Did I say I would get this out before a month had passed? Haha... Well... Technically, it hasn't been a month, right? Okay, not funny. Anyone else excited about the new season of Gravity Falls? Comes out August 1st! A week from now, actually.

Honestly, I'm a little apprehensive about including my own supernatural creatures in this story, but c'mon. Gravity Falls has so many opportunities to include urban legends and mythical creatures and I personally am not passing up that opportunity! There will definitely be more new creatures in later chapters, along with the introduction of the main plot, hell yeah. I tried to write this from a general 3rd person POV, but I feel like it's more Dipper-centric, so when I get a minute, I'll probably edit it to make it more obviously Dipper's perspective. Next chapter will probably be Danny's perspective, which I'm much better at, so I'll probably get it out sooner. Probably.

Anyways, enjoy!

Chapter 4

As soon as the majority of the unusual tour was more or less over, Dipper was anxious to get ready for their little excursion, after all, they only had so much time to prepare, before it would get dark and hard to navigate the woods. He tired to get all three of his temporary teammates out of the older boy's line of sight so they could start preparing, but Danny was stubborn. He would hear no complaints or protests as he ushered them all into the attic room, asking them to sit down while he searched through his bag, eventually pulling out a compact first aid kit. All four of the younger kids were confused until he gestured to their injuries. They all had shallow scratches on their legs and/or arms, and though they had smartly shielded their faces with their hands, there was still a scratch or two on most of them, and a lot more on their hands. They were shallow, mostly superficial even though they hurt, but that wasn't stopping Danny. He pulled out some antiseptic, and handed it to Candy, watching her wince as she haphazardly applied it. He soon took it back, not unkindly suggesting maybe he should do it instead, since he had more experience. Dipper blinked, confused. Experience in treating injuries? Was he training to be a doctor or something?

The boy in question knelt down in front of Candy first, focusing on her legs and face, since her long sleeved shirt covered her arms. Her long white tights covered her legs, but they were to thing to block the bird's attacks, leaving them ripped up and a bit bloodstained. Instead of asking her to take off the tights, Danny worked around them, delicately covering the cuts with the cream, making sure to not press too hard. He was concentrating, the tip of his tongue poking out of his mouth, as he checked that all her shallow scratches were covered and then moved on to Grenda, looking for the red lines to cover them with the light creme. Dipper glanced at the small, open first aid kit. Despite it's size, it was chock-full of medical supplies, enough to potentially give somebody stitches. Somebody came prepared. Despite his initial impression of Danny, he was having some misgivings. What kind of paranormal creature carried around a first aid kit? Dipper looked back at Danny.

"Why do you have a first aid kit in your bag?"

The raven-haired boy responded without turning from his task.

"I hitch-hiked here, of course I'd bring something in case I fell or something. I can be pretty clumsy."

Danny was a little steadier on his feet since he'd received martial arts lessons from his all-too-eager mom, but it would be a long time before he walked with grace, completely sure on his feet. He was less clumsy in ghost form, but that might just be because he barely walked in that form. Why would he, when he could fly?

"Really?"

Dipper didn't sound very convinced. Although that would explain the experience thing.

"Yeah, or maybe I'll need it for the next time I get hit by a golf cart on-the-loose."

Danny grinned easily, joking just as he had earlier. Dipper couldn't help but shift his weight, uncomfortable with the fact that Danny was probably still hurting from that, and yet he was making jokes? Mabel, Grenda, and Candy also looked a little uncomfortable, and guilt was evident on Mabel's face. The almost-roadkill boy in question raised his head, noticing the stretching silence. He tried to lighten the mood as he checked that Grenda's scratches were covered and moved on to Mabel.

"Guys, don't worry about that, I'm tougher than I look. My dad drives like a maniac around town, so I've had a couple close calls with speeding vehicles before. Plus the cart only glanced my side, I'll live."

