6: Close Call

CWs for: bullying (ie sexist remarks, mild violence, mentions of catcalling), mentions of blood and near-death.

There were times when people would ask, who was the scariest of the Madrigal triplets?

Because, as much as their magic was seen as a blessing to the village, it was hard not to get occasionally nervous about how three teenagers with literal magical powers had the whole town in the palms of their hands. And this led to the discussions. Which one was most worth being nervous about? Who, under no circumstances, would you absolutely never want to piss off?

Many fingers were quick to point to Bruno. His ominous visions were already cause for alarm and whispered rumors among the villagers. Many thought he was creating the bad futures on purpose. Others thought he was simply unlucky, that his mere act of looking sealed a negative outcome for you whether he wanted it or not. Either way, if he was mad at you, there was nothing stopping him from disappearing into that cave of his and ruining your life.

Others argued otherwise. Bruno was generally slow to anger, and who said the future was within his control at all? At least he would simply predict disasters yet to come. Pepa, on the other hand? She could strike you instantly, with all the force of the heavens behind her. Pepa's powers were literally connected to her emotions, after all. Get her angry enough and she wouldn't hesitate to strike you where you stand with a bolt of lightning.

And then there was Julieta. Sweet Julieta. No one was scared of her. Her Gift was the only one of the three that had no apparent downsides whatsoever. And despite all the work, all the pressure she faced, she always greeted the people who came to her with a warm smile and nurturing words of wisdom. The debate about who was the scariest triplet could rage on as much as it wanted, but at least the people could agree on one thing: Julieta would never hurt a fly.

Julieta's daily routine was simple: get up at the crack of dawn to bake a tray of arepas for the village. Most of these would be left at home, with some of them being kept on her person in case of emergency while she was at school. Once her schooling was done, she returned home to grab the arepas and set up her stand in town. Recently, she's decided to bring her homework with her so she could multi-task. There was nothing better than sitting back by her stand, reading her school books while helping people in need. At least, that's what she told herself.

Most of Julieta's visitors at her station were good people. Friendly, appreciative, a little sheepish about whatever injury they had. But of course, it only took one unpleasant person to ruin the entire experience for her.

"Oye, food girl," a particularly annoying voice grunted on afternoon. It was one of Julieta's classmates, Juan, she thought. And he was walking up to her with a cut on his cheek. "Give me one of those."

Julieta frowned. "I have a name, Juan."

"Yeah, it's food girl," Juan scoffed. "You're the sister of the crazy weather girl and the creepy seer. Give me an arepa."

"I don't appreciate you talking about me or my siblings like tha—hey!"

Juan snatched several arepas off her plate and was already running off, barely sparing her a glance.

Julieta yelled out futilely at him. "You can't take anything without waiting in line! And I need those extra arepas to feed everyone!"

"Then you should have made more, food girl!" he cackled. Julieta had a mind to run after him, but she couldn't leave her stand, and soon he had disappeared behind a house.

The line of people started murmuring. "What a rude boy," someone said. "So disrespectful."

At least everyone else agreed with Julieta on the matter. She took a deep breath and forced a smile at her patients. "I'm so sorry, everyone," she said cordially. "I still have plenty left, so don't you worry."

And thankfully, she did have enough to last the rest of the afternoon. Really lucky for her that today was a slower day. Any more visitors and she would not have had enough. Stupid Juan.

Julieta met up with Pepa on her way back. Her sister was clearly angry, as evidenced by the thundering cloud over her head and her hunched over, crossed arms expression. Julieta kept her distance but gave Pepa a sympathetic smile. "Everything okay, sis?"

Pepa inhaled sharply through her nose. "I don't want to talk about it," she snipped. "Change the subject, how was your day?"

Julieta huffed. "Mostly fine—except that stupid Juan Vargas stole a bunch of arepas from me and kept calling me 'food girl.'"

Pepa's cloud grew larger and Julieta realized that complaining to her was probably not the best idea. "Are you kidding?" Her sister snapped. "Those were your arepas? I saw him throwing them at a flock of birds today!"

"What?" Julieta replied, shocked. "He took my healing food and threw it at a bunch of birds? What a waste, I could have needed those!" Julieta gripped her bag tighter as she remembered the sound of his cackling laughter from earlier that day. Should have made more. He really just thought of her as a food-making machine made to serve him, didn't he?

