Chapter Two: Where's Mirabel?
There was a long pause before Julieta swallowed nervously, unable to believe what she was seeing. Mirabel remained in the doorway, gripping it with one hand while the other poised to knock on the frame again. The girl's eyes stayed impossibly wide with shock, glowing green and eerie. Her shoulders were hunched up with tension as if bracing for a good yell from somebody. She looked downright terrified. Yet something about her overall body language was oddly familiar…
Julieta found her voice. "Uh, Mirabel, what happened exactly?"
"Nothing! Just something kind of…um…er…" Mirabel stammered, lost for words. When Julieta reached out again, Mirabel ducked and maneuvered away with a surprising burst of speed. "It's nothing dangerous! At least I think not…But, er…I need help! I sure never saw anything like this happening!"
Isabela hadn't moved, still standing amongst the broken dish fragments with both hands clamped over her mouth to prevent a scream from escaping. The sight of her little sister in such a state was a lot to handle. The one and only giftless Madrigal exhibiting powers like this? It didn't seem right. If fact, it was downright scary! What was going on?!
When Mirabel backed away towards the kitchen counter, knocking on any wood surface along the way and muttering uncontrollably, Isabela suddenly had a sneaking suspicion...Hadn't Mirabel and Tio Bruno been testing his powers for something? "Hold on a second," the eldest sister marched right up to Mirabel and backed her into a corner. "Tell us the truth, whoever you are! We're looking at Mirabel, but who are we talking to?"
With nowhere to escape, the girl went stiff once again. Her mouth became a tight line once more.
Julieta seemed to be thinking along the same lines as Isabela, for she froze, too. Those glowing green eyes were most definitely not Mirabel's…But just in case they were wrong, Julieta grasped her youngest girl's shoulders to gently stare her in the face. There was hardly a need to ask any more questions. Mirabel—or what looked like her—stared right back unblinking. Exactly the way that…no, it couldn't be true. Julieta gently urged her to speak, "Please answer us; who are we talking to?"
The person fumbled over words for a moment before finally blurting out, "Juli, it's me!"
Neither Julieta nor Isabela responded. They just gaped back in horrified silence.
"It's me, Bruno! I'm just—uh—in here!" The person who looked and sounded like Mirabel waved her hands around wildly, gesturing to herself, but apparently feeling very awkward in doing so.
"Good grief! What kind of experiment were you two doing?!" Isabela was the first to fully comprehend it.
"It was going just fine!" The person insisted. "Mirabel brought up the idea of me seeing the past and present, since we've all seen that the gifts can evolve, you know? So we tried, and I can see the past just fine, but something went wrong during the present, and now I'm her, OK?!"
Mirabel—or Bruno, maybe?—started to hyperventilate in terror. She—or he?—slid down to the kitchen floor shakily and rapped her knuckles on the lower drawers. "Knock, knock, knock…knock, knock, knock on wood…oh, this wasn't supposed to happen! How do I fix this?!"
"Whoa, relax and calm down, uh…hermano." Julieta knelt, not sure what to think.
"'Relax and calm down?!' I'm seeing the present through someone else's eyes! Where's the saltshaker? I need some salt!" The person tried to stand up to scan the countertop, but their legs were trembling so badly it was impossible…This was exactly how Bruno behaved when he was on the verge of a severe panic attack.
The other two were now fully convinced…This wasn't Mirabel they were talking to.
Isabela wasn't at all sure what to do. Here was what appeared to be her sister having an epic freak out, but it was really her uncle? More orchids sprouted on her head as she looked to her mother for help.
Julieta spoke to the person crouched in the corner using a quiet, soothing tone, knowing exactly what to do. "It's OK, it's OK, just breathe—"
"You try being trapped in someone else's body! I'm the one talking, but Mirabel's voice is coming out, and—"
"Bruno!" Julieta grasped the person's shoulders, so they had to look directly at her. "Repeat after me! 'I'm calm, I'm in control, and I can fix this.' Now you say it. We can't help you until you calm down, alright? So let's say it together…"
For several minutes, the two recited several different mantras while Isabela paced around the kitchen anxiously, careful to avoid the broken glass. Julieta remained ever the kind, comforting, reassuring person that she was, and Bruno's panic attack gradually subsided. But he stayed huddled in the corner with both knees curled up, obviously very uncomfortable with this unforeseen problem.
"Now, maybe you can explain a little more, Bruno?" Julieta questioned. "You said you were trying to view the present instead of the future?"
