Mirabel groaned as she sat up in her bed, rubbing the back of her head slightly as she looked around her room. She still had a hard time believing that she had her own room now, after being stuck in the nursery for so long. She probably would have thought that it was a dream, if it wasn't for the fact that she still struggled to sit up by herself.
It probably didn't help that she had caccooned herself in her blankets again, no doubt during the nightmare she had the night before. The only problem was, she didn't really know how to free herself. Even if she could kick, impossible after being crushed by a falling tree a month ago, she doubted that the blankets would budge because they had woven themselves together.
That was another thing that had changed, it had seemed that the near death experienced at awaken some form of magic that had layed dormant for all these years. A late bloomer, obviously, finally after years of being called the Useless Madrigal, she had a gift.
Now if only she could learn to control it.
Mirabel tried to wriggle her upper body as much as possible to free herself from her prison of blankets, but nothing yielded. Sighing in defeat, she collapsed back into bed, "Casita can you get Mama, or Isabela, don't get Abuela."
She loved her abuela, she really did, but that doesn't mean that she trusted her. She had, for the past ten years watched as her mama and hermanas had been worked to the bone, forced to serve everyone with a smile. All Abuela and the villagers saw had been what they could do.
They were trying to do better. Especially Abuela, but she didn't want to risk it. She didn't want to become a slave to the community like her sisters and mother. She also couldn't really control her gift, having only ever been able to use it intentionally once, and even then it didn't have the results that she wanted. She knew from her Tia that the Encanto wouldn't take kindly to uncontrolled magic. Even controlled magic that didn't have the outcome that they wanted was the person using the magic fault, Tio Bruno and Dolores were fine examples of that. Yes, it was better to just wait on telling everyone about her magic. At least until she learned to control it somewhat.
The door to her room opened as her Mama slid in, "Mirabel what's wrong."
Mirabel sighed, she was the only one, apparently, besides Abuela, who could understand Casita, "I'm stuck," she confessed, "I think I wrapped myself in my blankets in my sleep, again."
Julieta sighed deeply, "You really need to learn how to control this, Mira."
"I know, but how, this isn't a gift Mama, it didn't come from the candle, and it doesn't follow the same rules. According to The Stitchwitch Chronicles, it took Sara several years of special training to learn to control her magic, and at the moment that is the only thing we have on this type of magic."
"Have you checked your bookshelves?" Julieta asked, trying to untangle the blanket from around Mirabel, but she couldn't find the ends.
"Yeah, lots of pattern books from around the world, but nothing about magic," Mirabel sighed, "If Casita can't find anything about it…"
"We'll figure something out," Julieta insisted, finally finding where the two edges of the blanket had fused together, "Mira," she said gently, "Either I have to cut this blanket up, or you're going to have to try to undo this yourself."
"But the last time, with Isa!"
"You lost focus," Julieta pointed out, "Come on Hija, I believe in you, picture the blanket smoothing out onto the bed."
"I don't know Mama," Mirabel muttered softly, "I really don't know."
"Try," Julieta insisted.
"Fine," Mirabel sighed, closing her eyes as she pictured the blanket she was wrapped up in straightening out, spreading out evenly on the bed, better yet it should fold itself neatly at the foot of her bed.
Making sudden contact with the floor broke her concentration, and her blanket, wadded up in a ball landed in the middle of the bed, "Oww," she groaned, struggling to pull herself up with her arms.
"Maybe next time you should focus on unwrapping the blanket instead of folding it?" Julieta suggested, "Are you hurt?"
Mirabel shook her head, "Just my pride," she admitted, "Although I'm going to need help getting up."
Julieta nodded, "Of course, I'll go get your hermana."
"Why do you need to get Lusia?" Mira asked, knowing instinctively that that was who her mama was talking about.
"Because, I can't pick you up by myself without risking injuring you, me or both of us," Julieta insisted, "and Luisa can pick up both of us without breaking a sweat."
…
Luisa had just gotten out of bed and was headed downstairs to the kitchen to get herself a cup of coffee when she heard her mother calling for her from her hermanita's room. That woke her up even faster than the coffee would have, as she hurriedly headed towards the bedroom.
"What's wrong Mama?"
"Mirabel fell out of bed, can you help me pick her up?"
"Sure, no problem," Luisa insisted, entering the room and scooping her sister up in her arms and carefully setting her into the wheelchair that was next to the bed, "So what happened."
"I hate having magic," Mirabel growled.
Luisa chuckled, "You just need to learn how to control it," she advised, "We all had a learning curve when it came to learning about our gifts, you know that."
"I also know that Tia Pepa never learned control over her gift, and Isabela never learned the full extent of her gift until recently because she had too much control over it," Mirabel pointed out as she unlocked the wheels of her wheelchair, "Besides, the one thing we know for sure is that my magic isn't a part of the miracle. I started showing signs of magic before I brought the miracle back. There's a good chance that my magic works different from yours."
