Chapter Text
“ I got the girls, mi vida. Focus on tidying up what’s left,” Agustín assured, his delicate hold on her hands loosening as she received a light peck on the cheek. She couldn’t help but sigh, leaning into where he had kissed as she watched him run off.
She really hoped he could console Mirabel after that awful mess of a dinner. She was a strong girl, and she meant well, but tonight seemed to be her limit. The looks of horror, fury, and disappointment that were thrown her way proved too much and she broke. Julieta could only jump out of her seat and call for her daughter, only seeing the tears clouding Mirabel’s glasses before the girl was already in the nursery.
The rain and thunder didn’t help the knot twisting in her stomach. She could feel it pelting her hair and dampening her clothes. At least the noise would drown out Mirabel and Luisa’s muffled wails.
Another deep sigh left Julieta’s lips, face wrinkling in an expression of despondency, as she turned around to make her way back downstairs. She didn’t believe Mirabel to be the one at fault for all this chaos. No, she knew about his visions. Not well enough to decode them, but well enough to know that it meant something else. Nobody else seemed to get this, however, and it proved tonight.
A squeak jolted the mother out of her thoughts, and her head whipped around so fast her wet hair slapped her in the face. With a huff, she quickly moved it so she could see the source of the noise: a single gray rat, carrying a shard of ominous green glass with a haunting glow.
It was part of the vision.
Her eyes widened as the realization set in, and then her face contorted into one of fury. That vision . If it weren’t for that vision, Mirabel wouldn’t feel so broken and alone right now.
“¡ Estúpido !” She shouted, an insult that meant nothing but at the same time everything in her moment of anger, as she stomped her way over to the rat which scurried to possibly one of the most bland paintings in the entire house.
She only slowed her metaphorical storm when it slipped under the painting, and didn’t come out. Her face softened, forehead wrinkling as her brows raised in surprise. She knew she should be tidying up, double checking her daughters and mother so she was certain that they were okay, but this single rat had a grip on her attention at the moment and anger made it hard to think of anything but this rat carrying what made her daughter hurt. So with a cautious and uncertain hand on the painting, she gently pushed it to the side to see what was behind.
She raised a hand to her mouth and gasped as what she saw was not a small hole like she had expected, but a massive one big enough for an entire person to crawl through with ease. Stuck in shock from what could’ve caused this, her eyes followed the rat as it disappeared and switched to the green glow slowly growing farther away.
Until it went up .
She shouted in surprise from two things: the sudden roaring thunder, and the lightning that lit up the inside of the walls and a figure .
One that she could recognize in even a single flash.
A hooded figure. One that bore a short stature, ill mannered posture, and a green and filthy ruana.
“ Bruno? ” She whispered, stuck in place from her shock as she desperately hoped this wasn’t her mind playing tricks on her. She didn’t want to question why he was in the walls, she just wanted to know her baby brother was back.
Two more flashes of lightning answered her. One illuminated him looking at her, but was gone too fast for her to see what he was feeling. The other showed an empty corridor filled with only dust.
It only took two flashes of lightning for her to disappear into the walls as well, following the distant frantic footsteps as she held her skirt and used the lightning to light her way.
“ BRUNO!” She called, hanging onto the shard of hope that he would respond. He didn’t.
She could just barely see Bruno, running and ducking under boards in the walls as she copied him. He was so far away, but she couldn’t give up, she couldn’t let him slip from her fingertips when he was so close, not again . So she chased him. She chased him through tight turns and narrow corridors, chased him as he jumped on top of some stairs and she had to bust a loose board on the bottom so she could keep up from underneath, and she chased him even as he jumped in an odd specific way, because she couldn’t bare to lose him again, a-
Oh that’s a pit.
She just barely stopped herself as she stepped back, away from the edge. She looked down from the terrifying void of the fall, and then back up. Just in time to see her brother scramble to his feet on the other side, and run out of her sight. “Bruno! It’s me! Julieta!” She shouted, hands curved around her mouth.
Her arms fell as nothing but footsteps fading answered her. Of course he ran. Of course . He’s been running these past ten years. Why did she think he’d stop for her?
She eyed the pit, looking at the loose boards that Bruno had used to make it across. She wondered how he was even athletic enough to jump that far, let alone balance and jump from each one to the next. She wondered what he was doing here , still in Casita, when he’s even gone for ten years.
She sighed, tears pricking at her eyes.
She missed her brother.
Her hand wiped away the tears.
She wasn’t letting him go this time. He was in the house , and she wasn’t losing him again. Even if he ran, she’d be right behind him. She was always the faster of the triplets, anyway.
She narrowed her eyes at the pit, as if challenging it. Julieta knew the house was magic, but a death pit ? Seriously? They don’t even have a basement! “Casita, what is this? Hm?” She asked, gesturing to the void with her mouth as her hands lay on her hips. No answer from the house. Could it not answer her within the walls? She didn’t understand, but with a huff she took off her shoe, bouncing it in her hand as she spoke. “I am going to raise hell when I find you, Bruno,” Julieta bitterly said, brows creasing in frustration. Of course, her words had no real bite to them.
