Camilo edged out of the dining room through the kitchen and took the stairs two at a time up to his brother's room. He didn't knock but slipped inside to be greeted by Chipsi and her new set of pups.

"Hey, Chipsi, is Antonio up?" he asked the capybara. Chipsi blinked at him slowly then quite suddenly let loose a loud trilling chirp and a bark. This was echoed, probably by Pico and shortly after that Antonio appeared in front of him on Parce.

"Hey, Camilo."

"Hey, hermano, nice relay system you got here."

"Yeah then people don't have to yell," Antonio said as he climbed down from the jaguar.

"I got kind of a favor to ask," Camilo said and shrunk himself down to his brother's size, "Can I…borrow Parce?"

The jaguar chuffed and Antonio eyes went wide, and he asked, "Is it because egalida, I mean Mirabel wants to go into the forest?"

"I am not gonna ask how you know that, but kinda…"

"It would be better if I came too."

"Probably but Pa would kill me, and I don't want to think what Mamí would do." Antonio pursed his lips, and Camilo could see that this reason was not going to be enough, so he added, "Truth is, Toni, we don't know what we're getting into out there. Dolores says there are people out there that could hurt us, and those people have a camp of some sort up in the mountains. Don't know how many there are and don't know which direction to start looking. I'm not saying this to frighten you, little brother, cause I know how brave you are. I'm telling you what I know so you can make a better decision. Never liked it when people would withhold information that's important."

Antonio nodded and Parce nudged him as he let out a low growl and Antonio looked at the jaguar. Nadia had flown down as well and screed gently. The two appeared to be in agreement with him as now Antonio's arms were crossed, and he said, "I wish I were bigger." Camilo relaxed, just a little as Antonio sighed and said, "Parce says he'll go cause he can follow trail, and Nadia says the night birds will head out to the forest too." An owl drifted down and landed in front of Parce, looked up at Antonio and hooted at him. "Good idea, Tina," Antonio said, and the little owl hopped up landing on Camilo's shoulder. "Tina said she'll go too. She has really sharp night eyes and hears good too. So, once she knows what way, she'll go look for the camp. Take this too," he said as he reached into his pocket and handed him his aid tin.

Camilo blinked and again was impressed by his little brother's thoughtfulness, and not just in using his Gift. He was just a touch jealous of his little brother in that moment, since he knew he would never have been that in control. He shifted back to his normal size knelt down and said quite seriously, "I wish you were bigger too. But this will help a lot. Thanks, Toni."

"Yeah…just make sure you pay attention to them," Antonio said in a way that made Camilo think his brother really didn't think he would.

"I got it, Toni," Camilo said and patted his shoulder, "I'll make sure to pay attention."

Antonio nodded, frown still evident on his face. Chipsi moved up and let out a soft chirp. Her pups surrounded Antonio then and Camilo was glad to see the smile creep back on his brother's face as the pups romped around him. Chipsi turned back for a moment and chirped at him. Clearly dismissed, Camilo, Tina and Parce went into the hallway in time to see Dolores heading up the stairs to the tower. She turned as he started toward her. She raised an eyebrow and then he saw Isabela's face appear behind her.

"Wow, good thinking primo," was all Isa said before turning to go back up the stairs. Camilo's whole relationship with his prima had been about her relationship with Mariano Guzman. Well, that was done with and now that guy was going to be his cuñado? Seriously Dolores? Just no accounting for taste. He shouldn't complain, his sister was actually, finally happy about the future. Dolores came over to him and Parce came to a halt waiting. Dolores just waived at the animals and Camilo said, "Antonio has decided to stay behind but says the animals want to join in the search."

"How did you know that? You wandered off before Papí could even tell us that."

Camilo rolled his eyes and asked, "Does that actually matter?"

"No, I was just curious. Parce I understand but what about this one?" she asked, pointing to the owl on his shoulder. The owl turned its head and so did Dolores.

"Her name is Tina, and she wants to know what direction the men you heard were going. Antonio says she's going to see if she can locate the camp."

