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Getting wiser

Chapter 6. Sugarcube

"...So then I removed an entire street to find this necklace." Luisa was telling one of the stories that happened at work, trying to lift the mood.

Mirabel let out an unhappy laugh, staring at her cup with hot chocolate in it. Camilo slightly hit her spine. "It's gonna be okay." He smiled, sitting in front of her. "Have you seen your face?" Then he turned into Mirabel to show her blue expression. 

She sobbed, almost spilling the drink. "C-can you stop using your gift?" She murmured, Isabela took her handkerchief and wiped off the tears from Mira's face.

"Maybe you were just so cool that you didn't need one?" Luisa assured her with a smile, patting her head. Her hermanita had been so sad ever since her failed gift ceremony. She was sad too; why would magic left Mirabel, especially after creating the door, just to leave her with empty hands?

The youngest girl just looked down, staring at the light-brown drink.

"You should drink it," Dolores whispered, fixing a broken strand. "It's going to cool down."

"O-okay." Mirabel sobbed again, bringing the cup to her lips slowly. Then she took a sip and winced.

"Is something wrong?" Isa asked worriedly, putting her palm on Mira's cheek.

"It's not sweet." She murmured, placing the cup on the ground. "I want more sugar."

Camille beamed, throwing his hands into the air. "We can have a sugar cube eating contest!" He giggled as Dolores ruffled his hair.

"Sounds fun." She nodded, winking at Isabela.

Luisa chuckled, looking at everyone's confident faces, ready to do their best. "I'll bring the sugar." She promised, quickly jumping on her feet. "Be back, before you can even blink." She winked.

Okay, sugar cubes... She could find it. Luisa ran as fast as she could, not wanting to keep her hermanas and primos waiting. Just as she was about to enter the dining room, she heard Abuela's voice.

"I don't think he'll go back."

Luisa tensed up, listening carefully. She took a step to the side, hiding behind a wall. It seemed like she wasn't supposed to be in here. Were they talking about...

"What do you mean, mami? Bruno would never leave his family without any reason. He loves us." That sounded like mami. Yes, this was a talk about Tío Bruno, who disappeared the next morning after Mira's ceremony, adding even more troubles to an already problematic situation. Luisa was on her mom's side in this argument, even if her Tío was always somewhere in his tower, rarely talking to them, he was still very kind and ready to help wherever Luisa would ask him for advice. She couldn't believe that he would ever leave them.

"I asked him for a vision..." Abuela started but was immediately interrupted by a thunder strike. Luisa winced from a loud noise.

"You did what?" Tía Pepa shouted, and Luisa also heard that she probably kicked the floor, but it was hard to tell without actually seeing her.

"Pepa, calm down." Abuela groaned. Luisa thought that if she were her tía, she would be mad too.

 "Mamí, you know how Bruno dislikes making visions." Tía Pepa roared; there were more lighters. "Excessively to his family." Also truth, Luisa never understood why, but tío Bruno seemed to really dislike his gift, seeing the future was such a cool ability. Yes, sometimes things that he saw were bad, but it wasn't his fault. She knew that the propercy that he gave to Dolores was bad. Luisa didn't know what was in it, but her prima was crying after getting it. But he had good visions too, like that one for Isabela. Again, Luisa didn't know what was in there, but her hermana was very happy about it.

"I had to make sure that Mirabel wouldn't do anything with magic," Abuela explained, sighing harshly. 

What did she mean? Luisa bit her lip, trying to understand it. What could her hermanita do with the magic? She didn't think they could do anything with it in the first place.

"So now you're blaming my daughter?" Papí shouted firmly. 

"I'm just saying that he saw something so awful, so he decided to run away."

Luisa took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. No, tío Bruno would never leave them, he's just... Missing, he had to come back soon.  

"He is not!" Luisa saw another flash of light from lightning in the darkness. 

"We should keep an eye on Mirabel." Abuela shrugged off Tía Pepa, as she kept explaining. "We can't be sure if magic would be safe."

There was more screaming. Luisa covered her ears with her palms, leaning against the wall. Couldn't grownups stop acting so mean to each other? She pursed her lips, listening to endless blaming from the other side of the thin wall. Luisa knew that Abuela was always right... But it could be true; she didn't make any sense. Mirabel was so nice; she would never hurt them. She was the sweetest child Luisa ever knew. She couldn't do anything bad to magic.

What if Abuela sent Mirabel away? Luisa gasped, tearing up. No, it couldn't happen, Abuela loved her, and she wouldn't do anything like that. Or at least Luisa hoped so. There was a sound of broken glass, it seemed like adults were really mad at each other. The good thing is that Dolores was in her room, she didn't deserve to hear that.

Luisa took a deep breath, wiping away the tears from her eyes. She had to leave; she wasn't sure if she could handle even more of this shouting, she already felt sick in her stomach. 

She left as quietly as possible, hoping that no one would notice her. Well, grownups seemed to be so lost in their talk that they wouldn't pay attention even if Luisa would break one of Casita's walls. Her heart was racing, pulsating in her chest so loudly that Luisa thought that she might become deaf. Casita helped her get upstairs. And she was probably just seeing things in the darkness, but she could swear that there were cracks in the wall that disappeared as soon, as Luisa tried to look at it.

She ran into her prima's room, slamming the door as fast as possible, then leaned against it, looking up.

"What took you so long?" Camilo groaned, she looked down and saw him with crossed arms. "And where are the sugarcubes?"

Luisa giggled awkwardly, scratching her head. "Sorry, I didn't find them."