"You are sure about this?" Pepa asked softly, glancing at the walls. While she knew that casita had always shown itself to be trustworthy, as it had only ever altered any of them to what others were doing if there was a danger, Pepa couldn't help but look at the walls, worried that casita might send a message to her mama to let her know about the meeting the second generation of Madrigals were having with the older members of the party.

But casita just stood there, not even letting the drapes quiver, and Pepa looked at the party once more. That was why they needed this meeting. Why they needed to come to a decision.

Casita was dying.

"All the signs are there," Anton said, running his hand along the table they were sitting at like he was petting a sick dog. "The magic that is holding her together is weakening."

"There is nothing we can do?" JUlieta asked, playing with the edge of her blouse.

"Oh, there are MANY things we can do," Ernesto assured her. "We aren't going to let the poor girl go down without a fight."

"The Bureau is already expanding himself so she can quickly jettison herself into the empty rooms he has," Gahoole stated.

"Is that safe?" Felix asked.

"According to Bureau it is very safe." Bruno paused, face twisting. "I got the sense its rather… romantic… for them."

"If he can do that then why not have her go now?" Felix asked. "I can't imagine this feels good to her..."

"Dying is never easy," Nocci stated. "But she is holding on... she is worried about all of you."

"...we can manage!" Agustin exclaimed. "Casita, please... we'll be okay. We don't want you hurting yourself just to help us."

But the home merely made the table shake slightly.

"She is a stubborn gal," Ernesto said with a fond smile.

Pepa nodded at that. "And so am I." She rose up. "No more delays... we talk to mama NOW. There is a curse on the valley, casita is dying trying to make sure we aren't alone, who knows what is happening with the Miracle."

Gahoole frowned. "I'd have to get Dryft to take a look if we didn't want to risk a potential backlash, as he's the only one that might be able to see the magic but-"

"No," Bruno said, rising up to join his sister. "No more delays."

Julieta nodded as well and soon everyone was heading out the door. "FAMILY MEETING!" Julieta called out, startling many of them with how loud she'd gotten her voice. "FAMILY MEETING!"

The kids all piled out of the kitchen along with the younger party members. Isabella was holding Ulika's hand and looking more at peace than any of them had seen her in over a decade. Dolores took care to make sure Antonio and Camilo were coming while Luisa and Saharah strolled shoulder to shoulder to the common area of Casita. Dryft and Mirabel were quietly talking, the capricorn gesturing at the walls of casita and the adults wagered he had noticed casita straining herself to let them know that she wanted to stay. Mirabel swallowed and Dryft gently reached down, placing his hand on her shoulder in comfort.

Which was why it was so important that they all have this meeting.

"Mama?" Mirabel asked. "Is something wrong?"

"Yes," Julieta said, wishing she could comfort her daughter but knowing that at the moment she needed honesty and not pretty lies. "There are many things wrong. With the family, with casita, with the valley. But we are going to fix it." She saw Isabella tense before shooting her a defiant glare, holding Ulika's hand all the tighter. But her glower turned to confusion when Julieta merely smiled. "For too long we have allowed ourselves to be defined by things... worried about how we appear rather than being who we want-"

"Hold on," Pepa said, cutting her off. "Where is mama?"

"Thank you, Julieta, for calling this meeting."

Everyone turned to see Alma standing on the second story balcony, looking down on them like a queen gazing upon the peasants that came to offer her tribute and ask for her forgiveness for their crimes.

"Well, this isn't going to end well," Saharah muttered.

"You are right, my dear," Alma stated. "Things have been wrong with this family. People allowed to run wild. Showing disrespect for our traditions and our ways. Ignoring their duties to our community. And it all began with her." She pointed right at Mirabel.

Dryft let out a low rumble, moving to stand between Mirabel and everyone else. His eyes flashed darkly as the rumble in his chest grew louder. "Old woman," he said, voice low and dark, "watch your tone."

