Triplets (part 1)

Bruno stood near the patio wall, hearing but not listening to his sisters and their husbands as they sipped wine and chatted about the magic’s return. Pepa sounded happy but also, for a change, at ease. Julieta was, as always, calm. Félix and Agustín were laughing uproariously about…something. Bruno looked out over the peaceful town of the Encanto and felt something he had not for an entire year.

Dread.

The magic was back alright, and he was not at all sure that was a good thing. At least for him. He really had no desire to see the future, whether for himself or anyone else. It was nice to just be Bruno. Not Bruno, the harbinger of doom. He had lost ten years of his life because of his Gift, and now that he had his family back, that was really all he needed.

It was so quiet, and then he thought, why is it so quiet. Looking back, he saw them all watching him. When they were young, his sisters often did this as if assessing him for some incoming trouble. After those two got married, their spouses did it as well.

“What?”

Félix and Agustín had gotten up. “Good night, Bruno,” they both said and waved as they headed toward Casita. Pepa downed the last of her wine and said, “I’m going too. With any luck, Félix will be able to track down Antonio before me. Hopefully, he did not decide to sleep in the forest. It almost seems like he’s afraid it will all come down again.”

Julieta nodded as she got up and joined Bruno at the wall and said, “I’m sure the magic coming back is really starting to sink in for all of them.”

Pepa nodded, “Irony at its best,” and asked, “Have either of you seen Mamá?”

Bruno and Julieta both said no.

“That woman has become like a ghost. Popping up randomly.” Pepa said this with a note of sarcasm laced with exasperation. Bruno smiled and noted that not even a glimmer of a cloud formed. Only one day, and she really was getting better at controlling it. Or maybe it was that lack of expectation to control it. Either way, it was nice to see.

“She did say she wanted to relax from here on out and enjoy her grandchildren.” Julieta said. “I guess she really meant it.”

Pepa gave her that look, then shrugged and walked off in the direction of the dining room.

“So, how is your story coming along?” Julieta asked.

“Almost done-” Bruno did a double take, “How did you know about that?”

“I overheard Dolores telling Isa about it a few weeks back.” He must have been frowning because Julieta added, “What? They must be great. They were giggling like kids. It was nice to hear.” When he said nothing, she sighed and turned to look at the town. Bruno also looked, and his brow furrowed, imagining what might be required of him tomorrow. That lot had had ten years with no one around to tell them the obvious. He could feel his agitation building.

“You know, Bruno, I’ve been thinking. I need to ask-” Julieta began, but Bruno cut her off.

“I’m not reading anyone’s fortune, Juli…” He trailed off as he focused on her surprised expression. He realized his tone was harsher than he intended, and he was getting angry for no good reason, “Sorry, sorry, I just… I just really don’t want to do that.”

“Bruno, I wasn’t going to ask you to,” Julieta smiled and said in her motherly calm way. “I know that I’m going to be busy catching up on some things…the favor I wanted to ask of you is to help keep an eye on Mira,” she held up a hand to stop his response, “I know she’s all but grown, she’s still very young. If that front door is telling us anything, it’s that she’s going to be more important to our family now and in the future. She’s going to need someone to talk to. Someone who is not her parent, and I’ve noticed she’s developed a special bond with you. Which, quite frankly, I am a little jealous of.”

Bruno sighed, that was not at all what he was expecting. As far as he could tell, Julieta and Agustín had done a fantastic job of supporting Mirabel. Another thought occurred to him, and he asked with a bit of nervous laughter, “You’re not just trying to keep me from disappearing again, right?”

Julieta’s smile vanished, and she let out what sounded like a growl, “You’re a grown man, Bruno Madrigal, you can do as you wish. Your ‘disappearing’ as you call it, never helped anything. Use your Gift or don’t, no one is going to force you.”

