Sam found Mirabel on the roof of Casita as he climbed onto it and said, "Hey, Mira."
Mirabel felt Sam wrap her arm around her as she thought of something.
"I have a question to ask you," Mirabel started.
"Go on," Sam allowed Mirabel.
"What was your science-y life like back then?" Mirabel asked.
"It was good, but torture to me. When I show the kids about what I learn, they just point at me and sing "four-eyes" just because I wear glasses like you, so I gave up until days ago," Sam answered.
"But here's the thing, if you stayed that way and I got a gift and wasn't kicked out, we would not meet," Mirabel informed.
Sam nodded and replied, "Likely, but the food storm would still happen."
Mirabel snuggled closer to Sam.
"Alright, so how does this ceremony work?" Sam asked.
"Do you see that golden glowing door without a picture?" Mirabel asked as she pointed Sam to the door.
Sam nodded and answered, "Yes, what's next?"
"Antonio will walk up to it, touch the candle that's being held by my Abuela and then the door, if all of it goes right, his picture will appear on the door and he'll get a brand new gift so he can help the community and straighten the miracle. Now that I know how miracles work, it's total garbage. If the miracle wouldn't give him something, I would. I would never let another kid feel the same way that I felt," Mirabel explained.
"Wait, so getting a gift makes you have to use it to serve others? At five years old? That's not right, not right at all. I'm gonna have to lay a mental note on your grandma about this tomorrow. Now come on, let's get down, the party's about to start. Casita, let us down," Sam said.
"I don't want to be down there as they have the ceremony, I'll just watch from up here," Mirabel said.
"I think your house might have something against that," Sam replied, noticing how the house kept inching Mirabel toward the edge of the roof to make her land in the courtyard.
"Fine," Mirabel said as Casita created a slide out of roof tiles for her and Sam to slide down to the courtyard.
...
The party goes on as people start walking into Casita. Camilo high-fives some guests, Luisa carries food with little kids clinging onto her, and Isabela gave a family a crown, hair, and beard made from flowers.
The ceremony started and as Mirabel, Flint, and Sam stand in the crowd with Steve perched on Flint's shoulder.
Mirabel did not want to watch, the memories coming back sharp and painful, but Sam's arm around her made it easier.
Alma stood on top of the stairs and began her speech.
"Fifty years ago...in our darkest moment, we were given a miracle...the whole town relies on our family...in time, every member of our family was given their own magical gif-"
Alma was cut off as Steve started jumping on Flint's shoulder and impatiently spoke, "Magic! Magic! Magic! MAGIC!"
"Can someone shut him up?!" Isabela asked.
"Don't you have volume control on that thing?" Mirabel asked.
Flint took out a gummy bear and said, "Steve, stop! Want a gummy bear?"
"Gummy bear!" Steve spoke as he grabbed the gummy bear and ate it.
"Sorry about that, he was just impatient and wanted the magic part to happen. So do you think you can...speed it up?" Flint asked.
Alma nodded and continued, "As I was saying, this candle blessed our family with a miracle many years ago...our home, our casita, came to life with magic. We swear to always help those around us, and earn the miracle that somehow found us."
The curtains pull back as everyone cheered for Antonio.
The little boy just stood there, not being able to move, even when Casita gave him a small push.
Mirabel saw that the little boy was frozen with nervousness as she slowly walked out of the crowd.
"Psst! Mira, where are you going?" Flint whispered.
"I can't just leave him out there," Mirabel replied as she slowly walked to Antonio.
"Forgive me for asking this, but why not?" Flint asked.
"Because she's my brave girl," Sam replied.
Mirabel gently grabbed Antonio's hand and he looked up at her.
"Let's get you to your door," Mirabel said.
Mirabel walked Antonio across the crowd and up the stairs and when she let go of his hand he touched the candle and then his doorknob.
Mirabel could feel the miracle not wanting to give him anything, a snap of her fingers would overpower it. She would never let this situation happen again.
A keel-billed toucan suddenly landed on Antonio's arm and it squawked to him and he can understand.
"Uh-huh! Uh-huh! I understand you!" Antonio excitedly said.
The toucan repositions itself on Antonio's arm and asks him another question in its bird language.
"Of course they can come!" Antonio said as he giggled at what the bird said.
The toucan began to call all their new friends to come in.
Mirabel raised an eyebrow as she and the crowd look up and hear some animal noises.
More animals such as toucans, capybaras, hummingbirds, coatimundis, and tapirs run and fly into Casita as Steve spoke, "Excited! Excited!"
The animals go up the stairs to where Antonio stood and an image of Antonio appeared on his door as it showed him surrounded by a bunch of animals.
"We have a new gift!" Alma called out and everyone cheered.
Antonio decided to open his door to look at his new room. As he opened his door, he was even more surprised, inside his room was like a paradise. A large tree was planted in the middle of the room and it was surrounded by nature and animals.
As everyone walked in, Flint turned to Mirabel and asked, "Are all the rooms this big?"
Mirabel nodded at Flint's question.
Suddenly, a jaguar ran into the room and threw Antonio onto its back and ran into the middle of his room.
He laughs as he was being carried away as he can hear his father call out his name. He felt the wind the air push at him and the jaguar ran even faster and spoke to Antonio.
"You want to go where?" Antonio asked the jaguar and it got a response and it was already jumping up the trunk.