Mabel, who had been looking guilty up until now, was currently looking at the boy with her face scrunched up in confusion and her head tilted. Dipper made eye contact with her, did he say something odd? His twin switched her gaze between her brother and Danny, before shaking her head slightly at Dipper. I'll tell you later. Danny didn't notice, focused on the task at hand. There was a lull where nobody talked except Candy and Grenda, both of whom were muttering to each other and laughing, looking over to where Mabel was almost done getting her cuts covered. A few threads on her sweater had been pulled by the bird attack, but overall she was okay. She did have a few more injuries on her face, because she'd been driving instead of covering it.

Dipper watched Mabel immediately jump off her bed and see what her two friends were talking about as soon as Danny deemed her okay. Danny came over to him last, looking over the scratches on his arms and legs before getting to work. Dipper had previously thought that Candy and Grenda were looking over their shoulders at Mabel, waiting for her to be done, but even now they snuck glances at them, Danny specifically. Knowing his sister, that probably meant that they were going into full on girl-crush mode. He pitied him. The younger boy shook his head, and the movement caught Danny's attention. He glanced at Dipper out of the corner of his eye.

"What?"

"Er, nothing."

Better he figure it out on his own, maybe it would take long enough for him to figure it out and they would move on to another unsuspecting target. The older boy in question still had an eyebrow raised, and Dipper quickly changed the subject.

"So where'd you say you came from?"

"Hmm? Oh, Amity Park, Illinois."

The name sounded vaguely familiar, but the memory was shoved back in favor of disbelief.

"And you hitch-hiked here? All the way to Oregon?"

"Well., I got a taxi to drop me off in town, but I mostly hitch-hiked, yeah."

"Jeez, why didn't you just drive or something?"

"I don't have a license yet." Don't really need one, honestly.

"Who do you live with?"

"I-"

Danny was cut off by a loud thud and a screech, causing everyone else to jump and look at the triangular window. Danny was the only one who didn't freeze at the sight of a large bird-of-prey scratching angrily at the window. He stood up, and started walking to the window. Mabel started to call out a soft warning.

"Danny, don't..."

The bird, which had previously been hurling itself against the weakening window, caught sight of him and took off, propelling itself away. Danny looked back at the others, confused.

"What was that, a hawk? What in the world..."

There was another uneasy silence as they all exchanged bewildered looks, and then Dipper quickly changed the subject, standing up and practically shoving Danny out of the room so the rest of them could talk.

"Well it was nice talking with you but I think I hear Stan calling you from downstairs wonder what he wants you'dbettergocheckbye!"

Danny didn't have time to say anything as he was herded out of the room, and he turned around in time to see a panicked Dipper slam the door shut in his face. That was weird. What, did they have a fear of birds or something? The halfa rolled his eyes and headed back downstairs, intending to set up wherever this place had room.

Back inside the room, Dipper paced, thinking hard, while Mabel and co. searched around the room frantically for batteries and flashlights and one slightly bedazzled grappling hook, among other items. Grenda sat back on her haunches, pausing for a moment, and then broke the tense silence with a question.

"You guys saw that too, right? That bird was probably after us, but when Danny went up to it, it flew away!"

Dipper metaphorically leapt on the question like it was an invitation.

"I said there was something off about him! He's probably in the book somewhere!"

Mabel pulled her head out from where she was searching under the bed, a dust bunny or two sticking to her sweater.

"Dipper, you think everyone is suspicious! Danny is not a supernatural creature! He's more normal than most of the people in this town!"

"Well, how do you explain the birds being repelled from him then? It happened before too, when we first saw him! All the birds flew away right as we reached him!"

Mabel opened her mouth to shoot back a reply, and then paused, uncertainty coloring her tone.

"...He was kinda lying earlier."

"What? When?"

"When he said the cart only grazed him! I only saw a little bit, but I'm pretty sure we hit him mostly head-on."

Dipper's mouth parted slightly, leaving him looking like a fish. Candy and Grenda had similar reactions.

"What? Why didn't you mention this earlier?! He can't have been hit by a golf cart and be walking around twenty minutes later!"

"I know! That's why I was so worried! I didn't think to say anything, I was mostly just glad we didn't have to call the morgue!"

There was a beat of silence, and they all stared at each other. Candy, who looked a little discouraged, offered her input.

"Maybe he is a good supernatural creature, like guardian angel or something."

Dipper's face crinkled in doubt, but Mabel quickly cut in.