"Yep. It worked, I guess. I mean—I'm technically seeing the present right now, just not in the way we expected…" Bruno tried to stand on his pink-sandaled feet but was quivering so much that he sank back to the floor. He fussed with the embroidered skirt uneasily, the whole time being extremely careful not to accidentally touch anything. "Ugh…everything feels so weird! And morally wrong!" He complained. "I'm so sorry, Juli! I had no idea this would happen! I didn't mean to do this!"
Julieta gently held his shoulders—er, Mirabel's shoulders?—to try and stop him from shaking like a leaf. When her brother was this frightened, it took a while to come out of it. "Tell me, how did this happen in the first place? Why were you two playing around with magic, anyway?"
"We were testing a theory about the gifts evolving! It sounded harmless enough! Maybe I should just stick to the future…" he launched into a fast-spoken summarized description of how they had managed to do the experiment, starting from the moment Mirabel left the tower to hide on the balcony. He then told about an out-of-body experience which had led to this predicament.
While the siblings talked, a very disturbed Isabela remembered that most of the family was still outside in the yard; mercifully far enough away that no one had heard the dish breaking. (Although Dolores would have heard it, wherever she and Mariano had gone for their lunch date.) Thank goodness no one else was inside.
As she passed by the window, Isabela kept tabs on the others—it was lunchtime, so the family would surely start filing in any moment. For now, Tia Pepa and Tio Felix were finishing up their chores of laundry-hanging and weeding the vegetable garden. On the other side of the lawn were Camilo and Antonio, visibly out of breath from playing tag with Antonio's jaguar friend, and Luisa was relaxing in a hammock nearby. The three of them had gathered to talk, until Luisa and little Antonio teamed up to take down the hammock. Meanwhile, Camilo was starting to walk towards the house…Uh oh. They were all headed this way.
"Uh, Mama? Tio Bruno? If you can fix this problem now, that might be a good idea." Isabela pointed a thumb at the window, for her sister and cousins would either freak out too or find this the most hilarious thing ever.
"Ah! I can't let everyone see me like this! Especially Mama. I'm trapped with no escape!" Bruno, speaking with Mirabel's voice, found the adrenaline to jump to his feet.
Before he could run off, Julieta grabbed his hand. It was never a good idea for Bruno to be alone during a crisis. It would take forever to calm down if he was left alone without people to help him think rationally. "Hold on! Let's not lose our heads over this, Bruno—wait, what do you mean 'trapped?' Can't you get out of there?"
"And where's Mirabel? Is she OK?" Isabela suddenly realized.
"Uh, no, I'm stuck! And no, I don't have a clue! I sure hope she's OK…" The tremendous guilt was gnawing away at Bruno's insides…or that could be just Mirabel's stomach grumbling. Evidently, she hadn't eaten in a while.
There was no time to speculate. Julieta pulled him along towards the courtyard, just to take him to another room. They had to hide him! The family certainly couldn't see this; Abuela and Augustin were due back from the market any minute! And she didn't want to think how big the storm would be if Pepa saw this…Julieta called over her shoulder, "Isa, cover for us and stall everyone! Oh, and sweep up the broken glass, please?"
Isabela nodded and ran to fetch the broom. The broken dish and ruined arepas would be the perfect cover story for why lunch was so late…Camilo, Antonio and Luisa traipsed into the kitchen just as she took the broom out of the cupboard.
"Mind the floor! There was a bit of a—mishap." Isabela explained with a falter.
"Oh, no problem! We'll give you a hand." Luisa offered.
"We will?" Camilo questioned. Neither of them noticed Julieta dash around the corner with what appeared to be Mirabel in tow. Antonio did, but luckily didn't think anything of it. Instead, he climbed onto a dining room chair, petting his jaguar friend while the older kids cleaned up the broken glass and ruined arepas.
Meanwhile, Julieta dragged her daughter-possessing brother across the courtyard. She practically ran, not wanting anyone else to know about this bizarre situation.
"Whoa, where are we going? What's happening?" Bruno asked.
"Your room. This all began there, right? And maybe if—"
"I don't wanna go in there! Who knows what we'll find?!" Bruno clutched the banister to screech them to a halt.
"Maybe if you calmed down, this will be easier to fix! Also, haven't you checked to see what's going on with the vision dome? That might offer a clue on how to reverse this."
