Fwwwshhhhh…

Mirabel's ears were tingling when she awoke. This was certainly the strangest wake-up call she'd ever gotten, but she wouldn't call it unpleasant. As she cracked her eyes open, she saw the source of the sound, a soft stream of running water feeing into a tiny waterfall. This must be one of Dolores' soundscapes. That, combined with the rhythmic beats of three separate hearts, and the airy sound of breathing, created an effect that Mirabel didn't quite know how to describe.

Sound had never been so sharp before. It was like she was hearing not just with her ears, but inside her head. She flexed her ears, trying to make sense of all the various sounds she was hearing at once. Her temples seemed to vibrate.

Slowly, Mirabel sat up, wincing a little at the creaking of the bed. Someone had really cranked up the volume of the whole world. Was this what Dolores heard every day? She must be used to it, or she would never be so calm.

Isabela, and who she assumed was Dolores in her body, were both still sound asleep. Mirabel's stomach growled, much louder than usual of course, and she decided she'd try to sneak out for a snack. She tiptoed toward the door, savoring the pleasant sound of her footsteps on the foam floor.

Finally, she opened the door…and stepped outside.

…hissssstaptaptaptapWHOOSHthumpthumpthumptumpSQUISHahHELLOwherearemyshoesSTOMPSTOMPSTOMPSTOMPmommyImhungrySNAPthumpthumpthumpyouvebeengettingsolazyGOODMORNINGcruncrunchSLIIIIIIIDEhissssssROARsquishsquishsqueakBANGthumpthumpthumpWHYWOULDYOUSAYTHATTOMEsmacksmackSwishEWWWhuffhuffhuffcrickcrickCRACKdangitswishcrunchcrunchSQUISHhissssssGRRRRRrumblerumblecreakheywakeupNOfwissssshBANGNOOOhahahahahahathumpthumpthumpAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA—

Mirabel went back inside.

What. The heck?! Why hadn't anyone warned her about that?! That was no soundscape, that was an absolute nightmare! Whimpering, Mirabel covered her ears and slid down to the floor, trying to stop the incessant ringing that persisted after the violation she had just experienced.

Dolores stirred at that moment. Mirabel felt a little bad for waking her, but at the same time also felt desperate for her advice. Because how on Earth was she able to exist with that constant assault on the ears every day?

"Dolo—oh, frick—!" She lowered her voice down to a whisper. Even just talking felt like too much right now. "Dolores…." she hissed. "Please wake up…"

While Mirabel waited, Dolores slowly woke up and took a moment to get used to her new skin. First she touched her ears, then her face, and Mirabel saw her squinting before she starting looking around for her glasses.

Finally, she stood up, flexing her fingers and toes. Dolores sighed, then spotted Mirabel sitting in her spot by the door and giving her the most pleading stare.

She walked over, bouncing a bit along the way. "Did you try to go outside?" She whispered.

Mirabel nodded pitifully.

Dolores shook her head. "I told you to wear earplugs. Hang on, let me find them for you…"

"I thought I'd be okay after I heard your soundscape," Mirabel whimpered. "It was manageable, so I thought…ugh. The world is chaos."

Dolores scoffed. "You can say that again." She shuffled through one of her drawers as quietly as she could, and pulled out a pair of red earplugs with little musical notes on them. She brought them over to Mirabel. "Here. These will help.

Mirabel reluctantly removed her hands from her ears. She took the earplugs and put them in her ears as fast as she could. While it didn't keep out everything, it muffled the sound in the room enough for Mirabel to take a breather.

"…huh," she said, perking up. "Did your room change just now? I swear I heard running water when I woke up, but now…" she listened. "Sounds more like a soft breeze."

Dolores nodded. "Yep. You wanted something a little calmer, so the soundscape changed."

"Oh! I didn't know your room could do that. Does it respond to your thoughts?"

Dolores shrugged. "I suppose so. It's actually a new feature, you know, since the house got rebuilt. It used to be nothing but a soundproofed room. Now it's a little nicer."

Dolores took Mirabel's hand and helped her stand. They padded back to where they were sleeping. Mirabel took a shaky breath, taking in the sounds of their heartbeats and their footsteps, and the soundscape around them. This was really weird. She thought she knew what hearing felt like, but this was like a totally different sensation altogether.

Speaking of different, Mirabel couldn't help but notice that one of the heartbeats in the room was speeding up. She paused to listen again. It sounded like…the change was coming from Isabela. And sure enough, when Mirabel checked, her sister was just waking up from sleep.

