10. Family

"This is our home we got both generations..."

Mirabel was singing to herself as she walked through the tunnel. It had been fun and interesting when she had first entered it, but... about half an hour in... well... there was only so much tunnel wall you could look at before it got boring.

"So full of music," She was really starting to regret leaving her accordion behind. The sound might alert her father to her presence, but it would be better than how bored she was right now.

"A rhythm of its own design," There certainly was a rhythm now. The rhythm of her own pounding feet moving her slowly down the tunnel. She knew that it took a while to get over the mountains, but it couldn't be that far if you just went in a straight line.

"This is my family, a perfect constellation, not a lot of stars but both of us get to shine." She started snapping for the beat as she walked. She kept a smile on her face. There was no way she was going to let herself spoil her entrance back into the rest of her family.

"Let's be clear Papá Bruno runs this show," At the mention of her father she felt a twinge of regret, but knew that in the end everything would be okay. He'd run away without telling the family, she was just following in his footsteps. At least she wasn't taking any kids with her.

Except for Jeff of course.

There was a brown rat curled up in her bag. One of the many that lived in their house. Jeff was one of Mirabel's favorites. He was a little on the fatter side, and he was old, nearly two years old.

So.. was she really following in her father's footsteps perfectly? He'd get a kick out of it when he saw her again.

"He led me here so many years ago," It had been so long since she had last seen her family, She couldn't really remember them. The rest of her family was just a warm blur. Full of hugs and smiles. She remembered... her cousin Isabela handing her a flower. She remembered being picked up and set on Luisa's shoulders. She remembered... ugh... there were other people...

"And every year our family weirdness grows..."

And they were weird. At least... that's what she presumed. She knew that most people typically saw more people than just their parents. Papá had often admitted to wishing that Mirabel could have friends. And... now... She'd get that chance!

She hoped that everyone would like her!

"There's a lot you simply got to know." There wasn't really. The interesting part of her life was the one part she didn't really know. But now... now that she was going to Casita she would finally have an interesting life. She would get so many friends. She would talk to them, and they'd love her. And they'd get ready for Papá.

There was absolutely no way that any of this could go wrong.

She took a nap about an hour into her trek. She hadn't slept since the night before, and the tunnel was dark, not black, but barely light enough that she could see where she was going.

It wasn't very comfortable, but she did feel rested when she woke up later. She got up and continued her journey, talking to herself the whole time.

"So... When we meet them what do we say?" She asked herself, letting Jeff climb up on her shoulders. "'Hi! I'm your niece slash cousin slash granddaughter who's been living with my dad for the past ten years! The magic is in danger and I'm here to figure out what's going on with it?'" She glanced at the rat, who responded with a yawn.

"You're right, that sounds... Ugh... I dunno. Too... to the point, ya know?"

Jeff was no help.

"What about, 'Hi I'm a magic fixer person. Do you mind telling me about your problem? Why do I know that the magic is in danger? Oh, I know this guy'. Ugh! That's worse!" Mirabel rubbed the bridge of her nose, then adjusted her glasses. "What if I just wing it? Papá says that that's always a viable option."

Once again Jeff did nothing to help her predicament.

"You're right I should wing it." Mirabel said, and then sighed loudly. "How long is this tunnel? How wide are these mountains?" She scowled for a moment, then smiled at Jeff. "At least I have a friend."

Jeff decided that that was the perfect time to climb off of her and scurry along the ground. He seemed to think that Mirabel was boring now.

"Aannddd... he ran away immediately. Ugh. Should have brought some salt." Mirabel humphed out. "I jinxed it again."

It took forever, but eventually she exited her secret passageway. She was bored out of her mind, but the stress about what she was about to do was building up inside.

She encountered a door at the very end, and she gave a great big 'Whoop!' when she came to it. She grabbed the knob as soon as she reached it, yanking it open as quickly as she could.

She spilled out of the tunnel to see that it was evening out. She'd spent all day in a tunnel! That was so... cool? Yes. Cool. Papá would love to hear about it when she saw him again.

She was looking out at a well-manicured mini forest. Which was... interesting. The forests she grew up around were completely wild. Papá wasn't about to make sure that the trees were the correct amount of feet apart. This forest was... nice. It was a little small, but it was nice.

