Chapter Text
Their fifth birthday began with Pepa throwing open the shutters and climbing onto the windowsill to take a deep breath of outside air.
“Yes! Clear skies!”
Bruno rolled over and pulled the blanket over his head, not ready for this morning to exist yet. He yelped in surprise as his sister’s weight bounced onto the mattress beside him. Her hands gripped him through the blanket and shook him excitedly. “Did you hear? Perfect weather for the party!”
Bruno mumbled an mmph into the pillow.
“Don’t squish him, Pepi,” Julieta said, the blanket moving as she sat up beside him.
They all had their own beds in the nursery, but as was typical on nights when one of them was upset, they’d piled onto the same bed. Last night, they’d all been a little nervous, though a few whispers under the blanket proved that none of them had the same reason.
Pepa’s worry was gone, at least. It had been drizzling for three days, so she’d worried that the party Mamá had been planning all week would be rained out. The weather was all better now, so she could wear her pretty dress and dance with the other villagers like she’d hoped.
Julieta would be more happy when the party was done, because Mamá had been looking tired. Mamá was always running around, meeting with people and planning things like music and decorations, because Mamá always wanted special days to be perfect. Each afternoon, when Mamá put them down for naptime, Julieta had made her siblings stay quiet in their room, because even if they didn’t need the rest, Mamá did.
And Bruno? Well, Bruno had been dreading the party. Parties were loud and busy and full of so many people who you had to smile and mind your manners around. Bruno would much rather spend a quiet evening at home with his family than stand around in a stiff, itchy jacket saying “Thank you, señor,” over and over again.
Pepa huffed and flopped down next to Bruno, clearly disappointed that they didn’t share her excitement. “Well I’m going to have fun! I’m going to go pick some flowers in the morning, and then we can put them in our hair! I’ll get yellow, you can have blue, Julie, and you can have green, Bruno!”
“Boys don’t wear flowers,” he mumbled into the pillow.
She sat up with an indignant noise. “Boys can wear flowers if they want to wear flowers! Don’t you want to be pretty, Bruno?”
He shrugged and sat up, rubbing his eyes.
“Are there any green flowers?” Julieta wondered.
Pepi put a finger to her cheek, thinking deeply for a moment. Then, her face lit up. “Palm fronds! We can weave them together like a crown!”
Bruno found himself smiling. Even if he wasn’t looking forward to this day, at least he had his sisters. “I like that idea.”
Pepa nodded decisively and flounced off the bed. Casita bounced her slippers over, and Pepa barely had to pause to put them on before she was out the door.
Bruno exchanged a look with Julieta. His sister just shrugged and grinned, and together, they moved to follow.
Both of them stopped short outside the nursery door, almost running into Pepa, who had paused in front of them. They both peered around their lankier sister to see why.
Across the courtyard, on either side of Mamá’s glowing golden door, three new doors had appeared, shimmering murkily in the morning sun. Their Mamá was awake, clutching Papa’s candle to herself as she stood in front of one of the doors.
“Casita?” Julieta asked softly. “What are those?”
Mamá must have heard her, because she turned toward them. Her eyebrows had been knit, but when she saw them, a slow smile broke over her features. She raised one hand from the candle to beckon them over.
Bruno followed his sisters, tugging at his fingers as he did so. New doors in the Casita? Sure, Casita changed sometimes in ways that other houses couldn’t, but this looked different. Important.
It was something unexpected. Bruno didn’t like unexpected things.
When they reached their Mamá, she knelt down to greet them. “Good morning, mijo y mijas. It seems Casita has a birthday gift for you.”
“What is this, Mami?” Julieta was the one to ask.
“Well…” Mamá presented the candle, lowering it so they could see the glowing designs. “You remember what I’ve told you about our Miracle? How it gave us this Encanto, and Casita?” All three of them nodded. They could all recite the story word-for-word, and had done so in unison while stifling giggles in their room.
“Well, when I first entered Casita, my door looked just like these did. It was only when I touched it that it took shape.”
