Happy Halloween! Make sure you remember to eat all of your candy, even the loser candy or you know what will happen :)

I hope you guys like this chapter! I think I just like making life worse for Norman or something?

Chapter 10: How to Tell if Your Friend is a Necromancer

"Norman, you're friends are here to see you," his mother said as she walked in the TV room where Norman was eating a bowl of cereal and watching one of the low-budget zombie movies he brought with him.

"What?" Norman responded, suddenly losing interest in the TV.

"Your friends, they're coming up the path now."

The doorbell rang and Norman got up to answer it. He didn't know why he felt so surprised. They had said they would see him tomorrow after all. However, it was still early morning, and he thought that if he saw them at all it would be later in the day. He wondered if they were up to something?

"Norman, are you sure that friend of yours is all there?" his father asked. "I think she's carrying a leaf blower on her back."

Somehow, even something strange like that didn't surprise him if Mabel was involved. "Still trying to figure that one out, dad," Norman answered with a smile and his father grunted in agreement.

Norman opened the door and was greeted by two familiar faces.

"Hey Norm! Up for an adventure?" Dipper asked cheerfully.

"You have a leaf-blower on your back," was the only thing Norman could think to say, because his dad was right, and Mabel really did have a leaf blower strapped to her back.

"Yep!" Mabel said with a grin.

"And why do you have a leaf-blower on your back?" Norman prodded.

Mabel scoffed. "You never know if you're going to need one, duh!"

Norman glanced at Dipper in confusion.

The boy just gave him a sly smile. "You'll see…"

The next thing Norman knew, he and the twins were riding in the golf cart through the forest. Mabel was in the back, Norman was in the passenger seat and Dipper was driving.

"Are you sure we should be here?" Norman asked, glancing around the forest as if expecting to see the banshee waiting for them.

"Don't worry, I left the comb somewhere safe," Dipper assured him. "I wouldn't have brought it with me."

"After I hung up last night did you guys… have any problems?" Norman asked hesitantly. Both the twins were unusually silent. "Guys?" he asked, fear creeping into his voice.

"We… heard some things," Dipper admitted.

"Like scratching sounds outside our window," Mabel elaborated.

"Yeah, and this horrible wail, but Grunkle Stan said he didn't hear it," Dipper continued with a shiver. "She obviously knows where we live, but she couldn't get in. We left the light on all night."

Norman clenched his fists. So his vision had been right after all. The banshee would continue to try and hurt his friends and there was nothing Norman could do about it.

"Maybe we… maybe we should destroy the comb," Norman mumbled quickly, as if the words themselves hurt to say. This went against every instinct he had as a medium. If they did this Norman knew they would be trapping a ghost on the earth forever, but this would also put the twins out of danger, and it might even make it impossible for the banshee to hurt anyone ever again.

"What?" Mabel shouted in surprise. "But you said-"

"I know what I said," Norman snapped, cutting her off. "B-but if this banshee hurts you guys it will be my fault. I'm the one that found the comb. I know it's not the right thing to do, but it's the safest."

Norman felt a hand on his shoulder, and looked over to see Dipper glance at him in concern.

"We're scared too, Norman," Dipper assured him. "We want this to be over just as badly, but the reason we haven't destroyed the comb yet is because of what you said. We knew you were right, and we know that there is more to this mystery than meets the eye. We can't just give up now and take the easy way out just because we're scared. We don't kill mysterious things, we solve them."

There's nothing wrong with being scared, Norman. Just as long as you don't let it change who you are.

Norman swallowed the lump in his throat, and nodded.

"You're right," he admitted.

Had this whole banshee thing only put himself in danger, Norman would have never considered destroying the comb. However, he was scared for the twins. In this town they were his only friends, and the only ones who didn't seem to mind his weirdness, or the strange looks he got from others. He didn't want anything to happen to them, especially not because of him.

But that didn't mean he could throw away everything he stood for, that they stood for, just because he was terrified of losing them.