They go in a swirl around the tree and once the reach the top, the jaguar threw Antonio off.
Antonio squealed in excitement as he landed on a hammock and bounced off it.
As he fell, he slid down his tree and grabbed onto an anaconda that was hanging from the branch as he went flying again, but this time, he is caught by the jaguar and they finally return to everyone was at.
The five-year-old was embraced by his family as they congratulate him. The jaguar decided to give kisses to Agustín, then Alma says to Antonio, "I knew you can do it!"
Alma gave Antonio a kiss on his cheek as he turned bashful from all of the love and attention.
"We need a picture! Everyone! Come! Come! Come! It's a perfect night!" Alma called out.
Mirabel took a deep breath, gathered up her courage, and joined the family as a photographer set up a camera. Antonio stood in the center of the picture where he and Mirabel were surrounded by Pepa, Félix, Agustín, Bruno, Julieta, Isabela, Luisa, Dolores, and Camilo.
"LA FAMILIA MADRIGAL!" The family said and the picture was taken.
"A gift just as special as you," Alma said to Antonio.
Mirabel left the picture and felt her heart break as she remembered what she had been told before her failed ceremony.
She walked out of the room with Sam following her as she told her, "Antonio would still keep his gift even if the candle went out, I felt like the candle wasn't going to, but it did."
"You wanted to spare him the pain of what you went through before it even happened," Sam replied.
Mirabel nodded.
"It won't matter. In a while, the candle would go out unless Abuela sees the importance of the family for who they are and not for what they can do, that's the limitation of the candle. I could see it clear as day," Mirabel explained.
"Fine," Sam said.
Mirabel and Sam climb up to the roof and stare at the fireworks and Mirabel asked, "Am I too late for a miracle?"
Sam felt Mirabel lay on her lap as she falls asleep and she suddenly heard a noise, but Mirabel did not wake up from it.
She turned around to see the candle flickering in the night as the fireworks go off behind them, she knew that she still wanted to blow it out, but not with everyone inside. She noticed that the house was starting to crack.
Sam suddenly saw Luisa slightly falter while carrying an inhumanly heavy tray of food as she woke Mirabel up and they rush over to help her.
Luisa looked terrified.
"My gift! What happened?" Luisa asked in panic.
"Are you okay?" Sam asked.
Luisa shook her head and answered, "No, I'm not! I have to be strong, if I'm not strong, then what am I? The Encanto would fall apart if I don't have my gift. I'm nothing without my strength."
Mirabel patted Luisa to calm her down as she calmly shushed her.
"Listen, the measure of a person is the strength of their character, not their physical abilities," Sam said.
"Not here, we are the Madrigals. Everyone and everything depend on our gifts and what we can do for the community," Luisa replied.
"Who told you that? Communities are meant to help each other out. Yes, but one family doing everything's not right," Sam said.
Mirabel nodded in agreement.
"Abuela says that we need to use our gifts to serve our community and straighten our hope," Luisa said.
"That's not right at all, I will have to speak with her tomorrow," Sam replied.
Sam looked around at the rest of the Madrigals and wondered just how much of this misguided mindset was harming them.
"Listen to me, you're so much more than your power, all of you are. Please try to understand it," Sam said.
"I want to believe you, but it's hard," Luisa replied.
"I will be having some stern words with your grandma about this. I'm actually glad Mirabel was spared from this backward way of thinking for most of her life," Sam said.
"And Mirabel, where were you anyway? I haven't seen you since we all came in here," Luisa said to Mirabel.
"Well, tonight brought back some painful memories for me, so we went to sit on the roof and she was rather protective of me. Not only Sam's my mother figure, but my situations mirror in a way and only straightens her desire to keep me safe sometimes," Mirabel explained.
"Mama's been so worried about you all these years. Seeing in person that you're safe and loved is probably doing wonders for her happiness," Luisa replied.
...
The party ended and everyone went to sleep and Mirabel decided to sleep with the Flint and Sam in a motel that they were staying in as Flint asked, "Is Mirabel okay?"
Sam nodded and explained, "Yes, the ceremony brought back painful memories to her, so we climbed up to the top of Casita and watched the fireworks, then all of a sudden, the house started cracking. It was brief, but the candle almost went out, could it only have two days left? Because to me, it looked a lot more like it could burn out tomorrow."
"I'm pretty sure, and Mira, I hope you and Sam ate at least something at the party," Flint said.
"Well, I grabbed a plate of desserts for us to munch on," Mirabel replied.
"Good. Did you find out anything?" Flint asked.
"Well, I heard you talking to one of Mirabel's sisters when I walked out of the party to use the bathroom. Tomorrow, I'm gonna have strong words with her grandmother and I'm glad Mirabel spent the first five years with her family, I can't imagine the damage that would have been done if she stayed with a gift in a family where your worth is based on what you can give to the community honestly," Sam explained.
"Yeah, though the damage that was done isn't going away anytime soon and my abuela needs to pay for that," Mirabel growled.
"I fully agree, Mira. Though I don't believe they will listen to me more than you only because of what we are, but I'll do the talking, you call the others to check on Sparkswood or something," Sam replied.
"Anyway, day two here tomorrow, so we'll need our rest. Night, Mirabel," Flint said to Mirabel as he yawned.
"Night," Mirabel replied as she fell asleep.