"That's not all," Pepa continued, her voice dropping to a hiss. "I went to pick up one of the arepas he dropped, and when I bent down, he actually whistled at me!"

Julieta felt sick. "Ew! Did he really?"

"Yes! I wanted to strike him with lightning right there! And I know he just did it to get a rise out of me, which makes it even worse!" Pepa stomped her feet on the ground at she walked. "I can't believe a creep like him is even allowed to live here! If his parents won't teach him manners, then I will!"

The wind around them was starting to pick up. Julieta heard people yelping in shock. She forced herself to calm down and held her hands up to Pepa. "Ah—ok, ok, Pepa, take it easy. Let's not think about that guy anymore right now. We'll…just get home and eat dinner, then we'll figure things out."

Pepa was quiet, but then she stood up straight. "You're right. He's not worth it. Dinner will be great. Clear skies, clear skies…"

The wind calmed down as Pepa chanted her mantra. Julieta took the opportunity to fix her hair. Pepa then turned to her with a bright smile.

"So! What are you making for dinner tonight, Juli?"

"Hmm. I was thinking of making some simple bistec a caballo. It's been a while since I made steak."

"Ooh, that sounds good! I'll help."

"Uh—please don't."

With all the time spent making and eating dinner, and her mother going over everything else that happened in town that day, the girls had forgotten the entire matter by morning. The next day's routine was the same. Wake up, make arepas, go to school, come hope and carry the tray out to her stand while doing homework.

Julieta thought that today would be easier. But luck was not on her side.

Juan came marching up to her station once again as if he owned it, this time with what seemed to be a bruised knuckle. Without even talking to her, he reached out to take some arepas off her plate. But this time, Julieta was faster. She picked up the tray and held it away from him, leveling him with a glare.

"Sorry, Juan, but you need to wait in line like everyone else."

"Hey, I'm hurt, can't you see? Give me an arepa."

"No," Julieta snapped. "Not until you get in line like the others. You have no right to snatch my arepas from me while everyone else waits for you to be satisfied."

Juan listened to her rambling with only mild amusement. "Haha. Wow, what's your problem today? You on your period or something?"

Julieta felt her face heat up in anger, and she was about to yell at him when the man at the front of her line spoke up instead.

"She said get in line, son," the man said gruffly, leaning impatiently on his crutch. "I'm not waiting with a sprained ankle just for you to finish your stupid jokes."

Juan, at least, had the decency to listen to an old man. Shooting one last scoff at Julieta, he walked to the back of the line, without even looking ashamed of himself.

Julieta wanted to pull on her hair and scream, but instead she just went back to what she was doing. She gave the man a grateful look and fed him what he needed to heal his ankle.

The line went by smoothly, until Juan himself appeared, still holding his bruised knuckles. Julieta sighed. He'd played by the rules this time, so as much as she wanted to tell him to leave, she technically owed him an arepa like everyone else.

"Wasn't so hard to wait in line, was it?" She snipped. "What happened to your hand, anyway? Did you punch a tree?"

"I was letting off some steam," Juan replied vaguely. "Not that it's any of your business."

Julieta rolled her eyes and gave him an arepa. She didn't really want to know, anyway. Hopefully she would have a break from this guy tomorrow, but given how obviously he took her Gift for granted, she had better be prepared for him anyway.

Later that evening, Julieta was getting ingredients ready for dinner when she heard a soft voice behind her.

"Julieta?"

Julieta blinked in surprise. Bruno usually didn't leave his room until he was called down for dinner, but here he was now, his hood pulled over his head and fidgeting nervously with his hands.

"Uh," her brother said. "Do you still have an arepa or something?"

Julieta frowned. "No, I ran out, but I can make another one really quick. Why? Are you hurt?"

"Oh. No, don't worry, I can wait until dinner. It's not that serious."

"Let me see." Julieta put down her towel and reached out to him, but Bruno backed away, desperately pulling on his hood to keep her from seeing his face.

"No, no, it's really nothing," he insisted. "I-I just walked into a tree and got a bruise on my nose, you know. I can wait until I get a bite of dinner—"

"Let me see, Bruno."

Bruno gulped, cornered. He hesitated for a moment, then slowly pulled back his hood to reveal his face.

"Dios mío, Bruno! What happened to you?" Julieta gasped.

The marks on Bruno's face were definitely not a little bruise from walking into a tree. There were several black marks on his face, one of which being a horribly swollen black eye, and a cut on his lip to boot, surrounded by dry blood.

