Julieta had never been afraid of her sister's storms before. She had barely ever considered them a minor inconvenience. She had always been much more worried about her sister's intense emotions than about the fact that she was making it rain. Today though, when she saw the vicious thunderstorm over Casita, she felt horrified and scared in a way that she rarely ever felt.
She dropped the food that she was serving. She completely forgot about the people in the town that she was serving. She forgot that with Agustín and Felíx back at the house with Bruno, and with Pepa clearly there, Julieta was the only one here in the village to keep an eye on all of the children. She even forgot that her mother would be watching her carefully, counting on her to be well-behaved and calm to make up for the fact that Pepa couldn't manage it today.
All of that escaped her mind. All she could think about was her siblings. She ran home, not caring about how anxious and unstable she probably looked. She didn't care if the people in the town talked about her or if rumors spread. She just cared about getting home as quickly as possible.
It took her far too long to get to the house. By the time she got there the thunderstorm had eased, but she doubted it was because Pepa had calmed down. It had happened too suddenly. She had probably retreated back into her bedroom. It was probably the safest thing, and that should be the safest for everybody. But where was Bruno!
Julieta ran inside. She didn't hear screaming or crying, but that didn't mean that nothing was wrong. She went upstairs so quickly that she almost tripped on the steps. She didn't know where she was running to, but she couldn't stop. She ended up running right into Agustín, who caught her and held her closely.
"Juli, Juli, it's okay." Agustín said. He rubbed her arms. "Breathe."
"Where's Bruno?" Julieta's chest was tight. She felt like she was going to break down. She couldn't handle this amount of stress.
"He's fine. He's here." Agustín said calmly. Why was he so calm? Bruno was so tense, and still so insistent that he needed to leave. The smallest thing could scare him away, and then Pepa showed up unexpectedly. Bruno had been terrified of her for reasons that Julieta still didn't understand. But her brother's feelings were genuine.
They were supposed to ease him into reuniting with Pepa. That was what she had thought that they had brought Felíx here for. It was a great step in the right direction, and she was proud of her brother for taking the chance. But Pepa coming here was too much too quickly. Why did Julieta feel like she was the only one concerned about it?
"D-did Pepa…" Julieta couldn't find the words to ask what she wanted to. She couldn't think.
"She saw Bruno." Agustín said. Julieta felt like she couldn't breathe. "She…well, she wasn't happy. She got overwhelmed, and Bruno got scared, but they're better now."
"Better?" Julieta frowned. It had only been a few minutes. Neither Pepa nor Bruno got better so quickly.
"A lot better." Felíx said from down the hallway. He was standing in front of his bedroom door. He looked as calm and content as Agustín was. Felíx actually looked proud. "Come see." He waved a hand to gesture for her to come closer. Julieta approached the door. Felíx put a finger to his lips, indicating silence. He nudged the door open ever so slightly, and Julieta leaned cose to him to look inside.
It was raining and thundering slightly, as she knew it would be, but the room was surprisingly calm. Julieta felt like she could cry at the sight. Bruno and Pepa were sitting on the floor, huddled against each other. They occasionally poked each other and whispered something she couldn't hear. Julieta didn't understand what they were doing, but it didn't matter. They were together. That was all that she could ever want for them.
She backed away and Felíx quietly closed the door.
"See? Everything's fine." Felíx said. He didn't try to lower his voice. Pepa's room was soundproof. You shouldn't be able to hear anything from inside, or outside. It still felt weird to talk about them when they were just on the other side of the door.
"I can't remember the last time I saw them just sit together and just…be." Julieta said. This was a good sign that they had missed each other as much as she had missed them being together. "This…this is a good sign, isn't it? Bruno was scared of Pepa, but he's doing fine now."
"But your sister wasn't the only one he was afraid of." Agustín said quietly. "And she's not the one I was worried about." Somehow Julieta had almost forgotten. Mamá had asked Bruno to have that prophecy for her, and he had run away in the first place because of it. They hadn't convinced Bruno to stay forever, they had just talked him out of leaving while he was still sick. But he thought he had a reason for leaving, and reuniting with Pepa didn't change that.
They hadn't solved anything, they had just delayed serious action from being taken. They needed to figure out what to do, and Julieta didn't know where to start.
"Who else is he scared of?" Felíx asked.
