Mirabel didn't take long to change into less grimy clothing and stuff the rest of her things back into her bag. Casita had already laid everything out in a row on the floor for her, next to her borrowed blankets, and then showed her the pump where she could refill her canteen.
"Thanks, Casita," Mirabel said, patting the wall. "Don't worry, I'll take care of Tío Bruno. And I'll come back, lo prometo."
The house clicked its floorboards at her as if to say, you'd better.
She found Bruno in his room. The green tablets were spread out on the table before him and he was very still, staring at them intently. When she lightly knocked on the wall, he jumped.
"Mirabel! Sorry, sorry, didn't see you there," he said. He swallowed. "Are you—are you ready?"
Mirabel nodded, adjusting her bag on her back. "Whenever you are, Tío," she replied. "Do you…want to know more about them?" She nodded at the tablets. "Some of those have already happened, I think."
"I…" Bruno looked at the tablets then back to her. "Yeah, I mean, yes. Por favor."
He took a step to the side so she could join him at the table. She did her best to ignore the carved plates and pointed to the tablet of Antonio.
"That's Antonio," she said gently. "He's eight now, so this was probably just after he got his Gift. He can talk to animals, in case that wasn't clear. He's with Parce here, his jaguar friend. They're inseparable, much to Abuela's dismay."
She paused. When Bruno said nothing, she continued, "That's my sister Luisa, the romantic sap who can also lift things a billion times her size. I saw her lift a whole church once, it was loco. And…that one's of Dolores and Camilo. Do you know what they were arguing about?"
Bruno shook his head.
Mirabel shrugged and pressed on. "Well, it wouldn't be the first time, and they're older now so it must've worked out. Oh, Dolores has super hearing, and Camilo can shapeshift. He's working on his impressions though, because he still sounds like himself even if he looks different. Who else, who else…
"This is my Papi—Agustín Rojas," she said, pointing to the tablet of the adults drinking. "And that's my Tío Félix Castillo."
"Not Madrigal?" Bruno interrupted.
Mirabel frowned. "No?"
"Hmm."
"Why would it be Madrigal?" Mirabel asked, when it was clear he wouldn't elaborate.
"Oh, all the men who married into the family usually took the Madrigal last name," Bruno said, waving his hand dismissively. "Your Abuela must have changed the tradition for…some reason…" He trailed off, looking thoughtful.
"Huh," Mirabel said, blinking. "That's…okay. Anyway! This—" She pointed to the tablet of Isabela and her plants. "Is Isabela. Her Gift is the ability to grow plants from nothing, but she's also never had a bad hair day so I personally think the magic loves her more."
Bruno barked out a laugh. Mirabel beamed, delighted.
"And then that's me," she said, pointing to the last tablet. "That's everyone."
"But what's your Gift?" Bruno asked, before he stopped and waved his hand. "Ay, espera; never mind, you told me." He smiled at her, bouncing a little on his heels.
"I…did?" Mirabel asked, frowning. "When?"
"The–the sewing?" he asked, his smile fading. He lightly tugged at his ruana and his nose twitched. "Is…that not it?"
Mirabel thought back, vaguely recalling the off-handed comment about her sewing ability last night. "Oh, uh, nope," she said. "I didn't get one."
"You didn't get a Gift?" Bruno cried. His long tail whipped back and forth, agitated. "Mier—hm, I mean…Mamá must have been so—"
"It was fine, actually!" Mirabel said, cutting him off. He blinked at her, confused. She waved her hands. "I don't remember much, but my mamá told me Abuela was relieved."
"Huh." His tail was still twitching.
"C'mon," she said, gently placing her hand on his arm. "Let's get out of here before we miss the bus."
"Mmhm," Bruno said. He didn't move. His hands drifted back to the tablets before he caught himself, balling them into fists. His shoulders hunched.
"Hey," Mirabel said. She put her hand on his arm. "You'll see them soon."
"Yeah," he said. He took a deep breath.
"Is there…anything you wanted to bring with you?" Mirabel gestured at the hanging laundry and the drawings on the walls. "I have room in my bag."
They settled on stuffing an extra set of clothes (just as threadbare as the ones he currently wore, to Mirabel's dismay) and one of Bruno's books into the top of her bag.
