Gravity Falls Public Library is a place where books are rare. For some reason the only things there are pictures of a brown haired girl and about seven books. And Mabel loved it.
While Dipper was exploring the new area, Mabel was spinning in circles. She had just found more summer reading. Yes, of course, they were about vampires. She was so happy she didn't realize she ran into someone, until they said, "Ow! Oh, hey Mabel."
Mabel turned at the sound of her name, and saw Soos. So she said, "Oh, hey! Sorry for running into you!"
"Doesn't matter," Soos said, "Just came to get this," he said while pointing at a comic book.
Mabel recognized the book, as she saw all seven books, and said, "Comic books aren't as good as romantic novels about vampires."
"Comic books are so much better," Soos said pointing to a strangely placed poster that said exactly as he said.
So Mabel pulled out a card that said, "Vampires over comics."
In the middle of their strange fight, Dipper came up to them, and said, "Hey guys!"
"Shut up, Dipper!" the sanguine girl and handyman both said.
"Fine. Fine," Dipper said, walking away.
Dipper still had a feeling he couldn't shake off about this place, so he went to wander more.
"Hey!" said a female voice, behind him.
Dipper turned to see a brown haired girl that looked familiar, " Uh...hey?"
The girl's dark brown eyes sparkled as she talked, "You're new to Gravity Falls, right?"
"Uh... how did you know?" Dipper asked, backing up a few steps.
"This isn't a very big town," the girl explained, "I know everyone."
"Oh, yeah," Dipper realized, "I'm staying at the Mystery Shack."
Then the girl got a worried look in her eyes, "Stan isn't here, is he?"
"No," Dipper said, "Why?"
"We don't have the best of history," the short girl said.
"Should probably leave it at that, right?" Dipper guessed.
The girl sighed, and said, "So, did you know I own the library?"
Now it was Dipper's turn to gasp, "B-but how old are you." At least that explains how she was familiar.
"Eleven."
"What! But how do you own a library?" Dipper exclaimed.
"Like I told you, not a big town, so some kids will own places." She explained, as though it was obvious.
"Sure," Dipper said, pulling down his baseball cap, "Why are there only seven books then?" Dipper was getting into his strange adventurer questioning mode.
"As many as I could afford, or ones that were given to the library," the small brunette said, "but some just disappeared."
"Okay, well I'm Dipper," he said, while sticking out his hand. The last thing the girl said stuck in his head.
"Zara," the girl said, shaking Dipper's hand.
"And why all the pictures of you around?" Dipper was dying to know.
"You could call me a daddy's girl," Zara said.
"Zara!" a person shouted from a distance.
"Speak of the devil," Zara mumbled, "Bye!"
"Bye!" Dipper said, turning and screaming when he saw Mabel behind him.
"Ahhh!" Mabel said, copying him, "You are so easy to scare."
Dipper rolled his eyes, and noticed a doll on the ground, "Really, Mabel? You had to bring a doll to the library?"
"I didn't bring any...ohh! A free doll!" she said, noticing the doll, "Grunkle Stan would be so proud!"
"More like he'd take it from you," Dipper said, remembering a time he found something free.
It was after a tour at the Mystery Shack. Dipper was sweeping the floor, it was the day before the gnome incident. As he was sweeping, he found a twenty dollar bill on the floor. After he picked it up, Stan came over and plucked it right out of his hands.
"Hey!" Dipper said.
"Consider it your rent amount," the cheapskate said.
Dipper sighed, thinking back on the memory.
"Ahhh! Look at this creepy doll!" Mabel yelled.
"Ahhh!" Dipper screamed, when he saw the doll Mabel held. It was a regular Barbie sized doll, but it had decaying features and slumped shoulders. "That is creepy!"
"I wonder whose it is," Mabel wondered, while holding the doll upside.
"Probably Zara's," Dipper said, while poking the disturbing toy.
"Zarba?" Mabel asked.
"Zara was that girl I was talking to," Dipper explained, "She owns the library."
"Zarba is a weird name."
