Hanna was winding through the crowd, searching Casita from top to bottom. But everywhere she looked, she couldn't find Camilo. Merely a few minutes ago, she was dancing with him, having the best time of her life, and then all of a sudden he was her! At first, she was in complete shock, and then she remembered the painful look on his face before he ran away. She felt horrible for her reaction. There was more to the Encanto than meets the eye. The house was magical, after all. Were there magical people too? And then she remembered when she came to this house for the first time. Antonio had shown her his friendly toucan and told her, 'He said you can pet him.' At the time she thought he was just being an adorable, little kid making up speech for the bird. Now she thought, 'Can he really communicate with animals?' Hanna was thinking all of this as she sprinted through the house, looking around. She still couldn't find him. It was as if he had disappeared. Hanna clenched her hands into fists. 'How could I be so stupid?' she thought, sadly. She made her way to the front door and walked out of the house into the night. She sighed as she looked up into the stars. 'Where could he be?' she wondered. But then she noticed someone there in front of her. It was a little boy, with his face hidden in his arms, crouched down in the grass. Hanna studied this lonely-looking boy, wondering if she should say something. 'Wait,' she thought. She could've sworn that she had just seen that same boy walking around all happy and twitchy-eyed with a coffee cup in his hand. Where was his cup now? She slowly approached the boy from behind.
"Camilo?" she asked.
The boy looked up and saw Hanna standing over him. "Wait!" she shouted with her hand outstretched, for he was just about to run away again. But then he froze with his back towards her.
"Please! Don't go," Hanna said. "I'm really sorry about what happened."
The little boy lifted his head. Hanna gaped as he shape-shifted back into himself before her very eyes. Camilo then turned around to look at her.
"No," he said in surprise. "You didn't do anything wrong. I'm the one who should be sorry. I scared you!"
"Well, it was a bit of a shock, to say the least," Hanna said. "But...I'm okay, now. In fact-," She started walking slowly towards him as she spoke. "I'm very, very curious."
When she was right in front of him, she asked, "If this house is magical, are the people in it magic too?"
Camilo paused before he answered her. "Yes," he said.
Hanna gasped, excitedly. "I was right!" she exclaimed. "But how come Agustín hasn't said anything about the magical people?"
"I...think...Tío did plan on telling you and your family," Camilo said. "He wanted to wait until he felt it was...safe? We don't get many outsiders visiting the Encanto. Your family is probably one of the first in a long time. We want to see if it's safe for us to be more open to the world we've been cut off from for 50 years."
"50 years!?" Hanna said in surprise. "Are you-?" she began to ask.
"Oh, no!" Camilo said, holding up his hands in front of him. "We're not immortal or anything like that. But Abuela received the miracle back then."
"The miracle?" Hanna asked. Her eyes brimming with curiosity.
Camilo ran a hand through his hair. "It's kind of a long story," he said.
Hanna stood there silently, waiting for him to say more. Camilo eventually began to tell her everything. He told her about Alma and Pedro getting married and having to evacuate from danger after Julieta, Pepa, and Bruno had just been born. He told of Abuelo Pedro's sacrifice which then turned into a miracle in the form of a magic candle. The candle created the Encanto, Casita, and blessed the three children, each with a Gift, which then got passed down to their children. He listed off everyone's special Gifts. How Mirabel, despite not receiving a Gift herself, was able to restore the magic when it had once been lost. Hanna listened to all of it in amazement. It was like listening to a fairy tale. She got chills as she listened with rapt attention. "You've seen the doors to our rooms," Camilo said.
"Yes. You each have your own, right?" Hanna asked.
"Well, behind those doors are rooms that help us learn how to utilize our Gifts properly. They are a lot bigger than you'd expect," said Camilo.
Hanna's eyes were round in excitement. "Really?" she asked.
"Yep," Camilo said.
Hanna hesitated first, then asked, "Can you show me?"
Camilo looked at her in surprise. "Um...well," he said.
"Please?" Hanna begged. "I promise I won't tell my family." She raised her left hand and crossed her heart with her right.
Camilo thought for a moment and finally said, "Okay. Come with me."
Hanna followed him quickly into the house, passed the crowds, and upstairs to his door. 'So that's what this is!' She thought as she looked at his gleaming image with the silhouettes of other people echoing behind him. Camilo was looking around to make sure no one saw them before they went in. He opened the door and allowed Hanna to go in first. He then walked in after her and shut the door behind them. Hanna turned around to get a good look. The door led to what she assumed was Camilo's bedroom, but it looked more like a dressing room with mirrors on the left and right sides. Instead of a bed, there was a hammock. In front of her was a velvet, red curtain for a wall. When Camilo pulled the curtain back, Hanna's eyes widened. "Whoa!" she exclaimed.
Behind the curtain was a much larger, circular room that housed a gigantic theatre. To Hanna, it looked very much like the theatre she had been to, during a visit to Cartagena with her family. She walked down one of the aisles, gazing at the brightly lit space until she reached the stage. When she climbed up onto it, she saw that the backdrop was a giant mirror. An acoustic guitar was propped up on a wooden stand, and there was a hand-woven chair and footrest in the corner.