Bruno glanced at Mamá’s door: a shimmering design of their graceful, regal Mamá, eyes closed as she kept the candle safe in her hands.
Pepa gasped. “Are these doors ours?”
Mamá nodded, smiling widely in that way that she only did in private. “Why don’t we open them and see?”
Pepa gave a squeal of delight and immediately ran toward the nearest door. As soon as she touched the knob, a shimmering light rippled out from it like a stone thrown into a pond, leaving a portrait of Pepa with a shining light above her head and jagged squiggles on either side.
Pepa paused and stepped back from the door to watch. “Wow!” Once the light had faded to the same level as Mamá’s door, something else caught Bruno’s attention. He felt his jaw drop.
Pepa spun toward them with a grin, pausing in apparent confusion by whatever she saw on their faces. In the corner of his eye, Bruno could see Julieta slowly bring her hands up to cover her mouth. When Pepa’s confused eyes met Bruno’s, he silently pointed above her head.
Because there, shimmering lightly with gently shifting colors, was a rainbow.
Pepa squealed again. “Whoa! Is that the Miracle too?” She raised a hand to swipe through it, laughing. The laughter only seemed to make the rainbow even brighter and more beautiful.
Pepa turned back toward them, practically vibrating with excitement. A wind whipped her hair around, seemingly agreeing with her. “Can I see what’s inside?!”
Even Mamá seemed speechless, so she just nodded.
Pepa twirled and reached for the knob again, this time turning it.
Beyond the door was a brightly colored bedroom full of all the dolls and dresses a lively little girl could want. The most noticeable thing was that there was no back wall: it opened out to what looked like a private roofed patio overlooking the jungle, with both a staircase and slide leading down to a flower-strewn meadow and pond that Bruno was pretty sure didn’t actually exist outside Casita.
Pepa threw herself down the slide and started twirling across the meadow, laughing in delight. She only paused to yell up to her watching family still on the porch, “Come on!”
Julieta smiled at Bruno and took his hand to lead him toward the slide. It took him a moment and a gentle nudge from Julie to go down it, but once he did, Pepa was waiting at the bottom. She tugged Bruno down to the grass and then she started rolling down the meadow’s gentle hill. With a giggle of his own, he followed. Only when they both stopped at the bottom did he notice that there was a rainbow in the clear sky above them, perfectly matching the one above Pepa’s head.
Julieta was a bit more sensible in making her way down the hill. She leaned over them, blocking their view of the sky. “You’re going to get grass stains on your nightgown, Pepa!”
“No… I’m going to get them on yours!” She reached up and yanked Julieta down on top of them. Bruno turned to help wrestle Julieta to the ground, snickering as he took some grass and rubbed it into her curly hair. Julie shrieked, sending both Pepa and Bruno into gales of laughter.
Pepa abruptly kneeled upright. “Oh! The flowers!” And just like that, she was up and running across the meadow toward where a patch of blue flowers poked up among the grass.
Bruno was left with Julieta, who pouted up at him. He just took a piece of dirt and smudged it over her nose. “Bruuuuuno!” She snatched at him, and he took that as his cue to scramble up after Pepa.
He glanced at the porch and saw that Mamá leaned on the rail, watching them with a warm smile. She would no doubt make them wash up after this, but for now, she wasn’t stopping their fun.
Pepa caught his arm and yanked him over, maneuvering his head so she could take it in both hands. “Here, let me measure you!”
“Um, why?”
“Your crown, you silly!”
Oh, right. He’d forgotten about that.
Then, Julieta came over and batted at both of them with palm fronds.
Mamá seemed to think this had been long enough, because they all paused when they heard her call, “We still have much to do today, niños, including two more doors!”
Bruno couldn’t help a pout, but Pepa said, “Come on, let’s see what’s in them!”
Mamá directed them to clean up in a washstand near the room’s entrance that seemed to be for that purpose, and Bruno felt his nerves spike again. This room was nice, but it was very…. Pepa. He couldn’t think what Casita would have built for him that would be nearly as amazing.
“Pepa!” Mamá cried. “Your knee!”