Bruno groaned, rubbing a hand across his face in exasperation—of course Mirabel's glasses got in the way. Why did Juli always have to be right about everything? There was another terrible thought that had prevented him from checking his room earlier, and he voiced this concern. "But Juli…if I'm in here, what if Mirabel is me?"
Julieta hadn't considered that. "…Let's just go to your room and see. We'd know where she is, at least—oh! Mama! Augustin, mi amor!"
Bruno immediately darted behind his sister as their mother came in through the front door. Augustin was right behind her, carrying full shopping bags like the ever-dutiful son-in-law.
"You're back from town early!" Julieta motioned behind her back for Bruno to continue up the stairs.
"Well, it is lunchtime, after all." Abuela cheerfully kissed her daughter on the cheek. "Everything alright around here? You're a bit pale—"
"Lunch will be a bit late today. Isabela dropped the arepas and the dish broke, so there's glass everywhere," Julieta stalled while Bruno dashed off. He was careful not to face Abuela and Augustin directly; the glowing green eyes were kind of a giveaway that something was up. Both watched with confusion as 'Mirabel' abruptly run upstairs without even saying hello…He half-shielded his face with one hand as he ran along the balcony.
"Why don't you two take those bags into the kitchen?" Julieta steered Augustin towards the doorway. "I just have to quickly help Mirabel with something and then we can all have lunch, alright? Everything's all set for sandwiches, and there's plenty of empanadas to go around!"
Abuela, a bit perplexed by her daughter's behavior, nodded and left. Augustin was right behind her, bags and all. (Amazingly he managed not to drop a single one.)
Julieta proceeded to climb the stairs at a normal pace to avoid suspicion, for Augustin was looking this way, still a tad confused. She had to act natural, no matter what…the moment Augustin had carried the shopping bags out of sight, she made a mad dash towards Bruno's door. It was frightful to imagine what her mother and husband would say if they found out about this magical mishap.
…
She caught up with Bruno in the tower. To the siblings' great surprise, the vision dome was still standing, exactly the way Bruno left it: every grain frozen in place, not swirling at all, with the jade green glow wavering throughout. Seeing a vision dome like this was completely new to Julieta, and to Bruno who had never seen one from the outside before. There wasn't even a magical wind, as was normally the case for visions.
"I'm not even sure how I did it; it's kind of hard to describe. The magic just let me pull back when seeing the past, and I figured out how to make it freeze in place for the present…" Bruno did his best to explain. "Apart from the whole 'possession' part, seeing the present is kind of fun. Sort of like flying around Casita without budging from this spot."
Julieta walked around the dome, fascinated. If there wasn't such a unique crisis on hand, she would have loved a tour of the newly decorated tower. Isabela had really done a great job with making Bruno feel welcome. All the different cacti, desert plants, and palm trees looked wonderful, and the tower's stone pathways blended in nicely. This style of garden really suited the place. Before, it had only been drab rock and sand. Bruno had even added a few touches of his own using benches, hammocks, and other furniture to give it a more homey esthetic.
The stillness of the dome's walls meant that one was able to see through it like a sheer curtain. Julieta squinted…and saw her brother—well, his physical self, anyway—sitting crosslegged in the sand, eyes shut, back straight, without a trace of emotion on his face. Several piles of flower petals were at his feet, giving off light wisps of smoke. The magic of the vision ritual always prolonged the burning effect, so the piles took quite a long time to completely disappear if no one stamped them out.
Julieta pressed a hand on the dome wall, but it felt strangely solid. A few wisps of sand formed around her fingers, but she couldn't pass through no matter how hard she tried. The magic seemed to be preventing anything from getting through to its creator's vulnerable state. Not even a pound of her fist did anything. There was no way to break in…She tried calling at the figure sitting inside, but Bruno's physical form remained unresponsive in his trance.
"Good news, Bruno," she called over her shoulder, since her brother was too disturbed to come any closer. "It doesn't look like Mirabel's in there."
"Is that supposed to make me feel better?! We still don't know what happened to her!" He waved his arms around wildly, knocking the glasses off his face. He fumbled and caught them before they hit the ground. "Ugh…this is awful. No matter which way you look at it, I messed up big time! What if Ma finds out about this?!"
He gestured at himself and the bizarre sand sphere, running both hands through his curly hair—er, Mirabel's curly hair—completely overloaded with anxiousness. He'd already tried to mentally escape this body the moment he'd overshadowed it. But with no success whatsoever. "Maybe…Maybe I should just try the entire ritual again? That might work…but I need another big open space."
