The Forgotten...? ••• 𝐂.𝐌𝐚𝐝𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐚𝐥

(17) 𝐆one...?

Narrator's POV:

"Everyone," Alma announced, her hands folded together and placed strictly on her stomach.
"After we finish our breakfast we'll be on with our chores and I do hope that everyone completes them as scheduled this time, Camilo. We can't be slaking on our duties, especially in front of the town, we don't want another Madrigal disaster happening again." The senior Madrigal declared, squinting her eyes at the shapeshifter as he squirms in his seat, avoiding her gaze. Abuela concluded her short speech with a curt nod, as she elegantly sat down on her chair and began to eat her food. The rest of the table started to converse as Mirabel turned to Camilo and raised an eyebrow at him, silently asking him why Abuela was so mad at him. The boy only shrugged in response and Mirabel brushed it off as a consequence of him being late for breakfast. Yet the girl failed to notice Camilo's skittish attitude and his forced "happy'" behaviour, as did the rest of the family, too occupied with their conversation to barely notice Camilo's odd mood.

Mirabel didn't chime into any discussions or any small chatter, she was in her world thinking about the only thing she could. What she was going to do. What she could do.

"Isabella, could you help me out with one of my chores? It's super easy but I can't exactly move all the donkeys on time to go and help Antonio move one of the trees in Encanto further to the outskirts of the woods." Luisa asked before shovelling a large spoonful of food, as she stared at the colourful gardner before her.

"And why are you moving one of the trees to the outskirts of town for Antonio?" Isabella hummed quietly, waiting for her sister to answer her question.
"Because there is a little family of woodpeckers in town," Antonio chipped in, grinning as one of the birds on the back of his chair made some noises, whilst flapping its colourful wings.
"Oh! And they're a little loud, especially at night." The young boy chuckled, before turning back to the bird and thanking him, waving his hand before the winged creature flew away. When the bird left Antonio turned back to his plate and he started to spark up a conversation with one of Bruno's rats.

"What have I said about relaxing, Luisa? All of this stress isn't good for you." Isabella scolded, shaking her head as she took a bite of her breakfast and continued her short rant to her second youngest sister.
"You've got bags under your eyes, you need your beauty sleep." Her older sister's instincts kicked in which only provoked a groan from Luisa and a weird, disgusting retching sound from Camilo as he tried to join into the chat.

Then Mirabel remembered, Isabella was in the back of one of Lucia's photos. Maybe she could ask her some questions, since their relationship has grown stronger over the 2 years since Bruno's incident, she'd be willing to help her and not tell any of the adults. Well, senior Madrigals.

"Hey... Isabella—can I talk to you later? As you know, sister to sister. Heh, it's super important." The girl emphasised, grinning awkwardly as she felt some eyes still on her as she kept her unblinking stare on the suspicious scowl on Isabella's face. Before she could even open her mouth to disagree, Mirabel hurried to her rescue.
"-After you've finished all of your chores, of course?" Mirabel rushed the words out, the fork in her hand waving around as she shakes her hands profusely. This resulted in one of Mirabel's famous clubs moments and some food ended up flying across the table and landing on señora Julieta's dish. Starting the lady half to death as she turned to Mirabel, who apologized profusely as went to stand up before her father chuckled and waved her off. Her mother just giggled to herself as she looked down at her plate and saw the half-eaten arepa in her pericos.

"Uh—sure, Mira. Meet me outside of the library around 3, I should be able to have a small break around than before going to the crop fields for a couple of hours." Isabella began, eyeing the arepa on her mother's plate, in a state of shock and confused- hilarity. Mirabel violently nodded her head in a non-verbal agreement whilst she rammed more food into her mouth as she repeated the awkward food-flinging encounter from a few seconds ago.