Although Bruno wanted to join in on the festivities, his anxiety quickly overwhelmed his joy and he slipped away to the second floor, looking for his new room. The new doors shimmered blankly-much as they had before the Madrigals had received their Gifts-but each had a different pattern etched around the doorframe.
Coming to the frame decorated with hourglasses and rats, Bruno hesitated before he reached for the glittering knob. "Not so much sand this time, okay, Casita?"
The floor tiles rippled in response. "What do you want instead?"
'I want lots of wood,' Bruno thought to himself. 'Lots of light and someplace to read. I want a space for my rats and... And I want a big, soft bed with heavy curtains. And I want everyone to know if I want to be alone.' When he finally touched the knob, the door came alive and Bruno stared in disbelief as he noticed that the image on the door was no longer stationary, but rather it moved like a computer GIF.
Currently, the image showed him opening his door and slipping inside, the words 'Do Not Disturb' flashing upon the door as it closed.
He couldn't help but smile widely as he walked into his new room, filled with excitement as he saw the interior.
Wood was everywhere, from the floors to the cabinets and bookshelves, to the small kitchenette in the corner.
The sitting area had a sofa and two armchairs and nearby was a stage for rat productions complete with a cabinet to hold sets and costumes.
In the kitchenette, Bruno found a small pantry filled with snacks as well as tonics to help migraines, insomnia, and anxiety attacks. He also noticed a large container of salt which made him feel better almost at once.
Hearing the floorboards rattle, Bruno followed the sound towards the door to his bedroom and inside he saw a large bed covered with blankets and pillows. The curtains surrounding the bed were thick enough to block out light if he was having a migraine and the mattress was like lying on a cloud.
'Come see your new vision chamber,' Casita beckoned happily, guiding Bruno to another door.
The antechamber held small pots for salt and sugar, and there was a large bin filled with sand. Smaller bins with the leaves and herbs he used in his ritual were there as well, as was a cabinet for storing vision plates.
Although not in any hurry to experience a new vision, Bruno was caught off guard at how the sudden pulsing of his rejuvenated Gift seemed more inviting than it had before. He didn't feel like the future was demanding to be seen, but rather coaxing him. 'Come... I wish to show you something...'
Quickly utilizing his supply stores, Bruno went into his new vision chamber and set up the circle before sitting down and lighting the fires. "What will become of us with this new magic?" Bruno asked the empty room as the sand began to swirl around him. Getting to his feet as the visions appeared, he watched as the family were blessed by the new miracle.
At first, Dolores seemed alarmed that her enhanced hearing didn't return, and Bruno felt a brief stab of anger that his sobrina would remain deaf. Was the magic responding to some hidden resentment from Mirabel and how she was still bitter about her own disability?
Seeing Dolores give a start as Mariano held her, Bruno's temper cooled as he watched the vision continue to play out. It wasn't that Dolores was being denied her old Gift, but rather that she was being given new magic. She could focus on someone and pick up on their emotions without being able to hear them.
A vision plate formed, and Bruno smiled as he saw Dolores laughing with Mariano as the couple finally said their 'I do's. But instead of the swirl of sand ceasing, it revved up and another vision began.
This time, Camilo was in focus and at first, it seemed like he was also without a Gift. But seeing the young man pitch in more around town or at home, it felt like his new Gift was to instinctually know what people required help with and he only shapeshifted when someone really needed him to.
Adding Camilo's vision to Dolores's, Bruno found himself invigorated by the fact that he wasn't tiring out like he usually did after multiple visions. 'I want to see more!' he thought, feeling a rush of joy at how the new magic was making everyone's lives better.
Luisa came next, and Bruno saw her joy as she learned how to cook and bake with guidance from her younger sister and mother.
Eventually, Luisa's future intertwined with Mirabel's as the two opened a culinary school in town. Their vision plate showed an image of Luisa presenting Mirabel with her wedding cake.
Pepa's ability to control the weather was gone, but like her daughter and older son, she didn't mourn what was lost. Instead, she embraced her new Gift of being able to influence moods through own cooking.
