Chapter Text
They quickly arrived back inside Casita. She-Venom basically dropped Camilo on the ground with the landing they made, causing him to fall forward.
"Ow! Geez, why not drop me harder the next time? He said, clearly upset about it.
Venom, clearly finding Camilo's reaction hilarious, removed himself from Mirabel's body.
"Sorry, we still need to get used to carrying someone with us." Mirabel apologized.
"Accidents happen. You know how it goes."
As they left her room on their way to Dolores, talking a bit with each other, Camilo bumped into someone, and that someone was his mother, Pepa. "Ah, Camilo, there you are. I've been trying to look for you this whole time. Where have you been this whole time?"
"I'm sorry, mom, I was just... hanging out with Mira." He said this, glancing over to Mirabel for a moment.
"You know what? It doesn't even matter that much. Just go over to the Zapata family. You're already late."
"Um, well, actually, I was hoping Camilo could help me with something today." Said Mirabel. She said it in a way that sounded like she was asking it.
"What?" She asked, surprised. Camilo was also surprised by this. "Yeah, I want him to help find something. I could really use his help."
"Well, I guess you need to ask someone else to help because he already has plans today."
"Can you just not ask them if someone else can do it? I mean, there's enough townspeople out there that could help too."
"Why do you want him to help you so badly? If whatever you want to find is that important, why don't you just ask Dolores?"
"Because it was something he said he would do together with me, and besides, what we're looking for isn't something Dolores can hear."
Pepa looked at her with an annoyed expression, but she tried to calm herself down as she knew what would happen if she got too many negative emotions. "Is that true, Camilo?" She asked in a stern voice.
"I… um… I mean, I guess." He said, a bit nervously. Pepa does that thing to him that makes it harder for him to lie to her. It almost looked like she knew he was lying.
"Well, I guess your search with him has to wait for another time." She looked back over to Camilo.
"Camilo, I had already told you about this earlier today, so now it's a bit too late to change it now. If you don't go, the Zapata family is going to complain to your Abuela about it, and you don't want your Abuela to deal with more stress than she already has to deal with, right?" He shook his head.
"Ugh, if the Zapata family wanted to do other stuff than take care of their own children, they shouldn't have gotten them in the first place." Camilo could feel the tension rising. He also wondered why Mirabel was acting like this.
"Enough already!" Small, dark clouds started to appear above her. As the dark clouds formed above Pepa, Camilo's heart sank.
He knew that when his mother's emotions got out of control, the weather could become unpredictable. He looked at Mirabel, who seemed not to be concerned at all.
Mira, what are you doing? He thought to himself.
"Mama, please, calm down," Camilo pleaded, trying to ease the tension. "I'll help Mirabel after I come back from them, alright?"
"What? But—"
"It won't take long. I had to babysit them before." He interrupted her.
Mirabel wanted to argue with that, but she stopped herself from doing so. "Okay, fine." She said, clenching her teeth and fist.
The cloud above Pepa's head started to change from black to white as she calmed down. "I'll be on my way now. See you later, Mira." He said, walking past his mother, waving them both goodbye.
"Geez, Mira, what has gotten into you?"
"Nothing," said Mira, folding her arms. "Is it that weird for me just to want to spend some more with mi prima mayor?"
"If you wanted that so badly, you just have to do it another time. Don't start causing trouble just because things aren't going your way." She walked by her.
"At least I'm not causing trouble by being too emotional like you." Mirabel mumbled.
A big crack came from behind Mirabel as Pepa's cloud created a loud lightning strike. Venom screamed inside Mirabel's head as she covered her ears, falling on one knee.
"What was that?" Pepa asked while looking back at her.
"Nothing! I said nothing." She answered.
Pepa continued walking, leaving Mirabel there. "God damn it! I was gone for a few moments, and then something like this happens?!" Said Venom angrily.
Mirabel was surprised by the way Venom reacted. Now that she thinks about it, this is the first time he reacted in a way that sounded like he was in pain.
Just then, Agustin came from behind a corner, "Mira! Is everything alright?!" He said this as he helped his daughter back up.
"I'm fine."
"Minus almost bursting our ears drums."
"It wasn't that bad." Mirabel answered to that overdramatic remark of Venom, forgetting for a moment that she was still talking to her father.
"Are you sure? That sounded very loud, and it looks like it hurt your ears."
"No, no, I promise you, I'm fine. I was just… startled by it."
"Alright, enough stalling. Let's go already." Venom forcefully made Mirabel walk past Agustin.
"Um, alright, dad, I'll um… speak to you later. Promise."
Agustin looked confused at her. He couldn't shake the feeling that there was more to this situation than met the eye, leaving him intrigued and a little worried. "Wait, where are you're…? Ugh, forget it. She'll notice it herself."
