The Gift Swap (DISCONTINUED)

🦋Eight🦋

Alma stared in horror at the note in her hand, her eyes piercing through the handwriting that belonged to her son.

"Señora?" the villager beside her tried again. "What's wrong?"

"I..." Alma realized her mouth was hanging open and snapped it shut. "I must leave—right now. I'll be back to explain everything soon, I promise."

With that, she left the villagers standing there, highly confused and concerned.

Bruno wouldn't send the information this way unless it was urgent. Trying to control her mounting panic, Alma sped-walked up the street, where she spotted Pepa staring in confusion at a large boulder with a deep crack running through the center—evidently she'd just hit it. Félix stood beside her, looking half terrified, half deeply impressed.

"Pepa, Félix, family meeting!" Alma told them, not slowing her pace. "Tell everyone there's a family meeting!"

Pepa looked hopefully at her husband, who sighed.

"Fine, Pepita," he said tiredly, and Pepa happily picked him up, running off after her mother.

-

Soon, everyone was gathered in the courtyard. Mirabel and Luisa stood on the stairs, Mirabel gripping the railings until her knuckles were white. Camilo had somehow figured out how to create a swing like Isabela had before, and he was now joyfully swinging back and forth in the middle of the courtyard, whooping a little. Isabela watched from the sidelines, looking grumpy at the outcome—a tiny thunderclap could be heard in the distance.

"What's this about?" Julieta asked Alma, linking her arm with Agustín's. "You said it was urgent."

Alma nodded, folding her hands in front of her. "Yes, yes it—" she looked around, trailing off. "Where are Bruno and Antonio?" She noticed Mirabel, who was staring into space with a tight look around her eyes. "Mirabel?" she said softly, and Mirabel blinked, focusing on her abuela. Alma took a guess at Mirabel's newfound gift: "Can you hear Bruno and Antonio?"

Mirabel squeezed her eyes shut, pressing her lips together in concentration for a moment. She then said, "Yes. They're coming."

Alma exhaled in relief. "Good—because that's what this meeting is about." The worry in her voice was missed by no one—not even Camilo, who slowed his happy swinging abruptly. "It's about Antonio."

"We're here!" Bruno announced anxiously, bursting through a hole in the wall and scrambling into the courtyard. Under his arm, he held a familiar glass vision. Antonio followed close behind, looking disoriented.

"Toñito!" Pepa ran past Bruno to embrace her son. Bruno looked slightly miffed, but he quickly brushed it off.

"So," he said, addressing his family, "Unless Mami told you everything—which she couldn't have, because I didn't send her much information..." He trailed off, confused at his own words, but pressed through again: "Um, what I meant was, Antonio had a vision about this whole swap thing."

He presented the vision, and everyone stepped closer automatically to get a better look. Camilo tried to shapeshift to become taller, but remembered the flaw in that plan and huffed irritably.

"What is that?" Mirabel asked, creasing her eyebrows as everyone crowded around.

In the glass, there was an image of the great mountain that had broke in two when Mirabel and Alma both accidentally teamed up to destroy the magic—you know, good times.

"What lead to that?" Camilo demanded, pointing at the vision. Félix smacked his hand down.

"I don't know; I didn't see all of it," Bruno said miserably, handing the glass to the closest person—that happened to be Julieta. She took the glowing green vision and studied it carefully, tilting it back and forth as if that would do something. She passed it to Agustín, who passed it to Luisa. "Antonio was panicking, and I was trying to help him calm down, but then I started panicking, and neither of us saw anything, and—"

"Hey." Pepa straightened up, putting a hand on her brother's shoulder, holding Antonio's hand as she did. "It'll be okay. No one blames you, you know."

That seemed to make Bruno feel a lot better. He visibly relaxed, shoulders dropping as he exhaled. Under Pepa's hand, he seemed to find his confidence again, facing the family once more. "But we had an idea, and, ah, Abuela won't like it."

All eyes turned to Alma, who blinked, on guard immediately. "What is it, Bruno?"

Bruno faltered before speaking, glancing at Antonio for support. The boy nodded at his tío, smiling encouragingly despite looking groggy still.

Bruno took a deep breath and looked Alma in the eyes. "We think we have to go through the mountain, outside the Encanto."