Slowly Dipper crept up to his uncle. As he got closer he could make out the sound of faint breathing. He began to reach out to shake him awake but, before he could, his uncle's body suddenly and unnaturally pulled itself up from the desk. Dipper snapped his hand back.
Stan's glasses were askew, tilted awkwardly on his face. Dipper could see one of his uncle's eyes, they were normal, although tired. The old man blinked wearily, then he reached up and scratched his head aggressively.
"My head-"
Stan stopped. He then looked down, his face shadowed, and fixed his glasses. It was quiet now. Dipper staring at Stan and Stan staring back him.
"Hah! Well. I'm an old kid. Sometimes I just pass out for no reason." He said joyously. A little too loud actually.
There was silence again, awkward in nature, as the two continued to look at one another. Dipper wasn't an idiot. You can't have been an apprentice to Ford for years if you were an idiot. He wasn't sure what was wrong with Stan, but he had an idea.
"Who are you?" He asked in a voice sharp and cutting.
Stan laughed. "Its me kid."
"Oh yea? Is that right huh? Turn to page forty-three then and read it out loud." Dipper said condescendingly.
Page forty-three was a simple cleaning spell used for minor creatures. It was weak in the hands of its caster but, if a negative entity were to read this spell out loud themselves... well. That would be like pointing a gun to your head and pulling the trigger. No creature would willingly read it, not unless they were suicidal.
There was something confused about Stan's smile, he almost seemed to want to ask something. But, instead, the man just shrugged it off. Then he returned his focus to the book, and turned its pages.
"Oh. I see, you want me to read a bunch of gibberish huh? What language is this anyway?"
Dipper didn't answer him. He only waited.
"Geez. Breaking my heart here Kid. Alright."
Stan then began to read each line perfectly.
There was no flash of light, no smoke rising from the flesh, no unholy screaming, nothing. This left Dipper feeling deeply uncomfortable.
"Well, I did it. Not what you were expecting huh."
There was, for just a half-second, something dark on his uncle's expression. So fast, Dipper suspected he imagined it.