Bill Cipher has come and gone.
Chapter 4: Clue
Mabel was invited over to Gideon's house for another date and while she didn't want to lose him as a friend she didn't like him the way he like her. She paced in her room, bemoaning to herself about the situation she'd gotten into. That feeling of being watched never left her since she'd found the journal. Paranoia about Gideon's questionable psychic abilities certainly didn't help.
It was sunset when she looked out her bedroom window, somehow feeling relaxed after three days of stress. She walked over and flopped down onto her bed. Mabel tried again to picture the boy's face, screwing her eyes shut and wrinkling her brow.
"Wow, Shooting Star, don't give yourself a headache."
Her eyes shot open and she bolted upright. The sky had turned into its black sheet, stars stabbing their way through the darkness, the room felt colder too. "H-hello?" Somehow that voice had seemed so familiar to her, but it was different at the same time, not quite how it should have been. Just like the voice had warned her, Mabel clutched her head, a dull ache riding over her skull. "Ugh."
Somehow she'd managed to fall back asleep.
Gideon arrived on the Shack's front step the next morning, on horseback no less. Grunkle Stan was halving business talks with Mr. Gleeful and she was getting more nervous by the day. "Milady," Gideon bowed at the waist, extending a hand down to her. With his help she scrambled up into the saddle behind him. He smelt like copious amounts of hair product and it made her nauseous.
Once they arrived at the Gleeful house she was whisked away into his bedroom. She tried to enjoy the makeup sessions, the knitting and bedazzling, but something kept nagging at her. Ever since the first time she'd seen Gideon, something possessed her to keep the journal on her person at all times, for safe keeping. Sometimes she'd notice the silver haired boy rummaging through cupboards and cabinets, looking for something in the Shack, and now it was her turn to snoop.
When the ice cream trucks tune came whistling past Gideon jumped up all excitedly. "Mabel would you like to come get ice cream with me?"
"I'd love to Giddy," she tried to sound as sweet as possible. Fortunately she hadn't finished what she was working on and used it as an excuse, giving him a list of complicated direction on what flavor to get her, hopefully buying some extra time.
As soon as his feet disappeared down the hall, Mabel ducked back into his room and began carefully going through everything. Not messing anything up but still seeing everything she could. It wasn't long till she found a journal marked with '2'. She gasped, so lost in thought that she'd not noticed Gideon come back in.
"Mabel? What 'ave you got there."
"I- uh." It was too late to salvage the situation, "I'm sorry Giddy. I wasn't going to read it, I swear! It's just-"
"Give me that!" he snapped, swiping the journal from her hands. He glared at her for a moment, taking in her shocked expression before his own features softened. "I'm sorry, Mabel dear, my temper gets the better of me sometimes."
"I-it's okay." After a moment it became apparent that she needed to defuse tension and what better opportunity to dispel his suspicions as well. "That's a cool looking diery you've got. Is there more than one of them or something?"
"Oh, diery, yes, that's exactly what it is. Yes, there are two of them but one was stolen from me. It's full of all my deepest reflections and I'd really like it back."
"D-did Grunkle Stan steal it? I mean he is kinda a thief by trade…"
"Yes, precisely. Oh, Mabel, you truly know my heart." He took her hand in his own after placing the journal down on his showman's vanity. Mabel laughed nervously in response.