"Yes! Now you're thinking rationally, hermano!" Julieta agreed, still tapping the outside of the vision dome with interest. She scanned the room for another open area amongst the desert oasis. It seemed there were none. Everything was covered with garden. "I'll go and get Isabela; she'll clear some of these cacti away."
"Please don't tell anyone about this!" Bruno panicked. The rest of the family was sure to be in the kitchen by now, all pitching in to get lunch ready. "Felix will never let me live it down if he finds out I turned into a girl! And I'm pretty sure Augustin won't like this, either…" Bruno shuddered at the thought of his other brother-in-law finding out he'd accidentally possessed his daughter. Although a very understanding man, Augustin was very protective of all his girls.
"Don't worry, I'll stall them. Just stay here and relax, Bruno." Julieta steered him by the shoulders over to the nearest bench and forced him to sit. "Try doing those breathing exercises Pepa showed you. I'll send Isabela up, and you'll be you again before you know it."
"Great! Right. OK…I can do this…I'm calm, I'm in control, and I can fix this…" He gripped the edge of the stone bench tightly and didn't move a muscle.
Julieta found the sight odd, yet weirdly funny at the same time…It appeared to be a distraught Mirabel sitting there: tight-lipped, with those glowing eyes, a rigid posture, and both feet positioned wide apart in a manspread fashion. That alone had to be incredibly awkward for him—but Julieta held back her laughter. Bruno was traumatized enough as it was.
She gave her brother a signature triplet hug. Usually, Pepa was included so they could form a triplet sandwich. But the hug still wasn't the same when he currently looked and sounded like her daughter. The gesture calmed him, nonetheless. "Please hurry, Juli!" Bruno begged as she ran up the path to the tower's entrance hall. The sooner Isabela got here, the better.
When he was alone, he took Juli's advice and tried those breathing exercises. Pepa often used them when in a particularly foul mood and they often worked for her. So he kept it up for several minutes to desperately tried to get ahold of himself. "I'm calm…I'm in control…and I can—what are you guys staring at? Can't you tell it's me in here? I'm not feeling like myself, OK?"
The group of rats at his pink-sandaled feet gathered closer to stare with concern.
…
Abuela did what she did best and brought order to the chaotic kitchen, instructing people where to go and what to do. The broken dish and glass-shard-sprinkled arepas were swept up and thrown away; it wasn't like the graceful Isabela to drop things, but accidents happened…actually, Isabela was acting a bit strange. Abuela noticed the girl's smile seemed rather forced as she talked to her sister and cousins, who helped with the clean-up. Isa also kept on glancing at the kitchen doorway in a jumpy, nervous manner.
Abuela decided to ask about whatever was bothering her momentarily. In the meantime, she directed the other kids to keep things running smoothly. "Luisa, why not carry the table outside? It's a beautiful day, perfect for lunch on the veranda. Tonito, you can help set the table, and Camilo, would you please go see what's keeping your parents?"
Indeed, Pepa and Felix had yet to come inside. They were taking an awfully long time to finish their chores: hanging the laundry and weeding the garden, respectively.
Camilo protested. "Uh, do I have to go find them? I think they went behind the stables to make out, and I don't really want to see that."
"Ew! Gross!" Antonio made a disgusted face.
"Too much information, cuz. I guess you were spying on them up to a point?" Luisa teased as she carried the table away. Antonio toddled after her with handfuls of cutleries to help get everything set up.
Abuela laughed, too. "Never mind, then, Camilo. They know it's lunchtime, so they'll be along soon."
Over at the counter, Isabela and Augustin were working on a tray of choripan sandwiches. All the ingredients were spread out, prepared by Julieta earlier: fresh flatbread and chorizo, chimichurri sauce, with fresh avocado and vegetables. All that was left to do was assemble everything. Camilo decided to help and casually chatted with Tio Augustin as they worked. But Isabela wasn't paying attention to the task of sandwich-making. She kept looking over at the doorway, as if anxiously waiting for someone to arrive. Wild orchids of every color kept popping into existence on her head. That alone was a sure sign something was distracting her.
So Augustin did what any doting father of three girls would: he asked about it. "Isa, sweetie, is something wrong?" To lighten the mood, he added, "And where did your mother disappear to? Not like her to be invisible now of all times, is it?"
"Yeah, cuz. Dish already!" Camilo teased, popping a piece of flatbread into his mouth to snack on.