While seeing Julieta's future worried Bruno at first, he was relieved to see his sister start to relax more. She spent fewer hours in the emergency room at the hospital and more time in the counseling offices, talking with patients and to her own therapist... With time, she would finally be able to accept that it was not within her powers to heal everyone. Her Gift would always be needed, but that didn't mean she had to work herself to the bone to fix whatever ailed someone.
The last vision was of Isabela. It would take an indeterminate amount of time for the young woman to start regaining the use of her legs and Bruno saw many long months of his eldest sobrina in a wheelchair as she struggled to learn how to walk again.
But Isa's determination never wavered, and she even found love with a young man who had come from outside the valley.
Getting to his feet and gathering up the visions to give to his family later, Bruno left his vision chamber as Casita clattered floor tiles to clear away the debris.
Making his way over to the kitchenette and retrieving a bottle of water, he looked at the image of Isabela standing with her new husband as the couple kissed underneath some sort of flowered arch. While Bruno was relieved to see that his sobrina would eventually walk again, the arch, it was the arch that piqued his curiosity.
Going to his bookshelves, Bruno was too immersed in hunting for the volume he sought to notice his sisters coming into his room.
"What in the world are you looking for?" Pepa asked, frowning at her brother.
Bruno yelped as he jumped back, somehow managing to not fall over the couch. "Whatever happened to knocking?" He snapped, rubbing his soon-to-be bruised hip.
"Antonio said that the rats told him that you were in your room, and you were having visions," Julieta replied, holding out several wrapped arepas. "I thought you might need these."
"And I thought maybe you'd know something about why my Gift isn't working anymore!" Pepa added, hands on her hips.
Pointing over his shoulder to the kitchenette, Bruno shrugged as he resumed his book search. "The new vision plates are over there on the counter. And to answer your first question, Pepa, I'm trying to find-Ahh!" He pulled the book he was looking for and sat down in the armchair, flipping through until he came across an image of the same arch that Isa was standing under.
"What do you know about my Gift?" Pepa snapped, looking over her brother's shoulder and waving a hand in front of his face.
"You don't control the weather anymore," Bruno replied, impatiently, taking his book over to the counter before withdrawing Pepa's vision and handing it to her. "You, Dolores, and Camilo seem to have variations of some kind of psychic empathy. Dolores picks up on people's emotions when she touches them. Camilo knows whatever people need help with. And your cooking can influence someone's mood."
Turning his attention to Julieta as he tapped Isabela's vision with one finger, Bruno said, "Isabela's never going to be healed all the way, Juli. And it's going to take her a while to be able to walk again." Looking at the wedding arch, he knew Julieta wanted to know more about the young man her daughter was going to marry. "He's from the other side of the mountains... and he's Jewish. That's all I know about him so far."
Julieta blinked once in surprise before studying her eldest daughter's image in the vision. "They look so happy together."
"They will be happy, believe me," Bruno assured her as he sat on a barstool and sipped his water while taking a bite of arepa. "I guess I'm just surprised Isa marries someone based on their faith because Isabela has always seemed to be the least religious out of any of us."
"Less religious, certainly," Julieta agreed, touching the wedding chuppah her daughter and future son-in-law stood under. "But Isabela has always had this... spirituality... belief...? Call it what you will, but it's something she's never wavered in, even when she was little. I remember when Luisa was a baby, Isa would always go to bed praying that her little sister would get her Gift and become strong enough to play."
"Obviously, God heard those prayers loud and clear," Pepa noted with a smile as she joined her siblings in looking at the vision plates.
Finishing his arepa, Bruno just sat in silence as his sisters discussed the visions and speculated on what else the future might hold for all of them. Thinking of Mirabel's revelations regarding her own sisters, Bruno turned to Julieta and assured her, "I'm going to start going to therapy again."
"Wait, you... What?" Julieta said, looking surprised.
"You said it wasn't helping," Pepa chimed in, frowning slightly. "You said that it was a waste of time. Now you're okay with seeing a shrink and everything?"
"I-I didn't... I didn't give it a chance," Bruno explained. "A-And overdosing on the medication they gave me... I-I thought that the two of you and Mama just wanted me to be normal. I was... I thought that maybe I should just... go away and you'd be better off." Taking a deep breath, he went on. "I-I'm not... crazy... B-But I'm never going to be like everyone else. A-And I need to talk about that with someone."
