The Heart of Camilo (A Camilo Madrigal x Reader Fem Y/N Story)

United

*Camilo*

On the third morning, I came into the kitchen, my face set, my eyes down, not wanting to look at anyone to see their expressions - knowing what they were all thinking, that the search was becoming increasingly pointless. But I didn't care - that's what everyone was beginning to act like after a few days when Mirabel and Y/N went missing two years ago, and they had been okay, they had come back. I wasn't going to give up, not until I found her.

I ate quickly, the heavy silence hanging around the table.

"Camilo," Tia Julieta said, breaking the silence, but I held up my hand.

"No," I said, " do not say it." I stood up from the table, not finishing my food, throwing on my ruana, and went outside to wait for whoever was coming, hearing them begin to talk amongst themselves as I walked out.

I walked to where Mariano had tethered the horses on the fence, patting my horse, Damita, on her nose. "They'll come," I whispered to her. "And if they don't, it'll just be me and you today."

Suddenly, Damita tossed her head and whinnied. I stepped back, frowning, wondering what had scared her, when I noticed that someone was approaching up the path towards the house. It was a large group, at least 10 people, no one I recognized. They led horses behind them.

"Dolores," I said, "get mami and papa, there are people here, I don't know who they are."

A minute later, my family was coming out the door, joining me in front of the house as we watched the people approach slowly.

"Who are they? Are they with Ramirez?" Luisa asked.

"I don't know."

They stopped at the entrance of the courtyard, and one person from the group approached, holding up her hands to show she wasn't carrying anything. Tia Julieta and Luisa went forward, telling the rest of us to stay back.

"Who are you?" Tia Julieta called out.

"A friend," the woman replied. She was tall, with long black hair laced with grey, longer even than Isabela's, despite being much older. "I have been told that you are the Madrigals, and that you have been targeted by Ramirez and his people. We are friends of the Faction - families like yours, with gifts."

"Like us?" Isabela whispered from behind me.

"The Faction reached out to us when they learned that Ramirez has found another way to activate the catalyst," the woman said. "He will come for us next. We wanted to reach out to you, join together, so that we can make sure that he doesn't succeed."

Tia Julieta looked back at us, eyebrows raised. Abuela came forward to greet the woman, holding her hands out to her. "We are grateful and honoured to meet you. Please, come inside."

"Whoa, whoa," Luisa said. "How do we know they are even telling the truth?"

Abuela shot her a look that said she was being disrespectful, but everyone else murmured their agreement. The woman smiled sadly.

"Of course, I have heard that your family has been through a terrible ordeal, both two years ago and recently. We express our deepest condolences that one of yours has been taken."

"She's not one of ours, but she does have a gift," Abuela replied.

"She is one of ours," my mother corrected her. "She is all but engaged to my son." She put her hand on my shoulder. "Her name is Y/N. Her younger brother, Diego, was taken, as well."

The woman looked at me sincerely, looking truly concerned. "I don't expect you to take us at our word after everything you have been through. We are glad to demonstrate, with your permission?"