Abre Los Ojos || Camilo Madrigal

Hazard

Leo removed his three-pound hammer from his tool belt, really wishing he had Festus with him. Well, at least Cal’s safe, he thought. I shouldn’t be overworking Festus anyway.

Camilo was having the time of his life pelting the invaders with breath mints. “Die! Die! Die! Come on, minty fresh breath is the best way to go!” he called. “THIS IS WHY THREE-YEAR-OLDS CAN’T HAVE THESE!”

One of the invaders was running by carrying a weapon of some sort… maybe a tree branch? Whatever it was, it wasn’t very useful when they tried to hit the breath mint away from their face baseball-style. The mint went straight into their mouth and they immediately started choking.

“THE BOX SAYS CHOKING HAZARD! MAYBE YOU SHOULD STAY AWAY FROM MINTS SO YOU DON’T SUFFOCATE IF YOU SURVIVE YOUR SUFFOCATION!”

Two invaders surrounded Dolores as she tried to block out the noise around her. Luisa’s war screech could’ve been heard from miles away as she threw herself on top of the two invaders.

Isabela grew hundreds of cacti and other sharp plants across the land, springing up on the noses of the invaders Mariano-style.

Antonio, despite his fear and confusion about what was going on, rode on the back of his jaguar, knocking down everything that crossed his path… including his papi.

Julieta healed everyone she could when they were within her reach, her husband being the one needing the most medical attention. 

“Foolish mortals!” one invader called out. “You cannot defeat us!”

“Um… isn’t he mortal, though?” Camilo asked.

“Sofía,” Leo sighed. “She didn’t tell me there’d be Greek monsters,”

Camilo paid no attention to what Leo was saying. Instead, he shook out all of the remaining breath mints in the container — about seven of them — and yelled, “HEY STINKY! LOOKS LIKE YOU NEED TO FRESHEN UP YOUR BREATH!” Camilo hurled the mints at the guy, catching him off guard. However, none of the mints hit their mark — the guy’s mouth.

“You fool! You think that you can defeat us with breath mints?!” Stinky the Invader roared. “I’ll show you defeat!”
“Not my son!” Pepa shrieked, the dark cloud thundering over her head. “You do not touch my family!”

Lighting struck. It’s safe to say that Stinky the Invader won’t underestimate the Madrigals ever again… or anyone for that matter.

Camilo picked up a stick from the ground and started waving it around like it was a sword… or maybe a wand? No one could tell what he was doing, but no invader went near him, not after what Pepa had done to Stinky because of what he had said to her son.

They’d make it out alive. After all,  if Pepa kept it up, the people of Encanto would no longer be outnumbered or overpowered. Only a few hundred more invaders to take down for a chance of survival.

***

Falling to your death is not something Sofía would recommend. Here she was, falling to her death with the eight-year-old version of her arch-nemesis. Totally normal, right?

So, this must’ve been how Annabeth and Percy felt when they fell into Tartarus, Sofía thought as she plummeted towards the earth. Only… their circumstances were much more terrifying.

Sofía protectively wrapped her arms around the girl to cushion Esme’s fall. She had to make sure that the girl survived. If she didn’t, the whole timeline could be messed up seriously.

Sofía closed her eyes as the world spun around her, feeling nauseous at the sight. Plummeting hundreds of feet each second was not something on her bucket list.

The whole fall probably didn’t last that long, but it felt like eons to Sofía. She held in her screams of terror to try to keep the girl from fearing the worst, but it was too late at that point. Esme was already screaming.

She tried to move Esme on top of her rather than beneath her so when they did land, Sofía would take most of the damage. Thankfully, she managed to do so before they reached the grassy casket below.

And SMACK! Her right leg hit the ground below before the rest of her body did, causing it to bend in a way it shouldn’t be able to do. She wasn’t dead! But she was very much in pain.

“Ugh, I feel like Piper,” she muttered, remembering her first quest, her quest to free Hera from her cage.

Sofía unwrapped her arms from Esmeray and carefully rolled her off her chest. She had taken much less damage than Sofía herself had, but the impact of the fall had knocked the girl unconscious.

Sofía bit her lip as she moved her leg away from the girl, trying to refrain herself from screaming out in pain. If only she had ambrosia or Julieta’s arepas. All she had was her sword and the leaves and small twigs that got caught in her hair from the fall and her run through the forest.

If she were Chiron, she would’ve warned her of cliffs… and the wild animals in Encanto. The screeches of the monkeys’ howls rang in her ears. The calls of the birds made her go crazy. And the roars of the jaguars made her breath hitch.

The sounds of the animals grew louder and louder, flooding her brain. She couldn’t focus. Panic rose within her. She couldn’t survive out here with an injured leg. And she most certainly couldn’t protect Esmeray from harm.

As if on cue, the roar of a jaguar got louder and louder and she realized that she was no longer alone. Her heart pounded harder and harder as she heard it come closer and closer. She scrambled to her feet as the beast leaped out of the shadows, ignoring the pain in her leg.

Sofía grabbed the unconscious girl and held her close in her arms. She had to make sure Esmeray would be okay. Otherwise, everyone’s lives would change greatly.

She cried out in pain as she started to run, but she tried to put her focus on keeping the girl safe. Her right leg was more painful each time her foot hit the ground, but she kept going. She had to make it out alive.

Her vision became fuzzy. “I have to do this!” she yelled to herself. “I have to!”

Unfortunately, she could not. Sofía collapsed on the ground, falling unconscious, leaving her and Esmeray the jaguar’s prey.