Tapping a finger on Pepa's vision, Bruno looked up at her as he spoke. "You've always been jealous of Julieta. You've always wanted to make people feel better and now you can help heal minds and souls like Juli heals bodies. And I think you both wanted that because of me."
As she and Pepa pulled up the other two barstools, Julieta nodded as she touched her own vision plate. "I couldn't fix my own family. So, I had to fix other people so that they wouldn't go through the same pain and helplessness that I felt." Putting a hand on her brother's forearm, she sniffled as she added, "The fact that I couldn't help you and Mirabel... I thought Mama was right and it was a failure on me."
"I missed you so much, Bruno," Pepa murmured, putting an arm around his shoulders. "I'm sorry I pushed you away... and I'm sorry I never tried to help you. Your visions started turning and I thought... I thought it was like my storms. You were just turning your anger and sadness outward, and it affected everyone through your Gift."
Hugging his sisters as they hugged him, Bruno gave a thin smile before wiping away his own tears. "I saw so much of what the two of you tried to hide while I was in the walls. I wanted to come out and tell you the truth, but I was afraid that you'd be angry at me for leaving."
"Bruno, I shouldn't have attacked you the way I did when I saw you that night," Julieta replied at once. "I should have hugged you and told you how relieved I was that you weren't dead. I let my anger take over and it was wrong."
Squeezing Bruno's shoulder, Pepa rested her head against her brother's as she added, "You always teased me about my weather when I was anxious or upset. And I know that's all you were doing on my wedding day. I was just obsessed with having the perfect day and I lashed out at you."
Taking a deep breath, Julieta took a moment to consider her words and after a while, she said, "Bruno, I... I'm not going to ask you to forgive me for everything I've done to you... for all the ways I never helped you."
"Juli's right," Pepa agreed, nodding. When Bruno looked a bit confused and hurt by his sisters' words, Pepa shrugged before she elaborated. "It's up to you to give forgiveness when you're ready. Maybe that's tomorrow... Maybe it's days or weeks from now."
"And you may never fully be ready to take that step," Julieta pointed out. "But it's your step to take. Pepa and I aren't going to ask you for something you might not be ready to give."
Bruno was taken aback by what he heard, and it was even more surprising coming from his sisters. He had assumed that Julieta would seek forgiveness to clear her conscience of perceived wrongdoings, as if Bruno had the authority to absolve her like a brotherly confessor. Likewise, he'd assumed Pepa would desire absolution so she could reassure herself that her brother's departure was not due to her own actions.
"I don't think I'm quite ready to say 'All is forgiven'," Bruno admitted, his voice soft. "I know the two of you are trying to make things right, but there's a lot to fix. Just... Just give me time, okay? I'll get there eventually."
Pepa and Julieta nodded, and while they looked a touch hurt, they were understanding. "We're not going to tell you how to feel," Pepa promised. "But when you are ready, we'll be here."
The triplets stood up, sharing a hug and just enjoying being together again when the door to Bruno's room opened and Mirabel and Antonio came in.
"Mama?" Mira said, holding up her phone. "Isa just texted me. She wanted to know if you're coming by with dinner... or if she needs to grow and harvest something to eat."
Wiping away the tears that had started sliding down her cheeks, Julieta nodded as she sniffled slightly. "Tell Isabela we'll be there in about an hour."
Nodding as she studied her mother, tia, and tio, Mirabel raised an eyebrow as she asked, "Are you guys okay?"
"We will be," Bruno assured her as he headed for the door.
"Mirabel came up the stairs all by herself!" Antonio announced, cheerfully as he took his tio's hand.
"I used my cane, but I was able to go up the stairs with no problems," Mira corrected. Seeing her mother pause and look at her as through really seeing her for the first time, she said, "Are you sure you're alright, Mama?"
Julieta shook her head as she caressed her youngest daughter's cheek. "I did more to hurt you than help you... didn't I?"
Before Antonio could interrupt the mother-daughter moment, Pepa scooped her son up and shooed Bruno out of the room, closing the door behind them.
Outside the room, Antonio frowned as he looked at his mother. "What did you do that for?"
"Because your Tia Julieta needs to talk to Mirabel privately," Pepa replied, simply as she set Antonio down.
