CAMILO

Hair? Check. Teeth? Check. Clothes? Check. Check. Check.

I'm ready.

Inhaling a deep breath, I stare myself straight down in the mirror, taking in all the details one last time for consistency—trying to mentally prepare myself.

Still a bit tense, I make my way out of my room, into the hall.

The house and village are already abuzz so bright and early this morning—the air full of chatter, people wide awake at the crack of dawn, running this way and that, prepping excitedly with others for the start of Carnaval. An energy I plan on riding throughout the rest of the night, whatever it may have in store.

I make my way over to Sofia and Alejandro's guest room around the corner. Standing in front of it, my heart races faster. It becomes harder to breathe. Why? I don't know. Excitement maybe? Nerves? I slowly knock at the door. Each rap seems to make me more nervous, or excited, or whatever it is, and every second spent waiting afterward, I examine the door frame. Its green paint so dull looking in this house, compared to the rest of ours, it seems a bit drab. Shabby, even.

The door swings open, and I perk back up.

Alejandro peeks out at me, his face covered in unexpected lines of red, yellow, and blue makeup. "Well, look who it is." He leans into the doorway, gaze narrowing with a typical challenging atmosphere. "What brings you here? Hm?"

"Al, stop." Sofia pushes him back into the room, behind her. She grins at me. "Are you heading into town to go help with setup?"

"Yep." I smile softly.

"I'll join you!" She grabs the doorknob and starts to step out into the hall and close it, before I can say anything else.

"Hey! Sofia!" Al snaps behind her, and I notice a pile of clothes scattered across the bed and floor in the background.

"We'll see you in town!" Sofia calls over her shoulder, shutting the door entirely. Not pausing to look back, she grabs me by the arm and tugs me over towards the stairs.

"Is it really alright to ditch him like that?" I chuckle and glance back at their door. Which surprisingly remains shut.

"Do you want to try on a million costumes with him, just for him to always choose the first one?"

I pause to consider, imagining just how many variations of similar outfits that may entail, with Alejandro's personality. "Hm. Good point."

We reach the dirt road leading out of Casita, into town, and Sofia stops. She sighs. "My brother . . . I know he means well, but . . . at times, he gets so overprotective, it's like he forgets I have my own thoughts, feelings, and opinions on matters. It's . . . frustrating."

"Have you tried talking to him about it?" I raise an eyebrow at her.

"No. It's . . . difficult." She rubs at the back of her neck. "It's partially my fault we're like this . . . Okay. More than partially my fault. It is my fault."

I squint at her, waiting for her to elaborate.

She heaves out a reluctant sigh. "My brother and I, we had to leave home and got separated from our family because of me," she explains. "I'd met a girl around my age called Maria, who was part of this passing caravan. We had so much fun together, I forgot my family and I . . . that we're different. I told her about my powers. She promised not to tell a soul, but word spread. People attacked our home."

A grievous sadness fills her eyes, as she seems to relive the haunting memory internally. The reaction making me want to pull her into my arms. To comfort her, and help her forget. But . . .

"Our family had to split up, and . . ."

She trails off and bites her lip.

"And that's when Alejandro started being overprotective," I finish for her.

Sofia nods. "I've let him take the lead on everything since. Because after my failed judgement, that seemed what's best. But I'm still my own person, and sometimes, I think he forgets that."

My heart twinges at the statement. The relatability to how I feel about my own family situation somewhat startling.

Sofia rubs at her arm and glances over at me. "Sorry. I didn't mean for this to get so depressing," she whispers, with a brief, apologetic half-smile.

"No! I understand." I hold both hands up between us.

Sofia tilts her head at me. Surprise clear in her gaze.

"I think my family's the same," I admit slowly, fixating down at my feet. "Everyone sees me as the family jokester. All smiles. No bad days."

I sigh.

Sofia looks away and stares out at the townscape. "Do you ever feel like you're putting on an act, just to please others?" she asks.

"All the time." I chuckle, making a move for us to continue walking, but at a much slower pace. Anything to get us further away from the others, in case there's any eavesdroppers, besides Dolores, who will know regardless. "That's why when Casita's cracks started appearing, a part of me thought it might be symbolic, like cracks forming in my façade."

I gulp at the last word.

It somehow doesn't feel right, but accurate at times, nonetheless.

"Have you tried talking to your family about that?" Sofia poses.

I laugh at the witty rebuttal. "No, no one. I . . . It's-"

"Complicated?"

"Exactly." I smile.

Sofia bobs her head, kind understanding on her face once again. "Thank you for listening to and sharing with me. Let's both try to be more honest and upfront with others from this point on. If not with everyone else, then at least with each other."

She grins at me, and the warmth behind it is so uplifting, my pulse flutters and it's impossible to resist returning a grin of my own.

"You drive a hard bargain." I raise both eyebrows at her. "But . . . deal." I bump into her side playfully, earning a giggle. "Now let's go enjoy the night, mi hermosa. If I'm to harbor a guess, I think this Carnaval will be one for the record books."

For more reasons than one.

"This way! Just a little further!" I dash down the crowded street, full of gathering people, lining up along the sides of the road, glimpsing back at Sofia tailing behind, every couple of steps. We reach the main street, and I stop in front of a shoe cobbler shop, where there's a little less people. Sofia halts beside me, bending forward to rest her hands on her knees, while she pants. "It should start any minute now." I dab at the sweat on my forehead, hoping I don't smear the lines she made for me earlier, when we were getting ready.

Sofia stands up straight again and grabs me by the chin, forcing me to look at her.

