A/N So sorry for the delay. I have a lot going on in my life, keeping me from updating. I haven't given up, I just haven't had the time or energy to write with my RL issues, and now I'm going to university so I have even less time. I do have this story outlined in detail and over the holidays I'm going to try and get more written, at least two more chapters (out of an anticipated four or five), during the holiday break. This one's a little short, but I hope you enjoy it anyway!

Chris, thank you for the encouragement. I haven't logged onto the site for months so I didn't see your kind messages. Thank you, it means a lot. Thank you to everyone who has left a review and has been so kind to me. I've been struggling a lot in my personal life, and you guys help keep me going. I'm sorry it's taking me forever to update my stories, but I appreciate your kind words and patience more than any of you can realize.


Previously on "The Clairvoyant's Curse"

Since it's been so long, I thought maybe you guys might want a recap of what's happened so far.

On Halloween night, dressed as Luke and Leia, Dipper and Mabel go to explore a haunted abandoned mansion in their hometown of Piedmont. Stan had asked them to do a quick recon before he and Ford, get there to deal with the haunting tomorrow, having been delayed in their travels. (Weirdmageddon has caused an influx in paranormal activity and now they are travelling the world to deal with it) The haunting is meant to be a minor one, and they have no reason to expect there to be anything too dangerous. Meanwhile the twins are dealing with post-Weirdmageddon anxiety, Dipper's afraid of losing Mabel and Mabel is wracked with guilt because of the part she played in starting Weirdmageddon and is afraid to tell everyone the truth.

They enter through the basement, and while they look around, Mabel thinks she found something and is compelled to reach into a crack in the wall and cuts her palm, which seems to 'awaken' the spirits. When the ghost of a woman appears with 'off the charts' level of strength, they make a run for it but are attacked by another ghost and discover they are trapped in the mansion. They find refuge and Mabel reveals that she feels sorry for the woman ghost, Elizabeth Hartwell, who was a clairvoyant medium and was accused of witchcraft when her daughter died. When Elizabeth finds them she threatens Dipper for breaking into her home and Mabel offers to help her, wrongly believing her to be innocent. Elizabeth knocks Dipper out and reads Mabel's mind, using her guilt over Weirdmageddon to manipulate her into sacrificing herself for Elizabeth. Mabel agrees in an attempt to trick her and Dipper traps Elizabeth in a mirror and they try to escape. Even while trapped, Elizabeth has a hold on Mabel and taunts her within her mind causing Mabel to suffer terrible headaches and nosebleeds. The twins are attacked again and Dipper is given a vision of an older Mabel who has an image of Bill Cipher burned onto her hand, dressed like Elizabeth and accuses him of leaving her to rot inside the mansion. The vision is actually a trap to keep him in place as a chandelier is dropped on him but he's mysteriously saved, possibly by Mabel who is connected to Elizabeth since their deal and seems to have some of Elizabeth's abilities. Dipper finds Mabel bleeding from her nose and eyes and unconscious and they retreat to a room on the second floor.

When Mabel comes to they try to escape through the window. While Dipper tries to remove the boards on the window, Mabel finds photographs that reveal that Elizabeth was a worshiper of Bill and that part of the team who exorcised her in the past were their Great-Grandparents and that their great grandmother was a medium. Learning that Bill Cipher was involved has Dipper freaking out and as they try to escape they discover that while Dipper can leave, Mabel is still supernaturally trapped in the mansion because of her deal with Elizabeth. Elizabeth meanwhile manages to remove the cloth from a mirror in the room and though still trapped in the mirror is able to take control of Mabel like a puppet. Mabel, under Elizabeth's control attacks Dipper and puts her hand on the mirror where Bill's image is burned onto her palm which seals the deal. Elizabeth starts to pull her into the mirror and Mabel has a vision of the past. She learns that Elizabeth was dying and made a deal to live forever and he taught her a spell that would allow her to permanently transfer her soul into another body and that she is meant to be Bill's queen once he takes over.

OK, that's were we are so far. So here's the next chapter!
Enjoy!


Chapter Nine

"Mabel!" Dipper cries, gritting his teeth, fighting the oppressive force holding him down and the pain wracking his body. She's still unresponsive and pliant, Elizabeth's pale hand gripping his sister's wrist and pulling her closer to her, into the mirror.

Her actions are slow, and Dipper hopes it's because Mabel's resisting her somehow, but there's no way to tell. Mabel still seems to be deep in a trance, under Elizabeth's control, and there's nothing he can do but watch helplessly. He can't get to her, he can't get up. Something invisible keeps pushing him down.

"Mabel, if you can hear me, fight her! Fight her, please!"

In a brief flicker of movement, Mabel blinks, turns her head towards him and with her free hand reaches out for him. Her lips move soundlessly, forming the words, Dipper, I'm sorry. But in that same moment, her eyes roll back and she collapses limply into Elizabeth's waiting arms where she is completely submerged into the liquified glass of the mirror.

