The children decided the easiest place to start cleaning (not to mention the most beneficial for them) was their room.
They began by sweeping all the dust and dirt that they could into a dustpan before dumping it out the window. This took quite some time, even after they finished beating the rug clean, and after they finished that Mabel worked up the courage to sneak back downstairs for rags and buckets so they could get some serious furniture-dusting and floor-mopping done.
There was no sign of Grunkle Ford when she reached the main hallway; she hoped he'd just gone somewhere to cool off, instead of going to argue with Soledad again. While she could understand why he was so upset about the beast's idea, just yelling at him about it didn't seem like it would help things in the long run. As she gathered the supplies they would need, she began entertaining the notion of making them apology sweaters and encouraging them to just sit down somewhere and talk about their differences...
Mabel was still musing over the possibilities (and trying to guess how much yarn she would need to make a sweater that would fit Soledad) as she went out one of the back doors of the castle and found a well in the (very neglected) garden, containing water that was surprisingly clean-looking, and used it to fill up one of the buckets.
She realized too late the problem of having such a full bucket: namely that she would have to carry it all the way up the stairs again.
Ugh, it'd be nice if there was a dumbwaiter here like at Grunkle Ford's house...if there was one, it'd probably be right around here, where this big stone is.
She tapped a half-hearted fist against the spot on the stairwell-and froze when it made a hollow, echoing noise. And instead of rock, it felt like wood under her knuckles.
Mabel hesitated, and then tentatively knocked on the spot again. The same thing happened.
She set the bucket down, and then reached out to the sides of the stone, tugging experimentally on each one; after a second, it opened up on very creaky hinges, revealing that there was, indeed, a platform and a set of ropes inside!
...No crank, though. That's kinda annoying.
Regardless, Mabel set the bucket on the platform, and after a moment began trying to push it upwards by hand.
It...worked about as well as you might expect.
At last she gave up in frustration, and closed the door...before gathering the rest of the cleaning supplies and heading upstairs to find where the other end was.
Dipper came to meet her when she got to the top of the stairs.
"Mabel, where's the water-?" He stared at her as she began going from side to side and knocking on the largest pieces of stone in the walls. "...Um, Mabel? What-"
"Ssh!" She held up a silencing finger. A second later she knocked on a new section of wall, and let out a frustrated huff when all that she got was another regular "knuckles on rock" noise.
She went across to the other side of the wall, knocking on another piece-and let out a squeal of excitement when the result was hollow woodenness.
Mabel hurriedly grappled with the fake stone, and pulled it free to reveal the other end of the dumbwaiter-and even better, it turned out that there was a smaller 'stone' area next to it that concealed the crank!
"Wait, what the-" Dipper rushed to her side, peering down into the depths of the shaft. Mabel began turning the crank, and soon enough they could see and hear the rumbling of the platform, carrying the bucket. It creaked a little ominously, probably because it hadn't been used in years, but at least it managed to hold.
"It's just like the one in Grunkle Ford's house, but a lot older!" Mabel said excitedly, reaching out and grabbing the bucket once the platform came to a stop.
"Wait, wait wait wait!" Dipper scratched the side of his head; the "an exciting mystery is happening right under my nose" expression was shining in his eyes anew. "Didn't Tate say his dad was the one who invented that?"
"Yeah." Realization slowly settled in, and Mabel stared at the dumbwaiter in equal shock and excitement.
Because what were the odds of the same invention being in two different places and not invented by the same person?
"...We need to figure out a way to get them here. This castle seems to be helping Grunkle Ford's memories already, so it'll probably help McGucket's too. And maybe it'll be easier to get some answers."
Mabel nodded. "Agreed."
"But not right this second," Dipper said hurriedly. "Not when Soledad's in this kind of mood."
She reluctantly conceded the point, and they went back to work.
After about an hour of scrubbing and dusting the last bits of filth from the floor in their room, the twins sat down on the bed to let everything dry so they could lay the rug back down.
Without thinking about it, Mabel said aloud, "This all feels like one of those stories Dad used to tell us."
Dipper's shoulders tightened-but then the corner of his mouth quirked up wistfully. "...Yeah, it kinda does."
Mr. Pines had, in true Scheherezade style, enjoyed getting his children to go to sleep by telling them long, complicated stories with lots of twists and turns and interesting characters with secret backstories that would gradually be unraveled. The stories would often be so long they would have to be told over the course of several weeks, and they'd be kept guessing over what was going to happen next. The children suspected that there were a lot of details he was just making up as he went along, but it was more than worth it for the sheer thrill of the new, exciting tale.
"Of course, if this was one of his stories the animals would probably be able to talk," Dipper pointed out. "Or you'd develop the magical ability to speak to them, because you're a princess in disguise or something, and-" he did as close to an imitation of their father's voice as his own squeaky puberty voice was capable of- "as everyone knows, princesses are always capable of talking to their animal companions as easily as if they were humans!"
Both of them burst into giggles.
When the laughter died away, Mabel let out a small sigh.
"...I wish they were here."
Maybe it was her imagination, but it seemed like Dipper flinched a little, before staring down at his lap.
"...Me too."
He hesitated, looking like he was about to say something else-but then the door opened, and Soledad came striding in.
He still did not look happy; his fur was bristling all over, and the tips of his fangs were showing, and they could see his claws digging into the floor as he walked.
Immediately both of them jumped to their feet.
"We were just taking a break!" Dipper said quickly. "We weren't slacking off!"
Soledad blinked, and looked a little confused for a second. All he said, though, was, "Where's the old jerk?"
Mabel felt a nervous flutter in her stomach. "He's not downstairs?"
Soledad growled. "Ya think I'd be asking about him if he was?"
Both of them shrank back; to their surprise, that seemed to calm him down. His fur settled, and he stepped back, looming over them a little less. "I can't find him anywhere."
And then, as if on cue, they all heard a pained yell which sounded as if it was coming from the forest.