Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

To Mirabel, March 7th was a lot like March 6th. March 6th was her sixteenth birthday, her first one since her quinceañera. The birthday stuff she did was fun. Her family got her gifts, and she got to spend time with everyone, which was her favorite part. Other than that, it just felt like any other day. Technically, Mirabel wasn’t supposed to do chores because it was her birthday, but that didn’t really make a difference. She never had assigned chores in the village. These days, she spent a lot of time with Abuela. Everyone agreed after she brought the magic back that she would be a central figure in the community in the future, so she spent a lot of time with her abuela to learn the deep inner workings of the Encanto. Abuela did a lot with the town council to make sure that the Encanto was safe and secure while still interacting with the outside world, and Mirabel was learning way more than she expected. Both of them treated it like a way to make up for lost time, as well. They both knew that Mirabel had been treated differently from the rest of her family in the past, and that Mirabel needed to be shown that she was just as important as the rest of her family, so the time spent with Abuela had a lot of benefits. Being free from chores did not mean free from responsibilities, though. The second she got into the plaza, she was surrounded by kids, so she entertained them for a while, then she got pulled into the café for a free cup of coffee. Mirabel got a lot of attention on her birthday. The thing was, she always got a lot of attention. She was an important woman, and just like always, she was treated like one. Her birthday was fun, for sure. But in a lot of ways, it was just like every other day. People still came up and asked her questions or needed help, and of course she helped. It’s what she does, whether it’s a chore or not. She went to bed on March 6th happy with the way her birthday went. March 7th ended up being almost the exact same thing. When the kids got out of school, Mirabel entertained them. When she passed by the café, she stopped in and got a free cup of coffee because she painted the sign on the front door. She still had free coffee for the next month as her payment. Mirabel checked in on her family and helped them with things if she could, or just made sure they took breaks. She spent time with Abuela and learned about the treasury of the Encanto, which had always been kept under lock and key in the church and contained the money used to buy and sell when the traders went to the town nearest to the Encanto for supplies they couldn’t make themselves. To Mirabel, the only differences between her birthday and the day after her birthday were people telling her “happy birthday” and getting presents at the end of the day. As the sun set on March 7th, Mirabel sat on the balcony overlooking the town, staring out into space. Out of nowhere, Casita shook her chair, breaking her trance.

“Earth to Mirabel,” came a voice next to her.

Mirabel blinked and looked to her left. “Huh? What?” There beside her was Luisa, sitting in an identical chair. “Oh. Luisa. How long have you been here?”

“Long enough that Casita brought me a chair because I stood here for so long.”

“Sorry.”

“It’s okay, don’t worry. Was I interrupting?”

“No, no, it’s nothing. I was just thinking.”

“About what?”

Mirabel thought for a second, then shook her head. “It’s nothing.”

“Come on, you can tell me. I’m your big sister.”

“I don’t want to add to your burden.”

Luisa put a hand on her shoulder. “You have a lot more of a burden now. We all agreed we wouldn’t bear our burdens alone anymore. Please talk to me.”

Luisa gave Mirabel a look that she couldn’t resist. She knew her sister just wanted to help. She related so much to that feeling and knew how it felt when she wanted to help someone, but they refused, even if they needed it. Luisa wanted to help her so much, and Mirabel couldn’t let her sister down like that. So she sighed.

“I just-” Mirabel thought for a second. “Do you ever feel like everything’s the same? Every day, everything we do?” Luisa didn’t answer. “It’s the same thing every day. The same chores, the same people, the same places, the same schedule. I just want something to be different.”

“Things were a lot different last year. They’re better now.”

“I know they are. But there’s a whole world out there with so many things to do. Don’t you ever wonder what’s out there?”

“I don’t know. Sometimes I do. Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to go with the traders and see what life is like out there. But you know what helps?”

“What?”

“I remember that my family is here. The people of our community love us. We don’t have to worry about money or crime. You’ve heard how things can be out there. The traders come back telling stories about how terrible people can be. We’re safe here. I wouldn’t trade that for anything.”

Mirabel sighed. “I know that. I know we’re safe here, and I’m loved here. Life is good here. But I’ve read so much about the world. There are places so beautiful I can’t even describe, but I can see them in my mind. Places that are warm in the summer, places that are always cold and foggy, places with amazing technology and places untouched by the world. I just-” She looked out at the setting sun again. “I wish, just once, that I could go out there and see what the world is like. It’s so big and so different. I just want to see it.”

Luisa saw the look on her baby sister’s face and knew that, in this moment, Mirabel wanted nothing more than what she said. She wanted to go and see the world. Their life could be pretty boring sometimes, but it could also be amazing, and she needed help to see that. “Maybe someday you will. Who knows, maybe I’ll come with you. In the meantime, why don’t we make sure tomorrow starts off differently?”

“How?”

“I like getting up and watching the sunrise from the hill every once in a while. Why don’t you come join me? It’s hard not to love this place when you watch the sun rise over it.”

Mirabel sighed, then nodded. With the sun below the horizon, she stood and looked at Luisa. “If I’m going to get up that early, I should go to bed now.” She turned to leave, but Luisa grabbed her hand. “What?”

“I just wanted to say that I love you.”

That always got a smile from Mirabel. “I love you, too. Buenas noches.”

“Buenas noches.” Luisa watched Mirabel walk across the balcony to her room and close the door behind her. It might have been a trick of the light, or maybe it was because it was getting darker, but Luisa could have sworn she saw the candle flicker just a little bit brighter.

The next morning, Mirabel woke up in her room just like always. The only difference was that it was dark in her room. Normally, the sun was up slightly, so her room was gradually getting brighter and brighter thanks to the sky that made up her ceiling. Right now, it was a lot darker. The moon was still overhead, and it gave off enough light that she could see her dresser, but it was still extremely dark. Mirabel reached for her glasses and went to stand up. As she did, she noticed that she felt warm. Really warm. It wasn’t uncomfortable by any means. It was actually very comforting. She took a step toward her wardrobe while having this realization, and somehow, she was right in front of it as she set her foot down. Mirabel blinked, looked around, and realized she was in front of her dresser all of a sudden. She blinked, took a breath, and shook her head before opening her wardrobe and getting dressed. With her nightgown in hand, she turned back to her bed, but before she could take a step, the warmth inside her flared up again, and she was standing at the foot of her bed.

“That was weird,” she said. Before she could do anything else, there was a soft knock at her door, then the door swung open.

“Mirabel?” Luisa whispered, a candle in her hand. “Are you awake?”

“Yeah,” Mirabel replied. “Something weird is happening, though.”

“Like what?”

Mirabel realized she needed more light, looked at a lamp by her bed, felt the warmth inside her, blinked, and found herself next to the lamp. “That!”

Luisa’s jaw dropped. “How did you do that?”

“I don’t know! I just thought of a place, and then I was there!”

“You teleported!”

“I what?”

“You teleported! You changed your location just by thinking about it!”

Mirabel looked at Luisa, the realization dawning on her. “Do I have a Gift?”

“I think so.”

Neither of them knew what to say or do. They were simply stunned for a second. Then a massive smile broke out across Mirabel’s face. “I have a Gift! I can’t believe it!” Mirabel teleported to Luisa and gave her the biggest hug she could. “I’ve always wanted one!”

“It’s amazing, yeah, but-”

“No buts! Look at me!” Mirabel teleported into a laying down position on her bed, jumped up and ran for a few steps before teleporting to the part of her room with her sewing equipment, then over to her furniture, then actually into her wardrobe before stepping out, the biggest smile Luisa had ever seen her sister give across her face. But that was when she saw it.

“Mirabel?”

“I seriously can’t believe this! I can’t wait to show Abuela and mamá and papí and Isabela and-”

“Mirabel?” Luisa’s tone became more concerned.

“I’ll finally get to help people when they need it and be someone they can count on when they need something!”

“Mirabel!”

“Ay, Luisa, this is the best day of my life!”

“Mirabel, look!” Luisa pointed at Mirabel’s hands. They were glowing golden.

“What-what is this?” Mirabel could feel the warmth within her rising higher and higher and higher. As the warmth grew, the glow increased. It didn’t hurt, but this was not the comforting warmth she felt earlier. “Luisa?”

“I-I don’t know.”

“Luisa, what’s happening? Why isn’t it stopping?”

“I don’t know!”

The warmth in Mirabel’s chest grew more and more, until the light emanating from her hands became so bright that it lit up the entire room. The joy on Mirabel’s face was gone, replaced by confusion and fear. “How do I make it stop? Luisa, help me make it stop!”

“I-I’m going to get mamá!”

“No, wait! Don’t leave!” The gold became so bright that Luisa had to shield her eyes. She kept looking at Mirabel’s face, trying to block out the light. “Help me, please!” Before Luisa could respond, the gold light enveloped Mirabel’s entire body. “Luisa!”

Luisa had to turn away as a blinding flash came from Mirabel. It had gone back to darkness, and Luisa couldn’t see a thing after so much light disappeared all at once.

“Mirabel?” she called. There was no answer. “Mirabel! Are you there?”

Luisa stumbled deeper into Mirabel’s room, calling her name as her eyes adjusted to the darkness. After a minute or so, she concluded that Mirabel wasn’t in her huge room at all and hurried back into the house. “Abuela!” she yelled, throwing open Abuela’s door so loudly that everyone in the house heard it, even Dolores in her soundproof room. But Luisa didn’t have to call for her again. Abuela was on the first floor of her room, sitting on a couch. “Abuela, it’s Mirabel, she-”

Abuela held up a hand to calm and quiet her. Luisa had come in so loudly that she didn’t realize Casita was tapping out a message. Her face grew concerned as more and more people filed into Abuela’s room, woken by Luisa’s noise. Once everyone was there, Casita’s message stopped, and Abuela stood to face her family. Luisa was inconsolable at this point, sobbing into her father’s shoulder.

“Family, Casita has informed me that Mirabel made a wish last night.”

Félix’s eyes went wide as he remembered what happened when he made his own wish. “Oh, no. Not that again.”

“Before she went to bed, Mirabel wished that she could see the world. Apparently, the candle decided to grant her wish.”

“What?!” everyone but Luisa demanded at once, requiring Casita to spin everyone in circles to quiet them down.

“Luisa, what happened this morning?” Abuela asked.

“I-I went to her room to make sure she was awake because she was going to watch the sunset with me, and she showed me that she could teleport!”

“What does that mean?” Antonio asked.

“It means that Mirabel was given the ability to go wherever she wants,” Dolores replied. “Does that mean she chose to leave us?”

“No, she didn’t know what was happening,” Luisa replied. “She started glowing from her hands and I couldn’t help and then there was a flash and she was gone!”

Everyone started talking all at once until Mariano saw Abuela trying to say something and whistled really loudly. “Let Abuela talk, please,” he asked.

“Thank you, Mariano. I do not know where Mirabel is, but if everything goes like the last time someone made a wish, she will be back by tomorrow at the latest. I know it is hard to think of her out there by herself. I’m worried for her, too. But the candle would not give her a Gift that would put her in harm’s way. Mirabel will be fine.”

“I’ll go do a vision for her,” Bruno replied. “You’re right, mamá, but I won’t be able to function until I know.”

“None of us will,” Julieta replied, her voice full of fear.

“Then let’s do it now. Mariano, stay with Antonio, please. He’s far too young to see a vision like this one will be.”

As the family filed out of Abuela’s room, they passed by Mirabel’s door. Julieta let out a strangled sob. The door was dark. Mirabel was gone. And they had no idea where she was.

Chapter Text

It was a sunny afternoon with fluffy white clouds that floated across the sky. The breeze made the flowers dance, spreading their beautiful scent across the path in the woods. The woods seemed to sing with a magic brought only by nature. Unfortunately, the people running down said path didn’t have time to stop and enjoy it.

“Why are we running so hard?!” shouted a girl from the back of the group, hobbling along as quickly as she could on her crutch.

“I don’t know, but it’s fun!” a tall boy closer to the front shouted back.

“It is not fun!” a much shorter boy said. “Running is never fun! It’s exhausting and I hate it even when I know why I’m running!”

“I’m not running at all!” a low voice said at the very front.

“We know, Valentino!” everyone shouted.

“Where are we going, Asha?” Hal asked as Asha ran with Valentino tucked under her arm.

“I don’t know!” Asha replied, her arm outstretched. “My wand just started doing this and it won’t let me stop!”

“But why are we running, too?!” Gabo demanded.

“Because it’s important- achoo!” Safi replied next to him. “It’s bad for my- achoo!- allergies, but it’s important!”

“But why? What are we even running to?!”

Out of nowhere, Asha stopped as the woods gave way to the beach right by the tree she and her father always sat in while they looked at the stars. Her wand wasn’t guiding her anymore. For a split second, she saw a golden glow coming to life on the beach. But Dario didn’t see her stop because he was preoccupied by a butterfly he noticed flying next to him. He ran right into Asha, who managed to keep her feet until the rest of her friends except Dahlia also ran into them. Everyone tumbled down the hill, rolling faster and faster until they reached the sand and came to a stop, piling on top of each other.

“This is very uncomfortable!” Gabo yelled, his voice muffled as he tried unsuccessfully to wriggle out from between Safi and Hal.

“No, this is like a big group hug!” Dario said from the top of the pile, throwing his arms around the pile as much as he could. “I love you guys.”

“We love you, too, Dario, but can you please get up?” Asha asked from the bottom of the pile. “I think the air is getting squeezed out of my lungs.”

Dario got off the top of the pile, allowing everyone else to stand up and dust themselves off. Valentino ran up, followed quickly by Dahlia, who pulled Asha to her feet. “You okay?” she asked.

Asha took a deep breath and brushed the sand off her dress. “Yeah, I’m fine. What about you?”

“I stopped running in time. I’m glad I did, too, Valentino almost fell into the bushes.”

“She grabbed me by my collar before my butt hit the water!” Valentino said happily.

“Thanks,” Asha said to Dahlia. “He’s a mess when he gets wet.”

“Trust me, I know.” Dahlia handed Asha the white, gleaming wand that had been given to her by Star not too long ago. “Something tells me you might need this.”

Everyone turned and looked at the golden glow just a few meters away. It wasn’t a faint glow anymore, it was almost as bright as the sun. They all shielded their eyes when there was a bright flash.

“Luisa!” Mirabel shouted, her arm outstretched. She blinked, realized she was somewhere that wasn’t her bedroom, and fell completely silent. Her eyes went wider than dinner plates as she tried to process what she thought just happened. She looked down at the sand. “Okay, okay, okay, okay, okay,” she mumbled. “Everything’s fine. You just teleported. You woke up with a Gift and teleported to a random place somewhere in the world and you have no idea where you are or how to get home. It’s fine.” Mirabel started to pace along the shoreline. “I’m probably just on the coastline, like where tío Félix’s family is. I’ll just find them and figure out my way home. There’s no way I’m outside Colombia, and I’ll be home tomorrow if the wish acts like the others and I wake up at home in my bed tomorrow. It’s fine. Everything is fine. Clear skies, right?” She was anxiously stroking her hair as she paced back and forth. “Yeah, clear skies, clear skies. I’ll probably figure out how to control this by, like, the end of the day. I’ll be home in no time.” She didn’t look up as she walked along the sand. And then, of course, Safi sneezed, shaking Mirabel out of her anxiety-ridden pacing session. She looked up from the sand and saw several people staring at her, as well as a goat for some reason. Asha smiled awkwardly and waved.

“Hi,” she said.

“Hola.” The two took a cautious step toward each other, Asha’s friends not moving a muscle behind her.

“You, uh, you kind of appeared out of thin air there.”

“Yeah, yeah, uh, that’s a new development.” The two took another step closer to each other.

“Oh, really? How new?”

“About five minutes.”

“Ah. I see.” The two of them took another step forward. “How did you get here?”

“I think I teleported.”

“I saw that. But how?”

“It’s kind of a long story, but basically my family has magical powers, and I normally don’t, but I made a wish, so now I do.”

“Well, you’re in luck. Wishes and magic are kind of my thing.” Asha extended a hand to shake. “I’m Asha.”

Mirabel shook Asha’s hand, but in her nervousness, she didn’t realize that she didn’t stop shaking her hand. “I’m Mirabel.”

It didn’t take long at all for Asha to pick up on the awkwardness of the handshake. “I just, uh, want to make sure you know you aren’t in Colombia.”

“I figured. Where am I?”

“You’re in the city of Rosas.”

Mirabel inhaled sharply, still shaking Asha’s hand. “Oh. You mean like in the Mediterranean Sea? Great, great. I’m halfway across the world and have no idea how to get home.”

Asha could see in Mirabel’s eyes just how close she was to shutting down and having a full-blown panic attack. But before she could say anything, Dahlia appeared next to her. “My name’s Dahlia. I know you don’t know us, but we’re here, and we want to help you find your way home. Asha is the best person I know. If anyone can help you, she can.”

The reassuring hand Dahlia placed on Mirabel’s shoulder helped to ground her. Mirabel exhaled, finally let go of Asha’shand, looked at the two of them, and nodded. “Thank you.”

“Of course,” Asha said. “Here in Rosas, we help each other find our way and follow our hearts, whether you live here or not. You definitely need some help getting home. So we’re going to help you.” She smiled. “Come on, let me introduce you to my friends.” Asha led Mirabel over to the rest of her friends, who still hadn’t moved. “Everyone, this is Mirabel.”

Dario immediately stepped forward and shook Mirabel’s hand. “Ciao, benvenuto a Rosas! Mi chiamo Dario. Sembra cheti farebbe bene un abbraccio, posso abbracciarti?”

Before Mirabel could even attempt to understand what he said, Dario gave her a big hug. Mirabel blinked twice. “Uh, what did he just say?”

“Oh, right, sorry,” Asha said. “Dario’s family moved here from Rome when he was little, and he only knows Italian. When Rosas was founded, so many people with so many different backgrounds came to live here. Our king was worried that the language barrier might split us, so he cast a spell that made sure anyone who moved here or was born here can understand any language here.” Asha tapped Mirabel on the top of her head with her wand. “Dario, say that again, please.”

“Okay!” Dario said, letting go of Mirabel and stepping back. “Hi, welcome to Rosas! My name’s Dario. You look like you could use a hug, can I give you a hug?” Dario stepped forward and gave Mirabel another hug, which she didn’t expect a second time, but she wasn’t super surprised. He seemed like a nice guy.

“Good to meet you.”

“Hi!” Hal said cheerfully. “I’m Hal. It’s super great to meet you!”

“I’m Gabo,” Gabo said, his arms folded.

“I’m - achoo! - Safi,” Safi said before sniffing and wiping his nose with a handkerchief. “Nice to meet you.”

“And I’m Bazeema,” Bazeema said from right behind Gabo. She hadn’t been there a few seconds ago. Everyone jumped, and Gabo actually screamed.

“How do you always do that?” Gabo demanded. “Where did you even come from?!”

“I got here five seconds after you all fell down the hill. I was talking with Simon at the palace, but I’m a fast runner.”

“Sounds like my prima Dolores,” Mirabel said. “And mi primo Camilo when she sneaks up on him.” For the first time in Rosas, she smiled a real smile.

“Don’t forget me!” came a voice seemingly out of nowhere. Mirabel looked around for the source, but she didn’t see anyone else around. “Ahem, down here.” Her attention was drawn lower when something nudged her foot. She looked down and saw Valentino looking up at her.

“Oh, hello,” Mirabel said, still not making the connection on who was talking to her. She reached down to scratch his ear. “You’re cute, aren’t you?”

“Yes, yes, I am.”

Mirabel froze halfway through scratching his ears. “Wait, how are you- what is- is this how Antonio feels? I just- I-”

“I think she finally broke,” Gabo said. “Congratulations, Valentino, you broke the teleporting girl.”

“Gabo!” Asha scolded as Dahlia scooped Valentino into her arms. “Don’t worry about him, Mirabel, he’s always grumpy.” She put an arm around her shoulders. “Let’s get you to the queen. We’ll see what we can figure out.”

Mirabel nodded and let Asha steer her away from the beach. “So how did you get that wand? And how did you make me able to understand everyone?”

“It’s kind of a long story, but we have some time. It’s a long walk back to the city. It all started last year.”

As the group walked toward the city, Asha detailed what had happened over the crazy period that started with her giving a tour to newcomers and ended with the entire city coming together to defeat King Magnifico. They walked through the archway into the central square of the city. Mirabel was absolutely stunned. The shock of being not in the Encanto was wearing off and being replaced by wonder at where she was now. They approached a pedestal with a statue of a star on it. “This statue used to be of King Magnifico. After we defeated him, we broke the statue down and replaced it with a statue that reminds us to keep on wishing, even when things get hard, because pursuing our wishes drives us forward. Star helped us see that. It moved us forward into a better place.” She gestured to a little box with a slot. “Before, people used to give up their wishes because they thought it might be magically granted someday. But now we know that our wishes help make us who we are. Everyone who comes to Rosas has a wish. We don’t ask for them to give it up anymore. Instead, we ask you to tell us what your wish is so we can help you achieve it.” Asha handed Mirabel a piece of paper and a pencil. “What’s your wish, Mirabel?”