"Well, duh," Luisa said exasperately, "All my magic involves is me picking things up. Yours is so much more complicated."
"Yeah," Mirabel agreed, "So how is your gift, anyway? I know how overworked you were before."
"I'm learning to say no," Luisa confessed, "and the schedule is really helping. I have a lot more time to explore other hobbies. Papa started to teach me piano again. I took lessons when I was younger, but then I got too busy and had to drop them."
"And hopefully you can go to college in the fall," Julieta insisted, "Come on you two, I left your father in the kitchen making breakfast."
"How many fires do you think Casita put out so far?" Mirabel asked, pushing herself forward.
"None, I hope," Julieta muttered, "We just renovated the kitchen, I don't need him to burn it down on us."
…
Alma Madrigal sat at the head of the table, watching as her family found seats at the table. Breakfast still required attendance, but now you don't have to be ready for the day beforehand. Of course that was mainly for Mirabel's benefit. She struggled getting up and dressed, that if she wasn't allowed in her nightgown, breakfast would be cold before they could eat. As soon as the whole family was there, Bruno slumping down in the seat between Mirabel's wheelchair and Antonio, obviously still half asleep, she cleared her throat to begin the morning announcements.
"Buenos Dias," she said brightly, making sure to smile at the family as she did.
The family chimed back the required reply, some more enthusiastically than others. Isabela was one of them that hadn't replied as energetically as the others. She was going have to find out what was wrong with her oldest nieta later.
"I have some exciting news," Alma continued, "The road is now completed, and I have talked to a bus company that is willing to make stops here in the Encanto. We are hoping that enough people here are interested in doing something in the big city that they can justify the trips back and forth."
"Well," Luisa spoke up, "I know of several that are interested in furthering their education at the college there, so at least twice a day there be people on the bus."
"There's so much more to do in the city than here in the Encanto," Dolores spoke up, "Mariano said that now that the road's done and there's a bus, we can go on dates to the city."
"It would be nice to be able to find different ingredients," Julieta insisted, "You know, things that don't grow naturally here in the Encanto."
"I think the city would be awesome to explore," Isabela insisted, "Just think of all the adventures that we can have."
"Which reminds me," Alma said, "I promised the familia a trip to the city once Casita was rebuilt. I know it's been a couple of weeks, but I wanted there to be a bus stop here at the Encanto first. It's a long walk, and I didn't know how well Mirabel and Antonio could make it."
"How long will we be gone?" Isabela asked, leaning against the table eagerly.
"I'm thinking about five days," Alma confessed, "That should give us enough time to do everything we want to over there and not feel rushed."
"Are we going to be traveling back and forth each day?" Mirabel asked, "Or are we going to find a place to stay in the city."
"We're going to find a place to stay in the city probably," Alma answered, "In fact, I'll go today and see if I can find a place when I check to see if they have your wheelchair in."
"When do we need to be packed?" Isabela asked eagerly.
"Let's say a week."
"Alright," Isabela cheered, cacti popping up around her.
"What will we do?" Antonio spoke up.
"Well, there's a zoo, a theater, museum, and several other stuff that I haven't found out about yet that we can go to."
"A Zoo?" Antonio asked, "Like where they keep animals?"
"Yes, just like that."
"Alright," he cheered, "Can I bring Parce with?"
"No," this time it was Pepa who was speaking up, "People outside of the Encanto aren't use to magic, so they won't be comfortable seeing a little boy riding around on a jaguar."
"Pepa's right," Bruno spoke up, "it would be best if we don't draw attention to ourselves."
"That might be a problem," Mirabel pointed out, "Tia can't help it when she has a cloud."
"We don't even know if our gifts would work out in the city like they do in the Encanto," Pepa pointed out, "Maybe I won't have to worry about my cloud. As long as I don't get upset or anything, I should be okay. I can always go back if it gets to bad."
"The one that I'm worried about," Alma admitted, "Is Mirabel."
"Me," Mirabel gasped, "Why me?"
"Because your magic didn't come from the miracle, and you have no control over it."
"Wait," Mirabel asked, turning to her prima, "Lolo, did you tell Abuela about my magic?"
"She didn't have to," Alma explained, "I've been receiving some really weird reports that whenever someone makes you mad their clothes start falling apart, and the first case was from before we got Casita back."
"You have magic and you never told me!" Isabela asked with a massive gasp.
"You were the first person to learn about my magic," Mirabel pointed out, "Honestly, you agreed with me that we were going to keep this a secret until I at least learned how to control it."
"We'll figure something out for that," Alma insisted, "But in the main time, everybody pack what you need, and try to stay out of trouble."
"It seems so weird that that last sentence wasn't directed at me," Camilo announced.
"Shut up Camilo or I'll dye all of your clothes bright pink."