She dangled her shoe over the edge, before dropping it. Not even a second before she heard a soft thunk . Eyeing the fog above the hole, she carefully pushed herself off the edge.
She landed safe and sound. “Hm,” Julieta hummed, satisfied with her work. Another flash of lightning and she easily spotted her shoe. She dusted it off before slipping it back over her sole. She did not want to deal with splinters in her feet when she didn’t have any food on her. A slightly challenging pull up later, and she was out of Casita’s lovely decorative pit. She couldn’t help but wheeze a bit, body slightly sore from all the sudden exercise.
Lord, her age was really starting to show.
Still, Bruno was here. There was no way he could’ve left (unless through another creepy entrance), so she would push forward. There was no use in running, so she took her time. She ignored the muffled thunder and rain, the muffled shouting and crying, the muffled chaos of everything outside of the walls.
…maybe she should speed up.
She quickened her pace to a jog rather than a run, and she continued squeezing through narrow corridors and dodging any hanging planks. There was a stick tied to the wall, probably for construction but that was more of Luisa or Agustín’s fields, so she didn’t know what it was called. She cringed as rats ran across it, squeaking. Some would stop and look at her, before sniffing and hurrying on their way. Gross. She also noticed two small wooden bowls settled onto the stick, one full of salt, and the other full of sugar.
She squinted as she looked at them, muttering a quiet “what the…” before her shoes crunched against something on the ground. Please don’t be rat bones, please don’t be rat bones, please don’t be rat bones, she silently begged, entire body tensing with just the thought. She lifted her foot, fully expecting to begin the painful process of fighting the urge to vomit, before her entire body went limp in pure relief. It was just salt and sugar messily thrown to the ground.
So that was where all the salt and sugar had been going. She continued on her way, trying to ignore the silent bickering in her mind that was questioning why it was thrown on the floor, and why Bruno had even brought it into the walls anyway. She knew about his superstitions and compulsions, but it was always only salt. Sugar had never been a part of it.
She didn’t have time to question her brother's many strange behaviors as she entered a room, one that made her freeze in pure horror. Patched over cracks. Everywhere. They slithered across the flooring and walls like snakes , and she couldn’t help but inch further into the room and look all around in awe at it. There were so many . Some looked old, others more recent, but all patched over.
“…how…” she mumbled, hands to her mouth as she stood there. She wasn’t sure how long, but it was enough time for a rat to rush past her and cause her to jump, hand flying to her chest as she gasped in the sudden surprise. Julieta watched it disappear with wide eyes, chest heaving as she tried to catch her breath.
She needed to get out of here. She needed to get Bruno out of here. Then at least she could question him about why he came back, and why he hid in the walls of all places. After another few moments of breathing and simply calming down from the recent scares, Julieta nodded to herself and pressed forward. Surprise, more winding corridors and narrow spaces to go through. Fun . This crawlspace was becoming less ominous and more aggravating than anything.
Eventually, she finally came across something new: a dead end! Julieta wanted to put her hands in her hair and just scream , frustration beginning to boil over. Mind too focused on her own frustration and goal of finding Bruno, she didn’t even begin to think of what it meant for her if she was actually lost in between the walls. She was tired, angry, and stressed, and that only resulted in a cloudy thinking process and a lot of angry pacing in circles at the end of the corridor.
Her pacing was quickly cut short by the sound of knocking.
Five quick knocks.
One delayed one.
Muttering.
She could recognize that pattern immediately. Bruno. Her mind reminded her, and she turned back to the dead end. She heard it again: six knocks and muttering. It was coming from behind the wall. For the first time in what felt like an hour, Julieta beamed and ran her hand gently across the wall. This wasn’t a wall, this was a door. Six knocks and muttering. He was right there. Her brother, after ten years , was right there. Six knocks and hushed mutters. Her smile dipped ever so slightly, brows lowering with worry. She never understood his compulsions, but she did know they only ran once. She heard him do this how many times in a row? Four, five maybe?
That wasn’t normal.
But it’s not like anything about this situation was normal, it’s not like any one in this family was truly normal.
She raised her knuckles on the door preparing to knock. Her hand only hovered an inch from the wooden door, and she heard him again. Six knocks and muttering. What was she doing? Knocking? She just chased him through the walls for God's sake! He ran and jumped over a damn pit to get away from her.
She just needed to barge in, catch him off guard, and finally talk to him.
That was a better plan.
Julieta took a step back, body bouncing slightly as she shook her hands and prepared herself. Mostly to shake off the nerves of y’know, meeting her brother again for the first time in ten years. A few more good body shakes and a deep breath for good measure, Julieta ran at the door and pushed it open.
“ BRUNO !”