Mirabel stared at the piece of paper and the pencil in her left hand. Four words were enough to make her entire body freeze with indecision. She could see her family’s faces in her mind. She could hear them telling her to come home. She was loved, she was missed, she was important, she was special. But she didn’t write down that she wanted to go home. She couldn’t. “No one has ever asked me that before. Not like that.” Mirabel looked at Asha. “I made a wish at home. Now that I have it, I can’t just go back. This place is so amazing already, and I know there’s so much more out there to see.” Mirabel took a deep breath, wrote down one word, and showed it to Asha. “Time. The last time someone in my family made a wish like this, they only got it for a day. My wish is for enough time to figure out how to use my new Gift so I can go home when I’m ready. I’m not ready yet.” Mirabel put the little piece of paper into the box. As soon as she let go, her hands glowed slightly golden. Everyone’s eyes went wide as Mirabel disappeared and reappeared behind Gabo, making him scream and jump forward. “Sorry!” she said before disappearing and reappearing a few seconds later with an apple in her hand. “Oops!”she said before disappearing again.

“Is she going to stop soon?” Valentino asked. “That apple looked delicious!”

Mirabel reappeared again, her hands glowing brighter. The warmth she felt before she teleported to Rosas was back, but she didn’t want to leave. “No, it’s happening again!”

“Hang on!” Asha shouted, waving her wand before Mirabel could disappear again. A burst of yellow light mixed with the gold of Mirabel’s magic, completely enveloping her. The light was bright enough that Mirabel had to shield her eyes, but after a second, she felt the warmth inside start to recede. As soon as she realized that, the light disappeared, and the glow in her hands was gone.

“How did you do that?” Mirabel asked. “Did you take it away?”

Asha tapped her wand on her palm, and a yellow orb appeared in her hand. After a second, she looked back at Mirabel, her eyes wide with excitement. “No, I didn’t. I think I might have granted your wish.”

“What?!”

Asha gestured to the castle before them. “We need to go to the queen. She’ll know what this means.”

The group of them hurried toward the castle. “Wait!” Valentino said. “I want that apple!”

Chapter Text

As she walked into the castle, Mirabel didn’t realize that one building could be so big. Casita was the biggest house in the Encanto by far, with ten bedrooms, a nursery, and many other rooms for the family to use. That didn’t even include the actual sizes of rooms like Mirabel’s or Antonio’s. But this was something else. The entryway to the palace of Rosas was absolutely massive. Just by looking around, she could tell that all of Casita could fit just in this room. Ornate trim lined the ceiling and walls that were painted a mixture of blue and purple. Several beautiful paintings in golden frames showing scenery and the daily life of Rosas were in prominent places, but the big draw to the eye was the staircase. Two grand white marble staircases arced up along the wall to a central dais. Handrails gilded with spiraling silver and gold gleamed in the light all the way up. Hanging between the two staircases was a gorgeous crystal chandelier that was at least twenty feet tall. It was absolutely stunning. “This is amazing!”

“It really is,” Asha replied as she walked next to Mirabel. The rest of the group had left them after Dahlia mentioned something about overwhelming Mirabel, and everyone remembered the things they were doing before their sprint to the beach. “It’s incredible to walk through those doors. It never gets old. Sometimes, I come down here and just look at the paintings and the light reflecting off the chandelier.”

“I can see why. Who painted them?”

“Bazeema. She’s very quiet, but she’s also very observant and talented. She painted them all from memory. They remind me just how important it is that I do my best at my job.”

“Where do you work?”

“Here. I’m the queen’s chief advisor.” She touched a necklace with a golden star pendant. “She asks me for advice, and I help her how I can. We work on ideas to make Rosas better, plan things, come up with projects, and a lot more. My friends help me a lot.”

“Really? How?”

“I have seven best friends, including Simon, who you’ll meet in a second. All of them have different points of view, so when I want to get a sense of what people might think, I go to them. Dahlia’s my very best friend, and she does her best thinking while she’s baking, so I go to her first and come back to her later. Hal and Gabo give me the positive and negative extremes, Bazeema tells me what people in the city might think, Safi helps with the farmers’ perspective, and Dario-” Asha hesitated and smiled. “He’s so sweet, but it takes him some time to really grasp what’s going on. Typically, I go to him early in the day, tell him what I need his opinion on, remind him a few times, and then around dinnertime, he says something so smart and profound that it sticks with me all day.”

“He’s really nice.”

Asha nodded. “He’s the nicest person I know.”

“I take offense to that,” a man in knight’s armor said as they reached the top of the stairs, making Asha laugh.

“Mirabel, meet Simon, the queen’s guard and the person I go to when I need to know how something might affect the safety of Rosas.”

“Nice to meet you,” Mirabel said as she shook Simon’s hand.

“Hey!” Valentino said from the floor. “I help you, too!”

“Yes, you do,” Asha replied. “You always make sure there’s enough apples.”

“That’s right!”

Simon shook his head in amusement, yawned, and knelt down to scratch Valentino’s ears. “So, Mirabel, when did your boat get in?”

“About that,” Mirabel said nervously. “I, uh, didn’t come by boat.”

Simon looked at her, confused. “We’re only accessible by boat. We don’t have an airport or anything. How did you get here if not by boat?”

“By magic?”

Simon looked at Asha, clearly needing an explanation. “I don’t know how her magic works, Simon. It definitely isn’t like mine. I’m taking her to see the queen so we can try and figure out what‘s going on.”

His expression turned serious. “Do you want me to go with you?”

“Mirabel won’t hurt anyone. But I’ll make sure to tell the queen that you asked.”

Simon nodded and opened the door for them. “I’ll be right here if anyone needs anything.”

Asha led Mirabel up another winding staircase, this one seemingly even longer than the first. There was something different about this one. It was the same colors and materials, but the front one very much seemed like it was meant for the people to see. This one felt different, more private. The air felt different, too, like there was something in it that wasn’t there downstairs. As they neared the top, Mirabel looked at Asha, who was a step in front of her. “Did he think I was going to hurt the queen?” she asked. “Because I would never.”

“I know you wouldn’t, don’t worry,” Asha replied with a kind smile. “Simon takes his job very seriously. It was always his wish to be the bravest knight in the kingdom. Magnifico took his wish and twisted it to fit his own needs, so now Simon feels like he needs to make up for it, which he doesn’t. Now that he protects the queen, he gives everything he has to this kingdom. Anything that could potentially be a threat is handled like one. When I go to him for advice, I have to take it with a grain of salt because he worries a lot. He’s very sweet, he just takes it a little too far sometimes.”

“So does he not like me?”

“I wouldn’t say that. He just needs to know you’re okay. I’ll make sure he knows how this goes. He might keep an eye on you, but he’ll like you, don’t worry.”

“He gives very good ear scratches and hugs,” Valentino added.

Mirabel smiled. “He sounds a lot like my sister Luisa. She’s always looking out for people and she gives the best hugs.”

“She sounds pretty great,” Asha said. “Hopefully, we’re about to find out when you’ll get to see her again.”

Asha opened a door and let Mirabel walk in. Once again, her jaw hit the ground. The room was huge and had massive bookcases stretching from the floor to the ceiling. There was a large fireplace with comfortable-looking furniture surrounding it on one side, and a throne with other chairs around it for official business. One entire wall was made of dark blue glass, obscuring what was on the other side. Before Mirabel could even begin to form a question to ask, a woman stood from an ornate desk in the corner of the room by the throne.

“I see you brought a visitor, Asha,” she said.

“Yes, your majesty. Queen Amaya, this is Mirabel-” Asha stopped. “You never told me your last name.”

“Mirabel Madrigal, your majesty,” Mirabel said before curtsying.

“Bienvenidos a Rosas, Mirabel,” Queen Amaya said. “What brings you to our kingdom?”

Mirabel looked at Asha for help, but Asha just nodded, so Mirabel took a deep breath and started from the beginning. She told the queen everything, starting with an abridged history of her family and their magic, an even shorter explanation of what had happened almost a year earlier with the family losing and regaining the magic, and ending with what had been happening with her family when they made wishes that they felt in their hearts. It took so long to explain that Valentino curled up in a ball on a pillow by the fireplace and took a nap. All throughout Mirabel’s story, Asha and Queen Amaya stood and listened, only interrupting a couple of times to ask questions when necessary.

“So that’s how I ended up here,” Mirabel said finally. It had been at least thirty minutes, maybe an hour. No one said anything for a few seconds while the queen tried to figure out what to say next. “Do you need me to go over anything again? I know that was a lot.”

“It was,” Queen Amaya said. “But my husband was an exceptional magician, and Asha made a wish which literally made a star come down from the sky and made everything so much better for us. There isn’t much that surprises me anymore where magic is concerned.” The queen looked at Asha. “Did she write down her wish?”

“She did.” Asha waved her wand, and the yellow ball of light appeared in front of them. “Can you tell what’s going on?”

“I’ll try.” Queen Amaya turned to the glass wall and waved her hand. The panes of glass slid off to the sides and revealed the other half of the queen’s office. Lining the walls were tables with all sorts of crazy-looking things clearly used for magic. There were vials and jars with brightly-colored liquids, more jars with components for potions, books, scrolls, and so much more. But the main event was on the ceiling. Floating at the top of the room were hundreds of yellow orbs bobbing up and down in the air. “What are those,” Mirabel asked with wonder in her voice.

“Those are wishes just like yours,” Asha explained. “Before, Magnifico used to take wishes for “safekeeping” and grant them when they were “good” for the kingdom. The problem was that taking someone’s wish took their joy, the best part of themselves. Today, we have the representation of the wishes of Rosas above us. I take them from the papers they write at the statue, and the queen and I see what we can do to grant them. People can keep their wishes, they can even change their wish, and they can keep being themselves while the queen and I work to make their and everyone’s lives better.”

“That’s amazing,” Mirabel replied. “So you have mine?”

“And then some since I actually used magic on you.” Asha waved her wand, and the yellow ball of light appeared in front of them, then expanded to about a meter across. It showed Mirabel’s family, but it also showed what Mirabel dreamed of at night when she dreamed about seeing the world. Scenes of adventure, different cities and towns, festivals, and maybe even romance flashed across the yellow scene. After about thirty seconds, the yellow orb shrunk back down and rose to join the others near the ceiling.

“That was what I always envisioned seeing the world would be like,” Mirabel said. “What do you think it means?”

Queen Amaya looked at Mirabel. “Your wish is clear to me. It’s exactly what you said- time. I think you want to see the world, and thanks to your Gift, you might get to do that.”

“But in my family, we only have these wishes for a day. How am I supposed to see the world in a day?”

“The magic Asha used on you can be unpredictable. It could be that her magic will grant you that time. But we won’t know for sure until the morning.”

“So I’m supposed to go to bed here tonight and hope I wake up here?”

“I think so. You have no control over this power right now?”

“That’s correct.”

“But you teleported at times when you were very happy or passionate?”

“I guess so.”

“Then your emotions might have something to do with it, too. We’ll have to see.”

Mirabel nodded. “Thank you for your help, Your Majesty.”

“It was my pleasure. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a meeting to attend. Asha, why don’t you keep showing Mirabel around? I’ll have the chef make a big dinner, and you can invite your friends.”

“That’s very kind of you,” Asha replied. “I‘ll do that, and she can stay in my quarters with me tonight.”

“Very well. It was a pleasure to meet you, Mirabel.”

Mirabel curtsied again as the queen left, then she looked at Asha. “There’s more to see?”

Asha chuckled. “Come on. Let me show you my home.”

For the rest of the afternoon, Asha showed Mirabel around Rosas. Now that she wasn’t teleporting uncontrollably, she could really appreciate the market, which was so much bigger than the little one at home. Asha and Safi led her around to the different stalls, letting her see all the different spices and crops that the people who came to Rosas brought with them from their home countries. Safi also insisted that she see the chicken coop, which was a little weird to her, but seeing someone so excited about animals reminded her of Antonio. When they got there, she saw a chicken that was absolutely massive, at least twice her height and many times her weight. After hearing Safi geek out over how many people a single egg could feed, they went to the castle kitchens, where Dahlia was directing all of the cooking. Dario was also there to help. He was making soup, which smelled amazing. Before they left, Dahlia made sure to slide them a couple of beautiful star-shaped cookies. Asha and Mirabel went into the woods next, heading toward the tree Asha and her father sat at all the time. They made sure to stop by the grove that had all the talking animals and plants, which was slightly terrifying for Mirabel until she realized how nice they were. Their last stop on the tour was to see Asha’s saba Sabino and Asha’s mother. Sabino played them a song and they enjoyed a cup of tea before making their way back to the castle for dinner with all of Asha’s friends, including Simon. There were so many different styles of cuisine Mirabel had never had before, so many different smells, and so many incredible flavors. It was almost better than anything her mother had made before- almost. After dinner, they sat around a fireplace drinking Dario’s famous hot cocoa, his apparent specialty because he loves hot drinks. They stayed up until almost midnight, talking, chatting, and having an amazing time. Mirabel felt right at home among these new friends of hers, and she wasn’t ready to leave them yet. So when the time came for everyone to go, she made sure to give everyone a hug and thanked them for the fun afternoon. She and Asha headed upstairs, Mirabel holding a sleeping Valentino as they entered Asha’s quarters, which were modest at Asha’s request. There was one bedroom, but it had an alcove with a second bed in it for when Dahlia or another one of her friends wanted to spend the night. There was also a nice-sized sitting room with a fireplace that Valentino slept next to, and its own bathroom. The walls were just as grand as the entryway, with one beautiful painting from Bazeema in the sitting room and another in the bedroom. Mirabel changed into a provided set of pajamas and laid down on her bed facing an open window that allowed her to see the stars. The events of the day had been so exciting that she didn’t want it to end, especially if it meant going home. But she was so exhausted. Throughout the day, there had been several times where she had teleported uncontrollably, but Asha was able to stop her with a wave of her wand. Using Gifts for the first time had always been exhausting for her family, and Mirabel was no exception. She knew she wouldn’t be awake long, so she looked out at the stars one last time, closed her eyes, and whispered, “Please give me more time. Please. I’m not ready to go home. Please.” Mirabel fell asleep, her sleep deep and comfortable.

The next morning, Mirabel woke up, stretched, and blinked heavily. She had slept so hard that she was kind of out of it. The sun was rising, birds were singing, and the roosters were crowing so loudly that she could hear them from there. Her eyes hadn’t even fully opened yet as she swung her legs over the side of the bed, expecting the feel of cool grass and completely forgetting that she had gone to sleep in a different country. But her feet didn’t touch grass. It was a cool wooden floor. Confused, Mirabel reached for her glasses, but they weren’t where they normally were. Things started coming back to her, but she was so drowsy that they didn’t make sense. Then she realized she wasn’t wearing her normal pajamas. Instead, she had on a shimmering blue and purple nightgown that seemed to sparkle in the light. That was when things started to click. She picked up her glasses off the little table, put them on, and nearly screamed with joy. “Asha!” she yelled. “Asha, it worked!”

Asha ran into the room from the sitting room. “I know! I got up super early to make sure!”

Mirabel ran forward and gave her a hug. “I can’t believe it!” Happy tears streamed down her face. “I actually get to stay.”

Before Mirabel could break the hug, the warm feeling returned. Mirabel teleported to a different side of the room, somehow still hugging Asha. The two froze. “Did you just-” Asha began.

“Yeah!” Mirabel replied. In her elation, she only saw how incredible what just happened was. “I can’t just teleport myself, I can teleport other people, too! This is amazing!”

Asha could see how brightly Mirabel’s hands were glowing. “Mirabel, you need to take a breath.”

“How can I? I can teleport people places! And I get to stay here until I know how it works!” Mirabel teleported across the room. She was so incredibly happy that she forgot she needed to try and control her emotions like Queen Amaya had said. She teleported again, standing on top of her bed. “Just think of what I can do!”

“I don’t need to, I’m watching it. Stay right there!” Asha ran out of the room to her sitting room where her wand was sitting on the table. By the time she got back into the room, Mirabel was perched precariously on her bedside table, her hands glowing so bright that Asha couldn’t look at her. “Mirabel, please, take a deep breath for me!”

“Asha, you don’t understand! I made a wish to see the world, and I can, and I wished on a star last night that I would get time, and I did! How can I possibly calm-”

Mirabel’s sentence cut off and was immediately replaced by a scream. She had teleported out the window and was plummeting toward the ground. Asha desperately waved her wand, creating a cloud below her that would hopefully catch her, but Mirabel never made it that far. With a golden flash brighter than the sun, Mirabel disappeared. There was absolutely no sign of her at all. Asha slumped against the window, completely shocked and confused. Valentino ran in and stood next to her. “What happened to that girl? She screamed so loud it woke me up.”

“I don’t know, Valentino.”

“Well, where is she?”

“I don’t know.”

Valentino stood there for a second, watching Asha stare at the spot where Mirabel had last been seen. “Well, my guess is she’s by the apple cart because she likes apples. I’ll go check there.”

Chapter Text

The ocean shimmered with morning light as the sun rose over the horizon. The town was still waking up, lights were still on in the plaza, and shop owners were getting their stores ready to open as the light bounced off the water and reflected through windows, covering the storefronts with dancing refracting sunlight. This morning, the water in the protected bay was mainly calm, but the small waves provided a gentle sound that was music to the ears of the townspeople. The air was quiet as a single boat rowed out over the protected bay. The waves became a bit larger as the boat inched farther away from the coast, but the boat and its occupants had seen much worse days, by the looks of it. Anyone who knew to look closely could see a couple of burn marks left there on purpose after an unexpected incident nearly sunk it. Aboard the boat, there was one boy and a cat who somehow tolerated going out into the ocean.

“Isn’t this morning great, Machiavelli?” Alberto asked as he rowed the boat out to where he had laid some traps the day before. “It’s not cold, it’s not hot, it’s just great.” A little breeze blew across his face, making him smile. “I think today’s going to be a great day, don’t you?” The cat meowed impatiently. “Oh, calm down. I have to fill the bucket with fish before I can give you a snack.” The cat growled and narrowed its eyes. “Hey, that’s Massimo’s rule, not mine. You don’t have to take that tone with me. Your issue’s with him, and we both know what happens when you make him mad. You have to sleep in the treehouse.” Machiavelli jumped off the seat and flopped onto the floor of the boat dramatically. “How do you even know how to do that- whatever, whatever. I’m going to go check the traps, then maybe I’ll have something for you, huh?” The cat meowed again. “Don’t take that tone with me, you’re the one who woke up while I was walking out the door and wanted to come. Do you want to come with me to check the traps, too?” Machiavelli hid under the seat. “That’s what I thought. Be back in a second!”

Alberto jumped off the side of the boat, relishing the feel of the cool salt water touching his skin as it turned blue and scaly. Being on land with the humans was amazing, but nothing beat the feeling of being in the water. He took a deep breath, smiled, then swam down to the ocean floor to check the traps he had set before dinner the night before. The hope was that he would catch a fish big enough that Massimo could filet it and sell it to people who didn’t want to clean their own fish. It made them a lot of money because they charged more for it, and it was Alberto’s idea, so he worked really hard at it. Alberto hadn’t caught anything for a few days, so seeing a fish bigger than Machiavelli in one of the traps was an amazing feeling. He unsheathed the knife on his belt that Massimo gave him a couple of years ago on his fifteenth birthday and cut the rope holding the trap down, smiling as it floated up to the surface. He only got happier when he found out that his other two traps were full as well. Alberto swam up to the surface, pushed the traps to the boat, and loaded the fish into the bucket, filling it up all the way to the top and then some. Satisfied with his catch, Alberto dove back into the water, grabbed a fish for Machiavelli as promised, then jumped back into the boat. “Let’s go home. Massimo will be so excited!”

Machiavelli meowed happily before digging into his breakfast. Alberto started rowing back to shore, but something caught his eye. About fifteen feet off the ground and not very far away, a golden light started to shine in the air. Alberto only noticed it because the light bounced off the waves in the exact opposite direction from the sun, and it was close enough that he could row toward it for a minute and be right under it. Before he could get close, though, the light got impossibly bright, then flashed. Out of nowhere, a screaming girl fell out of the light and crashed into the water. A few seconds of shock later, Alberto realized that she didn’t come up for air as fast as she should have. He immediately leapt from the boat into the water, far too concerned to get excited about changing back into his sea monster form this time. He made it to her in seconds, which was good because she wasn’t moving. Alberto got underneath her and blasted up to the surface, hoping the air would make everything better, but it didn’t. She still wasn’t moving, although for a second it looked like her eyes opened slightly behind her glasses. How those stayed on, he had no idea. He was back on the shore in less than a minute, and she wasn’t moving at all. It looked like she had hit the water hard, and she also appeared out of thin air, so there was a lot going on, but that didn’t matter. He laid her on the beach, listened for breathing, then lifted her shirt to expose her stomach. There was water in her lungs, but he knew the right way to get rid of it. Being a sea monster meant he knew these things. He turned her on her side and then poked her stomach just right, causing all of the water in her lungs to come out. Mirabel coughed and sputtered, sitting up and trying to get a deep breath. Alberto was back to his human form as he helped her lean forward.

“It’s okay, it’s okay,” Alberto said. “You’re safe.”

Mirabel didn’t know where she was or what happened, even. The last thing she remembered was talking to Asha in the tower and then falling. The voice of the boy in front of her was different from the boys she had met in Rosas. She coughed a couple more times, then looked at him for the first time. “Where-where am I?”

