Chapter 13:
(Camilo POV)
I could feel myself relax slightly as I settled into appearing like myself. I let out a long breath until I felt something sharp grow right under me. I jumped up started and saw a "Cactus?" I then looked and saw that there was a trail of plants coming out from Casita. Was Isabella's gift not working anymore too. She had the most control out of all of us besides Tía. If her gift wasn't working. I shuddered at the thought. I made my way around the house to where I saw Dolores I looked up further and saw Isabella and Mirabel... having fun? "That looks like fun," I said to Dolores as I came up from right behind her. She nodded her head as she looked at me, "Remember when we used to have fun?" I nodded my head and gave her a half smile, "Yeah. It feels like forever ago." Her voice was barely whisper, "Forever and a day." A sad smile was on her face. They went down into the courtyard and I looked over at Dolores as they started laughing and we both made our way inside.
I looked at them laughing as they fell into a pile of flowers. The last time I remember having that much fun was when we played Hide-and-Seek. I took a step forward to join them but Dolores put a hand on my shoulder her lips fell into a frown, "No." Her face was stern and I wasn't sure what was going on, "Dolores?" She was breathing harder as she looked around the room, "What is going on?" I asked but I turned and quickly realized what was going on, "Oh no." Abuela did not look happy right now. We backed up into the shadows of Castia. I needed to know what was going on but I was terrified about what it was going to be, "What are the odds that this ends up ok?" I asked her but she just shook her head. I swallowed the lump in my throat knowing that this was going to be a nightmare. I gripped onto her hand as my eyes stayed glued to the scene in front of me. Now this was really reminding me about the last time that we played Hide-and-Seek.
"Abuela, it's ok. Everything is... We are going to save the miracle... The magic" Mirabel was breathlessly speaking. "What are you talking about? Look at our home. Look at your sister." Abuela's words came out harsher than ever before. Isabella began to make the flowers disappear and I watched as she retreated back into herself. She was just smiling and having fun and now it was over. Was she always this withdrawn. She was the one who taught me to put on a brave face for everyone in town, did she put one on for all of us too. "Please just... Isabella wasn't happy" Mirabel started but Abuela looked even more annoyed at Mirabel, "Of course she isn't happy. You ruined her proposal." "She needed me to ruin her proposal," Mirabel continued on about how everything that had been going on but, Abuela wasn't having it. She began harshly repeating, "Mirabel." I looked over at Dolores trying to better understand what Mirabel was saying but she was distancing herself away from the conversation, "Dolores?" She looked at me but then Abuela finally snapped, "YOU HAVE TO STOP MIRABEL!"
I looked over at Dolores as she frowned, "We have to do something" I muttered wanting to run out there. "What can we do?" She asked and I knew that I didn't have the right answer. We both knew that we were powerless in this situation and all we knew how to do was watch in silence as Abuela continued, "The cracks started with you. Bruno left because of you. Luisa is losing her powers, Isabella is out of control because of you. I don't know why you weren't given a gift but, it is no excuse for you to hurt this family."I looked down at the ground. Would she have said that to me if she knew what I was doing. If she knew that I had been seeing the Santiago's, if she knew that I was dating Liv, if she knew that I had been sneaking away from the community for years? Would she tell me that I was hurting the family. I didn't want to hurt my family. I loved my family. Same way I know that Mirabel loves the family.
The house began to shake under our feet as Mirabel started talking again, "I will never be good enough for you. Will I?" My jaw fell to the ground, someone was actually saying what they thought to Abuela. This was not going to end well but still, all eyes were drawn to Mirabel as she continued to speak. A part of me felt that it was a long time coming, "No matter how hard I try. No matter how hard any of us try. Luisa will never be strong enough. Isabella will never be perfect enough. Bruno left because you only saw the worst in him." I took a sharp inhale and squeezed Dolores' hand were none of us ever going to be enough. Why wasn't I enough already. I thought back to everything I had ever been told about putting on the right face, being who everyone else wanted me to be, that my first priority had to always be serving the community. For the longest time I had no idea who I was and it wasn't until I started talking to Liv that I started getting those pieces of me back. I was never enough for my family but I was more than enough for Liv as she liked to tell me.
"Bruno didn't care about this family," Abuela said trying to wave off the argument. I wasn't sure what to believe anymore. I knew what I had been told but maybe it was wrong. Mirabel proved me right as she said, "He loves this family. I love this family. We all love this family. You're the one that doesn't care," Mirabel continued and the cracks began to get worse as more of the family was coming out of the shadows listening to Mirabel. I looked up and saw things moving violently until it got to the point where Dolores and I had to duck covering our heads, "You're the one that is breaking our home." Abuela was fuming at this point, "Don't you ever..." But she never got to finish before Mirabel finished, "The miracle is dying because of you," The cracks immediately got worse.
