As the days passed, Bruno remained unconcerned about his door, but the same could not be said of the rest of the family. Mirabel in particular was worried about it, and she talked incessantly, seeking theories from everybody. Bruno knew she was trying to help, but he just wanted to forget about it. Still, he didn't tell her why the door was dark. She wouldn't understand any more than the others would. But at least she was trying.
When the whole family went into town one day, Bruno stayed behind and relaxed in his room. He was still trying to teach his rat, Hermoso, how to jump.
"¡Salta!" he coaxed. "Come on, Hermoso!¡Salta!"
Hermoso stubbornly stretched his front paws up for the piece of arepa. His hind end stayed firmly on the ground. Bruno huffed.
"You will learn it, idiota."
A knock startled him. He thought that the family had left. He stood up, and Hermoso squeaked indignantly. Bruno looked at him and popped the food in his mouth.
"When you jump, you can have a piece," he said then headed for the door. When he opened it, he was surprised to see Mirabel. He instinctively hid behind his door. "Hey. I thought you were heading into town."
Mirabel smiled at him. "I was. Then I had an idea. Can I come in?"
Bruno shrugged and stepped back to let her in his room. "It's a bit sandy."
At once, Casita rippled its tiles and the sand was guided back to the sand waterfall that covered the hourglass door to the rest of his room.
"Gracias, Casita," Bruno said fondly.
"Casita can move things in here now? How?"
Bruno shrugged and avoided her gaze. "Probably had to do with the cracks." He felt her eyes boring into him, and he reached over to his dresser. "Knock knock, knock knock knock, knock on wood," he murmured. The ball of anxiety loosened. "Anyway, what's this idea?"
"Well, we still don't know why your door is dark," Mirabel said. "And I was wondering what we could do to find out. And…"
"And?" Bruno asked curiously.
"I was hoping, you being my favorite uncle, and now that the magic is back…" Bruno stiffened. He knew what was coming. "That you would have a vision to see if it will tell us what's wrong with your door?"
Bruno cringed and hunched over. "I don't know, Mirabel. I don't think that will help."
"Come on, tío. It's been a week, and we're no closer to an answer. And you're not bothered by it! Why?"
Bruno shook his head. "A vision won't help. They never help."
"The last one you had did," Mirabel pointed out. "Please, tío. One vision. For me?"
Bruno grimaced. Mirabel had a point. His last vision went much smoother than any other, even if it hurt worse than ever before. The butterfly had been the saving grace of their family. But he didn't want to have another vision. He had promised himself to never have another one. That was the whole reason the door was dark. He could tell her that, but the words wouldn't come when he looked at her earnest face. He blew out a breath. One more. Just one more. It wouldn't hurt. It wouldn't change anything.
"Fine," Bruno muttered. "Come on."
Mirabel lit up and embraced him. "Thanks, tío!"
"Yeah, yeah," Bruno said, a small smile on his face. "Let's go. It'll take a while."
He turned and went through the waterfall of sand. He slid down the sand dune, Mirabel right behind him, and headed for the stairs. Mirabel sighed.
"Stairs. Why are there so many?" she grumbled.
"They just kind of multiplied over the years," Bruno said as they ascended. "There weren't any when I was a kid."
"Really?" Mirabel asked, already winded. "When did they show up?"
"Must've been about fifteen," Bruno replied, steadily taking each step. "Started with about twelve. Ended up with over a thousand."
"But why?"
"I don't know," Bruno admitted. "But that's when the visions started becoming negative."
"Interesting," Mirabel huffed.
Bruno decided to stop talking so that Mirabel could save her breath. By the time they reached the top, even Bruno was panting. A sheen of sweat glistened on their foreheads as they stopped in front of the bridge to catch their breaths. Mirabel coughed.
"Water would be nice," she wheezed.
Bruno nodded and gestured her to come into the temple. Mirabel was grateful that the bridge was back. It was strong and sturdy, and she made it across without looking down. Much easier than swinging. Bruno walked over to the vision cave door, and he opened it and went in. Mirabel ducked in behind him, closing the door and leaving them in darkness. She yelped when green fire erupted in brackets around the room.
"Cálmate, Mira," Bruno soothed. "It's so I can set up the circle. Here's some water."
He popped open a canteen and handed it over. Mirabel gulped down some water and watched as Bruno went from jar to jar, opening the tops and digging out different sweet-smelling herbs. He piled up sand in four small heaps and dug nests for the herbs, carefully arranging them, then he pulled out some leaves from another jar and piled them up in the middle of the sand piles with some twigs. He selected one and arranged it to his satisfaction. That done, he stood and took the canteen from Mirabel, drinking deeply as he walked over to another jar.
"Hurry up," Mirabel said, her voice teasing.
Bruno snickered as he picked up the jar and went to the edge of the cave to start pouring the sand circle. "You can't hurry the future, Mira."