“You’re in Portorosso,” Alberto replied. “Where did you come from? You just-”

Mirabel noticed the crowd gathering in what looked to be a plaza just off the beach. Before this boy could say anything else, she put a hand over his mouth. “Not here. We need to go somewhere quiet.”

“But you just appeared out of nowhere!” Alberto said, his voice muffled.

“I’ll explain everything, I just need to get off this beach.”

Before Alberto could say anything else, two women came down the beach, the town’s police officer and Mrs. Marsigliese, the woman who always organized the Portorosso Cup in the summer. “Are you okay?” the officer asked.

“What’s your name, where are you from?” Mrs. Marsigliese asked. Mirabel froze, not knowing what to say. This wasn’t Rosas, and they didn’t know anything about magic.

“She’s a tourist!” Alberto blurted out, saving her from trying to come up with a lie. “She went swimming, but she had a cramp in the water. I found her right before she drowned.” Mirabel looked at the two women and nodded.

“We don’t have any tourists in the hotel right now,” the officer replied.

“That’s because she’s staying with me. She was at school in Genova with Luca and Giulia, but she graduated early and wanted to see Portorosso.”

The two women looked at each other, trying to decide whether or not to believe him. After a second, Mrs. Marsigliesenodded. “Okay, then. Go get dried off. You’re sure you’re okay?”

“I’m okay, I think,” Mirabel said. “I just need to dry off. Thank you.”

Alberto helped Mirabel to her feet and led her past the two women toward his house. “Okay, Massimo will be in the backyard getting ready for the catch today. Let’s go in through the front door, no one ever uses that.”

“Who’s Massimo?”

“My dad. Well, kind of but not really, I guess.”

“Is he your dad or not?”

“This is a weird question to ask me when I don’t know your name.”

“Oh. Right. My name’s Mirabel.”

“Nice to meet you, Mirabella. I’m Alberto.”

“It’s not Mirabella. It’s Mirabel.”

“Oh, gotcha. Sorry. It just made sense that it was Mirabella.”

“How?”

Alberto froze. “Uhhhhhh, no reason. Come on, let’s get you upstairs before Massimo finds out about you.”

He opened the front door and led her inside. “Shouldn’t we tell your dad that I’m here rather than let him find me in your house?”

“It’s better to explain it later, I think. Once you’re in some dry clothes, at least.”

“But why?”

“I don’t know, but we’re here now, so let’s just keep going.” The two moved upstairs into Alberto’s bedroom. There wasn’t much time to look around because Alberto started digging through his closet. “There should be some old clothes of Giulia’s in here that will fit you.”

Right as he pulled out a box of clothes that had sat in his closet for six months, a booming voice came from downstairs. “Alberto!” Massimo called. “Have you seen Machiavelli?”

Alberto grimaced. “Who’s Machiavelli?” Mirabel asked.

“My cat.”

“Where is it?”

“On a boat by himself in the ocean. I’m gonna go get him, you get clean and dry, and I’ll be right back. Don’t talk to anyone or leave this room except to go to the bathroom and dry off.”

Alberto ran out of the room and outside. From the window, Mirabel could see Alberto running down the pier at top speed before diving into the water. She lost sight of him, so she turned and rifled through the box of clothes until finding something that looked like it would fit. After that, Mirabel went into the bathroom, dried off, and changed out of her pajamas from Rosas into a bright white blouse with red embroidery on the sleeves, tan pants, and a red cloth belt to go around her waist. Red wasn’t normally her color, but she thought she looked good. By the time she was done changing, she could see a boat out on the ocean slowly making its way back toward shore. It was crazy to her that he would have already gotten there, but everything was crazy. She opened the door to the bathroom and nearly screamed. Standing right outside the door was the largest person she had ever seen, including Luisa. He was just as tall as Luisa and larger around than she was. If she had walked into him, it would have been like walking into a brick wall.

“Oh, uh, hi, hola,” Mirabel stammered. She put on a fake smile and did her best to make it seem perfectly normal that she was there, but they both knew it wasn’t. What made it worse was that the man, who Mirabel assumed was Massimo, didn’t move. He didn’t speak. He didn’t blink. “You’re probably wondering who I am and why I’m here.” More silence. “It’s a long story.”

Out on the ocean, Alberto was rowing as fast as he could while trying to fend off Machiavelli, who was so angry that Alberto left him in the boat that he launched himself at him the second he got in the boat. Alberto had to bribe him with a big fish just to keep the cat from becoming a permanent fixture on his face. He was rowing as fast as he could, his confidence that Mirabel would go unnoticed slipping away by the second. It seemed to take all morning to get back to shore, even if the sun hadn’t gotten much higher in the sky. Alberto grabbed his bucket of fish with one hand and Machiavelli in the other, jumped onto the shore, and ran up to the house. Before going into the backyard, Alberto took a deep breath, tried to calm down, straightened his posture, and opened the door, striding in like always. “Massimo, I’m back!” he called as if he hadn’t just hidden a random girl in his bedroom. “I filled the bucket with my traps!”

“You did?” Massimo replied from inside. “That’s great. Did you take Machiavelli with you?”

“Yep! He was a big help.” Alberto sighed softly, thinking he had gotten away with everything. He carried the bucket of fish into the kitchen and immediately dropped it on the floor, frozen in fear. Massimo stood in the kitchen with Mirabel sitting at the table.

“I found someone I don’t know in our house, Alberto,” Massimo said, his low and booming voice still and quiet, but that was the worst. Massimo didn’t yell. He got quiet. Alberto would prefer it if he yelled because at least Massimo wouldn’t sound so disappointed in him. It didn’t happen as much now that he was seventeen, but the sound of his voice like that scared him just as much as it did when he was fourteen.

“There-there’s a really good explanation for that,” Alberto stammered.

“I hope there is. Now sit. Let’s eat some breakfast, and you can both tell me what’s going on.”

Alberto sat at the table next to Mirabel while Massimo started cooking. Both of them were too terrified to say a word and barely looked at each other. After what felt like an eternity, Massimo slid some plates with food in front of them and sat down across from them, the entire kitchen shaking as he took his seat. “Mangiamo. Eat, and explain.”

Mirabel took a bite, swallowed heavily, and looked at Massimo. “Well, it all started a long time ago.”

Chapter Text

Explaining her family and their magic to Queen Amaya and Asha took Mirabel around an hour. This morning, sitting in Alberto and Massimo’s kitchen, Mirabel explained the craziness that is her life in about forty minutes. Alberto and Massimo looked absolutely dumbfounded. Actually, only Alberto looked dumbfounded. Mirabel couldn’t get a read on Massimo at all. Between his bushy eyebrows that almost covered his eyes and the fact that he didn’t move at all, Mirabel had no idea what he was thinking as he loomed over them in the early morning light. Nobody stopped her to ask questions, either. The questions Queen Amaya and Asha asked were smart and complex. Alberto’s first question was much more simple.

“So are you like a wizard or something?” he asked, which made Mirabel work very hard to repress an eye roll.

“No,” she replied. “Our magic is a gift. My magic is a gift.”

“And with yours, you can go anywhere you want?”

“Maybe? I don’t know how to control it yet.”

For the first time in a while, Massimo made a sound that confirmed he was both awake and not a statue. He cleared his throat and leaned forward over the table slightly, making Mirabel flinch. “I find this hard to believe. You come into my home uninvited-”

“I invited her!” Alberto immediately protested. Massimo’s eyebrow raised just enough for Mirabel to see the expression in his eyes. It was one of those looks a parent gives their child as a nonverbal warning after bad behavior. Alberto immediately looked down at the table. “Sorry,” he mumbled.

Massimo turned his attention back to Mirabel. “You have come into my home. You wear my daughter’s clothes. You tell me that you have magical powers. An hour ago, you were in Rosas, the kingdom hundreds of kilometers away. And you fell out of the sky right in front of Alberto.”

“I know it’s hard to believe,” Mirabel said.

“Good. It is much easier to believe that Alberto snuck you into the house last night.” Alberto opened his mouth to protest again, but Massimo was giving him the look again, this time with both eyes opened. He closed his mouth. Massimo looked slowly toward Mirabel. “It will take something incredible to-” Massimo stopped when he saw the look of concentration on Mirabel’s face.

“Come on, come on,” she whispered. As she tried to access her Gift purposefully for the first time, she thought of the only person she knew had to concentrate to use his Gift- her tío Bruno. Talking with him for a while during rebuilding revealed that Bruno had to work hard at first to find the warmth inside him and have his visions. He was manipulating time itself, and it was hard work. Mirabel was manipulating space. The few seconds that passed felt like hours. The warmth wouldn’t appear. Then something happened. Alberto put a comforting hand on her shoulder, seeing how hard she was trying.

“It’s okay-” he began. The second Alberto touched her, the warmth flooded her body. Mirabel immediately felt that she could go somewhere in the immediate vicinity, so she chose five feet outside the kitchen door. With a little pulse of warmth, Mirabel felt the chair below her disappear. Less than a second later, she hit the ground with an “oof!”

“Ow!” Alberto whined. “Why did you-”

Mirabel opened her eyes just as Alberto realized they were outside. “I did it,” she mumbled, completely in shock that she was able to control her Gift. “I did it!”

“Wait, how did you just do that?” Alberto said, equally in shock.

“I told you, it’s my Gift!”

“No, how did you take me with you?”

“I think I can teleport people when I’m touching them!”

Massimo threw the back door open, his eyes wide and visibly full of shock and his mouth agape. “You were telling the truth.” Mirabel nodded. “You disappeared and reappeared outside. And you made Alberto do it. The magic is real.”

“Yeah, I know it’s a lot.”

Alberto and Massimo both looked at her for a second in utter disbelief. Massimo blinked and looked at Alberto. “I need to speak with Alberto, please. In private.”

Mirabel nodded, so Alberto stood and walked over to Massimo, still not taking his eyes off Mirabel until Massimo put a hand on his shoulder and steered him inside, closing the door behind him and leading Alberto to the stairs. Alberto walked up a few steps and sat down so he could be at Massimo’s eye level. “That was insane, right?” he said.

“Alberto-”

“She literally teleported me outside our house!”

“Alberto!”

“Look, I know you’re going to yell at me, but can you at least admit that was amazing?”

Massimo sighed. “I’m not going to yell at you.”

For a split second, there was a sense of relief that quickly got replaced by shame once he saw how disappointed Massimo was. “I think I would like it better if you did.”

“Why did you lie? Have I ever given you a reason to lie to me?”

“Well, there was that one time where you hated sea monsters-”

“I mean since I’ve known who you are.”

Alberto’s gaze fell to the floor. “No.”

“Alberto, you are my son. I adopted you two years ago. When I adopted you, we agreed that we would trust each other and be a family. Don’t you trust me?”

“Of course I do.”

“Then why did you lie to me?”

“I-I didn’t know how you’d react. I see how protective you are of me with new people because you’re afraid of what could happen, and Mirabel was scared and needed someplace safe to go.”

“Did you think I would treat her badly?”

“No, you don’t treat people badly. You’re really nice and loving, but you’re also kind of, um- how do I put this nicely- terrifying.” Alberto grimaced as the last word left his mouth, considering it wasn’t the way he wanted that sentence to end at all, it was just the only word he could come up with. But Massimo just looked back at him and chuckled. “What?”

“You think it’s the first time I’ve been called that? I actually enjoy it. It gives the wrong people a good reason to stay away, and the right people don’t think so once they know me. And when you’re involved, I need to make sure that you are around the right people. I won’t allow anyone or anything to hurt you or take you away from me.”

Alberto smiled. Having a dad again was the best. “So can we help her? She’s scared and alone. I know what that’s like.”

Massimo nodded. “Of course we’ll help her. That’s what a Marcovaldo does is help people. I remember you being strange when I first met you, but that didn’t stop me from giving you a home. She is also strange, but we will help her however we can. She seems nice.”

“Did you believe what she was saying?”

“Not until I saw her teleport you away. She didn’t say how she found you.”

“I found her. I was out in the boat checking my traps and she literally fell out of the sky. I took her to the beach because she wasn’t breathing.”

“Did she see you as a sea monster?”

“No, I had changed back by the time she woke up.”

“Do you want to tell her?”

Alberto hesitated. “If she’s here long enough.”

“A good decision. Although she might be more understanding than you think. Did anyone else see you two?”

“Mrs. Marsigliese and the poliziotta.”

“What did you tell them?”

“She’s a tourist friend of Luca and Giulia’s from Genova and she’s here to see Portorosso and stay with us.”

Massimo nodded. “Then that’s what the story will be.” He stepped out of the way so Alberto could come down the stairs, but before Alberto could walk past him, he put a hand on his shoulders. “Alberto?”

“Yeah?”

“I’m always on your side. You never have to lie to me, even if you think I’ll be upset with you. You know that, right?”

Alberto nodded. “Yeah, Dad. I know.”

“Good. Now let’s go outside. We have a guest to make welcome.”

Massimo and Alberto walked back outside, where Mirabel was waiting patiently, anxiously fiddling with the hem of her pants. She stood in front of the two of them. “So?”

Massimo walked up to her and put a hand that was larger than her head on her shoulder. “You are welcome in our home for as long as you are here. We will make sure you’re safe, and if you need anything at all, we will help you.”

“Thank you so much,” Mirabel said with a smile at both him and Alberto.

“But I have one request.”

“If I can do anything to repay you, I will.”

“Not like that. If you need to leave the house or want to go into the town, please go with Alberto. The people of this town are good, but they may be suspicious, especially if they see you by yourself, and definitely if they see what you can do. So please let Alberto take you places. The people love him, and in time, I’m sure they will love you.”

Mirabel nodded. “Thank you for your kindness. You don’t know me, but you’re being so nice.”

Alberto caught the knowing glance that Massimo sent his way, but Mirabel didn’t see it. “I have some experience with helping those I don’t know. Now, please excuse me. I have some deliveries and preparations to make, and I need to get you a place to sleep.”

“But deliveries are my job,” Alberto said.

“You have a friend to entertain. We can’t expect her to sit inside on such a beautiful day.” Alberto nodded. “Go and discover our home, Mirabel. I’ll see you for lunch.”

Massimo walked inside, leaving Alberto and Mirabel alone. She looked at him gratefully. “Thank you so much.” Alberto scoffed and waved her off like it was nothing, but Mirabel shook her head. “No, really. You didn’t have to help me, and you could have gotten in trouble.”

Alberto smiled. “It’s what my dad and I do. We help people. How about I show you around, and you can tell me where you’ve been?”

“Well, it’s really only been one place, and it was only for like a day, but sure. I can tell you about Rosas!”

“What’s a Rosas?”

Mirabel chuckled as they walked out of the backyard. “It’s an amazing place.”

The town’s kids were all at school, so the central plaza of Portorosso was fairly empty. Alberto led Mirabel around town, listening to her talk about Rosas while also talking to her about Portorosso. He showed her the different shops in the plaza, including the gelato shop, which sparked a bit of a debate on what the sweet treat was actually called. Mirabel kept called it helado, but Alberto insisted it was gelato. There weren’t many times he knew he was absolutely right about something, but he knew all about food. They compromised and called it ice cream before going in and getting some, even though it was 9:00 in the morning and they had just eaten breakfast. Mirabel made the excuse that her new abilities made her hungrier, while Alberto just admitted that he was always hungry. The two of them enjoyed their treats as Alberto led Mirabel uphill.

“Where are we going?” Mirabel asked.

“I want to show you my favorite place in town,” Alberto replied. “Luca and Giulia always like looking at the sky from the rooftops because they want to be astronomicers or something, but I have a different place I like.”

“First of all, it’s astronomers, and second of all, who are Luca and Giulia?”

“Oh, you should probably know about them. They’re your friends from school if anyone asks. Luca’s my best friend in the whole world, and Giulia’s kind of my sister, but not really. They go to school in Genova.”

Mirabel’s brain started working when Alberto said “Genova”. She had been trying to figure out exactly where she was, but nothing about Portorosso told her that for sure. Everything was so overwhelming, especially when she tried to remember what happened when she got there. But the argument over the ice cream and hearing other people talk and sound kind of like Dario did helped everything click. “Wait, is Portorosso in Italy?”

Alberto looked at her, confused. “Did I not tell you that?”

“No! Now it makes sense. I’m sorry I argued with you about the ice cream.”

“Don’t worry about it. You aren’t from here, and I thought you knew.”

“I’ll have to tell Dario. His family’s from Italy.”

“Who’s Dario?”

“A friend I made in Rosas.”

“You’re good at making friends, aren’t you?”

“I always have been.” Mirabel realized she was breathing heavily from the effort of walking uphill for so long. “How much farther?”

“We’re almost there. You’re going to love it.”

A couple of minutes later, the two of them reached the top of the hill, Alberto also out of breath by then. “We made it,” he gasped. “It’s a lot easier to climb the hill on the back of Luca’s bike.” He directed Mirabel over to a little bench that was just off the stone path, purposefully blocking her view. On the bench there was a little plaque that read, “In honor of Luca, Alberto, and Giulia and how they changed our hearts.”

“What’s the plaque about?” Mirabel asked.

“It-it’s a really long story. But look.” Alberto pointed out to the water, making Mirabel gasp. She stood up and walked to the center of the deserted road to get a better view. “That’s amazing! I’ve never seen the sun shine off the water like that before.”

“I know, right?” Alberto said happily as he followed her into the road. “Whenever I get upset or anything, I come up here and sit on that bench and just look out at the ocean. It reminds me that I’m home and everything is good.”

Mirabel couldn’t help but be reminded of her conversation with Luisa the night before everything started. “It gives you the right perspective.”

“Yeah.” The two stood there in silence for a second. “So what happened that made you come here?”

“I got too excited. Queen Amaya said my emotions might play a factor with my Gift, and she was right. I woke up in Rosas and was so happy that I started teleporting without controlling it.”

“Why were you so excited?”

“I told you how I made a wish, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, I’m not the first. My prima- I mean, my cousin- Dolores, my uncle Félix, and my dad all made wishes, and what happened to them went away after a day. I wasn’t ready to go back home yet. So when I woke up in Rosas again, I forgot to control my emotions. I teleported right out the window and fell toward the ground.”

“Whoa. What happened next?”

“I don’t know. I thought I saw someone before I woke up on the beach, but they looked blue, not like a person, so I must have just dreamed it. You were the first person I saw when I got here.”

“Wow. You don’t remember what happened at all?”

Mirabel shook her head. “It’s kind of annoying, but I must have fallen into the water and hit hard. I just wish I knew who saved me.”

Alberto looked out at the ocean again so she couldn’t read his expression. “Yeah. That would be good to know.”

Chapter Text

The rest of the day up until lunch wasn’t super busy because it was hard to be super busy in Portorosso, but Mirabel and Alberto came close. Alberto explained the Portorosso Cup- sort of. It was hard to explain without getting into everything that happened with Ercole and him and Luca almost getting killed by truly the meanest person he had ever met, but he managed to say that Luca did the swimming and the eating, and he and Luca did the bike part together. It wasn’t a lie, but it definitely wasn’t the whole truth. Compared to everything Mirabel had been telling him about Rosas, it felt pretty tame. The two of them headed home for lunch, where Massimo made his famous trenette al pesto for the three of them. As the three of them ate, Alberto had to fight off the momentary urge to eat with his hands. It just felt like the right thing to do, for some reason. He’d been using forks for three years now, and they were definitely less messy, but he wondered if it would make Mirabel laugh. After lunch, Mirabel went into the little courtyard, spread out a blanket, and fell asleep in the noon-time sun. She was exhausted, and no one could blame her. But Alberto wasn’t exhausted. So instead of laying around the house, he went out. There was one shop he hadn’t really been in during his time in Portorosso, so he felt weird going there, but he was kind of curious about it, so he went with one goal in mind. When he walked through the front door of the shop, a little bell rang, and the boy at the desk looked up.

“Welcome to the libreria, how can I help you- Alberto?”

“Ciao, Guido,” Alberto said with a half-smile. “How’s it going?”

“It’s, uh, good! I didn’t expect to see you today.”

“Why not?”

“Oh, I meant see you here.”

“Yeah, I’m looking for a book with maps.”

“Maps? Like an atlas?”

“What’s an atlas?”

“A book with maps.”

“Oh, yeah, that!”

Guido looked to the doorway behind him. “Ciccio! Come out here!”

The other half of Ercole’s former entourage walked out holding a much smaller sandwich than he used to carry for Ercole. Ever since what happened a few years earlier, when Guido and Ciccio explained to Ercole’s father what had happened and Ercole was sent to military school, Alberto had gotten to know the two boys as friends, not some bully’s lackeys. They were nice guys who just ended up with the wrong influence, and Alberto was more than happy to be friends with them. “Alberto!” Ciccio gasped with delight. “What brings you here?”

Alberto waved his hands at the shelves surrounding him. “A book?”

“Really? I wasn’t sure if you could read at all.”

“Hey! Just because I don’t read books a lot doesn’t mean I can’t read!”

“Right, right, I’m sorry. I forget sometimes that I don’t have to be mean to people.”

The look on Ciccio’s face told Alberto he was telling the truth, and he knew he was. “Don’t worry about it. Guido said I want an at last.”

“An atlas,” Guido corrected. “What kind? Did you want one of the world, or just one of Italia?”

Alberto thought about it for a second. “How about both?”

