Bruno couldn't help but smirk amused over this breakfast. They finally had a teenager among the children… And it showed in her behavior.

Isabela had just turned thirteen. And like any thirteen year old, she wanted to show how big and mature she was.

So Agustin's awkward personality was sure to get in the way.

"Be careful out there," Agustin said. "The boys might be snapping their necks to look after you."

"Papa seriously?" Isabela muttered.

"I am just trying to look out for you." Agustin said now more seriously. "You… Are a growing young woman. And I want you to be careful."

Isabela's eyes widened in horror. "Papa… Please don't."

"Things are starting to… Change. And you will notice changes. And boys will treat you differently. And you need to be careful."

"PAPA!" Isabela screeched now beet red in her entire face.

Mirabel who was now almost eight years old looked at her older sister. A little mystified over her reaction.

"Listen to your father Isabela." Alma said now more strictly. "Be careful with the boys you meet. You must have standards! And grace! You are a Madrigal and we are proud. We do not settle for people who treat us unwell."

At that Isabela straightened herself up to try and make herself look as adult as humanly possible.

"Mama she's only thirteen." Julieta sighed.

"It's never too early to learn about self respect." Alma replied right back. "Especially for someone as special as Isabela. She will be noticed. I would be surprised if she hasn't already been noticed."

"Do not worry Abuela," Isabela spoke in a firm voice. "I can protect myself if needed." she reminded them as she allowed a little vein to grow.

Agustin swallowed. "My little girl… So big."

Isabela squinted her eyes. "Papa… please. Don't!"

"Why would any boy ever want her?" Camilo suddenly asked. "She's always such a stick in the mud."

And Isabela seethed as suddenly a vine came from Camilo's chair and slapped him over the head. "Auw!"

Then Isabela huffed as she threw her head back.

"Camilo," Felix warned his eight year old son.

Camilo pouted then looked at the table. "There are no more Arepas?" he asked. "But… I'm hungry."

Felix smirked. "Hi, Hungry. I'm Papi."

Camilo was not amused. He squinted his eyes at his father and Pepa smirked.

"Hah! Good one!" Agustin laughed. "Hey Felix. Did you hear this one? I don't trust stairs! Cause they are always up to something!"

"Hahahahaha!" Felix laughed wholeheartedly and multiple children groaned deeply. "Well. Did you hear the rumor about the butter? I'm not going to spread it!"

"Stoooooop." Camilo pleaded. "This hurts me."

"It is pretty bad." Luisa agreed as she rubbed her tendrils.

Bruno on his side of the wall though had already come up with five different jokes he could have injected. Oh well, he supposed. The kids had suffered enough. Especially Isabela who was currently declaring she wanted to die.

And so he cleaned his little table and put the items away. His room was starting to look… Pretty nice actually.

He even had a nice chair now. So soft that he could fall asleep in it for afternoon naps.

There was a clothesline in the back of the room where he hung his clothes while washing it, and a tub made in zinc.

Wednesday was wash day. Always. Because that's when his family washed clothes too! The entire Encanto would wash clothes on Wednesdays actually because then Pepa would make the sun shine bright in the afternoon to help dry the clothes.

Not that that made a big difference to Bruno since he was stuck inside. But he liked having firm schedules like this. Knowing which days were wash days and which weren't.

And it really helped just following along the patterns of the family… Sometimes it even made him feel like he was still a part of it.

He wasn't though… Bruno knew… He wasn't. And it was fine… It was fine.


That night, there was thunder erupting outside and the heavy rain poured down on Casita making loud drumming sounds.

As it often was when weather like this happened. Bruno wondered if it was Pepa who was upset or just a natural phenomenon.

Either way, it was quite something to have the wind tear through the casita like that and have each thunder crack illuminate the entire room while the boom made the house itself rumble.

One thing was for sure though, it was very noisy. The heavy rain hammered on the roof, the wind tore through the woods of the house, the thunder strikes created loud booms.

