The keeper of dreams, he waits in shadows

For her soul, deep within the light that burns

He is forbidden from the world in which she revels,

He will nurture her power, her magic he will relish

The terror will begin, his reign absolute,

From a seat of ash and bone,

And she will be his forever more


"Emmy! Emmy, sweetheart, where are you?!"

She ignored her mother, fully absorbed in the printed words before her. Before she could blink, the book was plucked out of her hands.

"Hey!" She tried to follow, only for her mother to hold it out of reach. "I was reading that, mom!"

"Honestly, are you going to spend your entire summer with your nose in a book?" He mother questioned mildly. She snapped the book shut and tucked it under her arm. "Anyway, family meeting time, so up, up!"

Resigned, Emilie stood from the comfort of her wooden swing. The cracking paint lightly scrapped her bare thighs. She shuffled, scowling, through the backyard and into the living room. Her dad must have cranked the AC up. A blast of cold air greeted her. That, and her younger siblings sullen expressions.

Well, Dipper looked sullen. Mabel looked torn between emulating her twin or succumbing to the curiosity she clearly felt. Emilie settled in between them. She ruffled Dipper's already messy hair for good measure. His scowl melted into a smile. It faded when their parents began to speak.

"Now, we've had it with you kids cooped up inside," Emilie chose not to point out that she'd clearly been outside minutes earlier. Reading. "With all your electronics. So, we're sending you to your Great Uncle's place in Oregon."

"We have a great uncle?" Emilie couldn't help but ask. Grandpa Shermie never spoke of any siblings. She and the twins assumed he didn't have any. "Does Grandpa Shermie have a brother or something?" Not that they'd seen their grandpa in years. It was hard when he lived on the other side of the country. Not to mention their dad could barely get in a free weekend nowadays.

"He has a brother - Stanford." Their dad supplied helpfully. "And you three will be going to stay with him for the summer."

"You can all get some fresh air- be away from the big city for a while. Won't that be nice?"

It would not be nice, Emilie decided. Even as they were shooed up to their rooms to pack. As they were driven to the bus station and handed their tickets. As they were herded onto the bus and waved goodbye. She'd hoped to attend a gymnastics camp that summer. Her parents had crushed those dreams in one fell swoop.

Mabel was infuriatingly chipper about the whole thing. Emilie tuned out her prattling as best she could. Mabel meant well, Emilie knew. The girl didn't have a mean bone in her body. Dipper was still sullen. The scowl hadn't left his face the moment their parent's words sunk in. Her little brother wasn't big on the outdoors.

"Emmy, this is our stop." Emilie turned from the window. The last two hours had been an endless expanse of pine trees. Her legs ached and her butt hurt from sitting so long. Mabel was smiling. Dipper even looked interested.

She stood with a sigh. "Great." She pasted on a smile for their benefit. She would never badmouth their parents in front of them. She'd save it for when mom called.

The bus sped away the moment they clambered off. The dust settled and all three gaped at what awaited them. The Mystery Shack stood, the 'S' missing from the large red sign. An elderly man, dressed in a black suit and red fez, stood before it.

"Hey kids, come and meet your Grunkle Stan!"

At least she had her own room. Like home, Mabel and Dipper shared a space. They were stuck in the attic. She had a room on the ground floor. It was across the hall from their self-dubbed 'Grunkle' Stan. Great Uncle Stan takes time, and time is money, kids!

Stan was weird. Even by her standards. In the time it took Emilie to unpack and settle in, she heard what the Mystery Shack was. Mom and dad had sent them to a tourist spot in a backwater town. Try as she might, she hadn't been able to find the tiny town on any maps.

"Emmy?" Mabel was outside the door when it opened. Surprised to see her alone, Emilie let her in. Mabel settled on the bed. She kicked her feet and waited for Emilie to sit. "Grunkle Stan smells weird."

Emilie laughed. Mabel's nose wrinkled for emphasis. "I know, sweetie," she brushed a hand along Mabel's cowlick. All three sibling shared it. It refused to be tamed. "How's your room?"

She hadn't checked it yet. Her own room was stable if anything else. But the rickety stairs the twins had climbed worried her. The house clearly wasn't structurally sound.

"It's fine. Not too small," Mabel assured her. "Dipper and I'll be fine."

Emilie didn't doubt it. For some reason, the twins were close. Even closer than one would expect of twins. They rarely fought. Even when they did, it was more playful than anything. They'd been inseparable since birth.

"As long as you're okay with it."

Mable nodded. "We are. Well, Dipper will get used to it." She amended after Emilie sent her a disbelieving look.

