"We still need to do more," Dolores insisted, glancing at her Abuela, who frowned.

"What more is there that needs to be done?" she asked.

"There's Bruno's prophecy," Julieta pointed out, "Remember, Mirabel standing in front of Casita, and the magic either being in trouble or safe behind her depending on the way you tipped it? We assumed that meant that Mirabel was somehow protecting the Miracle, and whoever had attacked her was after the magic, but…"

"If Pepa's attack on Mirabel was really an accident like Mirabel insists, and we don't really have any reasons to believe that it isn't," Bruno said, "I mean come on, I know Pepa, and she's been worried sick about what happened to Mirabel, I really don't think that she could be after the magic."

"I wouldn't blame her if she did," Camilo confessed, "I mean her gift sucks. She can't feel the littlest of emotions without someone yelling at her about it, and let's not even talk about what the farmers say to her when they want her to water their fields. They don't see Mama as a person, but as their personal weather machine, and sometimes I just want to slap them silly or blow out the candle so that people would just leave Mami alone. I hate them! They make Mami cry all the time, but it's okay because they needed her to rain to water their crops."

Alma stared at Camilo in disbelief, had Pepa really been abused by the villagers this whole time? She hadn't even thought about the fact that Pepa was forced to cry every single day.
"The Villagers can be cruel," Bruno admitted, "They're a large reason why I hid in the wall."

Alma swallowed, "Does anyone else have problems with the villagers being cruel to them?" she asked nervously.

All but Mirabel and Antonio rose their hands, and Mirabel simply hadn't heard the question. Dolores quickly grabbed a paper and pen and wrote down the question, handing it to Mirabel.

"Oh," Isabela exclaimed, "That reminds me, we went to the library today and found some books about sign language, I figure it might be nice to learn. You know, so that Mirabel will be able to understand what's going on."

"That's wonderful Isa," Julieta said, "I'm glad you thought of a way to make things easier on your hermanita."

"Are we still talking about villagers bullying us?" Mirabel asked, "Or has the family moved on to something else?"

Julieta reached over and wrote down, "Your Hermanas and prima checked out books on sign language from the library. The family's going to learn it so that you can keep up with the conversations."

"Oh," Mirabel said, reading that, "That will be nice. As for the villagers, of course, they constantly rub it into my face that I don't have a gift. Like the other day, some kid asked me what my gift was, and a group of adults, adults who know that I don't have any gift, encouraged them!"

Alma pressed her lips thinly together, "I guess that is the next thing I'll deal with."

"What about Tia?" Luisa asked.

"She should stay in her room," Antonio insisted, "She's a bad person! Mirabel can't hear anything because of her. She should be punished."

Felix stood up, glancing around the table before moving in front of Antonio, "Hey, Tonito, you know, just because Mami hurt someone, doesn't make her a bad person right?" he asked.

"Yes, it does!"

"Oh, so your friend Jauncho is a bad person, isn't he? Didn't he knock you over the other day?"

"It was an accident," Antonio insisted, "We were playing tag, and he tripped and fell on me. That's different."

"How is it different," Felix asked, "Jauncho got going fast and tripped, Mami got upset and thundered, you got hurt, Mirabel got hurt, the only thing different is Mami is an adult and has a gift."

"But…" Antonio frowned, he wanted to be angry, he wanted someone to blame for hurting Mirabel.

"You know, none of this would have even happened if Abuela had just admitted that the cracks were real instead of claiming that Mirabel was drunk," Dolores announced, "She knew that Mirabel was telling the truth, but she still let everyone believe that she was lying."

"Wait," Antonio said, turning to his abuela, "This is all your fault?" his voice was cold and full of hatred, "I knew you were mean, but this is super mean!" he announced, jumping up from his chair and storming back upstairs.

Felix glanced after him, "I'll go talk to Antonio, and try to talk to Pepa again."

Pepa heard Felix knock on the door and heard him plead with her to let him in, pointing out that it was his room too, but she refused to let him near her. What if she lost her temper again and hurt him? What if she hurt her children? Julieta was probably furious with her. She was too dangerous to have around. She had to do something to protect the family.

Bruno had hidden in the walls to protect Mirabel from his prophecy. Distancing himself from the family. Just to protect their Sobrina, the same sobrina that she injured.
She hurt her, she hurt Mirabel, Mirabel didn't deserve this, she was so sweet and kind, and she raised Antonio just as much as Felix and she had.
The poor girl was probably terrified of her and for good reason. She couldn't force her to live in the same house as her.