"Zara!"
"Gosh, fine!" Mabel said.
"We should return it," Dipper said.
As Mabel was about to say something, Gideon walked in the library. He turned and saw the twins, and made two distinct faces. The one for Mabel was full of love and slight regret. The Dipper made face was full of anger.
"Oh, no," Dipper said, "Here comes trouble."
"Hello Mabel," 'Lil Gideon said, with his puppy face. Then he turned to Dipper, with a face of disgust, "Dipper."
"Gideon."
"So, Mabel," Gideon said, ignoring Dipper, "What are you doing here?"
"Getting books," Mabel said.
Gideon laughed, and said, "You are a hoot and a half!"
"Okay..." Mabel said, being freaked out again.
"Well, I have to go speak to Zara 'bout something," Gideon said, losing eye contact with Mabel, and sneaking a glance at Dipper, "See ya later, buttercup!" he said to Mabel. He just shot Dipper a glare. If glares could kill, that glare would.
"I wonder what he wanted with Zara," Dipper said, while snapping Mabel out of her world.
"I don't know. Hey! Where are my books!" Mabel screamed, noticing her empty arms.
"You probably dropped them somewhere," Dipper said, while rolling his eyes.
"No, I didn't," Mabel stated, with her hands on her hips, "I showed them to Gideon, and we haven't moved."
"True," Dipper said, "Well, then someone must have taken them."
"They took my doll too!"
"Thank goodness," Dipper whispered, under his breath.
Mabel got her will-not-leave-without-something look, and said, "We must go find it."
"Fine," Dipper said, knowing Mabel was determined.
As Dipper walked around the library, he said to himself, "I don't think we'll find this doll or her books. Still, it was pretty weird how the doll just disappeared." Dipper continued to speak to himself for a short period of time before he said, "Maybe something about it is in my book." While still talking nonsense, Dipper leafed through his book.
"What's that?" Gideon asked, as he came from nowhere.
"Uh...nothing!" Dipper said, "Just a weird book."
"Just a weird book..." Gideon said, in a low voice. Than he came back to his happy voice, and said, "Well tell your sister I said howdy, and watch your comically small back, Dipper Pines."
"Okay..." was all Dipper could get, before Gideon walked away.
"Something is wrong with that little freak," Dipper said.
After turning a corner, he saw the creepy doll on the floor. "Mabel I found it!"
"What?" Mabel yelled from the other side of the library.
"I found the doll!" Dipper yelled back.
"You found the mall?" Mabel yelled.
"No, no! The doll!"
"He found a shawl!" Soos yelled, from a random point in the library.
Dipper smacked his forehead, and turned around to see the floor now empty of dolls. "I lost it!"
"You lost the mall!" Mabel said, appearing behind him.
"No, he lost the shawl," Soos said, also coming behind Dipper.
"I lost the doll," Dipper said, explaining to the two childish ones.
"Oh," Mabel and Soos said.
"Wait," Mabel said, "how did you lose a doll?"
Dipper gave Mabel his classic "really" look.
"What?" Mabel asked.
In a different part of town a blue bus rolled in next to a house by the woods. A single passenger came out. It was a girl with black hair, and startling blue eyes. The girl smiled, recognizing the house, the woods, and the town.
"Hello, Corsica," a red haired teenager said, walking out of the house, "Welcome back."
"Good to be back," the raven haired girl said.
The two girls walked into the house because they had a lot of talking to do.
Back at the library, the three Mystery Shack workers were back to looking for the doll. The threesome were scouring the area for any signs of the frightening doll.
"Found it!" Soos yelled.
"You found the doll?" Dipper asked.
"No," Soos said, holding up a moldy hamburger, "I found my hamburger!"
"Ewww..." Mabel said, while Dipper just pretended not to know him.
As Soos bit into the hamburger, Mabel saw the doll's head beside a hole.
"Guys, I found the doll!" Mabel yelled, pointing to the head.
"Wow!" Soos said, "That is freaky!"
