Chapter Text
Mirabel dressed in clothes from the closet: a long sleeved white blouse and a black skirt with an embroidered apron that had her name on it.
It felt a bit starched but she looked good in it.
Her cousin continued to snore, clearly used to having their own room.
She made her way to the kitchen and was embraced by a Shadow version of her mother.
“Look at you! Those clothes suit you,” Shadow mother said.
Mirabel smiled and reached for what looked like some hard boiled eggs.
“Alas, my food would only hurt you,” she said, stopping Mirabel by taking her sleeve.
“It’s ok! I can help you cook!” Mirabel said. She had often helped her mother cook before they went into town together.
“That’s alright,” Shadow Mother said, “I prefer to cook alone. Besides, I’m still getting the hang of my gift and there’s nothing to cook until Isa and Lu come back from the hunt.”
Mirabel paused, not knowing what to do.
“It’s alright to feel like there’s nothing to do. My counterpart always keeps busy. It’s because she’s scared of being useless. She feels the health of the entire village lies on her shoulders. Her Lu is the same way. Sit, rest, smell the roses, my dear daughter,” Shadow Mother said.
So they waited, together.
Mirabel examined the cooking utensils, most of them were never used.
“I expect your father told you about the scales,” the Shadow of Mama said.
Mirabel shook her head.
The shadow of her mother took out a pair of scales. One had a cup that was pearly white and another was inky black. Mama had a scale like that but not that ominous looking.
“I take it this isn’t for weighing ingredients,” Mirabel said.
“No, dear. It’s to weigh souls. Everyday the average villager has a bit of darkness in them. And in case of Mi Prima, her father likely has a lot of darkness, with all that hatred. Shadows are born this way but humans become full of hatred or despair or grief or fear. Darkness isn’t always bad, it’s just unsightly. Tia thought that you’d be consumed by hatred too. Personally, I doubt it. You can weigh your hand on the middle of the scale and see for yourself,” Mama said.
Mirabel placed her hand in the middle and after some back and forth the pearlescent cup ended up noticeably higher. This couldn’t be possible! Such an object could not exist. But neither could the seam ripper or the needle. Perhaps they all had the same creator.
Mama smiled.
“I knew it,” she said, “I knew there was no fear in the heart of one who willingly walks into the darkness nor hatred in one who tries to talk with those that loathe you. Even with the shackle adding artificial darkness, look how you shine.”
Mirabel smiled awkwardly at the praise.
“Thanks, Mama,” she said as she looked away from both the scales and the Shadow of her mother.
The ringing of the bell over the door signaled the arrival of her shadow siblings. Mirabel went to greet them. Shadow Luisa smiled while Shadow Isabela ignored her. They looked so much like her Light sisters Mirabel forgot she wasn’t in Casita, if it weren’t for the game slung over Luisa’s shoulder.
“Hey Lu,” Mirabel said, remembering to use nicknames and not full names.
“Hey, sis!” Luisa said as she disappeared into the kitchen. Isa followed.
The clacking of tiles and changing wallpaper designs heralded Mother Darkness coming down the stairs.
She seemed to glide down the stairs and soon she was flush with Mirabel. Taking Mirabel by the shackle she dragged her into the library.
****
Mirabel winced at the pain in her forearm. She held back tears. She wanted her Mami. Her real Mami, not this very nice shade that was a stranger to her.
Another stranger, Abuela Beatriz, dressed in Abuela Alma’s clothes. All that was left of her Abuelo’s sister after she died young not long before he too was slain. The curse was nothing if not thorough. Pedro, Beatriz, Bruno and it had tried several times to take Suzanna as well. But why had it chosen her and not her sisters? Her and not Dolores or Camilo? Was it because she was chosen by the guardian?
Mother Darkness produced a glass jar with a yellow butterfly, a frame and a pin.
Mother Darkness spoke: “Prove yourself, giftless one, as a true child of darkness.”
Mirabel stared at the jar. Then she opened it. The yellow butterfly flew out of the jar and landed on Mirabel’s hand. There it proceeded to happily flap its wings as if Mirabel’s hand was the best place to be.
“Clearly not enough darkness in you to do it the easy way,” Mother Darkness rasped: “Go, on. Take the pin!”
Mirabel took the pin and looked at the stranger in her Grandmother’s guise, then at the butterfly.
The former offered her the frame and instantly Mirabel recalled the stuffed heads in Abuelo Diaz’s office. She dropped the pin and tried to get the butterfly off of herself.
Mirabel tried to open the window but found it locked. She raced to the door and managed to open it a crack and watched as the butterfly soared through the moth filled halls. It soared out Antonio’s door and out into the forest.
“Foolish Child you’ve doomed us all! You were supposed to be the ransom! You’ve compromised our location! You are pathetic and weak and truly an embarrassment to the family line!
“We Madrigals are a proud people, warriors, defenders, pagans. And here comes this Catholic, this outsider who tells everyone what to do. Her and the father of my eldest, may his name be forever shrouded, running things in the Madrigals name. I know her for I am her and let me tell you….”
She stopped. Her features shifted to that of Abuela.
“Please Beatriz, she’s a chiquita, she doesn’t need to know about the darkness within our family. Especially not about me or about that poor saint you keep comparing…” Abuela’s shadow pleaded.
The features morphed again and shifted into Beatriz. This time in a simple shirt and skirt. The shirt must have been white in a past life but was so stained with ink it was impossible to tell nowadays.
