Bruno was gone when Mirabel woke up the next morning. She guessed that he'd just run back to his room as soon as he became conscious, probably to rest after the stressful day yesterday. She didn't blame him.

As for her, she had another day ahead of her of being someone else. While she was glad to be a girl and relatively young again, it was still kind of a bummer to have to wake up in yet another new body—oh. Oh. Wait a moment, what was that wonderful feeling?

Mirabel pushed herself into a sitting position, shaking her head. She felt her long hair tumble out of its ponytail, cascading in perfect waves over her shoulders and back. She felt refreshed. She felt light. And she didn't need to brush her hair!

For all of Isabela's recent rejection of 'perfection,' apparently the perk of never having a bedhead was just too good to give up. Mirabel usually didn't have trouble with mornings like some other family members did, but this was a whole new level. She felt like she could just stretch her arms toward the sky and cause a sunbeam to shine down on her and sparkles to appear. What exactly was Isabela's magic on?

Speaking of Isabela, Mirabel heard a groaning noise next to her, and looked to her right to see 'herself' waving up. Now, Mirabel wasn't normally a groggy riser, but by comparison to how Isabela normally woke up? The whiplash must be quite noticeable for her.

"Morning," Mirabel called, resisting the urge to sing-song. Seriously, she felt like she was floating on a cloud of bubbles. Any more of this and she would have birds sitting and chirping on her shoulders.

Isabela rolled over and folded her pillow up to cover both her ears.

Mirabel removed the covers and hopped out of bed, energized for the day. Her feet touched the carpet of grass at her feet and she grinned. Hesitant but excited, Mirabel pointed to a spot on the ground and….let's see…how about one of those funny flowers she saw growing outside their house once?

Her arm tingled like pins and needles, from her shoulder down to her fingers. A flower strung forth out of the ground, looking similar to what she had pictured but still a bit wonky. Nevertheless, Mirabel laughed giddily.

"Ay, Mirabel…" Isabela sighed. "Please be careful with my Gift, you don't know what you're doing…"

Mirabel turned to see that Isabela had sat up. Her hair was sticking up everywhere, and she had bags under her eyes. Mirabel stifled a laugh. Yep, that was her usual look after waking up. But Isabela somehow made it look like death.

"Ughhhh." Isabela touched her hair and groaned. "Is this my hair? How on Earth do you deal with this? I look like a dandelion."

Mirabel rolled her eyes. "Some of actually have to groom ourselves in the morning, you know. Come on, I'll help you. Where do you keep your hair creams?"

Isabela blinked slowly.

"…right. Let's go to my room."

The two sisters made their way over to Mirabel's room, where Isabela sat down with a groan at her vanity. Mirabel got right to work, using her own brushes and creams to work all her curls into the proper place.

"Sorry…" Isabela mumbled. She rested a cheek on her hand.

"Don't worry about it," Mirabel snorted. "I get that you're probably not used to it after years of just 'waking up like this.' Seriously, you just roll out of bed and get going? That's wild to me. I wouldn't be surprised if you don't even need to shower because your sweat just smells like perfume or something."

Isabela yawned. "It smells like roses," she corrected. "Or, it used to, anyway. Lately, I've noticed that it's more spicy. Or herby."

Mirabel froze. "What?" She looked down at herself, a little grossed out. "Isa, I was joking! Do you not shower?!"

"Of course I shower!"

"Then why are you correcting me about your sweat?"

"Because you were wrong!"

"Seriously?" Mirabel stomped her foot in annoyance—and suddenly a bunch of plants sprouted up everywhere.

"Mirabel! Ay! You're getting pollen everywhere!"

"Oh no, my room! Ack! Isa! How do I make this stop?!"

"And so, in conclusion…"

Mirabel held up the vision tablet for her family to see, attempting not to mess it up with the yellow pollen stains on her hand.

She beamed. "…once I'm done switching with all the cousins, I'll go back to myself and it will all be over forever. The end."

The family, sitting around the table in various levels of sleepy, blinked back at her. Mirabel and Isabela were both covered head to toe in colored pollen, but that's not what they needed to focus on right now.

"That's it?" Agustín asked. "The answer is to just…wait it out?"

"I…I guess." Mirabel put down the tablet and shrugged. "I mean, there doesn't seem to be anything we can do to stop it."

