Bruno stayed at the same spot for the rest of the evening, he felt terrible for Mirabel. Poor girl…

Everyone was just partying and having a good time. Completely ignoring Mirabel's warning. Bruno was the only one who knew that…. She was right. She was completely right.

And man... Man did Bruno know how much it sucked to try and warn people about something. But then they wouldn't take it seriously... Then it would happen. And the blame would fall back on Bruno somehow. People were the worst!

Eventually, Bruno fell asleep again on the floor and woke up to a house in silence and darkness.

Sounded like the party was over.

Bruno swallowed as he hesitated, but finally, he headed to the portrait hole. He stood still for a few seconds but then carefully… Carefully pushed the portrait open and glanced outside.

Like always the big entrance hall was illuminated by the glows of all of the magic doors… There was one though. That seemed to be oddly sputtering.

Bruno halted as he looked to each side, he squinted his eyes and tried to listen. Things seemed quiet though… He should be okay.

And so… Slowly Bruno put up his hood as to shield himself and quietly Bruno crawled out of his hole and slowly approached the flickering door.

It was…. Luisa's. Pulsing oddly, like it was struggling to keep the glow strong.

Bruno frowned. He knew his own door had gone out. But that had happened after he had rejected his own gift and left the family.

Luisa hadn't seemed like she was rejecting her gift… And she hadn't left the family. So…. That didn't make sense.

Then Bruno moved down the stairs until he was down on the lower floor and looked around. This is where Mirabel had seen the cracks right? She had said they were everywhere.

Well… From a glance things looked pretty fine but…

The tiles moved a little, gesturing towards the wall and Bruno swallowed as he headed over there and then crouched down and saw. Small cracks… You would have to look for them to see them. But yes… They were there.

It went ice cold through Bruno's body and stomach… The cracks had indeed worked themselves through. No longer just in the foundation of casita or behind the walls no… They were becoming visible now.

As Bruno brushed a hand over the little crack, it complained and then grew and Bruno gasped as he removed his hand.

It was only a matter of time now before the family saw it. They were going to spread and continue spreading. And the candle..

Bruno stood up and turned his head, up towards his mother's window where he could clearly see the candle standing on its proper place.

It did seem to… Sputter a little though. And Bruno frowned as he pulled down his hood looking up at it.

Then he swallowed…. What now?


The next morning Bruno was allowed a rather quiet morning as the family was eating outside so the dining room was empty.

But it didn't change Bruno's eating habits. No no! Breakfast was at seven! Sharp! Always. And Bruno would say his thanks and prayers like always. He didn't need more bad luck in his life and… Mama would be disappointed in him if he forgot.

And then… Only one job mattered right now.

It seemed like kind of a hopeless job at this point. The cracks were now visible in the house. And they had spread far quicker than Bruno could fix them.

Still, he had to try… What else was there to do than just… Try?

Remember to knock on wood when turning that corner. Hold your breath when going under the door frame. This place was particularly bad so there was a bowl of salt…

Did it help slow the spread of cracks? Bruno didn't know. Why not try? Anything!

For hours Bruno worked, climbing up the walls to the further reach, trying to patch things up, only for new cracks to form and he hissed. Then suddenly the house rumbled under him.

"Casita?" Bruno blinked… Casita barely had any reach in here anymore. When Bruno had first moved in. Casita had been able to act within the walls too and help out once in a while. But as the cracks had spread and formed. The place within the walls had started to collapse in certain places and Casitas reach had veined to basically nothing.

Also now it seemed like the board was really struggling to lift itself up.

Bruno swallowed. "Something bad?" he asked and the board made a pathetic cough. Just then the rats came running, looking urging at him and Bruno looked at them. "What is it guys?" he asked and they made their little squeaky sounds, informing Bruno he should follow. And he did.

Followed the rats down the halls until he reached one of the tallest walls. Also, the one that looked like it was on the utter brink of collapse as it was more cracks than wall at this point honestly.

Then Bruno heard… Some sort of voice from the other side and he frowned as he put his ear to the wall. Then heard some sort of exhausted singing.

