My Best Friends Cousin

Bruno's Tower

Upon seeing the door to the forbidden tower, the girls had to stop for just a few moments. Señora Alma and Isabela were walking by. The matriarch would not be happy if she knew where they were going.

When they finally got to the door something about it was off. Literally. It seemed like everything around Bruno's door was dark and dull.

"Why isn't it glowing?"

"I don't know.  But we gotta move fast if we don't want Abuela to catch us." Mirabel put her hand on the doorknob and turned. With some help from Abbi they were able to push the old door open.

Abigail had always enjoyed the magic of the Madrigal house. Especially when it came to how their own personal spaces were created. Like the jungle of Antonio's room or the amazingly gorgeous flowers that covered Isabela's room from floor to ceiling. This, however, was not what she was expecting.

An hour-glass that looked to be carved out of stone. Behind it, was a waterfall of sand. Like it went on forever.

Mirabel walked up and put her hand through, sand falling into her palm. "Casita. Can you turn off the sand?"

The floor tiles started rumbling. "You can't help in here?" More rumbling was heard as Abbi's curiosity started to get the better of her. She leaned into the sand just a bit.

"We'll be fine. I need to do this. For you, for Abuela, maybe a little for me."

"Mostly for yo--"

"Abbi?"

The brunette had leaned a bit to far and ended up tumbling down a sand dune.  She landed on her back, out of breath, with sand all over her. Mirabel apparently didn't see the drop either because, not a moment later, she slid down with her face buried in the dune.

Spitting the sand out of her mouth, she sat up and lifted her glasses to let more sand fall off the lenses. She also threw some at Abigail, who was laughing at her predicament. Which earned her a playful glare.

Helping each other up, they finally got a look at the daunting task before them. Thousands of stairs leading up to..........who knows what? A giant stone hand with a message written on it was at the starting point.

'Your Future Awaits'

They just stood there. In a way, all this sand and rock had a kind of beauty to it. It was just........a lot of stairs.

Abbi heard a flapping noise and when she looked to her right, a toucan had landed on the rock next to her. She reached her hand out and stroked the beautiful multi-colored beak. The bird seemed to be enjoying the attention.

"Hello. You're name is Pico, right?"

"Pico?"

"Antonio officially introduced us last night." Pico squawked and jumped onto Abigail's shoulder. Letting Mirabel lightly stroke his feathers as she looked back toward the path in front of them.

"Lot of stairs, but at least we'll have another friend." Pico took the opportunity to fly to the very top of the room. "Nope. He flew away immediately." She groaned.

"Come on. We won't get anything done down here."

"Alright."

The climb was exhausting. Almost like Bruno was taunting them. This is the worst!

When they finally got to the top, they were panting like crazy. Taking a break to sit down, they looked at where they were. A large gorge-like hole was the last thing separating them from their goal.

"Come on......." Mirabel groaned in frustration.

After catching their breath for a few more minutes, Abbi could practically see the gears turning in her friends head. Mirabel had and idea. She got up, pried a pole from its spot, tied a rope to it as tight as possible, and threw it.