Both boys behind the counter smiled. “We’ll go find them. Feel free to look around, we’ll call for you.”

Alberto watched the two disappear, then looked at the shelves. There were so many books to look at with so many different sizes and colors. One that stuck out to him was a thin book with a picture of a duck on the front. He flipped through the picture book, watching a little duckling that was somehow considered ugly go through a journey. He didn’t think it was ugly, but that was the story. The first time through the book, it didn’t register with him why the story was important because he was trying so hard to figure out why the duckling was ugly. It made no sense to him, but the fact that he was unable to understand a picture book annoyed him enough that he went back to the beginning and focused on the words. The baby duckling was abandoned. It was so innocent and wanted love so badly, but it couldn’t find a home, no matter how hard it tried. It hurt Alberto’s heart as he realized that this was essentially his own story, too. He was abandoned when he was still little. His family didn’t want him, so he lived by himself for so long. But then the final page came, showing how the duckling was actually a swan, and he just needed to find who he belonged with. That was his story too. Seeing the duckling so happy made him happy because he knew he was happy, too. He didn’t know a book could get him to feel so many different things.

“Uh, Alberto?” Guido said, startling Alberto, who closed the book quickly and wiped his eyes before looking back at Guido.

“Yeah-ahem-yeah?”

“We found the books for you. Do you want to come check out?”

“Y-yeah, sure.” Alberto put the picture book back and walked over to the counter. “How sure?”

“Twenty euros.”

Alberto nodded and handed over some of the money he had received as allowance from Massimo over the last couple of years. A lot of it- okay, most of it- went to gelato, and the lady was nice and gave him free scoops sometimes, so he had a good amount of money to his name. While Guido put the books in a bag, Ciccio appeared next to Alberto and tapped him on the shoulder. “For you,” he said, holding up the picture book he had just put back. “You looked like you liked it.”

Alberto gently took the book from him. “I did. I liked it a lot. Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it. Enjoy your books, and come back more!”

Alberto smiled. “I will!” Alberto took the bag from Guido and waved at them both as he left. Guido and Ciccio looked at each other.

“What’s gotten into him?” Guido asked.

“I don’t know.”

Mirabel slept for a long time. It was a deep, dreamless sleep that allowed her body to relax for the first time in Portorosso, which was definitely needed considering she had fallen out of a tower in Rosas and landed in the ocean in Portorosso. There was more stress involved in being here, too. The people of Rosas knew magic and embraced it, even if it was a different kind of magic. But Portorosso was a normal town with normal people. They didn’t know things like magic. So Mirabel was being very careful to control her emotions. Seeing the view from the top of the hill was amazing, but it took a lot of willpower to keep herself under control and not start teleporting randomly. Her body needed the rest, and waking up from her nap proved it because she was really sore from hitting the water. None of that mattered when she opened her eyes, though. Even without her glasses, Mirabel could see the death glare she was receiving from the white cat laying on her chest. She screamed in her drowsiness, making Machiavelli jump backwards and hiss at her. Mirabel sat up, which was a mistake. Before she could reach for her glasses, Machiavelli sprang forward, launching at her face. She instinctively covered her face with her arms, but the claws never hit. After a second, she reached for her glasses, blinked, and found Alberto cradling Machiavelli, who had clearly calmed down, but was still giving Mirabel a death glare so hateful that she was glad Antonio wasn’t there to talk to the cat. It probably wouldn’t be saying anything fit for a five year old to hear. Mirabel sighed.

“Thanks for saving me,” she said. “I think your cat hates me.”

“He hated me, too, but only because he didn’t know me,” Alberto replied as he sat down next to her. “Now he’s super sweet to me unless I do something crazy like abandon him in the ocean.”

“I’ve been meaning to ask, how did he end up alone in the boat in the first place?”

Alberto’s eyes got wide. “I, uh, was out there with him checking traps, and I saw you fall into the ocean, so I jumped out and swam to shore to make sure you were okay since the guy who saved you ran away before anyone could see him.”

Mirabel looked at him for a second, then nodded. “And the boat went out with the tide?”

“Uh, yeah, exactly!”

Mirabel stretched her arms out and downed, the temporary adrenaline rush from nearly being attacked by a murderous cat wearing off quickly. “How long was I asleep?”

“It’s about 5:00. You slept for three hours. We’ll eat dinner in a little bit.”

“What were you doing while I slept?”

“Trying to remember where you were from.”

“Colombia.”

“Is that spelled with a K?”

Mirabel chuckled. “No, it starts with a C. I can write it down if you want.”

Alberto nodded. “Yeah!” He handed her a pencil and paper. “I was going to do that, too.”

“Why were you trying to remember where I was from for three hours?” she asked while she wrote down both Colombia and the name of the nearest city that they used for trading called Tuluá.

“That wasn’t all I was doing. But I’m just trying to figure something out. I’ll show you later.”

“Okay, then.” She handed him the piece of paper. “What should we do?”

Alberto looked around at the room. “I don’t know. Massimo only lets me set my traps every other day because it takes extra bait, and he took care of all my chores for the day. In the summer, the kids play football and I can typically play with them, but they’re all away at school. He’s already got the boat, so we can’t go anywhere either.”

“Well, that’s okay. What do you do for fun?”

“I do stuff with Machiavelli!” A quick growl from the cat took both of their attention for a second. “Yeah, I don’t think that’s gonna work. Other than that, I just work, mainly. I draw a little when I have time, but that’s not necessarily a thing we can do together.”

The two sat in silence for a second. “I know!” Mirabel said. “I told you about my life, why don’t you tell me about yours? You keep mentioning your best friend Luca and your sister Giulia, but you haven’t told me anything about you!”

Alberto stared at the ground. Talking about himself was not his strong suit, not anymore at least. There wasn’t much to talk about anymore now that he had a home and a family again. Trying to do it without saying he was a sea monster would be even harder. But then he looked up at her and saw genuine interest in her eyes. She really did want to know. “Okay,” he said. “But we have to go on a walk.”

Mirabel nodded and the two got up. She still kept an eye on the cat, who was glaring at her because she was the reason Alberto put him down. “Uhhh, let’s go before it attacks me again.” Alberto just chuckled and hurried outside. “So how did you get here? You make it seem like you weren’t always.”

Alberto took a deep breath and started leading Mirabel toward the hilltop again. “It all started when I was little. My mom died, and my dad and me were on our own.”

On their way up the hill, Alberto explained how his dad abandoned him and how he stayed alive until he met Luca. Mirabel was absolutely stunned that such a nice person could be abandoned like that by his only family. She could tell he was sad as he talked about scavenging for food at the age of 12 and surviving for two years like that.

“It was really hard,” Alberto said as they crested the hill for the second time that day. “I’m allergic to fish, so I went a day or two without eating sometimes.”

“You’re allergic to fish?” Mirabel asked. “Then why do you work in a fish shop?”

“I can hold them and stuff, but eating them makes me super sick. When Luca found me and we came here, it was the best thing to ever happen to me. I wasn’t alone anymore, I had a family again, and I had a home. When I come up here and think about where I’ve been, it just makes me grateful for what I have.”

“I can tell you really like it up here.” Alberto nodded in response, but kept his eyes fixed on one point in the distance. “You okay?” He didn’t reply. “Alberto?

Alberto shook out of his thoughts and looked at her. “Huh? Oh, yeah, yeah, I’m fine. It’s just-” He pointed out over the water. “You see that island? The one way out there with the tower?”

“Yeah.”

“That was my home before Luca found me.”

Mirabel’s jaw dropped. “What?! He left you stranded on an island?!”

“I didn’t realize it at first. We went out there one day without planning it. We actually swam there. We climbed to the top of the tower. And he told me I was old enough to make it on my own. Then he left.”

Mirabel saw the hurt in his eyes, even now. She immediately pulled him into a bone-crushing hug. “I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have asked, I had no idea.”

“No, it’s okay, it’s okay.” Alberto tried to think of a way to make her feel better, but the hug felt nice and he could tell she wasn’t going to let go until she felt like it, so he just went with it. “I’m really happy now, I promise. I have a home and a dad who loves me and a sister and a best friend. I’m okay.”

“You promise?”

“Yeah, I promise.”

Mirabel released the hug and took a deep breath. “You weren’t kidding when you said the view reminds you where you came from.”

“You have no idea. But it’s so beautiful.” A thought crossed Alberto’s mind to add to that sentence, but he fought that back. He put his hand on the back of his neck and tried not to let his face get warm.

“Uh, you okay?”

Before Alberto could answer, he was saved by a clap of thunder from a storm cloud that was moving in from the ocean. He was so preoccupied with his story and pointing out the island that he didn’t notice it at first. “Come on, before it starts raining.”

The two of them hurried down the hill back toward the house, Alberto moving fast enough that Mirabel had to almost jog to keep up with him. “It’s just a little water,” she protested.

“I know, but-” Alberto hesitated as he came up with an excuse that wasn’t a lie. “The house gets really cold when it rains, and the firewood’s in the backyard, so I need to get it inside so we can stay warm tonight.”

Mirabel kept pushing her speed, keeping up with him until they got to the back door. Within fifteen seconds of grabbing the firewood and getting inside, the rain was upon them. Alberto breathed a sigh of relief before starting the fire in the living room and settling in for the night.

The rest of the evening went smoothly. They had dinner, then Alberto got set up to sleep in the living room. Mirabel protested that he would lose his room, but both he and Massimo insisted so she had some privacy. Alberto had hoped to sleep out on the treehouse like he did when Giulia came home for the summer, but the rain made it impossible, so he just curled up on the couch with Machiavelli after staying up to finish his project. The next morning, everyone woke up, ate breakfast, and Massimo went to work. Mirabel was happier than she was the day before, having proof that she actually can stay overnight in places and also keep herself under control enough to not get too excited, although she did teleport a couple of times before calming down. She even tried teleporting down to breakfast, but it didn’t work. Mirabel started the morning sitting on the sea wall right off the house, letting her feet dangle in the water while drawing her surroundings. She had spent a little bit of time drawing the central plaza in Rosas, and she wanted to do the same thing wherever she ended up. Alberto, being excused from his chores again, came and sat down next to her. “What you up to?”

“Just remembering how pretty this place is,” Mirabel replied. She looked over at him and immediately put the little notebook Alberto gave her the day before in an old bag of Giulia’s that she found in Alberto’s room. “What’s all that?”

“Books!” Alberto replied proudly. “It’s what I did while you were asleep yesterday.”

“You read them all?”

“No, they have maps and pictures of places in them. I thought I could show you where you are compared to where you live.”

“That’s really nice of you. I’d love to see more about where I am and see what they have for Colombia.”

Alberto grabbed one of the books first and turned to the page he had marked. “This one has maps of Italia. Roma is over here to the right.” He pointed to Rome. “Genova is up on the top to the left, and we’re around here.” Alberto pointed to a spot he had circled in pencil just to the southeast of Genoa. “This book actually shows some of the festivals we do and stuff.”

“Have you been part of any festivals?”

“Oh, yeah, Christmas is big around here.”

Mirabel offered to take the book from him and put it in her bag as he reached for the second book. “This one has maps of all sorts of places. I didn’t realize how big it was. There aren’t maps of every country, so I kind of had to guess.” Alberto opened the second book to a map of the world, which had a circle around northern Italy and a circle around the entire country of Colombia. Mirabel couldn’t help but smile.

“You did great. I can’t believe how far away we are from my home. Did you see how far?”

“Oh, yeah!” Alberto grinned proudly. “I found this thing on the map called a scale and it told me how to figure that out. It didn’t take long to do the math.”

She could tell he wasn’t giving him the whole story. “Okay, but how long did it take you to figure out how to use the scale?”

Alberto stared at her and bit down on his bottom lip just like he did with Luca on the beach that time. He wasn’t going to answer that. The two stared at each other for a second before Alberto looked back at the book. “Anyway, it’s like over 9,000 kilometers away. That’s so far.”

“Yeah, it is. Thanks for showing me, I was really curious about it.” She offered to take the book again, but this time, she thumbed through other maps. “I want to see where Rosas is.”

Alberto watched her find a map of the Mediterranean Sea and scan it for a minute until finally going “Aha!” She grabbed her pencil, went back to the world map, and circled a place near the Straits of Gibraltar that didn’t even look like land because it was so small. “That’s where Rosas is!”

“Oh, wow!”

“Hang on, let me see if the other book has something about it.”

“Why? I thought it was an atlas.”

“Nope, it’s actually a guidebook. I wonder if it’ll talk about other places to go.” She put the world maps book in her bag and started looking through the index of the Italy one. A minute in, she gasped and turned to the page. “Look! It’s the central square in Rosas! This must be brand new, it even has the star sculpture!”

As Mirabel handed him the guidebook, Alberto had a feeling come over him that he hadn’t felt before. The pictures of Rosas were absolutely amazing. The castle, the square, the ocean, everything was so beautiful. He didn’t know what it meant yet, but he had an idea. “Wow. That place looks so cool!”

“It is! I wish you could see it!”

The next words that came out of his mouth were completely unexpected and yet so right. “I wish I could see it, too.”

Alberto didn’t know how long he stared at those pictures, but he did for a while until Mirabel tapped him on the shoulder. He flinched. He didn’t remember she was even there. The flinch was so violent that the book slid out of his lap and into the ocean. Before he could even react, Mirabel had slipped off the seawall and into the water to retrieve it in the knee-deep ocean. Alberto blinked, the sadness coming over him quickly, but also gratefulness for Mirabel. He would have completely forgotten that he wasn’t telling her about being a sea monster and jumped in after it himself if she hadn’t been faster than him. Instead, she was in the water, holding a ruined guidebook.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you,” she said. “And I’m sorry about the book.”

Alberto blinked, took a breath, then gave her a smile. “It’s okay. I’m sure it’s not the only guidebook in the world.” He reached a hand down and pulled her back onto dry land. He could feel the place where his skin touched her wet hand turn scaly, but he didn’t think she would notice.

“Still, I’m sorry. I owe you a new one.”

“Maybe later. Right now, you should go get out of those wet pants.” Mirabel nodded, put her bag over her shoulder, and turned to go inside, but they still held each other’s hand, so she yanked Alberto with her. “Hey! What was that for?”

“Me?” Mirabel replied. “You’re the one who won’t let go of my hand!”

“What are you talking about? I can’t let go because you’re holding it!”

“Me either!”

Both of their faces filled with confusion. “Is this one of your magic things?” Alberto asked.

“No! Why won’t it let us let go?!” The two of them tried pulling apart at the same time, but nothing happened. That’s when Mirabel saw the golden glow between their hands. “Oh, no. It is a magic thing.”

“Then why can’t you stop it?”

“I’m not doing this!” Before anything of them could say anything else, the two of them teleported a few feet. “No, no, no, no, no!”

“What’s happening?”

“I’m losing control!”

“Well, bring it back!”

“I’m trying!”

They teleported again, this time into the backyard, where Massimo was filleting a fish. “Make this stop!” Alberto yelled.

“It’s hard when you keep yelling at me!”

“Alberto?” Massimo asked right as they teleported out of the backyard into the kitchen, still arguing. Massimo could hardly turn around before they were out on the seawall again. He could see light getting brighter and brighter behind the fence. He ran out just in time to see both of them disappear with a blinding flash. “Alberto!”

Chapter Text

The first time Mirabel and Alberto teleported, they both knew it. The warmth that rose up in Mirabel’s chest as her Gift slipped out of her control actually came to Alberto as well when they teleported into the backyard, which only led to further confusion and panic from him. They teleported a couple more times, but they barely realized it as they argued.

“Just let go, please!” Mirabel begged. “I don’t want to go yet!”

“I don’t want you to go, either!” Alberto yelled back. “But I can’t! You have to calm down!”

“I-I can’t do it! It’s too much!”

“Yes, you can!” 

Tears started streaming down her face. “I’m trying so hard, but I can’t focus!”

Alberto understood what she meant. They were both freaking out because they couldn’t let go of each other, Alberto had the weird warmth in his chest and he didn’t know what could happen, and Mirabel was worried her adventure was ending. When Alberto tried looking around at where he was, he couldn’t see anything clearly, he was too panicked. He could tell Mirabel felt the same way, but they wouldn’t stop unless she calmed down. So he reached out and put a hand on her shoulder. “You can do this, Mirabella! Just breathe!” The two locked eyes. “Breathe in, breathe out.” The two took a deep breath together, helping to calm each other a little bit. “Again. Breathe in, breathe out.” A couple of deep breaths later, the world around them stopped looking so frantic and slowed down enough that Alberto could make out the sky between golden flashes of light. “We’re almost there, you’re doing great! Breathe in, breathe out. This power is yours to control. It doesn’t control you.”

With the last deep breath, Mirabel closed her eyes in concentration. After one last flash of light that was so bright that Alberto had to close his own eyes, the teleporting stopped. Before he could even open them, Mirabel was giving him a hug.

“Thank you,” she said. “That helped so much.”

“You’re, uh, you’re welcome,” Alberto replied. He still hadn’t opened his eyes yet, but he knew something felt off. It was something in the air or on the wind. He couldn’t quite pick it out, but the air felt different. When he opened his eyes, he and Mirabel were standing on a small beach right next to a bunch of trees. “Where are we?”

Mirabel look around and smiled. “You’ll see. Can you let go?”

Alberto tried taking his hand back, but the two of them were still stuck together. “Nope. Do you think we’re stuck like this?”

“I think we’ll find out here in a little bit. Come on.”

Mirabel led Alberto off the beach and into the trees, which was a new experience for him. He hadn’t seen that many trees in one place before. “What’s that smell?”

Mirabel looked at him funny, but her face changed when she saw how awestruck he was walking through a forest for the first time. “Uh, pine?”

“What’s a pine?”

“It’s a tree.”

“Oh, like these trees?”

“Yeah.”

“Cool. They smell good. Wait, how do you know where we’re going?”

“There’s a trail. We’re walking on it.”

“Yeah, but how do you know where the trail goes? It could lead to some monster or giant or evil person or-”

“Or a castle?” Mirabel pointed to something off in the distance and smiled as she watched the gears start turning in Alberto’s head. “Recognize it?”

“Kind of. Wait- wait, is this Rosas?”

Mirabel’s smile told him everything. “We’re in Rosas?! Wait, did you bring us here on purpose? Is that why I can’t let go? Or did I make us come here and that’s why? Do I have your Gift now too? Or did-”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. First of all, no, no, I don’t know, and I don’t know. But if there’s anyone who can help us figure it out, it’s Asha.”

“The fairy godmother girl?”

“Yep! She’s pretty much an expert in all things magic.”

“Kind of like me with walking! I practically invented it.”

Mirabel gave Alberto a look that made him immediately regret what he said. She looked like she was on the verge of either making fun of him or laughing at him, and he wanted neither of those things. So he immediately started laughing his best fake laugh, hoping she thought he was telling her a funny joke. Thankfully, she laughed with him.

“You invented walking? That’s crazy.”

“I know, right? Who even figured out how walking works? What did that even look like?”

The two chuckled for a bit as they walked, Alberto very relieved that she didn’t see him as a lunatic. Before they reached the edge of the forest, a woman appeared, riding toward them quickly on horseback. Alberto was immediately concerned, but Mirabel stopped in the middle of the road.

“Um, shouldn’t we be running from the person on the horse?” Alberto asked, trying and somehow failing to drag Mirabel off to the side of the path. She was a lot stronger than she looked.

“No, she isn’t going to hurt us or anything. She’s actually just the person we need to see.”

Asha jumped off the horse nearly before it stopped galloping. She ran to Mirabel, nearly crushing her in a hug and not even noticing Alberto was there. “I was so worried!” she exclaimed. “When you teleported out the window, I thought something terrible was going to happen, but nobody could find you anywhere! The queen and I even tried to find you with magic, but we couldn’t! Where did you go, what did you do, who did you meet, I want to know everything!”

“Okay, well, first of all, I’m fine, clearly,” Mirabel replied. “Second, please meet my friend Alberto. Alberto, this is Asha.”

Alberto tried to wave at Asha with his left hand, but it lifted Mirabel’s right hand, too. “Oh, whoops. Hi, I’m Alberto.”

“Hi, there. Where are you from?”

“Portorosso.”

“Wait, isn’t that the sea monster town in Italy?”

“Sea monster?” Mirabel asked, looking at Alberto. “You never told me about that!”

“Yeah, well, that, uh, was a big deal, but it hasn’t been that for a while. It stopped at around when I showed up.”

“So when I crashed into the water, a sea monster could have eaten me?!”

“No, no, no! They never talked about them eating people.”

“Hang on just a sec,” Asha said. “You crashed into the water?!”

“Yeah, but I don’t remember anything between hitting the water and Alberto waking me up on the beach.” Mirabel gasped and looked at Alberto. “Wait, could a sea monster have saved me? I remember a blue person took me to shore!”

“I, uh-” Alberto sputtered.

“That has to be it! Asha, can you check the memory somehow?”

“We’re getting way ahead of ourselves,” Asha replied. “First, let’s get you to town. On the way, you can tell me why you two haven’t stopped holding hands.”

The three of them opted to not all climb on the back of one single horse. With a wave of her wand, Asha told the horse to go back to the barn, tapping Alberto on the head so he could understand different languages before putting the wand away again. Mirabel explained her low-key adventures in Portorosso. Just like before, the story ended right as they approached the central plaza of the city. Asha looked at Alberto with a smile. “You wanted to see Rosas. Welcome to our home.”