Whatever force is holding him down is instantly lifted and he scrambles to his feet, ignoring the pain in his arm and chest and rushes towards them. When he reaches the mirror, the glass has turned solid once again and Mabel is out of his reach.

"No!" he screams, pounding on the surface in desperation, "Let her go!" He knows how to trap a ghost in a mirror, but get a living person out? Would that even be possible?

"Too late, boy," Elizabeth smirks, "We made a deal and she belongs to me now. Stay out of my way if you want to survive."

"Let her go, please!" he begs, out of options, "Take me if you have to, take me! Whatever you want, I'll do anything, take me instead, just let her go!"

"You?" she scoffs, "Oh child, such a sweet, foolish thing. Why would I want you? You're useless to me. You've always been useless to me. Besides, you were my master's vessel, I couldn't take you even if I wanted to."

"What's that supposed to mean?" he hisses, "What are you going to do with her?"

Elizabeth grins her wide, sinister smile, "You're a clever boy, I'm sure you could figure it out." Her smile fades and she continues in a low, menacing tone, "Now get out. Leave and never return. There is nothing you can do for your sister now. If you try and stop me, not only will you get yourself killed, but you will only make her suffering far worse than it needs to be."

With that, Elizabeth, adjusts her grip on Mabel and carries her out of view, and all Dipper can see is his own reflection staring back at him.

"No!" he cries, pounding on the glass once again, even though he knows it's futile. "Mabel hold on! I'll find a way to save you!" he calls out, not knowing if she could hear him, and having no idea what to do next.

He closes his eyes and sinks to the floor, spent.

"Come on, think, Dipper, think!" he scolds himself, banging the back of his head against the mirror. He draws a deep breath and immediately he flinches with agony when the pain in his arm and his ribcage flares with a shocking intensity. He doubles over, cradling his arm, tears welling in his eyes and blurring his vision.

Hissing with pain he slowly picks himself up and limps over to the desk, gingerly sitting in the chair. He pulls up the sleeve of his shirt and looks down at his arm, but even after adjusting to the darkness, it's too dark to see properly. Mabel had been the main light source with the glow sticks around her neck and his prop light sabre was across the room near his backpack, turned off and right now he hurts too much to move any further.

He delicately brushes his fingers along his arm, and nearly vomits when he feels a distinct and solid bump under the skin where there shouldn't be one. He breathes through his nose, trying to keep from crying out, forcing himself to stay conscious. The adrenaline from trying to save Mabel has worn off, and the pain is hitting him full force. His arm is broken and its bad, and it hurts to breathe so he probably has either broken or badly bruised ribs as well. He can't do this. He can't save Mabel in this condition, what is he supposed to do now?

Come on, Dipper, keep it together, Mabel's counting on you!

Just thinking about what's happened to Mabel has him gripped with grief. He couldn't stop Elizabeth from taking her, he couldn't save her and if he hadn't been so eager to explore the mansion, she wouldn't be in this mess.

We should've just gone trick-or-treating, he thinks, and wait until tomorrow when Grunkle Ford and Grunkle Stan will be here. Why couldn't I have just waited?

A part of him realizes how silly he's being, and if Mabel hadn't been taken, she probably would point it out to him. They had no reason to think this recon mission would be as dangerous as it has turned out to be, and Dipper had been wanting so badly to be involved in the investigations and missions their Grunkles have been on since Weirdmageddon turned the paranormal world upside-down. They certainly had no reason to think this particular mission would end up being so dangerous and so personal and that Bill had a history with this particular haunting.

Besides, they spent an entire summer neck deep in this kind of thing. After all they had been through together, they weren't exactly novices.

Of course, Weirdmageddon changed everything. Mabel had been missing four days, Bill was going to kill her and he had been directly confronted with the fact that Mabel could have died. They all could have died. Something about being faced with not only his own mortality, but also that of the people he cares about, it has changed him.

That was why he never wanted Mabel to come on this mission, even when he thought it was something as simple and basic as a measly level three haunting. But again, it's silly because when Stan called and told him about the case, he had asked her to come with him. One more Mystery Twin adventure. It was supposed to be quick and easy and they should be out trick-or-treating right now. But then out of nowhere this fear that something terrible could happen to her gripped at him, and he had tried to talk her out of coming.

At the time Dipper tried to rationalize how ridiculous he was being, worrying about Mabel who, for all her silliness, has always been strong and capable and there's no one else he would rather have to watch his back. But now that Mabel is gone, taken by an evil entity who seems to have targeted herfrom the very beginning, maybe he should have listened to his gut.

What am I going to do?

