Abre Los Ojos || Camilo Madrigal

¿Adiós Encanto?

Mirabel returned with Abuela the next morning. Julieta forgot everything and ran to her, relieved that her daughter had returned. Little did she know that her brother had returned as well.

Pepa and Julieta gasped at the sight of him and ran into a hug. Bruno was a little uncomfortable with the physical contact but eventually warmed up to the hug.

Mirabel came over to Sofía. “Gracias, Sofía.”

“What? I-I didn’t do anything… Casita fell—”

“Maybe so, but you helped me bring Bruno back and,” she motioned out to an emerging crowd of townspeople. “Everyone in town is here,”

***

Over the course of a few weeks, Casita was completely rebuilt. Except, there was no magic and no doorknob.

Antonio handed Mirabel a doorknob and whispered, “We made this one for you,”

Mirabel smiled and put the doorknob in its place. To everyone’s surprise, Casita started to glow the moment the doorknob had touched the door. And Casita was alive again.

“Hola, Casita,” Mirabel said, waving to the house. It flapped its shutters as if to say ‘hello’ back.

Sofía waved to Casita, feeling pleased that she hadn’t failed. Maybe she hadn’t been able to save the first miracle, but a new one was formed right in front of her eyes.

“Gracias, Hecate,” she mumbled, looking up to the sky as if Olympus was right above her head.

“Sofía, you coming?” Camilo called from inside the house.

“Yep!” she said, running to join them.

Being away from Camp had allowed her to think about what had happened, to be able to cope rather than being forced into something new right away. Leo may have died, but she knew Leo would’ve been proud of her, for moving on and being able to save a miracle in Colombia without another demigod’s help.

As much as she missed him, she knew that what he had done was for the best and that’s all that matters. Just like how Mirabel was willing to die if it meant she saved the candle from burning out. And maybe there was a reason behind everything. Change isn’t something humans can adapt to easily, but it’s something that always occurs. Humans grasp onto what they can hold onto, what is familiar to them. But as long as you have someone to guide you along your new path, change isn’t such a bad thing. All you need is someone to be with you, someone to comfort you. And Sofía realized that Mirabel wasn’t her comforter and neither was Julieta. It was Camilo.

Camilo was there for her when she broke. He was there for her, Bruno had even seen this in his vision. Maybe Mirabel had helped her fight through her emotions, but Camilo was just there as support, allowing her to let it all out without uttering a word.

“Sofíeeeeee!” Camilo’s voice whined in her ear.

“What?” she groaned, rolling onto her side. Camilo decided to intrude in on her personal space and follow her to the nursery.

“I’m boreeeeed!”

“Then go play with Antonio. I’m busy, Señor Estúpido,”

He blew a raspberry. “You’re no fun.”

“I know,”

Camilo groaned. “What are you even doing?”

“Fine,” Sofía groaned. “If you give me five minutes, I’ll do something with you, okay?”

“Fine,” Camilo sighed, standing up from her bed and leaving the room.

A minute later, she called out, “Camilo! I know you’re there!”