"Why are you in such a rush all of a sudden?" Asked Mirabel.
"Because we keep being bothered by everyone while we're just trying to make progress on saving that miracle." He replied.
She could hear frustration evident in his voice. Was he angry over the fact that he got hurt? "Besides, the longer we wait, the more complicated things could become," Venom added. "I mean, haven't you noticed that cracks started to appear again?"
Mirabel looked at all the walls and noticed that there were indeed more cracks than before. There were more cracks around the doors, especially at the door of Pepa.
That's weird, I could've sworn that the cracks started disappearing. Mirabel thought to herself.
"Do you now understand why I don't wanna waste time anymore?"
"I guess you're right."
Mirabel was a bit annoyed by how Venom noticed all this stuff before her. But her annoyance was also mingling with a hint of admiration for Venom's perceptiveness. It was a reminder that he's smarter than he behaves. She decided to be more aware of everything so she could be more useful instead of just being a host.
"Hey Casita, is Dolores in her room?" The house moved the tiles in a way that meant saying “yes”. Mirabel knocked on her door. "Hey Dolores, can I talk to you for a moment?"
"You can come in." Said Dolores from the other side. Mirabel entered the room and slowly closed the door behind her. Dolores was reading a novel on her desk, her back facing towards her. "Is there something you need to know again? Y'know, about the miracle maybe?"
"Um, something like that." Mirabel started. "You see, there's this thing that I had in my room. And it was very important to me. I remembered putting it inside my drawers, but today when I looked for it, it wasn't there."
Dolores turned around in her chair in Mirabel's direction. "So now you're coming to me to ask if I maybe know who could've done it, right?"
"Well, yeah, but here's the thing. What was stolen from me was something nobody in the house could've possibly known I had."
Dolores started to realize what Mirabel was trying to say. "I'm… not liking where you're going with this."
Mirabel took a deep breath before continuing, "Nobody could've known, except for a certain someone with might have heard exactly where I put it."
Dolores gave a shocked expression. "Are you saying I stole it?" There was a bit of anger in her voice.
"Um… well… I mean, I'm not entirely—" She was stumbling over her words.
"Por el amor de Dios, I gave you hints to help you start with saving the miracle, and the second something got taken from you, you immediately thought I took it?"
"Wow, she's good. She's trying to guilt-trip you." He said, impressed.
Mirabel was taken aback by Dolores's strong reaction. She didn't expect her cousin to respond with such anger. "Okay, but if it wasn't you, then who could've done it then? I mean, you must've heard something, right?"
"Actually, my gift has been acting strange recently."
Mirabel looked at her older cousin, confused. "What do you mean by that?"
"If you must know, my gift has been going on and off without me wanting to. It's why I sometimes just say stuff that sounds believable." She rubbed her head like she was having some kind of headache. "Remember when Isabela asked me what Mariano was talking about a day after Antonio's ceremony? I actually lied about him wanting 5 babies."
"Oh, so your gift just happened to—wait, you lied about Mariano wanting 5 babies?"
"Mhmm." Dolores nodded.
"That… actually makes sense now that I think about it. Anyway, so your gift just so happened to not work at the time something was taken from my room?" Mirabel was now the one who was getting angry.
"Maybe, or maybe I wasn't listening to it when it happened. You do know I hear a lot of things at the same time when I'm outside my room, right? I actually have to concentrate and block out as much of the sound around me."
She had to admit that what Dolores is saying does make sense when you think about it, but she just had a feeling Dolores was keeping something from her.
"If you came here to just accuse me of something I didn't do, then you should just leave." Dolores said angrily as she returned her attention back to the novel.
"Alright, fuck this. This isn't going nowhere."
Venom started to cover Mirabel's body. "Venom, wait!" She protested, but it fell on deaf ears.
Dolores heard something happening behind her and looked back. Her eyes widened at what she was seeing. She stood up and recoiled. She literally had to cover her mouth to stop herself from screaming. She-Venom stood there menacingly with her black body and sharp teeth.
"Ay, Dios mío, you're even more terrifying than I imagine." She whispered, her breathing becoming heavier.
"So you know who we are, right?" She asked with her monstrous voice.
Dolores squeaked as she saw her getting closer to her. As She-Venom approached Dolores with her menacingly tall presence, Dolores wanted to back away further, but her desk was in the way, her heart racing. She was confronted by something she had never expected to encounter within the walls of the magical house like this.
"I-I know who you are," Dolores stammered, her voice trembling. "You're Mirabel's other side, Venom, right?"
Venom hissed in response, her ebony tendrils flicking menacingly in the air. "That's right, Dolores. And I'm here to make sure you're not hiding anything from us."