My eyes widen. Unable to breathe.

Before I can ask what she's doing, she pulls a handkerchief out of her skirt's pocket and blots it across my face delicately, picking up sweat, while probably doing a better job at not messing up any lines.

This continues for I don't know how long.

All I can hear through it all is my heart pounding in my ears.

"There. Feel better?" she asks, stepping back, releasing me.

I jolt. "Y-Yeah. Thanks." I ruffle up the back of my curls.

Why am I acting like this?

Sofia puts her handkerchief away and looks further up the street, seemingly unbothered by the whole ordeal. I take in her own costume. Her hair's pulled back in an elegant, braided bun, and she's wearing a yellow, floral top with a red, ruffled skirt and matching beaded necklaces. All gifts from Mirabel, Dolores, and the other girls, who were more than happy to contribute to the cause. Isabela also helped her put on some red lipstick, too. Not long after that I became her painted target, and they all took free range in adding their own finishing touches. Resulting in not only my face being made up, but yellow and green armbands being applied, along with an identical feathered chest piece, shorts, belt, and cap as well.

In other words, we went all out. More than I thought we would, but I'm not complaining, either.

It definitely fits the over-the-top nature of the Madrigal name. And since I'm not helping out on the floats this year, doing transformations, I'm at least representing our spirits here on the street.

The banging of drums picks up down the road. People all around us cheer, whistle, snap their fingers, and clap.

I turn to face the source of the commotion.

A horde of see-through, phantom animals race past us. One being a green toucan that zips right past my head. At the far end of the road, closer to the hill leading up to Casita, the first float rounds the usual street corner. Flowers and cacti of all sorts coat it from head to toe in a colorful rainbow, Isabella's vines rotating beneath to keep the float moving forward. Isabella stands at the top of a tree tower at the center, wearing purple feathered wings and matching jewelry and cap. She waves out to both sides of the crowd, throwing a mixture of flower petals and colored powder alike.

Sofia beams at it, starry-eyed as it gets closer.

Isabella appears to notice us amongst the crowd and tosses a yellow floral crown atop Sofia's head.

Sofia grasps at it and gawps at me.

"It suits you." I smile.

And then, something soft and ashy smacks me in the side of the head. I frown and glance down at my entire left side. I'm covered in blue powder.

Sofia laughs. "And that suits you." Her eyes twinkle with the joke.

My breath catches in my throat. Involuntarily, my whole body shifts between three different villagers, before finally getting back to myself. I cough to clear my throat and glance over to the side, cheeks burning from the little mishap.

I need to keep myself together.

The next float comes into view. But . . . it's not like any other float I've seen.

It still has Isabela's vines, guiding it, beneath it. However, the top . . . Well, its floor burns with multiple colored-waves of flame, with interspersed giant flowers between. Three giant glowing mushrooms sprout out from its back depths. Atop the central tallest is Alejandro, decked out in a similar blue and yellow outfit to my own, spinning his hands around, throwing more phantom animals and flames everywhere with the biggest grin. He teleports back and forth across each mushroom, with little break between.

I smirk and raise an eyebrow at him. "Did he end up picking the first costume he tried on?" I look at Sofia.

"Every time," she shakes her head, eyes glued on her brother.

The rest of the floats continue in similar fashion, including one with Mami and Papi, one for Antonio and his animals, and a couple others from the villagers. Each subsequent one full of dancers, musicians, and of course, more cacti, animals, illusions, and flowers.

As the last float passes us, Sofia grabs my arm. "Come on. Let's get some sparklers before they run out." She tilts her head over at the nearby corner, where Luisa's handing out a cart of sparklers to a bunch of kids.

I follow her over, and Luisa immediately smiles at us. "Having fun, you two?" she asks.

"Of course!" Sofia responds. "How could we not?"

Luisa glances at me. "Here. On the house." She gives the both of us each an unlit sparkler.

"Gracias, prima. I owe you one." I salute her with it.

"Mhm. Stay safe." She waves us off, focusing on her other little customers.

Sofia and I make our way over toward the nearby park. While we walk, she lights our sparklers with a conjured flame in her hand.

"I haven't played with sparklers in ages," she says, as we both stare at our sputtering fireworks.

Their bright light illuminates both of our painted, powdered faces. More so than the day's light did earlier, before the sun started to set.

"Same," I admit. "Last time I had the chance, I was helping Antonio hold his."

Sofia smiles softly as I recall the memory, and how big Antonio's eyes got with wonder at the sight. "He seems like he had fun today," she says.

I nod, remembering how happy he looked with his army of animals on his jungle themed float. The scene very similar to his new room.

We both come to a stop in the park's grassy area, our sparklers finishing up, in a puff of smoke. When they're both out, we lie down beside each other.

"Today was . . . fun," Sofia mutters, her gaze fixed on the pastel sky above.

"That it was."

"Thanks for accompanying me for it."

She tilts her head to look at me, and I grin. "What? You thought I'd leave you to fend for yourself alone? What kind of host would we be then?"

Sofia giggles at that.

My chest warms. If I could, I get the feeling I could watch her laugh all day.

Her titters stop, and she stares back up at me.

Time freezes.

I can't breathe or look away.

Sofia doesn't move, her gaze locked with mine also. "We should head back soon . . . shouldn't we?" she whispers.

We should.

I know that. She knows that.

Everyone's bound to be waiting for us.

And yet, in this moment, there's nowhere else I'd rather be than here. Even if only for one delaying, non-answering second longer.