It was pitch black out. Dipper could hear the pounding of rain outside the window, interrupted only by the occasional roar of thunder accompanied by a shattering flash beforehand. Although he was in a strange room alone, it was as if he were being kept company by the sound of the storm; he had always enjoyed them. The sounds from Mabel and her friends below giggling and singing and who knows what other terrors had finally stopped as they went to bed, and Dipper was just ready to fall asleep when-
Knock, knock, knock. . .
He waited a moment, thinking it was someone knocking on the door next to his own (he wasn't used to staying in such a large house) but he heard it again.
Knock, knock, knock. . .
Sigh, "Mabel, go back to bed. I already told you the ghost is gone. . ." The door slowly creaked open, letting in a small amount of light coming from a flashlight. Dipper squinted his eyes, disgruntled, but he couldn't make out any sort of obtrusive homemade sweater or brown bushy hair. Instead, he saw a blue hooded nightgown and long blonde hair. It was quite beautiful, he thought for a moment, before realizing that he was staring at Pacifica Northwest. He immediately shook his head to clear it of any thoughts of admiration for her. He was more surprised than he should have been, considering they allowed him to spend the night at their mansion as thanks for ridding it of ghosts.
"Pacifica? What're you doing here?" He sat upright, blinking to try and wake up. He turned on the lamp by his bed as to indirectly invite her in, but she remained peering through the gap of the half-shut door. He almost thought he could see her eyes glistening for a moment.
"You can come in. . ." He stated. No reply. Dipper began rubbing the sleep from his eyes and started to get up to open the door for her, but when he looked up, she was gone. Walking toward the door he found she had dropped her light in the hallway. The entire house was too dark to see in but for the stream of light emitting from the flashlight on the ground. He picked it up and looked about for a small time.
"Pacifica?" He whispered.
"Pacifica!" He called, this time a bit louder. There was no reply again. Dipper felt his stomach drop. What had happened to her? He began to run down the hallway, stopping to call or search for Pacifica at certain intervals. He opened door after door in search for her, until finally a glimpse of her golden hair in the moonlight caught his eye. She was lurking just in the corner of his eye, and he turned to face her.
"Pacifica! Why did you go running off? Is something wrong?" He felt it wasn't like him to worry so much about her, but he brushed it off as jitters from the incident that occurred earlier on with the ghost. He never noticed quite how pale her skin was, or how soft her lips looked -wait, why was he thinking about her like this? This isn't right. Pacifica always looked that way. He was just imagining things, surely.
He could hear what he thought was a giggle, but it was so melodic and elegant, it was as if she were singing. The taste of saltwater was overwhelming his dry mouth, but all he could smell were the sweet perfumes drifting off of Pacifica. All he could see was Pacifica. He was dizzy. He shook his head but he only felt it rushing and throwing around his balance and perspective.
Grenda was snoring loudly as Candy drooled on her shoulder, both passed out propped against the large bed's headboard. Mabel had never slept in such a fancy room; the walls had their own textured wallpaper with various ornamental decorations hanging elegantly around the room. All the furniture in the room was a matching set, plush and comfortable to the touch. She couldn't believe she not only got to go to the most fanciest party around, but also got to stay in the absolute most incredibly awesome and fancy house in the world!
Mabel laid awake on the ground, still buzzing from the sugar high she had been on all day. She was trying out a new diet with Waddles all about eating only sweets, which was really more of a lifestyle for her which led to many sleepless nights. She typically didn't mind being so awake at night. Dipper always stayed up late reading, so she would just go bother him, but tonight was different. She felt so alone laying the giant room with only two completely knocked out people to keep her company (Oh teenage magazine boys, at least I have you, Mabel thought, referencing the magazine Candy had brought).
