Encanto 2 - A Tale of United Families

Unconditional Love

Bruno took Mirabel and Juano inside. To their shock, the house's insides were so dark. And to make matters worse, cracks were creeping along the walls.

"It's just back at the old casita," dreaded Mirabel.

"We have to investigate that cave," Juano acknowledged.

Bruno became confused. "'Cave'?"

"We found a cave with a dark magic symbol on it. We fear there's something dreadful that's been corrupting our magic. If we stop it, we just might be able to save the city,"

"How do we know what lies in there?" Bruno was pale with fright. "How do we know there's not something dangerous?"

Mirabel and Juano were lost for words. They turned to each other, fearing for one another's safety. But they knew one thing. They had to be strong. For the sake of their home, their people, their family.

Outside Antonio was playing with his cousins whilst Isandra and Gabriella stood together, staring out at the campsite of all those who had left their former home to come here for refuge. They thought about their family and their burning resentment for Mirabel and Juano. Isandra was most scared of all how they would react if they came anywhere near their crumbling home and saw the new children. What would they think? What would they do?

"I'm really scared tia," she dreaded. "I'm scared of what they'll try to do if they came anywhere near here,"

"That's never going to happen," said Gabriella with certainty, though behind that strong tone, her niece detected a panicking beat.

Mirabel twiddled her fingers nervously, the men behind her. Her best friend and tia came forward. Antonio cocked his head towards her and she gave him a gentle look and he nodded. He was to keep the children at bay; they didn't need to hear anything. Pedro still glanced worriedly towards his family, anxious about what they were gonna discuss in private.

"We think going into that cave corrupted by dark magic will give us answers on how to save our home...but we don't know for certain...if it will work," Mirabel said anxiously.

"But we have a chance," said Gabriella. "We can't give up on our home,"

"We won't," said Juano with determination. "But we fear that going inside could still have terrible consequences," he pursed his lips.

"There's no easy way to say this..." Mirabel twiddled her fingers. "But we may have to evacuate the entire city...in case things get worse,"

"But where are we supposed to go?" asked Isandra. They knew that beyond their borders were the terrible droughts that had dried up Columbia and the likelihood of more terrible conquerors roaring the continent.

"I'm afraid we have no choice," said Juano. "We can't let them stay here and put them at risk. We need to tell them sooner or later,"

"And how do you plan to tell this to the children?" Gabriella questioned her husband, a bit passive-aggressively.

Bruno looked torn apart as he gazed at their kids with Antonio. It felt hard to even have th the guts to think what words to use to tell them a hurtful truth.

Suddenly Juano felt a painful pang in the heart and he felt his head aching like something was crushing him from the inside. He fell to his knees, jamming his fingernails into his temples.

"Juano!" Mirabel caught him in his arms. Her tia and tio fell beside her, Isandra kept the children back so they wouldn't be shocked. A powerful seizure overtook him.

Inside the house, the cracks were spreading violently. The candle turned three-quarters pitch black and the flame turned to a ghastly green.

"Stay with me! Stay with me!" Mirabel begged, trying to keep him calm. Bruno and his wife struggled to hold him down.