Chapter 8
(Isabella POV)
I just kept looking at him over and over again. It had been 4 years but I would recognize him anywhere. His hand stayed over his knife and I was trying to think of the best way to get out of there. "What do you want to know?" I asked not taking my eyes off of him. "Who are you? What is this place? Why isn't it on any map? Why is this mountain not on any map 59 years or older?" I took a breath, "You are going to need to slow down to one question at a time." I said as I began to snake the vines through the jungle to right next to his foot before having some plants surround it.
I needed him to move to just the right spot. "Excuse me for having a lot of questions. I haven't been able to find this place in years," he said rolling his eyes, "Now who are you?" I looked towards town and back at him circling my steps causing him to as well. He side-stepped right into the loop and was brought up into the tree. I smirked, "4 years and you still haven't learned much have you?" I asked. He opened his knife and cut the vine dropping him down to the ground, "Maybe I learned a few things." I sighed, "Isabella." He cocked an eyebrow, "That's my name Isabella." "Do I get a last name?" He asked and I shook my head, "No, not yet. Why are you here?"
He cocked his head to the side, "Why would I tell you that?" I smirked, "Because you still don't know what other traps are here." He let out an annoyed breath, "I couldn't forget about this place. I kept trying to find this place but I never could. How can you do that thing with the plants?" I looked at him, "You can't know the answer to that one. Ask another question." "Why won't you tell me that?" He asked. "Because it is about more than me. You told me that you would leave this place alone last time you found it. I took the 4 year disappearance as a sign that you were keeping your word, why did you break it?" He smirked, "I promised to leave your town alone, I exclusively left out you. I want to know more." "Why?" I asked. "Because it is my job," He said. "What is that job?" He smirked, "You can't know the answer to that one." I groaned using my own words against me. "How did you not break any of these vines?" I asked looking up at him before shaking my head. "You know what it doesn't matter. Leave, please." I said pointing out toward the mountains. "No." He said crossing his arms over his chest. "No?" He shook his head, "Last time I left I couldn't find this place for another 4 years, I'm not doing that again. Not because of some wild women in the jungle."
"Wild Women?" I asked. He gestured to my dress and hair and my lack of shoes, "What exactly do you mean Caleb?" I said very pointedly, "I just mean you... you..." "I am not perfect enough? I don't fit what you think I should look like? I don't dress properly? I don't act properly? You see me in the jungle and you just assume that I am some Wild Women?" He didn't say anything as he began to look down at the ground. I rolled my eyes, "Follow me." I began to walk along the tree line until I stopped in front of one that I had tried to grow. It had a lot more nobs and bumps on it making it easier to grasp. I began to climb and looked at him as he stood below, "Come one." He followed me and we reached a sturdy branch high enough to see town. I waited as he made his way up and looked out at town, "This jungle isn't the only part of Encanto and we are not wild."
He looked over at me stunned, "How? When? Why?" I looked at him, "Those are not all my answers to give." "Well then who can I ask?" I sighed, "I have to ask people in town and ultimately it belongs to the Candleholder." "Candleholder?" He asked and I smirked. I don't know why but I liked leaving him confused. "What I will tell you is that everything that you are seeing didn't exist 59 years ago." He looked at me, "You don't look 59." I scoffed, "First you insult my appearance and now you are insinuating my age did no one ever teach you how to talk to a woman?" I rolled my eyes, "I'm 30. For your information." He nodded his head and muttered, "35."
I turned to face him, "Look I will talk to the people in town who can give you answers tonight and you can come back tomorrow. But, if you bring anyone else here or do anything to make these people not trust you, it will not end well." I don't know why I was thinking like this. I knew that this probably wasn't going to go well. I knew that Abuela wouldn't be happy. I wasn't even sure that I thought that Caleb was a decent person but, I was still saying this and he agreed immediately so now I had to talk to Mirabel and assemble a town meeting. If they didn't already think I went insane I was sure that they would now. Maybe not Mirabel or my family besides Abuela but everyone else would. Abuela, she was the most scared of outsiders after everything that happened. What was she going to say when she found out that not only did I not mention that na outsider had found us before but, that he came back and insisted on knowing more about us.
- that night -
The kids were all upstairs in their rooms when I called the family meeting. I looked around the table and had no idea how everyone was going to react, "Someone came through the border today." The table erupted before I could even continue as all of the parents talked over each other saying their concerns. I closed my eyes and let out a breath, "It wasn't the first time he came through." That quieted them all down as I swallowed a lump in my throat, "4 years ago when Dolores was pregnant with Daniela a man named Caleb had made his way through. He appeared to be lost and I sent him on his way after he promised to never come back. Today he did though. He's asking questions about town, about the mountain, and he has suspicions about my gift." I looked at Mirabel, "He seems to just want to learn more about us and I think that it might be better for us to work with him, rather than him trying to figure this out herself."
Everyone was still quiet as I let out a breath, "I think we should call a town meeting and see about inviting him into town to see what all of this is about." That brought on some uproar, "Isabella." "Look he is going to keep digging until he finds out more, trust me I can tell and if we want to have any control or say in it, it needs to be on our terms," I looked to Mirabel who was the official head of the family as the Candleholder. She nodded her head, "The town is going to have a say as well, if they don't want to do this then we will find a way to keep him out, but I agree with Isabella." I nodded my head.
Abuela looked mad at me, "Why didn't you tell us about him 4 years ago?" I let out a breath, "I figured he was just some lost traveler and didn't want to cause hysteria. I walked along the path everyday and I figured if he wasn't I was going to be there anyway." Abuela went out of chair and up to her room, followed by my Tía and Tíos. Mama and Papa came up to me, "Your plan makes sense. I just wish you would have told us about this before." I nodded my head as they walked away and I was left with my sisters, primos and their spouses. I looked over at Dolores and Mariano, "Are you two ok?" The nodded their head, "Yeah. We're just a little worried." I nodded my head as Mariano got up to leave. Dolores slowed down as she walked by me, "I probably would have done the same. He is just worried about our kids." I nodded my head again as they went upstairs.
I looked around, "Anyone else think I made the wrong choice?" None of them spoke until Olivia softly said, "I think that if he never came back then yeah it was the right call but, because he did it is just going to be harder to explain." I nodded my head. I looked at Camilo and he sighed, "I hate that stupid border." Before sighing, "Look as much time has passed inside of Encanto has passed out there in the world around us. I think that Abuela and some of the residents in Encanto who remember life outside the mountain might be scared that it didn't change as much as we did." "Yeah, you're probably right," I said. I looked over at Mirabel and Luisa. Mirabel shrugged, "I agree with you. I think that you made the right decision and I honestly think it might be a good thing to start reopening Encanto with the rest of the world." Luisa shrugged, "I've got your back no matter what." I leaned back into my chair. One meeting down, one to go. Too bad this was going to be the less explosive of the two.