She was staring at a bunch of buildings off in the distance. It took her brain a minute to realize that all of those lights meant... people...

There must be hundreds! There... how many people could there be?

It was going to be okay. She wouldn't have to deal with all of them all at once. She'd just have to find La Casa Madrigal, and then... well... The rest would become history.

Holding her breath she spun around to shut the door, and nearly fainted as she saw the house looming above her.

It was huge. At least two or three stories high. It looked... just like Casa, except... bigger. A lot bigger. It was beautiful, and looked friendly and inviting.

"Hola Casita," she said, smiling widely at the building in front of her. Casita waved back with a shutter, and Mirabel knew that everything would be alright. If she had Casa/Casita with her nothing could go wrong.

She felt Jeff climb up to her shoulders again, and she stroked him silently for a minute. "Okay Jeff, let's do this."

She nearly went entirely around the base of the house, just looking for the front door. Eventually she found it, and entered as soon as she did.

The courtyard was huge, and she found herself staring around at everything in it. There were fountains, and vines, and an entire upstairs littered with glowing orange doors. She spun around twice, trying to cement the look of the place in her mind.

Was this really the place Papá grew up in? Why on earth would he leave?

She looked up at the top of the house, and saw... a candle?

"How did you get your powers Papá?"

"When my Papá sacrificed himself... we were blessed with a magical candle."

"Where's the candle now?"

"My Mamá has it, back at our old home."

Mirabel was staring at the candle that had saved her Papá's life. That had blessed them all with magic, and a magical home. The candle that... hadn't given her a gift.

"You don't need a gift Mirabel. You are the real gift, kid."

"Alright, let's do this." Mirabel said, and smiled a bit as Jeff clambered down into her bag. "I can do this... I can do this..." She closed her eyes, held her breath, then started looking for a person inside of this huge house.

Agustin stared at the door, where his little girl. His little Mirabel. His darling girl, who had been taken away so long ago, was standing. His precious... his little girl... all grown up...

Screw the engagement. His little girl was there! Mirabel was there! Standing in the doorway, smiling and looking self-confident. She looked a bit messy, and disheveled, but who cared!? His little girl was right there!

He pushed his chair back and leaped to his feet. It seemed like he wasn't the only one in the family to have the same reaction. Julieta was right there next to him, along with Isabela, Dolores, Pepa, Felix, Luisa, and Camilo.

The family all stared at Mirabel, whose smile stayed wide, even though there was a strange look building up in her eyes.

Agustin couldn't hold it in any longer. Even just a second's hesitation felt terrible to him. He rushed across the room and flung his arms around his daughter. His little Miraboo.

He felt more sets of arms wrap around his daughter and himself, but he didn't care. Mirabel was there. She was actually there. She had to be Mirabel. She had the same puffy hair, the same glasses, the same adorable face. She was there. She was there and they could finally be completely happy and whole. She had escaped.

He felt his daughter's arms wrap around him briefly, and his life felt complete again.

He held her for as long as he could, until his wife laid a hand on his shoulder and he knew that he had to let his daughter go.

Mirabel adjusted her glasses, and then took a step back. Her smile was gone, but she still seemed happy. "Sorry, sorry," she said, and every syllable sounded like music to Agustin's ears. "I'm just not used to... peopling... Wow. There are a lot of you."

Agustin found himself looking to his right at the rest of his family. There wasn't even the whole family there... what was Mirabel talking about? Had she been isolated or something?

"Mirabel," Julieta took a step forward, and cupped Mirabel's cheek in her hand. "You've grown so tall..."

Mirabel nodded, her smile returning. "I mean... Uh... Yeah... I'm not as tall as..."

"Bruno?" Julieta said, and Agustin felt his blood run cold at the mention of his brother-in-law's name. Mirabel nodded, and Julieta laughed a bit. "You'll get there soon."

"Alright, give me a second," Mirabel said, and Julieta's hand fell back to her side. She took a step back and slipped under Agustin's arm. Mirabel turned to Pepa and said, "You're Tia Pepa... and... ooh. Looks like you've got a cloud..."

Sure enough Pepa had a small storm cloud above her head, she looked a bit embarrassed, but Mirabel said, "Hey! Señor! Yeah, you!"