Bruno turned to see Pepa lifting her nightgown hem to peek at her own knee, which had a scrape on it. She must have skinned it while they were playing.
Pepa shrugged and dropped the skirt. “It’s okay. Doesn’t even hurt.”
Mamá hummed. “We should go get some soap for that.”
“But Mamaaaa, I want to see Julie’s and Bruno’s rooms!”
Something shifted above Pepa’s head, the colors finally dimming. Was that… a cloud?
Mamá didn’t seem to notice, but she sighed. “All right. But as soon as we’re done, we’re cleaning that.”
Pepa nodded, and the cloud disappeared, though the rainbow didn’t come back.
They trailed back out to look at the doors, and Mamá said, “All right. Who would like to go next?”
Bruno glanced at Julieta, who was looking back at him. She must have read his nerves on his face (she always did) so she just smiled and stepped forward, heading for the door on the other side of Mamá’s.
She touched her knob and the same thing happened, a shimmering light crossing the surface. In its wake was… Julieta holding some steaming bowls? And it looked like there were leaf designs surrounding her?
Bruno wasn’t the only one confused, going by the way his sister studied the door.
There was no rainbow above her head, either.
Mamá suggested, “Why don’t we look inside?”
Julie looked back and nodded, then opened the door. Inside was… a kitchen? Except it was small, perfectly sized for the triplets, and there were woven pictures on the wall of different sights around the Encanto. The village and villagers, the mountains, the river… all giving it a warm feeling of “home.” Behind the kitchen was a doorway that led to another room.
Set out on the low counter were a few breakfast ingredients—eggs, some dough, fruit, and other things Bruno didn’t know.
“Well now,” Mamá said. “I do believe Casita wants you to cook.”
Julieta moved to the counter, curiously picking up an egg. “Can I?” She glanced back at Mamá with muted hope. Julieta always wanted to help more around the Casita, but Mamá had always been very strict about letting any of them do anything dangerous, which kept most of the kitchen off-limits.
Now, though, Mamá nodded. “I’ll teach you.” She knelt beside Julieta and started pointing to the different tools in front of them and explaining what each did.
Bruno glanced at Pepa, who shrugged. “I am kinda hungry,” Bruno whispered, and Pepa snickered. Together, they moved out of the kitchen and through the doorway in the back. Beyond that was a blue-painted bedroom that looked every bit as cozy as the kitchen was. There were craft supplies on shelves and a pile of big, fluffy pillows in one corner.
Bruno let himself flop onto the pillow pile, and it was every bit as satisfying as he’d hoped. Pepa joined him a moment later.
“So,” Pepa said, “what do you want your room to be?”
He shrugged and started tugging at his fingers again. “I dunno.”
“I bet there will be books!” Pepa declared.
One of the moths in his stomach fluttered up into hope. “Yeah?”
“Yeah! You love all those stories, so of course Casita will give you something you love!”
Bruno thought that over. “Yeah, maybe.” They were silent a moment, listening to pots clanging through the doorway. “It is kinda weird, right?”
“What is?”
“You got this really pretty play area, and Julie got… a chore?”
Pepa burst out laughing, and Bruno saw what looked like a flash of sunlight above her head. “I don’t think she’ll think of it that way! Not if it lets her do the grown-up thing!”
“Yeah,” Bruno snickered. “Julie the Responsible!”
“Julie the Well-Mannered!”
Bruno leaned close to whisper, “She still has grass in her hair.”
Both of them broke into cackles.
They spent the next little while exploring the room. Most interesting to Bruno was a shelf that had neatly stacked puzzles and books on them. Some of them were cookbooks, but not all of them. All the while, the smells coming from the doorway were… actually pretty good!
Finally, Mamá could be heard saying, “Why don’t you do the honors, mija?”
A moment later, Julieta appeared in the doorway, her hands and face covered in flour but beaming. “Breakfast is ready!”
Bruno hurried back into the kitchen, where a child-sized table with four chairs stood in a wood-paneled nook. It had been set with a meal on colorful clay plates. Mamá tucked herself into one of the chairs, and Bruno nudged Pepa at the sight of their usually formal Mamá fit into a child-sized chair.