Before his youngest sobrino could ask 'why', Bruno knelt down so he was face to face with the young boy. "I know you've been hearing all of us talking about forgiveness for hurting one another," he began, his voice kind but direct. "But sometimes it takes time for old wounds to heal. And just because someone wants forgiveness for something they've done to you, that doesn't mean that you have to give it. Forgiveness is like respect or trust. It can't be given... Sometimes it has to be earned."
It was after dinnertime when Mirabel, Julieta, and Bruno entered Isabela's hospital room, each bearing a covered plate and a shopping bag.
"Sit down," Isabela instructed cheerfully as she conjured vines to bring two chairs over while Mira sat on the edge of the bed.
"So, since you couldn't be at the house today," Mirabel began before pulling something out of her shopping bag. "-we wanted to bring a few things to cheer you up. Starting with a new dress for you to wear when you get to come home in a week."
"Provided my cooking has healed you enough," Julieta cautioned, setting a plate of arepas on Isa's bedside table. "Mirabel brought some of my cinnamon cookies and Bruno helped me with bunuelos."
Taking one of the arepas, Isabela gave Mirabel a warm smile as she took a bite. "Whether Mama's food works or not, we're going to be okay, Mira."
As Bruno withdrew a green vision tablet and handed it over his expression turned wary. "It-It will work," he confirmed, albeit tentatively. "But, uh... Well, take a look. See for yourself."
Finishing her arepa first, Isa wiped her hands on her blankets before taking the tablet and studying it.
She stood underneath a flowered wedding arch with a man who was slightly taller than she was. And while she was no longer in a wheelchair, she was leaning heavily on a pair of forearm crutches like the ones Mirabel had used for so long.
"This doesn't mean that you'll never be as strong as you were before, Isa," Julieta reminded her, trying to sound hopeful. "But you're not going to be fixed overnight."
"But I am going to be able to walk again," Isabela pointed out, optimism lighting up her eyes. "That will be something worth waiting and working for."
Putting a hand on her big sister's, Mirabel paused for a moment before she spoke. "Isa... You don't have to be able to walk to be normal. I mean, look at me. Yes, I'm walking a whole lot better now, but that's only because I lost both legs. Normalcy and being like everyone else in the family isn't important. Accepting who you are is. Realizing that we'll all love you even if it takes a long time for you to get out of the wheelchair... That's more important than anything."
"You know, the future... the future doesn't always have a set timeline," Bruno pointed out, cautiously. "M-My visions just show the finish line. They don't tell you how the race will go."
"In other words," Isabela acknowledged, looking at her mother, sister, and uncle in turn. "-I can't hurry the future."
Bruno and Mirabel shrugged in unison as they both replied, "'Fraid not."
Taking a deep breath, Isa turned her attention to the other important part of the vision plate. "So... Who am I getting married to?"
Bruno and Julieta exchanged a brief look and Bruno finally admitted, "I-I don't know. He's from outside the mountains."
"And...?" Isa prompted, looking expectantly at her tio.
"Apparently he's Jewish," Mirabel explained, rolling her eyes. "Abuela was stunned by that little revelation. My guess...," she went on with a twinkle in her eye. "-is that the two of you meet while you're in physical therapy and you fall in love while having intense discussions about theology and faith."
At first, Isabela wanted to laugh off the suggestion but feeling a twisting feeling inside of her, she finally admitted, "Or he helps me find my faith again." Tears welled up in her eyes as she looked at Mirabel. "You've been trying to make sense of what's happened and what God expects of you with the new miracle. Meanwhile, I couldn't tell you how... how lost and adrift I've been feeling lately. I just... " Vanilla orchids, lilies, and daffodils sprang up around Isabela's bed as she cried.
"Isa... Having a destiny doesn't mean that I know what my path is," Mirabel pointed out, moving closer so she could take her sister's hands. "I'm scared, too. And my new Gift is... My Gift is teaching. Not just school stuff or even cooking, sewing, or music... I'm supposed to teach things like... accepting who you are - inside and out. How to be a good person. How to be brave, I... How am I supposed to teach something I barely understand?"
Sniffling, Isabela shrugged as best she could as she replied, "That's what faith is, Mira. I-It's not something you can really study and teach. That's religion. Faith is... It's holding out a hand in dark places and knowing that someone is going to take it and lead you back into the light."
