Mirabel's Pov
Hearing more about my lost cousins has proved to be entertaining and answered a lot of questions but there's still a lot unanswered. Everyone seems to be enjoying reminiscing about the past. And I'm going to regret ruining this family moment when I asked "So if they were here when I was born why don't I remember-" I stopped when mama hugged me.
"Oh Mirabel, you were so little when it happened,"
"Yeah sis," said Isa "We were seven when Tía Mica vanished and we never really talked that much about her before so,"
"That's not... never mind. What happened to her?"
"We don't know. Everything was going normally but some time after the triplet's quince she was gone,"
"We searched everywhere but all we found was her shawl by the mountain path,"
"So she-,"
"We don't know her body was never found and Bruno's visions didn't have any answers,"
"What about Dona Apuch? Did she know why or how her niece-?"
"No she knew no more than we did but she did give us letters that Mica made in case she disappeared,"
"I knew there was something off about her. I always made my suspicions known despite Dona Apuch's assurance. But I couldn't dwell on it your primos mayor had lost their mother so we had to be there for them,"
"That must have been so hard. I can't imagine not having both of you in my life let alone one." I said to my parents, they held my hand along with my sisters. In the corner of my eye, I saw Antonio doing the same with his. I turned to Tío Bruno and Abuela comforting each other along with Tíos rats. The rat moved the page of the album to show a picture of baby Camilo in the arms of a teenage girl I assumed was Angelina, who was between her brothers, baby me in Ignácio's, and toddler Luisa in Javiar's who was on the left of his sister with young Isa and Dolores standing in front of them.
"Is this all of us together?"
"Oh yes, this photo was taken a week after you were born,"
"Ay Félix, look at how small our bebes were," cried tía Pepa as she hugged her eldest children.
"Mica had insisted on taking pictures of you kids any chance she got"
"I'm guessing we spent a lot of time with her"
"Yup she and tío Bruno would take their kids for a picnic and when we came along we joined them," Dolores said turning a page of them on a picnic blanket.
"You know something sis, I was jealous of you when you came and Luisa, for a while,"
"Really? why? were we that cute?" I couldn't help but teased a little. Made her laugh though.
"Yup, you were adorable but that's not why I was jealous." she opened one of the albums that had photos of her as a baby with the triplets when they were 8. The next pictures include baby Dolores.
"As far back as we could remember they were always there playing with us, telling stories, singing songs and I loved feeling like a little sister occasionally,"
She turned to another picture of a newborn Luisa, "when I was getting a new sibling I was happy but scared at the same time,"
"But they always played with us together" remembered Luisa.
"They did but I was little, I was used to sharing them with Dolores. When Luisa was born I was upset she got carried more than I. But she was mostly with our parents. When Mira was born that's when I started to worry,"
"What about me?" asked Camilo.
"You were the baby brother they never had. you were cute sure and they loved hugging you. But you tried to suckle Angie," Isa giggled.
Omg, he didn't. that's hilarious and creepy but his face is priceless.
"I what?!" Camilo shouted in horror.
"Calm down Camilio you were a newborn you had a habit of suckling any skin near you. Hands, cheeks, and shirts," said Félix.
"Anyway, embarrassing moment aside. When you were born I was scared they would like you more than me but now I see that it was silly. They didn't stop hanging out with me or Dolores. It was less than before but we still had fun,"
"Did we keep doing picnics after Tía Mica left?"
"Not for a while. They stayed in their rooms for weeks and then only went out to do chores or food."
Flashback
Fifteen-year-old Angelina was sitting by the piano sulking. Her brothers were also near in their worlds filled with dread. On a blanket were Mirabel and Camilio playing unaware of the sad atmosphere. Luisa, Dolores, and I tried to cheer them up.
"Is there something we can do to help?" I asked and Javiar kneeled to us and hugged us while Ignácio picked up Luisa in his arms. "Gracias for your concern primas, but there are just some things that can't be fixed over time," we were starting to give up hope till Luisa shouted, "Look!"
We turn to see Mirabel crawling on all fours toward Angelina and what happens next changes everything.
Angie's pov
When I saw Mirable moving towards me I was about to put her back but then she stopped and started to stand up.
"Do you see what I see?" said Javier with his arms around Dolores and Isa.
"She's standing on her own" exclaimed Ignácio holding Luisa who was just as excited. none of us took our eyes off Mirabel. As the toddler started to move her feet she got closer and closer to me till she lost balance and I grabbed her and swung her around in glee. I stopped to kiss the giggling baby "Mira! You finally took your first steps! I'm so proud of you!" I kissed her cheeks and held her looking at her face my brothers were also happy and gave their congrats too then we heard Camilo crying running toward me wanting attention too. We laughed at how cute he was. I lifted him in my arms as well. "Oh Camilio, it's okay now you have someone else to run with," I said smiling and I couldn't stop smiling.
Flashback end
Isabela Pov
"After witnessing your first steps you brought our cousins out of the darkness and help them move forward. You helped them when we couldn't,"
"I can't believe I didn't know that"
"Well you were a baby and we didn't talk about it much and ever since-"
"It's not just that Isa" moment of truth "I don't have any memories of them"
"What? but that's impossible"
Mirabel's POV
"But you were only five when they disappeared," said Luisa.
"Yeah remember they left after your ceremony went down," said Camilo we all gave him a blank look. "What?!"
"We were all in your room comforting you. They sang us one last lullaby before they left" said Dolores.
"This is just great not only did I lose an uncle and three of my primos, but I also lost my memories of them,"
"It's not your fault mariposa, it's mine"
"What do you mean?"
"Things with your primos were getting tense as time went on. They never liked how the town treated their father and when their mother was no longer here. It got even worse"
"They still did their chores but I would still get complaints about them being rude, they took their babysitting seriously and were polite with the children but the grownups and some of their peers they would get so defensive"
"What did you do?"
"What I always did? What I always thought was right? I told them they needed to stop being so childish and think of the family, our community, and forced them to apologize for their behavior" Alma said in shame.
"How did that go?"
"They said they would do it when those spoiled idiots take the sticks out of their..." said Isabela
"ISA!"
"What? They did and Casita couldn't move them for her to lecture them because they would fly off to avoid Abuela"
"Yeesh, I'm surprised they didn't leave sooner"
"They wanted to though. Javier would read about lands beyond the mountains, Ignácio wanted to see what other kinds of music there was, and Angelina wanted to see how high she could fly till she touched a star."
"So why choose that night to finally go for it? And why did my memories of them go to?"
We turned our heads to the slammed doors
"WHAT NOW?!"
"Dona Madrigal! a creature has been spotted circling the town!"
"I'm sure that you can manage to handle"
"No, you don't understand it's a jaguar with WINGS!"
"Are you drunk?"
"No, come see-"
AHHHHHHH!!
We heard the screams of the town folk as we see the jaguar with wings flying above us.
"Is everyone indoors?"
"Yes"
"Luisa, Isa get the-"
"On it!"
"Julieta get the medical supplies"
"Sí," she said getting her remedies.
"The rest of you inside we don't"
The creature come barreling towards Casita and crash-landed into one of the rooms. "Well, that was easy, which room was that?" As Camilo said that realization just hit me "that was my room!" I ran to my room ignoring the calls of my family. I know it's stupid but that room means a lot to me and that is where Dolores' dress is. I reached my room and pushed the door open. Let's just say I was not expecting what was behind this door.