He purposefully slowed down and took his time as Mirabel laughed and settled herself on one side of the herbs. He finished with the sand then set aside the jar. Then he hesitated. He really didn't want to do this. It wouldn't help.
"¿Tío?" Mirabel asked gently. "You okay?"
"It won't help," Bruno muttered.
"You don't know that," Mirabel said. "You can do it, tío. I know you can."
Just because he could didn't mean he wanted to. But this was Mirabel. He knew he would do it for nobody but her. She was the only one who had ever listened to his suggestions after a vision, even if she hadn't been happy with the vision itself.
'One more time,' he thought to himself. 'One more time. For Mirabel. Then no more.'
Settling himself down across from Mirabel, he got his gilded match case and pulled out the match. He took a deep, steadying breath, tossed some salt over his shoulder, then looked at Mirabel. In the flickering green flames, she looked eerie. But he could see her encouraging smile. So he let out a breath and struck the match.
Lighting the pile of leaves, he took the small twig he'd selected and carefully lit each pile of herbs. The intoxicating aroma wafted up in curls of smoke, and his eyes briefly rolled back in his head. He could already feel the magic pulsing in his body, a sensation he'd hoped to never feel again. But in spite of his reluctance, it felt natural and right. It was a part of him, like it or not.
He opened his eyes, feeling the magic sparking as the sand began to rise in a wave of green light. But as he tried to reach up toward Mirabel to tell her to hang on, something happened that had never happened before. His vision began to narrow and he wavered as Mirabel's face began to slip out of focus. Something was wrong, and he needed to stop, but he couldn't. Pain suddenly lanced through him, and his whole world went red.
Mirabel knew something was wrong when Bruno's face went slack. Then the light changed in the room as the swirling sand went from bright green to deep, angry red. Bruno's glowing green eyes flickered then turned red, too. He seemed to be trying to form words for a few moments, then his entire face crumpled into an agonized mask. His mouth opened in a silent scream and he doubled over.
"¡Tío!" Mirabel screamed. "Are you okay? What's wrong?"
But she stopped speaking as red sparks began to erupt off of Bruno's body. He began shaking, doubled over and holding himself as tears streaked down his thin cheeks. Mirabel scrambled over to grab her uncle. His body was twitching and seizing uncontrollably, little noises of distress falling from his trembling lips. Sweat dripped from his face as his eyes stared straight ahead, looking at something she couldn't see.
"Tío, you need to stop! ¿Tío? ¿Tío Bruno?"
But Bruno obviously couldn't hear her. As a particularly violent spasm passed over Bruno, the swirling sand burned bright red, and Mirabel looked up. Images flashed across the sand, fast and disjointed, switching from one to another almost as soon as she'd registered what she was seeing. She saw Isabela, Camilo, Dolores, Pepa, Julieta, Luisa, Alma, Félix, Agustín, each face flashing across the sand, but she couldn't tell what else was going on. What kind of a vision was this? And why was it red instead of green?
A concussive thud echoed in the cave and she saw red light coalescing in front of Bruno. Was it the tablet? Bruno seized one final time and a terrifying scream burst from him, echoing around them and rising higher and higher until Mirabel's eardrums throbbed and her heart squeezed in sympathy at the agonized shriek that conveyed a pain that she couldn't even imagine. In an explosion of red light, a ruby tablet formed in midair. Mirabel caught it from reflex alone as the sand erupted around them. Then there was shocking, frightening silence as Bruno stilled and darkness settled over them. The only light was from the glow of the red tablet.
After a few moments, the green flames in the brackets flickered back to life, casting them in wavering light. Bruno was lying very still on his stomach, his hair matted to his face by sweat and sand. Mirabel was scared he wouldn't get up. Then he stirred and groaned.
"¿Tío?" Mirabel asked in a small voice.
Bruno heard the question, and he shifted again. His entire body hurt like never before. He hadn't even hurt this badly after doing visions as favors for his sisters' weddings. Over three dozen visions in two weeks had left him nearly comatose for a month, and that had been the worst pain he'd ever felt. But this? This was so much worse. Every muscle burned and protested every movement. He was thirsty and so tired that he just wanted to sleep.
Hesitant hands touched his face. "¿Tío?" the frightened voice murmured again. "Can you hear me?"
"Water," Bruno croaked. "P-please. Water…"
Mirabel hurried to the canteen and carried it over to her uncle. Carefully setting the ruby tablet aside, she heaved him up and struggled to drag him to the wall to lean him upright. He tried to help, but his movements were sluggish and clumsy. Eventually they got there, and Mirabel held the canteen to his trembling lips. He drank like he was dying of thirst, and Mirabel watched him swallow great mouthfuls of water as some leaked down his chin and dropped onto his ruana. He finally pushed it away and leaned back, breathing deeply.
