Casita was full of arguing. Dolores held her hands over her ears as the other family members fought over the situation.
Camilo was convinced Andre took Bruno out of the encanto and that they should all leave to go search for him. Pepa and Felix did not want their son blindly searching the world and insisted they search the encanto first. Mirabel wanted them to split up and search both inside and outside of the encanto. Julieta and Agustin argued that it was not safe to split up. Luisa's opinion sided with Mirabel's but she stayed silent while her eye kept twitching. Isabela argued that only the adults should get involved in this and that Camilo, Mirabel, and Antonio should stay home where it was safe. Antonio only knew that Bruno was missing again and tried to reassure the rats that he would be okay.
After much thought Abulea raised her voice asking them all to calm down. It took a minute but they stopped their bickering to listen. "We can't leave the encanto unprotected and I do not feel comfortable enough to let anyone leave." Mirabel was about to counter that opinion but Abuela continued, "However this is an extenuating circumstance. So in order to both protect the encanto and find Bruno I have come up with an idea. Pepa, Felix, Agustin, and I will leave the encanto. I want the rest of you to stay here and protect the people."
Alma's reasoning was that she was not comfortable enough to send her grandchildren into danger, and that Juliet's healing gift along with her nurturing nature would keep order and help everyone. Abuela had been outside of the encanto before and would be able to bring them back easily. Pepa's gift made her capable of handling dangerous situations. Felix could do well in a fight and keep Pepa calm. Agustin was terribly accident prone, which was a liability, but they could use an extra pair of eyes on the search.
This caused a major uproar among everyone. Camilo and Mirabel tried to make their case to be involved. Pepa and Felix sided with Abuela and tried to calm Camilo. Julieta argued that Agustin could get hurt and she was worried for him. Agustin tried to explain that he would be okay. Isabel wanted to be part of the search team, and Dolores would have said the same had she not been covering her ears. Luisa still stayed silent, but also wanted to search outside the encanto. And Antonio was very confused.
"My decision is final!" Abuela exclaimed. "Pepa, Felix, Agustin; be ready to leave in an hour."
When everyone walked away to prepare for the trip, the younger generation of the family decided to take matters into their own hands. Camilo, Mirabel, Isabela, Luisa, and Dolores snuck away and took the family's horses and some of Julieta's food. They didn't bother grabbing much else, not wanting to waste too much time. They left within ten minutes.
Mirabel left a note with Antonio to give to Abuela once their parents found out that their children and horses were missing.
.=.
Andre had a few things to handle to make their house more livable. He had to run to town to get food and a few other things. So Bruno was tied to a chair with his arms, legs, and waist secured with rope. This house was sound proof similar to the one in the encanto, but Andre did not trust his little mouse to not break another window. So cloth was forced in his mouth to keep him quiet.
The mad man had snapped Bruno's broken finger back into place and put a splint on it. But that didn't do much for the pain. He was at least a little relieved that he had time alone. Suddenly there was some movement in his clothes. A rat scurried out from under his ruana onto his shoulder.
It was a sight for sore eyes and he nearly cried. Bruno wished he could express how happy he was to see his small friend. The rat was less pleased. It had been with Bruno since yesterday and had not yet been fed. Rats loved their free food. Not to mention, it had nearly been crushed several times throughout the day because of it's human's circumstance. It was happy that the mean man was gone at least.
Assessing the situation, the rat decided it was best to help the human out. After all, a happy free human was a food giving human. It went to work on nibbling the rope on Bruno's wrist. The rat worked quickly, and once his hand was free Bruno untangled the rest of the ropes and pulled the gag off.
Lifting the rat in his hand he announced, "You are getting a feast when we get home." The rat loved the sound of that. It crawled back into his clothes as he moved to the front door to see if it was locked. As expected, it was. So he tried the back. Remembering where he saw Andre had kept the key at the the other house. He searched under a nearby empty planter and was relieved that Andre was predictable. The key was there. He quickly knock knock knocked on wood against the frame and sprinted out the door.
Andre was so eager to get back to Bruno that it took him less than an hour to get the basics for their home. He walked home happily with a jump in his step. As he got closer to the house, he saw a flash of green speeding through the trees.
"Shit," he said to himself in astonishment before dropping the sack he was carrying and running full speed after the escapee.
Bruno ran as fast as he could, but he lived a pretty sedentary lifestyle the past several years and was not as fast or as fit as he used to be. He forced himself to keep going until he was absolutely sure he was clear. The unmistakable sound of another pair of feet coming toward him fueled his flight response and he began to run faster. But not fast enough.
Andre tackled him to the ground and Bruno's rat flung from his clothes by the force. It scurried off from fright. The larger man rolled him to his back and climbed on top of him straddling his stomach and held his arms above his head. The smaller man still tried kicking his legs which did nothing.
"Getting cold feet?" Andre joked while trying to catch his breath. Bruno stopped moving and looked up at the sky. He wasn't even close to escaping. His vision was inevitably coming true. No matter what he did, Andre would have him and could make him do anything he wanted. He would probably never see his family again. They weren't going to leave the safety of the encanto; it was too dangerous.
He had fought Andre as hard as he could and there wasn't a scratch on the man. But Bruno was suffering immensely getting hurt more and more each time he tried to fight or defy his captor. Any hope of putting up a successful fight or making an escape disappeared from Bruno. The only hope he had left now was that his rat made it home okay.