Summary:

Bruno gives Mirabel a vision.

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Written in Bruno's POV.

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We all sneak out into the balcony, each of us carrying a bucket of sand. The weather outside looks terrible. I realize the entire time Mirabel has been in the walls, the time has passed and it's already the next day. She doesn't seem tired though.

I'm already used to sleepless nights. I just wish I had coffee before all this.

I stare at the sky and Mirabel pulls me back to reality. "Come on, Tío. We don't have much time."

Antonio leads us to his door just as I hear Mamá's voice. She's arguing with someone. "You should have told me the second you saw the vision! Think of the family!"

I wonder who she's fighting with and I'm surprised when I hear Agustín. He's always been so mild-mannered, but I guess there's a limit…and he reached it. He's had enough of everything. "I was thinking of my daughter!" He yells back.

Mirabel chews on her lower lip, trying hard not to cry. "Oh, Papá."

I sigh and motion to her to enter Antonio's room. "Don't mind them. Come on. Let's give you a vision."

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I start pouring the sand on the floor of Antonio's room that looks like we're in the middle of a jungle. The ground beneath us shakes and Mirabel's brows start to furrow even more. "We might wanna hurry…" She tells me.

"You can't hurry the future," I chide, stopping when I see a capybara blocking the way. I draw my sand circle around it instead. I set the empty bucket aside as I settle myself in front of Mirabel. "What if I show you something worse…? If I see something that you don't like, you're gonna be all…'Bruno makes bad things happen. Oh, he's creepy and his vision killed my goldfish.'"

"I don't think you make bad things happen." She shakes her head at me. "Sometimes…family weirdos…just get a bad rap. You can do this."

I hesitate and Antonio hands me a stuffed jaguar plush. He smirks. "For the nerves."

I can't help the smile that appears on my face. He's just like Félix, all right.

I take deep breaths. "I can do this. I can do this. I can do this. I can do this." I chant to myself as I begin my ritual. I thought I'd be rusty, but my motion is fluid, like ten years never passed.

The wind grows cold. I feel the magic flowing back into my veins.

Mirabel's eyes widen when she sees the glow. It reflects off against her glasses. Here we go. I reach out my hand to hers and urge her to take them. "You might wanna hang on."

She nods and takes my hand without any hesitation. The sand immediately starts to swirl around us both…and I see…her future.

The windowsill crumbles and the candle falls off.

A mountain breaks in half.

Félix grabs Antonio to protect him from a falling door.

Casita…the house…with Mirabel standing in front of it. It breaks…but pieces itself back together. Over and over and over and over.

"It's just the same thing!" I cry out. "I got to stop!"

"NO!" Mirabel yells at me over the noise. "I need to know which way it goes. There's got to be an answer…something we're not seeing."

"You're looking at the same thing that I am. If there was something else–"

"THERE!" She pulls on me to grab my attention. "Over there!"

I see a flutter of yellow wings. A butterfly. I must've not seen it the first time because it was behind me. I start to feel hopeful. "Butterfly! Follow the butterfly!"

Mirabel pulls me towards it and I begin to see more.

The butterfly is landing on something. A reed?

"Where is that?" Mirabel asks me.

I have no idea. It doesn't seem like a place I know. "It's all out of order…"

I see the windowsill again. This time the candle is burning brighter. Mirabel is standing in front of it, smiling.

"It's…it's the candle! The candle's getting brighter!" I wave my hands excitedly. "I…I think you're gonna help the candle!"

"How?"

Someone is coming into view.

"Uh…there's…there's someone with you." I'm not sure what they're doing though. "And…you…you fight her!"

"WHAT?" Mirabel looks at me, incredulous.

"Wait, no, no. No, no. Is that a hug?"

"Am I fighting or hugging?!" She growls at me.

It starts to become clearer. It's Mirabel hugging someone. Oh, something good for once. "An embrace. AN EMBRACE! To make the candle bright you have to embrace her!"

"Embrace who?" Mirabel pushes me.

The person's face is starting to get clearer. "Oh…almost there." I breathe. This is getting way beyond my limit.

"Who is it?"

"Almost there…ah, I got it!" I blink at the vision in front of us.

Mirabel screeches. "ISABELA?"