“Saint?! Amelia was a mage and a monster at that! She might have preached peace and kindness but underneath there was only cruelty. Typical for a Catholic mage. Those not raised worshiping all the gods often go astray and our ancestor was no exception.
She was determined to make her shadow as miserable and broken as she was. She tortured her slowly and only when she begged Amelia to do the girl kill her poor Shadow. The humans say Amalgamation as if it was some huge journey of self discovery and not the murder it is!
“Amelia went mad after she lost her eyes! Her gift made people love her, she could get away with anything and be forgiven. Her so-called golden age was anything but! It was tyranny that Sofia wanted to oppose but couldn’t because she was hated by all! No wonder Sofia joined the Darkness.
“Your uncle is just as mad! An aberration! His shadow was a brat but he didn’t deserve to get murdered by that madman. That boy was pleading for mercy when your tio was done with him. Worse, he took away my son! My gatito! How dare he!
“You are the same way, half formed and myopic at a young age. You must get your useless eyes from your outsider father. The darkness didn’t give you a Shadow because you would have only tried to kill yours!” Beatriz screamed.
Mirabel sat there too shocked to do anything but cry. Instinctively, she pushed up her glasses and wiped her tears on her sleeve.
“Don’t you get your tears and mucus on that high quality parchment-cloth! I made it just for you and this is how you repay me?! You really are an evil ungrateful brat!” Beatriz continued.
Mirabel froze and continued crying.
“You’re being too hard on her, cuñada,” Abuela’s Shadow said, “Run, nieta. Run while I have full control.”
Mirabel stumbled out of the library and Dark Casita helped her up the stairs.
*****
Camilo woke late and chose one of the many black skirts and blouses and went to Mirabel’s pack to eat something, anything. The stale arepas made them miss Tia Julieta all the more.
Camilo knocked on the door of their mother’s counterpart. She opened it and her eyes filled with scorn and her clouds darkened. Behind her a fine mist filled the room.
“Do you think you are the brave hero of this story, foolish boy?” She asked.
“I’m here to help mi prima,” Camilo said, “so she doesn’t have to face this alone.”
“Hah! You are useless to her. You could stay with us. Amalgamate with my dau- middle child. Make her happier, you’ll spite my mother and we’ll put your powers to good use. On the day of the eclipse, we could use you to infiltrate the valley and you could knock out all those who stand in our way and seamlessly take their place,” Shadow Pepa offered.
“But if I don’t amalgamate then you’ll have me and Cami!” Camilo offered back. They had been trained by Stella as a boy and she had taught them basic reasoning. ‘As a boy’, what a quaint turn of phrase.
“Ah! You are a Star Mage and not a true Dark Mage to bargain so…,” The Shadow of his mother said and thunder rumbled.
“Tia Stella taught me!” Camilo announced. He wondered what his mother’s counterpart thought of Tia Stella. Mama respected her but everything was upside down here.
“We can teach you what human Mages cannot,” she said.
“You’ll teach me Dark Magic?” Camilo asked, all skeptical.
“Only if you stay with us, Milo,” Dark Pepa said, “If you show your counterpart how to behave.”
“What does that entail?” Camilo asked.
“Learning to become someone totally. Learning to knock someone out because if you Shadow cannot kill, neither can you. What do you say?” Dark Pepa asked.
Camilo considered this offer and then remembered how this woman treated their Shadow siblings.
“Will you hurt me and lie to me like you hurt my Shadow?” Camilo asked.
“Only if you misbehave as well,” she said and her lightning flashed.
Camilo stepped back. She cackled at their fear. Camilo ran down the stairs.
“Hah! My counterpart spoils you and it’s why you’re so willful!” She shouted at their receding form.
Camilo passed a crying Mirabel who didn’t even notice them. Casita pushed them towards the garden and out of the way of a pursuing Mother Darkness and Camilo followed.
*****
Mirabel found herself facing Suzanna’s room.
“Dry your tears, child of wonder, I want you to see this,” Suzanna said as she held a gold necklace in her hands and stood on the threshold of her workroom.
Mirabel climbed up the stairs to her workshop. The door to Suzanna’s room showed a three year old girl with a candle snuffer. The figure was crying too. Who wouldn’t if they were chained up and in the dark?
The workshop itself was warm and full of uncanny light.
A few stray black moths flew in and made it straight to the forge where they disappeared into ink which hissed and evaporated.
“Your uncle was startled by it too. We’re used to it now. The Light was an inventor too, except he was a sculptor instead of a blacksmith. Gifts are blessings from the gods. The rarer ones make us gods among men, to hear thoughts as clearly as voices, to see the future as clearly as the present, to feel and shape the elements. My forge destroys my mother’s creations and returns them to their elemental ink,” Suzanna said as if this was simple and logical.
Mirabel wiped away tears.
“It’s impressive,” Mirabel said.
“Not really, it’s just a side effect of my gift,” Suzanna shrugged, gesturing to Mirabel’s needle.
Suzanna placed the necklace in the center of artifacts she forged, simple household items. Some had Old Speech on them, others had Spanish, a few in Latin. Some were in a language Mirabel couldn’t read.
There was a pair of gauntlets that were carved with the same designs as her shackle.
In the center lay the necklace. It was a gold alloy judging by the weight and depicted several butterflies flying together.
“It’s very pretty and of expert craftsmanship,” Mirabel said. The fact that it was similar to the Madrigal crest wasn’t lost on her.
