Mirabel stumbled as the man who had forced her to come with him with a gun to her back shoved her to the ground deep in the woods. This was the first time she had a good look at the man.
"You aren't from around here, are you?" she stated, "I mean it's kind of obvious, small town, I've known everybody here since I was two, and I've never met you before."
"So what if I'm not from around here? It makes life easier, those old fashion nits won't be able to find me."
"Are you crazy?" this time Mirabel was asking a question, "You go pull a gun on me, forcing me to go with you into the woods, threatened to shoot me, and you think you are going to get away with it?"
"I already have," the man said, "We are miles away from your precious village."
"These woods are still part of Encanto," Mirabel pointed out.
"That doesn't matter," the man insisted, "The woods are thick, I doubt that they have even noticed that you're gone yet. By the time they organized a search party we will be over the mountain and you, girl, will be making me rich."
Mirabel blinked, "Wow, you really are crazy," Mirabel announced, wondering just how annoyed she could get the man before her family came for her. There was no doubt in her mind that Dolores was gathering the family right now. They were probably all getting ready to head into the woods. "I mean, either that or you are downright stupid."
"What?"
"You're either crazy or a complete idiot," Mirabel insisted, "I mean, anyone with two working brain cells knows that it probably isn't a good idea to anger a magical family."
"Magical family," the man snorted, "I'm not a little kid, there's no such thing as magic. If you are going to try to threaten me, tell me something believable."
"My prima can hear you talking right now," Mirabel announced, "You might want to be quiet."
"Really," the man said, grabbing Mirabel roughly by the arm and pressing his gun up to her head, "Come on out, or I'll blow your prima's head off."
Mirabel twisted out of his grip effortlessly, rolling her eyes, "She's not here silly, she can just hear us. That's her gift, she can hear a pin drop, from across the Encanto."
"Enough with your stories, someone will hear us."
"I'm pretty sure that I've already established the fact that my prima can hear us."
"Stop talking!"
"I can start singing instead," Mirabel offered, "Drawers Floors Doors Let's go This is our home We've got every generation So full of music A rhythm of its own design This is my family A perfect constellation So many stars and everybody gets to shine Whoa But let's be clear, Abuela runs this show, whoa She led us here so many years ago, whoa And every year our family blessings grow
There's just a lot you've simply got to know, so Welcome to the Family Madrigal The home of the Family Madrigal (we're on our way) Where all the people are fantastical and magical I'm part of the Family Madrigal.'"
"Stop that this moment," he snarled, cuffing her around the ear.
A squeak came from Mirabel's bag, causing her to huff, "Now you've done it, you upset the rats!" she reached into her bag and pulled out three rats wearing cute little outfits, "this is Valentina, Rosa, and Scooby, don't ask about Scooby, Tio will make you sit through the vision. Anyway, I'm babysitting for Tio Bruno, and they don't like the fact that you made me stop mid-song. I hadn't even got to the part about their Papi!"
"Shut up and keep moving," the man said shoving her forward.
"Okay, okay fine, We don't talk about Bruno anyways, but we do sing about how we don't talk about him, I'll sing it to you, but it won't make much sense, I mean the song starts with 'It was my wedding day' and I am not married, nor am I bald, fat, or carry around a dead fish everywhere I go." Mirabel trailed off for a second, petting the rats in her hands, "I know, I can totally sing Camilo's part, although it might sound kind of funny coming from me, here it goes, 'Seven-foot frame, rats along his back."
"I told you to stop singing," the man snarled, "You can tell me whatever made-up story about your family as you want, you aren't scaring me!"
"Oh, okay," Mirabel said, sticking the rats back into her bag, before looking up at a tree branch where a toucan was sitting, "Hola Picco," she said brightly, "Can you tell Antonio to tell Mama that I am going to be late for cena, por favor."
The Toucan squawked, taking to the air.
"The little bird can't help you."
"I don't really need Picco's help," Mirabel said brightly, skipping forward, "I mean you're a complete idiot."
"I am not an Idiot!" the man bellowed, getting up really close to Mirabel's face. Clouds suddenly blocked out the sun. The man froze, looking up in confusion, "There wasn't a cloud in the sky," he muttered.
Mirabel gasped feeling the hair on the back of her neck stand up. She quickly dropped down on the ground as low as possible, pressing her hands over her ears as she did so.
There was a large flash of lightning causing the kidnapper to stumble backward, as thunder crashed overhead, a tree split in two right next to them.
"Wow," Mirabel said, standing up to investigate the tree, "I didn't know that Tia could aim like that," she stood up, glancing over her shoulder in the direction that they had come from, "Dolores, tell your mother that I'm impressed, I don't think she could have gotten closer without hitting us. Oh, and tell Mama that I'm perfectly fine, I'm about to lead this idiot right off a cliff," She turned to her kidnapper, "You know if you're going to kidnap somebody, you really should know the terrain better than they do."
