Night in the Wood Part Two:

Luisa had been helping Dolores look for Mirabel when she had noticed strange tracks on the ground, tracks she had been shown before, that could mean trouble for the Encanto. The mountains around them kept out human predators, but not animal ones. If these really were Jaguar prints, then she needed to know where they lead. If it was too close to the village, then they would have to get rid of it.

She bent down, examining the ground, it was a jaguar all right, a big one at that, and close by too, these prints were fresh, "Dolores?!" she called out, straightening slowly, only to freeze when she realized something, she was all alone.

"Dolores?" she called out again, this wasn't good, this wasn't good at all. She really didn't know her way around the woods like some of the other kids in the Encanto, she never saw the appeal of playing in them as a kid. Without Dolores, she was as lost as Mirabel was.

Panic started to seize the tall fourteen year old girl, but she shook her head, forcing the thoughts away, she was the strong one. She would be fine, Dolores would come back for her. She probably picked up on which direction Mirabel was in and had gone off in that direction without even realizing that she wasn't with her.

There was a rustling in the bushes to her right, "Please don't be the Jaguar," she muttered, as the bushes parted and Dolores arrived, struggling to keep Mirabel up on her hip as she walked.

"You found her!" Luisa called out, bounding forward, "Oh Mira!"

Dolores winced at the loud noise, but she couldn't really do anything about it, except allow Mirabel to let go of her neck and lean towards her older sister.

"Lulu," she cried out as she was lifted out of Dolores's arms.

"I've got you Hermanita, I've got you," Luisa assured her, "You're safe."

Mirabel didn't say anything, all she did was bury her head into her hermana's neck, sniffling loudly, "I didn't think that you'll ever find me," she wailed.

"Of course we were looking for you," Luisa insisted, a large hand rose up, gently wiping away a stray tear, "Why would you even think that?"

"Because… because… they said…" Mirabel shuddered as she clung to her older sister as she continued to sob in her arms.

Dolores frowned, what was Mirabel talking about, she had been expecting her to mention that she'd been out here all alone all night long, but this was different. There was obviously more going on then just her getting lost and nobody noticing it in the craziness that was last night.

"Hey, it's okay, I've got you," Luisa insisted, rubbing her hermana's back soothingly, "Let's get you home."

Mirabel didn't say anything, only nodding her head, not even moving it away from Luisa's neck as she did so.

…
The trek home through the woods was harder than the trek into them. A thin layer of ice had formed over the muddy ground, thick enough that Dolores, unburdened and small for her age, could make it across without any issue. Luisa on the other hand, had problems. The layer of ice broke under her and Mirabel's combine weight, often plunging her ankle deep into a pool of icy, muddy water.

The snow was another problem, it was coming down hard around them, lowering their visibility by quite a bit. The snow stuck to the ground hiding roots and low branches that waited to trip them. Again Luisa was at a worse disadvantage then Dolores, because she only had one hand available to catch herself with as she still held Mirabel in her one arm.

Once they finally made it out of the trees, they had something else that they had to contend with, the wind. The trees had shielded them from it, but out in the open it bit into them, sapping away what little warmth they had left.

Mirabel nestled deeper into her sister's neck, trying to find a warm spot. Her breathing slowed… "Luisa, you've got to keep Mirabel awake," Dolores shouted over the wind with a grimace, she hated shouting but it was the only way her prima would have heard her over this wind.

The wind was howling so much, it was so loud that Dolores couldn't pick up rather or not that Luisa heard her. She just had to keep moving. Forget about Mirabel, if she didn't get somewhere warm soon, she might not make it.

She could see Casita up ahead, visibility was probably around a hundred yards, which was great, accept for one little annoying detail, the last hundred yards or so was up hill.

Dolores was shivering hard by the time they made it up the last few steps, Casita was right in front of them, they had made it.

Of course then they had to work their way through an angry mob of farmers whose crops had been ruined by last night's storm and this afternoon's blizzard. Abuela was in the middle of the crowd, trying to calm them down.

"I'm sorry about the weather, there is only so much I can do about it. My nieta is missing, Dolores and Lusia are out looking for her, once they return and Pepa can see that Mirabel is safe, I'm sure the storm will end quickly."

"Quickly isn't good enough, it's already destroyed our crops."

"I will send Isabela out to survey the damage done, and see…" Abuela trailed off as she spotted Dolores and Luisa, windswept and covered in snow, "Ay," she exclaimed, pushing one farmer out of the way as she quickly headed towards them, "Luisa, hand Mirabel to me, then get out of those wet clothes before you catch your death."

Mirabel allowed her sister to hand her over to her abuela, wrapping her arms around her neck as she did.

"Ay, Mira, you're so cold…" Abuela muttered, before turning her attention back to the farmers, "We will deal with the crops as soon as possible, but at the moment, I need to make sure that my nieta is alright."

Mirabel shivered as she clung to her grandmother as she entered into Casita, heading upstairs.

"I hope you appreciate all of the trouble you put the family through with your little stunt MIrabel, it is going to take a while for us to get the crops back to where they need to be."