“It is Indeed. It was made in Spain centuries ago. My Spanish ancestors wore it once...When Spain….discovered the existence of our other ancestors… and our country of Colombia….Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand encouraged those they didn’t like to flee to the colonies.This was given to my ancestor Laurencia Arcadio as part of her dowry when she married Marcos Diaz on Colombian soil. She…. came from a long line of….. smiths. Her mother was named Suzanna too, while her father’s name is lost to time ...But his work lives on… it’s over 450 years old,” Suzanna said.
“It’s very well preserved,” Mirabel said.
Mirabel handed the necklace back to Suzanna. Suzanna put it into a steel box and put the box on a high shelf.
“These gauntlets are made of cold iron. They can stop any mage or creature of Light magic. Now answer me this: what can stop a Shadow’s magic?” Suzanna asked.
“Hot iron?” Mirabel guessed.
Suzanna nodded approval.
“Correct! That’s why my Light counterpart got the gift of flame, she met my mother at a young age. Mama tried to kill my counterpart and her mama and the Madrigal guardian gave her the gift most useful to her…. Occasionally shadows get the gift of ice if they are almost killed by humans…. More rarely, so do human mages if they are…. threatened with burning at the stake,” Suzanna said.
Mirabel grimaced at the very thought.
“Now your idea of compromise between Shadow and human, it is possible. After all, Sofia Madrigal and Josefina joined forces to defeat Amelia’s Shadow. Likewise, Laurencia’s father is said to have joined forces with his shadow. The Spanish Inquisition wiped their names from all accounts for him and his shadow thwarting their plans,” Suzanna said.
“I didn’t expect to have this conversation veer towards the Spanish Inquisition,” Mirabel confessed.
“The Spanish Inquisition is hard to anticipate,” Suzanna said, smiling, “but pray tell me ... who else burned witches and heretics at the stake?”
“Your mother said that compromise will only make Amelia lose her eyes and made her kill her shadow in the end,” Mirabel said, mostly to stop talking about the Spanish Inquisition. She tried not to start crying again. She managed but her eyes itched and watered.
“Ah! But blindness did not halt Amelia’s fight against the Spanish and her own sister. As for her shadow, he was a blight that mustn't be named. He was a mass murderer and had to be stopped….Mama loves to make it sound like Amelia tortured him. Or that he was an innocent maiden who did no wrong. He…was quite the opposite. It was… a battle to the death and she won…. Barely…. Only with help of her twin Sofia and Sofia’s shadow… Proof we are stronger united! ….He was the one who… blinded her in the first place…So it was…. Revenge of a sort. Not really revenge…No… He was the power and anger he pushed away instead of confronting…..You must learn to meet that anger head on…. As must Tia…. And my counterpart…. I am her anger, I would know….”
Suzanna’s speech grew more disjointed as she spoke faster and faster.
She paused to catch her breath then stared into Mirabel’s eyes for the first time.
“What others perceive as weakness is actually your greatest strength. Your myopia makes you focus on what is close to you…. literally and figuratively. Your lack of gift makes you…. sympathize with the villagers, the common humans, more than your family ever can. Our weaknesses make us stronger if one can harness them properly,” Suzanna said, placing a gloved hand on Mirabel’s clothed shoulder.
Mirabel tried not to flinch.
“After all, I put my counterpart’s isolation and book learning to good use, did I not?” Suzanna said.
Mirabel nodded although she realized there was bitterness to this statement.
“And I don’t have a Shadow either,” Mirabel said.
“Indeed,” Suzanna said, “Which means you and your father and uncle are uniquely powerful in the upcoming battle. You have your needle and I have my compass.”
“Compass?” Mirabel asked.
Suzanna opened the lid of a compass that spun around and around instead of pointing north.
“It’s built after the Shadow detectors of old. Josefina made one such device her artifact after she broke it forever,” Suzanna said, “It detects Shadows but more importantly it keeps me anchored should, Light and Darkness forbid, my counterpart die of accident or murder rather than old age. All artifacts exist for this purpose. I know most of them because I made them. Not the rose, of course. But the rose is special. All of Prima Juli’s children are special and you are no exception,” Suzanna said and closed the lid of the compass. She smiled at Mirabel fondly as she said it.
Mirabel smiled back awkwardly.
“Isa wants to hurt her counterpart. If I had a shadow, I’d befriend her or possibly him,” Mirabel said.
“I too plan to befriend my counterpart just like my namesake’s husband…. even if she kills me for it,” Suzanna said.
“Tia Suzanna wouldn’t hurt anyone,” Mirabel said.
“I pray to the gods that what you say is true,” Shadow Suzanna said as she clutched her heart.
Mirabel gasped and helped her aunt once removed back up. Suzanna patted Mirabel with a gloved hand.
“It is alright, sobrina, you have no evil in your heart. I forgive you,” Suzanna said, “In the future, use my usename, ‘Platera’. My counterpart is ‘Fuega’… unless she changed it yesterday.”
“Lo siento, Tia Platera,” Mirabel and curtsied.
Shadow Suzanna, Platera, laughed.
“Does Abuelo Diaz know about why Tia Fuega has the gift of flame?” Mirabel asked.
“Maybe. My parents live in their own little worlds. It’s a shame, we come from a line of revolutionaries and leaders. People are open to mixed marriages and alliances. And what has our line been reduced to? Bigots and hermits, zealots and hypocrites. Traumatized women who do not know how to fight and fear the outside world... How unfortunate,” Suzanna said as she put on the gauntlets and flexed her metal clad fingers, opening and closing her hands as she spoke.