While nothing ever fazed Mabel, Dipper was another story. He was the polar opposite of his sister in many ways. Easily stressed and hard to calm. If he didn't work himself into a temper by the day's end, Emilie would owe Mabel five bucks.

Mabel was unable to sit still for long. Her little fingers began to weave through Emilie's hair. She began to braid the thick strands. "I'm glad you let it grow out."

"Don't remind me." Emilie groaned. "It's taken four years to get this long." Her poorly thought out pixie cut was her biggest regret.

"Told you not to cut it," Mabel sang. Her nimble fingers began to twist and weave. Emilie let her. They hadn't had enough time to hang out in recent days.

Dipper soon ended their bonding time. He stomped into Emilie's room and planted face-first on the bed. Emilie rubbed his back soothingly. Mabel was far more versed in cheering her twin, and soon had him smiling once more.

The twins scampered off to play minutes later. Left to her own devices, Emilie fell back onto the mattress. She could hear the scattered voices, the stomping footsteps, of the tourists that filled the shack. She curled on her side and yanked the pillow to hide her face in.

Her head was beginning to hurt.


The Mystery Shack had two employees. Soos, an over-eager guy in his early twenties who reminded her of an overlarge gopher. And Wendy, a ginger-haired lumberjack's daughter who Emilie hadn't seen move more than five inches in as many hours and who snarked liked she breathed. Emilie liked her already.

Emilie casually side-stepped the job of pasting posters in the woods. Something about them gave her the creeps. Dipper felt the same. He protested loudly when chosen to be the one to venture into them with the fliers. She spent most of the day with Wendy at the counter. The girl had a wicked sense of humor and made the dread within Emilie begin to loosen.

If she could find friends, maybe the summer wouldn't be as boring as she feared.

"You should come out with us soon, Em," Wendy invited. "The boys'll love having another girl around that could kick their asses." She smirked and Emilie grinned back.

Mabel flirted relentlessly with the boys that ventured into the shack, local and tourist alike. Emilie thought her sister too young to worry about having a 'great summer romance'. Mabel should worry about sleepovers and what color to knit her next sweater from. Not what boy to kiss or obsess over. Wendy found her adorable.

Wendy left for the day, promising to text Emilie soon. Soos stayed longer, relishing the work Grunkle Stan made him do. The devotion he showed their dried up sourpuss of a relative was sweet, in a sickening, way to look at. Emilie didn't see anything in their uncle, other than his inherent ability to manipulate, that could warrant such devotion.

Mable nearly tackled her off the stood she was perched on. The girl was shaking with excitement and babbling about summer romance. All Emilie could gather was that her twelve year old sister had been asked out. On a date.

"So, who is this lucky guy?" Stan asked as they settled gift shoppe. He'd been regaling Soos with tales of 'the good ol' days', when Mabel dragged Emilie to share the good news. Mabel babbled excitedly before she raced out the door.

Stan watched, bemused. He turned to Emilie, who shrugged and went back to her book. Mabel had always been easily excitable. And prone to falling deeply in love with a boy one day, before moving on to the next.

Mabel returned minutes later, Dipper in tow. He didn't even spare her a glance before launching into another of his tangents. He'd found a book hidden in a secret compartment in the forest. Emilie lowered her own, eyes drawn to the handwritten one in Dipper's grasp. An ache began to start behind her eyes again.

Mabel's new boyfriend - Norman, apparently - showed up soon after.

"How old are you, exactly?" He looked closer to Emilie's age than the twins. Dipper looked as pleased as she felt when the gothic teen stuttered a reply.

Stan, however, was unmoved. He merely waved his great-niece away, face buried in a magazine. Emilie forced a smile. Mabel looked happy - over the moon, in fact. She wasn't going to ruin her baby sister's happiness with her misgivings. Dipper ran off to his room the moment Mabel gleefully left with her extremely uncoordinated boyfriend.

Dipper became secretive, moreso than usual. In the next few days, he'd run off the moment Mabel and her boyfriend stumbled off on another date. Emilie had Wendy and her friends to distract herself with. She didn't mind Lee and Nate, or the pushover that was Thompson. She wasn't too sure about Tambry; Wendy assured her that the other girl already liked her.

Emilie was pretty sure she despised Robbie.

He was too... much. Of everything. And he followed Wendy around like a panting dog. Even Tambry disliked him, and she rarely felt anything other than a distinct apathy. He flirted incessantly with Emilie too. When her sarcasm didn't off-put him, she stuck with Nate and Lee. It was only when Wendy made the comment of barfing over Robbie's comments that he stopped.

Maybe she could have fun here.