The thunder clapped ferociously here and there causing Mabel to jump. She thought for sure there would still be some kind of ghost causing this to scare her, and decided to head to Dipper's room the next floor up and spend the night with him. He could always look through his weird book to save the day if something bad happened. She pulled out a flashlight from her sleepover bag and creeped out from behind her door, careful not to wake her two friends. She took her first step.
Creeeeeaaaak. . .
She nearly made herself jump from the terrifying screech of the floorboards beneath her. She calmed herself down and proceded noisily down the hall and up the large flight of stairs. Dipper's room was the last door on the left in the hallway she had been told, but she never realized just how incredibly long that hallway was. She could see the end of it and yet still it felt like she was barely getting closer with each step. She had never seen so many doors in her life; doors on the left, doors on the right, bathroom doors, open doors, arched doors, square doors, glass doors, even doorways without doors! Finally she reached the end of the hallway and found Dipper's door. She didn't bother to knock and opened the door forcefully. Inside was. . . Nothing. No Dipper in sight. The bed was messy and there were various articles of clothing crumpled about the room, and even his lamp was turned on. She turned her light off and stepped inside.
"Dipper? Helloooo? Haha, he must be in the bathroom." Mabel ran and jumped on his bed.
"Augh! What the. . .?" she had landed on his journal and pulled it out from under her.
"The journal? But, Dipper never leaves his room without his journal. . ." she flipped through its pages some before deciding.
"That's it. There's no way Dipper would go to even the bathroom without this! Something isn't right here. . ." Just then a sharp scream pierced the air.
"Pacifica!" Mabel slid off the bed and ran back into the hallway, turning her light on as she went. She looked down the endless hallway and saw not the long corridor she thought she knew, but instead she found the figure of Pacifica in a blue hooded nightgown staring into a room not far away. Mabel dropped the journal in surprise and scrambled to pick it up with her flashlight still in hand. Pacifica sharply turned her head in the direction of the noise and smiled softly at Mabel. She started to approach her, eyes sparkling, but before long a voice called out,
"Mabel! Watch out! That isn't me!" The voice was Pacifica's coming from the room a few doors down, but Pacifica was right in front of her, and Pacifica's mouth didn't even move to make the words. Mabel realized the mistake she had made as the figure in front of her tilted her head and began to charge at her, and she turned around to make an escape; she soon realized however that Dipper's room was the only option, and she darted back, searching the journal as fast as she could for anything that could shapeshift. The figure was in the doorway of Dipper's room now, and Mabel was cornered. She was frantically flipping the pages of the journal, but to no avail. The figure was fast encroaching her and she was about to shield her face from fright when she heard a loud CRASH. The figure fell to the ground and left standing over it was Pacifica. The real Pacifica. She was wearing purple pajamas with her probably-fake-blonde hair tied back into a ponytail. She didn't have the beautiful fair skin or sparkling eyes the figure had, and in comparison looked rather plain. Side-by-side, Mabel was amazed she couldn't tell the difference before. She was holding the remains of what was once an expensive china vase, but was now scattered dust and shards of clay across the ground and covering the figure.
"Pacifica! It's you! Really you! What even is that thing?"
"No time to explain, we need to get out of here!" she grabbed Mabel's sleeve and yanked her out of the room, pulling her down the hallway and running down the stairs. They ran as fast as they possibly could and slid into a room with cold marble flooring. They hid behind a counter out of eyesight from the door, and Mabel thought they must have been in the kitchen, though she couldn't see much in the little light they had from her flashlight. Through panting to catch her breath, Pacifica started,
"What. Is. Going. ON?"
"Shouldn't I be asking that? You looked like you knew exactly what was up!"
"How could I know? I'm not one of the Mystery Twins! I just know that whatever that thing is, it looks just like me, and it doesn't seem very friendly! What are you doing? Start looking through that weird journal or whatever!"
"It isn't weird!" Mabel knew fully well that that's exactly what she had called it earlier, but only she was allowed to make fun of Dipper. "Besides, without this book and Dipper, you'd prob'ly be dead from ghosts by now!"