Whoa. She could actually hear the difference between a sleeping person and a waking one. That was…actually kind of cool.

Isabela's joints cracked crisply as she stretched, and her sigh was loud and dramatic. She smacked her lips a couple of times (oh gosh, please stop—), and looked around blearily until she noticed the other two. "G'morning…"

"Morning, Isa…" Dolores replied, grinning. "Listen, uh…I know you literally just woke up, but do you think you can go back to your room? I'm trying to help Mirabel with—you know." She pointed to her ear.

Isabela raised an eyebrow. "Yikes. Have fun, Mira."

After a few more stretches, Isabela stood up, looking refreshed. Then she gracefully headed toward the door.

"Try to close the door quickly when you leave!" Dolores called after her.

Alarmed, Mirabel's hands flew to her ears again in preparation for the onslaught. Despite Isabela doing her best to leave and shut the door quickly, Mirabel still got another dose of noise. At least the earplugs made it less bad…at least by a little.

Mirabel groaned once it was over (although it was more of an exhale). "Ughhh, Lola, how do you deal with this?! Every time someone moves, it's like they punched me in the head."

Dolores smiled sympathetically. "Yeah, it's definitely a…learning curve. But I can help you with it." She stood up and dusted off her nightgown. "But first, we need to get breakfast. I'll go ahead and get some food for you, and then we can go over how fo control your hearing."

She got up to go get dressed, and Mirabel whimpered. "Do we have to? I was thinking I could just…stay in here? Where it's quiet?"

"What, you want to just stay in my room all day?"

"Sure? It's only for today, right? I can handle it."

Dolores rolled her eyes. "I wager you'll go stir-crazy before I even get back from downstairs."

Now that she was wearing Mirabel's clothes, Dolores slung her bag over her head and headed for the door. "I'll go get breakfast and be right back. Cover your ears."

Mirabel did so, trying to keep her mind on the soundscape rather than the noise outside. It felt a little more manageable this time, or maybe that was just her imagination.

The absence of sound felt deafening in it of itself for Dolores. Even in her relatively soundproofed room, she could still hear most details, just muffled. Dolores thought it would be a relief to get some peace and quiet, but both now and during the rebuilding, the feeling was the same: not completely peaceful, but simply that something was missing. Maybe she'd just gotten too used to her super-hearing.

Dolores continued contemplating this as she piled two plates high with food for breakfast. She was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't notice Julieta coming up from behind and calling out to her.

"….Lola? Dolores, sweetheart?"

Dolores jumped. She whirled around, careful not to drop any food. "Oh! S-sorry, I—I didn't hear you…"

Julieta smiled gently. "You are Dolores, right?"

"Y-yes. Sorry, Tía. I'm still getting used to it."

"I understand." She looked around her. "Where is Mirabel?"

"In my room," Dolores sighed. "She's feeling overwhelmed. I was thinking I could take some breakfast to her and eat there."

Julieta was about to respond, when Pepa appeared out of nowhere and swept Dolores up in a hug.

"Oh, there you are!" Pepa cried, loud but not loud enough. "I was worried when you were late." She grabbed Dolores' face and looked her deep in the eye. "You're in there, right, Lolita? How are you feeling? Is the body swap treating you okay? Are you comfortable?"

Dolores sputtered as her mother squeezed her cheeks between her hands. "Yes, mamà, I'm fine," she huffed. "You should know that. Didn't you also do a body swap?"

Pepa pouted. "Well, yes, but you're my daughter. It's natural for me to worry."

Julieta chuckled. "Lay off her, Pepa. Dolores, you can take your food upstairs and help Mirabel with her hearing. If you can get her to come out, please do. I don't want her to be cooped up all day. Mirabel needs to be around people."

Dolores shook out of Pepa's grip. "Okay Tía. I'll try. See you later." She took both plates and left.

"Let me know if you need anything, sweetheart!" Pepa called after her.

"Hey," Camilo piped up out of nowhere. "How come she gets to eat in her room?"

"Quiet, Camilo, you can eat in your room when it's your turn to be Mirabel."

Just as Dolores predicted (didn't know she also had prophetic powers), Mirabel was already bored of being in the room by the time her cousin came back with food. No one could blame her though! She was a social butterfly! She was meant to be free out in the world, not cooped up in a room!