That was probably why, though Bruno was always very careful doing his nightly escapades, he didn't hear the door at the entrance opening up. To allow a boy outside as he yawned, rubbing his eyes.

Bruno on the other hand was standing on the kitchen counter as he tried to reach the top of the cabinet where he knew Julieta would sometimes hide extra snacks to keep them out of the hands of the children.

Didn't work…. Obviously. But Bruno was willing to give it a check as tonight's yield had been…. Pretty pathetic

And though Bruno rarely felt hunger anymore, his stomach had been tying itself into odd knots this evening wishing for food.

Then finally Bruno reached up and pulled down the basket to find… nothing… A dud… dammit.

"Tia is that you in there?" a little voice suddenly called and Bruno's eyes widened.

Shit! He hadn't heard any door opening in the entrance… Quickly Bruno put the basket back up and started to look for an escape as the thunder crack illuminated the room in a blitz.

The door to the dining room was the furthers away because… Of course, it was! And the boy was coming from the entrance and then. He was already there and Bruno gasped as he did the only thing he could do.

He stayed on the counter and pressed himself as far into the dark shadow under the cabinet as he could.

And then… A little boy with a set of curls walked into the kitchen, yawning deeply as he rubbed his eyes.

Bruno pressed himself further into his corner on the counter… Didn't look like Camilo had seen him yet.

And then the board opened up the same cupboards Bruno had already gone through to groan annoyed as he obviously didn't find anything.

Bruno… Didn't even dare to breathe. He was just sitting there in his corner, with wide opened eyes and his hands covering his mouth.

Just then Camilo opened another cupboard only for a rat to jump out and Camilo screamed.

The rat screamed as well, and Bruno just managed to bite his lip so hard that he didn't scream.

Only for several more rats to jump out from their hiding places and the poor boy screamed even more as the rats ran to their place of safety…

Bruno…. Bruno that was hiding in his dark corner on the counter, with multiple rats running straight towards him and Camilo followed their run with his eyes only to halt.

His eyes went wide by the sight of a large shadow on the counter above him and then….

A thunder strike! A bright light illuminated the kitchen and a man covered in rats, looking at Camilo with big bulging eyes.

Camilo's eyes were wide, his mouth open, and then he screamed.

Bruno gasped as he reached forward a hand. "Ca-CAMILO!" he shouted.

And then… the white turned out of the boy's eyes. And he just fell down on the ground. And the thunder struck again.

Bruno… Was stunned speechless. Wide-eyed was he looking down at the boy now out cold, just laying on the floor.

Then slowly… Ever so slowly Bruno crawled down from the counter and squatted over the boy. "Camilo?" he asked concerned.

Only for Camilo to groan as he slowly opened his eyes, then to see Bruno's face hovering right over his and he screamed again. "AAAAAHHHHH!"

In shock Bruno screamed. "AAAH!"

And then the crack of a thunder illuminated the room and Camilo screamed yet again even louder. "WUAAAAH!"

Making them both scream. And then Camilo's eyes rolled back into his skull again as he fell back down leaving a very shocked and scared Bruno right above him.

"CAMILO!" Pepa's scream sounded from the entrance making Bruno shoot up, so he now stood up straight.

Shit shit shit! What was he supposed to do? Bruno couldn't think, he just ran! Ran into the living room, tore open the window, and jumped outside just in time for multiple people to run into the kitchen and Bruno could hear voices.

"Camilo! Hijo! What's wrong?!"

"Ra-RATS!" Camilo cried. "So many rats! And there was a guy! He was right above me! And he was covered in RATS! And!"

Bruno pressed himself up against the wall outside beneath the window as he covered his mouth. Though he could swear the sound of his hammering heart had to be louder than even the wrong.

"What's going on?" Now Felix came running.

"I think Camilo was sleepwalking and had a nightmare," Pepa replied. "Things are fine!"

"Oh Dios Mios." Now Julieta was in the kitchen too. "Are you okay Camilo?"

