Projection

The Stan O'War II, heading for California – February 18

"And after they checked up on me and Dipper, Mom took Dipper's temperature and said that he needed to go to the hospital," said Mabel over on the radio. "They didn't believe me when I told them that we had to talk to you first, Grunkle Ford! Well, Mom didn't believe me; Dad's a bit more open-minded. After Dipper got in the hospital, I managed to convince Dad to take me home so that I could try contacting you again on the radio. The power's back on, by the way."

Behind Ford, Maegella turned around and walked towards the small table on the other side of the room. Beside him, Stan took off his beanie and ran a hand through his gray hair; his mouth was set into a hard, straight line.

On Ford's other side, Soos turned to Wendy. "So, Dipper has a glowing birthmark and the power to turn off electricity like one of those clapping light things?" he asked her. "Did you know about this, Wendy?"

Wendy clapped a hand to her forehead. "Birthmarks don't do that, Soos," she muttered. "And Dipper is an amazing kid, but that was a new development according to Mabel!"

She turned to find Maegella seated on the small table, rummaging in her knapsack. Wendy tapped Soos on the shoulder and signaled to him to head towards the table.

"So, your brother and mother are in the hospital, and your Dad is with you," Ford summarized quickly, giving his tense, worried brother a quick look. "Mabel, did anything else happen between the trip to the hospital and before you left the hospital? Did Dipper remember anything from…?"

"He didn't wake up, Grunkle Ford," Mabel said in a quiet voice. "He seems to have fallen asleep, but nothing we do could wake him up. Does he need a princess to kiss him and wake him up?"

Ford leaned back against the chair and rubbed the bridge of his nose. Several things were adding up, and it wasn't good.

Stan took the mic from Ford. "Mabel, we're heading to California in a few hours," he said. "We're bringing someone who might be able to help…"

"Might be able to help?" said a deep voice from the ham radio. "That doesn't sound very reassuring when it's my son's well-being on the line here."

The new voice surprised everyone inside the bridge.

Maegella paused in her search to ask curiously, "Who is that?"

"It's Ben," answered Ford, swiveling in his seat to look at the group of people by the table. "Mabel and Dipper's father: our nephew…"

Stan picked up the mic again. "Hiiiiii, Beeeeen," he said in his best false chipper voice, giving Ford a nervous glance.

"Hi Uncle Stan," replied Ben. "And hi to you too, Uncle Ford."

"Hello, Ben," said Ford when Stan pointed the mic to his face. "Listen, we…"

"Let's cut to the chase, Uncles: I heard everything," said Ben. "And just to let you know: as far as the doctors and Sarah are concerned, Dipper is unconscious and burning up with a fever, and they're now trying to find out what's causing it. Sarah isn't buying the story that Mabel just shared about Dipper and the blackout—along with the other phenomenon that Mabel wrote to us about last summer. She thinks Dipper's condition and the power outage are two separate things and have no connection to each other whatsoever."

"And you?" Stan asked gruffly (he was still holding the mic). "What do you think?"

"I'm surprised you asked, Uncle Stan," Ben replied. "I believed Mabel, of course."

Ford grabbed the mic from Stan's hand just as Stan grinned and slapped a hand on the table. "Good man," he said fondly.

Ford now spoke into the mic. "You're taking this rather well, Ben," he said. He couldn't keep the curiosity out of his voice.

"Uncle Ford, I spent a couple of summers in the Mystery Shack before I got into college," said Ben, chuckling. "I've witnessed a couple of gnome raids in the kitchen and the occasional cow-headed man passing by the forest to know that the weirdness is real, but unlike the kids, Uncle Stan convinced me that those were a figment of my dri—uh—imagination…"

Somewhere in the background, they could just barely hear Mabel say, "Imagination, Dad? You?"

Ford crossed his arms and gave Stan a quizzical look. Stan responded by rolling his eyes.

