Chapter 1: Twenty Feet Under The Lake
"I grow old … I grow old …
I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled.
Shall I part my hair behind? Do I dare to eat a peach?
I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach.
I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each.
I do not think that they will sing to me."
T.S. Eliot, "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," Prufrock and Other Observations
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Lily and Dipper wanted to see each other the very next day.
But their family got in their way.
Stan wanted to take Mabel and Dipper out to a carnival to celebrate Dipper's return. Pop and Jack wanted to take Lily some place where they could spend time together as a family.
The three found themselves in swim suits and in Pop's truck driving to the lake.
"I forgot how long it's been since I've been to the lake," remarked Jack in the front seat. "I used to fish There with my buddies. When I used to have buddies."
"Why do you think we're here?" Pop asked him from behind the wheel. "I know that you have no social life, which was exactly why I moved myself into your house."
"You goon!" his half-brother shoved him.
Lily sat quietly in the back seat, for once not intending to engage in the conversation. She was still ruminating on her revelation from last night.
Hearing her relatives laughing in the front, she didn't want to believe that her great-uncle was holding back from her.
Maybe I've had it all wrong from the beginning. Maybe Scarlet isn't his daughter after all. Maybe it's just a book that his daughter made to … I don't know – be a mystery book of some kind!
She didn't believe herself to even consider any similar possibilities.
But why would Grunkle Jack only mention one daughter? Did he really only have one? What's else has happened to his family?
Oh, I wish I could talk to Dipper! He could think of something.
"Hey Lily! You in there?"
"Huh? Uh – oh, yes! Yeah, what is it, Pop?"
"Jack said that he's sorry you can't hang out with the Pines today."
"Oh, uh – i-it's no problem, Grunkle Jack. I-I'll get to see him another day."
Jack adjusted his glasses thoughtfully. "Maybe we should have gone to that carnival after all – "
"What, with all those screamin' kids, nasty smells, and flashin' lights? Jack, I thought you had enough of that after the search you pulled off with the volunteers last week. What you need is to relax, and go somewhere without people."
"I thought you wanted me to be around people. Wasn't that the whole point of… "
As much as Lily wanted to be with Dipper and her family today, what she wanted just as badly was to be entirely alone. Alone to find answers, make discoveries, and try to escape the guilt.
The guilt of knowing the truth. And taking that away from the ones she loved.
She sighed.
If I'm getting angry at Grunkle Jack for hiding something about his past, then I'm not being fair. I'm keeping him in the dark too, by snuffing out the light.
"Are you all right back there, Lily? You're not upset about something, are ya?"
Lily sucked in a quick breath, and breathed out a smile. "Just feeling a little homesick I guess, Pop."
"I don't blame ya, Lily," replied Jack. "But I know that you'll love it here at the lake. It's one of the most peaceful spots in town."
Lily almost scoffed, but caught herself.
Yeah. Peaceful.
I know I could have been in pieces the last time I was there.
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But that mid afternoon, Lily believed her uncle was right. The lake was a rippling mirror of the deep pines and rocky mountains at it's shore. Several fishing boats were out, and several sunburned families were returning to their air conditioned vehicles. Other than the distant sounds of boat motors jetting the lake surface, the only other sounds were the water lapping the shoreline, roaring cascades of the waterfall, birds cawing above their heads.
Lily knew that her relatives would be sitting in their beach chairs, talking about life. As thrilling as Lily knew it would be, she decided that she would take her chances with the lake. She brought a waterproof flashlight for that very reason.
While Jack and Pop unfolded beach chairs and set out an umbrella, Lily scanned the lake. Where would a cave under the lake be exactly? At the bottom of the lake? Under that island out there? Behind the waterfall? What about this cliff face?
She figured that if a cave would be anywhere, it would have to be someplace stable, like the rocky cliffs by the waterfall. Fortunately, they set up their spot on the other side of the lake not a thousand feet away from the water. Not that Lily told them why exactly. Only because she "liked the view."
She felt chilled before she set foot in the water. Despite being set in a deeply cut crevice in a cliff face, the mist of the sparkling water steamed and blew far and wide. She knew that the spot she picked wasn't the pleasantest one around the shore of the lake, but it was the most convenient one for her search. Her relatives wouldn't worry about her so much if they could see her swimming, and she wouldn't have far to go if she could remain near her possible destination.
She wadded out into the cold water slowly, hoping that when she finally dove the cold shock wouldn't paralyze her. When the water came up to her waist and sent goosebumps rippling into her arms, she heard her grandfather call her.
"Don't go out too deep, Lily. I don't want to make Jack come out to rescue you again."
"Don't worry, Pop. I won't!"
"Yeah, it's impossible to catch fire in water, Popper."
"Oh, you're such a card, Jack. I can hear the canned laughter playin'."
Without hesitation, Lily pressed the switch, held her breath, and jumped down.
Lily found the bottom of the lake without trouble. The lake water was silty, but visible. She wished that she had Dipper's scuba gear. But she knew that once she found a fish willing to guide her around, her chances of finding Scarlet's hideout would be better if not completely certain.
She spied a couple of tiny fish, that scattered at beam of her flashlight, but nothing else. She came up for a breath, and checked her uncle and grandfather. Pop saw her face came up, and gave her wave. She waved back, and turned to face the lake. She was barely twenty feet, and only about three in half feet deep. She would have to swim farther out. And start sending out a message in Fish Code.
Swimming down to the lake's pebbly sandy shore, she kept one hand on it as she pressed forward, and glided across it like a manta ray. Feeling more like a fish, she sent out a general message in a general fish language.
"Hello. I want to find a cave. Please take me to one."
Lily repeated this message twice before bouncing off the lake bottom to the surface for another breath. She guessed that she was now thirty feet out, almost five feet deep. She decided that another foot deeper wouldn't be bad.
This set a pattern for the next fifteen minutes. Lily would take a breath, dive down, send out her plea several times, then go back up for air and repeat. What seemed like such an easy idea began to make her dizzy for natural breath, and rethink her strategy.
After breaking the surface once more, Lily decided to stay at there and think over other options.
Well, maybe I could talk with the beavers. But then I'd have to swim out to Scuttle-Butt Island, and from what I heard from Soos, they are anything but helpful. Scratch that idea. Hmm … maybe if I tried to contact Mabel's old crush, Mermando … but he's probably at the very bottom of the lake. It would be a suicide mission to swim down there.
She looked back over at Pop and Jack, both trying to stay warm from the cool spray of the waterfall with beach towels. She felt a renewed sense of guilt.
She then ducked her head under the surface, sent out her message again, and scanned the lake floor with her flashlight.
Nothing.
That made up her mind.
I should just go back with them for today and forget my search. She started paddling her way back to shore. I'll find this cave another day when I have Dipper to help me. And who knows if it even exists and isn't some made up place of a bored kid's mind?
She got her answer when she felt something grab her ankle, and yank her under water. She felt her flashlight slip her grasp, and watched bubbles escape her throat in a hopeless, murky scream.
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