"We can talk about this later, right now we need to keep preparing, we have to sneak out before dark!"

Dipper reluctantly nodded, and pulled a mostly empty backpack out from under his bed and started organizing the stuff they had found into it, sans the grappling hook. When they finished, there was a multitude of possibly useful stuff inside, including some bird treats Candy had left at their house on an earlier pet playdate. They shuffled downstairs, hoping to avoid the only slightly concerned responsible person in the building, Danny, and called both Candy's and Grenda's parents to tell them the two were staying the night with Mabel. After getting an affirmative from both, they grabbed makeshift weapons; a shovel, leaf-blower and grappling hook, and baseball bat for Dipper, Mabel, Candy, and Grenda, respectively. Then, all four of them made their way out the Gift Shop entrance and off the porch, heading into the forest.

"What are you guys doing?"

Mabel froze and Dipper mentally groaned. They all turned to see Danny standing on the porch. Didn't the gift shop door have a bell? Was he out here the whole time? The entire group was more or less frozen, remembering their earlier conversation about him possibly being... well, something not human. At the moment, he looked fairly normal. The dark-haired boy furrowed his brow, genuinely curious, and Mabel jabbed Dipper in the side, indicating that he could take this one. He sent his sister a glare and coughed, before stumbling for an excuse.

"Well, uh, we're just going to go try and find a, umm, some..."

He trailed off and Candy cut in, seeing him grasp for a way out.

"I lost my... ring! Yes, my ring in the forest, I need to find it."

Danny nodded as if this made perfect sense, but looked up at the sun slowly beginning to set.

"You guys do know that it's going to get dark soon, right? Why not wait until tomorrow?"

Candy shook her head adamantly, going on in her slightly broken English.

"No, no, if I don't find it, I will be very disheartened. Plus, it glows in the dark. It will be easy to find, very quickly."

The halfa raised an eyebrow, still looking unconvinced.

"Does your gr- grun- uncle let you run around the forest at night? Seems kinda dangerous."

"Stan doesn't even notice- er, he never tells us otherwise."

Danny shrugged. For a moment, Dipper thought they were going to get away with it due to teen apathy, but then-

"I'll tag along then, if that's alright."

The kids exchanged panicked glances.

"No, it's fine, you really don't have to..."

"Eh, I don't have much else to do. Plus, I can help. I've got sharp eyes."

The boy had the familiar stubborn glint in his eyes from earlier as he vaulted over the porch railing and walked over, and Dipper sighed. He turned to Mabel, and quietly spoke.

"Well, I didn't think it was possible, but I've finally found someone more stubborn than you, Mabel. Amazing."

Mabel rolled her eyes at her brother, and then lead the way, pushing through brush and branches. There was tension between all of them as they went deeper into the woods, but apart from the ground underfoot, there was silence, even from Danny, who hadn't called them out on not even bothering to make a show of looking for the ring. The teen seemed oblivious to the glances that were cast back at him, more concentrated on the quickly-darkening forest around them. The forest seemed to make him uneasy. Every so often, Dipper would discreetly check the book, and the map where the Avinean's location was labeled as 'somewhere around here'. As it finally became dark enough to deem it night, the kids passed around and flicked on flashlights. Danny still acted like this was expected, which was almost worse than him freaking out. Maybe he was just really, really oblivious. And blind. Sure.

Dipper was starting to get irritated. Did the book seriously have no better directions than this? Just as he was about to suggest they turn around and search another direction, Danny suddenly stopped, causing the other members of the party to pause as well. He tilted his head, and as Mabel opened her mouth to ask why, he spoke.

"Do you guys hear that?"

They all stopped shuffling and even held their breath, listening to the forest around them. Faintly, there was a loud rustling up ahead. Candy was the first to run forward, and then she paused, shining her light on something up ahead. Everyone hurried their pace to catch up. The three other preteens also froze and their breath seemed to catch in their throats.