Bruno looked down at the floor in shame. "It's nothing, honestly. Some kids were play fighting at school and I—I kinda just got whacked on accident, that's all. Wrong place, wrong time."

"Bruno Madrigal, just how dumb do you think I am?! Sit down. Now."

Bruno obeyed, staring at the floor still. Julieta quickly got to work making an arepa, angrily muttering the whole time. "You're telling me this happened at school and you waited until now to tell me about it? Why would you do that? Your wounds could already be infected and festering by now!"

"I didn't want to bother you, you were already helping everyone else," Bruno replied meekly. "And, um, it was actually a little bit after school, so I didn't wait as long as you think…"

Julieta silenced him with a glare. "Bruno. Who did this?"

"No one. It was an accident."

"Bruno."

"Look—people sometimes do irrational things when they're emotional, okay? I-I don't blame them for that, and I've got you. So it's fine."

"It's not fine. You can't expect me to sit around and be okay with someone hitting my brother. What made them so 'emotional,' anyway?" She stopped, thinking about it, then spoke softly. "Was it because of a vision?"

Bruno nodded. "Yeah. I-I saw him falling out of a tree and breaking his leg. And when I told him about it, he got upset." He sighed. "I mean—I guess it's a pretty scary vision. No one wants to get hurt, right? I should have delivered it with more tact. Mamà always says I'm too blunt."

"Stop making excuses for them," Julieta sighed. "And you still haven't told me who it was."

Bruno refused to look at her. "It doesn't matter."

Julieta bit her lip, frustrated. She finished making her arepa and was just starting to bring it to him, another scolding forming on her lips. But suddenly, out of nowhere, the memory of that afternoon flashed through her mind.

"I was letting off some steam," Juan had said, taking an arepa for his bruised knuckles."Not that it's any of your business."

Julieta froze, white hot rage shooting through her body like a flash. She looked at her brother again, eyes wide, her stomach tightening with the urge to scream, or throw up. But instead, all that came out was a hissed "Juan Vargas?"

Bruno looked up in shock. The look on his face said everything Julieta needed to know. "How—what—"

"He came to me with bruised knuckles today!" Julieta seethed, bile rising in her chest. "I asked him if he punched a tree! He punched you?!"

Bruno cringed and hunched his shoulders. His eyes flitted about, looking everywhere but at her. He didn't answer.

"Bruno, why didn't you say anything?!"

"Because he already bothers you and Pepa all the time," Bruno sputtered. "I didn't want to tell you because—that would add to your problems, and I knew you or Pepa would go confront him about it and—and I don't want you to get hurt even more because of me."

Julieta was already shaking her head, ignoring the hot tears pricking at her eyes. She'd given her healing food to that horrible creep just hours ago, to heal him from the injury he'd gotten from beating up her brother. The nerve he had. The absolute gall.

"We have to tell Mamà," Julieta declared, already whirling on her feet.

"No!" Bruno jumped to his feet and grabbed her arm. Julieta turned to see the leading look in his eyes. "Please, Juli. Don't tell her. Look—" he took the arepa from her other hand, took a bite, and gestured to his injuries as they disappeared. "I'm fine, see? Everything is fine."

Julieta pressed her lips into a thin line. Sometimes she hated how her food never left a trace of the injury behind. It made it harder for people to take the issues seriously. "Why, Bruno? Why do you want us to just let this happen?"

Bruno let go of her, continuing to chew on his arepa with a shrug. "I'm used to this sort of thing. I can deal with it. I don't want you, or Pepa, or Mamà getting involved, okay? Promise me, Julieta. Promise you won't tell."

Julieta grit her teeth, the nauseating, hot anger still bubbling inside her. This was so wrong. So completely against everything she believed in. But Bruno was so insistent and scared and pleading, and only a heartless monster could say no to her brother when he looked at her like that.

"F-fine," she replied. "I'll keep quiet this time. But if this happens again, Bruno, I'd better not find out that you kept it from me!"

Bruno finally smiled, relieved. "Thanks, Juli. And I'm sure I'll find a better way to deal with people's, uh, reactions. I'll learn to dodge, you know?" He laughed awkwardly, trying to ease the tension.

Julieta did not laugh.

Bruno's vision, as always, came true.

Julieta wasn't sure how she found herself at the edge of the forest surrounding town, looking down the slope where the boy she despised was laying. Faintly, she recalled hearing his voice calling for help, but any concerns she had vanished instantly when she saw his ugly face.