"Ben was legally an adult at the time," Stan muttered, making sure that the mic in Ford's hand wasn't picking this up. "And Pitt Cola just came out with their new line of wine coolers…"

As though he had followed their discussion, Ben added, "Uncle Stan, you have some explaining to do when you get here."

"Uh, about what?" asked Stan.

"About covering up all the weirdness while I was there. And the Pitt Coolers…thank God they stopped making those."

"Ugh, why did I remember THAT?" Stan grumbled, shuddering. To Ford, Stan whispered, "Remember the cough syrup Ma used to make us take when we were sick? That stuff tasted WAY better than Pitt Coolers."

XXXXX

While the two Stans were talking to their nephew, Soos and Wendy were observing Maegella. From her knapsack, Maegella picked up several objects and placed them on the table: the Spotting Saucer, the orb, and a small blue drawstring bag. She stared at the items on the table, frowning and contemplative.

Wendy attempted to open the line of communication: "Maegella, what's all this for?"

The older woman gave Wendy and Soos a brief glance before looking back at the objects on the table. "I am about to attempt to search for the Sigil on this plane of existence," Maegella replied. She looked at the backs of the two Stans, then retrieved the items from the table and walked towards the door. "We'll need to do this outside."

Soos and Wendy looked at each other and followed her.

"Miss Maegella," Soos said hesitantly during the short trek to the deck, looking to Wendy for support. Wendy nodded at him, and Soos cleared his through to continue: "Dipper needs our help. He needs your help, if this is some magic biz..."

"I understand, Soos, and I will help, but I need to make sure…" muttered Maegella, pausing at the door leading to the deck. Then, more to herself: "Oh, I need to make sure! He didn't—he couldn't have…"

She shook her head and opened the door.

"What?" asked Wendy. "Who's 'he'?"

Maegella walked to the center of the deck and turned to look at Wendy. The older woman looked tense. It seemed like she was contemplating on how much she could share.

Then, Maegella decided to say, "I do not have all the facts, Wendy. I do not want to jump to conclusions, but the timing and events are worrisome. I need to perform this spell and make sure that Dipper's condition and my quest are not one and the same."

Wendy gasped. Soos crossed his fingers.

Maegella then kneeled on the deck and opened the drawstring bag. She picked up a clod of dark earth from inside, crushing it in her hand and crumpling the stuff on the deck, forming a circle. Soos and Wendy moved to stand next to Maegella.

"Why are you sprinkling dirt on the floor?" asked Wendy.

"I suspected earlier that I will need the earth from here to perform a Searching Spell," explained Maegella. "Before we left Gravity Falls, I went outside and dug some earth around the house; I had to use some magic to extract from the frozen ground. Also, I could not use the Spotting Saucer to follow Worgel indefinitely; as you can see, the spell has worn off." She pointed to the Spotting Saucer, which was not glowing as it did the previous night. "He could be anywhere by now."

Once she was satisfied with the earth circle, she brushed the dirt off her hands and picked up the Spotting Saucer, placing it in the middle of the circle. Then she put the orb on top of the Saucer. Maegella stared at this set up, then picked up her staff and stood up.

"I hope this works here," she said. She turned to Soos and Wendy. "I did not think I would need to do this; my original plan was to track stop Worgel from finding the Sigil." She pointed to the setup on the floor. "The orb will show what the Saucer will find, which will be the most powerful source of magic on this world. Unless there is another source of magic on this plane of existence, this should help us find the Sigil. Will you help me divulge what the orb will show?"

Soos nodded; he was now trying to cross all the fingers on his hands. Wendy swallowed and said, "Sure thing."

Maegella nodded back. She closed her eyes, breathed in deeply, and raised her hands. She began to chant:

Elea i'dolen ara templa

Elea i'dolen ara templa

ELEA I'DOLEN ARA TEMPLA

By the third repetition of the spell, Maegella's voice amplified, echoing beyond the deck. She opened her eyes, making Soos and Wendy gasp. It was brief, but it was hard to miss her eyes glowing white.

