Where I Belong

La Familia Madrigal

No, no, no, no, NO! This is bad, this is so bad! 

We all screamed as we were once again spinning in the vortex. How did Manolo and Maria get dragged into this? This is the last thing I wanted for them! 

After a while, the vortex threw us out, and we landed hard on the ground. We landed in the grass, but it still hurt really bad.

“Is everyone ok?” I asked.

“Paimon is ok.” Paimon said.

“We're good.” Maria groaned as Manolo helped her up. 

I stood up and dusted myself off, “Aahhhhhhh! I hate this freaking-!” I turned to the unwilling travel partners, “I'm so, so, sorry! I didn't mean for this to happen. Now you're stuck here with us, far from home, and I don't know how to send you back, let alone if you can go back-”

Maria grabbed me by the shoulders, “Fabi, look at me. Yes, all of this is crazy. But we'll figure this out.”

“She's right.” Manolo said, “The important thing is that we stick together.”

“Aren't you scared?” I asked. 

“Of course, we are. But we don't have many options now, do we?” 

I took a deep breath. They were right. There wasn't much we could do now. Paimon and I explained everything a bit more to Manolo and Maria.

“Please don't think you're not any less real than you are right now.” I said, “Because you clearly are.”

“We know, it's just… a lot to take in.” Manolo said. 

“Yeah, I thought the same thing.”

“So, if the Mora Stone changed when you came to our world, do you think it changed again?” Maria asked. 

I took the Stone out of my pocket and saw the purple gem part had gotten a little bigger. More of the stone shell had chipped off.

“Hm. Paimon thinks the more we travel, the more the Mora Stone turns into a jewel?” Paimon wondered. 

“That does make sense.” I said.

“What happens when it's completely transformed?” Manolo asked.

“I don't know…” I'm a little scared to find out.

“Well, we'll get there when we get there.” Paimon said, “The important thing is figuring out where we are.”

“Right. Uh…” I looked around and saw we were in a jungle not far from a village. I racked my brain trying to figure out where we were. This place looked familiar, but I couldn't put my finger on it.

“Try not to draw too much attention to ourselves.” I said, “We're most likely gonna look weird to these guys. N-Not that you look weird, it's just that-”

“Fabi, it's ok.” Manolo said, “We understand.” 

Just then, three young kids ran past us. Wait. Those kids look familiar. I looked up at what they were running towards. Ahead was a colorful house on the outskirts of town. 

“I… think I know this place.” I said, my heart stopping.

“You do?” Maria asked, “Where are we?”

“We're in Colombia! Come on!” We ran along with the kids. When we caught up with them, I asked, “Hey! Where are you off to?” 

“We're going to the Madrigals!” The boy running on coffee said excitedly. I knew it. 

We ran closer to the house until we were looking through the kitchen window. A teenage girl with tan skin, short, curly dark hair was laying plates out on the table. She had a white shirt and blue skirt that was decorated with butterflies and had green round glasses. Mirabel Madrigal.