Gift Swap

Part Twelve

TWs:
Notes: Written along side Camp_Gravity

A couple of days has passed without an answer to why everyone's gifts had been changed. Their gifts still hadn't returned to normal. They seemed to only be sticking to the new person and abuela was getting suspicious about everyone.

She would ask questions to everyone and a few people had almost told her. It was really hard to hide sometimes, especially with Dolores or Julieta. Not to mention, both Antonio and Camilo were horrible at keeping secrets.

It was getting harder each day to hide. And Mirabel only grew more impatient as they days passed by that she now had a gift but could not use it. She wanted to to know how to use it.

She wanted to help people like the rest of her family could. She could maybe even possibly find a way to fix their gifts for them. But Bruno wouldn't tell her how. It made her upset and a little angry to here his rejection over and over.

"I'm sorry Mirabel, but no."

"But this my only chance!" She pleaded once again, "I don't know how much longer this will last and I want to help people!"

"I don't think this is a good idea."

"How is helping people not a good idea?"

"It's not that you shouldn't be helping others. It's not a good idea to use the gift."

"Why not?"

"It's not a good gift and people only blame you."

"Every gift is a good gift! And if it's something they don't want to hear then I just won't tell them."

"Mirabel. I said no."

She frowned. "But I can help the family. What if I can I find how to fix all this?"

"There are better ways to help the family."

"How?! Do you know how to fix everyone's messed up gifts?"

"No I don't, but I've been working on it."

"How? No one knows what's going on."

"I've got a lot of theories."

"Like?"

He smiled and grabbed a book from his hair. How it got in there, Mirabel didn't know it got in there.

"Where did-?"

He opened it. "Huh?"

She shook her head. "Never mind."

"Uhm. Okay?"

Mirabel sighed.

He showed her some pages. "My first theory is-"

"But what will a simple theory do? We don't know anything!"

He frowned and lowered his book. "Right..."

"But we can check the future, can't we?" She pushed the offer to use her new gift.

"Mirabel..."

"We can fix it! *I* can fix it!" she exclaimed while feeling hurt that she couldn't not help, "I can help too! I can help just like everyone else in this family has!"

"And you have been helping!"

"How? I can't do anything!"

"Using the gift isn't going to do anything good."

"Or it could help us!"

"Mirabel-"

"Don't you think this should all be fixed? So we don't have to worry about Abuela questioning us about this change."

"Of course I do."

"Then let's try to fix it! It'll only be this once."

He sighed and put the book back into his hair. "I'm going to regret this."

She grinned. "You won't Tío Bruno. This will be a good thing."

"Be warned, you might pass out."

She nodded. "I don't mind it, as long as I'll be helping our familia."

"And it'll be really overwhelming."

"Everyone's gift has been overwhelming, even I have been overwhelmed while not having a gift. But now, I can help the whole famila."

"Right... I think?"