Chapter Three: Guilt

Abuela watched as the Reverend rushed back down the path towards the village. If she had only taken Jose up on his offer of a search party when Camilo told her that Mirabel had run away. There had been tremors out in the village even then. If she had sent Jose and the others out to search, they might have found her before the earthquake (Magic Quake?), and Mirabel wouldn't be out there, injured, alone, probably cold, and thinking that her family was better off without her.

"Whoa, what's this," a deep voice asked, causing Abuela to come out of her shock as Camilo leaned down and picked up something green from the grass. The vision, about Mirabel, and Camilo had been with her when she turned down the search party. Her heart squeezed tightly in her chest as Camilo looked at the slate before looking up at his grandmother, "This is your fault," he announced, his eyes hard. For a moment Abuela saw a teenage Pepa in his place, "NOt only did your unfair treatment of us destroy our home, but your refusal to let Jose organize a search party might have just cost my prima her life!"

"Camilo!" Pepa exclaimed as Antonio clung to her dress, crying out in fear, demanding to know what he was talking about.

"No Mama, you weren't there, when Mirabel left, Tia sent me to fetch Abuela. Jose overheard what was going on and offered to organize a search party, and Abuela here," he whipped around to fix his Abuela with a dark look, "Told him that Mira was just doing it for attention, and to leave her alone."

"Lo siento mucho, cometí un terrible error," Abuela pleaded, "De haber sabido…"

"We can't change the past," Julieta insisted, placing a calming hand on her mother's shoulder. She was trembling hard, her whole body shook, "You were wrong to turn down Jose's help, but there was no guarantee that they would have found her before the quake. What matters is that we look for her."

"I…I…I'll help," Bruno offered, "She… in my vision… Mirabel, she passed a boulder that kind of looked like a bear?"

"Bear rock," Luisa muttered, "Isa remember, we used to play there when we were kids."

"Si, remember when we took Mirabel with us, she was probably around two, first time Mama let her out of her sight, and she thought it was a real bear," Isabela chuckled at the memory before it turned into a sob, "She ran to me, begging me to protect her, and… Mama, the last thing I told her was that I hate her!"

"Mirabel is going to be okay," Julieta insisted, "We're just going to have to look for her, Bruno, she's by Bear Rock?"

"Y..yes, a…at least she w…was when the trees started falling."

"Then you should all go and search near Bear Rock," Abuela insisted, swallowing hard around the lump in her throat, if Mirabel died it would be all her fault.

"I'm going to stay here and see what I can't recover," Julieta announced, "my magic may be gone, but most of my tea mixes and poultices might just come in handy. All I did with them was add my gift to their natural abilities."

I'll help," Augustin offered.

"Mami," Antonio asked, tugging on Pepa's skirt, "Where are we going to sleep tonight?"

Pepa frowned, glancing down at Antonio, before glancing at the ruins that once were their home.

"We'll figure things out," Pepa insisted, "Right now, finding Mirabel is more important."

"What about my animal friends?" Antonio asked.

"They'll be fine, out in the forest," Pepa offered, pulling her youngest up into her arms, "Everything will be just fine."

…

Reverend Perez entered the town square where several members of the Encanto were gathered together.

"Was anyone hurt?" a woman asked, clutching Juancho tightly to her chest as she asked.

"Everyone got out of the house okay," the reverend explained, he had volunteered to check on the Madrigal family once the earthquake had subsided and they had noticed the remains of Casita, "However, Mirabel wasn't at home when the quake hit."

"That's right," Jose announced, "She ran away, I overheard Camilo tell Abuela Madrigal… I offered to form a search party, but she told me not to worry about it, that she just did it for attention. I should have ignored her and organized the search anyway."

"Then do it, quickly," Rev. Perez urged.

"Mirabel's a very family-oriented girl," someone else called out, "Once she felt that earthquake she would have turned around as quickly as she could."

"Perhaps she would, if she could, but we have good reason to believe that she was injured during the quake."

"Why would you think that?"

"Simple, Bruno Madrigal is back, he had a vision about the quake and Mirabel being crushed by a tree. As most of you should remember, Bruno's visions always come true just as he said."

"The poor girl."

"Why would Bruno do that to his own niece."

"Where did he come from?"

"No wonder we are in this mess."

"Bud Luck Bruno strikes again."

Rev. Perez raised a hand to silence everyone, "I know that you are all weary about Bruno's gift, but now is not the time to fret about that. We have a child missing, possibly injured alone in the woods, and a family with nothing to their name but each other. The Madrigals have helped each of us every single day for as long as most of us can remember. Isn't it about time we return the favor?"

