Mirabel's Doppelganger

Chapter 15: Dinner Crasher

Mariano's mother gave Mirabel the side-eye but refrained from saying anything about her strange behavior. Mamà Guzmàn shook it off and pretending it hadn't happened turned to Abuela.

"Well...since everyone here has a talent my Mariano wanted to begin with a song."

I rolled my eyes, still hidden behind the wall invisible so my powers and the physical barrier shielded me from view.

Guzmàn turned towards Luisa, "Lusia? Could you bring over the piano?"

I watched Luisa with empathy as she groaned and dejectedly got up from the table to fetch the piano as she mumbled a tear-filled okay. I wondered how badly her powers were affected if she was trying to avoid using them.

It didn't take long for me to find out just how weakened Lusia's powers were because before I even saw her reappear I heard the muffled sobbing and grunting. The piano scraped loudly across the floor, and everyone's eyes turned curiously towards Lusia.

Mirabel looked over at her sister concerned and realizing everyone was staring got up to distract them.

"Uh, it's actually family tradition to sing after!" On "after" she pretty much shoved Mariano off his chair onto one knee.

I covered my face with my hands and peaked through my fingers to see what was happening.  Everyone was staring at her strangely now, they were all shocked and shifted in their seats. Camilo's entire family looked wide-eyed, by their expressions I figured Dolores had already told them.

This is not going to end well.

Mariano sort of glanced at Mirabel but flipped his hair like the pretty boy he was, and turned towards Isabella and pulled a ring box out of his pocket.

As he started talking everyone tried to focus on him, though eyes still wandered to Mirabel and Luisa who still almost silently struggled with the piano.

"Isabella, most graceful of all the Madrigals..."

I was focused on Mariano and only just caught the start of a crack out of the corner of my eye. Before anyone else had noticed, Mirabel launched herself onto the ground to cover them with her body, landing with a huff.

As everyone stared at her she rearranged herself into a casual pose that looked anything but.

I crept closer to Mirabel obsessively checking every few seconds to make sure I was staying invisible. As I got closer my heart rate increased and I hoped they couldn't hear it. I knew their eyes were passing through me and they couldn't actually see me but it freaked me out regardless.

I focused hard and keeping a chokehold on my invisibility, I extended my powers out and made the cracks behind Mirabel disappear, if anymore appeared I could mask them.

I wouldn't be able to get rid of the sounds that came from them but I could make them invisible to the eye. Mirabel glanced behind her, probably to make sure she was covering the cracks completely, and looked slightly taken aback when she realized they were gone.

She got up awkwardly looking over at Mariano, "You're doing great!"

Mariano looked between Mirabel and Isabella before focusing back on Isabella.

"Uh...the most perfect flower-"

As everyone looked away I caught sight of a Coatis taking shards of the glowing prophecy out of Agustín's pocket and I urgently whispered in Mirabel's ear.

To her credit, her face remained mostly normal though she did slightly jump, no one but Camilo and Dolores seemed to notice. Camilo stared at Mirabel, and a grin started to spread across his face.

He turned to Dolores who gave him a nod, confirming his unasked question. When he mouthed a discrete "Hi," in my direction I realized the question he had asked was about me.

I barely spared him a glance though because things started to happen quickly after that. As Mariano continued his proposal the coatis grabbed the shard and recruited his buddy to start assembling them under the table.

A scratching sound came from beside Mirabel and me as we turned to try to figure out where the sound was coming from we found Lusia who had finally dragged the piano across the room. We watched as it got stuck on the small step, and she couldn't move it a single inch.

Looking up to see everyone's eyes on her she banged her head against the top of the piano dissolving into a sobbing mess that no amount of consoling would be able to stop.

Everyone had either given up on trying to focus on the proposal or was awkwardly staring at the food trying to be polite. But even I knew the proposal was pretty much entirely ruined at this point.

"Will you marry-"

I looked over at Mirabel again in time to see her launch herself under the table at the coatis who had finished assembling the prophecy on a board they had found.

"NO!"

She pushed Mariano out of the way attempting to grab the prophecy but only ended up pushing it away out of reach. I backed up a few steps as Lusia tried once again to bring the piano to the table falling to the floor and bawling in the process.

I brought my hands up to my head to cup it and cringed.

This is bad.

Pepa's carefully controlled clouds grew and started thundering as her emotions reacted to the atmosphere of the room. A toucan almost flew directly at Mamà Guzmàn's face.

"What is happening!?"

Covering her ears against the noise Dolores began to babble and my heart sank in my chest.

This is really REALLY bad.

"Mirabel and Y/n found Bruno's vision, Mirabel's in it, she is going to destroy the magic, and now we are all DOOMED!"

I scrambled forward as I tried to help Mirabel grab the prophecy from the clever coatis.

She accidentally bumped it and without thinking I leaped onto the table after it penguin style. I grabbed the tablet and held it in my arms but as I skidded to a halt right in front of Abuela I realized exactly what I had done.

The terror made me lose control of my power and I was again visible in front of everyone, sprawled across the table with everyone looking at me.

One more dish that hadn't fell when I made my gallant slide across the length of the table tipped over the side and made another loud crash as it broke on the tiles below us.

I cringed at the sound and I looked up to meet the eyes of the person I feared most in that moment. Her eyes burned with fury and in my terror, all I could think to do was raise my hand in a small wave.

"Hiii..."

~
*cringe* oof that ending is awkward as hell. Hope you all don't mind that I posted late, I apologize for not posting on Friday but it is here now!

One of my favorite tension chapters so far is dedicated to @ErickaVallarta7 I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did! Thank you so much for your loyalty to this book, everytime I post a new chapter a bit later I see you have read and voted already!  I always appreciate the reads and votes! They make my book more accessible to those looking for it!

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