The headaches didn't stop. They grew worse. Little over a week after they'd arrived, there was a tremendous shaking that Grunkle Stan claimed was an earthquake. Emilie wasn't sure. But she was too lost in her misery to care. Dipper and Mabel came in soon after Stan's last tour left. They were both a sweaty mess. Mabel had leaves in her hair and Dipper was missing his hat.

Emilie raised a brow when Stan offered them each a pick of the gift shoppe. He claimed it was because he'd overstocked and looked offended when she suggested otherwise. Mabel plucked a grappling hook from the shelf. Emilie was only half-worried she'd break a window. Dipper picked one of the blue and white pine tree hats.

Emilie's eyes fell on a small book. It was the only one so Stan would never give it to her. So she shrugged and smiled, said she'd pick another day.

That night, the book was laying on her pillow. There was a golden rose beside it.


Other than involving them in counterfeiting, Grunkle Stan wasn't so bad. He was trying, that much Emilie could see. So when he offered to have a family bonding day, she wasn't totally against it. Though nothing really beat watching Mabel and Dipper letting syrup drip into their mouths.

Emilie changed her mind the moment Grunkle Stan started driving. She refused to sit in the front after the last time. She held onto Mabel and Dipper as the car veered sharply to the left. Mabel, convinced the blindfolds enhanced her senses, began to feel around with her hands. Emilie laughed when the little fingers dug into her ticklish rib cage.

After a car ride that shaved years off her lifespan, they ended up at the lake. None of them had been there yet. Emilie's nose wrinkled at the smell of fish and murky lake water. Several of the townsfolk were already on boats or sunning themselves on the beach. She caught sight of Wendy's dad with her many brothers.

Old Man McGucket, the town loon, began to scream before Emilie could maneuver herself out of the fishing Stan planned. Something about a creature in the lake he called a 'gobblewonker'. When Soos offered his admittedly more stable boat, Emilie couldn't jump on it fast enough. Mabel and Dipper followed moments later.

Shame filled her at the sight of Grunkle Stan's disappointment. It was too late to back out though. Soos was already speeding to the island McGucket had pointed out. Dipper took charge, pronouncing himself the captain. Emilie smiled when Mabel immediately argued the decision. She hid far away from the sides of the boat and pulled the small book hidden in the pocket of her hoodie.

Emilie didn't know who'd given it to her - or the rose - but wasn't about to miss the opportunity. The book, dusty and all but hidden on that shelf, was what appeared to be a smaller version of the journal Dipper had found. Except, it listed spells and 'd have been quick to dismiss it as a gimmick of Stans but...

Mabel had told her about the gnomes. While horrified, she was glad the twins had taken care of it. Dipper had even shown her the book after an hour of coaxing.

And her fingers tingled whenever she touched the pages of her book.

"Whatcha readin'?" Emilie jerked. Mabel stood in front of her, hair damp from the spray of the water. There was color to her round cheeks. Emilie smiled at the sight. She shifted over, allowing Mabel to settle beside her. Mabel peeked over her arm at the pages, eyes impossibly large. "What is that?"

"Magic, I think," Emilie flipped the pages. She landed on a detail of a physical shield. "It was on my bed, that night Grunkle Stan let us pick stuff from the gift shop."

Dipper called Mabel back to the helm before she could reply. She shot Emilie a smile before racing to her twin. Emilie watched her go, smiling now. They landed on the island with little trouble, though Dipper looked ready to have a conniption. Emilie kept the camera on her phone ready just in case Soos destroyed the disposables.

Scratch that, she decided when Soos broke one and Dipper's eye twitched. When Soos broke the disposables.


The Gobblewonker, it turned out, was real. Sort of.

Emilie felt a shred of sympathy for McGucket. Though his mutterings about creating a similar creation when his wife left him, along with the hours of terror she'd be subjected to, made it hard. There was also the worry she'd felt for her siblings and she felt like slapping the crazed man. She settled for blasting a swarm of beavers out of the water with a spell she found in the book. And promptly froze when it worked.

Soos didn't ask about how pale her face was, or how shaky her hands were. Mabel and Dipper were too involved in making it up to Grunkle Stan to notice. But Stan did. He kept an arm around her as they all balanced precariously in the small boat. He never let her go.

She hugged him for the first time that night before going to her room. He smelt like murky lake water and cheap aftershave. But his frame was warm and sturdy and he didn't press her as her parents would have.

He was just there.

She went to sleep with the book beneath her pillow. The drying rose pressed between the pages.

The headaches didn't come back that night.


A/N: This covers the first and second episode of Season 1