His leg was broken, as predicted, bent at an awkward angle and surrounded by blood. But Julieta barely noticed it, her eyes laser-focused on the sneer on his face. Not even the pain and shock of a broken leg was enough to wipe it off, apparently.

"There you are," he snapped. "Your freak of a brother cursed me with one of his stupid visions and now my leg is broken. Give me an arepa, quick. This hurts like crazy."

Julieta stood there, frozen. The hot flash of anger she'd let yesterday came rushing back at his words. Images of Bruno's bruised and beaten face flashed through her mind, along with the sheer disgust in Pepa's voice when she'd described how this person treated her. Julieta's gut twisted, a twisted sense of satisfaction rising as she took in the boy's condition, unable to stop the thought that formed that this is what he deserved.

"Hey! Are you deaf?!" He snapped. "Are you blind?! Give me an arepa!"

"No."

This stunned him into silence, momentarily. "Wh-what?"

Julieta crossed her arms, her blood still boiling. "You heard me. You're not getting an arepa. You'll have to let your leg heal the old-fashioned way."

Juan glared at her. "Are you dumb? Why would I do that when you can just give me your magical healing food? Stop acting crazy and give me—."

"No!" Julieta yelled. He stopped again, finally having the decency to look scared for once. Julieta kept going. "You seriously have the nerve to expect an arepa from me after you beat up my brother? After you disrespect me and my family day after day? You're nothing but trash, Juan Vargas, and you don't deserve even a crumb of my food!"

Juan glared again, but this time there was a panicked edge to it. "Y-you can't just say no! You're supposed to serve the community! Your mom always says so!"

Julieta paused only a moment, but then turned her nose upward to the sky. She tapped her chin, as if trying to decide whether or not this mattered to her (it didn't). "Hmm, true…how tragic that I wasn't able to find you in time."

"H-huh?"

Julieta whirled on her heel and started walking away. The sense of satisfaction in her chest began to settle, overriding any guilt or shame she felt. Finally, finally, he would be taught a lesson.

"Hey, wait!" Juan shouted. Julieta could hear his panicked shuffling as he tried to drag himself behind her. His voice rose several pitches, all the bravado gone. "You can't just leave me here! I'm bleeding! I—there could be animals! Julieta!"

Ah, so now he knew her name. Maybe he should have respected her sooner. "Bye, Juan!" She called back cheerfully. She could still hear him yelling out in fear as she left. She ignored him, smiling all the while.

There was a funny feeling in Julieta's gut as she prepared to make dinner that evening. It had been there all afternoon, following her like one of Pepa's clouds, ever since that incident. But she kept her mind on her work, not willing to face it. Not yet.

Julieta was humming a tune to occupy herself when she was interrupted by hurried footsteps coming into the kitchen. She looked up to see her mother, a panicked expression on her face.

"Julieta. Thank goodness I found you," Alma said, out of breath. "There's been an emergency. Tell me you have some food ready."

Julieta pointed to the covered tray at her left. "There's still a few arepas from this afternoon leftover."

"Thank God." Alma rushed over to grab a few arepas. "You stay here. I'll take care of this." With that, she dashed out of the kitchen and toward the front door.

The funny feeling in Julieta's gut grew. She kept ignoring it.

A short while later, dinner was almost ready. Pepa was eagerly waiting at the table for her food, seemingly oblivious to Julieta's mood. Just as she was getting everything ready, Alma returned.

One look at her mother's face and Julieta knew she was in trouble.

But she didn't knowledge it. "Hola, Mamà. Did that emergency turn out okay?"

"Yes," Alma replied curtly. "For your sake, I'm glad it did."

Only now did Pepa seem to notice the tension in the air. A cloud started forming above her head. "Um…what's going on?"

Alma didn't look at her, just silently watching Julieta for a moment. "…Pepa, go call your brother down for dinner."

Pepa hesitated, glancing from her mother to her sister with wide eyes. Julieta continued operating as if everything was normal, pulling their dinner off the stove and putting it on the table. "I already did, Mamà," she said softly. "He'll be down in a minute."

Alma looked slightly annoyed but kept her composure. "Fine. Then you and I will have our little talk after dinner."

