Haven Days

(July 2020)

12-Questions and Non-Answers

Hardly anything could long remain a secret in Gravity Falls. Ford necessarily called Lorena and Mayellen McGucket to tell them he and Fiddleford would have to quarantine for nearly two weeks. Sheila learned the news from Lorena, Stan heard it from her, Dipper, Mabel, and Wendy got it from a frustrated and complaining Stan, and then Mrs. Sheaffer called Dipper to ask if he knew how Billy had managed to leave the Valley and how serious his quarantine would be.

It didn't need the Mystery Twins to look at the evidence and conclude that something serious was up. