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Isabela taps her foot impatiently, waiting for Bruno to answer the door to his room. Luisa stands beside her, clearly feeling anxious.
Did he even hear the knock? After all, his room is basically a huge cave filled with sand.
Just as Isabela's hand starts to twitch towards the doorknob to open it herself, Bruno swings open the door. He's covered in grains of sand, which he is attempting to brush off as quickly as possible.
"What happened to you?" Luisa looks amused, distracted from her anxiety.
"Well, because casita thought it would be so hilarious to give me a sandy cave as a room, I tripped on a rock on the way to the door." Bruno shakes the sand from his hair.
Casita protests this by wiggling the floorboards beneath Isabela and Luisa's feet, and Bruno snorts. "You're right. I love it. Doesn't help my clumsiness, though."
Isabela regains her balance and draws herself up. "We need you to--"
"Show you a vision? Yeah, join the club. Now that people don't think of me as a harbinger, everybody wants to hear the latest gossip. I'm backed up until next week. Now, let me just go take a look at my schedule…" Bruno starts wandering off into his cave.
"Bruno," Isabela interrupts.
"Eh?" Bruno turns back around.
"It's about Mirabel."
-
The Madrigal backyard is quiet besides the birds singing in the trees.
Isabela can't help but stop by the plants she's grown, making sure they're still doing well. Bruno walks to the new clearing they use for his visions, smoothing out the sand, before sitting down and gesturing to her and Luisa.
The sisters enter the sandpit together, sitting beside him.
"Before we start, I have to warn you. Sometimes, the visions get real personal. If you see something you don't like, don't get mad at me." Bruno starts preparing the area for the vision, salt in hand.
"I want to make sure it's actually a serious problem without bothering her every time I'm worried." Isabela sighs.
"We all know how much you care about your little sis. I don't mind doing this." Bruno finishes up, settling down again. "Alright, everybody, hold hands."
They all sit in a circle, hands linking. Luisa glances at her nervously. Isabela realizes that she's never asked for a vision before, and squeezes her hand comfortingly.
The sand whips up into somewhat of a tornado, making Isabela squint against the stray grains hitting her face. Bruno's eyes start to glow, and it's just as creepy as it always is.
Green, ghostly shapes arise from the mist: a trail of flower petals, a rainbow banner being put up in the nursery, and then…
Isabela's jaw drops. Luisa covers her mouth in shock.
The slate neatly falls down into Bruno's hands. He turns it this way and that, revealing the short animation of Mirabel kissing a girl.
"Does that mean our sister is…" Luisa trails off, eyes wide.
Isabela gulps. This is breaching more levels of privacy than she intended, and she starts to think this was a bad idea. Luisa's expression mirrors her own, until she's sobering with a look of determination.
"We have to support her, Isa." Luisa furrows her brow. "She would do the same for us. It's the least we can do after she saved our family."
Isabela rubs at her temples. Nobody can know about this yet.
Just as she's thinking that, Dolores strolls right up, rocking on her heels. "What are you all up to?"
Bruno hides the slate behind his back in a very clumsy fashion, nearly dropping it. "Nothing, nothing! The usual."
Isabela takes a step closer to Dolores, trying to distract from… whatever that was. "A townsperson lost their cat, that's all. We were trying to find it with Bruno's visions."
Luisa lifts up a nearby planter with complete ease to support the statement, peeking under it. "Here, kitty!"
Dolores looks unimpressed, raising an eyebrow. "You guys know I hear everything that happens around here, right? And that this is no exception?"
Luisa drops the planter with a look of embarrassment, and Isabela flinches.
Dolores crosses her arms. "You have to tell me what's going on with Mirabel. I've noticed something off about her, and it's only fair that I get to know, too."
"Actually, it's not fair at all. We… We went too far. We pried more than we should have." Isabela hugs herself, clearly feeling regrets about the whole thing.
Bruno finally steps forward, resting a comforting hand on Isabela's back. "If we tell you, you have to promise you won't tell a soul."
"I knew you were in the walls for years and didn't tell anybody. Don't worry," Dolores assures confidently.
Bruno tentatively reveals the slab of glass, showing Dolores the contents. Her eyes widen briefly, before she's mellowing out. "I knew it."
"You knew it?" Isabela looks surprised.
"I thought everybody knew it." Dolores shrugs.
Isabela and Luisa exchange bewildered glances, before Bruno is gesturing at all of them to go back inside. "Come on, let's get to a room so we can talk in private before Mirabel asks what we're doing."
The group re-enters casita, Dolores significantly less stressed than the rest of them. As they climb the stairs, Isabela catches a glimpse of the nursery through it's ajar door, and it's… It's…
"It's already happening!" Luisa hisses in Isabela's ear, pointing at the rainbow banner that Mirabel is putting up in her room.
Isabela lowers Luisa's arm and moves up the stairs quicker, shoving Bruno from behind to make him hurry.
Dolores' room is the nearest to them, and they all gather in front of it.
"Can we come in? I just don't want Mirabel to wonder why we're all out here," Isabela asks in a hushed tone.
Dolores nods casually, opening up the door for them. The whole group shuffles in as quickly as they can, and it's at this moment that Isabela realizes she's never been in here before.
The room is stiflingly white, and surprisingly small, at least compared to her own. All of the walls, including the floor and ceiling, are padded with a thick material. It doesn't take long for Isabela to understand why -- it's soundproof. Casita must be allowing her to have a place to hide away and not hear anything at all.
Dolores closes the door behind them softly, and seems to bask in the silence for a few heartbeats. She settles on her puffy white bed, looking at each of them in turn. "So? What now?"
Bruno fiddles with his sleeve awkwardly as he studies the vision again. "First off, we better hide this. I shattered the first one and left it buried in sand and Mirabel still found it. So, we need a secure spot."
"Where would Mira never think to go?" Luisa ponders aloud.
"Probably my room," Dolores suggests, "she doesn't visit me much, and if I put it in a drawer or something, she'll never find it."
The group murmurs agreement to the idea. Bruno passes over the vision to Dolores, who opens up the bottom drawer of her dresser and buries the slab in skirts.
"And can you do us a favour, prima?" Isabela clasps her hands together in front of her.
"Uh-huh?" Dolores is starting to look like she regrets walking in on them.
"Can you listen around this next couple of weeks, and if Mirabel talks to any one of us about this, tell the others? I want her to know we're supportive right away." Isabela looks at the rest of the group for confirmation, who nods along.
"Of course." Dolores offers a small smile and a roll of her eyes.
"Now, how to get out of the room without Mirabel noticing…" Isabela taps her chin thoughtfully.
"Don't worry, I've got a trick I use all the time." Dolores waves a hand, then exits her room.
Isabela opens the door a crack to watch what happens, holding out a hand to tell Bruno and Luisa to wait.
"Oye, Camilo," Dolores calls out, not quietly, but not loudly. Naturally, Isabela realizes.
She watches as Dolores approaches Camilo, voice hushed enough that she can't understand the words. Thankfully, Camilo is a loud person, so it's not very hard to understand his part.
"Say no more." Camilo grins. "You know I'm always up for a bit of mischief, no matter where it comes from."
His body quickly morphs, and suddenly it's Julieta standing in front of Dolores. "Mirabel! Can you come help me in the kitchen, please?"
"Sure thing, mom! Just a second!" Mirabel calls back from the nursery.
Camilo turns back into himself and gives a little bow. Isabela shuts the door to make sure Mirabel doesn't see her, letting out a breath of relief.
They all wait in the room tensely until Dolores appears in the doorway, gesturing out the door with urgency. "¡Ándale! You don't have all day!"
Everyone rushes out of the room, scattering to get to their own doors. As Isabela reaches her own, she turns to Dolores to give her a grateful look. Dolores winks with a smile in return, Camilo looking on with curious amusement beside her.
As Isabela shuts the door behind her, she practically deflates, glad that it's all over.
Now, they wait.