Bruno had the right idea, about leaving, only she didn't think the walls would be far enough away, she could still use her gift to harm people from there, and now the whole family knew about the hidden room. It wouldn't be safe there.

There was only one place that she could go where everyone else in Encanto would be safe from her. She'd have to leave Encanto. If anyone in her family hear her leaving they would stop her, she'll have to leave once Dolores was in her room. Luckily she knew just when Dolores usually went to bed, and when everyone else would most likely be asleep, she should be able to make it out of the Encanto before anyone noticed that she was gone. Knowing Mama she wouldn't try to find her outside of Encanto, she didn't with Bruno.


She waited until midnight to make her move, by now most of her family would be asleep and the rest of them would be secluded in their rooms. The only one she'll have to worry about was Casita. If she woke the family up, then she'll never be able to leave.

Casita clacked her tiles at her, but Pepa shook her head, "I have to leave, Casita, don't you see, I attacked Mirabel, I'm probably why you're cracking as well, my constant weather changes are damaging you, I won't allow that to happen, I can't hurt anyone I love if I'm not around. It's for the best," she insisted.

She tiptoed downstairs and peered into one of the living rooms, where she could hear the loud snores of Felix. Her heart squeezed slightly at the thought that she had forced him to sleep on the couch for no fault of his own, well, he can use her room from now on, without her raining on him at odd hours of the night.

"I'm sorry Felix, Mi Amor, Mi Vida," she whispered, glancing at him one last time, "This is for the best, I don't want to hurt you or the children, but… I have to go. If you want to divorce, or date other people I won't blame you. I'll always love you."

With that she left the house, giving Casita and Encanto one last look, her cloud spreading across the sky and turning to hail as she made her way through the jungle.

"Papi, Papi, wake up," Dolores's voice called out as someone shook him hard.

"Wha…" Felix asked, blinking open his eyes to see his daughter leaning over him, her eyes wide in alarm.

"Mami's gone!" she announced, "I listened everywhere, and I can't hear her! She must have left Encanto last night!"

Felix gasped rolling out of bed in surprise, groaning as he tried to work the kinks out of his back, he was too old to sleep on the couch anymore, but he had wanted to be close if Pepa had decided to take him up his offer of comfort.

"Are you sure she isn't just hiding in the walls like your Tio did, I mean he had us all fooled."

"I could hear him every day," Dolores insisted, "I can't hear Mama."

"Okay," Felix said slowly, "Your hearing is out, but perhaps Tonito's animals can pick up her scent?" he suggested, "We best get the family up and see if we can't find her."


Pepa groaned as she woke up, stretching to get the kink out of her back, it had been forever since she had last slept on the ground and her body was reminding her that she was half a century old. She sat up and looked around her, last night her main focus was getting out of the Encanto before the rest of the family noticed that she was gone. As soon as she had made it passed the mountain she found a secluded place to rest while her rain hopefully washed away her scent trail, the last thing she needed was Antonio tracking her down, he was too young to understand that what she was doing was the best for everyone.

Although, washing the scent trail away might be a tad unnecessary, as Antonio was still mad at her for hurting Mirabel. Good, so was she.

She looked around, seeing a beautiful tranquil river in front of her, another barrier that she will have to overcome before she could find somewhere else to live. She wasn't quite sure what she could do for a living, but she was sure that she could figure something out, after all, millions, if not billions, of people, live out here beyond Encanto there had to be something she could do. So long as her blasted cloud and thunder didn't ruin it for her as they did at home.
Sighing she got up, there was still a chance that she could be found by a search party, and she really didn't want to have to explain herself to her mother, husband, children, or siblings.

Casita was in chaos, everyone was yelling over each other and poor Dolores was forced to slip into a corner with her hands over her ears due to the noise. There had only been one other time when the family had been so disorganized and panicked when it had become clear that Bruno was missing.

"Tonito," Felix was saying, crouching down to meet his youngest in the eyes, "Listen to me carefully, we need you to have your animals find Mami, okay?"

The five-year-old nodded, before frowning, "But what if she's storming? What if she hits me with lightning and thunder like she did Mira."

"Then we will know that it was an accident," Felix insisted, "because your mami loves you and would never purposely hurt you. What happened with Mirabel was an accident and once we get your Mami back, we will figure out a way to insure that it never happens again."