"When are we there, already? My feet hurt!" Antonio complained, trying to keep up with Mirabel.
"Shh, don't talk so loud, or she might hear us." Mirabel whispered, fully aware that the way might be a little long for his little feet. She got a piggy-ride the first time she went here, but she wasn't sure if it would be safe to give him one as well with her headache.
"But the way is soooo long. Did you really walk up here every year?"
"It's only a few more minutes." His prima said warmly when she could see how much Antonio tried not to fall over his own feet. Without her little cousin in tow, Mirabel could walk this way in less than half an hour if she wanted to, but she didn't tell him. So instead, they walked the rest in silence until she could hear the sound of flowing water.
"Finally, "Mirabel sighed. "We are here. "
"Whoa!" Antonio marveled at the sight in front of him. He could see the river rapidly flowing; he knew that it would end in a waterfall just some hundreds of meters away from them.
"Yeah, that was also my first reaction when I saw this place." Mirabel sat down in the grass, opened her shoulder bag, and grabbed some arepas her mother gave her after last night's dinner.
"And you are sure Dolores can't hear us at this place?" Antonio questioned, still not able to look away from the stunning view.
"Nope, she can't hear us here. We are too far from town, and the water is too loud at this point. As long as Mariano keeps her away from here as he promised, we should be fine."
So, that was the reason Mirabel was always able to surprise Dolores on her birthday when nobody else could. The young woman could never keep her curiosity in check when she knew someone tried to surprise her.
Antonio took one of the arepas. "But how do you know that?" He asked with a full mouth. "We spent over an hour hiking up here; there is no way you figured it out on your own."
"I haven't." Mirabel confessed, also taking a bite. "Tío Bruno showed me this place when I was a year younger than you are right now. It is one of a few memories I have about him before he left."
She sighed, remembering the time she followed her uncle into the jungle eleven years ago, eager to find out why he could always surprise Dolores. He made her promise to tell nobody about that place, but some inner voice told Mirabel that it was time to share her little secret with her favorite primo.
"Anyway, let's start with our presents, ok? Abuela will be angry if we are not back in time."
Mirabel opened the package. The beautiful hand-embroidered belt she made for her cousin was almost done, but Dolores never let her the chance to finish it in the casa Madrigal. She couldn't help but grin about the thought that Dolores won't find out her little secret for at least another year.
"What do you think how Bruno found out about this place?" Antonio asked while he worked on his picture.
Mirabel let down her needle, thinking about the correct response for a second. "Actually, I don't know." She finally admitted. "Maybe he saw it in a vision, or he accidentally found it when he ran away from the townspeople."
The thought made them both chuckle. Only a week ago, Pepa told them how Bruno used to run away from townspeople chasing him after he gave them a bad vision. There was a reason why their Tío is still one of the fastest people in the whole Encanto, even faster than Camilo and Luisa.
Only a few words were spoken while the two Madrigals finished their presents, Mirabel the belt and Antonio working on a picture he refused to show her.
"I'm done!" He shouted in joy, throwing his crayons in the air.
Mirabel smiled at him. "You might be done with the picture, but you should clean your hands before we go back."
Antonio starred down on his hands, which were almost completely yellow, blue, and red. "I will clean them in the water. Wait here, ok?"
"Be careful! "Mirabel shouted at her cousin, who already ran of. "I'll be done in a second, but don't go too close to the water." The little boy waved at her before he disappeared behind the trees.
She sighed and returned to her work before finally making the last stitch. Proudly, she held up the belt to admire it. It took her four weeks to complete it, but it was without doubt one of her best work so far.
Mirabel concentrated so much on her belt that it took another sharp pain in her head before she noticed that Antonio was longer gone than he should be.
"Antonio?" She screamed from the top of her lungs. "Antonio! Where are you? Please…" What if he got too close to the river? What if he screamed for her and she didn't hear him? What if…?
"Shh!" Antonio, hiding behind a bush, grabbed her leg. "You have to be quiet! "
Mirabel, relieved that she found him safe and sound, followed his gaze. It took her a few seconds to see the woman, probably a few years younger than her mother, wandering along the river around fifty meters away from them, her back facing the children.
"She looks pretty." The five-year-old said, not taking his eyes off the strange woman. She seemed to look for something along the shore: the children could hear her distant cries.
"Pretty and desperate. "Mirabel concluded. Somehow, this woman looked oddly familiar.
"The birds say she is looking for her kid. Should we help her?" Antonio's question was innocent enough, but a strange and horrifying chill went down Mirabel's spine. Suddenly, she remembered all the dark stories her parents and Abuela told her when she was just a kid. She always thought that the tales about a lady searching the shores for her drowned children were meant to scare kids away from the river, but being part of a magical family made her highly alarmed.
"We have to go! "She grabbed her cousin's arm, pulling him behind her.
"Wait!" He protested. "What if she is really looking for her kid?"
Mirabel looked down on her cousin, who clearly never heard any horror stories.
"I don't know." She responded, unsure how to make her primo understand the urgency of the matter without scaring him.
"But she is a woman I have never seen before, and as long as we don't know who this strange lady is, I don't want you near this river. Do you understand?"