"Oh, that is helpful, only thing is I'm not sure what my range is anymore," Dolores said and paused for a moment then pointed. "Tina, I think there may be a waterfall nearby, but I can't be sure. Be careful." The owl hooted as it bobbed its head once then took off in the direction she indicated. As they started toward the stairs, Camilo realized he hadn't been up here since before Tío Bruno left when he was five. Since it had always been off limits, it never occurred to him to come up here once they moved back in. The door at the top stood open and he noted the only furniture was a long table with some chairs. It was brightly lit, and they came over to the table as Mirabel, Luisa, and her Tío Agustín were coming down the stairs. Tío Bruno was off with his sisters, his father was holding up the vision tablet to the light as Tío pointed at something off in the corner.

Abuela was sitting at the table, leafing through the sketches, next to her was Isabela. Isa was trying to studiously ignore her, but occasionally she would look over when Abuela would point at something and ask her a question. Abuela looked around and noticed everyone was there, so she stood up and called everyone came to the table. Isa used that distraction to join Dolores and Parce just laid beneath the table and closed his eyes. He was disinterested at best.

His father came over then and asked, "Where's Toni?"

"In his room coordinating with Nadia," While that was not specifically untrue, Camilo did not want to say that he'd actually talked his brother into not coming, so he added, "He sent Parce in case we needed to track."

His father looked skeptical but since Antonio's gift was so new, he did not question it further. He nodded and seemed to be waiting for more, and Camilo felt relief when Tío Bruno cleared his throat and said, "Before anyone heads out there are some things that need clarification." Bruno took the sketches then and began to lay them out on the table. He walked around the table placing each in what appeared to be a very specific order with the vision tablet at the very end. "Now, I want you to look at them again in the order I've laid them out. Starting here," he said and pointed to the one furthest from the vision tablet.

Camilo along with the rest of the family began the slow process of looking at each one in the order his Tío indicated. What the sketches, in Bruno's 'corrected' order showed was not what they expected to see. They'd all heard the rumors from the newcomers that children as young as seven were being taken. Taken to camps to turn them into soldiers, slaves or worse.

"Now what?" Mirabel asked.

"I think," Bruno said cautiously, "we'll need to find the people in the camp first. Find out who they are and hopefully figure out why they are pursuing these women. Or split up and find them both at the same time."

"I don't like the idea of any of you going off to confront these people, but I do see the need," Abuela said, "these children are clearly caught in the middle of whatever is happening. Mirabel, you mentioned you had an idea that might work."

All eyes shifted to his prima and though she looked nervous, she nodded. Luisa put a hand on her shoulder. Mirabel seemed to untense a little and she said, "I went to my room to check to see if there were any random lights showing up on depiction of the Casita, or rather behind it. And there were, but only one group and they are pretty dim. Probably the women and kids Dolores heard." She paused and looked at her prima saying, "Dolores, since we can see those lights, maybe you can help label which ones are Doris and Inez?"

Dolores nodded. Camilo was not aware that his sister had found a new use for her Gift, but it made some sense of the confusing talk during supper.

"Antonio had me send out an owl to see if she could locate the other camp," Camilo said, "Parce is here too." Upon hearing his name, the jaguar got up and moved closer to Camilo. "Antonio let me borrow him for this."

Mirabel raised an eyebrow and nodded. It did not appear that she'd considered using Antonio's Gift up until that point. She tapped the table with her fingertips, as she adjusted whatever it was she'd already planned and for a moment she closed her eyes and frowned. She looked up again and asked, "Are you thinking you should go with Parce instead of Toni?

"Do you really think we should involve him?" Camilo asked.

"I think we would be wrong to not include him," Mirabel adjusted her glasses and said, "I agree that we shouldn't send Parce out on his own. Whether it's you that goes or Toni, it's still his Gift we are relying on. He deserves to know what we're doing with his friends."

"Just like that, you're gonna put him to work? You can't just let him be a kid?" Camilo said harshly. His tone was sharper and more accusatory than he intended since his anger was more aimed at Abuela than his prima, but Mirabel didn't know that. He glanced over to Abuela. She was standing off to the side near Bruno, who had a hand on her shoulder. His Tío didn't look angry, just concerned but Camilo wasn't sure if it was for Mirabel or for him. He wondered how many conversations like this he'd had with Abuela, only she was his mother. Camilo wasn't so sure he'd be able to speak up if was his mother. Still the questions he'd asked were valid as far as he was concerned. He was looking out for his little brother. He glanced around and saw the concern brewing on some of the adult's faces, this irked him enough that he ignored it.

