2

MABEL'S out-of-place Wizard of Invizo reference was merely an effort to keep herself from freaking out, which she was struggling not to do. Laughter was her key to shaking off fear. But this was too INSANELY NIGHTMARISH for that to work.

She turned to Dipper, her eyes still wide. "D-Dipper... please tell me you remember why we're here?" Her voice was small. She had given up on keeping her fear on the inside.

Dipper bit his lip. He knew exactly how his sister felt, and he also knew that she needed to know that everything was and would be okay.

At the same time, he couldn't lie to her.

"I...I don't, Mabel," he admitted painfully. He reached out and pulled her close. They were both shaking. "But- but it'll be alright. We'll... we'll ask for directions! Heck, this... this is probably all easily explainable." Dipper glanced around, desperately searching for something, anything familiar. There was nothing he recognized. The Pines twins were inexplicably lost in a sprawling city they'd never been in before, sitting on a musty blanket in the back of an empty alley.

And, even worse... they were alone.

But at least they had each other.

Mabel nodded rapidly, clinging to his every word. "Yeah... yeah! And whatever's happened, we can be sure that Grunkle Stan is looking for us."

Back home in Gravity Falls, Stan Pines sat on the ugly old recliner, wearing nothing but a tank top and blue-striped boxer shorts. He stared at the TV in blank boredom. It was some stupid program about the manufacturing of cardboard boxes. And even worse, the narrator had the most monotonous British voice in the ENTIRE MULTIVERSE.

"KIDS! I CAN'T FIND THE REMOTE! BECAUSE I DIDN'T LOOK!"

Grunkle Stan waited, then stared up at the ceiling. "AND I REFUSE TO GET UP!"

There was no reply. Grunkle Stan shifted his weight, then stared at the television screen in wild-eyed terror as the volume suddenly turned up to the max for no reason whatsoever.

"KIIIIIIDS!"

"Right!" Dipper looked and sounded perfectly confident, but inside, he knew all too well what terrible things might happen to two twelve-year olds in a city at night, by themselves...

I've fought the undead. I've fought Bill Cipher! I can protect both of us from some city-crawling scumbags.

Mabel hopped to her feet. "YEAH!" Dipper warmed to see that he'd managed to put that familiar braces-studded grin back on her adorable face. "I'VE ALWAYS WANTED TO HAIL A TAXI!" She began to inspect her pockets (there weren't any), then glanced back at her brother. "Ummm... Dipper, do taxi pilots take payment in..." Her eyes followed something as it scuttled behind a dumpster. "...bunnies?"

Dipper winced. "I, uh - I didn't say anything about taxis yet." He stood up. "Let's just ask for directions before we do anything else."

Mabel looked mildly disappointed again, but her cheeriness instantly bounced back. "Okay, let's go do that, then!" She immediately bolted off.

Dipper yelped and ran after her. "No! Mabel, WAIT!"