Alberto’s jaw dropped as they stepped into the square and market. He hadn’t seen anything so majestic or wonderful before. The stone walls, the imposing beautiful palace in front of him, the carts, the people, the statue, everything was like the pictures, but so much more. His eyes were wide with wonder as he got to see the place he had wanted to see for admittedly not very long, but his heart felt full of joy and happiness. “It’s amazing,” he whispered, worried that speaking too loud might disrupt what was in front of him. There was so much activity, way more than the busiest day in his little town, and so much to do. And he wanted to do it all.

Alberto was shaken out of his thoughts when a voice yelled, “Mirabel!” Before anyone could even register who was talking, Valentino had leapt into Mirabel’s free arm. “I missed you so much! I checked every apple cart in the kingdom, but you weren’t there! Where did you go?”

Mirabel couldn’t help but smile. “I went to Italy and made a friend. Say hi, Alberto.”

Alberto’s eyes were somehow even wider. “Is, uh, is that goat talking?”

“Crazy, right?” Mirabel replied. “It’s amazing what a little magic will do. Say hi. He’ll get sad if you don’t.”

Valentino was looking at Alberto intently, his expression getting sadder with every second Alberto stared at him in shock. It took a squeeze of his hand from Mirabel to shake him out of the stupor, by which point Valentino was almost crying. “I, uh, hi, Valentino.”

“Hi!” Valentino smiled at him and jumped into his free arm. “You’re my new friend and I think you’re-” He sniffed the air. “Does anyone smell fish?”

Alberto’s eyes got wide again, but Asha sighed. “Valentino, don’t be rude,” Asha scolded. “I don’t know where he got that.”

“Oh, I, uh, it’s okay. My dad and I run a fish shop.”

“Oh, I get it,” Valentino said. “You smell like fish because you’re always around them. Wait, Asha, does that mean I always smell like the chickens because I’m always with the chickens while we sing?”

“Yes, Valentino, I’ve explained it at least five times to you,” Asha replied with a smile. “Come on, let’s let Alberto see the statue.”

The group went toward the statue of Star, Valentino happily enveloped in Asha’s arms again. Waiting for them was Dahlia, who had a bundle under her arm and a couple of cookies. She smiled widely when she saw Mirabel, and didn’t look surprised at seeing Alberto. “Alberto, this is Dahlia, my best friend,” Asha said. “She’s the town’s most popular baker and head cook for the queen.”

“It’s nice to meet you!” she said cheerfully. “Have a cookie, they’re my best batch yet!”

Alberto and Mirabel both accepted the cookies, which were perfectly star-shaped with a yellow icing that shone in the sun and smaller details that made it look like the star was smiling. Mirabel almost melted into the cobblestone below her after biting off a corner. “Dahlia, my mamá is the best cook I know, but these cookies are the greatest. What do you-”

Mirabel looked at Alberto, wondering what he thought until she saw him shove the entire rest of the cookie in his mouth at once. “Das da best cookie evah,” he mumbled, making everyone laugh.

“Thank you,” Dahlia beamed. “Cookies are kind of my thing. I need to finish cleaning up after the queen’s breakfast, but Mirabel, Bazeema told me you were coming, so I grabbed this.” Dahlia held out the parcel to her. “I thought you might want your skirt back if you ever came back, so I cleaned it for you.”

Mirabel took the skirt back gratefully. “Thank you so much! I’ve missed it so much, you have no idea. I should go change-” Mirabel and Alberto locked eyes. “Wait, how are we supposed to do things like that?”

“I don’t know, but I don’t want you in there while I’m using the bathroom or anything,” Alberto replied.

“And there’s no way you’re watching me change clothes. I need my privacy.”

Asha perked up and brandished her wand. “Well, I think we have an answer there.” Their hands glowed brightly before allowing them to separate for the first time since they left Portorosso. Before the glow disappeared, Asha waved her wand and brought up a little ball of light that told her what was going on with the magic. “Looks like the magic is mindful of your needs and will let you separate to do things like that. But not for a long time. So Mirabel, why don’t you go with Dahlia and change clothes? I’ll stay here with Alberto.”

“Sure. You can show me how you made those cookies!”

Mirabel and Dahlia walked away, leaving Asha and Alberto at the Star statue. “This place is amazing, Asha,” he said. “I never thought something could be so-so-so-”

“I know. Rosas is a wonderful place. You know, we make wishes come true here.”

“You do?”

“Sure. Or we at least try to. Everyone who comes here can write down their heart’s desire, and we do everything we can to grant it.” Asha handed him a pencil and paper. “You don’t have to tell anyone your wish. Only me, you, and the queen will know.”

“Did Mirabel give one?”

“Yes, she did. I get the feelings yours and hers aren’t that different.” Alberto looked at the paper, wrote down his wish, and put it in the slot. The second the slot closed, Asha knew what it was. “I knew it. And if anything I’ve heard so far tells me anything, it’s that you’re already seeing it granted. But I do have one question.”

“What?”

“Why didn’t you tell her?”

“Tell her what?”

“That you’re the sea monster who saved her.”

Chapter Text

There was a lot going through Alberto’s head as Asha gave him a knowing look. He was standing in the middle of a different country, looking at this girl who could do magic while she pet her talking goat in front of a statue of a star. The taste of the cookie still lingered in his mouth, his hand could still feel what it was like to write his heart’s desire on paper, he was painfully aware of how much he smelled like fish, and the sounds of his own panicked thoughts combined with the chattering from the square to drown out anything he actually wanted to hear. It was all so overwhelming. He didn’t even realize Asha had led him over to a bench and made him sit down. The next time he blinked, he realized he was sitting there with Asha’s hand on his shoulder, but everything was too much. He couldn’t even begin to come up with something to say, so he stared into the distance, completely lost in his thoughts.

“Is the fishy boy okay?” Valentino asked Asha.

“First of all, that’s not nice, his name is Alberto, not fishy boy,” Asha said. “He’ll be okay. He just needs a second. Breathe, Alberto.”

Valentino walked across the bench and curled up in Alberto’s lap. “I’m sorry I called you fishy boy, Alberto,” he said. Alberto didn’t verbally respond, but he started absentmindedly petting Valentino like he always pets Machiavelli. Asha smiled and Valentino sighed happily. “Oh, that’s the stuff. Yes, that’s very nice, thank you.” The little goat shifted and splayed across Alberto’s lap. “Get right above the tail. That’s the best spot.”

Asha watched Alberto’s face as he scratched and petted Valentino. Over the course of a couple of minutes, Valentino grounded him and brought him out of the panic mode he had been stuck in. Finally, he took a deep breath and looked at Asha. “Sorry, I have no idea what just happened. Were you talking to me or something?”

“No, Valentino just helped you out of the silent panic attack you just had.” Alberto’s eyes got wide, but Asha touched his shoulder again. “I promise, it’s okay. Nothing to be worried or ashamed of. People have panic attacks all the time.”

Alberto took another deep breath and nodded. “I don’t get them much, but my cat always helps. Thank you, Valentino.”

“You’re welcome, Alberto. Now scratch above my tail.”

Alberto smiled and did as the goat asked. “So, uh, how-how-how did you know?” he asked Asha.

“Well, I could say I found out when you panicked at the thought of a sea monster rescuing Mirabel or when you panicked when Valentino thought you smelled like fish, but there was a better reason.”

“Really?”

“Mm-hmm. When we walked into the square, a single drop of water came off a flower that got watered and hit your arm, and you didn’t notice. Nobody else did either but me. Seeing blue scales typically gives it away.”

Alberto sighed. “I was so careful to keep her from noticing.” Asha raised an eyebrow. “Okay, fine, I was probably pretty bad at it, she just never caught on.”

“Mirabel’s been through a lot over the last few days, so her head isn’t fully in things. You know you’re going to have to tell her soon, right? You can’t travel the world with her and not tell her, especially when you’re going to be holding hands most of the time.”

“I know. I just wanted her to know who I was as a person before telling her. I wanted her to like me first. I don’t want her to be afraid of me because I’m not human.”

“I think you’ll find that Mirabel likes pretty much everyone. You know what might help her like you more?”

“What?”

“Telling her you saved her life. That typically helps form good opinions. And it has the added perk of being the truth.”

Alberto nodded. “What do you think of my wish?”

“I think it’s amazing. No one wants to travel the world alone, and I think you lucked into the perfect travel partner.”

“Mirabel was right. You are the person I needed to see.”

“Hey, excuse me!” Valentino whined. “You stopped scratching my butt!”

“Oh, sorry!”

Breakfast for the queen was typically pretty easy. Asha made sure to eat with her mother and saba in the mornings, so Queen Amaya normally ate a light breakfast consisting of fruit and yogurt by herself in her chambers. Dahlia’s baking required her to be there in the morning, but breakfast wasn’t a hard meal to prepare. This morning had been different, though. Once a month, the queen had a breakfast meeting with the merchants of Rosas to see what they needed for their crops. The market was pretty large, so a breakfast like this was a major event that required a lot of work and planning. When Mirabel stepped out of a bathroom into the main kitchen, she immediately yelped and jumped backwards to avoid a guy carrying a mop bucket full of soapy water.

“Sorry!” she said, thankful that she didn’t need to immediately change out of her familiar skirt and top right after she got it back. She wound her way through the flurry of cleaning kitchen staff over to Dahlia, who was literally elbow deep in dough.

“How’d I do?” Dahlia asked. “Does it feel like home?”

“It does, thanks! The pants were fine, but I missed my skirt.”

“Did you see the little addition I made?”

Mirabel looked down, confused. “What addition?”

“Look at the bottom.”

Mirabel looked at the bottom layer of blue and immediately smiled. A little yellow star outlined in the same blue and purple iridescence as her pajamas from two days earlier looked up at her. It had a little face with a smile, and it was adorable. “You added that? When?”

“Yesterday. Something told me you’d be back, so I thought I might give you something to remind you where you’ve been.”

Mirabel went over and gave Dahlia a side hug. “I love it. It’s so cute! I’ll have to do this for everywhere I go. I’m drawing things, too.”

“That’s great! Where did you go when you left yesterday?”

“Portorosso.”

“Where’s that?”

“Italy. It’s so beautiful! I met Alberto there after I fell out of the sky and landed in the ocean, someone saved me but I don’t know who, and we spent an amazing day out in the town relaxing and telling stories under the sun.”

“So what happened to get him stuck to you?”

“He said he wished he could see Rosas after I showed him some things, and I guess it was a strong enough wish that somehow our hands got stuck together and now we’re both here. It’s pretty crazy.”

“No kidding. Do you think he’ll go back home when you leave here?”

“At this point, who knows? I don’t even know when I’m going home yet.”

“Fair enough. He seems nice. I guess if you’re going to be stuck holding the hand of a boy you just met yesterday for an undetermined amount of time, it might as well be him.”

“He’s very nice, and so kind.”

“And good-looking, too,” Dahlia said quietly enough that no one but her and Mirabel would hear.

Mirabel blinked. “I’m sorry, what?”

“Nothing. Come hold this bowl. I need to transfer some of this bread dough to a different bowl, and the dough gets sticky and can shift. I don’t want it to fall on the floor.”

Mirabel walked over and held the bowl for her, then helped carry the dough to a drawer so they could prove. “What did you mean by that?”

“Well, I didn’t want the bowl to shift, and-”

“Not that. That.”

“Don’t worry about it. Now, how about I show you how I do my cookies? It’s super easy.”

“Oh, come on. You can’t just say something like that and move on.”

“Oh, yes, I can. Besides, I get the feeling we won’t have long to talk.”

“Why not?”

“Look at your hand. It’s brighter than the icing I put on the cookies.”

Mirabel looked down and saw her hand glowing bright with golden light. “Already? I thought I would get at least ten minutes.”

“Asha did say it wouldn’t be long. I wonder what will happen if you run out of time and you aren’t together yet.”

Mirabel could feel this urge to go find Alberto, but it wasn’t overwhelming, although it was growing. “I don’t know, but I’m hoping we get a few minutes more. It’s weird holding the hand of a boy you just met yesterday and not being able to let go.”

“I know lots of people who want to hold people’s hands and never let go. But I agree, that would be weird. At least at first.”

Mirabel took a deep breath. The glow was starting to get warm. It wasn’t uncomfortable, but it was definitely trying to get her to do something. She wasn’t panicking or anything, but she could tell that she was going to teleport if she didn’t find Alberto soon. “Um, if I suddenly disappear, I promise I’ll come right back, and thank you again for getting my clothes ready, you’re awesome.”

“No problem. But I don’t think you’re going anywhere.”

“What makes you think-”

Out of nowhere, Alberto burst in the room, his left hand glowing and outstretched toward Mirabel’s right hand. As soon as Alberto was in the room, Mirabel’s hand practically dragged her toward Alberto, regardless of the kitchen workers in her way or any other obstacles that could prevent them from reaching each other. Nobody was carrying any food, but both Alberto and Mirabel bumped into a couple of people with mop buckets, causing them to slip and throw their buckets into the air, threatening to soak them both with soapy water. At the same time as their hands connected again, they shielded their faces from the drenching to come. Alberto’s eyes were screwed shut with dread. He wasn’t ready for her to know the truth about him yet. But the water never landed. When Alberto opened his eyes, there was water floating over his head, suspended in midair. He saw Asha standing in the doorway, her wand outstretched. She gave him a knowing wink and a smirk before waving her wand again and sending the water back to the buckets. “You’re lucky I can run fast,” she said, slightly out of breath. “You both almost got a shower.”

Mirabel exhaled deeply and looked at Asha. “You’re amazing, Asha.”

“No, magic is amazing. I just know how to use it. Besides, we can’t have you two soaking wet for your tour.”

“Tour?” Alberto asked, his eyes filling with excitement.

“Of course. I have to go meet with the queen, but I’ll see if some of my friends can show you around. They love giving tours.”

“They really do,” Mirabel confirmed. “It’s impressive. I got one a couple days ago.”

“So I’m going to get to see everything? The whole place?”

“Anything and everything, within reason, of course,” Asha said. “You made your wish. What did you think we were going to do, make you sit inside on such a beautiful day and watch Dahlia bake?”

“I wouldn’t mind that if it meant I got more cookies.”

“Cookies come at the end of the tour,” Dahlia joked. “Now get out of here before I put you to work.”

Mirabel and Alberto walked toward the door, but Mirabel stopped and looked back at Dahlia. “Thank you again. For the skirt, the addition, everything.”

“No problem. Go have fun.”

As they stepped outside into the morning sun, Mirabel looked at Alberto. “You haven’t seen my normal clothes yet. What do you think? I did all the embroidery myself except the star at the bottom, that was Dahlia.”

When Alberto turned to look at Mirabel, somehow, the light caught her outline just right. Her black hair looked like there were strands of gold woven through it, highlighting her eyes, which were so full of kindness and joy. It took a split second for Alberto to remember he was supposed to be looking at her clothes. That kind of thing typically didn’t mean anything to him, but something about the sun and the way it shone helped him see the hard work and effort Mirabel had spent to create this outfit. There were all sorts of emblems on it, and he could tell they meant a lot to her. But clothes weren’t on the front of his mind. “Sei bellissima,” he said, looking directly in her eyes. A step ahead of them, Asha smirked. She knew what he said, even if Mirabel didn’t understand the phrase. Her wand glowed softly as she allowed the phrase to reach Mirabel’s ears in Italian. Mirabel wasn’t ready to hear it in English yet, and Italian just worked better for the words that came from Alberto’s heart.

“What?” Mirabel asked.

Alberto blinked. “I-I, uh, it’s amazing! I can’t believe you did that yourself.”

“Thanks. I kept the outfit from Portorosso, though. Never know when you’ll need a change of clothes.”

The three of them walked toward the central plaza, Alberto taking advantage of the sun being right in his face to hide the fact that he was blushing by putting his hand over his eyes. After a minute or two, he put his hand down and looked at Mirabel. “Thank you for bringing me here. It’s already better than I could have ever imagined.”

“I don’t think I can say you’re welcome because I don’t know how we ended up here, but I’m so glad you love it already. Just wait until the tour. You’ll lose your mind. The chickens alone are insane.”

“Chickens?”

“Chickens.”

Chapter Text

By the time Mirabel and Alberto reached the center square again, there were even more people in the square. It was getting close to lunchtime, and the stands were extremely busy with people looking for a quick bite to eat before getting back to work. There were even a few stands set up for this occasion where people could buy a full meal for a good price before heading back to their farms or stalls in the market. Four people greeted Asha, Mirabel, and Alberto at the Star statue. Three of the four immediately gave Mirabel a hug before Asha could introduce them to Alberto, but one of them stood back from the group, his arms folded across his chest. Just like Asha did, they peppered Mirabel with questions about where she went and what happened when she got there, and nobody really looked at Alberto because they were so excited with Mirabel being back. Alberto just kind of stood there, half-surrounded, before the fourth person walked up, his arms folded.

“Is there a reason you haven’t let go of her hand since you’ve been standing there?” he asked pointedly. Alberto would have thought it was rude if he hadn’t seen Giulia give him the exact annoyed and grumpy face every summer morning before helping with chores.

“I can’t let go,” Alberto replied. “It’s a magic thing.”

“Mm-hmm. Yeah. Sure. Anyway, I’m Gabo.” The two of them shook hands.

“Alberto Scor- I mean, Marcovaldo.”

“You don’t know your last name?”

“I, uh, recently became someone else’s son. Whatever that’s called.”

“You mean you were adopted?”

“Yeah, adopted, that’s the word!”

Gabo looked like he was going to say something, then thought better of it. “Good for you. Sorry about these three here.” His voice got gradually louder as he said, “I’m sure they’re not actually trying to be rude by completely ignoring someone right in front of them!” All the talking stopped as Hal, Safi, and Dario’s heads all turned to look at Gabo, who angrily pointed at Alberto. “There is a guy literally stuck to Mirabel and you haven’t said a word to him for five minutes! And you call me rude.”

“We don’t call you rude, we call you grumpy,” Dario said.

“I’m not grumpy! I just appreciate good manners.” Gabo stepped out of the way so the three of them could introduce themselves, then walked over and shook Mirabel’s hand. “It’s good to see you again. You might want to explain what’s going on to those three.”

“I will, don’t worry,” Mirabel replied as she and Gabo looked and listened to them.

“No way!” Dario said excitedly. “You’re from Italy, too?”

“Yeah!” Alberto replied. “I’m from a town near Genova!”

“My family lived in Roma!”

“That’s so cool!”

“I love new friends!” Hal said as she enveloped Alberto, Dario, and Safi in a hug. “And old friends! I just love friends.”

“Me too!” Safi said. “I- ah, ah, ah!”

Everyone took a massive step backwards, including Mirabel, who dragged Alberto away before Safi could sneeze right in his face. The sneeze that came out of Safi was so loud that it echoed throughout the square, stopping all of the bustling activity for just a moment before a single person yelled, “Faraj!”

“Shukran!” Safi replied with a wave before everyone got back to what they were doing. “That was a big one.”

“I don’t think I’ve heard a sneeze that big in a long time,” Dario said.

“Maybe they wouldn’t get so big if you didn’t put your finger under his nose every time he sneezes,” Gabo replied. “Which, by the way, how does that even work? You’re lucky he doesn’t just sneeze on you. Just let the little sneezes out so they don’t build up and carry the world’s biggest handkerchief.”

Everyone laughed, including Safi. “I do love those big handkerchiefs you guys get me!”

After a few seconds, Hal looked at Alberto. “You haven’t gotten the tour yet! Come on, we have to show you everything!”

“Okay!” Alberto replied. Hal went to grab Alberto’s hand and lead him away.

“Whoa, whoa, wait,” Mirabel said as Hal tried to pull Alberto behind her. Somehow, though, he didn’t move as the glow between Alberto and Mirabel’s hands reappeared. Alberto could feel Hal trying to move him, but it also felt like nothing was happening at all. Asha, who had been getting an apple for Valentino, walked back to the group right as this happened and looked at Hal.

“Having trouble there?” she asked.

“Why can’t I move him?” Hal replied as she stopped trying to pull Alberto with her.

“They’re stuck together, so they go together. Mirabel said to wait, so Alberto didn’t move.”

“I’m not sure that makes sense,” Mirabel said as the glow disappeared from hers and Alberto’s hands.

Asha smirked at Alberto so quickly that only he caught it before looking at Mirabel. “It will. Either way, if one of them wants to go somewhere and the other doesn’t, they won’t go until they agree. So, Mirabel, why didn’t you want to go?”

Mirabel looked around at everyone before locking eyes with Alberto. “You look like you’re cold. We should get you a change of clothes before starting the tour.”

“Cold?” Alberto scoffed. “Me? I never get cold.”

Mirabel raised an eyebrow. “You were shivering while we walked over here.”

“Are you sure? It was really bright in the sun.” Alberto started to panic on the inside. Being a sea monster meant he wasn’t warm-blooded like everyone else. He was cold-blooded, which meant his body temperature adapted to his surroundings. In water, it happened really fast, but on land, it took longer for some reason. Being in a warm Italian city meant Alberto could feel really uncomfortable until he adapted to the temperature of the day. That’s why he liked his sleeveless clothes and shorts. But here, on an island somewhere far away, the weather was different. The breeze was stronger and made it feel colder, but only when it was there. So the wind made him cold. Really cold. Of course, right as he said he wasn’t cold, a stiff breeze blew through the square, making Alberto’s clothes flap in the wind as he immediately broke out into shivers. “That-that-that was a coincidence.”