At that moment, Julieta sounded so much like their mother and even though he knew it was irrational, Bruno angrily snapped back, “You know why I left, and you know-”

Julieta leaned in as she cut him off, “Did I, Bruno?” There was real anger in her eyes, and Bruno took a small step back. Juli never got this angry. She made a sweeping gesture and continued, “You vanish, and all I got for that was ten years of wondering what was so bad in that vision that you freaked out and ran away. The best part and my personal favorite Bruno were the ten years of watching my child be shut out of her abuela’s heart. I’m not as totally convinced that our mother would have excluded Mirabel the way she did,” and she punctuated what followed by pushing his shoulder with her finger, “if… there… was… more… information.”

Bruno realized at that moment what his sister really meant was if she had had more. It truly had not occurred to him that he should have shown her. With that realization, he felt a moment of guilt for the trouble he had caused her. He had no real answer to that. It was his mother’s request, but could it have been different? There were times when he would be sitting at his little table, listening to his family’s goings-on, that he thought maybe he had been a little hasty. But at the same time, he was very sure he had no way of going back.

Julieta took a long calming breath before continuing. “You might as well know; I did have a chance to see that vision before your rats came to take it away. I saw how it shifted and changed. Cracks moving in and out of sight. Mira told me later that you yourself said that her future wasn’t set. Bruno, it wasn’t just the town and Mamá thinking the worst. You were as well. If Mira had not managed to pull you back from the lonely place you put yourself… I shudder to think of how much worse that whole day would have been.”

His continued lack of response made Julieta turn away. She flicked a small stone off the patio wall as she said, "I'm sorry Bruno, if you don’t think you can do this, I will find another way. I wasn’t going to ask, but I'm just so worried about Mira. It’s true, Casita's been rebuilt, but it still haunts her. I think she wonders what she could have done differently to have kept it from happening at all. I don’t want the town and Casita to consume her every waking moment, like it did ours."

Checkmate.

Bruno scrubbed his face and let out a groan, “Alright Juli, I will do it, but you know I'm not good with other people.” By 'other people', he meant the townsfolk, “You're sure you still want me to do this?”

Julieta relaxed and said, "You don’t have to be good with other people. You're good with Mira, Bruno. You've always been good with her and the rest of the children." Bruno smiled when she patted his arm. "Just do what you can if you see her pulling away or just trying to do too much."

There was a loud clatter of tiles in the dining room, and the pair broke off their conversation as Julieta went to find out what was happening. Bruno leaned back against the patio wall, still somewhat unsure if this was a good idea. Julieta was usually right about such things. He had always been awed by his sister. Juli was a fantastic herbalist and healer. He had worried about her during the last year and was not surprised that most of her 'cures' still worked. Just not nearly as fast as they did with the magic, which caused her no small amount of stress. She never stopped working at strengthening her recipes to improve the outcomes.

And like her mother, Mirabel tended to gravitate toward those around her who were in need and was very good at finding ways to help them help themselves. It was not completely lost on him that she purposefully pulled him into situations he would have otherwise avoided.

There was a squeak nearby and Bruno distractedly pulled a stale arepa out of his pocket, broke off a piece and offered it to the rat waiting hopefully on the wall. The rat took it, and Bruno was immediately assailed by additional rats that had gathered. He smiled as he sat on the floor and broke off several more pieces, making sure each got one, and his thoughts drifted to his unfinished novella. So, they liked his stories, did they. Maybe he should write an actual novel. The Encanto could use a few more books.

Julieta returned shortly thereafter and sat down next to him. While the rats gave her a moment's pause, this was really nothing new. Bruno had always had pet rats. Granted, there were a lot more of them now. She reached into her apron and handed him a stack of cookies. Pepa appeared and dropped down next to them, ignoring the scattering rats.

"So did you find Antonio?" Julieta asked as she pulled out more cookies and passed them to her sister.

"I did. He latched himself on to Dolores, who was busy staring at her door." Pepa said and popped the whole cookie in her mouth.