There were annoyed murmurs of agreement thrown across the table.

"And how are you feeling today, Mirabel?" Abuela asked. "Isabela?"

Isabela just shrugged. "Fine, I guess. A bit weird, but fine."

"I actually feel pretty good!" Mirabel chirped, standing straighter. "Like, all morning I've had this desire to, like, twirl or something."

Isabela scrunched up her nose. "Really?"

"Yeah, and maybe prance around like a gazelle," Mirabel teased. She heard her cousins snicker and couldn't help a snort herself when Isabela stuck out her younger. "I am a little cold, though. Maybe I need a bit of exercise."

Mirabel wandered out of the kitchen and into the sunny courtyard, with her family watching. The sunshine made the hairs on her skin stand and she felt that tingle she'd experienced earlier. Giving into the energy, Mirabel twirled around and grew various plants around the courtyard, not sure entirely what some of them were.

She would have been impressed at her work if she didn't suddenly trip over her own vine. And fall. Flat on her face.

Camilo burst out laughing. Julieta glared at him and hurried over to Mirabel with some food. Isabela just rubbed her temples. "Ok, I am not letting her go outside."

Minutes later (after they'd cleaned themselves up), Mirabel was back in Isabela's room, as her sister pulled out the biggest book she'd ever seen and slammed it down on the table.

"No more growing things until you read this," Isabela told her.

"What?" Mirabel ogled the huge book in front of her. "Why?"

"The reason you can't control your plants is because you don't understand their physiology," Isabela replied. She tapped the cover of the book, the leaves and golden title carved at the top. "You need to understand what you're growing and how it works. Otherwise it will either backfire on you, or it will die in a few minutes."

pMirabel pouted. "Do I have to read all of it?"

Isabela put a finger to her chin. "At least skim through it. I highlighted all the important stuff." She pointed at her. "But don't go out and prance around like that in front of people before you know what you're doing. You'll embarrass me."

"Fine, fine." Mirabel waved her hand around. "I'll stay at home while I read the book. But can I at least read in the courtyard? The sun is way nicer out there."

Isabela smirked. "Right. Plant magic makes you want to be in the sun a lot. You get used to it."

"Ohhh, that explains why I felt so cold earlier. And why the morning makes me feel so perky. I'm literally a plant! Hey, do you photosynthesize?"

"…No."

Mirabel huffed. "Lame."

When they got outside, Mirabel located a nice cushion to sit on, and curled up to start reading. Isabela aimlessly walked by.

"So what are you going to do?" Mirabel asked her.

Isabela shrugged. "I don't know. I might just go for a quick walk to get used to this body." She headed for the door, fluffing her hair as she went. "Ay, that's so much better than this morning. You know, your curls are cute and light, Mirabel, but I still miss my long hair."

Mirabel grinned. "I can cut yours just as short if you want." She twirled a lock of her (sister's) hair teasingly.

Isabela glared at her. "Don't you dare."

Mirabel laughed and went back to her book. Isabela just rolled her eyes and left.

It was actually pretty fascinating, she found as she went on. There was a lot of information in the about both native and non-native plants, how they grew, how they interacted with each other. And it was all annotated nicely for her understanding. Mirabel had no idea Isabela had studied all of this. She always made everything look so easy.

Was Isabela actually smart? Perish the thought.

Mirabel snorted, and studied a page on a few of the native flowers in their area. She focused on a particularly fun-looking one, called a lobster claw, taking in its appearance and notes on its growth. Her eyes wandered up to one of the pillars of her house, which certainly looked like it could use some decoration.

Hesitantly, Mirabel waved her hand, feeling that tingly feeling again and letting it be fueled by the sun. Using the picture as her guide, she vividly imagined the flower in her mind and…pop! There it was, hanging and growing downward from the top story.

Casita applauded its tiles and Mirabel laughed giddily. Then, she went back to the book and continued reading. She'd be a pro at this is no time.

Isabela's day was actually going a lot better than she had expected. As Mirabel, she got a lot of greetings from people, but no one was stopping to swoon over her or try to charm their way into her good graces. People were more…genuine toward her now. Kind and social, without that nervousness they often had toward her as Isabela. A couple of cute kids tugged on her skirt, not afraid to play or horse around with her. Aside from a few odd stares, no one treated her like anything strange. Man, Mirabel really had it made. This was going splendidly.

