Disappeared once or twice

26. T h e C a t i n t h e b a g

"It's flying!" Alberto looked up to the sky ecstatically. "Look there! It's flying and I am making it happen." He had never once in his life been this surprised, sure he had endured many surprises during his adventures. But who would have thought that he could ever levitate real stuff.

Rock, water and air. The whole group had initially thought it had something to do with controlling three out of four elements. Fire excluded. However his gift turned out to be a little different, a little simpler than that.

When Julieta proposed that he should test his newly gained powers, Alberto happily agreed despite the discovery they had just made. Bruno was his father and Alberto had thrown a little tantrum, in his eyes it was a justified tantrum. From the third persons view it might've seemed childish, immature and unnecessary. Bruno blamed himself for not remembering the whole truth and he had already taken enough damage for that, mentally speaking. 

Testing his powers might make him forget the events that just had happened, so Alberto concentrated. He abandoned all negative thoughts and focused on pointing his energy to one certain area. He squinted his eyes in effort. He threw his hand forward as he had seen superheroes do on posters and the cartoons he read. The powerful movement followed his wrist, bringing the built up energy to his fingers and then...

Nothing, nothing happened. The tension left the room as Camilo let out a chuckle. Julieta looking at him firmly for doing so, but seconds later Alberto found the situation hilarious too. It must've looked utterly ridiculous, weird hand movements, desperation and the face he pulled. Bruno had wanted to laugh too, but was too shy and self-conscious for starting it. Since Alberto was doing it too, he allowed himself to relax and smile warmly. 

"Oh boy." Julieta had sighed as she started explaining how she got her gift to work. It wasn't useful in the slightest, however Alberto appreciated her attempt. The only member of the Madrigal family who could control their gift with a snap of their finger, was Isabella. Camilo was a close one though, so they decided that he should explain. Most of the gifts couldn't be controlled at all, but there were a few that could. (Dolores envied them, wishing she could turn off superhearing too.)

"So the first step is to completely empty your mind." Camilo had started explaining step by step.
"Completely empty? Not even the good thoughts?"
"Not even the good ones." Camilo had confirmed, "The second step is to gain control entirely." He should know, since he still lost control every now and then. He had been working on it, he had even improved a whole bunch in the past few years. However his anxiety, insecurity and fear grew stronger too. He covered it up with a happy outgoing personality and a big smile.

"How do you gain control?" This was the question Camilo had no answer for, so he stooped to some meaningless words: "You will know how to take control when you feel your gift controlling you." He hated himself for not giving a proper answers, but that wasn't something he could stand still long for. 

"You direct your energy towards the thing or place you want to change or do something with, IDK. I suppose you should then wave with your hands or some, Isabella does that?" His last advice was a little unsure, nothing like him. Camilo had flashed a big smile to make it more believable, because faith was something you should have in your gift too. It was a little hard to have faith in something you don't know the meaning or purpose of, but Alberto was willing to give it a try. 

He succeeded, thanks to Camilo he succeeded in using his gift. He could levitate a rock and water, then he tried to force air out of the way and he made that happen too. Alberto was too caught up in the moment to realize how dangerous his gift could be to humanity. If he could 'control' air at will, Alberto could force air to disappear from one area, leaving the human in the said area to choke and die.

It wasn't one of his concerns as he was blowing a firm wind towards Camilo, making his ruana dance in the wind. Soon enough they found out it wasn't particularly rock that Alberto could levitate, but just any object really. He found out by trying to lift up one of Isabella's roses which decorated the floor. It worked. The rock, water and air had a better meaning: Objects, liquids and gas.

The rose was flying around the hallway, towards the downstairs area. Mirabel was about to warn them to be careful since there are more people in this household, but she was stopped by a movement. The door had opened and in the doorway stood an old lady, Abuela Alma was looking directly at the rose as it fell down. Isabella was nowhere in sight, so she looked up. 

She met the eyes of the small group of people standing in front of a door that said: Alberto. Her expression changed immediately and Dolores behind her mouthed the words: I'm sorry. Before the young girl took her leave. Abuela was beyond furious.

This was going to be a long, long night.