Mirabel though merely met her abuela's gaze head on. "I have done nothing but care for this family-"

"You want to destroy it!" Alma thundered. "I see that now! I don't know if it is because you never got a gift... or if your gift never came because you aren't truly a member of this family."

"That is ENOUGH mama!" Bruno roared, stepping forward, his aura causing him to appear far larger. "I will not let you talk to her like that!"

"I only speak the truth," Alma said, refusing to back down. "And you talking as you are to me right now? That is proof that things are wrong. But do not worry, my son..."

She pulled a book from the folds of her dress.

"Oh fuck," Anton hissed, falling into a defensive stance.

"Yes, monster," Alma said, her lips a firm line even as her words grew more manic. "I found this vile thing in my room. I don't know why you hide it there... but now that I understand how it works I will use it to bring about your doom.""

That made the Party blink. "In your-" Ernesto began but Alma had already opened the book and begun to chant. "Stop her!"

But Alma's hand glowed and she lifted it up into the air. "The spell is already cast! I will reveal who you truly are! The masks and illusions you have cast to hide your true forms will be gone! See what this party and the demon who calls herself Mirabel Madrigal truly are! I reveal all of your true forms!"

And with that she clenched her hand into a fist and a wave of light burst from her and swept over everyone.

Anton was the first to come to his sense as the spell took hold, blinking his eyes before he swallowed in horror. "Oh no... no no no..."

Ernesto stared at him... before he snickered. "I knew it! I knew you dyed your hair!"

The warlock grumbled as he tried to duck his head to hide the graying at his temples.

"Oh thank every deity, even the ones I don't worship!" Saharah said, looking herself over. "I still have my tits!"

"We are happy for you," Gahoole said, "but language." She gestured at a confused Antonio.

"I'm allowed this. I did NOT want to go through transitioning again!"

"You are as you were meant to be," Dryft said, looking the exact same.

"Transitioning?" Dolores asked, confused. She looked at everyone and other than Anton's graying temples the party was the same.

"I was born a boy," Saharah admitted. "But I've always been a female in my heart."

"And apparently in your form as well," Ernesto said, looking over the Party, where Anton was the only one who had seen any changed, and then the family… "Huh," he said, tilting his head as he looked at Isabella… and her decidedly curly hair. "I remember you having fuzzies as a baby…"

Isabella blushed, reaching up and playing nervously with the wild bush of hair that was now atop her head. "Everyone thinks I like to sleep in… I actually get up early to straighten it." She looked up at her grandmother. "Because you said that's how you liked it best! Well… thank you for that spell because I am keeping my hair like this!" She gestured at the wild mane. "Or maybe I'll style it different."

"You'd look lovely with a Mohawk," Ulika stated. "Shave the sides, have it just standing up."

"Oh, we could SO dye it!" Bruno said with a grin a touch more vicious than it needed to be.

Julieta and Agustin shared a look before sighing; Isabella was an adult and it was her choice.

"Do you see, mama?" Pepa declared, waving her arms at the family. "None of us changed! None of us were altered! We remain exactly the same!"

"no… no no no no no," the old woman repeated, over and over like she thought doing so would somehow act like a magic spell and cause her to gain the results she longed for. "Mirabel-"

"It was NEVER about me," Mirabel snapped, finally fed up. "Was I upset I didn't get a gift? Yes… but only because you made me believe that getting a gift was the most important thing in the world! You made my entire life be around my ceremony and my gift and when I didn't get it… it was like the sky was suddenly orange and birds swam and fish flew! And when Bruno and Ernesto took me out in the world I realized that I wasn't defined by my gift or the lack of one… just like none of the family is defined by it!"

"My gift wasn't a blessing it was a curse," Dolores stated, stepping forward and placing a hand on Mirabel's shoulder. "Did you ever think about what it would be like for me to have a baby and not be able to comfort him or her because their cries would be too loud? That I couldn't sing with my husband or enjoy music because it would make my ears bleed? Thanks to Mirabel I can live a normal life!"

