CHAPTER 8- Yay! I finally updated at a decent time! Comments:
Elizabeth: Can't tell you most of it, but as for why Dipper isn't freaked out, we'll just say that it's because he's seen freakier.
Wii Guy: Yes, only Mabel and Dipper know about the book, though Wendy and Soos have seen it on occasion.
Not the longest chapter, but I feel I will make you want to strangle me at the end, especially if I don't update for a while...hmm...no, I will update (hopefully at a good time) but I'm going to drive you insane for a little.
By the way, I have a newfound love for bandannas. Yeah. I don't even know. And that has nothing to do with this, I'm just distracting you. (:
I don't own Phineas and Ferb or Gravity Falls.
The red head flopped over in bed and pulled the covers up to her chin, knowing that even if she did sleep, she'd have nightmares about the mermaids in the lake.
GENERAL POV
Candace woke up at around nine in the morning. Mabel was already gone from her bed, but Waddles still lounged on said piece of furniture.
Candace stretched and swiveled in bed, meeting the pig's eyes. "You're not mad at me for last night, are you?" she asked, untangling her hair with her fingers.
Waddles rolled his eyes and gave a shrug and an oink. Candace hesitated.
"I mean, I love Mabel already, but she's kind of….wild, you know?"
Waddles snorted so loudly that he fell off the bed. Candace chuckled. "I take it you know."
The pig rolled his eyes again and trotted out of the room.
Candace got dressed and re-bandaged her leg, bringing back fresh waves of fear from the night before. She tightened the gauze and gulped back her fear as she descended the stairs.
"Phineas? Ferb?" she called as she reached the first floor.
Her mother looked up from the newspaper. "Your brothers, Dipper, and Mabel are out in the yard. Something about…a forest wide tree house? They have such great imaginations."
Candace rolled her eyes. Of course they did.
Before she could move, Grunkle Stan walked in, and a split second later the front door flew open and Wendy stepped over the threshold. "Hey, guys," she said, tossing her purse onto the table.
"Wendy, you're five minutes late," Stan said, pointing at the clock.
Wendy sighed. "Sorry, I was talking with my friend Raeann and I lost track of time."
Stan rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Just don't be late again."
The girl looked stunned, but Candace smiled and jutted a thumb at her oblivious mother, and Wendy grinned. "Anyway, Stan, I had a question for you. My dad and brothers are going away tonight for some father-son fishing trip thing, and they don't want me to stay alone in the house. All my other friends are doing things, or I'd ask them, but can I stay here for the night?"
Stan frowned. "I…I suppose, but I only have one really puny room left."
"That's fine," Wendy said with a shrug. "I'll bring my stuff over after my shift."
Candace smiled. "Mabel's going to be excited," she said, thinking, Dipper's going to be really excited.
Wendy grinned at her and walked into the store. Candace suddenly remembered what she had originally come downstairs to do, and she darted out the front door.
Only Mabel was left in the yard, and she was busy pouring over some blueprints that Candace wasn't sure the girl understood, seeing as how she was reading them upside down.
The teen walked over and Mabel glanced up, squinting in the early morning light. "Oh. Hi Candace."
Candace winced slightly at the cold greeting. "Hey, Mabel. Um, your blueprints are upside down."
Mabel looked down at them and flipped them over with a frown. She looked up again. "Well?"
Candace sighed and sat down in the grass. "Mabel, I didn't mean what I said last night. I like you a lot, and I do trust you. Just not as much as some people, because I haven't known you that long."
Mabel glanced down at the blueprints again and sighed. "I know. Sorry. I was just a little embarrassed. I mean, I thought about it, and there is no way you are a mermaid…I mean, there is always the smidgen of possibility, but it's not likely at all."
Candace gave her a small smile and nodded. "Yup, not really likely at all. Sorry to blow your theory, Mabel."
Mabel gave a grin. "It's no problem."
"So where are the boys?" Candace asked, trying to change the topic.
Mabel pointed back behind her. "Scanning the woods to determine which parts they can put things in without getting killed by some crazy creature."
Candace paled a little and shuddered. "Great. Any idea when they'll be back?"
Mabel shook her head. "No, but they only went in a few minutes ago. You should be able to catch them. Why do you need them?"
Candace stood and dusted off her skirt. "I need to tell Phineas and Ferb something that Mom wanted me to tell them."
"I like your mom," Mabel declared, looking back at the blueprints.
Candace waited, but the girl didn't look up again, so she stalked off into the woods, keeping her eyes and ears open for any of the boys.
When a nail hit her on the head, she looked up. Of course, they would be in the air. Why hadn't she thought of that?
"Phineas! You hit me with a nail!"
Phineas removed his safety goggles and looked down at his sister. "Sorry, Candace! I didn't know you were down there!"
"Yeah, well where's Ferb?" she asked.
