CAMILO
Casita's fixed. Our powers and home are back. The smell of fresh food fills the air.
Everything seems to be going swimmingly as the whole town joins our family for a grand feast inside our restored home. I reach for a handful of tia Julieta's delicious arepas—quick to pile them on my plate before anyone else can devour them. On my third, there's a loud gasp and a clattering of a fork on a nearby plate.
I look at Dolores to my right, the instigator of the sound. Her eyes are wide, fixed across the way, toward the foyer. I follow her gaze, as does everyone else. The whole room grows silent.
Two teens with matching tan skin, wavy, dark-brown hair, and hazel eyes stand in the foyer's grand archway. One a taller boy in a blue, short-sleeved shirt, a brown, ragged ruana, and black pants. The other a girl with longer hair and thicker eyelashes, dressed in a white, frilled blouse, long, blue skirt, and a tied, red belt.
But more importantly: both strangers, who I've never seen before.
Strangers.
In the Encanto.
"I'm . . . guessing you guys don't get visitors very often based off your expressions . . . if any," the boy jokes with a raised eyebrow.
Luisa stands up, her whole body tense, breathing heavy. She peeks over at Abuela with clear confusion on her face, looking ready to pounce if she has to, but not sure if she needs to.
"Who . . . are you?" Abuela rises, squinting at the two, her eye wrinkles squeezing together the further they narrow.
The girl gulps and stiffens.
"We're travelers!" The boy steps forward, unfazed. "We felt a great surge in magic not long ago and came to check out what was going on since we were nearby."
He glances around the room.
"It looks like everything here is alright, though?"
"You . . . can sense magic?" Abuela tilts her head at them.
"Yes," the girl nods, standing up taller next to the boy, presumably to be her brother due to their similar looks. "Most magic users can. Which we thought shouldn't be too surprising, but . . ."
She pauses to take in seemingly our whole family at the table. Why? Why is she looking at us like that?
"How interesting," she whispers.
"What's interesting?" Mirabel asks.
The girl jolts. "Ah! Well . . ." Her gaze darts around at everyone. "I've never seen so many people gifted with magic in one room before. I mean, there's eight of you, and only one natural born magic user." She directs the last part at Mirabel. Clear as day. Undeniable.
"Natural born . . ."
"Magic user?!" almost the whole family chimes in at that last part.
We all look at Mirabel, who's still watching the surprise guests.
"What do you mean by that?" Abuela rasps out.
The girl glances at her brother. "It means exactly what she said," he responds. "Do you guys really not know?"
All of us gawk at them, speechless.
The boy sighs. "Magic can only be gifted to non-born magic users by a magic user. Where is the person that gave you your gifts?"
My blood runs cold.
There are only two possible answers to that question, that I can think of. Abuelo Pedro or . . .
I look at Abuela. She's frozen. Eyes wide. Mouth agape.
Does this mean . . . it was Abuelo? Or . . . ?
Abuela plops back down in her chair, her face paling. Mami and tia Julieta are at her side in an instant, holding her by the shoulders.
My hearts races.
I gulp and peek back at the new, waiting duo.
"They're not . . . around anymore," Papi says.
"Oh." The strangers' faces fall. They glimpse at each other, lips pursed, uncertainty in their gaze.
The girl inches closer. "We can teach you. About magic. And how to use your powers." She smiles softly at Mirabel.
"But! We'll need someplace to stay in the meantime, and food to eat." The boy holds up a biding finger. "We're not a walking charity case here."
"Of course." Abuela nods. "Please. We would be honored for us to teach us whatever it is you know. Come join us, and tell us more about yourselves." She waves for Casita to squeeze two chairs in at the table with the family, whishing them past standing, overlooking townsfolk, and squeezing one on each of her sides, next to tia Julieta and tio Bruno.
The two strangers walk over, and it's like I can't tear my eyes away from them. Particularly the girl. Who at first seemed timid, when they first walked in, but also appears to have some drive in her from her offer to help.
"What are your names?" Abuela asks as they sit.
"I'm Alejandro, and this is my younger twin sister, Sofia." The boy snatches some buñuelos immediately in his hands and drops them onto his plate in a mounting heap.
Sofia rolls her eyes at him. Whether it's from his emphasis of the word younger, even though they're supposedly twins, or at his grabby behavior, it can be either or.
"You're twins?" Mami perks up, glimpsing at tia Julieta and tio Bruno.
"Yes. Unfortunately," Sofia sighs giving him a playful side eye.
"Hey!" Alejandro whirls to glare at her.
She giggles at that, and we meet eye contact.
My hear thuds. I hurry to glance away. Why? I don't know. But when I peek back at her, she's pouring herself some ajiaco in a small bowl.