"Bored already?" Dolores asked, somewhat smug.

Mirabel pouted. "Fine, fine, you can train me in your Gift. But if you can't, I'm just going to sleep the day away. What took you so long, anyway?"

Dolores rolled her eyes and sat down. "Nothing. My mamà was just slowing me down and asking if I was okay. She's always smothering me like that."

"Heh. Well, you can't spell 'smother' without 'mother,' right?"

"Yes, very funny. Let's eat."

After a very careful meal with as little clinking as possible, Dolores stood up and instructed Mirabel to do the same.

"Okay. First, tell me what you feel in terms of the magic."

Mirabel shrugged. "Well…all the sound just feels sharper. Like it's going straight into my brain instead of through my ears." She frowned. "And when I went outside, it was like everything had the exact same volume. There was no difference between someone talking downstairs versus a kid's heartbeat three miles away. They were all equally loud."

Dolores nodded along. "Yeah…that sounds about right. What about now? What do you hear now?"

"Hmm…our voices. Our heartbeats." She grimaced. "And, other biological processes, I presume, but I don't want to think too much about what those are. And every time we move, it makes noise. And the soundscape, too. Again, all equally loud."

"Okay. Let's start with what's in here, then." Dolores put her hands on her hips. "For me, it helped me to understand my Gift by thinking of it in a different way. In essence, you're no longer human."

Mirabel's eyebrows shot upward. "Eh?"

"Not literally. I mean that your hearing no longer functions the same way as a regular human. Instead, I like to think of it like a radio."

She gestured toward the air. "The signals are all around us, and you can pick up on anything that's in range—which is, the whole Encanto. Your ears are like your antennas. What you need to do now is learn how to 'tune' your ears so you can hear what you want, and tune out every other signal."

Mirabel leaned forward, interested. "Oh! I see. You can pick and choose what you hear and 'aim' for it, so to speak."

"Exactly." Dolores grinned. "The other sounds don't necessarily go away, but they become less."

Mirabel nodded. "Okay. Let's give it a try."

"What do you want to listen to?"

"Hmm…" Mirabel tapped her chin. "Maybe my own heartbeat?"

"Okay." Dolores stepped closer and took Mirabel's hands. "At the beginning, it might help to physically put your hands on your heads and aim them." She guided Mirabel to do exactly that, then stepped back.

Mirabel closed her eyes, and tried to focus inward, on her own heart. She gently moved her ears to point down and in, wincing at the sound of blood flowing in her head. She didn't want to hear that, she wanted just the heartbeat. Mirabel focused as much as she could, finding the rhythm.

Ba-dump. Ba-dump. Ba-dump.

She slowly started to smile. "Hey, I think it's working."

"You're doing good, Mirabel. How do you feel now?"

"Well, I can still hear everything else, but my heartbeat is the loudest—oh, it just skipped a beat. Maybe because I'm happy?" She giggled.

Dolores raised an eyebrow. "Yeah. You picked that up really quickly." She paused. "Are you ready to try going outside again?"

Mirabel opened her eyes and frowned.

"It's the same concept," Dolores told her. "A little more to sort through, but as long as you focus on something specific, like a person or location, it's okay. I try to keep an ear out for all our names. They have specific frequencies. Dolores. Mirabel. See?"

Mirabel nodded slowly. "I guess…but not yet. I want to practice some more first."

"Alright."

"…I can still wear the earplugs outside, right?"

"Yes, Mirabel."

After spending more time practicing, Dolores finally managed to coax Mirabel out of her room and into the courtyard. At this point, the rest of the family was already done with morning chores and were coming back home for a break. Mirabel heard a few concerned murmurs for herself. Despite the general chaos of being out in the open among all the noises, Mirabel still felt happy she was able to hear that.

"What are you listening to now?" Dolores asked.

"Our family, outside," she gave a strained smile. "It's so weird, I feel like I can tell where everyone is. Like echolocation."

She held up her hands to guide her ears, 'tuning' them as Dolores had shown her. "Mamà's heading back to the kitchen, I can hear the stove being turned on. Abuela is there. Let's see…Luisa has very heavy footsteps, but she's moving quickly. Oh, I can hear Toñito's little animals following him around. Yeesh, some of them have really high-pitched voices, I wish—oh my gosh, what was that?!"

"What?"

"Camilo sounds like he just melted? His whole body just went shloop, like—" She imitated the squishy, slurpy sound she'd just heard.

