The Chameleon's Grin ll Camilo Madrigal

Chapter 13 : What Did You See?

Carmen's pov:

Diana and I walked home quickly, eager to see Mamá after such a long day.

When we approached our small home, you could see that all of the lights were off, even when it was getting dark outside.

"That's odd." I muttered, not wanting to scare my hermanita.

Cautiously, I opened the door and poked my head in. "...Mamá?"

Not a sound came from inside the house. I turned to my sister. "Diana, I need you to call Dolores, just yell for her." Understanding the slight panic in my tone, she started yelling for the Madrigal girl. I however, opened the door completely and stood in the doorway.

The pungent smell of iron wafted through the air.

What?

I went back into the road, closing the door behind me. "Dolores, we need Luisa right now. Something's wrong, I know it." The unwanted tingling sensation lingered in the back of my head, trying to warn me.

A 15 minutes later, Luisa came running down the road, followed by Camilo and Isabela.

"What's wrong?" Luisa asked, coming up to me. I told her to bend down so I could whisper, "The house smells like blood."

As I was saying it, the reality of the situation hit me like a train. What happened in our home?

I turned to Isabela. "Could Diana go play with Antonio for a little while?" She saw the desperateness in my plead, and nodded, leading Diana far away from here.

My eyes started to water, I was so overwhelmed.

Camilo ran up to me and shook my shoulders.

I pushed myself away from him though, and gave Luisa the confirming nod she was waiting for. It said Do it, find out what's wrong.

The toned woman opened the door, and took her first look from the door frame, just as I had. Her nostrils flared, and we shared a knowing look.

The smell was in fact blood.

She gulped and walked in, disappearing into the house.

"What happened?" Camilo asked me.

"I don't know, we just got home, but mi Mamá was supposed to already be here. The lights were all off too, which was odd. When I looked through the door, it smelled like blood, so I called for Dolores."

He was at a loss for words, so we settled for watching the house for any signs of movement. We both knew it- Luisa's already found the cause by now. It's not a big enough house to take longer than this. The question was how long would she stand there in shock.

For another 10 minutes, we waited in silence outside.

"Alright," Camilo said, rolling up his sleeves and taking off his signature yellow ruana, handing it to me. "I'm going in."

He shape shifted into Luisa, but I grabbed his arm. "Wait." I said, and pointed to the door.

Luisa walked down the front stair in silence. Her eyes looked off into the distance, and she looked overall distracted.

Camilo shifted back into himself. "...Luisa?" He asked, slowly approaching her. "What did you see in there?

His older cousin looked down at him, as if he was a complete stranger, but then she looked to me, pointing my way. "I saw your mamá."