“You are much more than that,” Mirabel said, putting her bare hand on Suzanna’s mail clad one.
“I know that! But my parents don’t….and never will,” Suzanna proclaimed, “at least your parents love you. Mine? My father hates me and … my mother sees me as a pawn to send into enemy camp and to clear her path to victory. And if I happen to die in the name of her glorious revolution, so be it.”
Mirabel’s eyes went wide as she realized the level of sin to which Beatriz sank to.
“Well, let’s see who’s laughing when I become a queen instead?” Suzanna whispered as she raised her right fist in the air.
Mirabel tried not to laugh at the contrast but realized it was an act on her aunt’s part. Suzanna took off the gauntlets and put them carefully on the table while looking sheepish.
“If Mama asks…” Suzanna began.
“This conversation never happened,” Mirabel finished.
Suzanna smiled and said: “Leave me to my work, I must make the most powerful of artifacts.”
*****
Camilo found themself in the garden. It was dark as if it were night time even if it was morning. Was it morning? What time was it?
Shadow Isabela looked at them with scorn as she clipped hedges.
“You’re lucky you’re the child of Pepa, the failure child. Otherwise Abuela would be a lot harder on you than she is on me and Lu. Enjoy your childhood innocence while it lasts. One day you’ll wake up as a father. And that’s if Mila doesn’t kill you,” Isabela said as she clipped a yellow flower.
“Thanks for the advice, Prima,” Camilo said coldly.
“This is a gorse, a plant from England. You’d think it wouldn’t get all the way here and you’d be wrong. It’s a very beautiful flower, but alas, it’s out of its flower bed. I don’t care but what if Abuela sees. Everything must be perfect for her,” she said.
“Wait, you don’t care about being perfect?” Camilo asked. This house really was the opposite of Casita.
“Do you like impersonating half the town to be a ‘Jack of all trades, master of none’?” Isabela shot back.
Camilo shook their head.
“Neither does Light Isa. It’s a role, she’s a puppet on a string,” Isabela’s Shadow said and went back to pruning.
“‘The difference between a weed and a flower is a judgement’,” Camilo quoted the minor commentaries to change the subject.
“That’s not what that line means. That’s the problem with you and your book learning. You never learned from a real mage. All you know is a bit of shapeshifting,” Isabela snapped but then her face softened, “but if you want to have the European flower you can keep it. It’s your color, after all.”
Camilo took the gorse and promptly pricked themself on the thorns.
Isabela laughed but offered Camilo a handkerchief. Camilo recognized it as the same cloth used to make Suzanna’s cape and the Jaguar’s cape.
“How are the plants growing without sun?” Camilo asked.
“They’re Dark plants cursed by the darkness. I was told human blood harms them but Pa’s blood only strengthened the rose. Which aligns with what the texts say about cursed plants. Especially the carnivorous ones,” Isabela explained.
“That makes sense! Tia Stella would love to hear about that!” Camilo said.
“Of course! She knows nothing of true magic,” Isabela said.
“When I leave, I’ll tell everyone how mean you are,” Camilo said.
“Yes but you do realize you’re leaving without Mirabel, right?” Isabela said.
Camilo sprang from their seat and ran like hell. Isabela laughed as she continued pruning. It seemed this was part of the plan.
*****
The Shadow of Mama found Mirabel in the kitchen and hugged her.
“Oh my little shining star, I won’t let her hurt you again,” she said as her gloved hands ran through Mirabel’s hair. Those gloved hands were still stained with blood.
“Your uncle wants to talk to you, would you take this tray inside the walls?” Mama asked as gave Mirabel a large tray of food.
Mirabel nodded and took it.
“I love as much your other mother, you do know that right?” Shadow mother asked.
“Of course I do,” Mirabel replied without much conviction. There was animal blood in her hair now.
Mirabel took a while to find a rat to follow and it took its time to avoid moths that nested on the walls now. Finally it nestled behind a painting. the painting opened to one of the holes in the wall. Mirabel nudged the painting with her elbow and was temporarily blinded by Light. Slowly she made it through the rickety crawlspace between walls while carrying a tray.
“Mirabel, how nice of you to bring me food. I saw in a vision that you had many questions, but not what they are,” he said.
“I’m just bringing you food,” Mirabel said.
Bruno put down his tools and shrugged. Mirabel nodded and echoed her uncle’s shrug.
“I’m telling you this because those who don’t learn from history are bound to repeat it,” Bruno said as he began to eat, “but this idea that it’s better to bottle things up rather than air them in the open. This is how shadows happen. And for people who keep the peace who aspire to be good and perfect, their shadows are often the worst.
“Those who are honest with themselves sometimes ally themselves with their shadows. For better or for worse but usually for worse. Imagine for a moment two people with the exact same gift working in tandem. They can turn the tide of a war. Build a city or conversely raze one to the ground.”
“Destroy a city?” Mirabel asked, shocked at the very idea.
“Yeah, why do you think we don’t talk about Oscar or Amelia’s Shadow? They were revolutionaries, but they were less like Bolivar and Bisabuela Alejandra and more like Robespierre. And that’s why Tio Diaz doesn’t talk about them,” Bruno said.
“But why would one do that with their gift?” Mirabel asked, still uncomprehending. Had Oscar Madrigal destroyed cities?
“Because to the outside world, gifts are weapons of war not tools to keep a community together. It’s tragic, but it’s true,” Bruno said as he nodded sagely.