That is, until a boy stopped her.

He was taller than her (well, taller than Mirabel), chestnut brown hair and a little chubby. Isabela recognized this kid, since his father owned the local woodshop. His name was Hugo or something. But what did he want with her?

"Ummm…" the boy began. He seemed nervous, and his eyes were flicking all over the place. "I brought you that thing you wanted."

With that, he pulled a tiny wooden capybara out of his pocket and put it in Isabela's hand.

Isabela blinked at it, bewildered. "Um, thank you…did—did I ask for this? I'm sorry, I don't quite recall…"

The boy shrugged. "I mean, you mentioned you liked capybaras and that there wasn't any capybara-themed stuff in the woodshop, so…yeah."

Oh. Now Isabela remembered. Mirabel had spoken about this boy before, with a certain amount of…interest.

No, no, no. Absolutely not. This boy wasn't right for Mirabel. Why? Well—he just wasn't. She knew. Sisterly instincts.

Isabela gripped the little toy and squinted at him, sizing him up. "Why thank you," she drawled, putting on a fake smile. "But, Hugo…it almost seems like you're trying to win my favor by giving me gifts."

The boy looked somewhat flustered. "Uh—no, I just—just thought you'd like it. I wasn't trying to win anything." A beat. "Did you want me to?"

Good Lord in Heaven, this kid was a mess. And as mean as it was, Isabela couldn't help but want to mess with him. Just a little.

She pouted and shrugged. "Welll, I don't know," she sighed dramatically. "I have very high standards, you know. And my family would never approve."

He blinked. "I—I mean, I—I thought they would be okay…"

"Oh, Hugo, my friend, don't be silly. We're the Madrigals. We can't let just anyone into our family. I mean, how would you win them over? What could you give to not just me, but my family? My mother? My grandmother?"

He looked horrified.

Good. Time for the next phase of her plan. Isabela tapped her chin in thought again. "But…I think I know what might help. You see, my mother happens to really love triticum aestivum."

The boy frowned. "What the heck is that?"

Isabela shrugged innocently. "Don't know. I just heard her talking about it to my dad once. It's her favorite thing. If you could make a wooden sculpture of that, I'm sure she'll warm up to you right away." She winked. "If you're serious, that is."

With that, Isabela put the little wooden capybara in her bag and sauntered off, leaving the poor boy confused and scared behind her. She'd see if he actually tried to win over her mother, but either way, he was going to look totally stupid. Heh.

Mirabel was going to be so mad at her.

By that afternoon, Mirabel had already grown several more vines full of various plants. The others were starting to come and admire her work.

"Looking pretty good, Mirabel," Agustín commented. "You're getting the hang of this pretty quickly."

"Thank you," Mirabel sighed. "It's been kind of exhausting, though. Some of the plants are still dying and I'm trying to figure out how to keep them alive, but the sun's starting to go down…" She suddenly stiffened in alarm and called to someone behind him. "Oh, Tío Bruno, be careful! Those things will eat your rats if they get too close!"

Bruno, who had been observing a pitcher plant in the corner, jumped back and snatched the rat that had started to crawl off his head. "Wh-what? These things eat rats?!"

"They're carnivorous!"

"I thought they only ate bugs!"

Agustín stifled a laugh. "You seem to have no problems keeping those alive."

Mirabel huffed. "They're so self-sustaining and scary. But the delicate plants need more effort. I'm never making fun of Isabela for spending hours on a single bouquet ever again."

She grinned. "But hey. Once I get the hang of this, I can finally clean up that mess I made in my room this morning."

Agustín raised an eyebrow. "What happened to your room again?"

"Oh, you know," Mirabel laughed awkwardly. "I couldn't control my powers and Isabela was being annoying, so I just kinda went bam!"

Even remembering the outburst was enough to cause a blast of flora behind her. Bruno yelped and fell down.

"Oh, no, Tío Bruno!" Mirabel yelped.

This distress caused yet another blast.

"Oh, no, Papà!" Mirabel shouted as her dad went down next. "Eek! Not again! Sorry, sorry, sorry! I'll get it! Darn flowery vines! Curse you, Mother Nature!"

From the second story, Julieta could only wince with bemusement as she watched the three clumsiest members of her family act like complete spectacular disasters. It was a good thing dinner was coming up soon, because they would absolutely have some scratches to be healed.

