𝗕𝗨𝗧𝗧𝗘𝗥𝗙𝗟𝗜𝗘𝗦

vii

"Why do they never end? Where's Camilo when you need him?"

Abuela walked the balcony with Isabela, the flowers trailing behind her as they spoke of how perfect her match with her to-be-fiancé would be. Mirabel stuck her head out the pillar and observing that there was no one else, dragged Elena to a dark corridor hidden from the rest of the house. The two pursed their lips, standing in front of the dusty, old door and shared a look before nervously nodding and rotating the metal knob open.

It swung with a creak and they entered, grunting at the waterfall of sand in front which blocked whatever view remained ahead. "Casita? Can you turn off the sand?" The floor tiles rumbled from out the door and Mirabel raised a brow. "You can't help in here?" The house responded with another rapid rumble of tiles and Elena gestured if they should get help which the spectacled girl shook her head at. "We'll be fine. I need to do this."

Elena sighed with a puff of her cheeks but did not leave her and instead smiled. "For you, for Abuela and maybe, a little for me." Mirabel sheepishly admitted and her friend giggled. "Find the vision, save the—" she couldn't finish the recitation as she stepped into the waterfall, yelling when she dropped below the bottomless pit.

"Mirabel!" Elena called in panic, looking down and sighed in relief when her friend's muffled 'I'm okay' echoed the edge. Taking another deep inhalation, the ruby dress girl gulped and hopped below to follow with a high yelp.

She felt herself fall into a heap of soft sand which made for a harmless landing. She giggled and slid down the remaining sand, meeting with the exasperated expression of her best friend.

"How are you so graceful?! I fell faceplant here and probably ate some sand too!" She exclaimed, Elena shrugging innocently.

The two dusted the gravel off their dresses and stepped forward, gasping at the sight in front of them. The cave was huge, it's ceiling so far away that it almost touched the sky. A large rock carving of a hand pointing upwards stood beside the starting point of the endless no. of stairs.

A bird with a large beak, similar to Antonio's bird took a seat at a tiny rock by their side and Elena petted it. "Hello." Mirabel talked, "Lots of stairs." She cringed but smiled at the bird's squawk, "But at least, I'll have another friend—" she was cut off the flapping of winds and rolled her eyes. "No. He flew away immediately." She deadpanned and Elena laughed aloud ignoring her glare. "All right."

Their journey up the stairs quickly went from jolly singing and chatting fun to pants and groans. Their feet were killing them and it seemed that with every step they took, the rest increased by two folds. They had prepared no water and Elena was sure that if her boyfriend's family weren't in danger, she would have ditched to bake something a long time ago.