He looked back at and saw the hurt in Mira's face, She hadn't actually said she would send Toni, but she did not say she wouldn't either. In the past this would be enough to make his prima stomp off. Instead, she looked at all the information spread out on the table, then at him. He wouldn't call what he saw in her expression anger so much as frustration because he knew she could be just as stubborn as him.

"You're the one that brought Parce here, Camilo," Mirabel said sounding just a little angry.

"Yeah, so you wouldn't-" he stopped when Casita bounced the floor beneath him. "Really?" he asked her as the floor bounced again.

Mirabel sighed and said, "Casita, please don't do that." There was a short clatter near the door and Mirabel rolled her eyes. She was only a few feet away and came over to him and said, "Sorry, I keep forgetting…But seriously Camilo if you thought I wasn't listening to you, I am. This got complicated really fast and the worst part is we can't hide from this. That's why we're all here because none of us can do this alone. Dolores can hear them, but she can't see them. Those people will land on our doorstep sooner or later so if you have a better idea, then just tell me."

Camilo did not, he was hoping Mirabel would come up with something. She always seemed to be thinking of the next thing. Luisa, who was standing nearby cleared her throat and said, "Guys? What if when whoever goes, goes and Dolores talks to them the way she spoke to Mariano earlier. You said there were lights. What's to stop us from using them to keep track of whoever goes out there?"

Surprised, Mirabel turned back to her sister and grabbed her hands saying, "Oh my gosh, Luisa, you're a genius," she turned back to Camilo and asked, "Well?"

Dolores and Isabela were watching him closely from near their parents. In fact, he realized, everyone was watching him. His mother and father, Tía and Tíos…waiting. While it did surprise him that none of the adults, especially Abuela were butting in as they normally would, it made sense since Abuela had put Mirabel in charge of all this. She was the source of the magic now, so they were waiting. Waiting to see if he would agree to Mira's plan.

Camilo's eyes scanned the sketches again and he knew Mirabel was right. While she would do her best to minimize Antonio's exposure to the things happening, his brother would find out and didn't he just tell him that he didn't like it when people withheld needed information? And as if he'd not just said the things he said, Camilo put up his hands and said, "So are we setting off outside or upstairs?"

Mirabel's appreciative smile made him smile as she said, "Outside, since we have no idea where that path upstairs leads."

Tío Bruno began collecting the sketches, keeping them in the order he laid them down in, but he was moving rather stiffly. This made Camilo wonder why but he couldn't ask him at the moment as Bruno was surrounded by his sisters and their husbands. Luisa came over then and Camilo said, "Thanks, prima, kinda talked myself into a hole."

"No worries, Camilo," Luisa said, "She probably would have remembered that on her own, but she was getting flustered, and I didn't want you two to get into a shouting match," she said as she watched Mirabel leave the tower with Dolores and Isabela, "I'm still in shock that Abuela literally said nothing, just watched the whole time." She leaned down and whispered, "I'm glad you asked that about Antonio. I wanted to, but…I kinda chickened out," she said and shrugged.

Camilo nodded and asked, "So, does this mean I'm going to be the Tío Bruno of our generation?"

Luisa smiled and let out a small laugh. "Maybe we can do it together, just without the angry backlash. Mira's trying so hard to do the right thing, you know? I mean at least now we can talk through this kind of stuff."

"Yeah, there is that." Camilo said and jumped when he heard his sister's voice right next to him say, (Milo, can you hear me?)

"Yeah…this is really weird, Sis."

(Welcome to my world hermanito.)

Luisa was smiling broadly when she saw him jump and asked, "Dolores? Yeah, that kinda freaked me out too. It's like she's right next to you."

Camilo nodded but felt just a little more secure knowing his sister would be right there with him. Tía Julieta and Tío Agustín came up. She handed him a small tin, she let her hand rest on top of it for just a moment and said, "Be careful Milo." It had his name on like the one Antonio had given him. Then his mother and father came up, and his mother paused as she took a small bracelet with a green colored gem out of her pocket. "For luck, Milo," she said and pressed it into his hand. Camilo wrapped it around the tin as his father handed him a small knife and also wished him luck. Camilo looked at it, he'd never been one for knives, he had one, but this one was his father's. His family's gestures made it settled in that this wasn't just a game. It was no longer just about helping some random people in the woods. His sister had put names to some of the faces they'd been looking at in all these sketches and Tío Bruno showed them the likelihood that they'd discovered something really bad had increased exponentially.

