A Slow Burning Candle *Main story completed, additional scenes to be added*

Chapter 16: Contract

Luz wasn't proud of how she had acted. Once she was back at her apartment, she had mostly just sat around the rest of the day, waiting. For what, she didn't know.

At the end of the day, she came back to herself again when the magic flowed back into the town. As it spread out in a golden light, she suddenly felt a warmth all over, like she'd been hit with a ray of sunshine.

She remembered to eat and made herself dinner as the day ended and the Encanto returned to their "normal."

If Bruno hadn't been there, Luz would have considered attending the party that they held that night to celebrate the new casita.

As it was, she was ready to sleep and set her alarm to get up extra early the next morning – she wanted to get some supplies before school started the next day.

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After the fiesta ended when the moon was already high in the sky, the Madrigal family retired for some much-needed rest.

Mirabel and Pepa had the earliest alarms. As Pepa got Antonio up for a normal school day, Mirabel set off for the village, ready to grab some of the groceries the family would need and had neglected to get the day before - for obvious reasons.

Perusing the stalls for vegetables, she happened upon her maestra, who was grabbing some cebollas for a soup.

"Maestra Estrada!" She waved to her and the teacher nodded, approaching her.

"Mirabel! I'm very glad that you're okay, and your family too." She put a hand on her students' shoulder, "We were worried."

"It's okay," The young woman smiled, "I feel a lot better. I know now that I am just as special as the rest of my family, I mean, I always knew that I was, but now, I actually know."

Luz tilted her head to one side, "You were always special, gift or not."

Mirabel smiled, "I'm just glad I finally feel that way – on the inside."

They shared a joyful moment, the maestra happy that one of her sweeter students could finally start seeing herself as everyone else did.

"Oh, did you see that my tío Bruno is back?"

Luz swallowed, "I did, yes."

"You know he never left? He was hiding in the walls of casita the whole time!" She leaned in, whispering conspiratorially before giggling, "But he's home now, and we're happy."

"He was in your house the whole time?" Biting back her shock, Luz was trying to conceal her emotions while Mirabel stood right in front of her.

"Yeah! I'm just hoping that now he can come back to the village and people will see that he's not a bad guy, you know?"

"Yeah." The teacher murmured, nodding ever so slightly. Luz was not sure how to feel about what she'd just learned.

Looking down at her basket, the older woman saw that she had enough items for the day and made a quick exit, "I better take these home before school starts."

"Alright! Adiós!" Mirabel still had a lot to buy, and she waved goodbye as her teacher hurried away, waving back.

"Well that was weird." The teen whispered under her breath, before she returned to collecting her items. Another 20 minutes and she finally had picked through enough of the fruits and vegetables to have enough to prepare the midday meal.

Heading back to casita, she saw that everyone had finally woke up and was milling about the house. Pepa rushed by her, hustling Antonio out the door as Mirabel tried to enter.