Dolores gulped audibly, her eyes darting around the room for an escape, but she realized she had nowhere to go. She also wonders why Casita hasn't done anything yet.
"Venom, back off! You're scaring her!" Said Mirabel internally.
"I'm just trying to get answers out of her. I mean, she immediately knew who I was."
"But this feels so wrong!"
"Come on, it's not that bad."
"Please, just... give her some space. We can talk to her without scaring her." She plead.
Reluctantly, She-Venom backed off a bit, just enough to give Dolores some space for herself. "Just tell us what we want to know."
Dolores visibly relaxed, her breathing steadying. "Well, um, I'm not 100% sure, but..." She was trying her best to stay calm, but inside she was still panicking.
"Will you just spill it out already? Did you maybe hide it somewhere here?" She-Venom looked around the room.
"No, no, no, that's not what I'm trying to say." Said Dolores with panic in her voice.
She-Venom used her tendrils to look around Dolores' room in multiple places at once. "Oh, so we're just gonna look through her room, invading her privacy?" Mirabel asked.
"Well, it's faster, isn't it? If she did take it, we will find it in no time." She walked over to a drawer she hadn't looked inside yet.
"Wait, don't open that one!" Dolores warned, as she immediately knew what was inside one of them.
But it was too late, as She-Venom opened that drawer. If Dolores could see Mirabel's, she would've been blushing like crazy. Inside that drawer were Dolores' “toys”. There were big ones, small ones, and even a machine.
"VENOM!!! GIVE ME CONTROL AGAIN RIGHT NOW!!!" Mirabel basically shouted at him.
"Ah! Shit! Alright, alright!" Venom started to recede, allowing Mirabel to regain control over her body. She gasped as she returned to normal, a bit disoriented by what had just transpired, even leaning on the furniture.
She looked back at Dolores, who looked embarrassed by what she saw. "I'm... sorry that I didn't tell you." She said softly.
"No, I'm sorry," Mirabel reassured her. "I swear I didn't tell him to do that."
"Could you please close the drawer?"
"Oh yeah." Mirabel quickly closed the drawer.
"Qué demonios Venom? You want to use fear to make her talk?"
"It worked, didn't it? So, you're welcome."
"You're talking to him again, aren't you?" Asked Dolores.
Mirabel nodded "Yeah, but only I can hear him when he's like this."
"Yeah, I know. I've heard a few of your conversations. You two sure know how to make an entrance. I really wasn't expecting to meet you both like this."
Mirabel couldn't help but smile weakly. "Yeah, we do have a flair for the dramatic, it seems." She scratched the back of her head.
"Can we maybe just talk? Y'know, like normal people?" She asked
"We aren't exactly normal people."
"Hey, I said that too." Venom said gleefully.
This actually made Mirabel chuckle a bit, changing the mood. Casita then made the tiles move and pushed both of them onto Dolores' bed.
"I guess Casita wants us to talk." Said Mirabel as she sat down on the bed.
"Can I maybe only talk to you? Even now, that encounter still shook me up a bit." Dolores admitted, her expression still a mix of amazement and unease.
Mirabel nodded understandingly. "Of course, Dolores. Venom won't bother us for now, right?"
"Yeah, yeah, I'll just go look through some of your memories." Mirabel wanted to ask about it, but then figured that now wasn't the time for it, so she just dropped it for now.
"Alright, so, how long have you known about us?"
Dolores sat down next to her and thought about that question for a moment. "I started to pay more attention to you after you told everyone that the magic was dying. Unlike everyone else, I'm not trying to pretend that everything was okay. And when I heard you talking to yourself, I kinda backed off from you a bit, as I don't really like invading other people's privacy."
"I'm honestly not surprised that you managed to figure out about Venom on your own." Mirabel admitted.
"Me too." Dolores answered, leaning back on her hands. "By the way, you do know you're walking around without your glasses, right? The others are going to be very suspicious of you if you keep walking around like that."
Mirabel felt her face and only now realized that she wasn't wearing them. "Oh shit, I must've dropped it earlier when I was outside."
"I know I said I wouldn't bother you for a moment, but you dropped your glasses when Camilo elbowed you in the face."
"Speaking of outside, thanks for scary mi hermano pequeño in the forest. Definitely didn't have a heart attack hearing him scream." She gave Mirabel a side eye.
Mirabel gave a nervous laugh. "Yeah, sorry about that." She answered, obviously ashamed of what happened.
"But wait, so does this mean you are noticing the cracks too, right? I mean, I can't be the only one who notices them." Asked Mirabel, her eyes widened at Dolores's revelation.