"How do you two know about magic?" prima Isabella asks. "Moreover, how can you tell the type of users apart?"
"We come from a family of natural born magic users, so our grandparents taught us how to use our powers when we came of age," Alejandro explains. "As for how we can tell them apart, that's one of Sofia's skills." He points a thumb at her. "She's very observant, you can say."
She gifts a faint smile before shrinking into herself a bit.
"So, do you both have powers?" Antonio peeps up, almost standing in his seat now, sounding fascinated. And it'd be lie to say I'm not as well.
I mean, wow.
Other people with powers.
In the Encanto.
From the world beyond.
This is a first.
"Of course," Sofia beams at Antonio. "We have a few each."
"A few?!" Mami straightens up again, a thundering cloud forming over her head now.
"That's . . . right." Sofia glimpses back and forth between Mami and her flashing cloud. "People who are given gifts are typically only granted one ability out of the several the gifting natural born user may possess. While natural born users often possess many. For example, a natural born user could control the elements . . . " She creates a small tornado in her hand that swiftly transforms into falling snow.
"And!" Alejandro abruptly vanishes from his seat in a blur. There's a gasp at the other side of the table, by Luisa, as he reappears beside her. "They could also teleport!"
He puts his hands on his hips, then manifests back at his seat, resuming grabbing more food for his plate. Like nothing major ever happened.
"Pretty cool, huh?" He tosses another buñuelo in his mouth, nonchalantly.
My jaw drops.
Any thought I had draws a blank. Everything struggling to catch up and feel clear from what I'm seeing and hearing.
"So, you're saying . . . we," Isabela points at herself and then the rest of us 'gifted' kids at the table, "essentially inherited our powers? From whoever gave us the gift?"
"That's right," Alejandro mumbles mid-chew.
Meaning, I inherited shape-shifting from Abuelo? And Antonio, Dolores, Mami, and everyone else, too?
"But . . . what about Mirabel?" I whisper.
My eyes widen.
Oops. I didn't mean to say that out loud.
I peek up at everyone, who all in turn faces Mira.
"Well, she's a natural born magic user. So, likely she inherited multiple. Possibly similar ones." Alejandro picks up an empanada next, adding it to his growing and at the same time diminishing stacks.
"But she doesn't have any gifts or powers like you two," Abuela quips.
"Maybe not that you know of." Sofia puts her spoon down. "To get your gifts, you had to go through a ceremony of some sort, right? And that's how you discovered your powers? That won't work with natural users. Because we have them from the start, so she doesn't need a gift or a gift giving ceremony."
She smiles kindly at Mirabel again. The softness ranging on angelic. Giving Isabella a run for her money.
"My guess is she just never learned how to tap into that power on her own very well. We should be able to help her, though. No problem."
I glance between her and Mirabel, then Abuela.
Well, here's another interesting development.
Mirabel might actually have powers, too? This whole time? Perhaps some of the same as ours? And we never knew? Because the gift giving ceremony wasn't the correct way to discover it?
I'm surprised Mira or Abuela haven't fainted yet at the prospect, after all the fuss they've made throughout the years about gifts. Mostly on Abuela's end until now, but Mirabel was affected just as badly from feeling left out. That's what happens when you live in a family like ours, up until literally today.
And even though Mirabel tried to keep it together, up to this most recent incident with the fall of the casita, she can't fool me. That's what happens when you spend almost five years cramped in a nursery together. You learn how to read each other—by the simplest movements to the most contained facial expressions and tones.
Tio Agustin clears his throat. "Where did you two come from, if you don't mind us asking?" he tries to change the subject.
"Yes! Where are your parents? Your family? Why are you all alone?" Mami's thunder returns with a vengeance, creating a flash through the room.
Alejandro and Sofia both go rigid.
"Well, it's . . . a long story," Alejandro says, and Sofia stares down at her lap. "Most magic users leave home early to practice their magic in isolation for a few years, then go on journeys to find a good fit for them in a community somewhere. It's not normal for . . . so many magic users to inhabit one town nowadays . . . Even with just one, it's . . . dangerous."
The way he says it has a hint of despair or caution in his voice.
Seems they have their own problems, then.
Great. Let's hope they don't create more of our own. We just got our lives back in one piece. We don't need to resolve more issues or misunderstandings between one another. I certainly can't take that. Getting through all of what happened recently, still smiling and pretending everything's okay when in reality we still probably have a long way to go, was hard enough.
Sofia catches my attention again, and she grins at me.
My cheeks burn.
Well, at least, if anything, having some new people around will prove interesting. Seeing Maribel actually use powers will just be additionally rewarding, with guaranteed entertainment.