Chapter One: Dinner

Mariano observed as Dolores whispered something to Camilo, who quickly shapeshifted into Mirabel and then into who he believed was supposed to be Bruno, before shifting back into himself only with his eyes wonky and mouth ajar.

"Camilo," Felix snapped leaning over to his son, "Fix your face." No questions about what was wrong, just to fix his face. Were sudden transformations really that common? Camilo shook his face and his eyes and mouth returned to normal. Was getting stuck between transformations normal? There was so much he didn't know about this family and he was marrying into it.

Camilo leaned forward and whispered something into Felix's ear, causing him to spray water across the table. Mariano let out a squeak of surprise as he was hit. Alma Madrigal glanced at Felix, fixing him with a dark look before calling out, "Mirabel." she called out, "Can you pass the cream please."

Was it just him or had Mirabel jumped and appeared to shrink into herself a little when her Abuela called out to her. What was that about?

"Pa, the cream?" Mirabel sounded nervous, and Augustine certainly was nervous when he passed his daughter the cream, but why had Alma asked Mirabel to pass the cream when it was next to Augustin.

Mariano accepted the bowl of cream from Isabela flashing her a smile, even though he noticed that her's didn't quite reach her eyes. Something was obviously wrong. A sudden crash of thunder filled the air. Pepa was upset, angry even, as Alma snapped at her for the cloud. What was the problem with the cloud, she controls the weather with her emotions. Shouldn't she be asking her what was wrong, not yelling at her for the cloud?

Pepa leaned over and whispered something into her sister's ear. Mariano watched as she sent a concerned look towards her youngest, who… ducked under the table. Hiding? Pepa was upset, the cloud proved that, had Mirabel done something to upset her Tia? Was that what was going on?

"Mirabel?" he called out.

Mirabel jumped up, bumping her head on the bottom of the table before reappearing. So maybe she wasn't hiding? "Everything okay?" he asked, the way she had diverted her eyes when her mother looked at her, the way she had jumped when her Abuela called her name. The way she ducked under the table. Whatever was going on had something to do with her.

The way Augustine intervened, the way they quickly changed the topic, made him even more concerned, if he was going to become a member of the Madrigal family he was going to need to be let in on the family secrets. Mirabel had moved Isabela so that she was facing him. He could feel the tension, it was awkward. Something was going on.

He turned to his mother, wondering if she had any idea of what was going on. All she did was mention that he was planning on singing a song she even mentioned about everyone here having a talent. She then asked Luisa if she could bring over the piano.

You would have to have been blind and deaf to not hear the strain in her voice, the tears on her face and the concerned looks on Mirabel and Augustine's faces, or the way Mirabel insisted that he sing after, tipping him out of his chair.

He shrugged just going with it, was this just a Madrigal thing, if so what was he getting into? He started but paused when Mirabel did a head dive into the corner spreading out onto the tile floor, no doubt trying to hide the crack forming beneath her. Wasn't that what she was trying to warn Alma about yesterday during Antonio's gift ceremony? When Alma had insisted that Mirabel had had too much to drink?

"You're doing great, keep going," Mirabel insisted, gesturing at him to continue.

He turned back to Isabela, only to see her with an angry look on her face, an angry glare that she quickly hid behind her smile. He started to speak again when there was a sudden thud as Luisa showed up, dragging the piano, dropping it just inside the room before bursting into tears.

"No!" Mirabel screamed, suddenly diving under the table, and with that shout, all mayhem broke free. Luisa fell to the ground and just sobbed, lightning and thunder crashed overhead startling Antonio's toucan friends, which flew around in a panic.

Dolores clasped her hands over her ears before shouting, "Mirabel found Bruno's last vision, she's in it, she's going to destroy the magic, and we are all doomed!" she yelled.

The next thing he knew a plant popped up in front of him and punched him in the nose. He grabbed his nose in surprise as it throbbed in pain. Isabella shot up from her seat, stormed over to where Mirabel was standing against the wall, and slapped her, hard across the face.

"Look at what you did to Mariano!" she screeched, "I hate you!" she spun on her heels and stomped out of the room, sliding past Luisa, who was still on the floor and the piano still in the doorway.

"Isa…" Julieta started to call out, but Alma raised a hand, silencing her.

Alma shot her oldest a look, silencing her, before turning to her youngest granddaughter, "I don't know why you didn't get a gift, but that does not give you the right to hurt this family. You are to go to the Nursery, and you are going to stay there until you stop whatever it is you are doing! Do you understand?"