"All of this is your room!?" she asked. "It's incredible!"
"Watch this," Camilo said.
He then walked up onto the stage to stand in front of the mirror and shapeshifted into Isabela. A second later, the walls and stage were covered with blooming flowers of pink, red, yellow, and purple. Wax palm trees sprouted from the stage floor. Vines hung every which way from the top. Then Hanna understood.
"Wow! Is this supposed to be Isabela's room?" Hanna asked.
"Si," Camilo answered.
He then transformed into Antonio causing the flowers to be replaced by a jungle with a giant tree, a waterfall, and bird nests all around. Hanna's eyes lit up in wonder.
"It's beautiful!" she said, mystified.
"Si," Camilo said, with his eyes on her. He then cleared his throat. "But you won't find any animals in here because the room is just a room. And all this-," he said as he waved his tiny, Antonio hand around, "is just an imitation." Sadly, he added, "Just like me, I guess."
There was a pause.
Hanna turned to look at the transformed Camilo and walked up to him.
"But I don't think you're an imitation," she said.
Camilo looked back at her with his big, brown eyes. She then said with a smile, "You're a very nice boy with a wonderful house and incredible power! Well...all your family's powers sound amazing. But you? You can just, literally, be anyone you want! I think it's cool!" Hanna paused to look at herself in Camilo's mirror with her arms stretched out behind her back and her hands together. "You know? I used to wish I could be someone else." She then turned away from her reflection and sat herself down on the stage floor. Camilo (still disguised as Antonio) joined beside her.
"How come?" he asked, curiously.
Hanna looked down at her hands in her lap. Her expression turned sad. "Never mind," she told him. "Forget I said anything."
"No, come on. Tell me," Camilo said in a gentle voice.
"It's...complicated," she said, hugging her knees.
"It's okay," Camilo said, softly. "You can tell me. I'll listen."
Hanna glanced down at him. "You will?" she asked, quietly.
Camilo simply nodded.
With her arms wrapped around her knees, Hanna took a deep breath and said, "My father doesn't like me. He adores my sister but doesn't even like me. I've been constantly living in Lia's shadow. When I was a little girl, I would try so hard to be just like her because I thought that it would make Father happy. But no matter what I did, it just... didn't seem to work. I kept hoping that one day it would all just change. But Lia is just... his favorite. And he doesn't even want to look at me. He brags about Lia all the time. But he tries not to talk about me if he can help it."
It took a moment for Hanna's words to sink in. Camilo was shocked and appalled. The only thing he could think to say was, "That's...that's terrible!"
"Yeah," she replied sadly.
"But why?" he asked in complete disbelief.
Hanna shrugged and said, "I don't know. And I don't think he'd ever tell me."
They sat there in silence.
"So," Camilo then asked, awkwardly. "You still wish you could be your sister?"
Hanna scoffed and said, "No, I gave up on that. I'm fed up with trying to be something I'm not! I just want to be...me!"
Hanna stared up into the brightly lit canopy of the giant tree. "Only..." she added. "I've spent almost my entire life trying to be like someone else that...I don't...know who I am now."
Camilo felt like his brain had just exploded. Was he going crazy, or did she just say the very thought that had been hiding in the back of his own mind for years? She couldn't even shapeshift as he could! But even so, it was plain to see that she was struggling. There was more to her than he could've imagined. Underneath that beautiful, smiling face was someone helpless and lost. It broke his heart to see Hanna like this. She could not see herself the way he could. And how could her father be so cruel to her!? To his own child? It made Camilo's blood boil. He inched himself closer. All he wanted was to tell her, 'You're beautiful and you're perfect the way you are! And I love you!' But he just couldn't do it. Instead, he took the conversation in a completely different direction. After all, he wanted to help.
"Well, I'm no good with advice," he said, slowly. "But as far as your family goes, I think the best thing a family can do is talk to each other. Get everything out in the open. And I mean everything. When you do that, you figure out how to go forward and fix what's broken. Sometimes you gotta... tear everything down to rebuild something stronger. You know?"
Hanna looked at him, questioningly.
Camilo ruffled his hair. "Sorry," he said, awkwardly. "I must not be making any sense."
"Are you saying I should... sit and talk with my father about how I'm feeling?" Hanna asked, slowly.
"Well...maybe," Camilo said. "I'm saying...Get mad at him! Get upset at him! Make him listen to you!"
"It's impossible," Hanna said, shaking her head.
Camilo looked at her in great concern and said, "But you don't want things to stay the way they are, do you? It'll break you!"
Hanna hugged her knees tighter.
She just couldn't see it happening. No one in her family was that open and honest with each other. Some emotions were best kept inside, and some words were best left unsaid. But then she thought about it. What would happen if she talked with her whole family? She imagined it would be nothing but very uncomfortable. But what if she did have the guts to confront her father? Just thinking about it made her sick to her stomach. She wouldn't have dared to dream of it. But then she considered Camilo's words about going forward. Tear down to rebuild. He had a point. Things couldn't stay the way they are, forever. Something had to change.