A hopeful smile lit up Mirabel's face as she hugged her sister. "See? Maybe you're not as lost as you thought you were."
"Or maybe you're just a really good teacher," Isa whispered in Mira's ear.
As the small group continued talking about the new magic and Dolores and Isa's future weddings, Mirabel found her conversation with Abuela coming to the forefront of her mind as she watched Isabela.
Aside from a cinnamon cookie and one and a half arepas, Isa had barely eaten any of the food Julieta, Mira, and Bruno had brought with them. It was possible that Isa was just not focused on the food, except for the fact that she seemed to be almost avoiding looking at the plates.
Catching her mother's eye, Mira hesitated for a moment before she asked, "Mama? Can you and Tio Bruno give us a minute? There's just some sister stuff we need to talk about."
"Of course, corazons," Julieta replied, standing up and heading out of the room followed by Bruno.
Once the two sisters were alone, Mirabel faced Isabela and after taking a deep breath, she said, "Abuela told me about your eating disorder."
The flash of anger in Isabela's eyes was like a lightning strike and it was as if the old 'Senorita Perfecta' Isabela had returned, like a dragon roused from a long slumber. "You don't know what you're talking about," Isa snapped, irritably.
"Really?" Mira prodded, cautiously. "Abuela told me about when you starved yourself for more than a year when you were 13. I brought it up to Mama on the way here, and she said she'd had to use four of her quick-dissolve tablets just to sustain you until you could make it to the ER. After that, they had to put you on a nasogastric feeding tube and..." she paused, inhaling deeply to steady her swirling mind. "And now I see you barely eating anything, and it scares me, alright?"
"All the pressure Abuela put on me..." Isabela murmured, her temper cooling. "And then I started my period, and I was getting heavier and... And then she began giving me the same look she gave you and Mama. Like I was letting the family down." She reached for a bunuelo and popped it in her mouth, trying to ignore the sneering voice in her head as it mocked her. 'Boo-hoo! Poor Issy is eating away her feelings again! Why not just stuff your face like you used to do?'
"Isa?" Mirabel said as she put a hand on her sister's leg. "No one is going to be angry at you if you gain a little weight. You're not going to let the family down. And I'm worried about you because I love you. I do remember visiting you in the hospital back then, you know. Mama told me that you were really sick and that the doctors had to keep you sedated so you didn't pull out the tubes giving you formula and medicine." Tears welled up in her eyes as she added, "I don't want to see you like that again, okay? Just like you wouldn't want to see me on a ventilator with my head all wrapped up again."
Tearing off a piece of arepa, Isabela shook her head as she ate. "It's not just being afraid of letting the family down. The past few months there's been so many changes and everyone's talking about things being different. I started feeling like my life was going crazy and... and now Mama is talking about planning my wedding to someone I haven't even met yet. A man, by the way, who follows a completely different religion than me. I feel like I'm spiraling, Mira, and in the past, limiting what I eat helps me feel like I'm in control of something."
Thinking about how to help Isabela, Mirabel glanced at their mother's food and after a while, she pointed to the cookies, a smile crossing her face. "Well, why don't we start a code for when you start feeling overwhelmed?"
Raising an eyebrow at the suggestion, Isabela just waited for her sister to elaborate.
"Clearly, you don't want to worry the family," Mirabel began, simply. "Mama especially. If she thinks your anorexia is starting up again..."
"She'll have me put on a feeding tube before I can blink," Isa finished, nodding.
"So," Mira proposed, as she pointed to the three plates. "If you're at 'Cookie', then you're doing fine. No problems. 'Arepa' - That means you're starting to feel like you used to, and someone needs to get you to eat something."
Finishing her arepa, Isa chewed thoughtfully before she added, "And if I tell you I'm at 'Bunuelo', then that means that I've really started sliding backwards."
"Agreed," Mirabel said as she broke off part of a cookie and popped it into her mouth. "And just in case you get really bad-"
"I won't," Isa promised, quickly.
Mirabel wasn't as confident, however and she fixed her big sister with a look as she concluded, "If it's been days since you've had anything substantial to eat... the code word is 'Tortillas'. And if it gets that far, Isa, I'm bringing you straight to the hospital. Understood?"