She seemed to have gotten Mariano (who was still on one knee in shock)'s attention. "Can you get my Tia a towel please? Thank you!"

Mariano was so surprised by Mirabel's request that he left immediately, presumably to fulfill it. Mirabel seemed content with that, and then continued on the family list. "And you're Tio Felix, because there's no one else you could be, and you're holding Tia Pepa's hand." Felix had a smile on his face and he nodded.

"And you must be Dolores!" Mirabel said, and Dolores nodded. Mirabel smiled widely at her, and said, "You're really pretty by the way... And you must be Camilo." Camilo nodded just like his sister, and Mirabel nodded back once.

Then Agustin's youngest turned towards her side of the family, and she smiled widely at Isabela. "And you're Isabela! You're like... super pretty." Isabela stared in shock at her sister, and Agustin wished that he could pull all of his girls in a hug at that moment.

"And you're Luisa," Mirabel turned towards her other sister, and Agustin saw that his middle daughter looked about ready to cry. "Hey, hey, it's okay. We'll have a crying session soon." She smiled kindly at her sister, and then turned to look at her parents head-on.

Agustin would never forget the next words out of his daughter's mouth. The words that would change his perspective forever.

"And you're Tia Julieta and Tio Agustin!"

He was going to murder Bruno.

Julieta felt her heart seize up in her chest. Her darling little girl, her youngest daughter, who was right there, who had been so small last she had seen her, who... after all this time... Was right here.

And she had just called her 'Tia'.

She felt her husband tighten his hand around hers. She tore her eyes away from Mirabel and looked up at Agustin's face. Her esposo had a grim look on his face, and was obviously grinding hard on his teeth. There had to be an explanation for what her daughter was thinking. She couldn't... Bruno wouldn't... No...

"Are you okay?" Mirabel asked, raising a hand and extending it out towards Julieta. Julieta felt tears start to build up in her eyes. "We're fine..." she choked out, but she clearly didn't believe what she said. Mirabel gave her a skeptical look, but seemed to trust that Julieta wouldn't lie to her. "Good," she said, and her smile grew.

"I'm gonna kill him." Agustin said darkly, and Mirabel's eyes grew wide. "What?" she asked sounding terribly concerned. "Kill who?"

"Bruno," Julieta said calmly, and she looked up at her husband. "But he's not actually going to do it..." She wanted to say something else, but she felt her voice stick in her throat. "It's just... Just..."

"Why are you going to kill Papá?!" Mirabel exclaimed, and her eyes filled with fear. She backed up, staring in horror at Agustin. "What... Why...?"

"HE'S NOT YOUR FATHER!" Agustin yelled, and Mirabel gasped, covering her mouth with her hands. Julieta saw tears start to build up in her daughter's eyes, and turned to her husband. "Agustin... Not like this..." she begged, and felt her own fear build up as she stared at her husband's eyes.

Agustin's eyes were filled with pure, unadulterated rage. He had tears in his eyes too, and his face was filled with anger. "That... damned... horrible..."

"Agustin!" Julieta said, placing a hand on her husband's chest. "You're scaring her! It's not her fault!"

At her words her husband seemed to finally notice their youngest daughter's mood. Mirabel looked like a scared kitten, her hands were reaching for the doorknob, and Julieta just had time to call out "Mirabel wait!" before Mirabel dashed into the hall.

A moment later Mariano reentered the room, holding a towel. He stared at the family, who were all staring past him out the door. "Uh... I got the towel..." he said, handing it to Felix, who wore a shocked expression. "I think... Uh... We'll come back later..."

His abuela joined him a moment later, and the two Guzmans left.

The family stood there, silently. Then Antonio left the table and moved to stand next to his mother. "Who... Who was that?" he asked innocently.

"That... Was Mirabel Madrigal." Abuela said, standing up and drawing everyone else's attention. "Your cousin." The family's eyes went to the family tree behind Alma, and she motioned towards the youngest daughter of Julieta and Agustin.

Before their very eyes the image changed. Like it did when a new Madrigal was born. The version of Mirabel, previously kept at five years old, morphed into her fifteen-year-old self, and, for the first time ever, her position changed.

Her image shuffled to the left, coming to rest right underneath Bruno's. To Julieta's shock and horror the painting connected Mirabel's image to a third person.

Her 'Papá'.