Dolores just nodded. "That's just his shapeshifting noise. Don't worry about it."

"That is. Disgusting."

Dolores shook her head and gently turned Mirabel around to face the front door. "Alright, let's continue. I want you to try focusing on the town. I always use my Gift to listen out for trouble."

Mirabel wrinkled her nose in disdain. "But how do I know what do focus on? There's so much happening."

"I like to do a quick sweep of the town every now and then. Start with one end, focus on a specific location, and gradually move to the next. Oh, and keep an ear out for your name. Or rather, my name. Dolores."

Mirabel took a deep breath and did as she instructed. It was still a lot, but the earplugs and Dolores' advice were helpful. Mirabel closed her eyes and imagined the town she knew like the back of her hand. She honed in on one particular location, and the voices of the people.

"…give you another half pound of mangos for no extra…"

"…put way too much salt in my eggs this morning, and…"

"…please settle down, children, we need to learn math, not make a mess…"

"…can't believe he said that to me! I've been working my butt off to take care of the house and he has the audacity to call me lazy?"

Mirabel raised an eyebrow. "Sounds like Ariana Lopez is having a spat with her new husband."

Dolores snorted. "Mirabel, please, we're supposed to be listening for trouble."

"This is trouble, isn't it? Trouble in paradise."

Dolores giggled. "Stop, don't feed me any gossip. Keep going."

Mirabel continued listening, allowing the voices to drift in and out of her awareness. Now that she was getting the hang of it, it wasn't so bad anymore. She couldn't hear any screams of terror or alarming destruction, so she kept moving through town.

"I broke my shoe strap this morning. Now look."

"I can't wait for my birthday! I'm going to buy the biggest chocolate cake and treat myself."

"Forgive me father, for I have sinned."

Mirabel's eyes flew open at that one. "Oh my gosh…I think Señor Rojas is doing a confession? At church?"

Dolores' eyes widened. "Wh—no! Mirabel! You can't listen to confessions!"

"Oh, okay…this is crazy, I can't believe I can hear this. How does anyone in town feel safe confessing when—"

"Mira!" Dolores stomped her foot and lightly smacked Mirabel's arm. "Stop listening to it! I took a vow! You're going to get me in trouble!"

"Alright, alright, I'll stop!" Mirabel turned her ear away from that direction and swept around for another sound.

Hmm, Dolores had to take a vow not to listen to a specific spot in town? Was that ever hard for her? It must be hard, being the keeper of so many secrets.

Mirabel had thought Dolores just had a big mouth, but if she had to listen to so many things, things she had to keep to herself…it was a wonder she didn't blab more. Mirabel was certain she would have had plenty to leak if she did this every day.

Suddenly, something new caught her ear. "Wait. I think someone is coming up to the house."

Dolores leaned toward her. "Can you describe them?"

"Uhhh…Sounds like a man. Heavy footsteps, I think his feet are kinda big, and maybe he's top-heavy. His heart's beating kinda quick and he's huffing, probably from climbing up the hill." She scrunched her nose and focused harder. "Uh, he's…singing? Wow he is completely out of tune."

Dolores' eyes suddenly widened. "W-wait—."

At that moment, Casita's door opened up, and a familiar face stood before them.

"Good morning, familia Madrigal!" Mariano's ridiculously loud voice boomed the second he stepped in. Both the girls froze in their spots, though for quite different reasons.

Mariano's eyes fell on Mirabel and he beamed. "There you are, mi amor. Heaven must have blessed be today, for your face to be the first thing I see when I walk through the door."

Mirabel blinked. "E-eh?"

…oh. Oh, no. No no no, she thought she'd been done with romantic misunderstandings when she stopped switching with married people. Mirabel had forgotten about this!

Before she could say a word, Mariano had already crossed the room and took Mirabel (who he thought was Dolores) into his arms. And—oh no, now he was going for a kiss! Mirabel squawked and turned her head just in time so Mariano kissed her cheek. Meanwhile, Dolores just stood there open-mouthed.

Mariano pulled away looking somewhat confused. "Is something wrong, mi amor?"

"Uh—uh—" Mirabel looked frantically between him and Dolores, desperately trying to find an excuse. "S-sorry, you—you can't kiss me today! Because I have—a sore lip! Yeah, that's it! Very sore—might even be infected!" She started wiggling out of his grip as he spoke. "So no kisses! Too bad! Oh, what's that?" She put a hand up to her ear and pretended to listen. "Someone's calling me! Gotta go! Bye!"

