𝐇𝐎𝐌𝐄 | 𝗰𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗹𝗼 𝗺𝗮𝗱𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗮𝗹 𝘅 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿

𝘁𝘄𝗲𝗹𝘃𝗲. 𝘣𝘳𝘶𝘯𝘰

"𝗯𝗿𝘂𝗻𝗼"

𝘆/𝗻'𝘀 𝗽𝗼𝘃
𝘯𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦....

"The magic is strong! Everything is fine! We are the Madrigals!" Abuela shouted to the worried townspeople before slamming the casita's doors.

"MIRABEL!!" the older woman shouted as thunder boomed, vibrating the house.

The girl beside me latched onto my arm and dragged me with her up the stairs. We followed some rats that carried pieces of glowing visions and wound up beside a painting. The rats had slipped underneath it and into the wall.

Mirabel poked the painting with her finger and it creaked, moving slightly. I grabbed the frame and pulled, opening up a secret door. Mirabel climbed in first and I entered after. We found ourselves in a dark, narrow passage through the walls.

The painting shut behind us, leaving only very dim light for us to see. A long crack made it's way up the wall on our right.

A rat scurried on the floor by our feet, causing me to gasp in fright. It carried a glowing green piece of glass that lit the way. We watched as the green went down the hall before ascending into the air.

Lightning struck and I shrieked in surprise, seeing a cloaked figure at the end of the hall, holding a piece of glass with a rat on his back.

He looked up at Mirabel and I revealing, dark eyes and a bit of grey-black facial hair. His head was covered by the green-colored hood of his cloak.

"Hey!" Mirabel shouted, chasing after the man as he bolted further down the passage. I was close behind as we ran through the walls.

Lightning continued to strike as we swung over and under wooden poles and weaved around corners, trying to catch up to the man. "Stop! Please!" I yelled.

We ran a few more feet before Mirabel suddenly halted in front of me. I almost ran into her back, looking at the long gap in the ground in front of us. The two of us backed up to get a running start.

Mirabel went first, making it safely to the other side and continuing after the man.

I went next, pushing back my nerves and fear. My foot hit a board as I jumped, causing me to falter as I flew towards the other side. I'm not going to make it.

Grabbing a board hanging above the drop, I managed to hold on and not fall into the dark abyss below me.

The board cracked, causing it to droop down lower, barely hanging on. "Ah!" I yelped. "Help! Help me! Please!" I cried, losing my grip as I struggled to hang on. The board was slowly breaking some more and my hands were starting to slip.

"Help me!" I screamed one last time before I lost my grip on the board. I was certain I was falling to my death while having a heart attack when I felt another hand grab onto mine. I could feel myself hanging in the air as whoever it was held onto me.

I looked up and was met with dark, chocolate brown eyes that were wide and had very dark bags under them. Messy and curly dark grey hair hung from the man's head, reaching down to just above his shoulders.

"Hi." he grunted out, struggling to keep his grip on my hand. "Hi...." I whispered back awkwardly. Bruno?

I screamed as the board broke and the man fell down too. I grabbed onto his entire leg, hanging from it as someone else had grabbed his hand. Mirabel. We were now a chain of three people and Mirabel was struggling to hold both myself and the mystery man up.

Suddenly, a rat crawled onto the man's arm, causing Mirabel to shriek and release him. I cried out as we both fell, but I hit the ground after only a few second. He had landed beside me and the pit had only been about nine feet deep. Oh.

The mysterious man looked over at me as we both lay on the ground, breathing heavily. He got to his feet and awkwardly helped me up. We both brushed ourselves off and went over to the pit's wall, where Mirabel waited quietly above us.

I took Mirabel's hand and climbed up while the man gave me a boost, supporting me as best as he could so that I didn't fall. Mirabel and I each took one of his arms once I was up, hoisting him back onto the floor. We all stood and awkwardly looked at each other.

"Bye." the man blurted before walking away, behind our backs. I frowned and turned to look at him. "What?"

"No! Hold on. Wait." Mirabel demanded, the two of us following after him.

She began asking him question after question, but he ignored her, continuing on. I could tell by now that this was definitely Bruno. "Knock, knock, knock knock knock. Knock on wood!" he said in a sing-song voice, hitting a piece of wood with every word before hitting his head in the end. My eyebrows furrowed. A weirdo....like me....