"Oh! Well, Pa, you see—" Isabela wavered, fighting to think up an excuse on the spot. She was spared when her mother came in at that exact moment. But she was alone, with no one else in tow.
Julieta noted the organized chaos and swiftly walked over to the counter to join in on lunch preparations. With Augustin, Abuela and Camilo right there, she chose her words very carefully. "Isabela, would you be able to go and lend a hand in Bruno's tower, please? Oh, and Mirabel needs a bit of help, too."
"Oh! Of course!" Isabela took the hint and whisked away, leaving a blast of orphic petals all over Augustin's face.
"Tell those two to hurry up!" Abuela called as she ran off. She didn't even have a chance to ask what was wrong. She turned to Julieta in hope of answers. "Juli, you're still pale. Is everything alright? Bruno's not sick, is he? Lunch will make him feel better, you know that."
"Si, what's happened?" Augustin spit out a few petals. He also noticed his wife seemed rather jittery, which wasn't like her at all.
Even Camilo stared at his auntie…but more with suspicion then anything. He could always tell when someone was trying to cover up mischief, but if Tia Julieta was the one doing the mischief? That sure wasn't normal.
As tense as she was, Julieta joined in building the choripan sandwiches and kept up the act. "There was a bit of a mishap in Bruno's new garden earlier. They need Isa's help to sort out a few things before they join us." Even she was impressed by her own little fib. But it wasn't really a fib, was it?
Abuela and Augustin glanced at one another with a shrug, confused but not suspicious, thank goodness. Camilo, on the other hand, started asking questions about Bruno and Mirabel's whereabouts and whatever the problem might be in the tower. Julieta answered vaguely and managed to dodge telling the direct truth…for now.
Because there was no way she could explain about a magical experiment gone wrong! All being well, maybe she wouldn't even have to reveal the truth, if Bruno could undo what he did before lunch.
…
Bruno watched and waited as patiently as he could while his eldest niece cleared another big open space at the base of the stairs. With a few flicks of her wrist, cacti and desert grass receded into the ground, a palm tree moved of its own accord, and tiny flowering cacti grew from nothing to form a perfect circle. The inside of it was barren and empty, save for unaltered raw sand. Exactly what Bruno needed for fixing this little problem.
"This is so weird…still kind of cool, though." Isabela was quite amazed by the dome of glowing sand, completely still and silent with every grain hovering in place. The walls were sheer enough to see the piles of arranged foliage inside, still burning away. The sight of her tio sitting in there, however, was kind of disturbing, since Bruno was technically possessing her sister right now. "Do you think this counts as being in two places at once, Tio Bruno?"
He groaned with Mirabel's voice. "I'd rather not be. I only want this nightmare to end!" He immediately knocked several times on a palm tree before gathering flower petals from a blooming cactus. If seeing the present had led to this problem, doing the same thing as before would surely reverse it.
While he prepared, Isabela poked at the dome, causing little puffs of sand to fly off before reforming into the walls. It was interesting how despite being made of sand, the walls magically kept everything out. Even a solid kick from her shoe didn't break through. In a way this was good to know; at least Bruno's body was safe and protected, along with a few rats that were stuck in there with him. They had managed to drag a slightly stale arepa from his pocket and were currently chowing down or else napping at his feet.
"OK, ready…this had better work!" Bruno gave himself a pep talk as he lit foliage piles in the new circle. As a precaution, he warned Isabela, "You might want to stand back, Isa. Like, far enough away that I won't accidentally possess you, too."
She made a wide-eyed face of horror and retreated without hesitation. She found a bench under the nearest palm tree to watch the ritual from a safe distance. She took the chance to look around and admire her own handiwork, consisting of the desert-themed garden. The furniture scattered throughout the oasis was a nice look; Bruno had made the tower into a real private garden with the homey touches, and she was touched that he liked it so much. But now was not the time to think about room décor. "Wrap this up fast, Bruno! I'm not sure how long Mama can stall everyone."
The physical Mirabel nodded, eyes still green with supernatural power. Isabela shuddered. She'd never really gotten used to Bruno's glowing eyes. Also, seeing her little sister hold such power was just plain weird. Mirabel was special enough that she didn't need that kind of magic!
Another little group of rats had gathered in the new circle as well, sensing what had happened to their human caregiver. A few scampered up to Bruno to offer some encouragement. He petted their furry heads and said a few kind things to reassure them that everything was going to be just fine once this was over. The little creatures' squeaking and scurrying comforted him more then words ever could, sometimes.
