It has been a week since Mirabel, Flint, and their friends saved Swallow Falls and the foodimals from Chester V.
Flint and Sam finally open up Sparkswood and Mirabel decided to work with them as they build new inventions and take care of foodimals.
Mirabel was wrapping a bandage around a fruit cockatiel's injured banana wing as she heard Flint talking.
"How about we take a trip to Colombia? It's about time we go off the island more," Flint requested.
Sam nodded and replied, "Sure, that's a great idea, but I hope they haven't kicked out anymore children. I also looked into this "Encanto" today and I'm still curious about this miracle candle in real life."
Mirabel stopped wrapping the bandage around the fruit cockatiel's wing and became cautious. The Madrigals probably would not recognize her, but she wanted to see what had become of them.
Flint and Sam turn to see Mirabel cautious as Flint asked, "Mirabel?"
Mirabel snapped out of her thoughts and asked, "Yes?"
"What's wrong? You look cautious," Flint said.
"I'm fine, It's just that I heard your dad talking about us going on a vacation to my home country. You guys go, it will be your honeymoon after all," Mirabel said and nervously chuckled.
"We're not married, Mira," Flint awkwardly replied.
Sam walked to Mirabel and explained, "Mirabel, you're my friend. You come with me anywhere and everywhere, Flint too, but mostly me. When we make it to Colombia, you could reunite with your family and I will have a talk with your grandma. So what do you say?"
Mirabel thought about it, took a deep breath, and answered, "Okay."
"Cool," Sam replied as she nodded.
"We'll leave at two in the morning, we'll pack at ten. I'll have my dad fire up the boat and have the others watch the lab for us," Flint informed.
What none of them know was that they would be arriving on the new youngest Madrigal's gift ceremony.
...
After a long boat ride, Mirabel, Flint, and Sam climb up the mountain with Steve perched on Flint's shoulder as Mirabel tried her best not to be nervous.
As they make it to the top, they stare at the whole view of the Encanto.
"So this is the place, eh?" Flint asked.
Mirabel nodded and answered, "Yep, that's the Encanto."
They climb down the mountain as Mirabel said, "Wait, I remember that my prima has the gift of super hearing."
"Good, when they hear us coming, I want a word with this grandmother of yours. I've spent ten years figuring out what to tell her," Sam said in a sharp tone as she straightened her glasses and her backpack.
"Mirabel, you're shaking. Are you okay?" Flint asked.
"Yeah, just a bit nervous," Mirabel answered.
...
Dolores heard the strangers enter the valley, one of them sounding hostile, but she froze when she heard the name, Mirabel.
It could not be, could it? Today of all days for her to return, the birth of Antonio, Bruno's vision, which suddenly came true.
She trained her ears to listen to the conversation of the three new people. She heard four names, Mirabel, Flint, Sam, and Steve. Weird, shouldn't it be four people?
The way the voices speak to the girl made it obvious that they were a family.
She knew she needed to tell her abuela, but she wanted to be sure this was indeed their Mirabel before she got anyone's hopes up.
"What was the last name again?" Came the voice associated with the one being called Flint.
"Madrigal," The girl answered.
Dolores' heart was pounding in her ears. This had to be their Mirabel, there was no other explanation.
Dolores ran to where Alma was.
"Abuela!" She exclaimed as loud as she dared because of her ears.
"What is it, Dolores? Is there a problem?" Alma asked.
"Three people, and for some reason, a monkey just entered the valley," Dolores answered.
"Are they a threat?" Alma suddenly asked, in alert and alarm.
"I don't think so, but the monkey will probably be trouble. Someone will probably handle it, maybe Antonio. Anyway, I heard the girl's name, Abuela. Mirabel is coming back," Dolores answered.
"Impossible," Alma muttered.
"I'm almost certain that it's her, the couple with her sound like they care about her very much," Dolores replied.
"After all of these years," Alma said.
"If it is Mirabel, I don't think or the others are going to be very happy with you, Abuela. The woman, Sam, was talking about a word with "this grandmother" and it wasn't nicely said," Dolores explained.
"And what about the man?" Alma asked.
"There's kindness in his voice, I can tell he'd keep this Sam woman from doing any real harm, they both sound very protective of the girl they keep calling Mirabel," Dolores answered.
"I will send Luisa to meet them," Alma said.
...
Luisa was nervous as she went to the entrance of the town. Her abuela told her to meet the four strangers who were looking for the Madrigals.
She could hear the rustling of leaves and grass and someone saying, "Someone's coming."
Luisa came face-to-face with three people and a monkey. The girl looked only to be a bit younger than Luisa herself.
The younger girl looked up at Luisa, her eyes lighting up in recognition behind gold-rimmed glasses.
"Luisa?" She tentatively asked.
Luisa's heart nearly stopped as she recognized that the eyes of the girl were golden brown and her hair was dark brown. A big sister never forgets her little sister.
"Mirabel?" Luisa asked.
The girl nodded and suddenly got pulled into a massive bear hug.
"You're alive!" Luisa cried with tears of joy running down her face.
"Yes, I am, thanks to her," Mirabel replied, gesturing to Sam.
Luisa set Mirabel down and asked, "Where have you been all these years?"
"Atlanta and California each to be exact, with these two," Mirabel answered, pointing Luisa to Flint and Sam.
Flint and Sam shake Luisa's hands each as Steve spoke, "Hunky."
"Mama is going to be so happy, and Papa too," Luisa said.
"Well, here's the thing, me and him are on vacation, so I'll have Mirabel return here and I'll have a talk to your grandmother," Sam informed.