Mirabel finally pushed Mariano away and hurried off. The sound of her pounding heart was overwhelming right now and she tried to rip her focus away from it. But it was hard to pick a sound to zone in on, when she was currently freaking out. So she just settled for covering her ears and trying to find somewhere quieter.

Meanwhile, both Mariano and Dolores remained frozen in their spots for a moment.

Mariano looked completely pitiful, staring after where Mirabel had gone with a forlorn look in his eyes. At last, he seemed to notice that Dolores was standing next to him and turned to her with a sigh.

"Oh, hi, Mirabel, I didn't see you there," Mariano mumbled. "Did—did you see that? What just happened?"

"U-um…" Dolores croaked. How, exactly, was she supposed to feel about what happened? She was torn between swooning over him versus wanting to gag. Not to mention, she couldn't think of a proper explanation to offer. "I, uh, I'm not sure…"

Mariano was frowning. "If she had something wrong with her lip, she could just eat some of Señora Julieta's food, couldn't she?" His eyes widened. "Did I do something wrong? Have I upset her somehow?"

Dolores gasped. "No! No, no, you've done nothing wrong, cariño!"

Mariano blinked.

"Er—" Dolores went red. "Mariano. She, uh—just has some stuff going on. I'll go talk to her. Wait here."

With that, Dolores hurried off, shielding her face so she wouldn't look him in the eye. How embarrassing. She needed to find Mirabel quickly so they could clear this up. Where had she gone? Ugh, if only she could just listen for her right now…

Mirabel ended up going back to Dolores' room, since it was the quietest place in the house. Her head was buzzing and it felt really hot, but she wasn't sure if that was from her Gift or the sheer embarrassment of what had just happened.

She winced when someone knocked at her door. Looking up, she saw her mother poking her head in. Julieta smiled gently.

"Hola, sweetheart," Julieta said quietly. "Are you okay to be around people now? It's just me and Abuela."

Mirabel sighed. "Sure, come on in."

Mamà and Abuela entered the room as quietly as they could, and shut the door behind them. Julieta immediately engaged Mother Mode as she sat down next to Mirabel and hugged her tightly.

"The family sends you their best wishes," Abuela said. Then she looked around the room. "Where is Dolores, by the way?"

"Oh, uh…" Mirabel bit her lip. "I'm not sure. I kinda ran off and left her with Mariano…"

"Mariano? He's here?"

Mirabel grimaced. "Yes. He thought I was Dolores and he tried to kiss me. Blech."

Julieta's eyes widened. "Oh dear…"

At that moment, the door opened again and Dolores hurried in.

"There you are," Dolores huffed. "You need to go downstairs and apologize to Mariano. He's completely beside himself, you made the poor man think he did something wrong."

"Oh, I'm sorry, what was I supposed to do? Make out with your boyfriend?"

"No, no, she didn't mean that, I'm sure," Julieta cut in. Dolores just crossed her arms and huffed again. Julieta paused for a moment and looked around the group. "I'm wondering, what if we just…told him the truth? Mariano is almost family, isn't he?"

Abuela frowned. "Well, I suppose, if you're okay with the possibility that he could spread it to his mother and grandmother. I love those two, but they are the biggest gossips in the whole Encanto."

Dolores perked up. "Oh, but Mariano's very good at keeping secrets! I know we can trust him with anything."

Mirabel squinted at her. "I thiiiink you may be a little biased, Dolores."

"I'm serious. I've told him many things and I've never heard him spreading, not even to his mamà. He's trustworthy."

Julieta sighed and turned to Abuela. "What do you think, Mamà?"

But Abuela just turned to Mirabel instead. "Mirabel. This is more your secret than it is mine. What do you think we should do?"

Mirabel was surprised. She pressed her lips together, thinking for a moment. "W-well…I guess this counts as a need-to-know situation, so…fine. But!" She held up a finger. "He has to give us his solemn word that he will keep his mouth shut! Okay?"

"Okay!" said Dolores, apparently overjoyed that her poor darling wouldn't be mildly upset today.

Mirabel stood up and brushed off her skirt. "Alright. Let's go get this overwith."

Mariano took the news about as well as expected. That is, with complete horror.

"I almost kissed Mirabel?!"