"But I'm not doing any… aah," Mirabel's protest turned into a cry of pain as Abeula grabbed her by her ear and dragged her away, "Please, Abuela, I would never hurt the familia, never."

If this was how the Madrigal family acted in front of guests… Mariano wasn't sure that he wanted to marry Isabela or be a part of the Madrigal family. He honestly wondered if Felix and Augustine realized how messed up the family was when they married in or did it get this messed up after they married in? No wonder Bruno left. He was honestly surprised that Julieta and Pepa hadn't left, considering what he just witnessed.

…

Mirabel stumbled as she was shoved, (Shoved!) into the nursery by her Abuela, who glared down at her, "I don't know why you didn't get a gift," she insisted, "But this has got to stop! You have no right to hurt the familia, to hurt Casita as you have."

"But Abuela…" Mirabel exclaimed, trying to scramble to her feet at the same time she was trying to get as far away from Abuela as possible, from the pure look of hatred pouring out of Abuela's face. Towards her.

"I don't want to hear any of your excuses, Mirabel, I've put up with them for ten years now, they need to stop."

"But," Mira continued.

"You are to stay in this room, you are not to have any contact with the Familia until Casita stops cracking and Luisa's gift returns." Abuela pulled the door shut once more.

Mirabel stared in disbelief as she heard the distinctive sound of a key turning in the lock. She was locked in, how was she supposed to help the familia, how was she supposed to save the miracle when she was locked up in the nursery?

…

Abuela carefully pocketed the key to the nursery before turning around, to find her oldest glaring daggers at her.

"Mama, you are being way too hard on Mirabel," she announced, folding her arms over her chest.

"I'm doing what I need to do to protect the miracle."

Julieta's eyes flashed in a way that Alma only ever had seen in Pepa's before, in a way that had always been accompanied by a loud crash of thunder, "Maybe you need to stop worrying about that… that… Stupid…candle, and worry more about your familia, because you already lost Bruno…"

"We do not talk about Bruno!" Alma interrupted.

"Well too bad, because I'm going to talk about Bruno and you are going to listen because I'm starting to think that he had the right idea."

"What are you talking about?"

"Leaving Mama, I'm talking about leaving," Julieta announced, "If things don't change around here, Augustin and I will take our girls and leave."

"What do you expect me to do? Just let Mirabel run wild and destroy everything I worked so hard to build?"

"I expect you to treat Mirabel like everyone else in this family," Julieta announced, turning on her heels, "Now if you don't mind, I need to talk to Augustin."

Julieta walked off, meeting the concerned green eyes of her sister who had a cloud over her head, great she had an audience.

"Juli?" Pepa asked, reaching out to her.

Julieta shook her head, "I'm sorry Pepa, this is just something that I need to do."

"Where will you go?"

"Augustin's Padre has invited us to come to stay with him," Julieta murmured, "You are always welcomed to come to visit whenever you want to."

"Mama won't permit it," Pepa insisted.

Julieta shook her head, "If it truly gets bad enough that I do leave, Mama is going to discover that she has a whole lot more to worry about than just me leaving."

"What are you talking about?" Pepa asked.

"Look, Pepa, you and I both know that the villagers didn't really care when Bruno disappeared. I'm the closest thing to a doctor this town has. They're going to notice my absence, and I don't need Bruno's gift to know that they will ask questions."

"Mama will just say that you didn't care about the family and left like Bruno," Pepa pointed out.

"That's why you'll tell them what is really going on."

"And what is really going on?"

"That Mama and I have had a major disagreement and until we can come up with a compromise, I will not be associated with the Madrigal family. If an emergency pops up they are welcome to fetch me at Senor Gonzalez."

"As long as your gift still works," Pepa muttered, "We don't know what's going on with Luisa's gift and now Camilo is having problems with his."

"He is?" Julieta asked, her brow furrowed, "Maybe, I might be grasping at straws here, but maybe this thing with Casita and the miracle, and Mirabel, maybe it has something to do with the way that we treat her."

"What do you mean?"

"The cracks, Mirabel saw them last night during Antonio's gift ceremony," Julieta explained, "And Augustin pointed something out to me this afternoon after he went to get the pictures developed. You know the family picture that we took inside Antonio's room?"

"Yeah, what about it?"

"Mirabel wasn't in it, and we don't really know what that vision was about, it just showed Casita cracking and Mirabel standing in front of it. What if Mirabel isn't what's causing the cracking but the way that we treat her?

"What does that have to do with Camilo and Luisa losing their gifts?"

"Mirabel doesn't have one, so… what if… they're losing their gifts to… teach them a lesson about what it's like to be without a gift.