Julieta doled out the servings, her tongue between her teeth in concentration. Spread before them were eggs, beans, chorizo, arepas, avocado, and tamales. Bruno dug in happily, delighted that Julieta seemed to be a natural at this—there was a small change in spices that made the food slightly better than even Mamá’s!
Pepa gasped and jumped to her feet. “Mamá!” She lifted her skirt and they all watched as her skinned knee closed up.
“Whoa,” Bruno breathed.
Julieta’s eyes went wide. “Was that… me?” She glanced at Mamá. “My food?”
“It seems,” Mamá said softly, “that the Miracle has given you three more than rooms.” She ducked her head and covered her mouth. “Thank you, Pedro.”
Pepa shouted, “I wanna see what Bruno’s gift is!” and took off for the door.
The change in Mamá was immediate, softness gone for sternness. “Pepa. Finish your meal.”
Pepa pouted but nonetheless returned to the table. There was definitely a roiling cloud over her head now. Bruno cast his sister a smile to let her know he appreciated it, and the cloud got a little smaller.
It disappeared entirely when Julieta mentioned the party that evening. His sisters and mother started talking about the party, while Bruno felt himself sinking in his chair.
During all the excitement about the doors—and now, powers?—Bruno had forgotten about the party. He tapped his fingers together under the table as he thought about all the things that could go wrong. Señora Pérez could find him and pinch his cheeks until they hurt. He might knock over one of the flower decorations his mother had worked so hard to have made for them. He could trip in front of everyone, and then Mamá would be disappointed in him for making a scene.
Julieta nudged him, breaking him out of his thoughts. She was looking at him with worry.
This was a perfect… Gift for her, really. Julie was a natural caregiver, always taking care of Pepa and Bruno, and even their Mamá sometimes.
And Pepa… bright, energetic Pepa, creating sunshine and rainbows and maybe clouds too. There was probably more to it than they’d seen… whatever it did, it would be just as dramatic and uncompromising as his sister, he was sure.
So… what did that mean for Bruno? What could he even do that the Miracle could build on, like it had for his sisters? He’d always been the shy one of the three, all worries and whispers. He couldn’t do bright smiles or gentle nurturing like his sisters could.
Maybe he’d get the ability to disappear. He thought he might not mind that.
Finally, breakfast was finished, and they all worked together to clean up after the meal, the task of washing dishes made much easier in the child-sized kitchen than in the one downstairs!
And then, finally, they moved outside and were standing in front of the final door.
He found himself staring up at the thing, stomach twisting back and forth. Maybe he shouldn’t have eaten so much?
His family waited behind him, silently letting him work up his own courage.
It wasn’t courage that finally got his legs moving, but guilt. They had a busy day today. Pepa was excited and Mamá had worked very hard to make it perfect. He couldn’t let them stand here all day, waiting while he worried about things that might not happen.
So, he stepped forward and tentatively reached up for his knob.
The golden light seemed brighter up close, or maybe that was the tingling warmth that traveled over him at the contact. It was… comforting, almost. Like Casita was reassuring him that everything would be all right.
And then, his vision flooded green, and he was no longer where he’d been a moment ago.
He was in the courtyard, and it seemed like the entire town was there. And even though he was on the lower floor, he could see himself and his sisters, standing at the top of the stairs while Mamá spoke to the villagers with a proud smile. There were smiles and happy tears throughout the crowd.
Then, he was out in the yard during sunset, dancing with his sisters. Pepa’s dress really was pretty.
And then there was Señorita Valdez, ducking to present the kids with a tray of steaming chocolate.
And one of the musicians in the courtyard dropped his guacaracha into the buffet, but spirits were too high for anyone to mind the mess.
And then the villagers were leaving, and Bruno watched through the balustrade, sitting with his legs poking through the posts. His sisters were on either side of him. They all looked tired, but happy and in one piece.