"You're leading me to a cliff?" the kidnapper asked.
"Well, yeah, that's what I said, isn't it?" Mirabel asked, "What do you think I do with everyone who's ever tried to kidnap me, stab them with my sewing scissors? Do you know how messy that is? It is impossible to get the blood out of this skirt."
"You've been kidnapped before?"
"No, but I have knocked bullies unconscious and left them tied up in an alleyway, honestly surprised that Isabela hasn't told Mama about that," Mirabel muttered, tapping her chin, "I could totally get away from you, but I'm bored."
"You can't get away from me," the kidnapper insisted, pressing his gun against her back as he gripped her arm tightly.
"Oh, I'm pretty sure that you just left a bruise, Mama isn't going to like that," Mirabel announced.
"Shut up and keep walking," he announced.
Mirabel started to move forward, but the man stopped her, "Not that way, I'm not an idiot, this way," he snapped, tugging her another way.
"I wouldn't go that way if I was you," Mirabel said brightly.
"Don't tell me what to do," the kidnapper snapped, forcing her to follow him, "I'm not letting you lead me off a cliff."
"I really wouldn't go this way," Mirabel repeated, "Not if I was you."
"Look, you've been trying your little mind games this whole time," he snarled, marching down a path, "You want me to go the other way because that is where the cliff is, so hon, I'm totally going this way."
"Well, um, I'm pretty sure that the cliff would be a quick but painful death," Mirabel said, "This path will lead you to a slow and painful death, wouldn't you rather have the suffering end quickly."
The kidnapper snorted, "I'm not listening to you."
"Cacti are really painful when thrown at the face, especially when they are covered in poison ivy," Mirabel announced.
"Keep moving."
"If you're lucky my sister will crush you like a cockroach," Mirabel offered.
"What are you even talking about?" the Kidnapper demanded, as the trees suddenly thinned out in front of them revealing a large house.
"Hola Casita," Mirabel shouted, waving with the arm that wasn't in a vice grip. One of the shutters waved back.
"That house just waved back," the man said slowly.
"Si, a magical family has to live in a magical house, no?" Mirabel asked, wriggling out of his grip with ease, "Oh look, there's my hermana," she said, waving both hands around, before pointing to the man behind her, "Look Isa, this complete stranger walked me home, he kind of took the long way around the woods, but he got me home safe anyways," she turned to her kidnapper, "next time, just stick to the path, we almost walked off a cliff."
Mirabel stepped toward Isabela, before gasping loudly, "I forgot to disarm you!" She announced, before raising her hand up.
That was all the warning he got before there was a pain in his groin, and then a sharp pain in the back of his neck before the world went back, "As I said, I was bored," Mirabel insisted, staring down at the unconscious body, "Isa, I think he earned the right to stay in the best place in Encanto, can you and Luisa take him there now. I need to get cleaned up before Cena."
Isabela stared at her in complete alarm, "I'm scared about how calm you are about this whole thing."
Mirabel shrugged, "I might have been scared if I thought he knew what he was doing, but he didn't."
She skipped forward, giving Isabela a quick hug before rushing into the kitchen where her parents, tios, Abuela, and Dolores were sitting around the table.
"See, I told you that there was no point in trying to follow them. She's back and she never even crossed paths with the rescue mission."
"What rescue mission?"
"Camilo and Antonio on Parce."
"Oh, that explains who was following us this whole time."
Alma stood up, giving her youngest granddaughter a look, "Mija, I think I speak for all of us when I tell you, please, por favor, never do this again."
"But where's the fun in that?"
Bruno knocked on the table, "Well, now we know why Julieta's going gray so much faster than Pepa and I."
His sisters both shot him a glare as Mirabel helped herself to an arepa, "Well, Isabela and Luisa are making arrangements for my friend, and I'm sure that Antonio and Camilo should be home any minute now, if not I'll be happy to go find them myself."
"Go get cleaned up for cena," Dolores insisted, "the boys are almost home anyway."
"Okay," Agustin said as soon as she was out of sight, "I'm not sure if I should be proud of how well she handled this or concerned?"
"You aren't the only one," Julieta admitted.
"I think we all don't really know what to think about this," Abuela said, "It's a true miracle that Mirabel was able to get control of the situation so quickly."
"She got lucky," Bruno protested, "He had no idea who she was, or where he was going, Mirabel knew this and took advantage of it."
"Even if he did know where he was going, he wouldn't have gotten far, Camilo and Antonio were following them, and the only reason Isabela, Luisa, and I didn't follow was that they were literally walking in circles."