"Who do you think?" Agustín asked bitterly. Julieta felt like she was supposed to defend her mother. She'd never heard Agustín sound like this when talking about her mother. But Felíx nodded in understanding, and Julieta wondered if they could see something about her mother that she couldn't. Had Bruno talked to them about something that he, for one reason or another, couldn't talk to Julieta about?
"Bruno had a vision." Julieta said. She didn't want to go into specifics. She didn't think it was necessary. "And he was scared of what would happen if he shared it."
Felíx scratched his ear. "Well, I'm not sure if I can blame him for that." He said it so casually, and it felt like a strike to Julieta's heart. "So, what are we going to do about it?"
What followed was a discussion between the three of them as they bounced ideas off of each other. Their priority was Bruno and getting him to stay, but they didn't know how to do that. Did they try to convince Bruno that they wouldn't let his fears come to pass? Did they pretend that he hadn't seen anything in his vision, and try to distract Alma from asking about it again? Did they try to convince Alma to back off herself, because all of the pressure she had put on Bruno clearly wasn't good for anybody? Or should they forget about the vision for now and focus on helping Bruno to be comfortable around people, and for them to be comfortable around him, first?
Julieta thought that last option was preferable. He was scared because he faced ostracization himself. If nobody blamed him for the visions, then he wouldn't have any reason to be afraid that they would blame Mirabel. Surely it couldn't take that long to convince the good people of the town that Bruno didn't make the future come to pass. Things happened whether he foresaw it or not. It wasn't his fault if he saw something go wrong, and it wasn't his fault if he didn't see something go wrong, because he wouldn't have been able to change it even if he had seen it.
But Julieta knew it would take time, and until then Bruno would be subjected to judgement, and she wasn't sure if he would stick around for long enough to get through that.
Eventually their discussion moved to the kitchen. Julieta had nervous energy and she needed to feel like she was doing something productive. Cooking helped.
The three of them talked until they heard the door upstairs open. Julieta was in the middle of speaking, but she wanted to see her siblings so she stopped what she was saying and went into the courtyard. She saw Bruno and Pepa coming down the stairs. Both of them still looked uneasy and vulnerable, but neither of them were falling to pieces.
Pepa frowned slightly when she saw Julieta. She crossed her arms and slightly stomped down the stairs. "I'm mad at you."
She wasn't furious. Her clear skies made that clear. But just because she had control of her emotions didn't mean they weren't there. Julieta would hear more about this later.
"I'm sorry." Julieta said sincerely. Pepa didn't have to say what was wrong for her to know. "I didn't want to hide it, but I didn't want to scare Bruno off. We had to drag him out in the first place."
Pepa's frown tightened. She knew just as well as Julieta did how stubborn Bruno was.
"Um…hi." Bruno gave a little wave to get their attention. "I know I should be used to it and all, but, uh, can you not talk about me like I'm not right here?"
A part of Julieta, a petty part of her, wanted to point out that if he didn't want them to talk about him when he was there then he shouldn't have hidden in the walls, hiding from them. But she didn't want to say that to her brother. She was upset that he felt the need to do any of this, but she didn't actually blame him. She didn't want him to think she blamed him. She was here to support and help him, but she needed him to let her in.
"Sorry, Brunito." Julieta said. Bruno frowned ever so slightly and tilted his head as though he was trying to understand or remember something. Suddenly his eyes widened and he looked strangely horrified. What was going through his head? Nothing had happened. Why was he scared?
"Julieta?!" Bruno's voice cracked. It was so loud that it startled both Pepa and Julieta. They stared at him in confusion, and he was still staring at Julieta in shock, like he had only just realized that she was standing there. "Y-you shouldn't be here. How long have you been here?!"
Julieta approached the stairs, reaching her hands out towards her brother. He was looking around anxiously, his eyes darting back and forth. She wondered if his sickness was striking back. He'd been doing better, but what if he was just good at acting? What if he had a fever and was delusional? "Bruno? What's wrong?"
"You can't be here!" Bruno sounded almost angry when he said it. "You're supposed to…she's going to…you can't be here."
"Will you just stop and make sense for two minutes?" Pepa asked.
Bruno groaned in frustration and stepped down the stairs. He lowered his voice and came closer to talk to them. "You're not thinking." Bruno said with a quiet harshness. He wasn't mad at them, but he was having a hard time with the fact that they weren't understanding something that was so obvious to him.
"You two are here." Bruno pointed at the two of them, as though they didn't know they were in the same room. "Agustín and Felíx are there." He pointed at the kitchen doorway, where the two men were not so secretly watching them. "So who's in town?"