And it stops, sending sand down on us both. I shield myself using the emerald glass that captured the crucial moment that would help the miracle. It's Isabela and Mirabel in an embrace. "Oh, your sister! That's great!"

My face falls when I see Mirabel's furious reaction. Dios mío, I'm done. I fling the vision to the side and I sigh as the glass breaks when it comes into contact with the floor. "Every time."

I pick myself up and begin to walk out of the room. Mirabel follows after me. "Wait. Where are you going?"

"I gave you your vision. I'm going back."

"Tío Bruno, can't you give me another vision? Something that doesn't involve…hugging Isa?"

I turn to raise an eyebrow at her. "You said I don't make bad things happen, right? This isn't that bad."

She groans.

I shrug. "Well, good luck with the miracle then."

Mirabel tugs on my sleeve, making me stop in my tracks. I stand there, waiting for her to make up her mind. "Lo siento, Tío." She makes a face. "Fine…let's go do…what the vision said."

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Isabela's room is on the other side from where we're hiding. "Why would embracing Isabela do anything?" Mirabel stalls.

I wish she would just give it a chance.

I shrug at her. "I don't know. Our family got a miracle. How do you help a family miracle? You hug a sister."

Mirabel scowls at me at the same time we hear Camilo call her name. Looks like everyone is looking for her, possibly related to the argument between Mamá and Agustín earlier. "Mirabel! Mirabel?"

We immediately duck down and look on in surprise when Camilo's powers fritz out. I try hard not to laugh at the sight of a baby's head…on an adult man's body. Camilo sighs, clearly annoyed. "Mirabeeeeeel!" He shrills as he walks off to look for her in another area of the house.

"Well, I think we're running out of time here…" I urge Mirabel. She slumps down to the floor and starts to argue with me. "It's not gonna work. She won't hug me…EVER. Okay? She HATES me."

I doubt she hates you. I think about Isabela, pressured to be the perfect one in the family. She must've resented that she had been placed in that position because her sister didn't get a gift. The life of the eldest grandchild. Julieta shared the same pressure too when we were growing up because she's the oldest triplet, always the one who managed Pepa and me.

Mirabel rambles on. "Also, I don't know if you've heard, but I've ruined her proposal."

I heard all right. I saw everything happen. It was a disaster. But there are important things right now. I try to get her attention. "Mirabel."

"…plus...it is just annoying!" She groans as she picks out the flowers on the poor plant next to her and crushes them with her hands. "...of course, it's Isabela…"

I lick my lips in nervousness. "Mirabel."

She's not listening.

"What's her problem with me, anyway? She's the one with roses coming out of–"

To hell with it. "MIRABEL!"

She blinks at me in confusion when I call her name a little too loudly.

I compose myself. "I'm sorry. Sorry. Sorry. You…you see, you're missing the point," I motion over to Isabela's door. "The fate of the family, it's not up to her. It's up to you. You're exactly what this family needs."

"I see Mirabel being the one who would change your family for the better."

If Gabriela saw something in my niece to say such things about her, it's high time she believes it herself. I smile at Mirabel. "You just have to see it."

Mirabel's face lights up. She's about to say something when I immediately scoot away, surprising her. "By yourself. After I leave."

I grunt as I drag the potted plant towards the painting covering my little hideaway in the walls. I've been out for too long.

"What?" Mirabel asks. "You're not coming?"

NO. I wave my fingers at her. "It was your vision, Mirabel. Not mine!"

"You're afraid Abuela would see you," She deadpans.

"Yep. I mean…yes. That too." I quickly stand and push away the painting. I stare at the opening and glance behind me to look at Mirabel. I don't mind seeing her again when this is all over, so I make an offer. "Hey, after you save the miracle…come visit?"

She smiles at me and makes a bigger promise. "After I save the miracle, I'm bringing you home."

But given my terrible luck, might as well ward the spirits off. I knock on the side of the wooden frame six times, rapping the top of my head on the last line. "Knock, knock, knock, knock, knock, knock on wood."

Mirabel watches me in amusement as I hold my breath and cross my fingers before falling back into my hole in the wall.

Good luck, Mirabel. Make your Tío Bruno proud.

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