He had been prepared for a lot of things for this excursion, but not for what he actually needs to save Mabel. What he has is useless. He can't go and face Elizabeth without anything to fight her with, and going in without a plan could get them both killed. Besides, for all he knows Elizabeth is going to keep her inside the mirror, how could he even get to her? What he needs is help. Ford would know what to do, but he and Stan aren't supposed to be in Piedmont until tomorrow morning and Mabel might not have that long.

Probably should have left to get help when I had the chance. Dipper thinks, but even if he could go back and do it again, there's still no way he could've left Mabel behind, even though going for help was their best option. He can still hear the broken voice of the apparition of and older Mabel accusing him of leaving her, and he knows that image will haunt him for a long time.

It's not just that, though. Because of him, because he had planned to leave her behind to be Ford's apprentice, when the Rift broke, Mabel was all alone at the epicenter of it all. If he didn't hurt Mabel's feelings so badly that she ran away that night, maybe Weirdmageddon could have been prevented. And even if there was no way they could've stopped Weirdmageddon from happening, the outcome could have been so much different. She might have never been Bill's prisoner, and he wouldn't have had to fend for himself for so long. They could have faced it together from the very beginning and put a stop to Bill so much sooner.

Dipper can't understand why Mabel seems to be carrying such a heavy weight of guilt on her shoulders. He was the reason she ran off, he was the reason she had felt so hurt and betrayed. She took the Rift by accident, she didn't know what it was and it was cracking anyway, it's not her fault it broke. Why could she not see that? The worst part about the whole thing is that Dipper has a strong suspicion that her misplaced guilt is what led Mabel to surrender to Elizabeth in the first place.

I'm not going to let you sacrifice yourself for me, Mabel. I'm going to save you, somehow, but I don't know what to do.

He's low on options. Right now, looking for Elizabeth and Mabel by himself in his state with no means to defend himself or rescue Mabel isn't really an option, at least, it's not a good option. And because of his arm, escaping to get help and weapons isn't an option either. There's no way he can climb down now. And waiting for help to arrive, when Stan and Ford get into town tomorrow, isn't an option because there's no time to wait.

He blinks back tears as the pain in his arm flares once again, with more intensity than before and he realizes that he needs to take care of it before he can do anything else.

With a wince, he fights through the pain and nausea, protectively tucks his arm close to his aching chest and limps to his backpack, rummaging through the contents as Elizabeth's words replay through his head.

"There's nothing you can do for your sister now."

Her words make him grin slightly, because while they were said to intimidate and scare him, quite successfully too, he knows that she has to be lying. The situation seems incredibly hopeless, but it's her threat that she would kill him if he tries to stop her that exposes the lie and ironically gives him a glimmer of hope that Mabel will be OK. Why would she make such threats if there truly is nothing Dipper can do?

He holds on to that hope, because right now, it's all he has.

I don't know what it is yet, but I know there is something that I can do to stop you.

"Hold on, Mabel," he groans, determined as he wracks his brain trying to figure out what he has in his arsenal that might help. He flicks on his lightsaber and holds it over his open backpack and frowns. He's out of holy water and all he has left is some salt, sage, a candle and a mostly used up first aid kit. There's not much he can do against a powerful spirit like Elizabeth with what he has left in supplies, except make her angry, but he should have something in the first aid kit that should hopefully help him deal with his broken arm.

The temperature in the room suddenly drops dramatically and he gasps as he looks around and spots a shimmering black mass in the doorway. His lightsabre flies out of his hand and his backpack lifts from the floor and both go hurtling out the broken window. "No!" he cries, his heart pounding in terror as the figure moves towards him.

Dipper shuffles away from the entity until his back hits a wall, "Get away from me!" he hisses, "please!"

He feels a pressure closing in around his throat as he's lifted from the floor, sliding up the wall helplessly. "Let me go!" he chokes out, his vision wavering as his oxygen supply is cut off.

He hears a low growl of rage as the entity cocks his head, leaning in close. Dipper can feel the anger and the grief radiating from it, twisted and manipulated into something resembling evil.

Suddenly he's flung through the air, landing awkwardly on the floor as he instinctively protects his arm from further injury. Dazed he notices the circle he had drawn around Mabel earlier to protect her and glances up to see the entity slowly and menacingly approach him. As quickly as he can he pulls himself into the circle with one arm and rolls onto his back and watches the dark, featureless ghost try to attack him but the chalk circle is miraculously intact and the ghost can't reach him.

Grinning at that small win, Dipper tries to push himself up but instead, a wave of intense pain wracks his body, making him see stars as the dark world around him seems to shift and waver. He can feel himself slipping into a painless oblivion and he tries to fight it, desperate to stay awake so he can figure out how to save Mabel, but his battered body has other ideas. Despite his best efforts to keep his eyes open, he slumps to the floor in an unconscious heap.


A/N Thanks for reading and thanks for your patience guys. I hope to get at least one more chapter up before school starts up again. Please let me know what you think! I would love to hear any thoughts, theories and predictions you guys might have and it would be great to know who's still following this! Happy holidays!