The trees were different, I think. Some were where they were last time I'd been here, but others had grown, making the forest thicker. Darker. I had to resist the urge to stop the car and run into the woods again. I had a place I had to be and it was just up the road. I could see the totem pole, the busted up porch, and the sign on the roof. Soos cleaned up pretty nice, but he never could take away that charm that the Mystery Shack had. Knowing him, he never wanted to.

"WE'RE HERE!"

"Oink!"

Mabel's screech was about as shrill as a banshee's, but not quite so bone-chilling. It didn't help that she screamed it in my ear, though. "Mabel, I haven't parked the RV yet, could you keep it down a bit?"

She pouted. "Dip, if I want to be excited, then let me. You don't have to be so grumpy all the time. You're turning into Grunkle Stan and you're not even 30 yet."

Even the mention of the old man brought a small smile to my face. We all missed him and Great Uncle Ford, but they sent us postcards from wherever they were in the world. Their stories about the Giant Squid, the Loch Ness Monster, and New Zealand made me a bit jealous, but I knew it was a matter of time before I would be a real adventurer. Maybe this case was my break. I just wished that it didn't have to be this case.

We pulled up to the parking space. Only two cars were in the lot, a minivan that I knew was Soos', and a big red truck that I thought I knew who owned that. After getting out herself, Mabel brought out Waddles. The pig was no longer a piglet, but Mabel loved him regardless. She never put him on a leash if she didn't have to. Besides, he didn't need one, given that he followed Mabel anywhere.

I walked up to the door and saw that they were closed. I looked at Mabel. "I guess we knock?"

Her eyes lit up. "Can I? Please, Dipper?" It was hard to resist my sister's innate ability to convince people to let her do whatever she wanted, even as a Rhodes Scholar and the proud owner of 2 masters' and a PHD at just 23. I sighed and nodded. She proceeded to bang on the door with both fists. "SOOOOOOS! OPEN UP!" Classic Mabel.

Instead of Soos, a woman with red hair that was shorter than she had worn it before answered the door. She had her classic flannel, jeans, combat boots, and, after all these years, a battered baseball cap, blue and white, with a pine tree on it. She looked at us for a second before it dawned on her. "Dipper! Mabel!"

As Wendy Corduroy bear hugged the both of us, I remembered instantly the power and warmth behind her rather thin frame. I thought back to that rather eventful summer and remembered the silly little kid's crush I had on her. Now she was just Wendy, and both of us were more than glad to see her. As she released us, she looked back with a wide smile, no doubt remembering that same summer. "Come on in!" Wendy turned and looked upstairs. "Soos! You've got visitors!"

I looked into the living room and felt a rush of familiarity. Grunkle Stan's chair was still in its all-important place in front of the TV, which, except for the massive amounts of duct tape around the console, was still battered but reliable. The smell came back to me, that well-known stink that felt like home.

A man came down the stairs in a great rush. Even though Wendy was hardly distinguishable from when I saw her last, Soos Ramirez barely resembled the bumbling Mystery Shack handyman I had known. His whiskers were nonexistent, his hair was neatly trimmed and combed, but it was still Soos. He still wore a copy of his trademark question shirt, but he wore a weathered but still usable suit jacket over it. And on top of his head still sat Grunkle Stan's old fez. His eyes lit up as he saw us, and pulled us into a bear hug of his own. "What's up, dudes?"

Mabel laughed. "Soos, you haven't changed a bit!" Go figure.

I caught a glimpse of gold on Soos' fourth finger. "Soos! You got married?"

He let us go with the slightest bit of awkwardness. "Melody and I have been for a few months now. I sent you both invitations, but I never got an R.S.V.P. back. What happened?"

Mabel and I turned red with embarrassment. "I would've, Soos," my sister replied. "But I was swamped with so much schoolwork, and other colleges kept on mailing me application information. Yours must've gotten lost in the clutter."

"And I've been all over the country, looking for weird stuff with-"

I stopped as I came close to the real reason we were here and shuddered. Wendy noticed the change of tone. "Sit down, I'm going to check on dinner."

They led us into the dining room where it seemed Wendy was cooking up bacon, eggs, and pancakes. Soos and Mabel did most of the talking, while I sat there, thinking about the past couple of days. I'd thought that nothing could go more wrong than the time the world almost ended. This was different. This was personal, and I knew that I would stop at nothing until-

"Dipper?"

I came out of my daze. Everyone was looking at me. "Why are you here?" Wendy asked.

I sighed. "Pacifica is missing."

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