"No. Maybe you're right," Hanna said, turning to smile at him. "You're so kind, Camilo. Thanks for listening to me."
Camilo half-smiled back. "Of course," he said. 'Anything for you,' he thought to himself.
"But tell me something," Hanna said, finally loosening her grip on her knees.
"What?" he asked her, curiously.
She leaned in closer and asked, "How long are you gonna stay in your disguise?"
It was just one surprise after another for Camilo. A second ago, he was trying to comfort her and now she was asking about him. Hanna took his small hands in hers and had him stand up with her.
"Show me who Camilo is," she said, encouragingly.
Camilo finally changed back into himself and the jungle disappeared. He was back to being only a couple of inches taller than her and he noticed they were still holding hands. He felt his body temperature climbing.
"I don't know if I can," he said, slowly. "Because I'm trying to figure that out myself. Before I got my Gift, my family would tell me how I was this tiny, little joker always running around, making everybody laugh by copying people. I copied everyone. They all said my impressions were very good, even at the age of four! And when I opened the door to my room, I was literally copying people. Shape-shifting. And I've been doing it every day of my life, since. It was all fun and games when I was younger. But the more I thought about it, I realized... I was always helping the town by turning into someone more useful than myself. For a long time, shape-shifting was my identity."
Hanna continued to hold Camilo's hands as she listened.
"That must've been hard to think about," she said. She felt a strange connection to him somehow and wondered if he felt it too.
"Well, hey," she then added, cheerfully. "Maybe... we can help each other out! We can discover ourselves, together."
Camilo looked into her crystal blue eyes.
He had never expected this. In the beginning, he thought he'd only be able to admire her from a distance. But now, here they were in his room, talking, and encouraging one another. With the way she looked at him, he felt capable of anything.
Then, Hanna asked, "Can you play that guitar over there?" She gestured over to the instrument on the stage.
Secretly thanking Casita in his mind, Camilo said "Alright." He let go of one of her hands but kept her other one in his, testing his boundaries. He thought maybe she'd let go, but she didn't. He then led her to where his guitar was propped and with his free hand, picked it up. He gave Hanna's hand a gentle squeeze before letting go, and gestured her to the chair in the corner, allowing her to sit down. Camilo then sat on top of the footrest, his right leg crossed over his left, holding up his guitar. He had just the perfect song he wanted her to hear. He took a deep breath and started plucking at the strings. The song, 'Romance de Amour' started echoing through the theatre.
Hanna sat quietly, feeling serenaded by Camilo's guitar. It was the most beautiful sound she had ever heard. The way his fingers danced around on the strings was mesmerizing. She also knew the song well. It was one of her mother's favorites, so she heard it playing all the time when she was young. So many feelings were rushing through her. Nostalgia, enchantment, joy, loneliness, regret. Hanna closed her eyes, listening to the rest of the music. Then he plucked the final note and his guitar fell silent. Hanna opened her eyes and clapped softly.
"That was beautiful!" she said.
Camilo got up and took a low bow and another. His hair fell onto his face.
"Gracias! Gracias!" he said, with a dramatic flair.
Hanna giggled.
Camilo was grinning now. He had just made her laugh which boosted his confidence ten-fold.
"Do you play anything?" he asked her.
"I can...play the quena...a little bit," Hanna replied, hesitantly.
"I wanna hear it!" Camilo said. "We should play together next time!"
"Oh, but I don't think you..." Hanna began to say with her hands held up.
Camilo set his guitar down, went up to her, and took her hand in both of his.
"Please?" he asked.
Hanna gazed into his eyes as he cradled her hand in his and stroked the top of it. She continued to look up at him and determined that he was being serious. "Um...okay," she finally said in a meek voice. Camilo smiled at her in such a way that made her heart flutter.
"When do you want to-...?" she started to ask.
"Tomorrow, if you like," Camilo replied.
She then stood up and leaned in towards him. Camilo stopped breathing for a few seconds, but then she put her lips up to his ear and whispered, "Meet me at the church, tomorrow at sunset. Promise?"
She backed away from his ear to look into his eyes. He looked back at her and said, "Promise."
They stood silent for a moment until Hanna said, "I should probably go."
Camilo nodded and extended his left elbow. Hanna put her hand on his inner arm, and they walked up to his dressing room together. Camilo opened his door and peered out the other side to make sure the coast was clear before allowing Hanna to leave without being caught. "It's okay," he said. Hanna walked out and turned to look at him. "I really enjoyed talking with you," she said. "And thanks for playing your guitar for me. I'll see you tomorrow."
"Until then," Camilo said. He then took her hand in his once more and raised it up to his lips to gently kiss it. Hanna became tense all over. She felt dizzy. She stared at Camilo as he continued to press his lips on her hand. 'A miracle,' she thought.