“Mm-hmm. I’m sure. Guys, can we find Alberto a change of clothes?”

“I can help,” Bazeema said from behind the group, making everyone jump. Gabo jumped so high he came eye to eye with Alberto before yelling, “Seriously?! Every time!”

Bazeema didn’t acknowledge it, although she always found it funny. “My parents run a clothing shop, we’ll get you whatever you want so you’re warm. You don’t want to get sick while you’re here, do you?”

Alberto shook his head, trying to use his free hand to shield himself from the wind. “Can-can we go, please?”

The group started moving out of the square, although it was pretty slow going. A group that size doesn’t always move quickly, even with Asha heading back to the castle. Everyone was chatting excitedly except Alberto, who was still shivering. Mirabel could feel his hand growing colder and breaking out into goosebumps. So as they walked, she decided to try something. “Alberto?”

“Y-y-yeah?”

“I’m gonna try something. We might teleport, but I want to see if there’s something I can do to help you get warmer.”

“Like what?”

“My tío Félix has this ability to make my tía warm whenever they hold hands. Maybe I can do the same thing.”

“I know I felt warm when we t-t-teleported here, but I’m not that c-c-cold.”

Mirabel looked at him, unimpressed. “Yeah, sure. You’re just like my tío Bruno. One little gust of wind from my tía and he buries himself in a blanket. Now stand still. I just want to try something.”

The two of them stopped, causing the other five of the group to turn and watch. Mirabel took a deep breath and closed her eyes to concentrate. She just wanted their hands to glow. Just that little bit of warmth would be good to have for both of them. Mirabel wasn’t cold, but she didn’t like seeing Alberto struggle like that. Cold days at home were never fun, especially when they happened in what was supposed to be the summer. After a second, she smiled as a mental image of a sun floating over her tía’s head materialized took shape. That meant Pepa was the happiest of happy, and Mirabel always loved seeing her that way. Mirabel missed that happy face. It only took a couple of seconds to process all of that, and by the time she had, she could feel the golden glow return, as well as the warmth that came with teleporting. When she opened her eyes, they were still standing in the same place. They hadn’t gone anywhere. Alberto looked visibly relieved.

“How did you do that?” Alberto asked, the shivering gone.

“I just had to think of my tía,” Mirabel replied. “Her sunny days are so amazing. There’s nothing more warm and comforting than that, except my mamá’s arepas.” Another wave of something washed over Mirabel as she thought about her mother’s cooking. It wasn’t sadness, but it was just a reminder of home. She hadn’t had the ability to feel homesick before, and this must have been what it felt like. It wasn’t strong enough to make her want to go home - she was having way too much fun traveling - but it was enough to teleport herself and Alberto to the center of the square, then to the castle kitchens, then back to the group, who was pretty awestruck. They hadn’t seen her teleport yet.

“Are you okay?” Alberto asked. “What is it?”

“Just thinking of home,” Mirabel replied with a soft smile. “I’m not going back yet, but I’ll be happy to see my mamá and tía again. Come on. Let’s get you some warm clothes.”

About fifteen minutes later, Mirabel and Alberto emerged from Bazeema’s family’s store, waving back into the store at her parents.

“Come back soon!” her mother practically yelled. “I want to hear all about the tour and everything you thought in every detail!”

“And I want to know if the clothes keep you warm and how they feel and if you would do anything different and if-” her dad also yelled, but they were cut off by Bazeema slamming the door to the shop closed behind them as the group walked out. Bazeema looked absolutely exhausted.

“Sorry about them,” she whispered. “They’re a lot.”

“Are you sure they’re your parents?” Alberto asked. “They’re like, super loud and fun and crazy.”

Bazeema smiled softly. “I get that a lot. What do you think of your new clothes?”

Alberto looked down at the outfit he picked out. It was a blue long-sleeved tunic with a purple belt and a blue and purple scarf over black pants. He essentially had the same outfit as Safi, but with his fisherman’s hat and regular pants instead of tights. He was immediately drawn to the colors because it matched his skin and half colors when he was in the water. The colors made him feel comfortable, even if it was a lot more clothes and layers than he was used to. Bazeema’s dad was kind enough to give him a backpack to carry his old clothes and anything else he might need on his travels, too. “I love it. What do you think?” he asked Mirabel.

Mirabel smiled widely. “It fits you really well. You look great.”

“So do you,” Alberto let slip without thinking.

“Really? Thanks!” Mirabel fiddled with the hem of the blue and purple sash around her waist. “I thought it went well with the rest of my outfit.”

“It-it-yeah!” Alberto turned away to look at literally anyone else to try and hide that he was blushing. He looked at Gabo, who just smirked and shook his head. “Where-ahem-uh, where to first? I heard something about chickens?”

Safi nearly jumped for joy. “Yes! My chickens! That’s two new people who get to see the chickens in three days! Come on!” He started to run away, but Hal grabbed his arm.

“Hey, no running for you,” she said. “Your allergies will act up.”

“Right, thanks. Let’s go!”

The rest of the day consisted of Mirabel and Alberto being led around Rosas in essentially the same circuit Mirabel had received a couple of days earlier. Knowing Alberto for the little time she had helped her steer the others toward things she thought he would enjoy. There was a reason she led with the chickens. Seeing him interact with Machiavelli was very sweet, even if it was just to keep the cat from murdering her, so she knew he liked animals. She did not expect him to want to follow Safi’s lead and hug a chicken the size of a horse. He wanted it so badly that their hands separated briefly. Watching Alberto hug that chicken was pretty great, but she was thankful that she didn’t have to do that with him. The rest of the day was full of that kind of experience. Alberto’s excitement to be around new people and see everything was infectious. It didn’t matter if Mirabel thought he would like it, because he liked everything. His reaction to entering the castle was a lot like Mirabel’s, mainly shock and awe at the beauty around him. He was speechless, and the look on his face was priceless. It made Mirabel wish she had a camera to capture the moment forever. Dinner with Asha and her friends was a lot of fun, even if she and Alberto had to sit extremely close just to eat. Mirabel was thankful they happened to be holding each other’s non-dominant hands. It would have made dinner way more difficult than it should have been. For some reason, Alberto felt the need to show her that he knew how to use a fork, which made absolutely no sense. They met Queen Amaya again after dinner, and everyone went their own ways for the night. Right as Asha was about to lead them upstairs, a bird flew into the room and landed on the railing.

“Asha, Asha!” the bird chirped. “I have a message for you!”

“A message?” Asha asked. “From whom?”

“Your saba Sabino! He said to tell you that everything’s ready.”

Asha smiled. “Excellent. Would you please tell him that we’re on our way? It ought to be dark by the time we get there.”

“Okay!” The bird flew out the way it came. Mirabel and Alberto watched it leave, then turned back to Asha.

“Where are we going?” Mirabel asked.

“Yeah,” Alberto said before yawning. “I thought it was time for bed.”

“Not quite yet,” Asha replied. “There’s one more thing I want to show you that neither of you have seen yet. It’s really special. Come on, before it gets too late. My saba is waiting for us, and he rarely stays out this late. He’s 101 years old, you know.”

“Whoa!” Mirabel said. “The oldest person I ever knew was around 85 before she died.”

“I met someone who was 150 once,” Alberto blurted out, much to his horror and everyone else’s surprise.

“Oh, really?” Mirabel asked. “What was it, a turtle?”

Alberto’s eyes widened. Sea monsters came in all different shapes and sizes. This one was a turtle sea monster, so he could actually not outright lie to her. “Uhhh, yeah, yeah it was. His name was Sheldon.”

Mirabel raised an eyebrow and chuckled before looking back at Asha. “We should go, yeah?”

“Absolutely, this way, follow me, please!” Asha quickly led the two of them out of the castle, very aware that any look she gave Alberto would give away that something was off. Of course, Alberto was doing that all by himself. After a walk that took them back toward the forest, but down a different path, the three of them emerged into a small clearing on a hill overlooking the water. Waiting for them there was an old man in a chair holding a mandolin. He gave them a warm smile that they both had seen from Asha before.

“Good evening,” he said kindly. “Mirabel, it’s good to see you again. And you two must be Alberto. Asha speaks very highly of you. Asha, thank you for coming so quickly. I go to bed earlier these days.”

“Of course, Saba,” Asha replied before kissing him on the cheek. “I didn’t want these two to miss out on the magic they hadn’t seen yet.”

“What magic?” Mirabel asked.

“You’ll see. It’s nothing inherently magical, but it’s still magical.” Asha directed the two of them to a blanket that was spread out on the grass before sitting on a log next to her saba. “Just look out and listen.”

The two of them sat and waited for a second. Then Mirabel gasped and pointed up at the sky. “A shooting star!” she said.

“Where?” Alberto asked. “I missed it!”

With their attention where it needed to be, Asha nodded at her saba, who began to play a song that was unfamiliar to Mirabel. Just the introduction was beautiful, though. Alberto thought he recognized it, but his brain was too preoccupied by the shooting stars in the sky to figure out what it was. Then Asha began to sing, purposefully in a language neither of them spoke and purposefully so neither of them could understand. Another shooting star streaked across the sky, making Mirabel and Alberto gasp and pulling their attention on the sky even more. While they waited, Alberto’s mind wandered back over to Asha, and he immediately realized what she was saying, even without understanding it. He knew the song. Massimo had it on a record somewhere. Asha was on the second line.

“Look at the skies, they have stars in their eyes on this lovely bella notte.”

In that moment, Alberto looked at Asha, who gestured out at the sky before proceeding with the verse. Alberto looked back out and saw a shooting star again, but at some point, he found himself looking at Mirabel. The angle he had facing her allowed him to see behind her glasses. She stared up at the sky in wonder, her eyes reflecting the light the stars gave and shining almost just as brightly. Alberto didn’t need to look at the sky anymore. He didn’t want to.

“For this is the night and the heavens are right on this lovely bella notte.”

Alberto didn’t know what to do as Sabino played the verse again and Asha listened. He had absolutely no idea at all. Then he had one idea, but it wasn’t a good one. Finally, he scooted closer to Mirabel rather than being a good three feet away from her. They had sat closer together at dinner, but this was different. Once he was just a bit closer, he took a deep breath, teared his eyes away from Mirabel, and looked back up at the sky, happy that he was closer and drinking in the music. He felt a little bit warmer on the inside, too. Asha was right. It really was magical. The song ended way too soon for his liking. Mirabel looked at Alberto, smiling widely, before turning to Asha and Sabino.

“That was so beautiful!” she said. “So magical. Thank you so much.”

“It was our pleasure, Mirabel,” Sabino replied. “When we have so much magic around us that comes from books and spells, it’s easy to forget about the magic that happens every day without getting our attention. Now, I must get to bed. I have a concert tomorrow in the square.”

Asha kissed her saba on the cheek again. “Thank you, Saba. Get some rest. I’ll see you for breakfast.”

“Any time, my star. Good night.”

The four of them went their separate ways, Asha leading Mirabel and Alberto back to the castle. The entire time they walked, Mirabel excitedly chatted with Asha about the amazing experience she had just had, but Alberto was silent. He was still processing everything. Finally, they made it to the guest chambers. Mirabel was confused.

“Won’t I be in the same place as before?” Mirabel asked.

“Maybe, if your Gift will let you. That bed is too small if it doesn’t, so we’ll see.”

Mirabel and Alberto looked at each other, their eyes wide. “We might have to share a bed?”

“Maybe, I don’t know. See if you can separate.”

Mirabel looked at Alberto, then down at their hands. “It’s time for bed,” she said clearly. Nothing happened. “I need my privacy.” Still nothing.

“I, uh, I need to use the bathroom,” Alberto said. With a blast of golden light, their hands separated. “Whoa!”

“Quick, go inside!” Asha said.

Alberto ran into the guest chamber and closed the door behind him. For a split second, it felt like it worked. But with five seconds, Mirabel appeared next to him and their hands locked together again. “Oh, come on!” she yelled.

Asha opened the door and poked her head in. “Well, we have our answer, I guess. There’s two sets of pajamas for you in here, and the bed’s big enough that you’ll have space.”

Both Mirabel and Alberto blushed at that sentence. “Are you sure there isn’t a way to split us for the night?” Alberto asked. “I’m, uh, not comfortable with this.”

“Nothing I can do, sorry. Nothing except say good night and wish you pleasant dreams.”

Asha closed the door behind her, leaving the two of them alone. Their hands separated again, and Alberto tried to run for the door, but his hand pulled him back to Mirabel like two ends of a magnet. “Fine,” Mirabel said. “I guess it’s a sleepover, just like I do with mis primos.”

“Yeah, that’s all it is,” Alberto replied. “It’s an awkward sleepover, but that’s all it is.”

Their hands separated a third time, so they went to get changed in separate rooms. As soon as they both were ready for bed, their hands drew them together and locked in place with a soft golden glow. It made them both warm inside. It had been a busy day, and they weren’t going to have any issues falling asleep with this helping them. The two of them got into the biggest bed Alberto had ever seen and settled in. Before Mirabel turned out the lights, Alberto turned on his side to look at her. “Hey, Mirabel?”

“Yeah?” she asked with a yawn.

“Today was amazing. Thank you for bringing me here.”

Mirabel smiled. “I’m glad you had fun. You’re fun to travel with. A little odd sometimes, but that’s okay, I’m odd sometimes, too.”

“I hope we have another great day tomorrow,” Alberto said through a yawn, the golden glow between their hands growing brighter and the warmth building in his chest. Mirabel felt it too. She could tell this was just to help them sleep and they weren’t going to teleport.

“Me too. Good night, Alberto.”

“Good night, Mirabel.”

Chapter Text

Gray was not a normal color in the Encanto. There was too much life, too much vibrancy in the community for gray colors to find a home there. A plain gray building didn’t stay that way for long. Seemingly overnight, a mural or a new color appeared, adding to the choir of color that seemed to sing throughout town wherever you looked. The people didn’t wear gray, either. In the Encanto, your clothes reflected your personality or your mood. Anyone wearing gray was immediately given a reason to smile and be happy, whether they needed it or not. Gray was not welcome. And yet, for the last four days, gray was the only way to describe the Encanto. The sun rose, but it couldn’t burn away the blanket of clouds and fog that had enveloped the Encanto since Mirabel disappeared with a flash. The fog left quickly when Pepa walked into Dolores’s room and found Mariano instead. Pepa was a smart woman. Fog and the confusion that caused it didn’t last long. This time, it didn’t disappear, no matter how hard she tried to make it go away. She just couldn’t comprehend wanting to leave everything she had, even for a little bit. The morning knock on her door sounded different, too. Mirabel always did them. Pepa knew what it sounded like. So she got up from her bed and opened the door to see who it was.

“Good morning, mamí,” Camilo said, trying and failing to sound cheerful.

“Good morning, sweetheart,” Pepa replied before giving him a hug. He might have been sixteen, but he was always okay with a hug from her. “Anything?”

Camilo shook his head. “Not yet. She isn’t back.”

Pepa nodded slowly. “She’ll come back.”

“I know she will. It doesn’t make it any easier.”

“No, it doesn’t.” Pepa looked across the balcony at Mirabel’s dark door. “I never thought I’d have to see a dark door again. I walked past Bruno’s door for ten years. I don’t want to-” Pepa stopped and narrowed her eyes. “What’s that?”

“What’s what?”

“That. Did you walk past her door yet?”

“No, why?”

Pepa moved past Camilo and walked toward Mirabel’s room with Camilo right behind her. As they turned the corner, Pepa gasped, a cloud springing to life over her head as she hurried over to the dark door. There on the floor, curled up in a little ball under a blanket, was Antonio, who was fast asleep. Pepa knelt down next to him and brushed the hair out of his eyes. He looked up at her, blinked slowly, then looked at the door. “She didn’t come back?”

Pepa shook her head sadly as she scooped him into her arms. “No, she didn’t.”

Antonio started to sniffle, and a big tear slid down his face. “I thought if I slept outside her door with the jaguar she gave me, she would come back.”

“I hoped she would too, sweetheart.” She wiped his tear away and picked him up. “But you know what I do know?”

“What?”

“She loves us too much to stay away for long.”

“She does?”

“Of course she does,” Camilo said next to them. “I think she’d also be sad if she knew you weren’t sleeping in your bed. She would want you to sleep. So how about you do sleepovers with me or Dolores until she comes back?”

“But what if she comes back at night? I want her to know I missed her.”

“The magic will make sure we know,” Pepa replied. “It always does. It did when your papá and tío had their wish happen, and we knew when Dolores had her wish happen. And Bruno’s vision told us that she’ll come back. We just don’t know when.”

“I wish she would come back now.”

“Me too. But she’s doing something she always dreamed of doing. So we just have to be patient, okay?”

Antonio nodded and yawned widely. “Do we have to go get breakfast?”

The floors tapped out a message that made Pepa flinch. “I hope not. Isabela’s making breakfast.”

Camilo dramatically gagged next to her, which made Antonio giggle. “Does Isa not cook like tía?”

Pepa hesitated. She didn’t want to speak bad of her niece. “Let’s just say that nobody cooks like your prima Isa. So maybe you can go get a few more minutes of sleep in Camilo’s room while I go find out when breakfast will be.”

Antonio nodded as Pepa set him down, then he walked sleepily to Camilo’s room, his blanket trailing behind him, and closed the door behind him. At the same time, Pepa went downstairs, leaving Camilo alone in front of Mirabel’s door. He took a deep breath, looked up at her darkened name, and set his hand on the wood.

“I hope you’re having fun,” he whispered. “But don’t forget us. We miss you.” Before he walked away, he felt the door push open slightly. Curious, he pushed the door fully open and felt his heart drop. The room was gray and gloomy, the early morning light not bringing any life to the room. Instead of an expansive green meadow with a brilliant morning sky, he had in front of him a plain room that had no paint, no decoration, and no furniture except for a bed and a dresser, and a small square window. Camilo stepped inside and immediately felt colder. This wasn’t right at all. Before turning to leave, he noticed one of the dresser drawers was open. His curiosity got the better of him, so he walked over and opened the drawer, which led him to smile. In the dresser was the single source of color in the entire room. It was a blue blanket Mirabel had spent many hours embroidering patterns into. She loved working on that blanket when she needed to keep her hands busy but didn’t have any projects waiting for her. For a few seconds, Camilo stood there and held the blanket close. He missed Mirabel just as much as anyone- well, almost anyone. There was one person that missed her the most out of everyone. Camilo walked out of the room, closing the door behind him before walking down the balcony to a different room and knocking on the door.

“Tía?” he called. “Tía, it’s Camilo.”

Instead of Julieta coming to the door, Agustín cracked it open and gave Camilo a half smile. “Hey, sobrino. She’s not-” Agustín winced as a barely silenced sob came from inside the room. “Tell Abuela that your tía isn’t ready to see anyone yet.”

“Abuela didn’t send me. I, uh, I found something that she would want to see.”

“Camilo-”

“Even now. It’ll help.”

“You’re not going to shift, are you?”

Camilo shook his head violently. “I would never.”

Agustín nodded. “Just one second.” He closed the door, then opened it a few seconds later. “Come in.”

Camilo eased into the room, trying to prepare himself to see his tía distraught. It had only happened a couple times that he could remember. One was when Bruno left and he didn’t really understand what was happening, and another was when Mirabel disappeared after the house fell. It was awful to see his normally upbeat tía so devastated. He still wasn’t prepared enough. Julieta looked exhausted, like she hadn’t slept in days, which was probably true. Tears traced her cheeks, she was pale, and none of that joy was left in her eyes. “Good morning, tía.” Julieta couldn’t even bring herself to reply. She managed the faintest smile toward him, but that was it. “I found something you’ll want to see.” He produced the blanket and set it on her lap. “I found it in her room. It’s the only thing of hers that was in there. You should have it.”

Julieta was silent for a few seconds, taking in the blanket and running her fingers over the embroidery. When she looked back up at Camilo, he couldn’t help but feel thankful that just a sliver of that joy returned to her eyes. Tears were flowing, too, and Camilo couldn’t help but give her a hug. “Thank you,” she whispered. “Maybe she isn’t gone forever after all.”

“Amor, she isn’t going to be gone forever,” Agustín said. “You know that. Bruno’s vision-”

“We don’t know what Bruno’s vision meant. We never know what Bruno’s big visions mean. That’s why she ran out of the Encanto the first time when the house came down. She wanted to leave this place, and I don’t know what I did to make her want to leave, but now she’s gone and-”

Julieta started crying harder and clutched the blanket. Agustín went to her side and held her hands. “She’s coming back, amor. I know it. You know how I know?”

“How?”

“Because she loves us. She loves you. And Mirabel doesn’t leave the people she loves.”

Camilo nodded in agreement and waited while Julieta got control again. “I should go check on Antonio and get dressed for breakfast. I just wanted to make sure you had that.”

“Thank you, Camilo,” Julieta said, her voice a bit stronger. “You’re a sweet boy.”

Camilo smiled. “I try.” He yawned and stretched. “Maybe I’ll just skip breakfast.”