The idea of IVs and feeding tubes pumping vitamins and nutritional formula into her system was unpleasant to say the least, but the memory of her mother's expression when recounting Isabela's brush with death during a therapy session was vividly etched in Isa's mind.
"Isabela, your heart nearly stopped!" Julieta cried as she took her daughter's near-skeletal hand. "Your body is so starved it's begun eating itself. If you don't let us help you, not even my magic will be able to keep you alive."
As Isa nodded, she quickly looked down at where Mirabel's hand was and gave a small smile as she said, "I... I think I can feel your hand."
"Mama's magic is working?" Mira exclaimed, joyfully. Standing up and going to the foot of Isabela's bed, Mira lifted the blankets, exposing her sister's right foot. Running her finger the length of Isa's foot, she laughed out loud as Isa gave a yelp.
"You know how much I hate that!" Isa groused as Mirabel left the room to find their mother. Turning her attention to her legs, she watched her foot as she tried to wiggle her toes. Still... she was getting sensation in her legs again and that was definitely a step in the right direction.
One of Luisa's earliest memories was being in the hospital when she was 4 years old and overhearing a nurse talking to her parents.
x
"Luisa is in very poor shape. We've put her on oxygen, but her lungs are getting weak, and her heart isn't any better."
"But there's organ transplants, right?" Agustin replied, quickly, giving his wife a hopeful look. "If your food can't fix her quickly enough?"
Julieta's eyes filled with tears as she shook her head. "Our baby's so sick, amor. Even if there was a possible match... She probably wouldn't even survive the surgery." Holding onto her husband, she cried as she buried her face in his shoulder.
Holding Juli close, Agustin's hope turned to desperation as he asked the pediatric nurse, "Is there anything that can be done to save our daughter?"
The nurse shook her head as she replied, "At this point, all we can do here is make Luisa comfortable. It would be a miracle if she made it to her 5th birthday."
x
The following months saw the nursery being turned into a small hospital room and Luisa spent nearly all her time in bed with an oxygen tube up her nose and an IV feeding various medications and nutritional formula into her weakened system.
It wasn't lonely, though. Tio Bruno often sat with her, telling stories that featured his pet rats engaging in daring adventures.
Dolores would read quietly to her and Luisa would get lost in tales of Narnia, Middle Earth, and Mossflower Woods.
And on course, Luisa would talk to her baby sister, Mirabel.
When she'd first seen Mira, Luisa had looked worried as she saw that her sister was in a body cast up to her armpits.
"What's wrong with Mira, Mami?"
Julieta got Mirabel settled in the crib as she replied, "Your little sister's legs are... They didn't grow right. We're hoping that the cast will help fix them since my magic isn't working on them."
The day she turned 5, Luisa remembered everyone looking sad as they celebrated her birthday. It wasn't like she didn't know why. She could feel her body giving up and as Julieta got her in bed for a nap before her Gift ceremony, she found that she wasn't afraid to leave her family behind.
'When I open my door, Abuelo Pedro will come and take me with him,' Luisa told herself as she curled up under the quilt her mother had given her. 'We can watch over the family together.'
But as Luisa touched her doorknob while her abuela held her, she felt more than magic coursing through her. She felt new energy in her body, and she took a deep, strong breath for the first time in her life.
"It's okay, Mami and Papi," Luisa said, smiling at her parents as Abuela set her down. "I'm going to be okay now. I feel strong now."
x
Those memories had been on Luisa's mind as the magic faded and the house fell, burying her sisters in the rubble.
Not being able to move the debris single-handed brought up fears of - not just losing Mirabel and Isabela - but the return of her childhood frailties.
What if losing her strength meant that she would get weaker and weaker until she...?
It was a harsh epiphany as Luisa realized that her strength was all a lie.
Oh, she was still physically strong, even without her Gift, but mentally, emotionally, and psychologically, she felt like the weakest member of the Madrigal family.
The strain of always needing to appear invulnerable, flawless, and hard-working gradually eroded her, similar to how a steady drip of water wears away at a rock face over time.
"I'm as tough as the crust of the Earth is," she'd told everyone who ever doubted her.