“There’s a difference between fighting a war and attacking civilians,” Mirabel snapped.
“Tell that to the men who killed Pa,” Bruno said ruefully. He went back to eating, not meeting her gaze.
“I thought he was killed by the Darkness,” Mirabel pressed.
“Ah! Only the darkness in the heart of humanity which lies within us all,” Bruno sighed.
Mirabel suddenly realized that humans thought in such brutal terms, not Shadows to whom that was natural. Worse, her Abuela had lied to her.
“Tio Bruno, would Abuela Beatriz really kill somebody?” Mirabel asked.
“Oh but she already has,” Bruno said and his eyes gleamed yellow, “her counterpart and myself.”
“I thought she died of a curse of Darkness,” Mirabel asked, “or was that a metaphor too?”
Bruno nodded: “It was indeed a metaphor. Shadow Beatriz killed her Light counterpart, she told me that herself before she ordered the Jaguar to steal my amalgamated soul.”
“Did our ancestor Amelia do bad things?” Mirabel asked.
Bruno shook his head and shrugged: “Eh… when she didn’t understand why a double of her would murder people and she could make people love her despite that. The power went to her head. And then she was blinded literally and figuratively and trying to make it go away with her power. What made her get better is when her long lost twin sister returned and everyone, including Amelia’s husband, tried to kill her. Seeing as Sophia’s gift made people hate her on sight…”
“But not Amelia and Josefina,” Mirabel supplied.
“Careful, invoke a Shadow of a dead person and you might bring them back,” Bruno warned, then continued: “After reuniting with her twin, Amelia truly stepped up to act as the miracle worker. Before that she mostly tried to ignore the troubles in fear others would notice as well. This is a woman who tried to deny she’d lost her eyes, see?”
Mirabel did see. Mirabel curled up and tried not to cry. Her family had lied to her. The legacy of the Madrigal line was built on lies.
Mirabel decided to do what she always did to calm down: sewing.
Slowly Mirabel removed the needle from the necklace and began to stitch one of the smaller cracks. There was a sound like a distant bell when the stitches disappeared against the wall.
“That’s even better than Mother Darkness, let alone Hernando and I,” Bruno said as he clapped his paws together.
“Tio Bruno, who are Hernando and Jorge?” Mirabel asked.
“That’s a story for another time when Camilo is with us,” Bruno said.
Mirabel nodded. She tried a new line of questions.
“What do your prophecies mean?” Mirabel asked, “about the sword or about the eclipse?”
“You think I know?! I see flashes of the future and often it’s two different conflicting futures. I don’t know anything besides what’s on the plate. But… It's often symbolic. Seers who spoke their prophecies often used symbolic language and delighted in puns,” Bruno said looking at his paws.
Mirabel nodded.
“I understand,” she lied. In truth, Mirabel was only more confused.
“I’m worried about Tia Platera,” Mirabel said.
“Yes, Mi Prima has suffered and like her mother she aims to do something about it. She’s a Star Mage with the rarest of Magics. But truly from the Jaguar’s and my counterpart’s recollection, she has always had a good heart that is in the right place,” Bruno said and patted Mirabel’s clothed shoulder with a bare paw. Mirabel flinched.
“What is her gift?” Mirabel asked to change the subject.
“We don’t know,” Bruno said, “that’s what makes it unique. But it’s not the gift of flame. Often a shadow may have a secondary gift, but rarely a different gift entirely.”
“But Amelia’s shadow had two gifts and was also a boy?” Mirabel said suddenly.
“A vaguely masculine being with unimaginable power, yes. Amelia’s memoirs use second masculine indeterminate instead of Spanish. Nothing like our Camila. But yes, he is a precedent, I suppose,” Bruno said, “but even he was primarily a telepath who controlled auras like his counterpart. Mi Prima is something entirely new.”
More cracks formed and Mirabel and Bruno got back to work. Mirabel got her needle and Bruno his tools. They could talk later.
****
“Tio… does Amelia’s Shadow being a boy and Camilo’s Shadow being a girl mean anything?” Mirabel asked as she caught her breath in one mirror reflection.
“It symbolizes many different things. from pushing feminine or masculine aspects of oneself. Or it could be how we see ourselves. Or perhaps it’s just the way some Shadows are. It’s quite rare and most people kill or are killed by their Shadow so we don’t know. It’s a symbol like anything else,” Bruno had said in another one of the mirrors. At least that’s what Camila caught from reading his lips.
Camila disliked being reduced to being a mere symbol.
In a third mirror, a torrential downpour had fallen upon the Light half of the Encanto. Nothing this bad had happened since Camila was five. No such downpour happened a month ago. Perhaps the Other Mother really didn’t like Tio Lighting Moon that much. But that wasn’t quite fair either. Light Mama could wander the woods all she wanted, Casita would not manifest to anyone trying to hurt it.
Camila was boiling with rage. At her family. At Bruno. At her counterpart and at herself. Dolores was out with Antonio now and she was left all alone these days. She was so jealous. Lores was supposed to protect her from the bad man in the prophecy. Now Camila was all alone.
Camila checked her room for moths and finding none, she opened a steel box under her bed.
Inside was a small hand mirror made by Tia Suzanna. It was an artifact.
In it she saw her true reflection. It was much more masculine. Before, this scared her, she thought it meant an evil within her soul. Now she realized it was just who she always meant to be, deep down. So she shifted into it.
She smiled at her own reflection. It felt right.
She…. That no longer sounded right. They had called her ‘Elle’ but Camila still thought of herself as a girl.