“What? Why?”

“Isabela’s cooking.”

Both Agustín and Julieta’s jaws dropped. “She’s what?”

“Cooking.”

A little bit of the familiar joy slipped into Julieta’s eyes. She draped the blanket around her shoulders and stood up. “No, I think you’re going to have to suffer through this with me, sobrino. I can’t wait to see what she’s made.”

Within half an hour, almost everyone had assembled downstairs in the dining room for breakfast. Isabela had put out a massive spread of food, most of which was coated in the same shade of black. She looked so proud of herself when she walked up to Julieta, gave her a hug, and told her that she’d followed all of her recipes. One look disproved that, but Julieta didn’t feel like breaking her daughter’s heart. There were two noticeable absences. One, of course, was Mirabel. The other was Luisa. She also hadn’t left her bedroom since Mirabel had blinked out of the Encanto three mornings earlier. Julieta made a mental note to talk to her after breakfast. But first, everyone sat down, trying to figure out where to begin.

“It looks…wonderful,” Abuela said as she very slowly reached for some eggs that looked closer to gravel than scrambled eggs.

“Isa, this banana is amazing,” Camilo said with his mouth full.

“I didn’t grow the banana,” Isabela replied. “The fruit’s the only thing I didn’t cook.”

“Oh, really? Well, it’s still delicious, I don’t know how you do it.”

A few people reached for fruit, not touching the rest of the spread. “Oh, come on, it can’t be that bad.”

“Mamí, why are we eating rocks for breakfast?” Antonio whispered loudly as only a five year old could.

“They’re not rocks, Toñito, they’re arepas, just like your tía makes,” Isabela replied. “Try one.”

Antonio apprehensively reached for one and tried to take a bite, but he gasped and looked up at Pepa excitedly. “Look, mamí, look! My wiggly tooth came out in Isa’s arepa!”

At that point, Félix couldn’t contain himself anymore. He stood up from the table, visibly shaking with laughter. “Come on, mijito, let’s go take care of that,” he said quickly, hurrying out of the room. It wasn’t long before a booming laugh echoed through Casita. Isabela slumped down in her seat, pouting.

“I don’t understand what went wrong. I followed the recipes exactly!”

Julieta reached for an arepa. “How long did you cook these for?”

“I did exactly what you said, five minutes per side!”

“And how did you cook them?”

“Well, I couldn’t figure out how to heat up the griddle, so I used the fireplace in the living room.”

At that, everyone started laughing, even Abuela. “Cariño, did you use the frying pan at least?”

“No, I needed it for the eggs so I just put them in the fire.”

Julieta leaned over and gave Isabela a kiss on the forehead. “Thank you for trying your best. Next time, come get me or your tío Félix or Camilo. We all cook on the griddle all the time, we’ll show you how to use it.”

Isabela sighed. “Is it that bad?”

Julieta knocked her arepa on the side of the table. It sounded like a hammer. “I’m sorry,” she said, a chuckle escaping her lips. “It really is. We’ll work on it.”

Isabela buried her head in her heads. “Why is cooking so hard?”

“It just takes practice, amor, you’ll get there-” Julieta had more to say, but out of nowhere, something flew in and hit the side of her head, making her and everyone jump. She turned to look at that direction and saw a folded piece of paper floating in front of her at her eye level. The paper floated at her eye level for a second before slowly lowering into her outstretched hand. Tears welled in Julieta’s eyes the second she unfolded the paper. “I’ll be back in a minute.”

“Julieta?” Agustín asked as Julieta hurried away from the table. “Amor, what is it?”

Julieta took a deep breath and looked down at the paper for the phrase she was trying to find, then smiled once she found it. “It’s a letter from Mirabel.”

The explosion of sound was loud even for the Madrigals, but Julieta put her hand up. “I’ll read it to you in a little bit. But first, it’s time for us to be together again.”

Julieta started heading upstairs, struggling to move as quickly as she wanted to, but a friendly shove from Casita put her in front of Luisa’s room within seconds. Without knocking, she went into Luisa’s room and gasped as she immediately became weightless.

“I wish with all my heart that she was home,” Luisa whispered from over her bed. “I wish with all my heart that she was home.”

“Luisa?” Julieta asked. “Luisa, mi vida, it’s me.”

“You’re not Mirabel. I don’t want to see you.”

Julieta sighed. Luisa had always been a lot like her father, but everyone knew that when she was in a bad mood, she was a lot more like Julieta. Considering the bedroom looked almost exactly like Julieta’s in that someone clearly hadn’t left it in three days, she had an idea of how she had acted over the last few days as well. She knew she blamed herself for Mirabel leaving, too. “Luisa, I’m holding a letter from Mirabel.”

Luisa turned in mid-air and looked at Julieta. Her face was pale and tear stained, much like Julieta’s had been. “You are?”

“Yeah. I thought you would like to read it with me.”

“Haven’t you read it yet?”

“No, I just got it. Can we sit?”

Luisa wiped her eyes and reached for a pillow floating next to her. She threw it with perfect accuracy at the switch on the wall, bringing the gravity back so Julieta could sit next to Luisa on her bed. “Shouldn’t the family hear this, too?”

“They will. But I wanted us all to be together for it when they heard it.”

“Then why are you here with me?”

“Because I know how much you need to hear this, trust me. Now, no more waiting.”

Julieta opened the short letter again and began to read. “Dear mi familia, it’s me, Mirabel. I wanted to let you know that I’m okay. I’m in the kingdom of Rosas in the Mediterranean Sea, and I’ve made a bunch of friends, including Asha, a great and kind friend who has powerful magic and helped me send this to you. I also went to Italy, a town called Portorosso, where I met Alberto. We got stuck together somehow (it’s a long story), so we’re back in Rosas together while they prepare for their summer harvest festival. He’s a little odd, but very nice. There’s a picture on the back of the paper, and I put the names of everyone I’ve met next to them. I don’t know how long I’ll be gone, but I know it won’t be long. I’m starting to miss my home. I miss you all, I miss my people, I miss the blue skies. So I promise I’ll be home soon. It’s no one’s fault that this happened. I know mamí and Luisa are probably very upset. But I’ve wanted to do this for a very long time. No one drove me away. I wished to go, and I’ll wish to come back before very long. Until then, all my love, Mirabel.”

Julieta and Luisa looked at the picture of Mirabel and her group of friends. Seeing her hand glow while holding Alberto’s hand was a little odd, but that wasn’t pressing. What they cared about was that she was safe, she was healthy, and she would come home soon. The two of them locked eyes. “She knew exactly what to say, didn’t she?” Julieta whispered, tears falling yet again.

“She always does,” Luisa replied, wiping her eyes.

“It wasn’t our fault, and she’ll come back soon.”

Both of them felt a weight off their shoulders as they gave each other a hug. Finally, Julieta stood up. “No more tears, agreed?”

“Agreed.” Luisa tried to stand, but her legs were wobbly and she fell back onto the bed. “Whoops. Guess I should have turned on the gravity at some point.”

“It’s okay, mi vida. It’s been a rough few days. Casita?” The carpeted floor rippled. “Take us downstairs, please. We have some good news to share.”

Chapter Text

The fifth day of Mirabel’s adventure began much like the fourth. She woke up earlier than Alberto, but that was okay. They found out the day before that Mirabel wasn’t forced to lie in bed stuck to Alberto while he slept for an additional two hours, giving her some much-needed time alone. She liked Alberto, and he was fun to be around, but spending basically the entire day stuck to someone was getting old fast. So the desk by the window that overlooked the water to the east quickly became one of her favorite places. The morning before, she didn’t wake up in time to see the sun rise. This time, though, it was just before dawn when a louder snore from Alberto woke her up. Mirabel went and got ready for the day while the sky lightened slightly, then sat at the desk by the window as the sun rose. From the moment the first rays peeked over the horizon, all Mirabel could think about was Luisa. The conversation from the night before Mirabel teleported away from home replayed in her head over and over again until the sun was well above the horizon. It was absolutely beautiful. The way the first rays sparkled across the waves was stunning. For a moment, as she watched the sun rise, everything felt right, like this was where she belonged. But then she looked down and didn’t see her village. She saw someplace that was amazing in every way, but it wasn’t home. Luisa was right. It was really easy to love home when she was watching the sun rise. After a minute of sitting there and missing home, Mirabel took a deep breath and looked out at the city below. She loved it so much. But this wasn’t home. She opened one of the drawers at the desk and pulled out a piece of paper and a quill that gleamed with purple magic. After a second of thinking, she started to write.

“Dear Luisa, you were right. The sunrise really helps. Te amo mucho. Mirabel.”

For the next hour or so, Mirabel sketched the view in front of her underneath the short little message to Luisa. Then, once she was satisfied, she folded the paper into an airplane and threw it out the window. Rather than sink into the city below, it rose up, up, up into the sky before disappearing from sight. Mirabel sighed softly before turning around and looking at Alberto, who was snoring softly in bed. It was steady and calm, much like Antonio’s snoring was when she shared a room with him. But Antonio’s snores were a lot cuter than Alberto’s. So she got up, grabbed her pillow, and threw it at his face. “Get up, sleepyhead. We have a busy day today.”

“Huh?” Alberto mumbled from beneath the pillow. “What?”

“Wake up! We have a lot of work to do with the festival.”

“Five more minutes, please.”

Mirabel sighed before walking to his side of the bed, grabbing the pillow, and hitting him with it. “Nope!”

“Hey!” Alberto opened his eyes and squinted at her, the morning light making it hard for his eyes to adjust quickly. “That’s really rude, you know. Waking up someone is not fun.”

“I do it every morning at home.”

“And they still like you?”

Mirabel hit him with the pillow again, which was a mistake. “Yes. In fact, they love me so much that I- oof!”

Mirabel was cut off by a pillow hitting her in the stomach. “You were saying?”

“You have no idea what you just started.”

Alberto smirked. “Neither do you!”

The two of them launched at each other, cackling as they hit each other with a pillow until feathers were everywhere, which didn’t last very long. Once their ammunition was expended and all either of them had left was an empty pillowcase, they sat down next to each other chuckling.

“You’re good at that,” Alberto said. “I thought Giulia was a pro, but you pack a punch.”

“I have two sisters and two cousins my age. I had to learn fast. I remember when-when-”

Alberto smiled and looked at her, waiting for her to tell a story about one of her sisters or cousins. She had told him all about her family while they helped with festival preparations, and he had hung on every word. This time, though, Mirabel didn’t keep talking. She could see how happy he was and how much he wanted to listen to her, but there was more to it. She couldn’t quite tell what it was or why she felt different, but for a few seconds, she didn’t look away. She couldn’t look away. Not from his handsome, tanned face and kind eyes. A few silent seconds later, Mirabel blinked, took a breath, looked down at the floor, and smiled softly. “You should go get dressed. They’ll be looking for us.”

Alberto also looked at the floor before nodding and getting up. Mirabel watched him leave, then looked down at her right hand. It felt empty. She and Alberto had been mostly stuck together for three days. For the first two, any chance they had to be apart was welcomed. This was the first time she found herself maybe missing it. She wasn’t sure. Before she had time to decipher her feelings, Alberto came back in his outfit be got a couple of days earlier. His hand was already glowing. “You ready?”

Mirabel looked down at her own glowing hand before standing and walking over to him. “Yeah. Let’s go get some breakfast, then we’ll see what Asha needs us to do.”

Their hands linked together like two puzzle pieces falling perfectly into place. Breakfast was waiting for them on a cart outside their room, along with a note from Asha asking them to meet her in the main square once they finished eating. Alberto ate absurdly fast, so he spent the better part of twenty minutes drinking juice and trying not to complain about Mirabel taking so long to eat. Mirabel could see he was getting a bit antsy. While it was slightly entertaining and maybe a little cute (that thought lingered longer than Mirabel was expecting) to hear him sigh dramatically while attempting to be patient, she finished her food a bit quicker, and the two of them left for the square a few minutes later.

By the time they reached the square, Mirabel could tell they were late for something. A big crowd of people were actively leaving, and Asha was standing there with Dahlia crossing items off a list. Mirabel hurriedly dragged Alberto over to the two. “Sorry we’re late!” Mirabel said. “We got a little distracted.” Asha and Dahlia shared a look that Mirabel immediately read. “There was a pillow fight.”

“Ah, gotcha,” Asha said. “Sleep well?”

“Like a guppy,” Alberto said happily.

“You mean a baby?” Mirabel asked, looking at him.

Alberto’s eyes widened. “Oh, uh, yeah, right. A baby.”

Mirabel studied him and his expression for a second. He had been making weird comments like that their entire time in Rosas, little comments or sayings that were off or fish-themed for some reason. It hadn’t struck her as anything odd until that point, but now it was, especially considering how panicked he looked. But she determined that there were more important matters and looked back at Asha. “What can we do to help?”

“Well, the festival starts today,” Dahlia said. “We’ve got almost everything done, there’s just one task left.”

“What’s that?”

“So many people travel to Rosas for the festival that have never been here before, so we go out and mark the buoys for the navigators to find their way into the harbor. We have merchants doing the buoys farther out, but there are a few close by that we could use some help with. People always arrive early, so it would be better to do them sooner.”

“I mean, I guess we could help with that.” Mirabel said that without looking at Alberto, whose expression went from mild curiosity to sheer panic in an instant, then back to what he had hoped was normal but absolutely wasn’t.

“You don’t have to, trust me,” Asha said quickly. “You’re guests just as much as anyone else.”

“No, it’s okay, we want to help, right?” Mirabel looked at Alberto and immediately looked startled. “Um, are you okay?”

“Uh, uh, yeah, I’m, uh, fine,” Alberto stuttered. “I just don’t know if that’s a good idea.”

“Yeah, you don’t need to go out on the water right now. You might catch a cold and miss the festival, and besides, you don’t know where the buoys are.”

“Alberto’s a fisherman, he can find them!” Mirabel’s eyes narrowed at Alberto as his attempts to hide his panic failed more and more. “Okay, what’s going on?”

“I-I just don’t want to go in the water.” That sentence made him cringe. He hadn’t outright lied to Mirabel until that point. Every fiber of his being wanted to be in the water. There had been times before where he had gone a whole day without being in the water in the past. Making the transition to living on land most of the time was rough and came with a lot of days where he was sick and being in the water actually made it worse. But after about 24 hours, no matter how he felt, he wanted to be in the water. He needed to be in the water. This was day four. At this point, fresh water using for bathing didn’t help. He didn’t even make the change the night before when he took a bath. He was nervous, anxious, and had been in what could only be described as a prolonged panic attack for the last two days. His body needed salt water desperately, and looking out the archway at the ocean made him want to drag Mirabel to the sea and get some relief regardless of how he wanted Mirabel to think of him.

Mirabel was thoroughly confused at this point. “You’re a fisherman! What do you mean you don’t want to go in the water?!”

“I-I-”

“What is up with you lately? You’ve been saying crazy things and you’ve been super weird ever since we got here.”

“Uhhhhh, I-”

“Like, who says that they slept like a guppy or says ‘carp!’ when they stub their toe or that they invented walking?”

“Mirabel-” Dahlia began, but Asha put up a hand to stop her. Asha locked eyes with Alberto. They both knew what needed to happen.

“What aren’t you telling me?” Mirabel studied his face again. Over the last couple of days, he had been different than before, but this was a bad kind of different. Now, with the sunlight on his face, she could see how bad he must have been feeling. Dark circles were forming under his eyes, he wasn’t as strong as he was when they met, and he looked weak. He felt all of that, too. “Are you sick or something?

Alberto stopped, took a deep breath, and looked her straight in the eyes. “You’re right,” he began. “There’s something I haven’t told you. And it’s important.”

The light between their hands began to glow as Mirabel’s confusion and borderline anger started slipping out of her control. Alberto led Mirabel, Asha, and Dahlia out of the square toward the water. “Where are we going?” Mirabel demanded. In the blink of an eye, they were 50 feet farther up the road ahead of Asha and Dahlia, who ran to catch up.

“To the water.”

“I thought you didn’t want to go into the water.”

“I don’t. But also, I do. I have to. I need to. It’s the only way to explain without you thinking I’m crazy.” Mirabel’s confusion only grew as they approached the docks. Thanks to a teleport, they got there a minute or so before Asha and Dahlia. Alberto waited for them before looking at Mirabel again. He hadn’t looked at her the entire walk. He didn’t want to see the look on her face. “Promise me you won’t hate me.”

“What’s going on?” Mirabel had mixed concern into her confusion and anger.

“Promise me.”

“Alberto-”

“Promise!”

Mirabel nodded. “I promise. I won’t hate you.”

Alberto took a deep breath. “I need a bit of privacy before I do this.”

With a little burst of warmth, their hands separated, and Alberto walked off to a little private spot for about a minute so he could change out of his Rosas outfit. It was too nice to get wet. Even though he was freezing cold, Alberto changed into his normal tank top and shorts and walked back out to the group. Asha wordlessly offered to hold the backpack he had been gifted and waited for what was coming. Alberto took one last look at Mirabel, hoping it wasn’t the last time she looked at him with anything other than disgust in her eyes. “Here goes.” He turned to face the water, took another deep breath, and dove in.

As Alberto dropped the few feet down to the water, the thought ran through his mind that he should have just kept it quiet. It could have stayed a secret. He could have handled it. But then his hair touched the water. Just that touch was enough to start the transformation and completely change how he felt. It was like his body had finally woken up from a four day nap. He felt himself grow strong again. His senses woke up as he looked at himself. He was far enough underwater that no one up there could see him. For just a few seconds, he floated, letting the salt water bring his body and brain back to life. Alberto Marcovaldo felt like himself again. All of the anxiety and nervousness he felt was gone. Confidence was his thing. He practically invented it. So, finally feeling like himself again, Alberto swam down to the sea floor, then kicked up. With more speed than he realized, he rocketed up and out of the water, vaulting over Mirabel, Asha, and Dahlia and clearing them by five feet before doing a half turn and landing on his feet. Dahlia looked like she was about to scream, but Asha was there keeping her in check. Asha looked on with pride. But Alberto didn’t care. He just wanted to see Mirabel, the most beautiful woman he had ever seen, hoping that she didn’t break her promise. With his bluish-purple, scaly feet firmly on the ground, he looked at her, silently begging her to accept him. “This is me. The real me. I’m not human. I’m a sea monster.”

Chapter Text

Alberto felt his body go back to human form as he stood in front of Mirabel, Asha, and Dahlia. Asha looked at him with pride. They both knew this was long overdue. Dahlia looked surprised, but not completely shocked. It made sense that either Asha told her or she picked up on it herself. She was smart like that. But Alberto didn’t see either of them as they stood behind Mirabel. He, frankly, didn’t care about what they thought. He only cared about Mirabel. Her hand was already glowing golden as she worked through her emotions and thoughts. In that moment, Alberto could essentially read her thoughts just by looking into her eyes. Being stuck to someone for three days straight made it really easy to read them. First, it was astonishment, then confusion. Then she spent a few seconds remembering all of the weird things he had either said or done. Then, for a split second, Alberto saw an acceptance and understanding of the fact that he was a sea monster cross her face. But then the thing he absolutely didn’t want to see appeared in her eyes - anger. It wasn’t going away. His shoulders slumped as Mirabel took a step forward.

“You’re not-” Mirabel began slowly. “You’re not human. You’re a fish.”

“I am not a fish!” Alberto said defensively.

“Oh, yeah? Then what are you?” Mirabel took a couple of quick steps forward, her anger growing. “What are you? A sea monster? A thing that any normal person hunts and kills? Why would you- how could you- did you- I-“

“Mirabel-“

“Don’t! You don’t talk! We spent three days stuck together, and you didn’t think I needed to know this?” Mirabel teleported without realizing it, appearing next to Alberto with her hand in his. She didn’t even notice. “You’re not even a person!”

“I am too a person! Just because I’m not human doesn't mean I’m not a person!”

“How could you be a person?! You just had gills and a tail!”

The two of them teleported to in front of Asha and Dahlia. Neither of them noticed. Asha knew something big was going to happen, so she handed Alberto his backpack. He took it from her without realizing he was even holding it.

“Just because I have gills and a tail when I’m in the water does not make me any different than when I’m on land!”

They teleported again, then again. It was getting faster. Dahlia looked at Asha with concern. Asha looked back, tears in her eyes. She knew they weren’t going to be there much longer. And she was right. As Mirabel and Alberto yelled and screamed, the teleporting got faster, until thirty seconds later. With a flash of light just as bright as when they appeared, they were gone.

“How does me being a sea monster make me any different?”

“You’re not human!” Mirabel yelled. “You-you-“

“Yeah? What? Because I’m not human, I don’t get to be your friend?”

“You’re not human! You’re not a person! You’re a liar and a freak!”

Alberto exploded. “You’re literally teleporting us to who knows where, and you’re going to stand there and tell me that I’m a freak?! How are we any different? We are both people! I have gills and a tail, and you can teleport! So don’t you dare call me that! I’ve had enough people call me that for a lifetime because of who I am and what they think I’m like without even knowing me! Just because I’m not human doesn't mean I’m a freak! I’m still a person!”

Mirabel saw angry tears roll down Alberto’s face. Her eyes widened. With a gasp, she realized that she hit the worst nerve she could have, and in her anger, she didn’t realize that she was actually trying to hurt his feelings. Because he was right. “Why didn’t you tell me?” Mirabel asked over the noise of the constant teleporting they were doing. Her voice was much softer as regret crept in. She felt terrible.