"Did she open it?" Bruno asked.

"She did," Pepa said, sounding delighted. Julieta and Bruno were both leaning forward waiting to hear how it turned out. "It was…exactly what she needed; I think."

Julieta let out the breath she had been holding, and Bruno managed a small smile. "That's wonderful," Julieta said. "Did you see any of the others?"

"No, Camilo was asleep on the sofa, so I left him there. When I left Dolores’s room, he was gone, but his door was still blank, and I decided to leave it to Félix. I thought I heard Isa and Luisa upstairs. Otherwise, all was quiet in La Casa Madrigal. So, what are you two still out here talking about?"

Bruno frowned, but Julieta did not miss a beat, "Novellas. Bruno's almost finished his latest." She ignored Pepa's curious look and said, "Oh, I did see Mamá as she was leaving the dining room. That's when I saw Camilo, he was with Mirabel in the kitchen."

"Cookies?" Pepa said as she ate another.

Julieta nodded and laughed. There was an additional clatter of tiles and Julieta said abruptly, "Well, I'd best go check on my own brood."

Once she was gone, Bruno asked, "So Pep, how well do you speak Casita?"

"Not well at all. Juli was the only one of us that ever caught on to that. Why is Casita ratting you out?" Pepa chuckled at her pun.

"I could have sworn I heard 'something Bruno is' then I lost it."

"Maybe someone is looking for you."

"There is a scary thought. How are you all so calm? Aren't you the least bit worried about tomorrow?"

"Truth?"

Bruno nodded.

"I'm terrified." For a moment, a tiny thunderhead appeared and shot innocuous lightning bolts, frightening the rats. She waved it away and continued, "Not for me, mind you, but for the kids." She looked at the cookies still in his hand, "You going to eat those?"

Bruno shook his head and offered them up.

Pepa said, "I don’t want them…all" and she took one off the top. "You need to eat more. You're a bag of bones."

"I eat," Bruno said, a little more defensively than he wanted to.

"Uh huh. I don’t think even Juli's food will keep you alive if you don’t start taking better care of yourself."

"Why are we having this conversation?"

"I'm just concerned for my baby brother's health." She was trying to sound nonchalant, but the light drizzle that started gave her away.

"Okay, I will work on it," he said and took a bite of one of the cookies.

Pepa smiled and broke off a piece of her cookie. She was going to offer it to the rat that had crawled up on Bruno's knee but stopped when he said, "You shouldn't feed them these," he said and lifted the rat onto the floor.

"Oh, why not?"

"They have chocolate on the bottom. It won't kill them, but it will make them sick. You don’t want sick rats."

"Oh, well, I will remember that."

Bruno yawned mightily. It had been a long day. Félix reappeared, and Pepa smiled and rose to join her husband. "Good night, Bruno, sleep well." Pepa said as she and Félix disappeared into Casita.

Suddenly curious, Bruno walked into the kitchen and asked, "Casita, was someone looking for me earlier?"

Casita responded with a short clatter of tiles.

"Mirabel?" he was surprised he understood that. "Do you know why?" Casita answered with what could only be interpreted as a shrug. "Hmphfth. Do you know where she is?"

There was a tremor in the tiles on the floor near his feet. They were leading out into the courtyard, so Bruno left the kitchen and looked up at the second floor. Several of the doors were now sporting figures, and he saw Julieta walk into Luisa's room. The door closed and Bruno noted the tiles were leading him toward the stairs. He went up, and the tiles were indicating the rooms where he had just seen his sister enter. That made sense, so he started toward Luisa's door. He was so intent on the tiles, he did not notice Pepa's door now held an image. As he passed Isabela's door, the tiles clattered loudly just in front of it. "Here?" he asked. One tile clacked a little in reply.

Bruno examined Isabela’s door and smiled. He knocked, and it was shortly opened by a very excited Isabela. Clearly, she had been expecting someone else because she pulled up short and said, "Tío?"

