Dipper and Mable had both dragged a chair from the kitchen and had positioned themselves on either side of the kitchen's door. The gift shop's sign had been turned to the "Sorry, we're closed" side on common assent, the twins not even having to discuss it. Protecting the brother's privacy, while still having an excuse to eavesdrop on them, seemed to be the most appropriate thing to do. Now, stationed silently and with stony faces, they listened in to the quiet conversation. Neither of the brothers broke out fully, but Wirt's strained voice and Greg's unnaturally serious tone were enough to convey the stress the two boys were going through.

When the younger brother's voice started to crack, Dipper had to stop Mabel from leaping out of her seat to rescue him. He held her down and whispered sense into her as Greg's voice gradually returned to normal.

They stayed there so long that Stanford actually came up to check on them, in case the stuffed wolf's head had suddenly decided to come back to life and corner them in the kitchen. Dipper got up to stop him before he came too close, and dragged him by the sleeve into the hall for some privacy.

"Could you just give them time to sort themselves out? Please, this is important."

He crossed his arms over his broad chest.

"Dipper, the circle's drawn and everything's ready to start the analysis..."

"Just give them a few minutes, they need to get over this, and decide what they're going to do next."

Sighing, Ford unfolded his arms.

"Fine, but they have to be down there in less than an hour."

"I can't promise anything."

"Well, try to make it so. I've got research to get back to."

He made his way back to the gift shop. Dipper watched him retreat with a murderous glare, yet trying to understand the man. He knew how studies as deep and enthralling as his could affect your relation with other people; he had experienced it himself, being confronted with the choice last year. His sister or studies? He chose to remain with his family in the end, but even if he had made a different decision on that day, he would have still stayed in contact with her, wouldn't he?

He knew that he couldn't compare their relation with Grunkle Stan's and Ford's, theirs being by far way more bumpy than their own. He tried to convince himself that he would have never sunken as low as him, but it kept coming back to the same basic facts. Ford was too similar to him in too many ways, and he was the incarnation of that other choice he had turned down. In consequence, he had turned into a different person, seeing the flaws where before he had only seen a gleaming sheen of brilliance.

He returned to his seat, slightly calmed by his quick mental spiel. Mabel had, as always, read the conflicting emotions on his face as easily as she could knit a pig's sweater.

"Are you all right?" she whispered to him.

He tried a weak smile in her direction.

"I'm fine. I just needed to figure a few things out, but I'm better now."

"If you say so." she replied, unconvinced.

They stayed there quietly until a crashing was heard from the gift shop, followed by a pained howl which sounded suspiciously like : "My money! My precious money !"

They simultaneously leaped up to placate their Grunkle's impending mental breakdown.

The man had been put to bed with a wet towel over his searing hot forehead when the brothers from another timescape made their appearance. Greg was eagerly hugged by a worried Mabel as soon as he set foot into the room, but Wirt was quickly caught up moments later in the wool-covered arms. Even Dipper had been recruited, without even having wanted to in the first place. They finally formed a huge bundle of love and compassion that remained there for several minutes, to the girl's satisfaction.[1]

With Greg on her shoulders (Wirt couldn't believe her strength. Does she do weightlifting?) and arm linked with a squirming Wirt's, Mabel made her way towards the gift shop, after Dipper had explained to her that they needed to go down to see Ford. He himself went back into the kitchen to grab food of some description. When he got there, he found Wendy sitting on the counter. She was obviously waiting for him to come in, and she handed him a few packets of Doritos [2] before leaving without a word. She always seemed to know exactly what had to be done, including when it was best to remain silent. Even if Doritos alone were a bit dry.

Dipper found Mabel waiting alone outside the lift doors. It was perfectly understandable, the hellish device always having been way too small to fit more than a goat and a Fiddleburg at once. She gave him an encouraging smile, one that she rarely used. The wide, silly one suited her better, she claimed. She took half the food off him, although they were as light as a packet of crisp substitutes usually were.

A distant rumble was finally heard, signalling the return of the lift and their ticket to joining the two brothers. Once the code typed back in and the snack machine to one side, Dipper bowed to his sister, and in a rare display of silliness, welcomed her through the dark doorway with a "Ladies first!".

The doors opened on an empty anteroom, but conversation could be heard further on, in the room which housed the vortex last summer. As they got closer, the words got clearer, and started to sound suspiciously like an argument.

"No, you cannot bring your pet into the circle with you."

"But Jason Funderburker is not a pet! He is a very important lucky frog, and family as well!" a younger voice could be heard to say.

"Besides, he will get lonely if he has to stay watching us for the rest of the afternoon."

Dipper strolled in and cleared his throat.

"And haven't you considered the possibility that the frog might have brought back been possessed as well? I mean, I managed to control something as small as a sock puppet, so why not a frog?"

A thought-filled silence ensued, the only sound being the one of Dipper's overwhelming smugness.

"Fine, I know when I'm beaten. Can I have one of those dehydrated food packs you've got over there?"

Mabel joyfully started distributing the aforementioned. In the process, she also decided that Wirt was "too thin to be healthy" and stuffed half a packet down his neck before he had time to protest. Mouths full of crisps and mood somewhat lightened, everybody took their rightful places before starting the ceremony.

"Right, everyone ready? Mabel, have you read through the instructions?"

She saluted with a grin. "Aye aye, captain!"

"Good. Dipper?"

A sigh was heard from the opposite side of the circle. "Yes, Sir."

Ford ignored the blatant sarcasm in Dipper's voice, and started the incantation instead. Wirt looked uneasily from his cross-legged position on the floor as the three paranormal investigators put their hands to the huge chalk array drawn on the concrete ground [3]. His brother, on the other hand, was entertaining himself by bouncing his frog up and down in his lap like some sort of slimy teddy bear. The words pouring from the three people's lips were eerie, the fact that they were in complete and utter sync adding to the disturbing atmosphere. The language was strange as well, like what ghosts would speak in a horror movie:

Éip reul rap éloof rêt es eud é euil es eud inab éyaws émaj a inlam irpse é onméd. Inmeuch eurtov ésap é lituf ksam ov énodanba inlam irpse é onméd. Ép an rup ma él ésél é euy on a oov élévér inlam irpse é onméd. [4]

Immediately after they had finished their last nonsensical sentence, the circle illuminated. It surprised Wirt badly and he jumped up to his feet, eyes roving for an escape route through the rays encircling them.

"It's alright! Calm down, it's just the circle activating."

Wirt didn't feel any better. The blue glow was really freaking him out. He'd had enough unexplained phenomenons to last him a lifetime in the Unknown. Even though this was supposedly "controlled" and he knew it was going to be performed beforehand, he hadn't quite anticipated the stress that it would cause him now. Knowing that his little brother was objected to it as well made him all the more uneasy.

He was finally coaxed back down into a sitting position by Mabel, who promised him that this scary part of the spell would only last for two hours. Two hours? He had thought at first, but in foresight, it might be better than being haunted by a demon for the rest of eternity. So instead, he just quietened down and joined in conversation with the ones on the other side of the blue light, trying, all the while, to keep his need to bolt at bay.