Camilo nodded. "We are more than just cards you lay down on the table during some game! Why can't you see that? Accept that we are people?"

"We aren't going to let you ruin our lives anymore!" Luisa declared. "I want to see the world like Mirabel did! I don't want to be just known as the strong one… I want to make people laugh and cry and cheer! I'm… I'm going to go to a bard college! I'm going to learn how to tell stories and weave tales!"

"I'm going with Ulika to visit her family," Isabella declared. "And I want them to teach me everything! I want to run around barefoot and dive into forest pools and explore dark and dusty caverns!"

"You're not nice at all!" Antonio declared, Dryft grinning and fist bumping him while Gahoole clicked her beak in approval.

"You need to realize mama that the problem isn't us," Bruno said, jabbing his finger at her. "The problem is YOU."

"…no," Alma repeated again, staring down at them. "No… this isn't right… I won't let you-"

The book began to tremble and shake in her hands.

Anton swallowed. "So… any takers that the demented old woman didn't pay a tribute before performing the spell?"

"Backlash appears to be coming," Nocci said.

"Backlash?" Agustin said as the book began to glow, the pale greenish yellow light wrapping around Alma and holding her in place.

"Run," Gahoole said. "I mean us. Everyone… RUN!"

Casita began to shake at that moment as everyone hurried out the front door. Dryft and Luisa ended up grabbing half the family themselves, hauling them onto their shoulders as they raced outside, depositing all they had nabbed onto the grass while the rest of the Party and the family followed right behind, Juileta and Pepa doing a headcount and breathing sighs of relief that everyone was accounted for. Dolores hugged her brothers tight while Isabella frantically checked Mirabel and Luisa over, making sure they were okay before wrapping them up in a massive embrace. However their relief disappeared as the roof of Casita exploded and Alma rose up in a beam of the twisting, thrashing magic, her head thrown back and mouth open in a silent scream as the spell struck right back at her.

Ernesto reached into his pocket and pulled out a clay tablet, staring at it as words rapidly appeared. "Casita has fled to the Bureau… she says she had no choice. Something suddenly entered the walls and was threatening to consume her." He looked at the house. "That isn't casita anymore."

"I think I have an idea what pushed her out," Saharah muttered as Alma continued to hang in the air. "Anyone want to take a stab at what we are about to be dealing with?"

Anton frowned. "The spell was supposed to reveal our true natures. Because she didn't make a proper sacrifice magic is now sending the spell right back at her… revealing what has lurked within her. What was in her heart when she performed the spell."

All of them could only watch as the home (for it wasn't Casita anymore… it was just a building, the magic having fled to Bureau, circling around the other sentient home and crying out in despair) began to crumble and break apart. But rather than collapse on itself the pieces of the Home of House Madrigal rose into the air, swirling around Alma before the timber and the tiles and everything that had made up the house slammed into her. Alma was wrapped up in the rubble of the house, her form disappearing as something else took shape around her.

It was somewhat skeletal in nature, what with the broken beams and timbers forming clear ribs and a spine. But it was more than that… it was a shell of a great beast, with mighty legs and arms and a long thick tail. Two more great structures rose from its back and the doors to the family's rooms slammed into them, forming wings. Tiles shattered and were driven into the fingers and toes of the creature, forming great claws while furniture jutted out from its back like spines. And finally the head formed into a massive skull, completely empty as the entire thing slammed down to the ground and laid there, cold and lifeless.

"What… what happened?" Camilo whispered even as Gahoole shoved him behind her.

"Oh this is bad," she whispered as the Party braced themselves, drawing weapons and preparing spells.

"Mira…" Isabella asked softly, "What is it?"

Before she could answer the creature slowly raised its head, opening its maw to reveal rows of sharp teeth made of stone… and the Candle.

The flame sparked before it exploded out, the fires racing through the great beast and causing its entire form to become engulfed in flames as it let out a roar.

"It's a Hollow Dragon," Mirabel whispered in horror just before the monster attacked.