The next day Bruno could not possibly sit still. He rushed to the town with his mother and siblings to tell people about his new ability.

"I CAN SEE THE FUTURE!" Bruno yelled happily. "Yesterday I saw that Mr. Garzia would come with a bucket of Papayas AND HE DID!" he beamed as he showcased his jade slab to everyone.

"It's true!" Pepa beamed, making the sun shine bright. "He knew Mr. Garzia would come even before it happened!"

And everyone was in awe at the great miracle and it all made Bruno so happy as he showed off his slab.

Alma smiled, amused as she watched her children loudly describing all the things that had happened and just enjoying the pure joy on their small faces.

That was when a little girl finally came up to Bruno. "Can… can you tell me my future too?" she asked.

"SURE!" Bruno beamed without even thinking. "It needs to be in my room though. But I can tell you about your future! I can tell everyone if you want!"

And there was excited chatter and pure curiosity as Bruno grinned. "COME ON, I'LL SHOW YOU!" he gestured with his hand and rushed back towards casita with multiple people following him.

And of course, his two sisters in front both giggling over the spectacle.

Bruno proudly opened his door for all the visitors and they all gaped in awe at the room as they looked around at the sparkly stony walls and then bowed down to touch the sand, remarking on how incredibly fine and soft it was.

"Visions are in here." Bruno showed them his other room, which was separated by only three small steps he could easily skip over in one jump.

Curiously people walked inside and looked around at the falling sand. Bruno sat down in the middle, gesturing the girl over to him.

Nervously she came over and sat down in front of Bruno looking at him with big wide eyes. "So… What do you want to know?" he asked.

"Errhmm." The girl swallowed. "I don't know," she admitted. "Sorry." she blushed deeply.

"OOH I'VE GOT AN IDEA!" Pepa shouted as she reached up a hand.

"Pepa calm down." Julieta reprimanded her. "You can have the next one! She goes first." she nodded at the girl.

Bruno chuckled as he looked at the girl. "That's okay... maybe I can try to have a peek at what your mama is going to make for dinner tonight?"

And the girl gasped. "Yeah! Do that!"

Bruno grinned. "Okay then. Watch this," he said as he crossed his legs and took a deep breath. For a moment he was sitting still. Everyone looked at him with deep curiosity and then suddenly Bruno's eyes opened and they were shining bright green.

And then the sand rose around them and people gasped as they stepped together and the sands swirled all around them, making green streaks of light, and then shapes took form in the sand. Green shapes. It was the girl at the table and her mother who seemed to serve up… arepas with a healthy serving of fresh vegetables and a boiled egg. And then the sand fell down, the girl was wide-eyed and Bruno smiled as he held up a brand new jade slab.

"That looks really good." Bruno smiled.

The girl gaped as she looked at the slab. It showed her mother serving her the food and she herself smiling.

"Here you go." Bruno handed over the slab.

Then the girl beamed up at Bruno. "That was so cool!" she grinned and suddenly the adults were all over it.

Scrambling forward to come first and get their fortunes read.

Bruno chuckled. "It's okay! I'll read for everyone!" he assured. "We were given our gifts so we could help the Encanto! That's what mama says!"

Finally, the adults agreed to make a line and take turns having their fortunes read and Bruno eagerly did so.

One vision after another.

The harvest was going to be great!

His girlfriend was going to say yes when he asked her to marry him! And yes the wedding was going to be lovely.

You'll catch a big fish for sure! And so it went on.

Then a young woman sat down. She was all smiles as she held her hand over her stomach and she looked at Bruno with a warm light in her eyes. "I was just wondering if you could tell me." she held a hand over her stomach. "Is it going to be a boy or a girl?" and people smiled. The woman's stomach was flat so it had to be very early in her pregnancy.

Bruno beamed happily. "I'll be happy to tell you!" he grinned as he straightened up. Cracked his knuckles and inhaled a deep breath as people watched and then the sand rose once again.

First it was formless and then… it started to take shape. The shape of the woman started to appear but… something looked odd. The green image of the woman looked sad… despairing.

