Mirabel smiled as she slid down the stairs, "Morning Abuelo," she announced as she slid past, racing to the dining room. She danced around the room setting the table, before into the kitchen.
She blinked in surprise, "Hola Mama," she said, "I didn't know that you were awake."
"I'm usually awake at this time," Julieta insisted, wrapping her arms around her in a hug.
Instead of hugging her back, Mirabel stiffened, with a frown, "I can't feel you," she announced.
"What!" Julieta exclaimed, pulling back, "What do you mean?"
"I can't feel you!" Mirabel exclaimed, "When we hugged, there wasn't the nice warm blanket of love that you wrapped around me like you always do."
"I don't typically wrap a blanket around you when I hug you…"
"It's not a real blanket, it's a blanket of love, you know," Mirabel insisted, her eyes wide as she looked up at her mother's confused face, "You know don't you."
Julieta didn't know, she was very confused about what Mirabel was talking about, but she was also more confused by the cloud that popped up over her daughter's head and unleashed a torrent of rain over her.
Julieta took a step backward, out of the way of the rain, bumping into the sink behind her, "Why do you have Pepa's cloud?"
"I don't know!" Mirabel cried out, the rain over her head turning to hail, "Why do you have Isabela's flowers?" she demanded, pointing to the sink behind her.
Julieta turned around, there was a rose bush in the sink, and she knew that it hadn't been there when she came in to start breakfast. What was going on here?
She stepped back in alarm, only to yelp when sharp needles poked the back of her legs, she whirled around in surprise.
"Mama be careful," Mirabel cried out, with a crash of thunder, "The floor is covered in cacti!"
"This doesn't make any sense," Julieta cried out, causing more cacti to appear, "How do I make it stop?"
"I don't know," Mirabel snapped, "I don't know how Isabela's gift works…" the rain suddenly stopped, "Isabela does! I'll go wake her up!"
A rainbow formed over her head as she raced off, leaving her mother trapped in a room full of cacti.
…
"Time to wake up!" "Morning Abuelo," "Stop it." "Hurry up!" "Okay very funny, now where did you put it?" "That's mine." "I need six eggs" "Steady on Old Blue." "Morning Mama." "I can't feel you."
A thousand voices clambered inside Camilo's head, jumping around, pounding against his brain, and giving him a major migraine. He tried to cover his ears, but that did nothing, even when he pulled both his pillows and heavy quilt over his head he could hear a loud thumping noise that made his ears ache. Oh, what was wrong with him?
"Why do you have Pepa's cloud?"
"Why do you have Isabela's flowers."
Camilo sat up throwing the blanket and pillows off him, that had been Tia and Mirabel, he would recognize their voices anywhere, and they were talking as if… Mirabel had his mama's gift, and Tia had Isabela's.
He could hear the commotion downstairs, hear each cactus pop into existence, and hear Mirabel volunteer to get Isabela for Tia with the explanation that Isabela would know how to control her gift.
If he could hear what was going on in the kitchen, and everywhere else in Encanto as well… Osvaldo called a greeting to Mariano, Senora Pezmuerto baby talked her current fish as she fed it, each little flake splashing into the water, Mirabel pounding up the stairs, shouting for Isabela.
Camilo's hands immediately clamped over his ears, he had Dolores's gift, there was no doubt about it, and there was no way he would be able to handle this noise without her help.
…
Mirabel slammed into Camilo as she raced across the upstairs balcony, bouncing off each other, and Camilo, with his hands over his ears still, landed hard on his bum.
"Sorry Camilo," Mirabel exclaimed, a cloud popping up over her head, "I need Isabela because."
"Shhh…" Camilo hissed, "I have Dolores's gift."
"Really!" Mirabel shouted, "That's amazing!"
"Mira," Camilo groaned, "Can you be any louder?"
Mira turned bright red, "Sorry," she whispered, "Where are you going?"
"Dolores's room, it's soundproof," he announced, rushing away.
Mirabel frowned, so far she had Tia Pepa's, Mama had Isabela's, and Camilo had Dolores's, "Everyone has someone else's gift."
"Tio has Antonio's," Camilo announced, "He just woke up, and Tia is still growing Cacti."
"I better go get Isabela," Mirabel announced.
Camilo grimaced, "And I'm going to go get Dolores."
…
"Papa, Papa, Papa wake up, I'm hungry."
"I'm more hungry."
"I'm hungriest!"
Bruno groaned, covering his head with his pillow, and wondered who's kids were in his room. Wait kids in his room? Why were there kids in his room?
He sat up quickly, causing his rats to tumble onto his lap.
"Yeah, Papa's awake now, we can eat!" one of the rats squeaked.
"Hungry," agreed another.
"Julieta's food is the best."
"Arepa, cheese, beans," the last one agreed.
Bruno stared at them for several minutes before letting out an earsplitting scream, "How are you all talking!"