That definitely didn't sound good. Julieta kept herself as calm as possible and went about her business. She was good at that. Pepa's cloud was still growing and her face screamed what did you do? to which Julieta said nothing. Bruno was no help when he came down, immediately sensing the tense atmosphere, saying nothing, and giving Julieta the same look as Pepa throughout the meal. Alma's gaze was piercing holes into Julieta's skull.

This had to be the most awkward family dinner ever.

"Pepa, Bruno," Alma announced quietly when it was over. "You two go to your rooms. I have to talk with your sister. And I'd better not catch you eavesdropping."

Her tone left no room for argument, but Julieta heard Pepa whispering frantically to Bruno as they left. Her face heated up in shame, but that was nothing compared to what was coming.

"Sit down," Alma commanded. Julieta silently did as she was told. Alma sat down in front of her with her ha do folded together. "I assume you already know what the emergency I mentioned was about."

Julieta gulped. "Juan Vargas?"

"Yes. Your arepa healed his broken leg, but he'd lost a lot of blood. We had to scramble to make sure he was stable." Alma's face turned grave once more. "Julieta, he told me that you found him earlier and refused to help him. The fact that you knew who I was talking about seems to confirm this. Am I wrong to assume that?"

Julieta didn't meet her eyes, staring at the table before her instead.

"Julieta. Answer me. Is this true?"

Julieta took a deep breath. "Yes."

"Why?"

Julieta grit her teeth, hot tears pricking at the edges of her eyes. "Because he—he—he's an awful person, Mamà! He keeps taking arepas that I need to help other people—he always disrespects us, he acts inappropriately toward me and Pepa—he hit Bruno!" Julieta was spitting the words out of her mouth now, each of them laced with venomous hatred. "He completely bruised his face, all because of a stupid vision! He even had the nerve to call him a freak right to my face while he was laying there demanding my food—and he doesn't deserve my help! Not when he always treats me like a—like a dog, like a slave! He's violent, and he's creepy, and he didn't deserve anything! I hate him!"

Silence rang in the room. That is, aside from Julieta's panting. She was red in the face, her heart pounding, feeling like she had finished climbing a mountain. Before her, Alma said nothing. When Julieta dared to look up at her mother, she saw that her expression had hardened even more. There was a restrained sort of rage and fear in her eyes that made Julieta wince.

"Julieta Rosa Madrigal," Alma whispered. Somehow, whispering was worse than yelling. "Do you understand that because of your petty desire for revenge, you almost let someone die?"

Julieta gaped, the funny feeling in her gut rushing back to meet her full force. She sputtered for a moment, trying to weasel her way out of the accusation before settling on, "Did you not hear anything I said?"

"I heard," Alma replied. "And that will be dealt with—but do you really believe that leaving him to bleed and possibly die was an appropriate way to respond to this situation?" She leaned forward, her voice becoming more stern with every word. "Julieta, listen to me. You are a healer. And a healer has no right at all to decide who 'deserves' to be helped and who doesn't. How long until you start refusing to help anyone you've decided you don't like, or who even makes you angry?"

Julieta gripped the sides of her chair. "I—I won't—"

"No, you won't. Because you will never do this again. I understand that this boy needs to be disciplined. But leaving an injured person behind when you can help him is not discipline, Julieta. It's cruel. It's a sin. And you are very lucky we were able to help him, and that you won't have to carry this boy's soul on your conscience." Alma tapped the table in front of her to emphasize her point, pausing just a moment to let it sink in. "Julieta. We were gifted this miracle, and we can just as easily lose it if we don't use it properly. I never want to hear about you refusing help to someone you're able to heal, understand?"

Julieta was stiff as a board. The strange feeling finally unfurled and spread through her veins like ice, the horrifying realization that someone could have died. Because of her. The tears in her eyes overflowed, her body shook.

"I—I didn't mean to—I'm sorry, I was just so mad—I—" She burst into sobs, unable to continue.

Julieta buried her face into her hands, bawling into them as the weight of her actions threatened to crush her. But just as she felt like she was about to fall into despair, she felt her mother sit next to her and wrap her arms tightly around her. Julieta took a few more minutes to cry, and when she eventually calmed down, she spoke again.

"I-I'm sorry, Mamà. I'm a terrible person."

"No, you're not," Alma replied gently. She moved stray hairs off of Julieta's face, while also rubbing her back comfortingly. "You made a mistake. A mistake that I'm thankful didn't turn out as bad as it could have, for your sake. But now you understand, don't you?" She pulled her daughter away just far enough to look her in the eye. "Your Gift is a big responsibility. It's not to be taken lightly." She paused. "Why didn't you tell me that this boy was mistreating you and your siblings?"