"I understand," Luisa said.
As they walk through the village, Flint and Sam notice how busy the villagers are. Decorations were everywhere and people seem to be whispering about hoping something will not be like last time.
Mirabel vaguely remembered the days leading up to her gift ceremony and recognized that something similar was happening.
"Luisa, is today..."
"Yep, Antonio's ceremony. Abuela wanted to keep the magic strong, so Tia Pepa had another kid five years ago. You must've got the letter that Mama sent you," Luisa whispered.
They make their way to Casita and Mirabel smiled as the house enthusiastically greeted her.
"Haunted!" Steve exclaimed in fear when he saw Casita move and hid behind Flint.
Mirabel and Sam walk into Casita, but Flint does not as Sam turned to him.
"You're not coming in?" Sam asked.
Flint shook his head and answered, "Nah, I'm just gonna go into the village me and ask the people around here what's going on, with all of the decorations and stuff. Also, Steve got scared when the house moved, so I'm also gonna have him face his fear. We'll meet you inside there."
"Okay," Sam replied as Flint walked back to the village.
There were quite a few people rushing around the house to do things and Mirabel suddenly felt like a child again.
Sam could see the miracle candle up in the window as she frowned. It seemed to be fading for some reason.
They stand in the courtyard as Luisa ran to get the other Madrigals.
For the first time in ten years, Mirabel looked at the family who had not wanted her at first.
"Mirabel? Is that you? You're alive?" Agustín asked.
Mirabel nodded.
"I knew it," Julieta whispered.
"Impossible," Alma also whispered.
"I take it, are you her grandmother?" Sam asked.
"I am," Alma answered.
"Oh, nice to meet you. I wanna know why," Sam said in a sarcastically cheerful way.
"Pardon me?" Alma asked.
"Why did you cast a little girl out of your home for no good reason?" Sam asked with a terrifying edge to her voice.
"I wanted to keep the miracle strong. Sending the one I thought would not keep the miracle burning away seemed like the only option, by the time I came to my senses, she was already gone," Alma explained.
"I found her all alone back in America and immediately took her into our house. You were very wrong that night on many topics of interest, but I'll address your main one. Mira didn't receive a gift from your miracle simply, because it couldn't give her one, the power that gave you such a miracle is very much beneath her in terms of powers," Sam explained back.
Julieta pulled Sam into a hug and said, "You raised my baby. Thank you so much, young lady."
"Well, I didn't adopt her, I was thirteen when we met. Also, I wasn't the best mother figure out there, because my butt decided to drag her outside before and during the food storm," Sam replied.
Julieta was about to interject as a quiet voice piped up.
"She's right, Julieta. Remember the vision I had that suddenly came true later on?" Bruno asked.
When Sam heard Bruno, she turned to Mirabel and asked, "He knew about the food storm first?"
Mirabel nodded and answered, "Yeah, Tio Bruno has the gift of prophecy to be exact."
"Well, no harm in revealing the truth then," Sam replied.
As Sam started introducing herself to the family, Mirabel turned to see a little boy with an afro wearing an orange-and-yellow top, a little red scarf around his neck, and chocolate brown pants.
"Hey, there," Mirabel whispered to the boy.
The boy turned to Mirabel and whispered, "Um, hi."
"Are you Antonio?" Mirabel asked.
Antonio nodded and answered, "Yes, and you are?"
"Your third prima, Mirabel. I just wanna say good luck tonight," Mirabel said, giving Antonio a thumbs up.
"Thanks," Antonio replied as he smiled.
"But one thing, if you don't receive a gift like I did, you can come with me and my friends to this Island. There's a bunch of cool animals on the island," Mirabel informed.
"Animals?" Antonio asked, interested.
Mirabel nodded and answered, "Yes, I'll explain later."
Mirabel patted the boy's head as she walked out the dining room, past the villagers setting the decorations up in the house, and up the stairs.
Sam followed Mirabel's movement as she walked up the steps and opened a green door, finding Mirabel standing in a nursery.
"Something wrong, Mira?" Sam asked.
"If I had stayed here, do you think I would have been stuck in this room forever always trying to prove myself to a family who would never see it?" Mirabel asked.
"Probably, but that didn't happen and all of that is in the past. I'm still mad at your grandma, I didn't like that answer, but it was the truth which makes it worse. You are my friend and that'll never change," Sam answered.
Mirabel smiled.
"Now why don't you take a walk? I'm gonna grab Flint and Steve. They're taking long," Sam informed.
As Mirabel started her walk, she ran into Isabela making flowers everywhere.
"Roses? Those are so boring, there are more plants in the world than stupid flowers," Mirabel said.
"My gift is flowers though," Isabela replied.
"I swear I remember you growing a palma de cera back when I was here," Mirabel said.
"That was a whole other story, Abuela wants everything to be perfect," Isabela replied.
"How about cacti? They have flowers, don't they?" Mirabel asked.
"Abuela wouldn't like that," Isabela said.
"Well, curse that and do what you want. She's our Abuela, aren't you an adult now? Since when do adults control each other? You should try it," Mirabel requested.
Isabela nodded and said, "I'll try, if you insist."
Mirabel walked past Isabela, climbed to the roof, and looked out at the place she had been born in. It was so different than New York, Swallow Falls, and San Franjose. The food was different and the smells were different. She only hoped Antonio did not have to go through what she did, even if it turned out alright in the end.
No, if the candle will not give the kid a gift, then who would? She only hoped she would not have to.