In the beam of light, there was a dark, oily-looking raven, writhing around, stuck in, of all things, a dented Pitt Soda can. It's head had fit into the can when it had stuck it in, presumably trying to get the pitt left inside, but it couldn't pull it's head back out. Danny tsked in sympathy and once again, approached the bird when everyone else was immobile. Just like last time, the bird froze when he got close, effectively leaving Danny the only one in the clearing who was moving. He gently picked up the bird, but when he moved to remove the soda can, the bird started flapping one of it's wings in a panic, leaving Danny to quickly remove his hand to keep the bird from panicking itself right out of his hands and onto the hard ground. He looked up to Dipper, who was closest, and gestured with his head for him to come over.

"Here, help me get this can off him, would you?"

Dipper, after trading desperate glances with the others, walked slowly forward and started trying to wiggle the can off it's head, with Danny keeping it firmly in place. After a moment of silence other then the bird's squeaking noises, there was a ruffling sound and the bird's head was free. Danny immediately let go, and the bird took off, causing all of their heads to snap up and follow it.

Surprisingly, it landed on a perch not far away, and trilled at them. Hesitantly, they walked in that direction after exchanging confused looks, and as soon as they got in a five foot range of the tree it was perched on, it took off again, to another farther away but still visible tree. Again, it warbled expectantly at them. Mabel grinned; the bird was helping them!

They followed the bird through the forest for about ten minutes before they came to a clearing, where it looked like a giant mole had popped out of the ground and used the extra dirt to build a cave around the tunnel. They all stopped and stared at the odd cave-tunnel, and Dipper noticed the bird ruffle its feathers like it was shuddering, and then take off. Probably not a good sign.

There was a faint rumbling emanating from the hole, and the by-now-familiar flapping of wings was obvious to those that had been attacked by them before. They all stepped back in alarm, even Danny, who was standing slightly ahead of the rest as if to shield them. There was a fracturing noise, and Dipper pointed his flashlight at the ground, where topsoil was draining into widening cracks in the ground. He yelled in alarm, and quickly latched onto his sister's arm, not willing to get separated. Next to them, Candy and Grenda did the same, and Danny stepped back, waving his arm behind him as a gesture for them to do the same. They managed to carefully take about 5 steps away from the splintering ground before the music started.

It was a haunting song, rising in pitch like a horror movie tune. It started out faint, but it was easy to hear because the forest around them seemed to have gone mute, just like before in the golf cart. The longer they listened, the louder it got, and eventually it was at ear-drum piercing levels. Just as the song reached it's peak, the ground seemed to erupt under their feet, the thin layer of dirt breaking apart all across the clearing. Birds swarmed out like ants from an anthill, or maybe more accurately, bees from a hive. They all immediately took to the air, and they just kept coming, an impossible amount of birds, of all different varieties. In the center of the clearing, in front of the cave, a skeletal figure stood. It was literally thin as a skeleton, decked in all sorts of feathers that were like makeshift clothes from head to toe, excluding the hands, which were gnarled and pale. It was too tall to be human, and this was emphasized by the two patchy dark wings protruding from it's back, limply brushing the ground behind it. It's head was covered in feathers on the back, and a long, birdlike mask on the front, with a long, dark beak where the nose should be. The mouth wasn't easily seen, because the intricately carved wooden flute was seemingly glued to it, with no visible pauses in the constant stream of ear-splitting music. The birds spiraled into the air around it.

With numbers this overwhelming, the birds seemed to have lost all fear of Danny, and rushed the wide-eyed teen like a stampede. The other kids yelled in alarm, but when the steady stream of birds finally passed completely, the spot where the boy had stood was empty except for the flashlight he had been holding. The previously ribbon-like stream of birds condensed back into a swarm, and then a smaller cloud of them split off, hovering in one spot high in the air while the rest of the birds were in constant motion. Dipper squinted, and he could just barely make out a human figure in the moonlight, much higher than it was possible to drop from and land unharmed. Danny was probably terrified. He thought they were wandering out here to find a ring and now he was at risk of becoming a spot on the forest floor. The four kids exchanged varying glances. They had to get that flute away from it.

Kinda weak ending in my opinion, but hey, I tried. As always, I'll come back and refine it later, and spell check. Thanks to those people who reviewed and showed me where some of my spelling errors are, I really appreciate it! Please review and let me know what you thought! See you guys next update!