Julieta gulped. "I…I thought you wouldn't really care," she admitted softly. "His parents always brush it off as teasing, or…or something just not serious."

"I hardly think physically attacking my son and treating my daughters like objects is simple 'teasing,'" Alma snipped. She was always so restrained, but Julieta could tell she was angry. Not at her this time, but for her. Alma sniffed. "I will talk to his parents once he's recovered. You three won't have to worry about him anymore."

Julieta nodded.

"That's that, then. Go to your room, think about what we talked about." With that, Alma pulled away from the embrace and waved her hand to send Julieta off to her room. Exhausted, and without argument, Julieta obeyed.

Her mother was right. She had a lot to think about.

The door to Julieta's room creaked open not half an hour later. She didn't need to look up to see who it was, and the sound of low rumbling thunder gave it away away.

Julieta lay on her bed, staring at the ceiling, her energy completely drained. She didn't move as both her siblings cautiously strode up to her. They paused next to her bed.

"Juli?" Bruno asked, his voice soft. "Are…you okay?"

"What happened?" asked Pepa.

Julieta sighed through her nose, which Pepa took as an invitation to sit down next to her. Bruno followed suit and sat on her other side. They seemed concerned, so Julieta sucked it up and forced herself to sit up.

"I got in real big trouble," she mumbled.

"Mm, yeah, we noticed," Bruno replied.

"But why?" Pepa insisted, starting to bounce with anticipation.

"She doesn't have to say if she doesn't want to, Pepa."

"O-okay, but—I'm gonna die of curiosity here! Julieta, you never get in trouble!"

Julieta bit her lip. The last thing she wanted was for her little siblings to hear about this, but with how big Pepa's cloud was growing, she'd better just spit it out before they all got drenched. Better they hear it from her than from Mamà, or worse, from someone in town.

"Juan Vargas broke his leg," Julieta muttered. "Like Bruno saw. And…I didn't give him an arepa. I just left him there. And when they adults found him, they just barely managed to save him in time. Or at least that's what Mamà said."

They were silent, shocked. Julieta felt the bitter guilt and anxiety in her stomach rise. This was it. Her little siblings who had looked up to her for so long would now look at her with disgust and disappointment.

But Pepa just hugged her fiercely. "It's okay, Juli."

Julieta frowned. "No, it's not."

"Fine—it's not okay, but it turned out okay. You probably didn't mean it, right?"

Julieta bit her lip. "I-I didn't mean for it to get so bad. But I didn't want to help him. I was just so angry."

Pepa chuckled slightly. "Honestly, I get it. If I was on your shoes, I would have done the same thing."

Julieta finally cracked a smile. "Yeah, that's the problem, isn't it?"

"I don't think he would have died," Bruno piped up. "It was just a broken leg. And this town is tiny, they were bound to find him pretty quick. I think Mamà was just exaggerating to emphasize her point."

Julieta hesitated. It was sometimes hard to guess what level of certainty her brother was speaking with, but now wasn't the time to dwell on that. She just dried her eyes with a smile. "Y-yeah…I guess."

The remained as they were for a while longer. Then Julieta finally pulled away from Pepa's arms with a deep breath. "I hate that we can't make any mistakes with our Gifts without huge consequences," she muttered. "These Gifts can be kind of a mess, you know?"

Pepa and Bruno just laughed. "Yeah, you're telling us," Bruno snorted.

Julieta grinned sheepishly, feeling a little better now at last. Perhaps it would take her some time to move on from this, but at least she could always count on these two to support her.

Julieta did end up apologizing to Juan the next time she saw him. She wasn't sure if it worked, though. He'd hurriedly accepted her apology, but was strangely skittish around her ever since. Whether it's because his parents were actually doing their jobs now or because Julieta had scared him that much, she'd never know. All she could do now was focus on being the best healer she could be from here on out.

(At least Bruno and Pepa also seemed to no longer have trouble with him. That, at the very least, was something Julieta could be happy about).

However, when it came to that running debate over who the scariest triplet was, some people would now have a new perspective to add to the mix—Bruno never fought back, and Pepa didn't hold grudges. Neither of them were ever fully in control of their Gifts anyway. But Julieta?

Do not piss off Julieta.