branches ✔︎ c. madrigal

chapter 4.

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"what's up with the monkey señorita?" a familiar voice inquired.

petting the small mammal, you turned to it, meeting brown eyes.

"it's not a monkey penjedo, it's a lemur," you retorted. the animal that had been resting on your shoulder for the time since you had entered the room, had finally took off. bouncing away as you watched, "you scared him,"

amused, the madrigal raised a brow, "whatever it was, you are now standing alone. are you not having fun?"

you scoffed, starting to walk to the direction of the door, somehow knowing the boy would simply follow you once again, "seeing as the rest of mí família ditched me as soon as we walked through the door, and i'm not a huge fan of parties—no, i am not having fun,"

"i'll have to fix that then. as one of the hosts, i can't have a guest not enjoy themselves," he mused behind you.

you felt a hand grasp your own, and the world around you spun. your breath hitched as you found yourself being pulled towards the middle of people dancing which you had only been walking by. your body stiffened as a hand slithered to your waist, the other still holding your hand.

"what the f—" your sentence was put on hold as your eyes met with familiar brown ones. you scowled, certainly not impressed by the stunt the boy pulled, "i'm not a dancer,"

"well you might as well try to be now that we're here," he teased.

"i don't even know your name," you growled under your breath.

"what a shame, i don't know if i'm surprised or not seeing as you didn't even know i was a madrigal," the boy smirked, his curls gliding with the wind you both picked up as he spun you with control.

though, you weren't as keen to the situation, and quickly took to fight for the lead. trying to move you both towards the exit so you could make a quick escape. though, it wasn't easy as he caught onto what you were doing. resulting in a fight over control on the makeshift 'dance floor'.

"just spill it already caballerete," you snapped, already tired since the moment you stepped into the casita.

"camilo," he replied.

"camilo madrigal,"

he hummed as his name rolled off your tongue, "and are you just going to make me call you señorita cinderella for the rest of my life?"

you clicked your tongue in annoyance, "[y.n]," you snaked your way out of his hold, "now if you excuse me, i'll be leaving. adíos!"

he sputtered as you disappeared into the crowd. above the mass of heads, he noticed the way the top of the door opened, and slammed shut. camilo chuckled lightly to himself from the way you were able to get away from him so easily. only turning away when antonio had tugged on his ruana, asking for his older brother to dance with him.

•

you sighed in utter exhaustion. that boy was tiresome. you yawned, seeing as it was quite late already, you figured it would have been appropriate to leave now. the doors however, caught your attention. you'd never actually seen them all before, but they were beautiful. walking past each door, examining their glow, and magical designs. even though you didn't really know their gifts, the doors sure gave you an awfully big hint.

delores, her, and her doe eyes were surrounded by beams of sound vibrations. pepa, her door covered in different types of weather, rain, sun, snow. abuela alma, her door had a bigger frame than the rest, and held the miracle candle. camilo, a smug look carved onto his face, above him were faint outlines of a man, and a woman. luisa, standing tall with dumbbells all around her—

the door flickered, loosing its glow for just a seconded before coming back. you pulled your hand away, and stumbled back with startled eyes. were they supposed to do that?

rumbling came from behind like a stampede of elephants. only seconds later, abuela alma came out of antonio's room with mirabel in distress with all the other guests following closely behind. you ducked behind a potted plant.

"the house.. the house was in trouble, the cracks were there, and the candle—" mirabel said breathily, looking around with wide eyes before resting on her abuela, "i-i don't understand.."

"there is nothing wrong with la casita madrigal, the magic is strong!" abuela alma announced reassuringly to the frigid crowd. mirabel's father played a few keys on the piano, trying to get the music back up to distract the guests from the sudden hold, and the guests went back inside antonio's room.

no one believed her. you came out from the potted plant, and down the stairs to mirabel who was with her mother.

"[y.n]! you were out here weren't you? didn't you see the cracks?" the girl's voice was hoarse, pleading for any type of witness to prove she wasn't going crazy.

"no.. i didn't see any crack, sorry,"  you cringed. mirabel let go of the hope she had for a second, "but— i did see luisa's door flickering?" then it came back.

"see? mamá, i'm not going totally crazy!" mirabel reasoned. her mother sighed, grabbing her daughter's hand, and examining it. only now, had you seen the cut she had on the palm of her hand. you grimaced, that must hurt.

you followed the two madrigals into the kitchen. julieta started cooking something on the stove, and let it sit.

"mirabel, you have extraordinary talents," you began, taking a hold of the hem of the girl's skirt which had an embroidery of her name, and tons of butterflies up her side.

"you're just as special as anyone else in this familia," her mother continued, handing mirabel the cooked food. she took a bite out of it, holding her injured hand out, and watching as it healed.

"you just healed my hand with an arepa con queso,"  she stated bluntly.

this chapter was tiresome to make, sorry for it being so unwell made-