“I wanted you to like me as me! Because this is me, too.”

With that sentence, Alberto’s anger subsided slightly. He had been looking at her, but he hadn’t been paying attention. Being hurt so badly like that made him stop worrying about her feelings for a moment. When he looked her in the eyes again, he saw that the worst of this was over, but the trust that had been there before was mostly gone. They both felt bad now. They had screamed out their feelings. As that sunk in, the teleportation stopped.

The sun was already high in the sky when the privy council to the monarchy of Arendelle called its morning meeting to order. It was a special meeting of the council that was open to the public. Everyone was dressed in their best clothes as they waited for the meeting to begin. The privy council meetings always involved important matters to the kingdom, and opening them to the public was rare, but this one was especially important to everyone in the audience. Most of the council was already seated at the long table in the royal reception room, but three seats in the center remained empty. The excited chatter stopped abruptly as a trumpet sounded in the room, playing a regal fanfare. The trumpet heralded stepped forward and looked at the crowd, a scroll unfurled in his hands.

“Ladies and gentlemen, please stand and show reverence to the leaders of the queen’s privy council. Presenting the former Queen of Arendelle, the Fifth Spirit, the Representative of the North, the Queen’s sister, Her Royal Highness, the Duchess of Northuldra, Elsa.”

Everyone bowed as Elsa walked into the room, her long white dress flowing behind her and a tiara made of pure ice sitting perfectly on her forehead. She waved to the crowd, still beloved as always. The herald stepped backwards for a second and looked at his fellow soldier, who was holding another scroll. “Why does she have to have so many titles, Lieutenant?”

“It’s the queen’s wish that her sister be given the respect she is due.”

“That’s not my fault!”

The lieutenant scowled and handed him the next scroll. “Just go do your job.”

The young officer hurried forward with the new scroll as Elsa took her seat. “Presenting His Majesty, the King Consort Kristoff, accompanied by the special assistant to the queen, Olaf.”

Kristoff walked in next, his blond hair almost completely covered by an ornate crown that he, quite honestly, hated wearing, but Anna liked it, and it was a big occasion, so he put up with it. Thankfully, he wasn’t in that fancy outfit he wore at her coronation. For his birthday, Anna got him an outfit that looked fancy, but was still made from the comfortable fabrics and leather he liked wearing. So he was feeling good. By his side was Olaf, who was happily not wearing clothes. His disdain for clothes was well documented. Before Kristoff took his seat, he gestured to the herald to wait before reading the next scroll.

“Uh, everyone, before we continue, the queen has asked me to say how thankful she is for your support,” Kristoff began. “We both would like to thank the council for their hard work. Running a country is hard, and Anna makes it look so easy. But over the last several months, you’ve been patient, kind, and understanding while we’ve entered this new stage of our lives both as a family and as a country. Your help has been invaluable. So thank you.”

The crowd applauded as Kristoff sat down at his chair, Olaf standing next to him. Kristoff looked over and saw him standing there, positively giddy.

“What’s got you so excited?” Kristoff asked.

“I just love surprises!” Olaf replied happily. “I can’t believe we’re about to-“

“Hey, you can’t love surprises and also ruin the surprise.”

“Right, right, right, right, right.”

Kristoff smirked and nodded at the herald, who played a couple of notes before unfurling the final scroll. “Presenting Her Majesty, Queen Anna of Arendelle. Also presenting, for the first time, Her Royal Highness, the Crown Princess of Arendelle, Ingrid, daughter of Queen Anna and King Kristoff.”

Everyone exploded into cheers as Anna stepped into the room, her crown on her head and her three-month-old daughter in her arms. Neither of them had left the palace while Anna recovered from giving birth, and no one outside the palace had seen either of them. But now, after around 4 months, Anna was back, and the kingdom had a sweet little girl to dote on. Rather than take her seat at the table, Anna walked over to the crowd and strolled through the aisles, allowing everyone to see little Ingrid in person. After a few minutes, she went and took her seat at the center of the table and gestured for everyone to quiet down. Olaf excitedly walked up and put his arms out to hold her, but before Anna could hand Ingrid over to him, Kristoff lifted Olaf into his lap.

“I don’t think so, bud,” Kristoff said with a grunt as he set Olaf down on his leg. “Not right now. Your arms are literally twigs.”

Olaf turned and looked at Kristoff. He blinked a couple of times, confused. “Ohhhhhhhh, I get it, I get it.” He looked out over the table. “Hey, this is a great view! I can see everyone!”

Anna just chuckled and handed Ingrid to Elsa, who took her niece into her arms with a smile, before standing again. “I just want to say thank you. Thank you to the council for making things so easy for me and allowing me to spend these first few months with our Ingrid. Thank you to all of you for being understanding while I haven’t been around. I wouldn’t trade the last three months for anything. But I gotta say, I was getting pretty tired of resting. I was about to go crazy cooped up in the castle!” Everyone laughed, especially those who saw Kristoff’s face as a confirmation. “I started talking to the pictures on the walls again! Thankfully, they didn’t talk back.” Anna received more laughter. “Honestly, as much as I wanted to get out of the castle, I’m so thankful for the time you have all given me. Kristoff, Elsa, and the rest of the council have worked so hard just so I can spend these few months with my daughter, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything. Please, help me show appreciation and gratitude for the privy council and all of their efforts.” The crowd erupted into applause at Anna’s direction. “Now, as much as I would like to have you all stay and hear the rest of the meeting, I’ve been told that there is an item on the agenda that needs to be discussed behind closed doors. But don’t worry, we will post the minutes of this meeting in the square like always. Thank you for coming.”

The crowd and everyone at the table stood and bowed, then the crowd began to disperse. Anna finally took her seat and accepted Ingrid back into her arms as the guards ushered everyone out of the reception room. The doors closed, and Anna breathed a sigh of relief.

“That’s the longest speech I’ve made since I was crowned,” she said as she slumped in her chair slightly.

“You did great,” Elsa said. “I always hated speeches.”

“So do I,” Kristoff added. “I thought I was about to pass out before giving my little one.”

“You did great, too.”

“Thanks!”

“What about me?” Olaf asked. “Did I do great?”

Anna chuckled and reached out to squeeze Olaf’s hand. “Olaf, you are always great.” She turned her attention to the end of the table. “Now, General Matthias,” she began. “What’s the important matter we have to discuss?”

“Your Majesty, we’ve received a message from the Southern Isles,” the general replied. “It seems Prince Hans has requested parole for his crimes against Arendelle per the terms of his prison sentence, but the king did not want to grant the hearing without receiving your approval. He knows the - ahem - sensitive nature of Prince Hans’ actions and the impact that it may have on the relationship between our countries.”

“Did the king actually say that or are you reading between the lines?” Anna asked.

“It’s diplomatically worded, but the intent is clear. He wants to grant parole to his son, but he doesn’t want to start a war.”

“Neither do I. Elsa, what do you- whoa!”

Anna scooted her chair a little bit toward Kristoff. Elsa’s chair was now a solid block of ice, and frost was spreading from her hands onto the table. “I think that he should rot for his crimes,” Elsa said with surprising venom. “But it’s not my say.”

Anna looked at Kristoff next, who had a similar expression on his face. “That man planned to kill your sister and almost killed you. He was the villain of that whole mess. I’m with Elsa.”

Anna nodded slowly. “Does everyone else agree?” Murmurs of approval echoed across the table. But there was one other person Anna wanted the opinion of. “Olaf?”

“Yeah?”

“What do you think?”

“I think Kristoff’s going to squeeze me in half and I don’t know why.”

“Oh, sorry,” Kristoff said as he set Olaf back down on the ground. 

Olaf inhaled dramatically. “I think I was about to have four snowballs making me up, not three. What are we talking about? I was too busy getting squeezed.”

“Prince Hans of the Southern Isles wants to be released from prison. What should I do?”

“Is that the guy you punched in the face?”

Anna chuckled. “Yes, it is.”

Olaf thought for a second. “I think that some people are worth melting for, like you and Elsa and Kristoff and Sven. But being angry makes me feel warm inside and not in a good way. Nobody’s worth melting over.”

Anna smiled at him, then looked at Kristoff and Elsa, who considered his words for a second before nodding in agreement. “I couldn’t agree more.” She looked down the table. “General, inform the Southern Isles that Arendelle will not protest the parole hearing or his release if that is the outcome. But tell them that if we learn that he has left the Southern Isles so he can try again somewhere else, we will go and collect him and keep him in prison here. I think that’s a fair offer.”

General Matthias nodded. “I agree.”

Anna nodded. “Okay, anything else?” No response came. “Good. The council meeting is adjourned. Barring any emergencies, we will meet again in full next month.”

Everyone except Anna, Elsa, and Kristoff stood and bowed before leaving the room. Finally alone, Anna took another deep breath. “Did I do the wrong thing?”

“It’s never wrong to choose love over hate,” Elsa replied. “Sometimes we just need a reminder of that.”

“When he’s released, can I go down there and punch him in the face like you did?” Kristoff asked. “Can we make that a term of his release? I’d only knock him out for a little bit.”

Anna just laughed. “I’m glad you two are on my side. Now, how about we go show Ingrid just how good Olaf is at charades?”

The three of them stood and turned to leave the reception room, but they stopped in their tracks almost immediately. In front of them, a golden light was glowing in front of the doors that led to the rest of the castle. “Elsa, what-“

“I don’t know,” Elsa replied. Icy magic began to loop around her fingers as the light grew brighter and brighter.

“Get behind me,” Kristoff said, positioning himself in front of Anna and Ingrid, standing shoulder to shoulder with Elsa. “Nothing’s touching you.”

The light flashed, and out of nowhere, Mirabel and Alberto appeared in front of them. Their eyes widened, and, her face streaked with tears, Mirabel looked at the three of them. “Where are we?”

Chapter Text

Alone in the royal reception room, Mirabel and Alberto stood face to face with Kristoff and Elsa. Both Kristoff and Elsa had the same look on their faces that Mirabel and Alberto recognized from seeing their parents - they were willing to die - or even kill - to defend whoever they were guarding.

“You have thirty seconds to explain who you are and how you got here before we call in the guards,” Kristoff warned, his voice dangerously low.

Alberto instinctively positioned himself to try and keep Mirabel behind him, but he didn’t say anything. “I, uh, it’s a lot longer of a story than that,” Mirabel stammered as she faced Alberto, who was basically standing with his back to .

“Twenty seconds,” Elsa growled. Ice covered the floor of the entire room with a flick of her wrist, keeping everyone where they were.

“Okay, okay, uh, my family is magic, I can teleport because I made a wish but I don’t know how to control it, and he and I are stuck together.”

Kristoff and Elsa saw the glow between their hands, but that definitely wasn’t enough. “Prove it,” Kristoff demanded.

“Ten seconds,” Elsa added.

Mirabel looked around Alberto at the room for anything not covered in ice. The only option was the table. She closed her eyes and tried to teleport, but nothing happened. She was too frazzled from the situation she was in, let alone the fight she just had with Alberto. Alberto knew this immediately. Their hands weren’t glowing any brighter. “It’s okay,” he said. “We’re going to be fine. We’ll get through this.”

Mirabel just scoffed. Everything inside her felt dull and lifeless. “How can I believe you?”

“Time’s up,” Kristoff said. “Guards!” The doors to the reception room flew open as Elsa removed most of the ice except for the ring keeping Mirabel and Alberto in place. Twenty guards poured into the room, hands on their swords. “These two are trespassers. Take them to a cell. Protect your queen.”

The guards surged toward them, shackles in their hands. One side went around the free hands, and the second sides locked around their wrists, painfully forcing Alberto and Mirabel almost back-to-back with each other. The guards ordered them to let go of each other’s hands, but they couldn’t. A sword was unsheathed threateningly, but a voice rang out from behind Kristoff and Elsa. “Wait!”

Anna stepped to the side, Ingrid having been laid on the table.

“Anna-“ Kristoff protested, immediately trying to step between her and Mirabel and Alberto.

“I said wait.” With a gesture of her hands, Anna made the guards stop and unhand Mirabel and Alberto, although the shackles weren’t undone. She stepped forward. “We watched you appear out of nowhere. Your hands are still glowing, and you can’t let go even though you’ve been restrained.”

“We don’t know what we saw,” Elsa protested.

“If they were here to hurt anyone, they wouldn’t have just stood there and let you count. And they have no weapons of any kind.”

“How can you tell that?”

“Where would they hide them? Not on their person. Their packs are being searched. Gentlemen?”

“Nothing, Your Majesty,” replied the lieutenant.

“And look at their eyes.”

“Their eyes?” Kristoff asked.

“There’s no anger in there. Just-just sadness. A lot of sadness. They’re not going to hurt me. They’re not going to hurt anyone.”

“Anna-“

She turned to the guards. “Let them go.”

“Your Majesty?”

“You heard me. Let them go.”

The guards exchanged a look, then took the shackles off.

“Are you sure?” Kristoff asked.

“Kristoff, my sister is the Fifth Spirit, I’ve ridden a horse made of ice, a fire lizard has slept in my hands, my husband was raised by trolls, and my best friend is a magical snowman. I think we’ll be able to handle this.” Anna looked at all of the guards. “Not a word about this to anyone. Understood?” All of the guards bowed. “Good. Now resume your posts while I talk to our guests.”

Once all the guards had left, Anna pulled two chairs out from the table, then directed Kristoff and Elsa to sit on the other side of the table with her. She picked up Ingrid, and sat across from Mirabel and Alberto, Kristoff and Elsa flanking her. “Okay. Start from the beginning.”

Mirabel was getting a lot better at explaining her situation. First, it took an hour with Asha and Queen Amaya. Then it took 45 minutes with Alberto and Massimo. Now, she completed the backstory in 20 minutes. There were a couple of questions at the beginning, but no one really questioned Mirabel as she explained her adventures. Finally, she got to their last visit to Rosas.

“And how did you get here?”

“Alberto and I got into an argument.”

“Why?”

“It’s because I-“ Alberto began, but Mirabel cut him off.

“It’s because we’re stuck together and we never get any privacy.”

Mirabel and Alberto shared a look. Out of sight of the three across the table, their hands glowed slightly brighter. “Yeah. Yeah, that’s right. We even have to sleep in the same bed. All because I said ‘I wish’ and now this.” Alberto raised his and Mirabel’s hands into view and tried to shake her hand off his, but nothing happened, of course.

“It sounds like you’ve had a crazy time,” Anna said.

“We have, Your Majesty,” Mirabel replied.

“Please, call me Anna. I insist that all of my guests who stay here remain informal.”

“Stay here?” Kristoff asked pointedly.

“What do you want me to do, make them sleep by the fountain? It’s not like we don’t have extra bedrooms.”

“We can’t thank you enough,” Mirabel said. “We didn’t necessarily get off on the right foot.”

“Oh, don’t mind these two. They’ve always been protective of me. We’ve been through a lot together, and it’s honestly not the craziest thing we’ve ever seen. You just caught us off guard.”

“Wait, how is two people teleporting into your castle not the craziest thing you’ve ever seen?” Alberto asked.

Anna smirked. “I know the perfect person to tell you all about the crazy few years we had. Lieutenant?” Anna called.

The lieutenant walked into the room. “Yes, Your Majesty?”

“Have General Matthias and Olaf join us, please.”

“Right away, Your Majesty.”

Within a few minutes, General Matthias and Olaf walked into the room from behind Mirabel and Alberto, both confused by the new people. “Uh, who are they?” Olaf asked.

“New friends,” Anna replied with a glance at General Matthias, who was always on guard, but relaxed as much as he typically did among people he didn’t know or trust. “I was hoping you could tell them our story.”

Olaf gasped with glee. “Yes, yes, yes! I love telling our story.”

“Is that why you had me come, too?” General Matthias asked.

“Mostly. I know you love Olaf’s storytelling. But it’s good that you meet our new friends, too.”

“I’m Mirabel.”

“I’m Alberto.”

“I’m Olaf and I like warm hugs!” Olaf said as he came into views of the two of them for the first time. Both of them gasped and flinched violently in shock. “I know, I know. No clothes. But I’m a snowman. They’re just restricting. General, can you help me up?” General Matthias helped Olaf onto the tabletop. Olaf cleared his throat.

“Now, Olaf, me, the official Arendelle storyteller, proudly present the story of our lives to this day. It begins with two sisters. One born with magical powers, one born powerless. Their love of snowman, infinite.”

Olaf had become very good at summarizing while still getting people to react appropriately to the story. The line “Well, at least they have their parents - their parents are dead!” got gasps from Mirabel, Alberto, and oddly enough, General Matthias, who was fully absorbed into the story despite having heard it several times.

“‘Here’s a true love’s kiss, Anna,’ said Hans, “Olaf continued, “But then BLAM, he says, ‘You’re not worth it, I’m the bad guy, no kiss for you!’”

“What?!” Alberto and General Matthias yelled at the same time.

“And then Anna froze to death.”

“Oh, Anna,” they said again, Alberto trying very hard not to cry. It wouldn’t make him change, but it definitely wouldn’t be cool.

“But then she unfreezes and punches Hans in the face! Elsa’s the queen and everyone loves her! Things stay the same for like three years or some stretch of time that lasted foreeeeeeever after she heard this: AaAaEeIiAhhhhh!”

Everyone flinched at Olaf’s off-key call. “It did not sound like that,” Elsa said.

“Sure it did. So we go into the unknooooooooooown-“ Everyone flinched again as Olaf somehow managed to go sharp and flat in the same note - “Into the northern forest that was covered in fog where we met the Northuldra people and the four spirits and General Matthias! We got there and BLAM we got hit by a wind spirit tornado before Elsa went nnnyyyyyyewwwwww with her ice powers and froze it! And then there was the fire spirit but Elsa went ‘freeze, freeze!’ and tamed the little cutie pie fire spirit. Elsa and Anna and I went to go find the voice making the AaAaEeIiAhhhhh sound, but Elsa shoved us into a boat that took us down a river into a cave!”

“That was kinda rude,” Alberto said.

“I know, right! And then she goes and tames the water spirit horse and sings ‘ShOw YoUrSeLf, AaAaEeIiAhhhhh!’ before - and this was crazy - ELSA froze to death!”

“What?!” Alberto and General Matthias yelled again.

“Meanwhile, Kristoff’s all lost in the woods with the reindeer because Anna went with Elsa without him, and Elsa found out that Arendelle did something terrible to the Northuldra so they could build a dam. That made the forest get covered in fog, so she sent a message to Anna before she froze to death. But then I died because Elsa died.”

“No!!!!” Alberto yelled as he finally burst into tears.

“But then Anna did the right thing and broke the dam with the earth spirits and Elsa was alive because Elsa is the Fifth Spirit! And then Elsa pushed the water away from Arendelle and I was alive again too!”

“Okay, good,” Alberto said, wiping his eyes.

“So then Kristoff proposed to Anna, and Anna became queen so Elsa could do spirit things! Kristoff and Anna got married and we’re all living happily ever after. The end!”

Everyone applauded, and Olaf took several bows before plopping into a chair next to Kristoff. “An artist always appreciates knowing his work is appreciated.”

“Where did you hear that?” Kristoff asked.

“I dunno.”

“So now you know our story,” Anna said. “We’ve had people freeze, snow monsters, evil boyfriends, and so much more. Bottom line is, you’re safe here. We’ll help you however we can. Whatever you need, just ask.”

“Thank you again,” Mirabel replied. Next to her, Alberto didn’t say anything. He was clearly somewhere else in his head and had quickly gone from happy after Olaf’s performance to not happy at all. He wasn’t even looking across the table. His eyes were trained on his shoes. Mirabel elbowed him to say thanks, but he didn’t even respond. “Hey, you okay?”

“I, uh, I need some alone time.” For the first time since they arrived in Arendelle, Mirabel and Alberto’s hands separated with a little pulse of warmth. “Can someone show me where a restroom is?”

“Sure, Kristoff can show you,” Anna said.

Kristoff looked up at her, completely confused. “What?”

“Honey, please show Alberto to the bathroom.” Her eyes were saying all sorts of things, but only Kristoff could see what she was trying to say. Mirabel was concerned about Alberto too much to notice, and Kristoff still wasn’t getting it.

“Why?”

Anna leaned in close. “Look at him! He’s literally about to cry his eyes out. He might need a shoulder to cry on.”

Kristoff looked over. “Ohhhhh. Okay, yeah, I got it. Although next time someone needs to use the bathroom, I don’t think the king’s supposed to do that kind of thing.”

Anna just chuckled. “Just for that, I’m gonna make you check coats at our next ball.”

Kristoff gave her a slight smile. “Joke’s on you. I’m an excellent coat checker.” He stood up from the table. “Come on, Alberto. Men’s room is this way. You too, Olaf. Let’s give the ladies some privacy.”

The three of them left the room, leaving Mirabel alone with Anna and Elsa.

“So what aren’t you telling us?” Elsa asked.

“What do you mean?”

“Alberto was about to say something, but you interrupted. What was he going to say?”

“I-“

“Mirabel, nothing will shock us,” Anna said. “We’ve both died. Whatever it is, we can handle.”

Mirabel sighed. “I don’t know if I even can.”