And now Bruno could hear Camilos crying while Pepa tried to calm her son down and Felix, Agustin, Mirabel, and Luisa had all made their way down too.

…. It was a house party it seemed…. And Bruno groaned. How was he supposed to go back to his own room now?! The light was turned on in there and the warm soft light poured out as Julieta suggested she make hot cocoa for everyone. Even though it was the middle of the night.

Well… Bruno was glad that they were calming Camilo down. Clearly, the boy was scared. Bruno was just starting to get… Pretty cold out here… all drenched and with the wind as strong as ever it was kind of freezing.

Finally though… finally people started to leave with their cocoa and Bruno groaned as he pulled himself back inside through the window into the now empty house. And had to drag himself through the portrait hole, drenched and miserable as he now had to hang up his wet clothes on the laundry line and curl. Then grabbed his emergency bottle of rum with shaking hands, and was honestly surprised he didn't spill the entire bottle while pouring a glass.

Still, his hands were shaking so badly making the rum squilp around and Bruno brought it to his lips as he tried to calm himself down. After having finished the glass. Bruno was still shaking. But a little less so... Whether it was from nerves or the cold or both he didn't know. But he knew he needed to sleep. And so Bruno curled himself up in his nest of blankets hoping to get some warmth back into his poor shaking body.


The next morning Camilo was whispering at Mirabel. "I am telling you though. I'm not making it up. Someone was here! In the house!"

Mirabel looked at her cousin. "Are you sure you weren't just sleepwalking as your Mami said?" she asked. "It sounds like a nightmare to me. And I don't believe Casita would ever let someone uninvited into the house."

Camilo swallowed. "I saw him! His face… It looked like… It looked like." and he gulped. "Tio Bruno."

Mirabel frowned deeply. "But… He left the Encanto, right? And we are not supposed to talk about him…. Abuela gets mad when we do."

"Maybe he died," Camilo whispered. "And his ghost is haunting us. That's why we can't talk about him… There were so many rats Mira. You don't understand."

Then Mirabel padded Camilo on the back. "There there. Ghosts can be scary. But they can't actually hurt people you know. They are just sort of… There."

At that Camilo's eyes widened and he turned to Mirabel. "So you think… Tio Bruno's ghost might actually be?"

Both kids quieted, and they looked towards the family tree painted at the back wall of the dining room. They looked at the portrayal of their mothers and their estranged Tio in the middle.

His portrait was indeed odd. While everyone else there seemed to be smiling, Bruno's eyes seemed large as they starred out into the room with a disturbed look, as if he was constantly warning them of something ominous. His back hunched and his hair frizzled… It was Casita itself that provided them with this family tree and updated it accordingly to make it recent.

The cousins looked at each other.

"Our house is haunted," Camilo concluded.

"I mean it's not a stretch. Our house is alive." Mirabel reminded him just as the floor jumped to make a point and Camilo screeched in fright while Mirabel huffed. "Don't be a baby. Casita is a nice house!" she stated.

"I'm not a…" Camilo began then huffed. "If you had seen it you would have screamed too!"

Mirabel chuckled amused. "Sure." and she walked away.

"Hey wait! Mira!" Camilo shouted as he ran after her. "I'm not lying! MIRA!" and they rant right past Dolores who came walking the other way.

"Dolores!" Mirabel grinned. "Camilo thinks the house is haunted by Tio Bruno."

Dolores blinked. "Oh yes sure. I hear him all the time."

That made Camilo stop. "What?" he asked.

"He's always stuttering and mumbling to himself." Dolores shrugged.

"What?!" Camilo exclaimed now going ghostly white.

"I hear him right now in fact. He's talking about being hungry. It was a poor catch last night." And then Dolores just kept walking like nothing had happened.

And Camilo... Camilo was just ready to faint for a third time doing a twenty four hour time span.

Mirabel looked at Camilo. "Do... Do you need some of my mama's cooking?"

"Yes please." Camilo whispered, his skin now looking like wax and his eyes wide with fear.