Enchanted

Chapter 3

(Dipper pov)

Hearing something shatter I look up. On the floor, a few feet ahead of me is a broken shingle. That's weird. Casita has never had any part of her broken ever. I think it's part of the magic.

Rising to my feet I go over kneeling down. I pick up a piece of the shingle as I look up spotting here it had fallen from. I still don't understand how this thing fell in the first place?

I hiss in pain, dropping the shingle, a wide cut across my palm with blood slowly dripping onto the ground. Glancing at the ground I see a wide crack. Growing worried I place my hand over the crack.

"Casita? What is wrong?"

The whole house feels like an earthquake is happening. The shaking is so bad that when I try to rise to my feet I just fall back onto the ground. I watch in horror as hundreds of cracks spread all over the house. They reach up to Stan's window where the candle sits, the flame flickering and almost going out.

"Oh no....."

The house stops shaking as I get to my feet and run to Antonio's room. Inside everyone is still dancing and partying, everyone unaware that anything is wrong.

I push through the crowds of people, rushing over to Stan.

"Stan! Something is wrong with the miracle!"

All the music stops, everyone turning to me.

"Th-There were these cracks spreading everywhere a-and the candle almost went out!"

"Show me." He says. I lead him out of the room, everyone else following us out. I do down the stairs but the broken shingle is gone. Looking around I see none of the cracks are there. It looks like they were never here. What the fuck?

"But..." I turn back to Stan. "They were here, I swear. They were everywhere and-"

"That is enough, Dipper." He turns back to the townspeople. "The magic here is strong. As well are the drinks." Everyone else has a chuckle at that as they all head back into Antonio's room. The only person that lingers is my mom.

"Mamá, por favor, tienes que creerme."

She comes over, gently grabbing my hand and turning it over looking at the cut. "Arreglemos este corte y luego hablaremos."

She leads me into the kitchen where she gets a washcloth wet and has me hold it to the cut. I do so as she starts cooking something.

"I am not making this up, Mom. You know that I wouldn't do that."

"I know that all day you have had a difficult time becuase of what happened when you were younger. That maybe seeing someone younger get what you missed out on was harder than you expected."

"Mom. I would never ruin Antonio's day. And I know that I'm not strong like Luise, or stupidly perfect like Mabel, but who needs a stupid gift anyway."

"Hey." She lightly grabs my arm, handing me the arepa she had just finished making. "You are as special as anyone else here, gift or no gift."

I take a bite of it, watching as the cut heals. "Yet you just magically healed my hand with arepas con queso."

"I healed you with love." She wraps an arm around me pulling me close. "Because I love my son with his big brain."

"Mom...."

"His kind heart."

"Mom-"

"And his cool hat."

"Stop." I pull away as I turn to her. "I know what I saw and you and everyone else thinking I'm just crazy isn't going to change that."

"......when Ford left.....after he lost his way.....it was hard on everyone. It hurt Stan the worst. He closed up so much after it. We all lost a part of ourselves after he was gone. I don't want to lose more people I love. I don't want to lose you."

"You won't. I promise."

She smiles softly, holding my face in her hands and gently kissing my forehead. "I know. I love you. Never forget it."

"I love you too, Mom."

I head back upstairs going to my room. I lay on my bed looking up at the ceiling. I know that I saw those cracks. Maybe.....was it some kind of omen or sign that Casita was showing me? Trying to tell me that the miracle was in danger? But how could magic be in danger? That doesn't make sense. Dealing with magic needing help at all is completely new to anyone.

No one else believed me about the cracks. I can't rely on anyone else when it comes to figuring out what the hell is going on. It's just going to have to be me and Casita to fix things.

"But how the hell am I supposed to fix a fucking miracle?" I ask as I sit up. "I mean, if you want me to go on this big huge adventure to save the family, I will gladly do that. But I need a starting point at least. All the best adventures have a starting point. And those cracks I saw aren't a starting point. That is motivation for the adventure to start. But I need to know what to actually do in order to help whatever is wrong."

Standing up I pace the length of the room as I try to find the solution on how I can even fix something as big and powerful as a mircacle. I have found over the years that pacing small lengths like this actually helps me think of solutions to difficult problems faster.

"Well, if it's broken then I have to figure out why and find a way to fix it. But I don't know why. If Stan knows, he won't tell me. He already didn't believe me about the cracks. It would have to be someone who knows everything about everyone in the house."

Hearing a crash I look at a family picture that fell off my desk. I pick it up, some cracks on the glass. It's a picture of my cousins, aunt and uncle. I keep it separate from the picture of my parents and sisters. I glance at Dolores in the picture.

"I think I know just the person."