I looked up at the candle and I knew that this wasn't only about me and not wanting anyone to lose their gift, not to mention... Liv. I took a step forward but, Dolores held my arm back. Her lips were moving but her voice was so quiet I almost couldn't hear what she was saying anymore, "We need to get out of here." In the end I knew it wasn't going to matter. I wasn't going to leave until I did everything in my power to get that candle. I had two things on my mind: keeping my family safe and saving the candle for Liv. Nothing was going to stop me and I wasn't going to wait for our entire world to fall apart.
Mirabel went running down the halls towards the candle and I went running to the stairs. I had to help. I saw Dolores right no my heels and I knew I had to stop her. I was going to try to stop Mirabel as well but there was no way I was going to let anyone else get hurt, "Dolores you need to stay here. You can get hurt." She looked at me matter of factly, "So can you." She tried to come over but I pushed her back, "Dolores it is not the same risk and you know it." I felt bad bringing our gifts into it but I needed her to stay safe and I needed to work fast, "Camilo, I'm your big sister. It is my job to keep you and Antonio safe before anything else. No matter what my gift is." She really didn't care about herself. I knew that she gave everything she could to the community but right now none of that mattered. What mattered was that she stayed safe. I gave her a glance before what I did next, "No it isn't. Someone has to put you first Dolores." I pushed her back and said, "Casita." I spoke as I ran, "Keep her away and keep everyone safe." A tile moved up and down in my line of sight letting me know that Casita understood.
I flew up the stairs as quickly as possibly shifting as I needed to to get to the candle. I blocked out the world around me and focused on reaching the candle. I had to keep it safe. I didn't care if my gift was bad sometimes I knew some of my family loved theirs and a selfish part of me wanted the miracle to last long enough for Liv. I jumped across the railing transforming into someone before I reverted back into myself and started to fall. Casita helped me by holding out the railing as I tumbled to the floor. I looked at my hand and tried to make it change but, it wouldn't work. I looked over and saw Isabella had fell as well and she gave me a look that let her know that she fell as well.
I went over to her and helped her scramble onto her feet and we ran towards the door. I thought that everyone was there as Papa ran with Antonio until I turned back and saw Tío and Tía calling out for Mirabel. Mirabel! MIRABEL! I thought to myself as my head snapped to the window where the candle always stayed. No I had to go back in there. I had to help her. I couldn't let her get hurt. She had to get out of there. She couldn't risk her life for that stupid candle, none of us should have but especially not Mirabel. She had never done anything wrong. She was the one the miracle had separated her from all of us. Casita started rolling us back. The waves rolling us back became bigger and bigger until we were thrown out of the room.
I was thrown quickly to the ground but adrenaline kicked in as I tried to scramble to my feet. Maybe I could still make it inside. Maybe I could still help Mirabel. I just had to move faster. I took a few steps forward completely exhausted with each step. The adrenaline left my body and I was exhausted after all the involuntary transformations I had went through today and it was hitting me at once. I still made my way closer to the doorway as the pathway weakly tried to push me away. I looked forward and watched Casita collapse in front of me. That was it. Casita was gone. Everything was gone.
I looked back at everyone feeling completely exhausted but going over to check on Papa and Mama. I knew that I was exhausted but I still tried to change shape but it wasn't working. I looked at Papa, "My powers, they're gone. What about Antonio what is going to happen to him?" I asked. Papa wrapped his arms around me, "We will figure everything out, ok?" He whispered. I nodded my head and released a breath. We went to look over Antonio with Mama. Dolores joined us soon and we looked over each other. "MIRABEL!"
That snapped all of us to attention. "Where is Mirabel?" Tía asked all of us frantically. Immediately we all went running into town looking for Mirabel. I ran into the church and saw Padre Sanchez, "Have you seen Mirabel?" He looked over at me, "No Camilo I haven't but, you need to go to Olivia now." I was taken aback, "What happened? Is she ok?" He wouldn't look me in the eye and he took a long breath, "Camilo she was here today. Apparently he didn't want her in town the same day as the gift ceremony. She was supposed to be her all day but when it happened her Papa came, grabbed her arm and rushed her out. I'm worried." I looked at him waiting for him to say more, "What happened?" I asked and he cocked his head to the side like i should have already known, "Camilo the mountain around Encanto is down."
Suddenly my blood went cold and I staggered out of the church. I saw Tía walking by, "Camilo have you seen her?" I shook my head. "I'm going to search near the fields go meet up with everyone else, ok?" She nodded her head and ran off. I ran off towards the Santiago house hoping I wasn't too late.