Casita was still and silent as they walked toward the front door. But before they could cross the threshold, Bruno stopped and looked back at the ruined house. His eyes swept across the courtyard, an unreadable expression on his strange face. His nose twitched.
He rested his clawed hand against the doorframe and closed his eyes.
Mirabel suddenly felt like she was intruding on something private. She took a step back and averted her gaze.
A long moment passed. Finally, Bruno shook himself a little and looked over at Mirabel. "Lo siento," he said softly. "I–I'm ready now."
Mirabel smiled and shook her head. "No worries, Tío."
Together, they stepped into the sunshine.
The hike back out didn't take as long as the hike in, Mirabel thought. Maybe it was because she already knew roughly how long it would take, whereas before it was more speculation, or maybe it was the time crunch to get into town before the last bus left.
Either way, it was nicer to have company this time.
Bruno wasn't much for conversation, though—the most she could get out of him was one-word answers, and he flinched any time there was a rustle in the underbrush or a bird flew overhead.
His tics only got worse the closer they got to town. A mile out, he stopped up short on the road and Mirabel had to backtrack several steps to rejoin him.
"Tío Bruno?"
His hands were twisting and untwisting the front of his ruana. "This—this is a bad idea. Knock knock knock knock knock, knock on wood," he whispered, rapping his knuckles on a nearby tree.
Mirabel took a deep breath. "Okay. How can I help?"
Bruno shook his head. "I can't just-just waltz into town, Mirabel," he said, gesturing down at himself. "Let alone ride a bus for several hours with normal people."
"We can't walk the whole way there, Tío Bruno. We'd miss the wedding."
Bruno shook his head again. "You go on, I-I can't—"
"I am not leaving without you," Mirabel said firmly. Setting her bag on the ground, she dug through it until she found her shawl and drew it out. "You just need a…disguise. Here, put your hood up."
He did so, eyeing her up and down. "What-what are you doing?"
Mirabel stood on her tiptoes and placed the shawl over his face, ignoring his spluttering. She tucked it around his snout and into the hood of the ruana until only his eyes remained visible. She stepped back, squinting, hand to her chin.
Bruno shifted. "Uh, Mirabel?"
"We'll have to tuck your tail into your pants," she said. "Or maybe just up and under your ruana, and we'll roll down your sleeves to hide the claws. There's not a lot we can do about your feet—"
"There's nothing wrong with my feet—"
Mirabel gave him a flat look. "They're practically paws, Tío Bruno. But, no one will look at them anyway. Probably. You might get hot, but between the shawl and the hidden tail, and if we're very, very careful…no one should notice?"
"Oh, sure," Bruno said, folding his arms across his chest, his voice slightly muffled. "Just throw a blanket over the giant rat, no one will notice!"
"Well would you look at that," Mirabel said, plopping down in the seat next to Bruno. "Guess no one noticed."
"Yeah, yeah," he muttered, slouching. "Del plato a la boca, se cae la sopa, Mirabel."
They were seated at the back of the bus. The other passengers never looked twice at Bruno, wrapped up like he was, but that didn't stop him from tensing every time someone new boarded, his claws digging into the armrests. Mirabel nudged his shoulder and offered her hand, but he slumped forward instead and put his head to his knees. Mirabel patted his back, letting him breathe through it.
Once the bus began to move he relaxed minutely but kept his head down. Mirabel allowed herself her own quiet sigh of relief. She looked out the window over Bruno's curved back and watched the village steadily disappear as the bus rumbled beneath them.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a lump move under Bruno's ruana. She zeroed in on it, her eyebrows knitting together.
"Tío Bruno…"
"Hmm?"
"Why is your ruana moving?"
"Um…Hernando and Gabriela wanted to come?"
Mirabel bit back a gasp. "You-you can't bring rats on a bus!" she hissed.
He rolled his head on his knees to give her a flat look.
"You know what I mean! I thought we were trying to keep a low profile!"
"They won't leave the ruana. Trust me."
"They'd better not," Mirabel muttered, folding her arms and sitting back.
Bruno snorted. He sat up, adjusting the shawl over his face. "Now who's the worrier."
"In my defense," Mirabel said, holding up a finger. "I can't see the future. I mean, couldn't you have just Looked real quick Mister Gift-of-Foresight?"