The last image faded, and he was back in front of his door. However, his family had moved. His mother was kneeling in front of him, holding his hands in hers, and his sisters were tucked up on either side of her. All three of them looked worried.
“Brunito?” Mamá said softly. “Are you all right?”
He blinked, disoriented, and he took a moment to look around. It was still morning. The party decorations were newly hung, and the triplets were still in their pajamas.
“Brunito?”
“I’m okay…” He turned back to his family, his brain piecing together what had just happened. What it meant. “I’m… I’m good.” He found himself smiling as he worked through what he’d seen. “I… I saw the party. Tonight. The villagers… they’re happy about the Gifts. And one of the musicians drops his instrument. Oh, and Señorita Valdez brings chocolate con queso!” Nothing bad had happened. Everyone was happy. It looked like Bruno actually had a good time.
“Mmm! I love chocolate con queso!” Julieta said.
Mamá sighed. “I told her she didn’t need to bring any…” she paused and looked at Bruno with widened eyes. “Brunito!” She reached up to cradle his face, and he wondered if he’d said something wrong. “This is… amazing! All three of you!” She released him just so she could pull all three into an embrace. “What amazing Gifts the Miracle has given you! Given to the Encanto!”
“You think,” Julieta said, “that we can help the Encanto with these?”
“I’m sure of it. It has always been my duty to lead and protect the Encanto. And it seems the Miracle believes you can do so too.”
Bruno bit his lip, not sure he was ready for that sort of responsibility. Fortunately, Pepa broke everyone out of that train of thought by announcing, “I want to see Bruno’s room!”
Mamá smiled and gave them one last squeeze, then let go. “Of course. Brunito?”
Bruno nodded and turned back to the glowing door. He paused at the sight: himself, his curls looking windy as he held an hourglass in front of him.
That confirmed what his Gift was. He’d seen the future.
He licked his lips and turned the knob, and then he stepped inside.
Pepa’s room had been bright and airy like she was, and Julieta’s room had been as warm and comforting as her, so he wasn’t sure what it meant that he stepped inside what felt like a temple, ancient and mysterious. There was a front hallway made out of sandstone brick, from what could be seen behind the rows and rows of full bookshelves. Between the shelves were streams of sand pouring down the walls like small waterfalls, falling into sandy ponds of swirling patterns interspersed by clay pots.
Beyond the hallway, the room opened up into what looked like the bottom of a canyon, sunlight streaming from above. There were nooks built into the walls that included one with a hammock surrounded by curtains, a sitting area with plush chairs, a heavy wooden chest with an equally heavy lock… and on the opposite wall was a flight of stone stairs, leading up a story to a balcony overseeing all of it, beyond which a big, round door was visible in the shadows.
It looked… peaceful. Well-protected. The only noises were some birds on the cliffs above and the soothing hiss of the sandfalls set around the room.
A sanctum. Casita had given Pepa an open play area, Julieta a workspace, and Bruno a sanctuary.
Exactly what all of them needed without any of them knowing it.
“Brunito?”
Only when he looked up and saw Mamá’s hesitant expression did he realize his eyes were burning. He shook his head and let his thoughts show in a smile. “It’s perfect.”
Pepa’s bony elbow knocked into his arm. “Told you there’d be books.”
Bruno nodded and wiped at his eyes. He’d never had his own space before. Dios, he loved his sisters, but there were times they were just too much. And now, he had a quiet retreat that was just his.
Mamá ruffled his hair fondly. “It is perfect. And we will show Casita our thanks by taking care of our new rooms, right?” Bruno nodded, and he was sure his sisters did too, because Mamá said, “Good.” She took a deep breath, her voice shifting from Mamá to matriarch. “Now. Let us get dressed and begin the day. We’ll start by moving your things out of the nursery.”
Mamá turned and left, his sisters following after a moment. Bruno lingered, reaching out to run his hand through a sandfall. He’d never really felt connected to sand before, but now, he found he could appreciate the soft vibration of it running between his fingers. He could get used to it, he thought.
With a breath, he dusted off his hands and headed out the door, finally feeling ready for the day.