Isabela paused in her talking as she noticed her hermanita struggling to keep her eyes open, "Oh," she gasped, "I'm sorry, are you tired?"

Mira snorted, "All I do is sleep," she insisted, stifling a yawn with her unbroken hand.

"Mama says sleep is good for you, it's helping you heal, and you should listen to your body," Isabela insisted, using gentle hands to lower Mirabel back down onto the bed, tucking her in as if she was a baby.

"Isa," Mirabel gasped, grimacing as she wrapped her good arm around her middle.

"Oh no, Mira, I'm so sorry. Did I hurt you? Are you okay?"

Mira grimaced, "Ribs hurt," she confessed, her face draining of what little color she had.

Isabela frowned, "I'll go get you something for the pain, Mama showed me where she put them," she announced, racing away.

The door to the church opened at that moment with Pepa entering with Antonio on her hip, rubbing his eyes as he protested, "I'm five Mami, I'm to old for naps, I don't need one, I don't, I don't, I don't," he protested, slapping his mother over and over again.

"Tonito," Mirabel croaked out, holding out her good arm towards her tia, an invitation for her to hand over her youngest to her.

Pepa hesitated, normally she wouldn't think twice about leaving her youngest hijo with her sobrina, but now, now Antonio was crabby and exhausted and Mirabel was injured. What if Tonito hurt Mirabel more than she already was. On the other hand, Mirabel was the best at getting Tonito to calm down and fall asleep when he was this cranky.

Antonio squirmed in her arms, reaching out for Mirabel as well, eager to finally have some actual bonding time with his favorite Prima without having to share her with anyone else.

"I don't know Mira, I don't want him to accidentally hurt you," Pepa insisted.

"I've been babysitting him since I was ten," Mira insisted.

By now Antonio was squirming so hard that Pepa had no choice but to set him down gently before he fell.

Antonio quickly scrambled up onto the bed next to Mirabel.

"I've missed you Mira," he announced, cuddling into her.

"I've missed your cuddles," Mira confessed, pulling him closer to her, trying hard not to wince as she jarred her arm and ribs. Antonio, shifted closer laying down next to Mira.

Isabela appeared with a glass of water and a bottle of pills, she frowned as she glanced from her sister to her primo, to her tia, "Is it safe for Antonio to be cuddling with Mira like that?"

"I don't know," Pepa confessed.

"He's fine," Mira insisted, grimacing slightly, "Though I could use some painkillers."

It wasn't even five minutes after Mira had downed the painkillers that both she and Antonio were fast asleep together on the camp cot.

"I told her she was tired," Isabela muttered at the same time Pepa said, "I told him he was tired."

"I just hope that Mirabel isn't putting up a brave act just to help out with Tonito," Pepa muttered, "The night of Tonito's gift ceremony, she cut her hand pretty badly… she was bleeding, and all she cared about were the cracks in the wall. About the family."

"She was bleeding?" Isabela demanded, staring at her younger sister, who looked so peaceful asleep next to Antonio.

"I didn't notice it myself, your mama saw it, told me about it," Pepa said, shaking her head, "What else did we missed when it came to Mirabel?"

"She's graduated from School, and was planning to go to college next year, open up her own dress shop, and pretty much move away from the Encanto to never return," Isabela confessed, before sighing, "And I have a feeling that I probably wouldn't have missed her, wouldn't have even notice she was gone. I am such a horrible sister. Who tells their hermanita that they hate them?"

"We all made mistakes, especially when it came to Mirabel, the thing we need to do is learn from those mistakes and do better. Make things right."

"But how, how can we make up for destroying her life? We took all of her dreams and her ambitions and shredded them."

"We don't know that for sure," Pepa insisted, "That's one of the reasons that Julieta went with Mama to the city, to see if there was anyway for Mirabel to possibly still attend."

…

Julieta sighed as she finally stepped off the bus, "That was… not as bad as I thought it would be."

Agustin shook his head, "That's easy for you to say, I was terrified, it isn't natural, traveling that fast."

Abuela chuckled, "It takes a while to get use to," she confessed, "I'm actually considering finding out if we can't get a bus to go back and forth between here and the Encanto. It will be useful for Mirabel to travel back and forth. They have those ramps and area just for wheelchairs, the bus is so much faster than walking that Mirabel could attend school here, and come home each night."

"If we can get a road between us and the town, and a bus to transport us, then it will be up to Mirabel if she decides to live at home or on compass, if she can still attend," Julieta insisted, "While we are here, I want to talk someone at Escuela de Moda. Maybe they can help us with her problem with her sewing machine."

Abuela nodded, "There's a park, over by the zoo, let's meet there in… how about in an hour, you talk to the person at the school, and I'll figure out how to order this wheelchair, and maybe find out if we can rent one until Mirabel's is ready. Get Mira use to using one."

…

Julieta looked up at the building, a sign reading Escuela de Moda telling her that this was the place. So this was the place that her youngest was interested in. It certainly was bigger than any building in the Encanto, even the church and Casita combined wasn't this big.

She glanced at her husband nervously, he smiled awkwardly, "So, what exactly are we going to do?"

"I don't know, but surely someone will know who we can talk to about Mirabel," Julieta insisted, taking his hand, knowing that if she didn't, he would no doubt fall down the stairs. He was so clumsy.