Isabela, who had returned from her walk a couple of hours ago, walked over to join her. "Hola, Mamà."

Julieta hummed. "Hello, Mirabel."

"…I'm Isabela."

"Oh, right, sorry." Julieta shook her head. "I can't believe this is going to go on for four more days. I'm a little worried about your sister."

Isabela glanced down at the chaos, where Luisa was now trying to untangle everyone from the mess, and smirked. "I mean, she looks like she's having fun. She's completely mutilating the art of botany and I'm going to scold her for not reading through the book, but at least she's having fun."

Julieta rolled her eyes. "I suppose. At least we know when it's going to end, I hope." She paused. "Do you think anyone in town has noticed anything weird?"

Isabela shrugged. "I noticed people staring a little bit earlier. Dolores said she heard some folks wondering about what's going on. But she also heard them say they don't mind us taking some days off." She smiled. "I think they're all used to weird things happening to us by now."

"Well, that's true, weird things do happen to us all the time," Julieta laughed. Then she frowned. "But, still…"

Isabela chuckled and put a hand on Mirabel's shoulder. "Mamà, don't worry so much. This is Mirabel we're talking about. She can handle literally anything."

Julieta looked surprised for a moment. But she smiled and nodded reluctantly. "You have a point there. I guess we'll just wait this out and see if we get some answers at the end."

They continued watching everything below, where Mirabel was apologizing profusely to her dad and uncle, now that they were all free. Other family members were gathered around them now and everyone was having a good laugh. Julieta smiled. Isabela was probably right. It looked like everything would be okay.

"…by the way," Julieta piped up again. "Speaking of weird things, did anyone say anything strange to you today? About, like…titanium?"

Isabela blinked. "Huh?"

"A young man came up to my stand today and told me he'd make me a wood carving of…" she rubbed her temple. "Titanium…avalanche?"

Isabela sucked in a breath, covering her mouth.

"What does that mean?" Julieta asked. "Is it some weird trend among kids these days?"

"I've never heard of that," Isabela replied, stifling a giggle. "Was it that boy Hugo Sanchez?"

"Oh. Yes, the one whose father runs the woodshop. That was him."

"Hmm, yeah. He's an…interesting child." Isabela stuck her nose in the air, shaking her head disapprovingly. "Who knows where he gets these ideas from. Anyway, do me a favor and don't mention any of this to Mirabel."

"What?"

But Isabela had already skipped away, giggling under her breath. Part of her felt bad for the poor kid, but not enough to regret it. And if Mirabel ever asked about the prank, she could just pin it on Camilo.

Mirabel placed her awkwardly-made bouquet on the dresser, smiling at it proudly despite its faults. Finally, after a whole day of practicing, she managed to make one that didn't immediately wilt or lash out at her after a few seconds.

The three of them were in Dolores' room now, getting ready for bed and for the next switch. Dolores watched the both of them, amused. "So…I'm next?" She turned to Isabela. "What's that like?"

"Well, you won't have your Gift and you'll need to put on glasses to see," Isabela replied. "But otherwise, it's pretty nice. Mirabel still has some baby fat, and everyone is super nice to her."

Mirabel pouted as she sat down next to them. "It's not baby fat," she insisted. Then she turned to Dolores. "Anything I need to be prepared for tomorrow?"

Dolores grinned wryly. "Wear earplugs."

"…right."

Isabela yawned suddenly, and Mirabel was also starting to feel strangely drowsy. Must be that body-swap magic kicking in.

"I guess it's time to hit the hay," Mirabel said.

"Aw, man," Isabela pouted. "We barely even got this sleepover started…"

"You can still gossip with Dolores until you pass out if you want," Mirabel replied, as she spread herself out on her cushions. "But I'm gonna go to sleep. Good night."

With that, Mirabel turned her back to them and closed her eyes. Isabela and Dolores started whispering behind her, giggles and yawns interspersed between. Despite claiming that she wanted to sleep, Mirabel couldn't help but listen to them. She couldn't make out the exact words, but they sounded excited. Happy. It had been a long time since they had sleepovers like this, but now they were starting to do them regularly again. She took that as a good sign.

As she drifted off to sleep, the last thing she saw was her bouquet of imperfect flowers, and two of her favorite people reflected in the mirror.