"Don't worry, Norm," Dipper continued with a grin. "We might be all out of leads in town, and the actual victims aren't able to tell us anything, but we know some… umm… people that might be able to help us."

"People in the forest?" Norman asked.

"Yep! Out of all one-thousand of them at least one of them has to know something," Mabel explained.

Norman looked back at her in confusion.

"You'll see when we get there," Dipper explained. "It might help explain why Mabel and I aren't really weirded out by the banshee."

Norman raised an eyebrow at them. Okay, now he was curious.

When they exited the golf cart they were deep in the underbrush, but the sun still miraculously lit their path. Everything was so fresh and new. It almost looked like a magical forest from a Disney film.

"Now, Norman," Dipper said cautiously. "Just… don't freak out, okay? Gravity Falls has a lot of weird things in it. Mabel and I are used to this stuff and I know you're good with weird stuff too, but this might be a little much."

Norman frowned. He had no idea what Dipper could possibly be talking about. Norman saw ghosts on a daily basis, and had even seen the living dead!

"Whatever it is, I'm sure I can handle it," Norman assured him.

Dipper and Mabel exchanged glances and then grinned as if something was really funny.

"Okay, come this way," Dipper instructed. "You have the leaf blower ready, Mabel, just in case?"

"Ready!" Mabel announced as she unstrapped it from her shoulder.

"Hello?" Dipper called. "Jeff? You there?"

"Oh great!" called a voice from the trees. Norman looked up but didn't see anyone. "It's you two again. Didn't I say you have to get someone else to do your dirty work from now on?"

"Come down, please?" Mabel asked. "We just want to ask you a question."

There was a long silence and then: "Put away that horrid sucking machine and then we can talk."

Mabel glanced at Dipper and Dipper nodded in agreement. Mabel swung the leaf blower over her shoulder with the strap she had attached, leaving her hands free.

"There, now we won't use it unless you give us reason to," Dipper reasoned.

"Very well," the voice in the trees relented. There was a scurrying noise that sounded a bit like a large squirrel climbing down a tree and then Norman watched as a tiny little man emerged from the bushes in front of him. He looked almost exactly like those garden gnomes people would put on their front lawn that Norman always thought looked pretty creepy. He even had the beard and everything.

Norman couldn't speak; he couldn't even believe what his eyes were telling him he was seeing.

"I don't supposed you've come back to take me up on my offer of Queendom, have you cutie?" Jeff, the gnome, asked.

Mabel growled and reached for the leaf blower.

"Easy Mabel." Dipper grabbed her hand just in time. "Just take it easy."

Dipper glared back at the gnome.

"I figured not," the gnome said with a sigh.

"Th-that's a gnome…" Norman said as last, finally finding his voice. "It's a gnome," he repeated again, his voice getting higher.

The gnome looked up at Norman, offended.

"And just who are you?" he asked.

It took Norman's brain way too long to process the fact that the gnome was actually talking to him. Finally, Norman opened his mouth and surprisingly more sound came out.

"N-Norman, I'm Norman."

Jeff's head snapped back to Dipper and Mabel. "Is this some kind of a joke?" he demanded.

Norman was taken aback by how angry the gnome sounded all of a sudden. Dipper, however, looked like he was trying to contain his laughter.

"No, Jeff, it's just a coincidence. Norman's our friend," Dipper explained. "We're here to ask you something since you guys are like the eyes and ears of this forest."

Jeff watched them warily, but with some renewed interest. "What's the question?"

"Do you guys know anything about the banshee that lives in the forest?" Dipper asked. "She's got silver hair and these big white wings."

Jeff scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Of course I know about her! I thought you were actually going to ask about something interesting like the best kind of fungus that grows in this part of the woods."

"Ew," Mabel said, making a face.

"Don't knock it 'till you try it, sweet cheeks," the gnome said to Mabel with a wink.