…
Isabela was rudely awakened by a great big heavy weight hitting her straight in the stomach. She groaned as she slowly opened her eyes.
"Isa! Good, you're awake," Mirabel exclaimed.
All of a sudden Isabela felt weird, the weight was back, heavy sitting on her shoulders, hard and weighty, yet wiggly and jumpy at the same time. As if she wanted to be excited about something but wasn't sure if she should or not, yet it wasn't her that was feeling it, and she really didn't know what it meant, or how she knew that.
"You okay Isa?" Mira asked.
"I just suddenly feel heavy and jittery at the same time, but it's got nothing to do with me…?"
"Oh, that must be me, I'm kind of nervous because everybody's gifts got swapped, but I'm also excited because I have a gift now," Mirabel announced bouncing on her feet, only to freeze mid-bounce, and tilting her head to one side, "but… how come you didn't know that? It should have been obvious that that was me… I'm the only one in here with you."
"Normally people can't feel what those around them are feeling," Isabela admitted.
"Senorita Miel told me that it was called Empathy and that it was a very important skill to develop."
"Normal Empathy is… understanding how someone else is feeling, but Mirabel, this is feeling how someone else is feeling," Isabela announced, "Mira, this is a gift," she wrapped her arms around her shoulder and began to jump, "Mira, you have a gift. You have a gift."
…
Dolores woke up to being shaken roughly. She hadn't needed to be shaken awake since she got her gift. She always woke up when they knocked on her door, no reason for anyone to enter her room.
There was a soft murmur of wind above her that almost sounded like someone hissing her name.
She cracked open an eye to find her brother standing over her, his mouth moved slightly but no sound came out of it, not even the sound of it opening and closing. That was weird, "Why are you so quiet? Why can't I hear you?" she asked, before sitting up sharply, noting the way the bedding didn't rustle against each other like normal, "What happened to my gift!" she gasped loudly, only to stop when Camilo let out a low hiss, that she probably wouldn't have noticed if it wasn't for the fact that she couldn't hear anything else, not even her own heartbeat.
She turned to stare at him.
"I have your gift," Camilo admitted softly.
Dolores raised an eyebrow, "You have my gift," she said softly, "How?"
"I don't know," Camilo admitted, his hands still covering his ears, "It's too loud."
…
Luiisa woke up at her usual time, got up, and started on her morning workout, or at least she tried to. She tried to lift up one of her large dumbbells, but she couldn't get it off the floor. She stared at it in alarm, it was only a half-ton, and she carried that amount around all the time. Why couldn't she pick it up? Oh no, the gifts, her gift, it was failing again! But why? Why was her gift failing? She was painstakingly careful to ensure that she didn't overdo it. Why would her gift quit now? What would Abuela say?
At the thought of Abuela Luisa felt a tingle run up and down her spine, then there was a flash of light, a light pop, and her reflection in her oversized mirror suddenly turned into Abuela.
Shapeshifting, shapeshifting was Cam… pop… she was Camilo now.
Luisa raced to her door in a panic, how in the world did she get back to her own form, and how in the world did she get Camilo's gift in the first place?
Pa, her pa would know what to do, he always did. Luisa shifted once more, this time into her father as she rushed out of her bedroom, and ran straight into Tio Bruno.
"Agustin," he cried out, only to frown when he was suddenly looking at himself, "Camilo?"
Luisa shook her head, finally managing to transform back to herself, "No," she said, "I woke up with Camilo's gift," she announced.
"Well, either I woke up with Antonio's," Bruno announced, "or the rats learned to talk last night."
"Tio Bruno!" a sharp happy voice called out, as Bruno was tackled by a blur of teal, "Guess what, all of our gifts are swapped around, so I have Tia's, and Isabela has mine. Camilo has Dolores's, and he told me that you have Antonio's. Is it true? It must be so much fun finally being able to understand what your rats are saying."
Suddenly there was a loud crashing noise and Antonio's voice cried out, "Oh no!"
Everyone turned to look at the little boy, who was holding the door of the bathroom in his hand, "I just wanted to go potty!" he exclaimed, "but the door broke."
Isabela looked at Luisa, "Hey, sis, I think I found your super strength!"
"What's going on here?" Abuela called out emerging from her bedroom in time to hear Isabela's remark.
"All of our gifts are mixed up," Mirabel announced, "Antonio has Luisa's, Luisa has Camilo's, Camilo has Dolores's…" she paused to take a breath, "I have Tia's, Mama has Isa's, and Isa…"
"I have Mirabel's," Isabela announced.
"Mirabel doesn't have a gift though," Alma insisted.
"Apparently one shouldn't be able to actually feel the emotions of the people around you, despite that literally being the definition of Empathy in the health textbook," Mirabel announced with a roll of her eyes.
"Wait," Luisa said, "Mirabel had a gift all this time?"
"I know right?"