The Chameleon's Grin ll Camilo Madrigal

Chapter 35 : The Funeral

Camilo's pov:

I was torn.

Between what you might ask?

Well, I could either roundhouse kick him, or shape shift into Luisa and take him on.

Funny how you knew exactly who I was talking about, you hate him so much.

But for real, I was torn between taking it outside, and dealing with it there, but I wanted to pay my respects to Senora Cortes.

I settled for moving out of my chair at the end of the row and motioning for Carmen to sit down after her speech.

Pedro watched angrily as she walked over to me, planted a kiss on my cheek, and sat down.

"I'm sorry, we need to make him so jealous he leaves. It's our best option." She whispered. "I don't want to disrespect Mamá by interrupting the ceremony."

I turned my face away quickly as I felt my face contort again out of uncontrollable emotions, but this time it took twice as long to recompose myself, and I still had burning cheeks. Suppressing the bubbling emotions at the pit of my stomach, I nodded to her and stayed standing, folding my arms in front of my chest. I tried to stop the racing of my heart, but I couldn't help it. It wouldn't calm down.

The ceremony went on, and soon it was time for the non-family members to pay their respects.

After I made sure Carmen felt secure with Pedro and all, the Madrigal clan got in line.

I watched Pedro closely from where I stood, and he knew it, making eye contact with me for a moment.

Diana retreated to the seat beside Carmen, because she didn't like sitting next to Pedro.

Carmen held her closely, moving her sister into her lap and cradled her in a motherly way.

My heart practically melted at the sight.

That was probably what their Mamá did for her when she was young. I thought, making me even sadder.

Mami in front of me was done with saying her last words to the deceased woman, so now it was my turn.

I kneeled in front on the casket, and bowed my head. "Amelia, I wish you well, reunited with your husband. I would like you to know that Carmen and Diana are being taken care of, and I'll make sure they stay that way. We both probably know that Carmen deserves better, and I'm trying to get her to that point. This is a big step in that direction, and I promise it'll just keep getting better for her. She is loved in the casita, and from what I can tell, has settled in nicely. She needs some work with warming up to people, but that takes time. But anyways, I hope you're happy seeing that your daughters have found a safe place to call home."

I stood back up, brushing a tear from my eye, and turning back to where Carmen and Diana were.

Except, they were gone.

And so was Pedro.

(I could've left this as a cliffhanger and laughed)

Panic struck my heart like a lightning bolt.

They were gone.

Carmen wouldn't have left such an important funeral, would she?

I mumbled to Dolores where I was going, and across the room she nodded to me.

I sprinted out of the building, looking to all sides of me.

There was nothing out of the usual, but beside the funeral building, there was a small patch of jungle.

Looking closer at it, there were broken branches, and the grass had flattened slightly were people had just been.

With out another thought, I pushed through the thick and winding path.

After running for about five minuets, I heard screaming.

"How dare you." It was Carmen's voice, ringing through the trees and plants. There wasn't an ounce of sympathy in her voice.

Diana was crying behind her, but her hermana had officially snapped.

I sat in the bushes, waiting to see what she would do when I saw the whole scene.

Carmen had Pedro floating in midair, at least 30 feet up off the ground. The boy was whimpering helplessly, too frozen in fear to say anything.

Her words cut like a blade, sharp and confident. "How dare you show up to my mothers funeral unannounced, take my seat, her daughter's seat, and have the audacity to threaten Diana and think you have control over this situation." She motioned towards his levitating body. "Do you call this control?!"

Pedro uttered a single world sounding defeated. "No."

She lowered him, so they were almost at the same eye level. "Tell me, why were you looking for me in the library?"

He didn't answer right away, she she took him by the shoulders and started violently shaking him, tears falling down her eyes now. "WHY DID YOU FOLLOW ME? WHY ARE YOU HERE? WHY ARE YOU INTERRUPTING MY LAST GOODBYE TO MY MOTHER? TELL ME-"

I stepped out of my bush. "CARMEN!" I went up to Diana, getting on my knees.

She immediately wrapped her arms around my neck in a tight hug. She was trembling and sobbing violently on me.

I picked up the small girl in my arms, cooing to her, and gently moving side to side to calm her down.

"It's alright, querida." I whispered into her ear. "Carmen just needs to calm down, but in the meantime, why don't we go back to the familia, how does that sound? Maybe find Antonio?"

She pulled her head out of the crook of my neck, wiping her snot on her sleeve, then on my shoulder. "Good."

I shot a serious look at Carmen, something I didn't do often. It clearly stated, 'We're going to have a talk about this later'.

The girl nodded and looked back at her hostage. She whispered dangerously, "You got off easy today, but if you ever do anything like this again, you'll be wishing Mateo was the only twin born."

She dropped Pedro into the ground, and without taking another look at either of us, he shot off like a bullet.

"Now," I said, walking back down the trail, still holding the little girl. "Let's get back to the funeral, Di."