"This is the familia Madrigal… Welcome to the familia Madrigal… Uuurgh."

Bruno blinked… What in the? He looked up to see light flowing through one of the cracks and then grabbed the wall to scale it until he could reach the larger crack and look through it to see… A place filled with nothing but sand and stony walls, stairs edged into the walls themselves.

"MY TOWER!" Bruno shouted in surprise and then halted as the attempted singing came again.

"There's so many stairs in the house of Madrigal."

"What.." Bruno gaped. "Mirabel?! What is she doing in my tower!?" …. Oh no. She was headed for his seers room.

No wait… What was Bruno even worried about. He had destroyed the bridge! There was no way she was getting in there. Hehe. Jokes on you Mirabel.

Still, Bruno was concerned as he kept climbing the wall the same as Mirabel did, keeping a constant eye on her progress as the determined girl made her way up the endless stairs.

"You'd think there'd be another way to get so high, 'cause we're magic' but noooo." Mirabel cried out. "BRUNO! Your room is the woooooorst!"

Bruno blinked as he stood a little back. Well, he wasn't going to argue about that. It was a fair point.

And then finally, finally Mirabel reached the top and Bruno smirked. Gotta turn around now Mirabel! There's no way in! Back down you go.

Mirabel however had other ideas as she grabbed what was the ropy hand railing.

"What is she doing?" Bruno asked as Mirabel throw the stick and rope to the other side making it stuck on another pillar. Bruno's eyes widened… Was she? No… Oh no… No no no.

"No! NOO!" Bruno screamed but clearly, she didn't hear him. The girl jumped, swung herself over, and let go, and Bruno… Bruno was about to have a heart attack. For real this time.

Then Mirabel let go of a yell in triumph, stamping on the ground only for the rocks to give in and break right under her making Bruno scream.

Mirabel though managed to jump back and Bruno… Fell down on his back on his little ledge on the other side.

"That girl is going to be the death of me." Bruno gasped deeply as he wide-eyed looked up. Then the horror hit Bruno. SHE WAS NEXT TO HIS VISION CAVE!

Oh noooo! Bruno jumped up and ran to the sides, now finding big holes going to the murals on the other side his rats could easily fit through themselves. And they did.

"Get… Get out." Bruno hissed. "Get her out!" no such luck. Mirabel went into his vision cave and the door slammed after her so now… She was out of sight.

….. Oh… no... Oh no no. This was bad... This was really bad.

And then of course… Cracks. "Argh." Bruno looked down at his feet where a crack was forming, and then slowly, slowly spread towards the hall outside, and stones started to fall down in his cave that was already in utter decay after ten years of no magic to maintain it.

"Mirabel!" Bruno gasped as the stones started to fall. "Get out of there! GUYS HELP HER GET OUT OF THERE!" he shouted at his rats in a panic and then the stones kept falling, and caved in the place.

"SHE'S GOING TO BE BURIED ALIVE!" Bruno screamed as the sand poured through and Bruno's hands were all over the walls. And then he heard it, knocks on the door, it sounded like she was throwing herself against the door. "SHE'S STUCK! Casita! Help her! Let her out!"

Then Bruno realized. No magic. The magic had no reach in his room because he hadn't allowed it.

"I'm Bruno Madrigal! Madrigal! Fortune teller! Give me a vision!" Bruno shouted and shortly his eyes flashed green. But more importantly, the door handle to his seers cave opened by itself and Mirabel fell right out. With the sand.

And Bruno… Bruno collapsed now laying on the floor looking up at the ceiling. His eyes were wide open. And he was gasping for breath, just wheezing and gasping for it.

…. That girl was going to kill him. She might actually kill him… Dead by heart attack in the wall.

Bruno inhaled a deep breath and exhaled. Well… Chances were she didn't find the vision. How could she? Everything in there was now buried in sand and stone.

She… She hadn't found the vision right?… Right?

….. Bruno quieted. He was bad luck Bruno… It was who he was. He wasn't allowed good luck.

Oh… nooooo.