"I know, I know. Whatever, just give it here." She pulled the book from Mabel's hands and started flipping through it. "What ARE all these? Arachnimorphs? Floating Eyeballs? Gnomes?"
"Look, if you aren't gonna believe it then don't bother reading it!" Mabel pulled the book back.
"Sorry, but you don't have Dipper here, so we may as well work together on this one, as much as I'd rather not be doing this right now." Pacifica pulled it back. She flipped the pages more, scanning them over one by one. They heard footsteps outside the door, calmly coming closer and closer. . .
"Hurry up, Pacifica!" Mabel's tone was hushed.
"I'm trying! This isn't exactly organized!" She was more frantic now, but finally she found something. "I've got it! It's an Encantado! 'Encantados are creatures that come from the sea. They have the ability to shape shift and are known for their incredibly fair skin and beauty. They posses magical powers used to brainwash others and even lead them to insanity or death. Characterized by their large blowhole, they always wear something to cover their head when taking the form of a human to keep their identities.' This has to be it!" They heard the door open.
"What's its weakness?" Mabel whispered.
"'Weakness: Parties?'"
"Parties!?" Pacifica slammed her hands against Mabel's mouth to keep her quiet, but it was too late. Frozen, they could see shoes walk up to right in front of them. The slowly looked up and saw,
"DIPPER!?" Mabel yelled out as she leaped to hug him. Before she could wrap her arms around him though, he had already pushed her away.
"Dipper what's wrong? You've never gotten mad at me for an awkward sibling hug. . ."
"Mabel, I don't think that's Dipper anymore," Pacifica began. "Look." She was staring at his eyes. Mabel looked too, and found out why. His eyes were glazed over and his pupils were dilated. He looked like he wasn't conscious, but he was still walking.
"I'm going away now." Dipper spoke, in a droll and monotone voice.
"What? What do you mean?" Mabel looked shaken.
"I'm going away now. I'm going to a paradise with a superior Pacifica Northwest."
"Y-you're going with the encantado?" Pacifica asked, puzzled.
"Dipper, this isn't you. My brother would never leave me. You've got to fight this!" Mabel had her hands on his shoulders, shaking him lightly at first, but then harsher and harsher. "That's it! I know what to do! Pacifica, get me the nearest spoon!"
"The nearest what?"
"You heard me! Spoon me!" Pacifica ran to a nearby drawer and pulled out a spoon. She tossed it to Mabel, as she lowered her head and popped out her her hip. She started tapping her foot to a beat and slowly looked up. She began to sing, albeit off pitch.
"Disco girl! Coming through! . . . Come on. . ." She was visibly squirming as she waited, but before long Dipper's eyes began to return to normal and his body loosened.
"That girl is you!" He finished.
"I knew it would work!" With them both laughing, Mabel jumped onto Dipper to give him his awkward sibling hug.
"What was that?"
"Oh, you were being brainwashed. Speaking of, we have a party to finish!" They began singing and dancing again, as the encantado bursted into the room. It grabbed it's head in pain and let out horrible screeching sounds. Slowly it transformed into a snake, being it's true form, and slid away.
"Haha! Yeah! We did it!" Mabel gave Dipper a high-five and turned to Pacifica to give her one too, but noticed she wasn't joining in on the festivities.
"What's wrong Pacifica?"
"No, it's nothing, it's just, did you really mean that?"
"Mean what?" Dipper asked, confused.
"You know. . . What you said about her. That she was superior to me, or whatever. . . Did you mean it?"
"Pacifica," He started, "You know I was brainwashed. I didn't know what I was saying. Besides, in comparison to you, that thing's got nothing." She smiled, and Dipper noticed how pretty her smile actually was. This time he decided not to get rid of his thoughts of admiration for her, and instead gave her a hug. Not an awkward sibling hug, but a real hug.
"Thanks Dipper. You're pretty cool too I guess."