They then. They. They. They. ‘They’ sounded much better.
They smiled at their now identical reflection. Their counterpart had been gracious enough to give them a name. Cami. They were Cami.
Someone knocked on the door. Cami shifted back on instinct. They cautiously opened the door to their counterpart. He - They were out of breath.
“Where is Mirabel?” Camilo asked.
“In the walls with Tio Green Eyes,” Cami said and shifted to an exact replica of their light counterpart, even with the vibrant colors. It was no use, with the shackle on Camilo’s arm, they would be instantly told apart.
“I want to show you something,” Cami said. If things went south, they could always burn or amalgamate their counterpart.
They pulled them into their room. It looked somber today. Camilo looked uncomfortable.
Camilo looked from the hand mirror on Cami’s dresser and to the shackle on their wrist and back again. Then they caught sight of themselves in the mirror and sprang back.
“It’s just us as one,” Cami said.
“No! It’s horrible!” Camilo shouted and staggered out of the room.
Cami slammed the door on him. If their counterpart wanted to act like a human man, h- they could suffer.
As they sat on the bed, Cami began to feel guilt. In one of the mirrors, Light Isabela was carrying the portrait of herself to the attic. The portrait showed her covered in pollen and vines and ink but smiling and happy. Light Isabela was miserable, however. She could join the club.
****
“Psst, Bruno…” Camilo whispered as they tapped him on the shoulder. Of Mirabel there was no sign.
“I am currently Hernando and here to tell you grave news my dear nephew who is also my niece,” Hernando replied.
Camilo knitted their brows.
“Is that the Jaguar’s real name?” They asked.
“No…Come to the library and I’ll explain,” Tio said.
Camilo found there was a lot of ink on the library floor and the main couch was wet.
Mirabel was sitting on one of the chairs reading the memoirs of some monk named José.
“Mirabel, are you ok?” They asked.
“No, I am not,” she said but didn’t elaborate.
“Is it any good?” They said pointing to the book.
“Oh! It’s quite sad but it’s very informative about the 14th and 15th centuries. Or how Christian mages understood Shadows and everyone else for that matter,” she said coldly as if reciting a script.
Then Camilo noticed she had a letter pressed between one of the pages.
“Everything here is quite literally bugged,” Tio Bruno explained, “we cannot talk freely.”
“Oh please, what’s the worst that could happen?!” Camilo asked, rolling their eyes.
“I was locked in an oubliette and most Shadows try to kill their counterpart on sight. Agustin was imprisoned. Mine begged me to amalgamate because he was convinced he had no free will. To be fair I was at an equally dark place at the time. Amalgamation gave us clarity. Only to be called a murderer and starved and poked and prodded and then pulled me out of my body.”
“So we can talk about this but not…” Camilo asked. Then they signed the word for ‘escape’ in Dolores’ sign language.
Bruno nodded ruefully.
“I thought that Tia Platera was strange for bringing up old history but all this time I realized she was dropping hints. Coupled with Mother Darkness talking about Amelia Madrigal’s blindness and how useless my eyes are without my glasses… I’m honestly scared,” Mirabel said and her eyes were filled with tears.
“They cut the eyes from my corpse too. It won’t do any good. Our unique way of viewing the world isn’t in our eyes but in our souls,” Bruno said.
This got Mirabel crying again and Camilo went to hug her.
Her letter asked their family to meet them after sunset.
“We’re just killing time,” Mirabel said.
Camilo read a passage from the book in Mirabel’s hands: “And I realized that I had the memories of another woman, but I was not her. I was created in his image solely so I could slay her. The nuns who found me begged me to stay with them and protect the orphans under our care. But I knew I was a warrior and not a warden. With each day I began to rankle at the Christian faith forced upon me. Upon the memory of pagan rites my counterpart performed every day. so I went to seek Sofia, the one I was made by the Creator to slay. Neither the fires of hell nor the nunnery nor the government could halt me from my holy quest.”
Camilo realized this text was written by a Shadow.
“So, who is Hernando?” Camilo asked to change the subject.
“Hernando and Jorge are the people who share my body. I had them from before I amalgamated. They helped me with the pressures of being a seer and a star mage. When I had to share a mind with my Shadow and the Jaguar, they helped me stand against them.”
Camilo nodded. They sometimes pretended to be different people and it helped them but they understood this something different.
“Tell Camilo about the prophecies, Tio,” Mirabel said.
“I can’t have them voluntarily anymore but the old ones are rather straightforward. I sacrifice myself to the Darkness. So do you two. Mirabel holds off the Shadows during the eclipse, as she has none. It’s the last one that gives me trouble. I think it’s Mirabel and Mama, er, Abuela working together to defeat Mother Darkness but…”
A rat entered the library and Bruno made encouraging noises to it.
Mirabel knelt and gave the rat the letter.
Bruno opened the door and looked outside. He was pulled away by another force.
“You will defeat no one! You will not pull off the same scheme twice, traitor!” A voice said.
On the threshold stood Mother Darkness with a chain in her left hand and a scalpel engraved with Old Speech in her right. It looked strangely like the Seam Ripper.
“Let the rituals begin,” she said.
She put the chain around Camilo’s hand shackle and motioned for both children to follow. By the front door lay an unconscious Bruno. The children were dragged upstairs before they could react.
She opened Bruno’s door and all but tossed Camilo inside. She locked the door behind them. Camilo banged on the door but the chain danced and slipped into the oubliette. It took all of Camilo’s power not to slip in as well.