"All visitors must check in at the front office," Agustin read, pointing to a sign on the front door as he reached out to open it, "I guess that's our first step."

The front office was easy enough to find, it was literally the first door they came too. Agustin opened the door for Julieta again.

A woman sat at a desk with a typewriter in front of her, "Yes, can I help you?" she asked.

"Umm," Julieta said slowly, "Well, you see..."

"Our daughter was accepted into this school," Agustin explained, "And we just have some questions. You see…"

Julieta squeezed his hand, giving the secretaria a sad look, "Our hija was badly injured during the recent terremotto. She's paralyzed from the waist down, and… Well..."

"We're worried that it might affect her ability to attend school here next fall," Agustin finished.

"Well, she would have to contact the Dean of Students and talk to him about what accommodations she will need here on compass."

"Is there a way that we can talk to the Dean?" Julieta asked.

"Well… he doesn't talk to the parents unless the student is there with them, so you'll need to have her with you."

"But," Agustin protested, "She's bedridden at the moment, paralyzed with no wheelchair, and we live very rural, we had to walk for over an hour before we could catch a bus to the city. There's no way she can make the journey at the moment. We're hoping to improve the path between towns and put in a road so that we can arrange some sort of transportation for her."

"She's underage?"

"Yes, she's fifteen, extremely smart, graduated early."

The secretaria pulled out a planner and flipped through it, "The Dean has an opening today at three."

"That's perfect."

"Okay, what's your names?"

"Agustin and Julieta Madrigal."

"And your daughter's name."

"Mirabel, she was planning on attending here next fall."

"Okay, 'Agustin and Julieta Madrigal, parents of prospective underage student, has questions.'"

…

The ground shook beneath her as she followed the path up towards the mountain. She stopped, steadying herself as she frowned. What was that? Why did it happen? Was her family okay? She shook her head, no, no looking back, no thinking back, no regrets. She had to do this, she had to save the miracle. Nothing else mattered.

There was a cracking sound behind her as the earth shook harder and harder. Mirabel was struggling to keep herself on her feet as she looked up. The trees were looming toward her. Their faces bent and sneering down at her.

"No gift, no gift," the trees chanted over and over again.

"Worthless."

"Pathetic."

"I hate you."

"What did you do?"

"You ruin everything."

"What can you do you have no gift."

Mirabel ran, she ran and ran as fast as she could, trying to escape the voices, but the trees followed her repeating their calls, branches reaching out and snagging on her skirt as she rushed past until, suddenly she tripped over a protruding root. The trees laughed, louder and louder, leaning closer and closer, until all of a sudden there was a large cracking noise.

…

Mirabel sat up with a gasp, blinking her eyes slightly trying to get them to focus. They wouldn't, but that was mainly because she didn't have her glasses on.

A large hand reached out, offering her her glasses, which she placed gingerly on her face. For some reason being able to see her sister's face looming over her helped calm her heartbeat down to the point it wasn't threatening to leap out of her chest. She glanced at the young woman next to her, "Luisa?" she asked, "What are you doing here? Where's Tonito?"

"He woke up about half an hour ago," Luisa explained, "and went out to play with his friends."

"And you've just been sitting there watching me sleep?"

Luisa shrugged, "It helps," she confessed, "seeing you asleep, breathing, for a while there, even Mama wasn't sure..."

Mirabel reached out with her good arm and patted Luisa's arm, she couldn't reach her shoulder while she was still laying down.

"It looked like you were having a nightmare," Luisa offered, "Do you want to talk about it."

"It's nothing really, I was back in the forest and the trees were falling all around me. I kept running and running, and then I tripped. I didn't have time to get up. I froze, and that tree, it..." Mirabel let out a sob as Luisa carefully picked up her sister, cradling her close to her chest.

"I don't really remember much of what happened after the tree fell, I was barely conscious. I do remember hearing voices, calling my name, but I couldn't call out to them, and then Dolores was there," Mirabel shook her head, "I can't remember anything after that, not until I woke up here." Mirabel snuggled closer to her older sister. Luisa was the best at cuddling and hugging.

Luisa nodded, "It was pretty scary for us as well," she admitted, "Isa and I were with Dolores, and when we first found you… We weren't even sure that you were alive or not," Luisa paused, "Seeing you like that was scary. Isabela's been having nightmares about it. That's one of the reason she keeps hanging around here."

"Where is Isa?" Mirabel asked with a frown, Isabela had been hovering around her since she first burst through the church door and announced to her about her injuries.

"I don't know," Luisa said, "Tio Bruno mentioned something about a flowerbed and basically dragged her away. I guess you're stuck with me."

"Look, I know that you probably have like a million things you would rather do than hang out with me. I'm pretty boring right now."

"You're also super bored," Luisa guessed, "Come on I heard you complaining to Mama about being bored, and I know that Abuela meant well with that needle point she got you but..."

"She obviously didn't consider the fact that I had a broken wrist as well," Mirabel insisted, "I literally can't do anything."

"You know, Isabela told me about this book series, 'The Stitch Witch Chronicles,' the main character reminds me a lot of you. Maybe we can, I don't know, read it together?"

"Well, it will beat staring at the wall."