"Well, this is going to be a fun summer."
While others might brag about visiting foreign places or catching up with relatives when discussing their summer vacations, Pacifica and Gideon could only say that they spent it working at a broken down tourist trap.
Pacifica Southeast stood waiting by the entrance of the Mystery Shack with wavering enthusiasm. Pacifica was sixteen, but she didn't care who saw her wearing clothes you could find at a children's store. Her golden blonde hair fell into a high ponytail, held together with a brightly colored scrunchie. Her skin was always bordering tan, but she could never get her fair skin to darken enough. Pacifica's diamond blue eyes were twinkling with life, and the smile she donned matched it perfectly. A neon pink jacket wrapped around her t-shirt, a shirt which was covered in colorful geometric shapes. A regular pair of blue jeans fell beneath it, and two magenta high-tops protected her feet.
Her companion, Gideon Pines, looked considerably less hopeful about their surroundings. He was sixteen as well, but you'd never guess just by looking at him. He was surprisingly small for his age, and his chubby red cheeks only made look more youthful. He had messy head of snow white hair, due to a genetic mutation, and his skin was just as pale with a only a smatter of freckles to differentiate the two. His eyes were an icy blue, and you could almost always see a tinge of worry behind it. A blue and white hat with a pine tree on it covered his bedhead, and a carrot colored vest covered his plain navy shirt. Gray cargo shorts and a pair of battered sneakers finished off his casual outfit.
"Cheer up, Gideon! I'm sure this place has plenty of charm," Pacifica beamed, but anyone could tell that she wasn't entirely positive.
The house was old and rickety, as if it had been built on stilts. The siding and roofs were were covered in moss, and the paint had been almost entirely chipped away. A huge sign hung in front of the second story, spelling out Mystery Shack.
The weary wooden M in the Mystery Shack sign promptly fell down.
"Right," Gideon muttered, heading up to the front door. "Let's hope the inside's more appealing."
Pacifica stalked up to the door alongside him. "I can't believe you haven't been here before. Uncle Bud's never taken you up here?"
"Nope," Gideon replied flatly. "My dad always said his job wasn't for city folk, but it made good income, so he made us stay in California while he works for most of the year. Looking at this place, I'm starting to see his point."
Pacifica was too busy fighting a battle with the mosquitoes to dwell on that. "Yes, yes, just open the door!"
Gideon slowly opened the ancient porch door, which nearly fell off the hinges at the touch. Suddenly the door was yanked all the way open by a force on the other side.
A portly man with dressed in a moldy suit and eyepatch greeted them, waving his cane at them. "Look, if you want refunds, then you should've paid more attention to the fine print!" he shouted, his cheeks red from anger.
Gideon tapped his cane impatiently. "Dad, it's me. Y'know, your son?"
The man quickly put his cane away and cleared his throat. "My apologies, son. I was just dealing with some difficult customers today. Come in, come in! You too, Atlantica."
"It's Pacifica," she muttered. In Uncle Bud's defense, they had only met a couple of times, and even then it had been just a few minutes. However, he really should have been remember her name from Gideon's letters, if he even read them.
"Welcome to the Mystery Shack, your new home for the next three months!" Uncle Bud gestured at the tourist trap's gift shop, filled to the brim with plastic and painted 'attractions'. "You're staying up in the attic, so I'll help you carry up your things. ROBBIE! GET OFF YOUR LAZY BUTT AND LUG THESE SUITCASES UP TO THE ATTIC!"
A wiry young man reading a magazine by the register gave Uncle Bud a thumbs-up, then proceeded to not a lift a single finger after Uncle Bud left. He was pale, and his forehead was starting to break out with acne, but his dark hair managed to cover up most of it. He wore a green flannel shirt, and torn up jeans, and a pair of hiking boots resting on top of the cash register.
The two of them hauled their luggage up the rickety stairs, careful not to put too much pressure on the creaky steps in fear of them collapsing. Once they finally managed to do so without major injury, they began to unpack in their new room.
Gideon, who had chosen the right bed in the triangularly shaped room, started spreading out his maps on the walls. "Honestly. If it hadn't been for family resemblance, he'd forget that I was his son entirely."
"He does care about you, Gideon. He just...gets caught up on what's less important," Pacifica insisted, plastering her boy band posters up on her side of the room.
He snorted. "If anything, the Mystery Shack is his child, not me." Pacifica shot him a disapproving look. "But, but," he amended quickly, "I'll try to keep that in mind for later, okay?"
She grinned back at him. "I know this seems like a nightmare, but I think this will be a good opportunity for you and your dad to finally connect with each other."
Uncle Bud suddenly slammed the door open, sending a cloud of dust in their direction. "Excuse me, kids, but I'm conducting a survey. Gideon, you're in a freshman in high school, correct?"
"I'm sixteen, Dad. I'm in my junior year," Gideon deadpanned.
"Ah, yes. Of course. How are old are you, Atlantica?"
"It's Pacifica, Uncle Bud. I'm sixteen too, as I'm sure my dad, your brother, told you," Pacifica snapped.
"That's good to know," Uncle Bud replied, ignoring her tone completely. "You're over thirteen, so I think it's legal to have you work the register without being paid, yes?"
"Hoo boy," Gideon sighed.