****
Mother Darkness dragged Mirabel up to her own room.
There was a slab much like an operating table or an altar stone in the middle now.
Surgical tools of all kinds stood on the table and there stood two jars, one labeled “eyes of the keeper” and the other held two dark green glass eyes.
Mirabel choked down nausea. They were actually going to replace her eyes. Whether she agreed or not.
Suzanna held a scalpel in her hand. By the design, it was handmade by Suzanna as well. Suzanna was crying, her eyes shut.
Mother Darkness glared at her daughter and snatched the scalpel from Suzanna’s hand.
“I have to do everything myself!” She screamed.
“Why do you do this?” Mirabel asked.
“Because then I finally see with your eyes and you in turn will be forever bound to darkness. But it’s not like you could see that well to begin with,” Mother Darkness said.
Mirabel did the only thing she knew how to do; She prayed.
And Lo… something was happening…
Light blazed from the scalpel and burned Mother Darkness’ hand. Mirabel seized the moment and wrested it out of Mother Darkness’ hand. Suzanna lashed out blindly at Mother Darkness and overwhelmed her for a moment. Mirabel rushed outside, scalpel in hand, gasping for breath.
A dark haired woman in a green star-studded three piece suit smirked at her. There were yellow roses in her hair. Her eyes were equally yellow.
“Don’t just stand there! Save your family, make them proud! I didn’t just save you to have you gape like a fish and panic just because my Abuela’s Vessel nearly cut your eyes out,” she said. Leaning against Mother Darkness’ door as if keeping it shut. How strong was she?
“I can’t… they’re behind a locked door,” Mirabel gasped.
“Ugh, you remind me of my twin brother. You have in your hands the most powerful artifact ever. You think even a magical door can survive that?” The being asked. She wasn’t human and was dull like the shadows.
Mirabel nodded and headed towards Bruno’s door.
She sliced the door off its hinges and almost had it fall on her.
She dodged just in time to emerge just outside Bruno’s oubliette. Camilo ran up to embrace her. Camilo’s hug of gratitude was everything she needed.
Camilo motioned towards the oubliette and Mirabel sliced the chain easily. Camilo collapsed on the floor and Mirabel sat down next to her cousin. Both attempted to catch their breaths.
Then Mirabel produced the scalpel and sliced through her shackle as her father did a month ago. It burned. After she recovered from the pain she turned to her cousin and said: “Camilo, I need you to stay very still.”
****
Suzanna held back her own mother. Platera’s resentment for all those years of abuse coalesced into grabbing her mother and holding her back while screaming: “How could you do this to your own children and grandchildren?!”
She felt every piece of metal she ever made as if it were an extension of her. Every one of her tools. Her artifacts to keep her family members from harm or disintegration: Camila’s hand mirror, Luisa’s bell, Julieta’s scales, Pepa’s weathervane, Dolores’ earrings, her compass. The seam ripper in a box by Augustin’s bedside. The needle in Mirabel’s necklace. The scalpel in Mirabel’s hand. The shackle on her wrist and on Camilo’s. The shackles being destroyed by the only thing that could break them: a blade also made Suzanna.
Yes! The children were learning!
Mama rushed outside on the landing only to see her horrified grandchildren and Prima Julieta shielding the two light grandchildren.
Either her Manito or Bruno in her little brother’s body was rushing upstairs.
“Tia Beatriz Guadalupe Diaz-Madrigal, I weaken you and your soul. you who scarred my heart and soul. You shattered my dreams, you who murdered your own light counterpart as she begged you for mercy, you who tried to kill both sides of my mother, I condemn you to blinding light. Your reign of terror is over. Run, child of the moon, child of the sun that serves the stars, for the Jaguar has taken another name,” the Jaguar said.
Mama fell over sobbing and gasping. Suzanna lowered her to the ground and cradled her mother in her arms.
As Suzanna’s nieces and nephews parted, Mirabel and Camilo made a run for the front door. After a pause, Camila and Antonio followed. The doorbell above the door chimed and chimed and Suzanna wished her gift could still it, instead of connecting her mind to Luisa’s artifact and giving her a headache.
“Mama better not be soulless, you overzealous gatito!” Suzanna snapped at her brother. She still loved both her parents and didn’t want them dead. Instead she wanted them to do better.
“Nay, I cannot steal the soul of a shadow, prima,” Bruno said and his eyes were green again.
“Be more careful around our mother, eh primito?” Suzanna asked and her eyes and voice were hard as steel.
Bruno, or one of counterparts, nodded and joined his sisters.
Her nieces and cousins stared at her, no at Tia and Mama, for guidance.
The Guardian of the Dark Miracle placed her -their - hand on Suzanna's shoulder and spoke to her like the Owl spoke to Alejandra and the Darkness spoke to Sofia and Josefina.
“Lead them, my chosen one, we are no longer pawns of our parents but kings and queens of our domains,” the Shadow Guardian said.
The others did not hear her goddess, her deity, of course. They thought she was mad. Let them.
“Cousins and nieces, hear me! We will let them go. We attack on the next new moon and on the day of the eclipse!” Shadow Suzanna said.
Her cousins obeyed. Isabela rolled her eyes but nodded.
Suzanna went to lock Mama in her own room. After putting mother on her bed, Suzanna stole the key off her mother’s clasp and locked the door behind her.
Suzanna stood on tip-toes to retrieve the box with the necklace. She opened the box and carefully examined the necklace before putting it back.
