Moonlight

16 |The Rats in the Walls|

Dolores stares at Luna, the priority of getting a glass of water immediately forgotten. Luna slowly gets down from the counter "H-Hi...?" She let out a yelp when Dolores surges forward to wrap her arms around her little sister. Luna was never her little cousin in her eyes, she had always been Dolores's little sister.

Luna couldn't help but wrap her arms around Dolores to hug her tight too. She missed her big sister so much. Dolores pulls away and cups Luna's face "Is it really you?" She whispered, Luna nods "It's me, Dolores." The older girl whimpers before pulling Luna back in for another hug "Oh, mi hermanita. You're here..." Dolores pulls back again "But how? Where did you go? Where's tìo Bruno?"

The girl laughs nervously "Well...it's a long story that I wish I could share, but sadly I can't." Luna says while inching her way to the door. Dolores moves in front of her with her hands on her hips 'Wow, she's turning more into tía Pepa.' Luna thinks "Luna, you have been gone for a year. No one knew where you two were and now you suddenly show up in the middle of the night? I think I deserve an answer."

"Dolores-" "Tell me where and why you two left or I'll wake up everyone in the house and you can tell them instead." Luna tensed at this. The last thing she wanted was the whole family to find out about her and Bruno...but she couldn't bring Dolores into the walls. Luna looked at her older sister and could tell she wasn't bluffing. She sighed, making up her mind.

Bruno blinked in disbelief when he saw Dolores standing next to Luna, also looking at him with the same expression. Bruno rubbed his eyes and blinked again. Nope, she was still there. He looked at his daughter who was fiddling with her hair "Luna..." Luna smiles sheepishly "Yes papa?" "Why is your cousin standing next to you?" He asks.

Luna fidgets nervously on her feet "Um...well..." she hides a bit behind Dolores "I wanted to get a snack and Dolores caught me. But I was being quiet, Papa! Honest." She mumbles. Bruno pinches the bridge of his nose with a sigh "I believe you, mija." He says before looking at Dolores "Well...this is probably more awkward than any other conversation I've had in my life. And that's saying something."

Dolores opened and closed her mouth a few times before speaking "I just...I can't believe you two have been here the whole time! We thought you both left the Encanto!" She exclaims. Bruno raises an eyebrow "Seriously? They actually thought I would climb those tall mountains with my child? They're crazy." "Well we couldn't find you guys around here!" Dolores then gasped "So you two were the rats in the walls I've been hearing!"

"Surprise?" Luna sheepishly says. Dolores paces back and forth "I just...I can't believe it. You two have been living in the walls this whole time?" Bruno sighs "I know it's a lot to take in. But Dolores, you can't tell anyone that we're back here." He says. Dolores blinks "B-But they have to know! We've all been worried sick about you two!" The sentence strikes a nerve in Luna for some reason but she chooses to ignore it.

"No! Dolores they can't know. We...we left for a reason." She murmurs. "But why? Did it...did it have something to do with why Mirabel didn't get a gift?" Dolores asks. Bruno and Luna exchange a look before Bruno sighs "I'll tell you. But Dolores, you have to promise you won't say anything to the rest of the family." Dolores squeaks at that. She wasn't exactly the best at keeping secrets, especially if the secret was that big.

But the look of desperation on her tío and little sister's face was too much. Dolores nods "I promise I won't say anything." She says. So, Bruno tells her about his vision about Mirabel and the mystery on the fate of the miracle. Once he was finished, he looked at his niece for a reaction. Dolores was trying not to freak out as much as she should. She nods "Ok...and you couldn't tell Abuela?" Luna shakes her head "You saw how Abuela looked at her during the ceremony. If she knew about the vision, she would start to treat her-" She cut herself off and looked away. But Bruno and Dolores knew what she was going to say. Like me.

Dolores nods, the whole situation being a bit too much for the 12 year old "As much as I don't like the situation, I promise to not let anyone know about this." She says. Luna sighs in relief "Thank you Dolores." Bruno noticed light starting to shine through some of the cracks in the walls and looks to see the sun beginning to rise "You should head back to your room before the rest of the house wakes up." He says "Can I walk her back, Papa?" Luna asked. Bruno wanted to say no, in fear of her being caught by an early riser but he knew how much his daughter missed her sister.

He nodded "You can but be quick and don't get caught again." Dolores hugs Bruno before she left "I'll make sure to visit, Tío." She says before taking Luna's hand and climbing out of the wall. Luna held her hand tightly, not wanting to let go even as they stood in front of her door "We'll see each other again, Luna. I promise to visit when I'm able to." Dolores says, bending down in front of her.

Luna sniffs "Promise?" Dolores smiles and held out her pinky "I pinky promise." Luna smiled and hook her pinky around Dolores's. Her hermana was good at never breaking a pinky promise to her.

Luna quickly rushed back into the walls after Dolores snuck into her room. Luna walks back to Bruno and into his arms as she began to cry, out of happiness or sadness she didn't know. Luna was happy to see her big sister after a whole year and was happy that she would try to visit. But, the situation still remained that they were in hiding. They couldn't be with their family. They just blended in with the rats in the walls.