"Got you!" Mabel said, grabbing the doll. Then she noticed the hole, "Woah! Guys, come look at this!"
The hole was book sized, but it didn't have a book in it. Instead a small map and a letter were inside. The map was of Gravity Falls, but it had small, red crosses at certain points. The letter seemed old because of its yellow color, and fading letters.
"Give me the letter," Dipper said to Mabel.
"Sure," Mabel said.
"Wouldn't it be weird if spooky music started playing from nowhere?" Soos said. He listened, but silence was all he heard.
After Dipper gave Soos a strange look, he read the letter aloud, "I don't have much time. He is coming, and is getting closer to the books. I am writ ing this in case the books get discovered by him, at least he won't have this information. The girl. She is too close to everyone. She will learn everything. Watch out for the girl. She is close to him."
"That's all it says," Dipper finished.
"Who is that girl?" Mabel said.
"I don't know," Dipper said, rereading the letter.
"Hate to interrupt," Soos said, "but I don't think that doll should be moving."
"What?" Mabel and Dipper said.
"Ahhh!" Soos said, running from the moving doll.
The doll's eyes turned red, almost as though it was on a horror movie. It also began to move toward the twins.
"Ahhh!"
The twins ducked behind a bookshelf, while Soos was still not seen.
"We should come up with a name for it!" Mabel said.
"At a time like this!" Dipper screamed.
"Huh," Mabel pondered, "When you mix half of each word, you get zombie and barbie..."
"Really!" Dipper screamed, looking around the corner.
"I got it!" Mabel yelled.
"Shh!" Dipper said.
"It can be Zarbie!"
"Here it comes!" Dipper said, seeing the zombie doll coming toward them.
"You mean here comes Zarbie!" said Mabel.
"Run!" Dipper screamed, while pulling Mabel around the shelf.
"Maybe it jut wants to be played with!" Mabel said.
"Maybe it just wants to kill us!" Dipper yelled, heading for the door, "There might be something in the book to help us." Dipper pulled out his book and began searching the pages.
"Help! I can't find my hamburger!" Soos's voice came out muffled, as though he was trapped under the ground.
"Soos?" Dipper asked, "Where are you?"
"Under the desk at the front is a secret passage under the library," Soos began explained, "the doll threw me in here, and I lost my hamburger in all these books."
"Books?" Dipper wondered, "Maybe that's what Zara was talking about."
"Don't worry, Soos!" Mabel screamed, "We'll help you find your hamburger!"
Dipper slapped his forehead, and said, "First, we have to defeat that doll!"
"Yeah!" Mabel said, jumping in the air, "Let's defeat Zarbie!"
"Zarbie?" Soos asked.
At a house close to midtown, a single person was operating a remote control. Several different screens showed different areas of the Gravity Falls Public Library. The person hiding in the shadows started to cackle, but then coughed.
"You will go down Pines."
Back at the library, Mabel yelled, "I see it. You owe me five bucks, Dipper!"
"Fine," Dipper said, following Mabel's voice.
"Attack it!" Mabel screamed.
"With what?" Dipper asked, backing up from the doll.
"Your fist!" Mabel said.
Dipper ran up to Zarbie, and punched it, then winced in pain, "It hurts! It's like it's metal!"
"I know what to do!" Mabel said, then she ran away.
"How is that going to help?" Dipper screamed after her.
Dipper screamed and ran away from the deranged doll, as it chased him through the library.
Then Mabel showed up in front of him, and he ran into her and they fell to the ground.
"I got it!" Mabel said, a little too cheerfully for a Zarbie coming at them.
"What did you get?"
"This!" Mabel said, pointing at a picture of Zara.
"What does that matter?' Dipper asked, "There are a lot of pictures of Zara."
"Yeah, but this one," Mabel said turning the picture around, revealing a machete, "has a machete on the back."
Dipper smacked his forehead, and said, "How did you even find that?"
"When you left to talk to Zara," Mabel started explaining, "Soos found it, after he knocked down the picture."