Since she didn’t make it, it did not speak to her but she imagined it said: “To my dear daughter upon finding a husband. Even as you marry a Catholic, always remember who you are. - Your father, Enrique.”
At least that’s what Suzanna hoped it said. So much of the family history was lost or twisted.
****
“Don’t worry we’re not chasing you down!” The figures behind Camilo and Mirabel shouted.
“Yep super reassuring,” Camilo teased as they continued running.
“Yeah but we’re not living with a woman who almost cut out Mira’s eyes,” Camilo’s Shadow countered.
“How are you going to stay if the sun burns you?” Mirabel asked.
“Lores said we could stay in our counterparts room and come out at night,” they said.
“Besides the sun only burns those filled with hatred,” Antonio added. that couldn’t possibly be right. Mirabel chalked that up to Antonio being young and ignorant.
The sun was setting by the time they got to the river and Tia Pepa was there instead of Mama. However Pa was there and that’s all Mirabel noticed as she rushed across the river.
****
Agustin hugged his daughter and whispered: “Don’t scare us like that Miraboo.”
The scolding Pepa had for Camilo died on her lips.
Pepa embraced Camilo as the boy raced towards her through the river. She stared at the other two people huddled in the forest. They looked like duller copies of her own children.
“Are those Shadows?” Pepa asked her brother in law.
“The nice ones, yes,” he replied, still holding his daughter and waving to the copy of Camilo .
“Mami?” Asked the one that looked like a duller Camilo.
“You’re Camilo’s shadow, aren’t you?” She asked.
“They call me Cami,” the child replied.
“It’s nice to finally meet you, Cami,” she said and opened her arms again to accept more family members.
Cami stepped out of the woods but paused and stood there by the riverbank.
Antonio stepped forward but was instantly burned and pulled away by Camilo’s Shadow.
“It’s not fair, I wish you were my mother and not her,” Cami said.
Shadow Antonio looked shocked but then shrugged.
“Ugh to think that woman who hurt you looks and sounds like me,” Pepa said. The cloud above her darkened. When the sky darkened she worried it was her doing. It wasn’t. Slowly, the sun began to set.
“I’m not going back!” Cami demanded, “Camilo! Amalgamate with me! I beg of you!” She cried but her counterpart ignored them.
“We can’t leave them!” Mirabel demanded and made her way back to the river.
The Shadow of Pepa made the choice for them by dragging her own children back and hurling obscenities at her counterpart that Pepa herself would not dare speak before a five year old. Or at all.
It took all of Pepa’s self control to not run across the river, not to thrash her counterpart. She steeled herself to not steal children from their mother, even if she wasn’t the best. It wasn’t like Pepa was always the best mother either.
“We shall see each other on the new moon and then on the day of the eclipse!” Shadow Pepa announced with lightning behind her, “then you and your broken family will pay.”
Then she vanished, dragging Cami and Antonio’s Shadow away with her.
“Let’s go home, mi sol,” Pepa told her son.
Agustin took Mirabel by the shoulder and pulled her up as well.
“We have to save them Papa!” Mirabel said meekly.
“Not by rushing back to that accursed house we aren’t,” Agustin said, “we need a plan.”
Mirabel let herself be pulled away but she kept looking back on the river.
****
Mirabel stared at her Abuela and tried not to flinch, not to cry. Because her Abuela’s Shadow had hurt her for three days. Complicit in trying to blind her. And now here she was. It clicked, it finally clicked that a part of her grandmother hated her even if a part of her loved her. Could Mirabel say for certain that all that hatred was in Beatriz?
“Don’t ever run away like that! We thought you and Camilo were dead! You could have gotten yourself killed!” Abuela said.
“When leading others you are also responsible for their safety. I had to keep Camilo’s safety in mind and I didn’t. Lo siento,” Mirabel said.
“Ay! You’re as selfless as your abuelo. Mirabel I worry about you as well! Don’t you realize that?!” Her grandmother asked.
Mirabel nodded but she was crying. She didn’t believe her grandmother for a second. If not for Camilo no one but her parents would have noticed.
“The darkness is coming with the eclipse,” Mirabel said.
“I am aware,” he grandmother said.
“We must fight back,” Mirabel said.
“Explain what you mean by ‘fight back’,” Abuela said.
“With words and barricades if we can, with swords if we must. Mother Darkness will not rest until the curse destroys our family line. Amalgamate with her and she’s as good as dead. The rest of the Shadows fall apart without her. They aren’t killers and they don’t want to hurt us,” Mirabel said.
“I cannot amalgamate with Beatriz,” Abuela said.
“She’s not just Beatriz, she’s also you,” Mirabel said.
“This is not the time for jokes or pranks, Mirabel,” Abuela snapped.
“I’m serious! She’s all the anger and the sadness and the kindness you pushed away!” Mirabel said.
Abuela stared at her dumbstruck.
“How do you know this?” Abuela asked.
“Because she looks and acts like you,” Mirabel said.
“It’s time I started to believe my children and grandchildren,” she finally said, “we will discuss the truth of this more tomorrow. You are welcome to stay in Bruno’s old room with Suzanna. After all you’re not a child to sleep in a nursery.”
Mirabel’s eyes went wide.
“No thank you, Abuela. I’ll stay where I belong,” Mirabel said as she went back to the nursery. She supposed she should be grateful to be home and to still have eyes but had the sinking feeling she had failed both families. She changed into nightclothes and fell into a long, dark, dreamless sleep.