Maegella then tapped the orb with her staff.

Under the orb, the Spotting Saucer suddenly glowed with a bright blue light. The blue light suddenly expanded from the Saucer and dissipated over the Stan O'War II and out across the ocean.

Soos uncrossed his fingers and turned around. He could see the light passing over the ocean and disappearing over the horizon. "Wow!"

"Soos!" said Wendy. "Check this out!"

Soos turned around and saw what Wendy was seeing. "WOW!"

The now-glowing orb projected a gigantic image, about the same width as the deck. Like a movie being played on high speed, the projection showed the images of the ocean, then a great red suspension bridge, two small islands…

"What is going on here?!"

Soos and Wendy nearly jumped at the sound of Ford's voice. They turned away from the projection of the orb and spotted Stan and Ford near the door. The brothers sported identical looks of shock at the setup on their deck.

Stan started to move towards Maegella; Ford, without looking away from the projection, reached out and grabbed his brother's arm, stopping him.

"Hold it!" Ford whispered loudly. To Soos and Wendy, he asked, "What is she looking for?"

"The Sigil thing, Mr. Ford!" Soos stage-whispered back.

"Wait a second," said Stan, staring at the next round of images. "That looks…kind of familiar…"

Everyone looked back at the projection, which was showing images of a city. Stan got out of Ford's grip and walked to stand next to Maegella.

The projection now slowed down to a stop at a large building with a beige and blue façade. Then, instead of moving forward, the scene moved up until it stopped at a window. The window disappeared; they were able to see inside.

It was a hospital room.

Sitting near the bed was a worried-looking woman with black hair tied back in a ponytail, flipping through a fashion magazine but not really reading it. Her eyes darted between the magazine and at the small, unconscious figure on the bed.

Everyone on the boat gasped.

"Aw, Dipper," Wendy groaned.

"He looks so small lying there without a hat," Soos said sadly.

Stan took off his beanie; like Ford beside him, he ran a hand through his hair. "Aw, kid," he muttered.

Ford stepped forward; he looked down at Maegella. She was staring at Dipper's sleeping form in shock.

"It cannot be," she whispered, shaking her head. "This boy, he has the Sigil on his forehead! How could…how could he? How could he?" she said, wringing her hands.

"'He'?" asked Ford. "Who are you talking about, Maegella?"

"Maester Gelvin," replied Maegella, shaking her head in disbelief. "He was the last person…he took the Sigil and escaped with it. I saw it—I helped him escape thirteen years ago…threw Duroc's accomplices off his trail…"

"Thirteen years ago?" interjected Stan, standing on Maegella's other side. "The kids are thirteen!"

Maegella's eyes grew wider; she looked between Stan and back at the projected image of Dipper.

"How has he survived?" she asked, awestruck. "All this time, he has worn the Sigil on his forehead. A powerful object, and he has not suffered ill effects until recently!"

"I don't get it either," said Stan, scratching his head. "I mean, we all thought it was a weird-lookin' birthmark…"

"Hot Belgian waffles!" Ford suddenly yelled, startling everyone on deck. Ford pointed at Dipper. "Look at his forehead!"

Everyone looked. The "birthmark" on Dipper's forehead was glowing white. Beside him, his mother's head began to droop.

"What's going on?" Wendy called out.

"I—I don't know," Maegella said, perplexed.

In the projection, Sarah Pines suddenly slumped sideways on her seat just as Dipper opened his eyes. But his eyes were glowing, just like his forehead.

And he turned his head and looked straight at them.

XXXXX

Author's note: Regarding Ben, I estimate that he would have been 13 when Ford was lost to the Portal, and 30 years old when he became a father to Dipper and Mabel. He would be 42 years old in 2012. I based this age on fordtato's (fordtato DOT tumblr DOT com) computations and the theory that the twin's parent was the baby in the flashback in "A Tale of Two Stans".