Chapter 5: Fake Psychics


"Bye Grunkle Stan!" Mabel shouted as she and her brother lead their guests out of the house. "We're going to show everyone around town!"

"Wait a minute!" Stan called. He stuck his head out into the hall. "You can't leave! I need all of you to make some new attractions for the Shack! I-I mean, I have an arts and crafts project planned! That's what summer camps do, right?"

Mabel stopped in her tracks, causing her brother to slam into her.

"Ow! Mabel!"

"Arts and crafts?" she asked eagerly, a grin beginning to spread across her face.

Her brother placed his hands on her shoulders. "Mabel, it's just a trap to make us do work," he said as he continued to steer her out the shack door.

"Yes but… arts and crafts…"Mabel whimpered.

Stan sighed. "Fine, whatever, you kids can do it later. Oh, and don't lose them in the woods or something. If they go missing I'm moving to Canada before the police can catch up with me!"

"Will do, Grunkle Stan," Dipper assured him distractedly as he finally managed to drag Mabel out of the shack and away from the lure of art projects.

"What did he mean attractions for the Shack?" Neil asked as the eight of them headed down the dirt road.

"The Mystery Shack is supposed to have all the mysteries of Gravity Falls on display," Dipper explained. "Or at least, that's what he tells the tourists. They're all fake, though, and he usually has Mabel and I make new attractions when business is slow."

"People really fall for that?" Lili asked.

Dipper shrugged. "I don't understand it, but tourists keep coming. It's almost like they want to be tricked."

"If the tourists think the height of entertainment in this town is your uncle's shack then I think my summer is doomed," Coraline said.

"Don't worry, it's more exciting here than you would think," Mabel offered and Wybie didn't miss the way Dipper shot her a glare. "This town might surprise you."

"What do you mean by that?" Raz asked. "Have you guys seen anything unusual in this town recently?"

Dipper's eyebrows shot up at the question. "No…" he answered cautiously. "At least nothing more unusual than our great uncle and the shack." Dipper's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Why do you ask?"

Raz waved the question off with his hand. "Oh, no reason."

Wybie had to admit that Raz's question was a little strange and out of place, but Dipper's reaction had been even weirder.

"That's too bad," Coraline said as she kicked the ground. "I could do with an adventure."

The twins lead them around town, and Mabel seemed to enjoy her role as tour guide. They passed the shops, the police station, the water tower and even the arcade, but no one had any money with them so they didn't stop and play. It didn't take long for them to get through the entire town. The place was pretty small.

Wybie could tell Coraline was not impressed, but he thought the town was pretty cool. He wondered what kind of spiders and slugs he could find here. They weren't that far from his home in Ashland, so maybe he would find some of the same species.

As they passed a laser tag place and a few more shops, a poster in a store window caught Wybie's attention. It looked like some kind of entertainer. Maybe there was something fun to do in this town after all?

"Hey, look at this!" he called everyone over.

"Gideon?" Coraline asked. "Child psychic? Is this for real?"

"Ugh," Mabel groaned. "Gideon." Her dislike for the boy seemed to leave a sour taste in her mouth as she wrinkled her nose. "I hate that guy."

"Don't waste your time on that show guys," Dipper told them. "Gideon is a complete fake. Not to mention a total nutjob. He's basically our worst enemy."

"You don't believe in psychics?" Raz asked.

Dipper shrugged. "Maybe there are real psychics, I don't know, but that guy definitely isn't one of them. Trust us."

"Just like how your uncle's Mystery Shack isn't real?" Coraline asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Well, yeah…" Dipper admitted. "Stan's a conman but-"

"But Grunkle Stan is different," Mabel explained. "Plus, he didn't try and kill us."

Everyone seemed to do a double take at that.

"Wait, kill you?" Lili asked, suddenly interested.

"She doesn't mean that literally!" Dipper rushed. "She just means that Gideon is a pretty nasty guy."

Mabel crossed her arms. "That's putting it lightly."

"Okay well, I'm not wasting my money to see a show by some fake psychic, so that's out," Coraline stated.

"What are we going to do now?" Neil asked.

"Let's go to the lake!" Mabel suggested brightly. "It's still pretty warm and dinner won't be for a few hours. You all brought your swimsuits in your luggage, right?"

"Yeah! That sounds awesome!" Neil agreed. "What do you think, Norman?"

Neil turned to his friend but Norman didn't seem to be paying attention. Instead, he was staring off to his left at nothing.

"Hey, Norman?" Neil tried again patiently.

"H-Huh?" Norman asked, bringing his attention back to the group who were all staring at him curiously.

"Space out there, Cuz?" Coraline asked in a teasing voice.

Norman blushed. "Y-Yeah… s-sorry. What were you guys saying?"

"We wanted to go to the lake after we headed back to the Shack to get our swimsuits. That sound good to you?" Coraline asked.

Norman nodded. "Sure, that sounds like fun."

Wybie glanced at the two eleven-year-olds. "What's wrong?" he asked after noticing the uncomfortable look on Raz's face.

Lili bit her lip and looked over at Raz. Suddenly, Raz snapped out of his thoughts. He looked taken aback to see everyone looking at him, but he smiled widely and gave a lazy shrug of his shoulders. "Oh, nothing's wrong. That's fine with me," he said.

Lili, however, didn't look so confident.

After a short detour back to the Shack to put their swimsuits on under their clothes, the eight kids headed to the lake.

Coraline and Mabel were first in the water, but Dipper and Norman stood on the muddy edge of the lake with the water up to their ankles, just getting used to the water before going in further.

Wybie watched as Neil came up behind Norman, and before the boy got any sort of warning, Neil landed a well-placed splash straight at Norman's face.

"Ha! Got you!" Neil cried triumphantly.

Norman laughed. "Neil!" he shouted and attempted to splash his friend back. Dipper shrunk away from the water fight and watched them carry on in amusement.

"Dipping Sauce, you better get your butt all the way in here before I come out and drag you in myself!" Mabel warned forcefully.

Dipper gave her an exasperated look, but made his way towards his sister with little reluctance. Wybie wondered if Dipper knew from experience that Mabel would make good on her threat.

Wybie dug through the bag he brought and pulled a pair of goggles. He had made them himself and they had a flashlight on the side in addition to a night vision setting and an underwater camera.

When he was ready, Wybie headed into the lake, quickly becoming a member of the and the game of marco polo Coraline was orchestrating. It wasn't until the game was about to begin, did Wybie realize they were two members short.


Yeah, even though this takes place in the middle of the second season Gideon is not in jail. The story will explain why soon.

Also, on my tumblr I had people send me some prompts and I wrote some Mystery Kids drabbles (they take place after this fic, but the spoilers are minimum and pretty vague). So if you are in need of more Mystery Kids in your life you can check that out. I probably won't put the drabbles on this site unless I end up making a full story out of one of them. My tumblr is mysterykidscasefiles, and you don't need to be a member on tumblr to read them.

Don't forget to review!