"Up-bup, but you didn't," Mirabel chuckled uncomfortably. "And I'm going to overlook it since you didn't know, so let's just move past this, okay?"

"Good idea," Dolores mumbled.

Mariano leaned against the kitchen table, where they were currently seated, and ran his hands through his hair. "Okay. Okay. I am so sorry. I had no idea—maybe I should be less bold with Dolores, but I always get swept up in the romance…"

"Aww, you don't need to change anything," Dolores cooed. "I like it when you're bold."

"Dolores, please don't say that to him while you look like me."

Dolores rolled her eyes. "Today is just a special circumstance. And speaking of, thank you for believing us. I know it's a lot to take in."

"You guys are literally magic. I'll believe anything." Mariano rubbed his neck. "But—how long is this going to last?"

"Just for the day," Dolores replied. "Mirabel has been body-hopping. But by tomorrow, I'll be back to normal."

"And I will be Luisa," Mirabel sighed. "But never mind that. Mariano, you have to give us your solemn vow that you won't tell a soul about this. This is sensitive information, got it? Raise your right hand and say 'I, Mariano Guzman, do solemnly swear—"

"M-Mirabel, that's enough," Abuela interrupted. "I think he understands, don't you, mijo?"

Mariano glanced around at the four women staring him down. Mirabel heard him gulp. "Right, of course. Not a word."

He sighed, then got ready to stand up. "A-anyway, if that's all, I think I'm just going to go home. This has been the weirdest day of my life."

Julieta grinned. "Oh, just wait until you join the family, dear. Things are weird around here all the time."

Mariano may have kept the incident secret from his family, but there was no way Mirabel could keep it secret from her family. It was the hot topic at dinner that evening, and reactions ranged from being weirded out to laughing their butts off. Camilo was being the most annoying about it, of course, constantly shapeshifting into Mariano and making kissy faces at Mirabel.

"Camilo, if you shloop into Mariano one more time, I swear I'm going to throw up on your shoes."

"If I—If I what?"

"Ay, Mirabel, I am so sorry," Tío Félix chuckled. "You finally manage to come out of your room, and that happens. I'm glad you at least came down to join us for dinner."

Mirabel grinned. "Well, you're all very loud, but a dinner with the family is worth it."

"Hear, hear."

The conversations continued around her. Now Mirabel understood why Dolores got exasperated at dinner time, but…well, it was nice, too. The family's voices were ringing in her ears, and the noises of eating were a bit off-putting, but if she had to choose a sound to fill her head with at the end of the day, it would be the joyful and happy sounds of her most beloved people eating together.

"By the way, Dolores," Félix piped up again. "How has your day been? I was meaning to ask you."

Dolores rested a hand on her cheek. "Quiet," she replied. "That's about it, really." She cut into her food and took a a bite. "Actually, it's interesting to listen to everyone talk this way," she said. "Your voices all sound so different without my super-hearing. I guess it's because I'm not picking up on the subtle frequencies."

Huh. Mirabel took a listen to see what she meant. She'd been focused on the volume, but Dolores was right. Everyone's voices sounded more…full, too. Very interesting. It was too bad she didn't have time to study it more.

"And another thing," Dolores continued. "I finally understand what people mean when they say that our voices sound different to ourselves than to others. Mirabel's voice is so unique to hear from inside her own head. She sounds even cuter than usual."

Mirabel rolled her eyes as the others laughed and cooed. "This again? Why does everyone keep patronizing me? I'm basically an adult—"

The others were replying to her statement, but something caught Mirabel's ear and pulled her away from the moment. Somewhere across town, a wet snap, and a hiss of pain. Followed by her name. Dolores.

The others quickly realized she wasn't paying attention to them anymore.

"Mirabel, is everything alright?" Julieta asked.

Mirabel listened for a moment longer, then turned to her mother with a wince. "I…I think Manuel Fuentes just broke his arm. It's not urgent, but…"

Julieta smiled, grabbed an arepa and stood up. "Oh, he's just down the street. I'll be right back. Thank you, mija."

Julieta left the house, as Mirabel exchanged a smile with Dolores. Well, at least she'd managed to do something good before she lost the Gift. Dolores looked proud of her.

As she ate her food, Mirabel leaned back and let herself once more get immersed in the sounds of the dinner table. She had to admit, even though Dolores' Gift was tiring, it wasn't so bad after a while. Still, though, she was about just ready to move on to the next one.

She was almost there. Only three days left to go.