"You okay, Cam?" It was Mirabel, she was back from her room, looking at all the stuff in his hands.

"Yeah, yeah. I mean it's not like I'll be trying to talk to them or anything."

Mirabel nodded and pulled a rosary out from her pocket. It looked pretty beat up, but she put it over his head, tucked it under his shirt and gave it a pat. "Tío Bruno made this, he gave it to me when Abuela was really sick. I want you to take it with you, you know…"

Camilo nodded. He sat in front of Parce then and thought I know you're going to tell Antonio what we said. What he was really doing was examining the markings on Parce's coat. He was originally planning to just make himself smaller. More his brother's size, but now a little stealth might be in order. He stood and said, "Mira, let me know when whatever I end up wearing matches Parce's markings."

"Oh, like the costumes…gotcha."

This was actually harder to do than just changing his appearance to resemble someone that already existed…This stuff came straight from his brain. First attempt was a complete fail. Second he got the base right, but the jaguar's rosette pattern was totally messed up. After ten more tries, Camilo sat down. He felt that hungry twinge and wondered if he should just give it up and go as he was.

"I see you're trying something new with your Gift, Corazón," His mother said as she sat on the floor next to him. She offered him a sweet cake which Camilo took and took a frustrated bite out of it.

"Sort of, I can see it in my head, like I was doing with the costumes, but" and he pointed to ruana, "it ain't working." Camilo was surprised to see he'd finished the bun already.

"Can I make a suggestion?" she asked and handed him another.

"Sure," he said with a mouthful of sweet cake.

"Have you ever actually touched Parce?"

"What?"

"Touched him, you know like put your hands on him?"

Camilo looked at the jaguar, who had grown bored and laid back down nearby, "Maybe? I don't see how that can help."

"Hear me out, mi vida. You probably think our Gifts are completely different, but even though my weather is a product of my emotions, I can still make it rain whenever I want," to prove her point a gentle rain started above them, "Trick is I have to feel it." A gentle wind manifested, and she added, "My weather is never just one thing."

"Okay, but still not seeing how this will help me."

His mother waved to the jaguar and Parce came over and sat in front of them. She reached out a hand and moved the Parce's fur so he could see the undercoat. "You see how it's not just the one color, but several? You've seen the pattern but not the texture of it. Its all these colors together that make him look the way he does. I think that's what giving you trouble. Not seeing the trees for the forest."

It was an interesting thought. Camilo had never attempted to make realistic fur before. Just flattened versions on regular cloth because it was easier. He reached out and Parce moved forward to be within reach. Camilo moved the fur in different ways and was surprised how the patterns changed. Something clicked in his head and he thought, maybe it wasn't as hard as he was thinking. So, Camilo stood up and so did his mother. She handed him one last bun which he ate and then held out his arms.

He made a jump and thought only about…undercoat…

Second jump…base color…

Third jump…jaguar rosettes…

"Oh my gosh, Camilo you did it!" Mirabel said excitedly.

Camilo looked down and was pleased to see the jaguar clothes he'd conjured up.

"Casita, we need a mirror, please," Mirabel said as she appeared in front of him. "You look amazing, primo." She spun him around to see himself in the mirror.

"Shut the front door," he said and reverted back to himself. "I think I get it now, thanks Mamí."

"You're welcome, mi vida."

Camilo focused on all three things at once and shifted. He gently touched his face, there was no fur, but the colors combined to look like fur. Even his hair had spots. The clothing looked and acted like real fur, and he turned to Parce, "Whatcha think, we ready?"

The jaguar chuffed.

"Guess I'll take that as a yes." He shifted one last time to a third of his normal size, climbed on Parce. "Kids first?" Mirabel nodded so they started for the door. "Dolores?"

(Waiting on you little brother.)

So out the front door they went.

"Good luck, Camilo!" he heard Isa and Luisa say from the balcony, but he couldn't respond as Parce picked that moment to take off running and Camilo had to use both hands to stay seated as they entered the woods.