Darkness Swallows Us
Chapter Two: Three People Whose Paths Shouldn't Cross
CORONA
Quasimodo caught an armadillo that was trying to move through the underbrush.
"Shouldn't you be in the desert, little fellow?"
A chameleon leapt off a tree branch onto his shoulder, sending its tongue to touch his here.
"Nice to see you too this morning, Pascal. What do you think of this armadillo?"
Pascal looked at it then leapt onto its shelled back and transformed into a yellow-brown color to match.
"Yeah, it does look cool. But we should take it to show Mother."
Pascal made a dissenting noise.
"Oh come on, she's not going to turn it into tacos. That was just a joke she made that one time."
Quasimodo opened the cellar door leading into the basement of the tower. There was a long flight of stairs to climb. It would've been more convenient to have a door leading into the tower at the base level, but for some reason there wasn't one. The only way in besides the cellar was through the window. But it wasn't like Quasimodo could fly, and the window was so high up, he would have to in order to get through there.
He carried the armadillo up the basement stairs, then up the even longer flight of stairs. He was used to this, it was a necessity of going outside. But somehow he was always more exhausted climbing up them than going down.
He finally reached the top and set the armadillo down. "Stay away from the stairs, friendamigo. You don't want to roll down it, trust me."
Then he went to strum on a ukulele, ignoring the bell Mother Gothel had bought him when he was two. He sang lyrics to the strumming, a love ballad. He really did want to experience romance at some point, although Mother Gothel said that it was unlikely for visitors to ever come to the tower.
It was two hours before she showed up, with mulberry pie, Quasimodo's favorite. She cut him two slices and her a small one.
In the midst of their delightful dessert, she spotted the armadillo. "Wow, you found another one! And carried it all the way up those stairs?"
"Pascal could use a furry friend," Quasimodo said. The chameleon expressed its dissent from his shoulder by flicking its tongue.
"Armadillos are used in witch's spells, though."
"So you have said," Quasimodo replied, stuffing a forkful of mulberry pie in his mouth and chewing it. "But there are no witches around here, are there?"
"Well, it is very possible that someone brought two armadillos here of opposite genders for spell purposes and they bred."
"That would explain why they're here," Quasimodo said, downing some limeade. "And not currently hanging out with buzzards and boll weevils."
"Good thing it's safe up here, where no witch can get it," Mother Gothel said, her eyes on the creature. "Unless it rolls down the stairs."
"I won't let it do that," Quasimodo said.
Mother Gothel seemed lost in contemplation, staring at the creature that wasn't in the natural habitat for its species. Quasimodo really hoped that whatever witch had perhaps brought the armadillos here whenever and allowed them to breed wouldn't come back. But he could only save so many armadillos. He wasn't allowed outside every day. And a witch wouldn't know how to invade their tower. Hopefully.
PARIS
"Rapunzel, it really is time to wake up."
"Laverne, human girls need their beauty sleep," Rapunzel groaned.
"Nothing can make Laverne beautiful," Hugo said, elbowing her.
"I'm a gargoyle," Laverne said. "You don't need to rub it in."
Rapunzel sat up in her bed, wearing her sunshine yellow pajamas, with pink lillie on them. Her miles and miles of golden hair spiraled around all over her bed and the side of the mattress. "I was really having a wonderful dream…it involved a guy and a girl."
"What were they doing?" Victor asked, a notepad out and pen in hand.
"We were friends, going on adventures," Rapunzel said. She scrunched up her face. "And I had a crush on both of them."
"Shhh, you don't want Frollo to overhear that," Laverne said.
"Yeah, he'd view you as a monster," Hugo said, stuffing crackers in his mouth. Where he had gotten them, no one could say. "Can't stand the girl on girl action like us sophisticated folk," he said with his mouth full, getting crumbs everywhere.
Rapunzel went to the ledge of the bell tower and gazed down at the bustling people down below. "It's not like I'd ever get to meet a girl anyway. Or a guy for that matter. Frollo will never let me out, to see anyone."
"That ain't no way to live," Laverne said. "The Festival of Fools is coming in a couple of days, why don't you go to that?"
"It does look exciting every year when I watch it from up here," Rapunzel acknowledged. "But Frollo will get angry at me if I show up."