"Your mom is still next door."

"Oh, well, you need to see this too!" She grabbed his hand and all but yanked him in. Bruno looked around in astonishment.

There was another knock at the door and Isa opened it to find her father standing there. She pulled him in as well, and Agustín was just as dumbfounded as he had been.

"Isn't this great, Papá?" Isa said and twirled once.

Agustín nodded and gave Isa a hug and said, "This is pretty impressive, Isa." He then sat on the bed next to Mirabel, and Bruno sat on a stool near a desk that was already covered with papers. Behind that were shelves and shelves of potted plants. Small gardening tools were hung haphazardly on the walls. Did Isa even need tools? So much chaos, but this room was weirdly familiar.

Isa was busy showing her father all the different things she had noticed. Bruno saw that Mirabel was sitting with a fixed look that told him she's already heard all of this. He was pulled back when Isa grabbed his hands and said, "Thank you, Tío, your vision was right. I've never been so happy."

Bruno was a bit taken aback; he was not used to people thanking him for his Gift. He knew that Julieta and Agustín never once said anything disparaging about him to their children, nor ever allowed them to join in with the Bruno hate fest. It was then that Bruno remembered where he had seen all this before. Isa's vision from twelve years ago. The vision itself had shown him this room. He generally did not do visions for family, but Isa was very good at getting what she wanted. Probably still was. He had relented and when he gave her the tablet, she was confused. The image, while it showed a joyous Isa, it was not a perfect Isabela. Bruno remembered that Mirabel had been in that one as well, but it would have been hard to tell if you did not know what you were looking for.

Later that month he had also done one for Dolores that had led to a huge misunderstanding with Dolores and then Pepa. Overall, just a horrible day. After that, he swore off doing any more for his nieces and nephews.

There was still another knock on the door, and Isa opened it to find Abuela standing there. Isabela's smile slipped a little, and she unconsciously straightened.

"May I come in, Isabela?" Abuela said in a tentative way Bruno still found odd. He also still found it hard to believe she would be able to keep this act up. No one changes that much.

Isa came back to herself with a small start. "Of course, Abuela." And guided her in. Bruno noticed the hesitant way his mother stepped across the moss-covered tile floor. To him, she seemed a little unsteady, it was pretty slippery stuff. Like everyone else, his mother gasped at the sights all around. Isabela still smiled, but wore a look of concern that made Bruno think she was going to start straightening things.

"This is quite a room. So many plants." Abuela said, smiling. "Isa, I know it's late, but I was so curious as to that flower you used to dye your hair and clothes. What is it called?"

Isabela let out a nervous laugh. She gestured and several of the plants with closed buds appeared around them. "These?" she asked. Abuela nodded. "I'm not sure of the name. I just remember seeing them in a book when I was small."

"You grew this from a picture? That is so clever, Isabela. It's wonderful to see how you have grown." Isabela was a little taken aback by the compliment and blushed. Clearly, his mother's approval was still very much desired by Isabela.

"Well," said Mirabel as she hopped off the bed, "Your room really is wonderful Isa, but it's getting late, and I'm going to go to bed."

Isa looked disappointed that Mirabel was leaving.

"That's a good idea. I will join you." Agustín stood, and the pair started for the door. Bruno decided he should probably go as well but stopped mid-rise when Agustín tripped and pitched forward with a yelp, bumping Mirabel, who lost her balance and cried out as she landed headfirst in the plants Isa had just grown. Isa exclaimed, "Oh no!" as the plants burst, sending a shower of color into the air. She and Abuela took a step back, both slipped backward, and Bruno dove to break his mother's fall. Everything went quiet as the rainbow of colorful dust settled. At that moment, the door opened again to reveal Julieta. Abuela looked at all the color smudged faces and smiled. Julieta surveyed the scene for a moment, then Mira sneezed blue, and Julieta burst out laughing. It did not take long before all the colorful people in the room were cracking up.