Bruno continued to stutter and stumble his way, being towed along by Felix who didn't seem to be in the mood to slow down. What had just happened? What had he done? What had he done?! Whatever it was he didn't remember. His feet hurt that was for sure but that wasn't too odd for him to wake up with sore feet. He'd just been sitting on the floor with everyone staring down at him….while crying. Felix was quiet and usually he'd talk Bruno's ear off so….what had he done?! Whatever it was had affected the whole family and it had been all his fault. What had he ruined now? Should he try another vision? The sands couldn't show him the past though and the stars did not answer questions, they opened windows and gave what they wanted. Bruno had no control over the voices of the stars and the windows they made.

From his experience anyway. Maybe he should try again.

Right now he needed to see what kind of information he might be able to wrangle out of Felix. Bruno wasn't good at being confrontational, at least Bruno one wasn't. He could just pretend he was in his vision cave as Bruno two, although he was almost certain that that wouldn't work. He needed to figure this out somehow.

Felix dragged him up the stairs, flung open the door, and pulled Bruno through and into the sandy realm that was his room.

"Alright." Bruno said quietly. "We're in my room now." He tugged back a little, seeing if he could get Felix to let him go.

"I mean your room room and you know it." Bruno couldn't hear see Felix's face but he could hear the eye roll that happened.

"Could you at least let go?"

Felix deflated and gave a heavy sigh as he let go of Bruno's arm.

"A-are you okay?"

"I should be asking you that. Room. Go" Bruno just put his hands up in surrender and walked down the well hidden tunnel.

"Felix." Bruno settled a harsh gaze on the man as he sat down on his bed, knowing that Felix wouldn't leave him alone until he was actually in or on the bed.. "What happened?"

He was amazed that he was managing to sound demanding and give a "no arguments" kind of tone. Felix seemed surprised. Bruno took a deep breath. This was his place, he told himself, not Felix's. Through the rapid beating of his heart he faked his confidence and just remembered. This was his place, filled with his power, and in here it was he who was in control. He just had to keep up the composure.

"What did I do?"

Felix slumped against the wall.

"We were telling the truth when we said we didn't know. Bruno," His brows creased. "do you sleepwalk?"

Bruno squinted for a moment.

"You know….I think I do."

"What?"

"I've woken up in a few odd places and my feet hurt when I wake up sometimes. Why?"

"A-are you sure it's sleepwalking?" Felix stuttered, sounding unsure of himself which was new to Bruno.

"What." Bruno hardened his gaze. "Happened?"

"We don't know!"

"You said that, but it's not the real answer now is it?" He tilted his head to the side.

Felix chewed on his lip.

"This has something to do with my gift." He said, with absolute certainty that made Felix's eyes go wide.

He'd never seen Bruno like this.

"So, it is my gift." He glared. "My power and you cannot keep it from me. What I do can be dangerous Felix. I need to know everything." He was actually starting to get a bit mad now.

"The town isn't going to bother you anymore Bruno. It's not dangerous-"

"Oh screw the townspeople!" He yelled as he stood and Felix's jaw dropped. "That's not what this is about. I need to know everything because what I can do with my gift can be dangerous so, I need to know everything I can. Start talking."

Felix straightened himself out, pulling away from the wall. This was a different kind of Bruno, a side that Felix didn't even knew existed. Probably no one knew existed.

"Wait. Dangerous? It can be dangerous?"

"If the ritual goes sour, yes." Bruno nodded. "Please Felix." He sat back down and sighed. "I need to know. I don't care if you don't understand it, I don't care if you can't explain it I just need to know what happened."

"We couldn't find you." He said. "Alma said she saw you leave in the middle of the night. She didn't think anything of it. But, even after all of us, Pepa, Julieta, Agustin, and me woke up you still weren't back. We all just figured you'd fallen asleep somewhere weird again."

Bruno gave a nod.

"But we just couldn't find you. We started to get worried. Then Sara knocks on the door and said she found you just….wandering out by the treeline. She brought you home and said something but I was too far away to hear it." He rubbed at the space between his brows. "You weren't right. You weren't...here?" He sighed.

"Wasn't here?"

"Well, you were, but you weren't. You looked like you didn't recognize anything around you. It was like we didn't exist to you, like nothing existed to you. You looked...lost. Like you were looking for something. We tried but no one could get you to respond. All the commotion woke Mirabel and, I swear Bruno, we tried to keep her away. We didn't want her seeing you like that but when she stepped close enough, when you heard her voice…."

He let loose a shuddering breath.

"And?"

"Your head snapped up so fast I thought you'd broken something. The whole time your eyes were….flickering from green to brown like a light bulb about ready to die but, once you looked at her...solid emerald and then nothing existed except for her. You looked at her with a kind of…" He waved his hand around, trying to think of the words he needed. "Gentle….intensity? I don't know how to put it and you said…" He stopped, gaze turned to floor.

"What did I say?" Bruno asked in a shaky whisper. "You-you were all crying. What did I say to her?"

