sky.
I felt my head hit the ground hard as the grey clouds loomed above all of us. The world was spinning as I let my eyes close darkness becoming all consuming and for the first time in a long time I didn't hear a thing.