"Right behind you," Ferb said softly. Nevertheless, Candace practically jumped out of her shoes. "Yeesh, Ferb!"
Ferb smiled and Phineas rappelled down the tree he was in. "Did you want us for something, Candace?" Phineas asked as he unhooked himself from the cable.
Candace nodded and glanced around. "Dipper isn't anywhere, is he?"
Phineas frowned. "No, he's somewhere in front of us. But wh-?" His eyes widened and he cut himself off. "Oh. What is it, Candace?"
The girl leaned over and lowered her voice a little. "I went swimming last night, to explore this rock wall that surrounded this pool I found in the back of the lake. There was no way in except for over the wall or just wading in."
Phineas frowned and looked at Ferb, who shrugged. "Did you go in it?"
Candace nodded. "Yeah. This…this is going to sound crazy, but there were mermaids in it, Phineas. I saw them. I talked to them."
Phineas and Ferb grinned. "That's awesome, Candace!" the red head said.
Candace shook her head quickly. "No, it's not. Phineas, they threatened to kill anyone who was human…I barely got out. Don't you guys go swimming there. I couldn't bear it if something happened to you. Promise me you won't swim there."
Phineas and Ferb looked at their sister in concern. "We promise," Phineas said, "but Candace, are you sure they would kill us?"
Candace nodded emphatically. "Yes. There were…there were bones on the floor of their pool."
Phineas and Ferb both paled. "Ok. Yeah, we're not going there."
Candace stood and nodded. "Good. Please, try and keep Dipper and Mabel away from there too."
Dipper slid to the back of the house, grinning. Candace had seen the mermaids! Of course, she had lied about not liking to swim, but that didn't matter to Dipper, because she had seen them!
The second he had heard Candace say she had seen the mermaids, he had been ready to jump in and ask a million questions. He had thought better of it, and instead had backtracked and gone around the back of the house in order for them not to hear him.
He had to find proof that these creatures existed. Candace hadn't had any trouble with them. Then again, he hadn't stayed until she finished talking.
Dipper paused and glanced back, and then shook his head. Nah. She would have opened with it if the mermaids were evil.
He darted past Mabel, who was still on the ground reading the blueprints, though now she was drawing smiley's on all the curves with a sparkly pen. Dipper didn't know if Phineas and Ferb would like that….
He sprinted up the steps, ignoring Mabel's calls, and he flew up the back stairs to his room, digging around for his book.
He pulled it out from under the pillow, and flipped to the mermaid page. On the back of it, he jotted down everything he remembered Candace saying about the location.
Dipper paused and chewed on his pen slowly, trying to picture the area with his mind. He had a vague idea of where it was, but he wasn't positive. It would take a little searching, but he could probably find it.
Dipper glanced at the clock and sighed. Good. It wasn't even noon yet. They could go explore after lunch, and maybe Dipper could persuade Candace to show them where the mermaids were.
Of course, with his luck, that never happened. Phineas and Ferb refused to leave their work on the forest wide tree house, and Mabel didn't really care what she did, as long as she was having fun doing it.
At one point, after Dipper had asked for the fifth time if they could leave for the lake, he saw Phineas and Ferb look at each other meaningfully.
Dipper frowned. They looked like they weren't planning on letting him leave at all. But why? Maybe they wanted to discover the mermaids first…they were Candace's brothers after all. She would only want to tell them.
Dipper hesitated. He'd only known the Flynn-Fletchers for five days, but they didn't seem like they would act like that. Still, you never knew.
As he brought over a paint brush to Mabel, she looked up at him curiously. "Why do you keep asking to go to the lake?"
Dipper hesitated, and then knelt, his back to Phineas and Ferb. He drew the "3" book out of his vest and flipped open to the last few pages. "I found this secret page about mermaids," Dipper whispered, "and I really want to go find out if they're actually down there."
He snapped the book shut and slid it out of sight before Phineas and Ferb could see it (and before Mabel could get a good look at the page) and smiled in excitement. "I really want to find out if they're real."
Mabel raised an eyebrow and dipped the paint brush into a can of purple paint. Where Phineas and Ferb had gotten all these supplies, neither twin knew. It had seemed to just magically appear.
"Then why don't you just tell them why you want to go down, you dodo?" Mabel pointed out logically, flicking her paint brush at him.
Dipper ducked to avoid the flying paint. "Because, they'll think I'm absolutely insane," he said.
He didn't know why he lied to his sister about why he wasn't telling them, and he felt bad about it. But there was a nagging feeling in the back of his mind that told him he should have stayed for the rest of Candace's conversation, and he didn't want to listen to it.
He had to find out if those mermaids were actually there, and right now Dipper could only think of one way to do it.
He'd have to go that night.
Oh, Dipper. You naïve child. You shouldn't always believe what you read….unless it's in that particular book.
Hee hee hee. Yes, I'm evil. Dr. D will be so happy.
Review please!