"You asked her if she wanted to know why she wasn't given a gift." Felix blurted out almost too fast for Bruno to understand.

Bruno's world stopped and his jaw fell slack as his gaze fell to the floor beneath him.

"Y-you said it was the miracle. You said that it chose her. That it needed someone without a gift. You said, that….The miracle must stand for someone and, one day, it will stand for you. That's what you told her." He rubbed his hands down his face.

"The candle." Bruno whispered.

"What?"

"I was-I was dreaming…..about the candle." There was a heavy moment of silence that passed. "I can't really remember what else."

Felix stepped froward as Bruno's eyes began to glow green. Now was not a good time for him to wind up having a vision.

"Okay Bruno, no. S-stop thinking about it."

"The way it moved. The way it danced. The way it pulsed like a heartbeat." Bruno's voice grew distant. "The way it cracked and popped and…..I don't know." He took a breath and whispered. "I don't know."

"Bruno." Felix planted himself firmly in Bruno's line of sight, grabbing his shoulders and gently shaking. "Stop thinking about it."

"I-I can't it w-was so...so….it felt so far away. Far across the Encanto but still close enough to touch." He licked his lips. "There was something else….."

"Bruno stop."

"It was farther….it was cold."

The emerald in his eyes brightened.

"Bruno! You have to stop!" Felix shook him harder and the awareness came back to his eyes.

The soothsayer put a hand to his chest and sucked in a desperate breath.

"Why do my lungs feel so cold?"

"Bruno, look at me." Felix grabbed the sides of his head. "Stop thinking about it. We're in your room. The air isn't cold. Nothing is cold. Just calm down and come back."

"Come back?"

"Just don't try and think about the dream okay? You were….drifting off again but your eyes were solid green. I don't know if you were pulling yourself into a vision or not but let's not take that chance right now. You need to sleep."

"N-no I...I don't want to sleep."

"Then just lay down and rest."

"If I lay down I'll fall asleep."

"Then sleep."

"I don't want to sleep." He said in a shaky voice. "Then I'll see them."

His gaze grew distant again and his breaths became shallow and quick.

"Them?"

"The eyes. Their eyes. When I close my eyes I can see them."

"What?"

"The dead ones and-and." Tears began to well up in his eyes. "they won't leave me alone. I-I can't control things. I can't change things. I-I just tell things. See things and when I sleep it's cold and dark like the jungle and red is the only thing that's warm." A tear slid down his cheek.

"Bruno." Felix shook him again. "You don't have to sleep. It sounds like that's not a good idea right now."

Bruno shook his head.

"Dios mío….why am I saying these things?" He rubbed the tears from his eyes.

"I'll stay."

"What?"

"I'll stay. I'll make sure you don't fall asleep and if you do anyway I'll wake you up if I need to."

"N-no." All of his earlier confidence melted away. "No y-you have things to do. Pepa-"

"Will understand." Felix said. "Lay down. Get some rest."

Bruno was exhausted and really didn't know where else to go by this point so, he did. He took a deep shaky breath and stared at the ceiling.

"You know," Felix said casually as he sat and leaned against the bed, settling an elbow atop the mattress. "Antonio got himself into some trouble-" Bruno stopped paying attention after Antonio's name was mentioned. All he could think of was the boy's favorite pet.

A Jaguar.

"Let's talk about something else." He said and Felix didn't ask any questions. Now wasn't the time for it so, he just thought of something new.

Felix was certainly the guy to go to for some one sided conversations. Maybe that's why he and Bruno tended to have good interactions. Bruno could be involved without actually being involved. He could listen as Felix rambled about this and that but the man never put pressure on him to talk back but certainly gave him the opportunity if he wanted to take it. Felix would ask questions that he, himself, would answer and not make Bruno feel like he needed to say something yet always caught it when Bruno actually had said something. He was a great talker and a great listener who might possibly have a few boundary issues, Bruno decided as he thought back to Felix finding the houses he'd made for all of his rats.

There was something to be said about just silently enjoying someone's company. Felix was….he was putting a lot of work into getting to know Bruno in an, almost hilariously, aggressive manner and, more and more, Bruno found himself talking back and answering questions that he knew he didn't need to answer and that became the problem that Bruno began to struggle with.

He wanted to tell him. He wanted to tell Felix everything but he knew he couldn't. He wanted to tell him about how the sands could only work a certain way. He wanted to tell him of the other kinds of visions he could have and the other kids of things that he could do. He wanted to tell Felix about what he could do beyond the visions and how he was still only beginning to understand how he was doing it and what it was. Wanted to blurt everything out and not stop until he had nothing more to say. He wanted to talk about the stars and the things they had whispered to him. He wanted to tell him of the visions he had kept to himself. He wanted to talk about the things, the horrible things he kept seeing.

He wanted to tell him about the scarred prophecies.

But, he couldn't. He looked at Felix and saw how animated he was and how happy he was and Bruno knew that the knowledge he had….it would change this man and that wasn't fair to him. He couldn't. He just couldn't.

But he could at least listen to his stories and jokes like he always did. The company was nice and not just from the rats.