Pepa crossed her arms. "Since when do you care about the town?"
"I don't." Bruno said. He blinked and frowned. "That's not what I meant. Of course I care about the town, but I'm not worried about the town." He groaned. "I mean, I worry about the town, but-"
"I know what you meant." Julieta said. If she let Bruno go on like this there was no telling when he would stop. "What's wrong?"
Bruno brought his hands to his face and moaned. "You never leave the town early." He gestured to them all as a whole. "All of you are never here at the same time when you're supposed to be there."
"The town can handle a day without us." Pepa said. Bruno made a little growl.
"I don't care about the town." Bruno somehow made it sound like he was shouting while his voice stayed in a near whisper. "What do you think Mamá will do when she finds out you're here?"
"She's not going to do anything." Pepa nearly scoffed. Bruno glared at her.
Julieta felt her heart drop. She finally realized why Bruno was so nervous. He had every right to be. She felt ashamed that she hadn't thought this through before running home.
"She's going to be coming here." Julieta said quietly. Pepa didn't seem to understand what was wrong. Of course Mamá would be coming home. It was going to happen tonight anyway. The problem was that she was going to be wanting answers, and she wasn't going to let them dance around the issue anymore.
Julieta had practically revealed to her mother that they were hiding something from her, and Bruno had realized that just seconds after seeing her. No wonder he was scared.
"I can't be here." Bruno said. That frantic look was back in his eyes. Julieta hoped that it was just the sickness. She hoped that her brother wasn't this anxious and on edge by nature. He deserved better than that. "I-I can't-" He took a step back from them. Julieta felt her heart tighten painfully.
"Bruno," Julieta reached for him. "Everything will be okay." She tried to embrace him, or even just grab his arm and keep him from running away.
"No!" Bruno ducked away from her. "I can't…I need to…"
"Bruno!" Pepa snapped. Now she looked concerned too. She didn't know why he was upset, but she knew as well as Julieta did that he was thinking of running away again. Julieta couldn't let him go. Not when she'd just gotten him back.
Bruno started running. Agustín and Felíx were ready to intercept him at the door, but Bruno was either too frantic to think rationally, or he was thinking very clearly, because he didn't go towards the front door. He didn't run towards the stairs to hide back behind the walls. He ran right towards the wall.
"Casita!" Bruno called out. The house started shaking and Julieta was horrified to see the walls start to move to the side, making an opening.
"Don't you dare!" Julieta shouted. The words were aimed towards Casita, but if it made Bruno stop in his steps then she wasn't going to complain. Bruno didn't even flinch at the shout, and Casita ignored her too. Pepa ran to try to catch up to him, but Bruno leapt outside and Casita immediately closed the wall back to the way it was before. "Casita!"
Julieta turned towards the front door, determined to run after her brother, but she froze in her steps. The door was open, as Agustín and Felíx had probably been thinking along the same lines, but they hadn't moved from the doorway. They just stood there, staring ahead. Julieta followed their gaze and she could see her mother walking towards the house. She had five children trailing behind her, and she very clearly didn't look happy
It seemed Bruno's fear was right. Julieta wished he hadn't run off, and she wished she had the chance to run after him, but she couldn't now. Her mother wouldn't let her just run off. Not now.
She just hoped that Bruno didn't go far, and that one of them could slip away before too long.
Alma was stern, but she didn't usually have long lectures where she reiterated things over and over. She kept things short and to the point, so Julieta was hopeful that they could figure out how to step away within just a few minutes.
But Pepa was still looking at the wall. She didn't see their mother approaching, and she still didn't know why Bruno was afraid to see her. All she knew was that her brother had run off again. She was scared, angry, and even without the storm clouds she had never been very good at hiding how she was feeling.
"Bruno!" Pepa shouted in frustration and fear. Julieta stiffened and she saw Agustín and Felíx do the same. For a very brief moment Julieta hoped that her mother hadn't heard Pepa from this distance. It was frightening, but not shocking, when she saw her mother falter in her steps ever so slightly and her expression darkened.
She had heard Pepa shout Bruno's name after a few days of suspicious behavior from Julieta. There was no way they were walking away from this with just a simple 'you have responsibilities towards the town' talk.
A very small part of Julieta wondered if it might be a good thing that Bruno had gotten out and away from their mother's ire. She just prayed that he didn't see this as a reason to leave for good.
Get some air. Take a step back from a hostile environment. But come home.