Mirabel's whole body shivered as she buried her head into Abuela's neck, "Lo siento," she whimpered, "I didn't mean… The Jaguar…" at that thought of being chased by the jaguar she started to tremble and shake once again. Sobbing into her abuela's shoulder.

"Shh…" Abuela said, rubbing soothing circles on her back as Casita opened the door to Pepa's bedroom, "You're okay," She'd get after Mirabel for getting lost and causing all this trouble later, right now, she was needed to calm the little girl down.

"Mirabel!" Abuela had barely stepped into the bedroom with her young bundle than she was relieved of it by a blur of blue.

"Mama," Mirabel called out, flinging herself out of Abuela's arms and into Julieta's.

Julieta grabbed her eagerly, pulling her up into her arms, "Ay, Mirabel, thank goodness you're safe."

Mirabel nodded, nestling her face into her mother's neck, seeking warmth, "It's cold."

"Si, it is kind of cold outside, but that's only because you worried your Tia so badly when we realized that you were missing…"

"I didn't think she'll care this badly," Mirabel insisted, allowing her eyes to droop a little.

"Why don't you go cuddle with Tia and let her know that you're okay while I make you something to eat, Si?"

Mirabel didn't respond, she was finally getting warm, and was getting super sleepy now that she knew that she was safe. She was already half asleep when she felt herself being lowered onto a soft surface, "Can you keep an eye on her while I make something for her to eat?"

"Si, si," she could hear her tia talking, as warm arms wrapped around her, the storm dying down as Mirabel snuggled into the warmth.

"We probably should get her out of her wet clothes," Papa said, "I'll fetch her something clean to wear."

…
Mirabel snuggled deeper into her Tia's side, sipping happily on her hot chocolate. Tia had helped her change out of her wet clothes and into her warmest nightgown that Papa could find. Dolores and Luisa had both reappeared as well, wet hair hanging down their backs and thick robes wrapped around them as they sipped their hot chocolate from Tia and Tio's couch. Even Isabela and Abuela had peeked in to see how Mirabel was doing. Yet, Abuela hadn't yelled at her for eating in bed, or being in her tia's bed at all. This was nice. Maybe she should have run away earlier.

A loud, sharp cry filled the air, almost causing Mirabel to spill her hot chocolate. "What was that?" she demanded.

"Felix, can you hand me Antonio please?"

"Of course Mi Vida."

"Antonio? Who is Antonio?"

Tia smiled softly at her as she held out her arms, allowing Tio to place a bundle of blankets in them, "This is your primito Antonio," she said, smiling proudly down at the bundle.

Mirabel looked at the baby with a frowned, "You had your baby?" she asked.

"Si," Tia said as she carefully positioned the baby so she could feed him.

"That was why you were storming last night?" Mirabel asked, slowly.

"Si, did no one tell you what was going on? That must have been so scary for you. Did you think that I was mad at you or something?"
"I thought that you thought that I was lost," Mirabel confessed, fingering the blanket that Tia Pepa had wrapped around her. "I was hiding…"

"Hiding?" Pepa asked, "Why were you hiding?"

Mirabel took a sip of her hot chocolate, glancing at the little baby, before sighing, "They told me that you wouldn't want me anymore. That the new baby was going to replace me. They… they said that you'll kick me out of Encanto!" she trembled as she thought about what they had said, what they had applied, "They said you no longer loved me because I didn't have a gift, and… and I wanted to prove them wrong."

There was a loud crash of thunder overhead, "Who said that?" Pepa demanded.

"Everybody!" Mirabel wailed, "But they were… they were Ly…lying," Mirabel suddenly looked up with fearful eyes, "They were lying right?"

"Of course, mi nube, they were lying, we would never kick you out of the Encanto."

Mirabel sniffled, "You were storming so hard, you were so scared, you thought I was lost… I was going to go home, I was going to meet Dolores on the path. Everything was going to be great. Only there was a jaguar, and it roared at me, and chased me, and I hurt my ankle, and by the time the Jaguar was gone… I didn't know how to get home. I wasn't really scared because you were storming so Dolores had to be looking for me."

Mirabel took a deep breath, taking another sip of hot chocolate, "But then I fell asleep and when I woke up in the morning I was still lost, still hurt, hungry and cold. You weren't looking for me…" Mirabel let out a wail as Julieta scooped her daughter up, hushing her.

"Last night was hectic here, Mira, we are so sorry you ended up spending the night in the woods. We sent Luisa and Dolores out to look for you as soon as we knew that you were missing."

"I found you really quickly once I realized that you were missing," Dolores offered.

Mirabel didn't say anything as she buried her head into her mother's shoulder, it didn't matter because Dolores had found her and she was in her mother's arms.

With her face buried into her mother the way that it was, she didn't see the angry looks on her sister's face, or on her Tia's. They were both going to have a little chat with the villagers as soon as possible. They all pretended not to notice when Agustin walked out of the room, muttering about setting the villagers straight.