Mirabel pulled out her latest sewing project and was in the middle of threading the needle when Casita tapped her ankle making her look up to see Isabela standing in the doorway.
Isabela said something, but Mirabel wasn't really sure what it was.
"I can't understand you," she confessed, as she scanned the nursery for something that would be helpful. She walked over to the desk and pulled out an old school notebook that still had some blank pages in it. She turned to a blank page and grabbed a pencil offering both to Isabela, curious about what she was going to say.
Her relationship with her oldest sister was rocky, to say the least, she couldn't even remember the last time they actually spent time together or the last time they had actually had something pleasant to say to each other.
Isabela took the paper and pencil and wrote something down before handing it back to Mirabel, "Luisa and I are going shopping, do you want to come with?"
Mirabel looked at the paper, before looking at Isabela, arching an eyebrow, she grabbed the pencil back and wrote something on the paper as well, handing it to Isabela.
"Why are you being nice to me?" it read, "You can't stand me, remember, and doesn't Luisa have chores that she needs to do?"
Isabela shook her head, grabbing back the pencil to write some more, "I'm sorry I haven't been a good Hermana to you," she wrote, "I was jealous that you got to be who you want to be without any expectations from anyone."
Mirabel snorted, "At least no one's ever told you that you were in the way or a waste of space… or that the whole Encanto would celebrate if I jumped," she muttered the last part, and Isabela wondered if she realized that she said that last part out loud.
"I'm sorry for saying that you were in the way," Isa wrote again, "I know that I've been a horrible hermana major, and I want to make things up to you and Luisa. We're taking the day off and going shopping. I want a new look, something I can get dirty in. You're the most fashionable person I know, can you help me?"
Mirabel looked at the paper and nodded once.
…
Alma Madrigal knocked softly on the door, smiling brightly as Mariano opened the door, it was obvious that he was getting ready for work as his guard uniform hung untucked and his hair was still sticking out in the back, "Mariano, is your mother here? I need a quick word with the both of you."
Mariano nodded, letting the older woman into the room, "If this is about my proposal to Isabela, I am still considering rather or not I want to commit to a life with her. Our dinner the other night has really opened my eyes to what life as a Madrigal is really about."
Alma nodded, perhaps this wouldn't be such a horrible situation after all, "Well, the truth of the matter is I do want to talk to you and your Madre about the proposal," she admitted, "I am so sorry about what happened that night. I shouldn't have lied to you about Mirabel, and I'm sorry that it appeared that we don't care about her. We really do."
"You weren't around town yesterday," a new voice said as Senora Guzman made her way down the stairs.
"No, I wasn't, if it wasn't for the fact that I needed to talk to you and Mariano, and had a council meeting I would be home right now," Alma insisted, "Bruno returned sometime last night and I haven't really had much of a chance to talk to him yet."
"Why do you need to talk to us?" Senora Guzman asked, making herself comfortable in her armchair.
"Well, I came to talk to you about Mariano and Isabela's betrothal," Alma said, raising her hand to prevent any interruptions, "I am aware that the two of you are having some doubts about the union of our two families, and…" she paused, trying to gather her thoughts, "Isabela is still so young, she doesn't feel ready for such a big commitment as marriage, and she's not sure that she wants one with Mariano as well. I think it will be in both parties' best interest if we call off the whole thing."
"Good," Senora Guzman said, "We were trying to figure out how to break the news to you and Isabela that we wanted to call the betrothal off."
…
Mirabel was having a good day. Luisa, Isabela, and Dolores were trying their hardest to keep her involved with the shopping trip, even though sometimes she did get left out unintentionally. It was hard to write and laugh at the same time, and once whoever happened to have the notepad they were using calmed down enough to write down the joke it just wasn't as funny as it had been.
They had gone to several stores. Some of them Isabela had never set foot in before, but she always came out with at least one package.
As they were headed to get some lunch at the local pub, several girls descended on Isabela, from the way their mouths moved and how Dolores covered her ears, she could tell that they were all talking at once.
Isabela shook her head, saying something, and Dolores cocked her head to one side, before nodding along with her.
Luisa handed her the notepad they had been using to communicate, "They're some of Isabela's friends, they were asking if it was true that Mariano proposed to her. She told them that the betrothal was called off, and Dolores confirmed it."
"That's good," Mirabel stated, handing the notepad back as Dolores said something else.
"Mama's looking for you, you have a doctor's appointment in just over an hour," Luisa wrote.