"I didn't hear any of the cracks you talked about at Antonio's ceremony, but two days later I did start to hear the sound of cracking walls. At first, I thought it was just some of the houses in town, but the ones I heard sounded very close, like they were happening here inside the walls. And then I saw a few as I walked past mom's room. When I looked back, it was gone."
Mirabel listened intently to Dolores's account of the strange occurrences she had witnessed. It was clear that something unusual was happening within the house. The only problem was what was causing these cracks to happen.
"And you didn't tell anybody about the cracks?"
"I did. I told Abuela, but because the cracks disappeared before I could show them to her, she just dismissed it. She even asked if I felt well and if I was just seeing things."
Mirabel groaned, "Of course she would say something like that. She knows something is happening to the magic and is just trying to pretend everything is fine."
"I think she's doing it to not cause panic in the house. You know how someone like mamá can be when she's panicking."
"Oh definitely. I'm honestly surprised none of those have caused any of the cracks before." They both chuckled.
"But seriously, though, Abuela just doesn't wanna cause panic here, so don't take it in a bad way."
"I'm not. But we can't just pretend nothing is wrong when it clearly is. So please tell me anything that could help me."
Dolores sighed "Alright. So what I was trying to say earlier was that I heard Isabela enter your room. At least I think it sounded like she did. It happened yesterday. I was confused on why she was there, so I mistook it for my gift behaving weird again."
"Are you sure it was her?"
"Not entirely. I'm like, 70% sure."
"Good enough for me!" Mirabel said as her anger rose.
"Mira please…"
"I can't believe she, of all people, would do something like that to me." She said, as she got up, walking back and forth angrily. "Actually, I can believe. I should've known she would do something like this! That ladrona asquerosa!"
"Welp, I'm back, and I can see you are in a good mood." Venom said sarcastically, surprised by Mirabel's anger.
Dolores noticed that multiple black lines started to appear on Mirabel's neck that looked like her veins. "This is why I didn't want to tell you that it happened. I didn't want the both of you to start fighting again." She said, as her face was buried in her hands.
Mirabel, seething with anger and frustration, clenched her fists, still pacing back and forth in Dolores' room. "We should definitely go to your sister's room and have a little “talk” with her."
"We're not going to hurt Venom unless she gives me a reason to." She said, actually considering it.
Dolores hearing this made her squeak, "No, Mira, please try to calm down. Let's think about this rationally."
"Dolores, you know how important this is to me," Mirabel said, trying to keep her voice steady. "I can't let someone just steal something like that from me and get away with it, especially if it's Isabela."
"Do I have to remind you that I'm only 70% sure? I could be wrong. If you're gonna talk to her about this, please consider that she may not know what you're talking about."
"You know what? As much as I don't like to say this, she could be right. She could really not know what you were talking about, making you expose yourself."
Mirabel calmed down. "I guess you're right."
"But you should also consider that your sister could pretend, not knowing what you're talking about, to act innocent." This actually made her think about it for a moment. Could Isabela actually lie that well? Her thoughts raced, realizing the complexity of the situation.
"I'll go over to Isa and just have a talk with her." Dolores nodded, agreeing with her. "And hopefully not break that pretty face of her." She said, holding up a fist and giving an annoyed expression.
Dolores squeaked because of this, Mirabel quickly noticed this. "Just kidding." She nervously laughed.
"No, you weren't."
The conversation has taken an unexpected turn. She knew she wasn't the only one of the Madrigal children who was aware something mysterious was happening within the house, and the cracks in the walls were just the beginning of it. Mirabel had a plan to confront Isabela. She'll try to handle it in a way to avoid unnecessary conflict, emphasis on the try.
"So, I'm gonna go, alright? Thanks for the help… again. I'm happy that I can always count on you." As Mirabel prepared to leave Dolores' room, she couldn't help but feel a bit uneasy about the situation. Venom's impulsive actions had startled both Dolores and herself, and she didn't want her relationship with her to crumble.
"Wait, one more thing." Dolores called out to her.
"When are you gonna tell the others about Venom?"
"That is actually a good question, though." This is one question Mirabel was afraid to answer.
"I… don't know."
As if Dolores knew she was going to say that, she answered, "You can't keep doing what you're doing right now, only telling them about him when they stumble into you two when you weren't paying attention."
"That's what I'm saying! I'm starting to think she and I are thinking the same way." Venom said confidently.
"It's better to just tell them about him instead of them finding out themselves. I believe your mom would be very understanding of this, at least if you don't tell her about the eating brain part."
Mirabel inhaled deeply. "I'm leaving now." She answered coldly, exiting the room.
Dolores was left there, alone in her room, still a bit baffled by what just happened.
"Wow, not even saying bye to her? Now that's just cold."
"Shut up." She said, angrily while clenching her teeth.