"Are you okay?"
"Dunno," Bruno slurred. "What happened? Did I have the vision?" His eyes swept the dim room and stopped on the red tablet. His forehead creased and he tried to stand up, but Mirabel pushed him back.
"I'll get it," she said quickly.
Bruno stared at it, confused. "Is that the vision?"
"Yes."
"But it's… it's red. It's never red. It's always green. Always."
Mirabel picked it up and stared at it. Her brows knitted together and she began to tilt the tablet this way and that. Then she turned it upside down. Then sideways.
"What is it?" Bruno asked fearfully.
"I don't know," Mirabel muttered.
She carried it over and handed it to Bruno. Bruno wiped his shaking hands on his ruana then carefully took the glass and stared at it. All he saw was a jumble of cracks and shapes. But the most disturbing thing to him was that the tablet was ruby glass instead of emerald.
"What exactly happened?" Bruno asked after turning the tablet every which way as he tried to understand what he was looking at.
"You don't remember?"
Bruno pursed his lips and squinted at the tablet. "I remember you wanted me to have a vision. And I started to feel it. And then…" He frowned as he thought. "I don't know. Everything goes red after that."
"I-I don't know how to explain it," Mirabel admitted. "The sand was green and then it turned red and your eyes turned red and there were faces and other stuff flashing around. You…" She hesitated, unwilling to describe what Bruno had looked like while having that fit. "I think it hurt you."
"Yeah. I'm hurting," Bruno said. But inside he was actually happy. It hadn't worked! If his visions no longer worked, he had no reason to have them anymore! He tried to suppress his glee so it wouldn't come out in his tone. "Guess it didn't work."
"Maybe that's why your door is dark," Mirabel said thoughtfully.
"Hm?" Bruno set the tablet aside and used the wall to get up, leaning heavily against it.
"Your gift isn't working right," Mirabel explained. "Maybe something's wrong with your gift, and that's why the door is dark." She stood up and grabbed the tablet. "Thanks, tío. I need to think about this. Let's go." She paused. "Um, can you make it down the stairs?"
Bruno tapped the wall. "Casita? A slide, if you please."
"You can make a slide?" Mirabel asked.
Bruno smiled. "Of course. Going up is bad enough. Might as well have fun going down."
Mirabel helped him outside to see that a long, curling slide had appeared at the edge where the stairs began. She grinned and guided Bruno over to the edge.
"Suavemente, Casita," Bruno begged softly as he sat down at the top.
Then he pushed himself down and began to slide. Mirabel followed a few seconds later, clutching the ruby tablet against her chest. Bruno relished the wind in his face as he slid down toward the sand. The slide was angled just right so that he slid to a stop right at the bottom. He had just enough time to stagger to his feet before Mirabel came whooping down. She was breathless with laughter, and she stood up and brushed sand from her skirt.
"No use doing that yet," Bruno said. "Wait until we're in the front of my room."
Mirabel took a step forward then hesitated and looked back up. "I feel like we're missing something. Maybe we should do this again…"
"No!" Even Bruno was startled at the pitch of his shout, and his face warmed with embarrassment. "I, uh… Sorry. But I can't do that again. Not now. I'm just so tired and sore. I'm sorry." He found his shoulders hunching and his hands wringing together nervously as he waited to be scolded.
"Maybe in a few days then," Mirabel said. "Whenever you feel like it. Okay?"
Bruno relaxed a little then pulled his niece into a warm embrace. He didn't say no to her request, but he also didn't say yes. Limping through the waterfall of sand, he shook the grains from his body and clothes. They showered onto the floor, spreading across his room. Mirabel shook off too then adjusted her glasses and looked at the tablet again.
"Anything?" Bruno asked.
"Nope. Just weird shapes. The cracks look kinda like a heart from this angle." She turned the glass upside down again then shrugged. "I don't know."
Bruno took the tablet and opened one of his bottom drawers, setting it inside carefully. "I'll try and figure it out later," he explained. Then he hesitated. "Mirabel?"
"Yeah?"
Bruno licked his lips and shifted his weight. "Please don't tell the family about this, okay? I just…" He huffed and quickly tossed salt over his shoulder.
"I won't," Mirabel said. "Not yet. They'll worry even more than they are already. We need to try and figure some of this out first. Just you and me for now. The two family weirdos!"
Bruno couldn't help but smile. "Yep. And we gotta stick together. Now if you don't mind, I'm going to take a nap. Sleep sounds great right now."
"Sounds good, tío. I'll let you rest."
She gave him another tight hug then left the room. Bruno stood still for a moment then looked over at the drawer. He really should figure it out, but his bed was calling so sweetly to him. After debating with himself, he stumbled for the bed and slipped into the cool sheets. It didn't matter what was on the tablet. It couldn't be important. So he closed his eyes and fell immediately into a deep, dreamless sleep.