"Well that's convenient."
"Yep."
Well, lets go use it."
Mabel picked the weapon up, and gave a disturbing sounding battle call. To Dipper the call reminded him of the time he heard a frog choke.
Mabel quickly found the Zarbie, and hit it with the machete. Mabel began to celebrate, but found out that the machete didn't even do anything.
"It is made of metal!" Dipper screamed.
"I guess I have to go with plan B than," Mabel said.
"You have a plan B?" Dipper asked, "Isn't it suppose to be me that comes up with the good ideas."
"I don't know?" Mabel said.
After Dipper sighed, Mabel screamed, "Plan B!"
"This isn't going to be good," Dipper said, watching Mabel run up to the Zarbie.
"Hi-yah!" Mabel said, grabbing the zombified barbie doll.
Dipper really didn't expect the next part. Mabel ripped its head off.
"What?" Dipper screamed.
"This is how I killed all my other dolls," Mabel explained, then she looked at the headless body, "Hey its got wire thingies in it."
"Huh?" Dipper said, "Let me see."
When Mabel handed over the doll, Dipper did see that it had wires in it. He examined it further, and saw that it was remote controlled.
"Someone must have been trying to get rid of us," Dipper finally said.
"Weird," Mabel said.
"I found my hamburger!"
Back at the Mystery Shack, Dipper and Mabel were going over the days events, while laughing so loud, Stan had to yell at them.
"And I can't believe the librarian was in the back room the whole time." Mabel said, cracking up.
"And I can't believe that Soos ate that entire moldy hamburger!" Dipper exclaimed, making them both laugh even harder.
"I got to go downstairs to the bathroom," Mabel said, randomly.
"Why can't you use the one up here?" Dipper asked, eyeing Mabel suspiciously.
"I got the toilet plugged with one of my sweaters!" Mabel said, before running out of the door.
Dipper was used to his sister's strange antics, so just went over to the window, to look at the town. As he was staring out the window, he noticed a figure coming toward the Mystery shack. He had to squint to make out the person. Dipper recognized Wendy.
"What is she doing here?" Dipper asked himself, "Better go investigate."
Dipper went to the gift shop, and saw Wendy hiding behind the counter. He went behind her, and tapped her shoulder.
"Ahh!" Wendy screamed, "What are you doing Dipper?"
"The better question is, what are you doing?"
"Shh!" Wendy said, hearing Stan come into the room, "Get down!"
Dipper ducked down next to Wendy, just in time to see Stan walk next to the vending machine. He silently gasped when he saw Stan punch in five numbers, and open the machine. As Stan walked in, he looked both ways, but didn't see two of his workers hiding. He closed the door, and five minutes later, Dipper finally said something.
"What was that?"
Wendy replied quickly, "I don't know, but I saw him go in there a couple days ago, when I forgot my scarf. Then I came to watch him go in every day, and I still don't know what is down there."
"Maybe it's a super, cool basement!" Mabel said, appearing from a different door.
"Ahh!" Dipper and Wendy both screamed.
"Did you not see me?" Mabel asked.
"No!" both of the hiding workers yelled.
"Well it could be a cool basement," Mabel said, "and he doesn't want to share with us."
"I think he's hiding something," Wendy said, "Gravity Falls is a weird town."
Dipper turned to Wendy, and gave her a questioning look, "Yeah, yeah, it is."
"Lets meet tomorrow," Wendy said, "Back here."
"Sure," Dipper said.
"Adventure!" Mabel screamed.
Wendy walked out the door, saying, "See ya tomorrow, kids!"
"Did she just call us kids?" Dipper asked.
At a house close to the woods, a girl was awaken by the sound of her bedroom door opening.
"Cors," a familiar teenager said, "They know,"
"Well," the awakened girl said, "They don't have our secret, now do they?"
A/N: I would to thank everyone who reviewed, alerted, favorites, or viewed the first chapter. The motivation I got from seeing that really helped me finish this chapter early. I will often update every week, though I will try to post faster! Again, thanks.