…
"It's probably just a ruptured eardrum," Dr. Ruiz insisted as he peered into one of Mirabel's ears, "Those usually heal up on their own in a couple of…" he frowned, pulling out of the ear, and checking the other one, "Her malleus bones are broken," he announced, "This kind of injury is usually caused by a very loud sound, like fireworks."
"Or thunder," Julieta said softly as her heart dropped in her chest, Pepa had yelled at Mirabel that night, she had in fact been the last person they knew that saw her before the attack had happened. What if she had attacked her? She probably hadn't even noticed that she had done it. Pepa was already beating herself up for yelling at her, if she found out that she was the one who attacked Mirabel… She had just got Bruno, she didn't want to lose Pepa. Besides, she might be wrong. She wasn't going to accuse Pepa without solid evidence.
…
Alma stood up in front of the council, "Mirabel was attacked on the night of Antonio's Gift Ceremony, and since then the familia has been noticing problems with their gifts. If anyone has seen anything suspicious during the party, I would appreciate it if they will speak up."
"The last I saw Mirabel," one of the councilmen announced, "she was talking with Pepa. I couldn't hear what they were saying, the party was too loud, but I did hear the thunder."
"Thunder?" Alma asked.
"Yes, it must have been unusually loud for me to be able to hear it over the noise of the party," the councilmen frowned, "Come to think about it, I think there was a flash of light too as Pepa walked away. I didn't want her to think I was spying on her, so I returned to the party, I hope that helps."
"It does," Alma assured her, Pepa, her own sweet Pepa had done this? It had to have been an accident, she would never purposely harm someone. How was she going to break the news to her… perhaps this was just a coincidence. Something else must have happened. Yes, there was no way that Pepa could have harmed Mirabel.
…
Agustin waited until he was done with everything else on his to-do list before going to the Nursery. He wanted to have as much time as he possibly could to find what he was looking for.
"Now where would Mirabel put the outfit she was wearing on the night of Tonito's Gift Ceremony?" he asked.
Casita rumbled her tiles and pulled a wadded pile of fabric out from underneath Mirabel's bed. Agustin stooped down and picked them up, shaking them out. There were bloodstains on the skirt and blouse, which Agustin didn't like to think about his little girl hurt and bleeding. There was something else on the blouse as well, a circular black mark with a hole in the middle. He frowned, this might be a good clue, now if only he knew what caused it.
He gathered up the clothing, planning to show them to his wife and mother-in-law when they got back, perhaps they would know what could have caused the burn mark.
…
Antonio wanted to help, he didn't understand completely what was going on, but he did know that someone had hurt Mirabel, and the grown-ups were doing everything in their power to find out who. So far none of the adults knew what to do. So he started asking every animal he saw if they knew anything about something bad happening two nights earlier.
So far he had been striking out, but there were still more animals to talk to, like the couple of rats that had scrambled off of Tio Bruno when he fell asleep in the armchair in the sitting room.
"Hola, I'm Antonio," he said brightly to them, "I was wondering, did you see anything bad happen two nights ago."
"Nights when dark," one of the rats asked.
"It loud," the other one said, "Friend man no leave den, but yes me."
"What did you see?"
The rat snuffled a little before continuing, "Cloud lady loud, made fire come out of cloud, Dancing Girl fall. Cloud Lady spot me, I ran."
"Cloud lady made fire come out of her cloud and hit Dancing Girl?" Antonio repeated with a frown. He talked to enough animals to know that Cloud Lady was his Mami, and fire from her cloud was probably lightning, but who was Dancing Girl?
He scooped up the rats and held them up to the family photo that was on the wall and pointed gently to Mirabel, "Is that Dancing Girl?"
"Yes, Yes, Dancing Girl hurt, Dancing Girl fire," the rats chattered.
"Hey Tonito, there you are," his mama's voice called out behind him, "Showing Tio's rats the family? We have some time before dinner, what do you want to do?"
Antonio turned to his mother, she had a huge smile on her face as she spoke to him.
"Tonito, is something wrong?"
"You hurt her," Antonio said softly, tears trickling down his cheeks, "You hurt Mirabel! You hurt her," he announced as he sobbed.
Pepa frowned, a cloud forming over her head, what was he even talking about, She crouched down to his height, and asked, as she reached out and put a hand on his shoulder, "Tonito, I know things are a little scary at the moment because of what happened to Mirabel."
Antonio jerked away from Pepa, glaring at her, it seemed so wrong to see him so mad, "I hate you!" he snapped, "You hurt Mirabel, you hurt her! She's my best friend and you hurt her! The rats told me everything!"