"Okay, can you not talk to my sister like that?" Dipper snapped protectively, looking both angry and a bit disturbed at the same time.

The gnome just shrugged. "Anyway, what do you want to know about her?"

"How long has she been around?"

"Eh, a century maybe?" Jeff said nonchalantly. "Compared to most things in this forest, she's pretty new. She used to only be active when people would pass by her cave, but just recently she's been hunting people."

"Yeah, we noticed," Dipper agreed. "Do you have any idea why she's suddenly started kidnapping people?"

"Well, yeah, of course, it's because of the Necromancer!"

Norman froze. "Th-the what?" he asked shakily.

"Well," Jeff considered thoughtfully. "We don't really know if it is a Necromancer, but there is something new in town that's been summoning ghosts, or talking to ghosts, or maybe even controlling them! We don't know, but they're doing something to stir up the spectral energy in town! Normally that wouldn't be a big deal. I mean, we're gnomes, we care about the life of the forest; we don't really care about dead things. However, for some reason the increase in spectral energy is influencing the banshee."

"How do you know?" Mabel asked in awe.

"Well, as soon as the spectral energy in town increased, the banshee started kidnapping those men. Is there any more proof you need than that?" Jeff asked. "Some of the boys think the Necromancer, or whatever it is, is somehow in league with the banshee. Maybe it wants to use her to kill people? We don't really care as long as it doesn't come after us!"

Norman could feel his hands shaking with anxiety and the rest of his body start to go numb.

'No, no, no! They can't be talking about me!'

It didn't help that Dipper glanced over at him at the end of Jeff's explanation. Norman felt like he was going to be sick. This was just too much.

"Do you know how to stop the banshee?" Mabel asked hopefully.

Jeff shook his head. "Sorry, nothing corporeal is going to kill that that she-witch. Well, maybe a silver bullet? Or is that only werewolves? Not sure, but good luck finding someone that will sell a gun to a bunch of kids. Ha!"

"Do you have any more information?" Dipper pleaded. "Do you have any idea why she would have a comb?"

"A comb?" Jeff scratched his head. "That's a new one to me, kid. Nope, that's pretty much all I know. Well, except for the fact that she's getting stronger and stronger; soon light isn't going to be able to stop her, and she'll be able to leave the forest at any time."

Dipper and Mabel were silent after that little revelation.

"Welp, if that's all you need me for, I'm out! And really you guys… don't come back. Do I have to put up a keep out sign? Yeesh!"

Jeff disappeared into the brush, and he left an awkward silence behind him.

The twins were just staring at Norman and Norman was attempting to focus on the ground and block them out completely as he tried to calm his racing mind.

'Please, please don't let them assume…' Norman thought frantically to himself.

"Norman..." Dipper said slowly, suspicion clear in his voice.

'Oh no,' Norman closed his eyes tightly. He had to get out of there!

"So!" Norman said loudly, making the twins blink in surprise. "Gnomes, huh?" he asked nervously, avoiding their eyes. "Th-that's… umm… that's not what I expected at all!"

"Yeah, there are a lot of weird creatures like that in that in Gravity Falls," Dipper explained slowly, carefully, as if he was waiting for Norman to suddenly start peeling off his skin and reveal a monster underneath. "That's what we wanted to show you. Umm, Norman? Can we ask you something?"

"Dipper…" Mabel warned gently.

"C-can it wait until we get out of here?" Norman asked with a fake chuckle. "I-It's kinda creepy to be in a forest with a banshee, y-you know?"

"Umm, okay?" Dipper agreed hesitantly.

Mabel spoke up loudly, breaking the tension. "Come on! Let's get out of here before Jeff decides to chase us with a gnome army… again."

They all climbed back into the golf cart, but unlike the trip there, the ride back was unusually silent, and Norman couldn't stop his hands from shaking.

Looks like they have some real questions for Norman now, and Norman just wants to get the heck out of there! Poor kid.