Bruno shifted in his seat. "No, I, uh, I don't do visions anymore," he said with a little nervous laugh. "But I never did do a lot of Looking into my own fate anyway." He shrugged. "Never was a big fan of spoilers. Besides, once you see a potential future, it can be pretty hard to avoid it."
"What does that mean?" Mirabel asked, scrunching her face.
He made a noise in the back of his throat, gently rapping his knuckles against the window. "Let's say…let's say, for example, you're seeing someone, right, and things are getting serious, but you're still not certain he's the one, you know? So, you Look—and you see a terrible argument, or the both of you breaking it off completely, or-or what have you. It'd be difficult to keep the relationship going, right? Once you've seen how it ends. But! If you hadn't Looked…who's to say that it would have happened that way?"
"You'd never know," Mirabel said slowly. "You'd never know because you'd already seen it…and it put the idea into your head. So…you'd never really know if things would have happened that way naturally or because you—"
"Looked," Bruno finished for her, nodding. "Yeah, you…you get it. That's why–that's why I don't Look anymore."
Mirabel sat back. What an incredible Gift. What a terrible burden.
"But what about the one you had before the ceiling fell?"
"Oh, that." Bruno fiddled with a loose thread from his pants. "That was just a flash, nothing fancy. I can't really control those."
"Those don't make the tablets."
"Nah, there's gotta be a whole production to get those," Bruno said, wiggling his claws. "The lights dim, the wind picks up, sand gets everywhere…" He snorted. "I've been told it's pretty spooky."
"Well, if you ever feel like putting on a production someday, I'd love to see it," Mirabel said, trying, and failing, to keep the eagerness out of her voice.
He didn't say anything.
"I'm not hearing a no…"
Bruno huffed and rolled his eyes, but she could tell he was smiling under the shawl.
"You're not hearing a yes, either," he muttered, and she laughed.
They sat in companionable silence for a few minutes, shoulder to shoulder, listening to the dull roar of the bus accelerating over the bumpy road.
"Tío Bruno?"
"Hmm?"
"What did the vision mean, the one where I'm in front of Casita? It wasn't like the others; it changed when I tilted it."
"I…never did figure that one out," he admitted. "I had it—had all of those visions, actually—right in a row, a long time ago. But I had no way of knowing when they would happen, or what order they would happen in, or if they were connected or not." He shrugged. "Just because I can see the future, doesn't mean I can always make sense of it. Plus, it's—it's not like my visions have sound."
Oh, Mirabel thought. That did explain some things. Like how he hadn't known her name—or any of his sobrinos' names—when they first met.
How long had he poured over those tablets, she wondered, looking for some clue as to who these strangers were to him, which sister they belonged to, what they were like? Watching his family grow up from afar, loving them, when they couldn't even bear to mention his name.
When they thought he was dead.
"Mirabel? You okay?"
Bruno was watching her, knocking his knuckles against the armrest. When she still didn't say anything, he said, "I'm-I'm sorry I don't know more, really—"
"No! No, I'm not upset about that," Mirabel said, giving him a wobbly smile. "I'm just…just really, really glad you're here."
"Oh," he said, like he hadn't expected that. "Knock knock knock knock knock, knock on wood."
Mirabel cleared her throat and adjusted her glasses. "Why–why do you do that?"
"Do what?"
"The knocking thing."
"Oh, that." Bruno tilted his head, thinking, before he shrugged. "It's for luck. I've always needed a little…extra, heh."
Mirabel couldn't argue with his assessment.
Bruno shifted in his seat. "Mirabel," he said after a moment. "Can…I ask you a question?"
"Por supuesto, Tío. You can ask me anything."
"Why doesn't the family all live together?"
Mirabel felt her heart sink into her shoes.
"It's a long story," she said, looking down at her hands. "And I…don't know all of it? Just bits and pieces."
"You-you don't have to tell me," Bruno stammered quickly. "I just—"
"No, you need to—you deserve to know," Mirabel said. "It's just…hard to explain."
Bruno's clawed hand covered hers. "Take your time," he said gently. "You don't have to explain anything at all."
"No, I need to do this. For you…and maybe a little for me."
She took a deep breath, gathered her thoughts, and began.
Translations:
1. Lo prometo - I promise
2. Ay, espera - Oh, wait
3. Lo siento - I'm sorry
4. Del plato a la boca, se cae la sopa - From the plate to the mouth, the soup falls. Basically, "don't count your chickens before they hatch."
