Mirabel's Doppelganger

Chapter 16: The Crescendo

I was paralyzed in fear as I looked up at Abuela Madrigal. Too afraid to break eye contact, my instinct telling me not to take my eyes off of the rage filled woman in front of me, as dangerous as any wild animal.

Time seemed to stand still for a moment. But Encanto must have pitied me because it didn't last long. Before Abuela was able to spew the hurtful words that were on her lips in her anger, the world once again descended into chaos.

The silence was broken by snaps and crackles as the cracks appeared everywhere. Abulea broke eye contact with me in shock, and the sight seemed to sober her from her anger. For the first time ever I saw real fear in her eyes and it broke me out of my haze.

Scrambling off the table I looked around and my eyes landed on Mirabel. She stood in front of the cracked wall and I had to do a double take as horror gripped me. She was standing in the exact same position as she had been in the vison...down to the smallest facial expression.

The Casita was a disaster, not to be topped by the people still inside. Camilo had morphed his head into a younger baby cringing with fear, Dolores had her hands over her ears blocking out the world and Pepa was maniacally stroking her hair trying to soothe herself.

But the cherry on top of disaster came when a crack startled Isabella who called up a plant mistakenly to protect her from the perceived danger...the problem was that "perceived danger" plant punch found Mariano's nose instead.

At this point I was entirely forgotten, and as the Guzmàn's rushed out of the Casita, Abuela Madrigal behind them attempting to bring them back I literally faded into the shadows by the door.

I cringed as Mirabel was put down and ignored in the panic and fear as the others rushed out but still frozen in my own world I did nothing but watch.

I looked away for a second and when I looked back Mirabel had disappeared along with the prophecy peices. I was in a Casita where I was entirely unwanted. All alone and during the worst crisis our village had ever seen.

I couldn't move. I couldn't even simply move my hands from where they gripped the wall as if trying to become it. I. Couldn't. I. Couldn't. Do. Anything.

Through my haze I only barely saw Camilo come into the empty room. He stopped and listened before seeming to make up his mind, sitting on the floor with his legs crossed.

He sat there content, the world was still chaos but he seemed unfazed except for the baby head upon his body he was the picture of calm. And after a moment of breathing that disappeared too as he closed his eyes.

He gave me something to focus on and after a moment he started to hum quietly to himself. It was a familiar melody, one my mother had sung to me since I was a child as I'm sure was the case around Encanto.

The song soothed and reassured someone was there, that they could sleep undisturbed without worry.

And as I focused on the gentle humming I could feel the tension leaving my body. With the tension and fear so released their control over my gift. Before I realized it I was visible again.

Camilo didn't look surprised to see me in fact he just smiled and kept humming. I slowly realized he had done it for me, not for himself, though it seemed to have helped calm him in the process.

I eyed him and my voice came back to me, "How did you know that would work?"

The humming stopped and he chuckled, "I didn't, but coming to you last time you were upset seemed to do more harm then good...so I figured letting you come to me might be worth a try."

"Well that was definitely unique," I pipped, "But it worked."

His mischievous smile was back, "The perks of living as other people through shifting, I get lots of ideas for calming others."

His smile made my mouth quirk up on one side slightly, it was contagious. "I suppose it does."

A thought popped into my head and I looked around frantically.

"Wait where is everyone else and where is Mirabel?"

"I need to find Mirabel!! And I need to hide, I can't be found by Abuela!"

"Breathe Chula, Breathe."

Taking his advice I closed my eyes and took a breath, choosing to ignore that he called me cutie again.

When I opened them he was directly in front of me, looking concerned but too close to my face. I let out a little gasp and jumped backwards startled and needing to put space between us. Everytime I was close to him a fuzzy feeling bloomed in my chest, but the anxiety all but drowned it out.

My cheeks heated and I suddenly everything was more interesting than his face. I glanced up quickly to see him seeming to shake himself out of a haze before smiling reassuringly at me.

"Come on," he chuckled gesturing for me to follow him, "Wouldn't want Abulea to find you now, not until things calm."

I hesitated only a second before allowing him to lead me out of the room. His gentle hand on my back made me warm all over.

He lead me to the stairs pausing to pull me down into a crouch with him as Isabella came down the stairs.

Before I realized what I was doing I brought my mouth close to his ear whispering, "You know I can just turn invisible and you could walk up the stairs with no issue right?"

He smelled so good it was intoxicating, kind of citrusy but mixed with something that reminded me of cinnamon.

I quickly realized just how close we were when he took his eyes off of Isabella who was halfway down the stairs and turned his head to look at me starting to reply in a whisper.

"Because I don't trust your power, cuz you don't trust your power-"

He seemed to forget his next words as he realized we were close enough that his breathe tickled my chin.

In a heartbeat his eyes darkened as he glanced down at my lips.

For once I didn't move back, I forgot to feel embarrassed and anxious as citrus and cinnamon encased me in his warm aura. I couldn't stop myself from biting my lip as a glanced down at his full soft mouth.

I looked back up to see him looking back at me, before he reached out and brushed a lock of hair from my cheek. He seemed to hesitate before carefully leaning in, and waiting a hairbreath away for me to choose whether to close the distance or pull away.

Mischief sparkled in his eyes as he dared me to do it. I couldn't help my grin before I closed the short distance left between us.