With everything all set, Bruno settled down crosslegged—awkwardly fussing with the skirt—and took several deep breaths to prepare. "OK, time to fix this and get out of here…I can do this…it's no problem at all…" He summoned every ounce of concentration he could possibly muster…but something didn't feel quite right.
He blinked and focused on breathing for a minute; perhaps he was still too freaked out over all this and that's why the ritual didn't work right away. He knocked on his head a few times for luck—very gently, since it was Mirabel's head. "Knock, knock, knock…"
"Tio Bruno?" Isabela called with concern.
"Everything's fine! Yep!...everything's all good over here!" He inhaled deeply and tried to focus. He shut his eyes and once again called upon his gift, reaching out to will the sand to life and allow it to whirl around him…but the familiar feeling of creating a vision dome wasn't coming. The sensation of it all which he'd experienced so many times—it was gone! It wasn't working!
Fighting the urge to panic again, he tried a few more times, but it was no good. Nothing was happening. He'd done this vision ritual thousands upon thousands of times—sometimes visions came even when he didn't try—and just when he needed the magic the most at such a crucial time!
"Oh, this is bad…oh nononono…" he practically whimpered, staring straight ahead in a mild bout of shock.
Isabela sensed something was wrong and jumped from her spot under the palm tree. She hurried over to check on him. "It's not working?"
"No! It's not! Why isn't it working?! This has never happened before!" Bruno clutched his head in anguish, breath already picking up a steady pace. He struggled to get to his feet, for he was badly shaking in fear.
Isabela knelt just like her mother had done earlier and pushed him back to a sitting position. She didn't have much experience at helping people in emotional crises, but she did her best. "Hey! Tio! Calm down! We won't get anywhere if you start panicking again."
"Right! Yes, you're right…Of course…OK, I'm calm…I'm very, very calm…" He picked up a rat and petted it slowly. "But now things are very, very bad. I really don't want to be your sister, Isa. No offense."
"Your eyes are still glowing." Isabela observed, holding his shoulders to study Mirabel's face. (And also to prevent him from trembling like a leaf.) She knew from watching her mother that if she remained quiet and collected, so would he. But it sure wasn't easy; for this problem had just escalated even further. "So…you still have your powers, but just can't make another vision dome. Any idea why?"
"How should I know? This is all an experiment we were trying!" Bruno blurted out in distress. "Your Abuela has lightened up about the gifts, yes. But she still wants us to use our gifts responsibly. Does this look like being responsible?"
They simultaneously looked at the already-formed dome nearby with worry. The frozen sand still wavered with magic, housing the serene figure of its maker who sat in a deep trance within. But nobody was home. He was still breathing with the grounding piles of flowers giving off tiny wafts of smoke, the burning process lengthened by magic.
Now ever more distressed and still trapped, Bruno got to his feet and wandered around the circle to think aloud, talking to himself. His hands waved around wildly like they always did when he was anxious. On Mirabel, the effect looked a bit different; like she was crazed or something.
Yet Isabela could tell this was still her uncle she was talking to. She stood up as well, trying to be optimistic. "There's got to be a way to get you out of there…and get Mirabel back, wherever she went."
"I don't know what else to try! Doing the whole experiment again makes the most sense, right? But if I can't even do that…" Bruno paced around in the sand with rats perched on his head and shoulders—which was also another weird look on Mirabel.
"…We should tell everyone what's going on." Isabela finally suggested.
"What?! No!" Bruno spun around in horror.
"Tio, I don't have a clue what to do, here! Maybe we can get more ideas from the family…they're going to know something's up if we're not at the table soon, anyway."
"Oh nonononono…you can't be serious." Bruno groaned.
"Of course I'm serious! It'll be easier to fix this if we bounce ideas off each other. Not to mention a lot less stressful if we don't have to hide it," Isabela insisted. "We can all lend a hand to help you, and we'll figure something out, I'm sure." She knew that if there was ever a big problem in the house, bigger than one person could handle, it often took many minds working together to fix it.
That plan didn't sit well with Bruno, though. Here he was, possessing someone else, while said person was nowhere to be found! If the whole family knew what he and Mirabel had gotten themselves into, this was not going to be a fun afternoon…How was he ever going to explain this? His glowing, green, glasses-clad eyes got even wider with dread at the thought. None of them were going to like this…And there was one person whom he really didn't want to tell.
Bruno sighed in defeat as Isabela dragged him off towards the tower's entrance hall. "My mother is going to kill me…"