Chapter Text
Mirabel and Camilo sat together in his room, making plans for the day.
“I say we go to the library to see if they have anything else on “the thing”.” Mirabel spoke, using air quotes at the end of her sentence.
“No way. Señor Perez hates me.” Camilo shuddered.
Mirabel rolled her eyes. “He doesn’t hate you; he just hates noise in his precious library. Once you are quiet in there, you’ll be fine!”
“Still…”
“Fine. We can always do something else. How about an outing to our usual place?” Mirabel suggested.
Camilo stared at her.
“Don’t be like that! It’ll be fine! I’ve always wanted to explore in the daytime! Who knows what’s out there? I want to see how far it goes!” Mirabel’s eyes practically shone at the thought.
“Wouldn’t that be a bit… reckless?” Camilo asked, unsure.
“I suppose, but you only live once!” Mirabel exclaimed.
Camilo continued to stare at her.
“You’re weird, you know that, right?” he spoke after a moment of silence.
“C’mon. You love me anyway!” she grinned.
Camilo rolled his eyes.
“Fine, but if we get caught, everything is your fault.”
“Thanks, Cami! You’re my favourite cousin for a reason!” Mirabel hugged him tightly.
“No… problem… Mira…” Camilo managed to wheeze out through the tight hug.
“Now, I’m going to go to the nursery, get my things and say goodbye to little Toñito before we go!” Mirabel got up and ran towards the door.
Mirabel had her regular bag with her and a small backpack on her back as she met Camilo in the kitchen.
“Ready to go?” Camilo asked.
“Yeah, I’m ready!” Mirabel exclaimed.
“Ready to go where?”
Mirabel and Camilo nearly jumped out of their skins as Dolores appeared suddenly behind them.
“Um… just exploring the Encanto is all. There’s still places in it that we haven’t seen…” Camilo explained.
Dolores raised an eyebrow. “Is that all?”
“Yes…” Mirabel and Camilo looked at one another and then, looking back at Dolores, spoke in unison.
“Just be careful out there and try not to get hurt. You do know that Abuela and our parents don’t like it when you go too far from Casita, right?”
Camilo brushed her off. “We’ll be fine, promise!”
The two scarpered out of the house and headed towards their usual spot.
“Do you think she knows?” Mirabel whispered once they settled inside the cave.
“There’s no way she knows… is there?” Camilo looked uncertain.
“No time to worry about that! Let’s go!” Mirabel jumped into the water, nearly splashing her cousin in the process.
Once she transformed, she dove deeper into the river.
Deeper than she had been before.
Beforehand, she stuck mostly close to the surface, but now the surface of the river was no longer in sight.
“What will I find down here, I wonder?” she thought as she swam.
A swarm of fish swam past her and Mirabel looked back to see them.
“So cool…” she whispered.
She saw sea plants and swam backwards to get a good view of them.
“No way Isabela knows about these kinds of plants!” she giggled.
She ran her fingers through them as she swam.
As she righted herself, she ran her fingers through the sand at the bottom of the river.
Mirabel was so excited to be that deep underwater that she didn’t even notice the approaching underwater cave wall and crashed into it.
“Oww…” she moaned as she righted herself and looked to see what she had hit.
“Where is here…” she wondered as she swam up to the surface.
Carefully poking her head out of the water, she looked around to see where she was.
The mountains at the edge of the Encanto.
She gasped in surprise.
“If I go through that underwater cave, then I’ll be leaving the Encanto!” she thought.
She dove back into the water and looked through the entrance of the cave.
It was beautiful; filled with shining stalactites and stalagmites she’d have to weave her way around and the water was clearer than she had ever seen it.
She reached out a hand; tempted to go through it, but stopped herself.
“No, it’s too dangerous. I can’t…” she convinced herself as she turned around and headed back towards where she had come from.
Camilo nearly jumped out of his skin and choked on the arepa he was eating when Mirabel leapt out of the water and plopped herself next to him as he ate.
Mirabel snatched one out of his bag and ate, sighing in relief as it healed the budding soreness from crashing into the underwater cave wall.
“Ahh, that hit the spot…” Mirabel smiled as she lounged against the wall of the cave, flexing her tail casually, ignoring Camilo’s indignant expression.
“So, my travels led me to the mountains at the edge of the Encanto…” she spoke as she ate.
Camilo nearly choked again.
“You did what?!” he exclaimed. “Mirabel, that’s dangerous! Never mind our parents, imagine what Abuela would do if they found out!”
“But they’re not going to find out, now are they?” Mirabel smirked at her cousin.
Camilo shot her a look.
“Everything will be fine, I promise. I didn’t even go through the underwater cave I found, even though I could have and crossed the mountains that way…” Mirabel idly dried herself off and reached for another arepa as her legs returned.
“There’s only so much I can do to cover for you, Mirabel. If you go somewhere I can’t follow like that, I can’t help. Suppose you got hurt out there? How would I get to you? I’d have to tell on you to get you help and then we’d both be in hot water!” Camilo ranted.
Mirabel looked down at her hands as her cousin spoke.
She clenched them.
“I need to know how far I can take this, Camilo,” she admitted. “so far, I’ve been keeping it safe, sticking close to the surface, swimming and helping out at night… I just need to know… Haven’t you ever wondered the same about your gift?”
Camilo glared at her. “Not in a way that could get me hurt or in trouble…”
Mirabel sighed.
Silence ensued.
“You’re totally going to go back there, aren’t you?” Camilo broke the silence after a while.
“Oh yeah.” Mirabel replied.
“And there’s nothing I can do to stop you, is there?”
“Not a thing.”
Camilo paused to eat some more.
“I did promise I’d stay by your side. Team Mermaid, after all, right?” he relented.
“Right. And I’ll be careful, I promise. But if I ever get into trouble, you can do what you have to do, okay? Just… save it as a last resort, okay?” Mirabel hugged him and Camilo hugged her back.
When they broke apart, they smiled at each other.
“Team Mermaid?” Mirabel held up a hand.
“Team Mermaid.” Camilo high-fived it.
The two laughed.