But as Luisa sat in her brand-new room, she didn't feel tough and strong. Hugging one of the stuffed animals that had come with her new suite, she cried as she sat down on the large couch.
She wasn't hard and unyielding like the surface of the Earth. She was thin and fragile, like ice over a pond.
Going into Mirabel's room in the ICU and seeing her little sister on death's door had brought a crushing wave of failure crashing down upon her and she'd broken down crying as she sat next to Mira's bed.
"This is all my fault, Mira," Luisa sobbed, holding her sister's hand. "Maybe... Maybe too much of the magic was used up on saving me and that's why your legs weren't fixed, and you didn't get your door."
Researching what might lie ahead if Mira's head injury resulted in brain damage had scared Luisa even more and her dreams became a series of nightmares about her cheerful, energetic, happy sister becoming a shadow of her former self.
A knock at her bedroom door startled Luisa and she jumped up immediately, tossing the stuffed rabbit back onto the couch and wiping away tears as she hollered, "Come in!"
"Well, this is a big change, eh?" Felix said, jovially as he entered the room, looking around and smiling. "Much more colorful, too." Seeing his sobrina's face, his smile shifted into a knowing look and he pointed to the couch as he spoke. "Why don't we sit down? You look like you need to talk."
In the past, when Tio Felix would talk to her, his energy and upbeat nature never faltered, and he'd eventually coax a smile out of her.
This time, however, he was more somber as he spoke. "It's hard being the strong one all the time, isn't it? I've always felt like I had to be the supportive one. When all of you kids were little, it was usually my job to cheer you up when you were feeling low. Your job may have been lifting heavy objects, Luisa, but mine was lifting moods."
"You definitely had the harder job," Luisa agreed right away. "Even when Camilo would get into trouble, I don't recall you ever really yelling at him."
"Yelling and being angry was your Tia Pepa's job," Felix pointed out. "And as far as who had the greater load... I think that the care and safety of an entire town is far too heavy a weight to place on a little girl's shoulders."
Straightening up immediately, Luisa shrugged off her tio's words. "But I am stronger than anyone else in Encanto. And I haven't been a little girl for nearly a decade now."
Leaning back against the couch, Felix thought for a moment before he turned to Luisa and asked, "Do you feel as though you don't know who you are if you don't have the weight of the world on your shoulders?" Seeing that he'd caught his sobrina off-guard, he elaborated. "Maybe you think that all you're good for is being strong? That you don't have anything of value to give except your Gift? There is so much more to you, Luisa, if you learn to set your burdens aside and allow others to shoulder some of the load."
"I-I don't want to give up being strong," Luisa insisted. "I need my Gift," she murmured, silently cursing the way her voice trembled slightly. "I'm scared of being weak, because I remember when I was little and everyone thought I was going to die and I don't want everyone to worry about me because I do enough worrying for the whole family and sometimes I wish I was like Mirabel and no one really cared about anything I did!" She clapped a hand to her mouth as her eyes grew wide. "I-I-I didn't mean to say it like that, Tio! I love our family, but sometimes it's just so hard being a Madrigal, you know? There's too much pressure and it's crushing me." Sniffling, Luisa took a long, shaky breath before confessing, "Sometimes I think I'm worthless if I can't do anything to help people."
Reaching out a hand to pat Luisa's upper arm, Felix nodded as he thought about how the family had treated her over the years. The Madrigals gave Luisa every problem they had, and the poor girl had never refused to carry it. She was the strong one-the protector. She was always the one to help with the smallest tasks and for as long as Felix could remember, she'd never faltered.
How long had she been secretly breaking inside?
"I shouldn't be complaining about anything," Luisa said after a while, looking ashamed at what she'd said before. "I've got a great family and a good life. You know, and it's my job to do the heavy lifting, right?"
"No, it's not," Felix retorted at once. "Just because you never complained did not give us the right to put all the family burdens on you. Luisa... Concrete can be strong on its own, si?"
"Of course," Luisa said, looking puzzled.
"But isn't it even stronger when you pour it around rebar?" Felix pointed out. "And walls can't hold a building up alone. You need support beams and columns." Taking his sobrina's hand, he smiled as he soothed, "You've done enough, Luisa. Let the rest of the family start taking care of you from now on, okay?"