…

Pepa shifted Antonio onto her hip as she headed towards town, where several people were milling about. Were they mad at her and her family for not coming to help? Had people been injured that Julieta couldn't heal? Has anyone been killed during the quake? Would their family be blamed once they learned the truth about the quake and what caused it? What about Mirabel? Was she even alive? Had she contributed to her decision to run away? Had she failed her sobrina just as badly as she had failed her hermano?

She was so lost in thought examining the damage done to the town, cracks in the walls, long gaps in the road that would easily break a wagon wheel, the barn door was sagging dangerously on broken hinges, that she wasn't paying much attention until she very nearly plowed over someone.

"Lo siento Senora Gracia," she gasped, helping the elderly woman to her feet, "I guess I'm still in shock, everything happened so quickly."

"That's okay my dear," Senora Gracia insisted, patting Pepa on the shoulder, "You have to admit, Mirabel made quick work of her vision."

"What!" Pepa demanded, nearly dropping Antonio, who clung tightly to her dress, "What are you even talking about?"

"The vision of Mirabel destroying your house, I overheard the Guzman's boy tell my Carlos about it."

Pepa gripped Antonio tightly, she couldn't believe that Mariano had told others about the vision. Honestly, it was bad enough that their house was destroyed, but now people were blaming Mirabel?

"It… it wasn't her fault," a voice stammered behind her, causing Senora Gracia to sign the cross as she stared in horror at the black sheep of la Familia Madrigal.

"It was… was me," Bruno insisted, "I gave her a vision. She just wanted to help, make the family proud," there was a gleam in his eyes that Pepa has never seen before as he continued, jabbing his finger at his chest, "I don't care what you think of me." He announced, "But if you're too stubborn…"

Pepa cut him off by grabbing his shoulder and whispering in his ear, "Come on Bruno, let's talk to Rev. Perez about maybe using the church tonight. It's getting close to Antonio's bedtime."

"Right, right, right…" Bruno muttered, rapping his knuckle against a lamppost.

"Why are you even here?" Pepa asked, "I thought you were helping with the search party."

"I was," Bruno insisted, "We met up with the search party from town, and they weren't exactly happy to see me…"

Pepa glanced at the retreating back of Senora Gracia before turning back to her brother, "You were willing to get after Senora Gracia…"

"That's different," Bruno insisted, "She was insulting Mirabel."

"Yet you walked away from the others when they talked bad to you."

Bruno shrugged, "You know why," he insisted.

"Yes I do," Pepa agreed, wrapping her arms around her brother and resting her chin on the top of his head, "I am so glad that you're back."

Bruno huffed at his sister resting her chin on the top of his head. She'd been doing it since they were fifteen, but it was still annoying when she rubbed in the fact that she was taller than him. However, he couldn't really complain about it, after ten years alone the contact felt nice.

"I'm sorry about your wedding day," Bruno insisted, relaxing into the contact, he could just close his eyes and pretend that the past ten years hadn't happened.

Pepa snorted, "That was twenty-four years ago," she insisted, "Trust me, I'm over it."

"Then why were you telling Mirabel about it?" Antonio asked.

"Because it was easier to talk about my wedding than to talk about how much I miss your tio," Pepa insisted, glancing down at her youngest who was clinging onto his tio's leg.

"Pepa," a voice called out as the reverend appeared, his arms loaded with blankets and other bedding. "There you are," he paused for a second, "Oh, hello Bruno," he said hesitantly.

Pepa broke free of her hug, turning to the bald man, "Rev. Perez, what can I help you with?"

"Actually I think it's more of what can I help you with," Rev. Perez insisted, "You don't have anywhere to go tonight and it's starting to get dark."

Pepa and Bruno looked up at where the sun was already heading toward the western mountains, they probably only had an hour and a half before darkness fell.

Rev. Perez watched the two Madrigal adults glance at each other before glancing at the sky before continuing, "Anyway, I've been gathering donations of clothes, blankets, and food, for the family. You have several options on what to do for shelter, several families have offered to take some of you in, of course, none of them can host you all, so you'll have to split up, or you are welcome to use the church."

"I think we'll take the church," Pepa insisted, grabbing Bruno by the arm, "I'm not letting Bruno out of my sight, and I think that the rest of the family is going to agree with me."

Bruno shrugged, "Honestly Pepa, you can let go of me, I'm not going anywhere."

"How can I know that you've been gone for ten years?"

"Your son won't let go of my leg," Bruno announced, pointing down at his leg, where Antonio was clinging to him.