She revealed the red welts on her arms, from when she had been whipped by the captain of the guard a few years before. They never fully healed.
"There's a simple solution to that," Laverne said, making motions with her fingers. "You sneak out there, experience a little, then sneak right back in."
"Yes, it'll be a ball," Hugo says. "And bring back something for your gargoyle friends."
"She might not have time for that," Laverne said. She rested a hand on Rapunzel's arm. "Just bring back stories of whatever happens. That's what we really need to hear."
"Yep, you've been in this tower for eighteen years, it's time for you to actually live a little, and maybe, just maybe, fall in love," Victor said.
"Oh come on, no one falls in love with anyone only spending a few minutes with them," Laverne snapped.
"I beg to differ," Victor said. "I think–"
The door burst open and Frollo entered with a platter of grapes. The gargoyles turned back into stone.
"I thought I heard voices in here," Frollo said.
"Just talking to my friends," Rapunzel said.
"They're gargoyles," Frollo said, knocking on Victor's head. "Made of stone. Can stone talk?"
"Of course not," Rapunzel said. Frollo would never understand that the gargoyles came to life for her when he was out. But she would probably be conversing with them anyway, if they never sprung to life. Because that's what one did when they were never allowed company. Frollo wouldn't even bring her books or paints. She was stuck, all she could do was ring the bells. Which, wasn't that bad, but if she had paints, she would make them less golden and more purple and blue and yellow. She wondered if she could find some paint cans and brushes at the Festival of Fools.
They sat at the round table with a cloth over it, and Rapunzel started popping grapes in her mouth.
"Now, let's go over the alphabet."
Rapunzel chewed and swallowed. Her adoptive father/guardian, however she was supposed to refer to him, didn't appreciate someone talking while eating. He would take a hatchet to Hugo if he witnessed him doing that.
"A, Abomination. B, Blasphemy…"
She kept going through them, her heart not in it. But she wasn't going to let Frollo know about her plans to attend the festival, and maybe, not fall in love exactly, but at least make a friend.
ENCANTO
Mirabel slammed into Dolores while she was distracted. "Um, hey, prima, how's it going?"
"I dunno, how goes it with you?" Dolores asked.
"Just thinking about Antonio's gift ceremony in a few days."
"Oh yeah, can't wait to see what his power is."
"It'll be spectacular," Mirabel said, although she was secretly hoping that her littlest cousin would be in the same boat as her without an ability unique to him. It was a bit petty to wish this, but he slept in her room for now, they were pals, and she felt that once he had a gift, the rift between them would increase like ocean in size, while right now there wasn't even a rift to begin with.
Dolores didn't complain when dinner that night was spaghetti and diced pear (Aunt Julieta was trying to make something unique from the usual Italian dish), and Rice-A-Roni with ground beef in it (there's where the meat for what could've been meatballs went). Dolores went through the motions of responding to and talking with her relatives, but her mind was still occupied. She heard something going on in her room all the way from the dinner table. When they were dismissed and many of the older Madrigals were engaged in discussing Antonio's ceremony for his gift coming up fast, Dolores slipped into her room to discover what had been making that noise.
On her bed with a red blanket on it she found another green tablet. This one featured an armadillo, a chameleon, and three gargoyles. Dolores didn't have the foggiest what it could mean. But, she felt that Bruno had brought this to her so she could investigate the first tablet further.
She pulled it out of her drawer and examined them side by side. They didn't seem to have anything in common. Also, in order to obtain that vision, Bruno needed a wide, open space, which means he had left the confines of the house at some point. And was aware that Dolores had the physical evidence of the previous prophecy. Either that or he blindly trusted his prophecies without knowing how to interpret them and had brought her the tablet with misgivings.
She set her head against the wall and whispered, "Gracias, Tio Bruno." And even though Bruno didn't have his niece's powers, and there was no way he could've heard this, Dolores felt it was worth uttering. She had half an inclination to seek him out in the walls of their house and speak with him, but if there would be a time for that, it wasn't yet.
She gazed at the juxtaposed tablets for a few more moments, trying to see the connection, when there was a knock on the door, and she had to hastily shut the tablets in her socks drawer, where her visitor for the evening, Mirabel, wouldn't suspect she had hidden anything, even when she caught her prima out of breath when Dolores opened the puerta.