Bruno frowned deeply. "This is not right." he said. "What is…"

Then the image became clearer and clearly showed the woman screaming in despair as she held up her hands covered in blood and there was a weird lump in front of her.

Bruno screamed in shock and the entire vision just stopped as all the sand fell down.

But not without a jade slab that landed right in front of Bruno now showing the woman screaming and with blood on her hands. After what was clearly a miscarriage.

All the blood drained from the woman's face as she looked at Bruno. "I… I'm going to lose the baby?" she asked.

"I… I…" Bruno swallowed. "Maybe not! Julieta's food can heal! Maybe if you eat her food!"

"YES! OF COURSE!" The woman shouted as she stood up. "Thank you! I'll do that! AT ONCE!" she shouted and ran out leaving Bruno and the people who had been waiting to have their futures read.

But clearly, the mood for it was gone.

Then a man shook his head. "Don't worry about it, kid. These things happen."

A woman nodded. "Yeah… miscarriages are more normal than you would think. I..." she swallowed. "I had one before I became pregnant with my boy."

Pepa nodded as she stepped forward. "You didn't make it happen Bruno." she reminded him. "You just saw what was already going to happen. And maybe Julieta's food really will help! Then you saved the baby."

"Yeah…" Bruno nodded though he was still startled. "Yeah… you're right Pepa," he said. "Erhm… I'm pretty tired right now. Can we wait for more future reading til another day?" he asked and people nodded in understanding as they slowly left.


A few days afterwards they heard the news- the woman had lost her baby.

Bruno knew it wasn't his fault. These things just happened sometimes. His mother had calmly explained that to him too. She had taken care of a lot of women who had gone through it. It was actually pretty normal. Still though, Bruno had cried his eyes out in sheer fright and all Alma could do was to sit with him on her lap while gently patting his hair. Telling him again and again that these things happened and were simply a part of life.

It didn't help though that it made Bruno feel horrible. He clutched his stuffed toy Oscar close that night while he cried himself to sleep.

The next day Bruno shoved that feeling away. He was supposed to help the Encanto!

Both his sisters were helping! Julieta healed people and Pepa watered the plants and made sure they got the sunlight they needed so the harvest would be great.

Bruno needed to help too! They all did. And so he would. If anyone wanted their future read he would do it. Otherwise… what was his gift even for?


The following day Bruno announced that anyone would be welcome to come and get their futures read when they needed it. The gifts of the Madrigal triplets were to benefit the entire Encanto.

And Alma's proud smile told Bruno that he had made the right decision.

At first, no one came. Startled over what had happened. But then slowly people did start to come and ask about pretty mundane stuff. It didn't always turn out how they wanted, but they were very kind about it and always thanked Bruno.

Didn't help though that Bruno was now always nervous that his visions were going to be... bad. People were nice about it but you could always see the disappointment in their eyes. And... that really wasn't what Bruno wanted to see after having read a future.

Then one day an older man sat in front of Bruno. He had a kind smile on his face and he made a fist and knocked on the floor. "Knock on wood." he said as he knocked three times. And then made a final knock on his own head.

Bruno blinked, confused. "What was that?" he asked.

"For luck!" The old man chuckled. "I am having my future read, aren't I?" he asked. "Who doesn't want a lucky future?"

Bruno blinked but shrugged it off. "What do you want to know?" he asked.

The man smiled warmly. "My daughter's birthday is next week. The only thing is I am absolutely horrible with gifts. My wife used to be in charge of those but she passed away last spring. Will my daughter like the dress I got her?"

Bruno tilted his head then shrugged. It sounded harmless enough and he started his chant and a little later he was sitting with a slab showing a woman who looked extremely happy over the dress she was holding.

The mere sight of the slab made Bruno exhale a deep sigh of relief and the old man beamed happily.

"Thank you little Madrigal!" he grinned as he nodded his head and went away while Bruno looked at the slab he had made.

Did... did that knock on wood thing work? Well. Bruno supposed it couldn't hurt to try it himself the next time someone asked him to read their future.