AN: I love Gravity Falls, and I wanted to write this purely for fun. It has an OC (she won't be shipped with anyone) and I'm going to push this story a little further into the horror genre than the show went. I'll also be infusing just a little bit of Spiderwick into the story to help with that, but nothing major.
Depending on the response this gets, I may try to update regularly, otherwise my other fan fiction is going to get most of my attention. Thank you!
Adia flipped through the folder, going over the day's objectives as she climbed the wooden steps. Satisfied she had everything in order, she flicked it shut, tucked it under her arm, and knocked on the front door of the cabin.
There was a thud, a muffled curse, and an "Adia?"
"It's me."
"Come in!"
Adia swung the door open and followed the sound of clanking metal. In the kitchen, she found the Professor, on his back and crammed into the cupboard under the kitchen sink.
She knelt next to him. "What are you doing?"
"Ah, the damn sink was leaking and the pipes are so old they've fused together." He grunted, then there was a bang. "Oh for—Adia could you get the pliers from my toolbox and see if you can hold the drain ring steady? Its by the fridge."
Adia dropped her folder and backpack on the table before shrugging out of her jacket. "Are we still going to the mine shaft today?" She found the toolbox and took the pliers.
"Yes, yes, of course. I'm not planning to do this all day, just get the leaky pipe out."
She nodded and tried to get purchase on the drain ring with the pliers. "Can you push the pipe up a bit I need a better grip—oh good." She angled the pliers and gripped the ring, using both hands. "Ready."
"Okay," Professor Pines said, "turn counterclockwise on three. One, two, three."
Adia braced and twisted. The calcium caked drain held for a moment, before giving way with a pop.
"Finally," Professor Pines said. "I should've just waited for you. I've been at this all morning."
"Need anything else?"
"No, I have it now. Just give me a few minutes and we can go."
"All right," Adia said. She returned the pliers to their box and fished a hair band from her own bag. She pushed her braids back with the hair band and straightened it. She already had her hiking boots on and her head lamp around her neck.
"Okay," Professor Pines emerged from the kitchen, wiping his hands with a towel. "Are you ready?"
"Yes," Adia said, pulling her backpack back on.
In the truck, Professor Pines pulled out of the driveway and onto the gravel road. Adia sat in the passenger seat, elbow propped on the window as she watched the scenery.
"So . . . you really think there might be dwarves?"
The Professor shrugged, eyes on the road. "It's worth checking out. Imagine what they could be like!"
"Yeah," Adia grimaced, "but Jeff isn't exactly a reliable source." The gnome always seemed a little off to Adia, but not in a way she could really describe.
Professor Pines chuckled. "Well, it's Gravity Falls. There's bound to be something."
Adia nodded in agreement. There was likely something there, she just hoped it wasn't as dangerous and annoying as the mantors had been. She grimaced at the memory.
One bumpy ride later, the Professor parked just outside the mine entrance. The road was barely there anymore, the brush having reclaimed most of it. Rusty, crumpled beer cans and broken glass litter the entrance and surrounding area.
Despite the heat of the day, Adia pulled on her jacket, knowing it would be cold in the mine. Once the both of them had all their gear on, they stepped into the darkness.
Adia clicked on her head lamp. "So, what's the plan for first contact?"
"Let me do the talking. If we're lucky they'll be open to communication."
He didn't have to mention what would happen if they were unlucky. After the incident with the unicorns, a first-communication-gone-bad protocol had been established. Professor Pines would handle any violent response with one of his mysterious inventions, and Adia would grab the supplies and sprint back to the truck.
Adia had had told the Professor she agreed to this. But she hadn't told him she fully intended to help him if he need it. And considering how often he . . . miscalculated certain risks, it would happen eventually.
Graffiti marred the walls with profanity, poorly draw pieces of anatomy, and pentagrams before the walls continued beyond Adia's beam of light and vanished into the dark. Long after the light from the entrance had faded, they came upon a boarded up turnoff in the shaft.
Professor Pines slipped the map out of his pocket as Adia reached into her own backpack.
He glanced back at her. "This is the one. Ready?"
Adia handed him the crowbar. "Of course."
The professor chuckled, accepting the tool and getting to work. As the rotting boards fell to the ground, they sent thuds echoing down the tunnel. Somehow, the sound reminded Adia how deep into the earth they were, and in Gravity Falls. She did her best to shrug off the anxiety creeping up on her, and the increasing certainty that something was already with them, just beyond the reach of their lights.
When Adia came to Gravity Falls, she'd been unprepared for the strangeness of it. She'd just gotten a degree in Biology at her town's community college, and needing some work experience, her advisor had pointed her to an opening in Gravity Falls Oregon.
Adia had been skeptical at first, but when her first two choices rejected her, and she'd done some research on Professor Pines, she'd changed her mind. His academic reputation at Backupsmore College had been outstanding and the internship description promised something new every day. So she had been prepared for some surprises. She had not been prepared for the gang of pixies that hijacked her car on her first day.
She had a motorcycle now.
"Thank you, Adia," the Professor said, handing her back the crowbar.
She returned it to her pack and examined the new tunnel. Moisture clung to the walls instead of graffiti, and a layer of dirt and dust indicated it had been abandoned for some time.
Adia took a deep breath, banished the last of her hesitation, and followed Professor Pines.
"Professor, if the entrance was boarded up, how would the dwarves get in and out?"
The professor grinned. "Good question. Perhaps there's another entrance, or maybe they don't need to go to the surface. Remember: these "dwarves" may not fit with our preconceptions of them."
"Right." The pixies certainly hadn't.
Moments later, the tunnel ended and they stepped into a cavern. Dust particles floated through her headlight's beam as she looked up into darkness. Adia looked left and right to find the walls had changed little from tunnel to cavern.
Professor Pines checked the map again and grinned. "Well this isn't on the map, so we're probably in the right place. Let's go this way." He pivoted to the right and followed the wall.
After a few minutes, Adia noticed faint lines etched into the now smooth wall.
She followed the line with her light, eventually aiming up. "Professor," she said, "look at this." Illuminated by her flashlight were lines and lines of what had to be text, occasionally broken by a spiraling diagram or other image.
"Amazing!" The professor exclaimed, his own beam dancing across the etchings. "I don't recognize the language. Perhaps it's the dwarves'? Some of the characters resemble the gnome's writing."
While he'd been speaking, Adia had opened the tripod back and began adjusting the legs and height.
The professor turned to her. "Adia could you— Oh, ahead of me I see."
Adia smirked as she took out the camera and screwed it onto the tripod. She was used to documenting whatever they found. This would take a little while though. She'd have to aim the lights and camera before taking the photo, take some notes on the section and label it, then move and do it all again for the next section of wall.
The camera flashed. Adia inspected the photo before showing it to the professor. The etchings were a good size, the lighting was good, and the image was clear.
"Good," the professor said. "If you don't mind finishing this, I'd like to go on ahead."
"I've got it," Adia said, picking up the tripod and walking it down to the next spot.
"Call me if you need anything," he said, tapping the radio on his hip before setting off into the dark.
Adia glanced up from her work every few minutes to see the beam of his headlamp growing smaller and smaller. After the tenth photo or so, she looked up to see his light gone completely. He must have turned a corner, she reasoned, and returned her attention to the camera.
Every so often, between the flashes of the bulb and the moving of the set, she heard the clatter of rocks. The sound was barely audible, muffled by its echo and distance. In a cavern this large, there were bound to be loose stones shifting somewhere.
Adia picked up the tripod, moved it, set it down, aimed the light, and paused. This section of wall was dominated by a diagram, larger than the others. It was a ring of symbols, some familiar, like a pine tree, glasses, and oddly enough a bag of ice. Inside the ring was a triangle, with a giant eye in its center and what must have been arms and legs.
She frowned, her skin prickling. It was simple, as far as etchings went. But none of the other diagrams had recognizable symbols, and the etchings were obviously old, but showed something as modern as a bag of ice.
Adia took the picture and recorded: largest diagram, depicting bag of ice and other relatively modern symbols.
She was reaching for the tripod when her radio crackled. She took it from her belt, listening to the static sputter. After a few seconds of nothing decipherable, she pressed the button. "Professor, are you trying to call me? I can't hear you. Over."
It crackled. "Adia? No, it's not me. I'm getting some static too. There could be something down here causing interference. Over."
"Okay. Over." As soon as she took her finger off the button, a loud bang sounded in the dark, far to the left of her.
Adia swung her light, but the beam only lit the ground for the next twenty feet, before it dissolved into the dark. She took a deep breath. Whatever it was had been far away and probably just a big rock falling or something. Then it occurred to her, that was the direction the Professor had gone.
She scrambled to press the radio button. "Professor, are you alright? Over."
Static buzzed over the radio as she kept her eyes and light on the direction of the noise. Something clattered.
"Professor?" She tried again.
The reply was a quick whisper. "Radio silence."
Her mouth snapped shut. If the Professor wanted radio silence, that meant he needed to be quiet. She could only think of one reason he'd have to be quiet.
He was hiding.
She lowered the radio slowly, sliding it back into her pocket. When nothing came charging out of the dark, she turned to the camera and tripod to start packing up. If she was over reacting, she'd set back up when the Professor returned. Otherwise, she'd be ready to run.
She unscrewed the camera, put it back in the bag, lowered the tripod and snapped the legs back into place, slid it into the case and threw the strap over her shoulder. Using her foot, she scraped a X into the ground to mark where she'd stopped. When she was done, the silence returned.
She checked her watch, it had only been about a minute. Adia sighed. There were three options. Wait here, go to the truck, or follow the Professor.
Adia groaned and took her knife from her belt, marching toward the unknown. She could wait, but the Professor could be in danger. And standing in the dark alone, waiting for someone or something to find her first, wasn't appealing. She'd rather be the one pursuing the problem, than it hunting her.
She crept along, hand on the wall beside her until she remembered the potentially delicate etchings and pulled her hand back. Beyond her sphere of light, something out in the dark scratched against the stone. She froze.
That had been closer, and hadn't been the taps of stone on stone, but an actual scrape. Adia held her breath, and listened. When nothing else moved, she continued.
The wall on her right vanished. A tunnel, rough and unlike the shaft of the mine lead further into the dark. It was narrow, the ceiling just a foot above her head and the walls only three feet apart.
It was likely the Professor had gone this way. He wouldn't find some mysterious tunnel and not explore it. Adia stared into the darkness just beyond the reach of her headlamp, willing the Professor to step into the light and explain so they could leave.
Something did come into the light, but it wasn't the Professor. A black blur rushed out of the shadows along the ceiling of the tunnel.
Adia shouted and barely had time to flinch before the thing snatched her by the arm and haul her back out of the mouth of the tunnel and off the ground.
She got the impression of wings smacking against her shoulders and head before she fell from its grip and back to the dirt. She scrambled to her hands and knees, trying to look everywhere at once.
But there was nothing but her and the ground and the tunnel. As the adrenaline faded and her mind started piecing what had just happened together, she stared at the tunnel.
"A bat?" she said. It was, she was sure now. It was a giant bat. She stood, her legs still shaky.
Adia jumped as another shape materialized from the dark.
"Adia," the Professor said, "are you alright?"
She grinned, fighting off a hysterical giggle. Now was not the time to be laughing. "I am. Are you alright though? Did you see . . ." She gestured off towards the tunnel.
"I'm just fine. The bats?" the professor grinned. "Yes, I found a few of them actually. They gave me a scare, like yours I think." The professor's hand touched the sleeve of her upper arm, and Adia looked to see three gashes torn in the cloth. But there wasn't a scratch on her skin.
The Professor stepped back and pick up his radio. "They may have caused the disruptions over the radio. Perhaps the echo location of normal bats is present in a more extreme form in this species."
"We could set up a recorder," Adia said. "But that's back at the cabin."
"Yes," the Professor sighed, "we'll have to come back another time."
A bat swooped down from the dark and slammed into the Professor. The man managed a startled yell as claws dug into the back of his jacket and hauled him away.
"Ah! Professor!" Adia ran after them.
The bat wasn't able to get the Professor off the ground, but the man was left trying to knock the thing away as his heels scraped through the dust.
As soon as Adia got close enough, she swung the tripod bag off her shoulder and into the bat. It screeched, letting go and flying off into the dark.
The Professor stumbled as he regained his balance. "Thank you. I—" He cut off as a drone of squeaks and wingbeats rose above them. They looked up.
Above them circled hundreds of the bats, dancing in and out of existence as they entered the beams of their headlights.
"We should run," Adia said, surprised at the calm of her voice.
The professor grabbed her arm and yanked her into a run. "Yes!"
Once Adia had her own momentum the Professor let go. "Follow me!"
Something swiped at Adia's braids. She flailed an arm behind her, but the bat was already gone. A few feet ahead, she saw another one dive at the Professor. He ducked away, cursing.
By the time they got to the tunnel, both of them had several scrapes across their faces and necks. They swerved into the tunnel. The bats followed, fewer in number, but closer by the sound of it.
Adia rounded the corner just behind the Professor, expecting claws to grip her by the neck and drag her back into the tunnels. But the beginnings of sunlight illuminated the walls around them, and the noise of flapping wings gradually disappeared, until they ran out of the mine and into the day.
Adia spun the face the mine shaft, panting. But the entrance was a square of empty blackness, nothing about it different from when they'd arrived.
A soft chuckle behind her grew into a booming laugh. Adia turned to stare at the Professor, caught between incredulity and the desire to join in.
"Sorry," he waved a hand, try to control his laughter. "I shouldn't be laughing. Are you alright?"
Adia snorted. "I'm fine. You?"
"Ah, a few scrapes, but I'll be fine." He straightened, pushing his glasses back into place. "How far along did you get with the photos?"
Adia tilted her head. "I got most of them, I think, but there were a few left. Oh, one of the sections depicted modern stuff, like glasses and a bag of ice."
The Professor's eyebrows rose. "That is strange. I'll have to take a look at that. And come back to finish the records, and get audio recordings . . ." He rubbed his chin.
Adia gave him a blank look before yanking open the truck door and hauling herself in. "You have fun with that."
The Professor started. "You don't want to go?"
The cars window was open, so Adia slammed the car door behind her. "No. Well, probably no. Give me a coffee and a few hours and we'll see."
The Professor smirked. "That's fair. And coffee sounds like a great idea." He hopped into the driver seat and started the car. The truck bounced down the dirt road as Adia stared out the window.
The bats had bothered her, but not enough that she wouldn't go back. If they were quieter, and used their lights less, she'd bet the bats would stay asleep long enough for them to get some photos and set up a recorder.
What really bothered her was that damn mural on the wall. The age of the art didn't line up with what it depicted. And that triangle creature in the center . . . she swore she could still feel that eye on her.
But that was ridiculous. She shoved the unease aside and watched the birch trees fly past.
Thanks for reading! If you liked it, or want more, please leave a review!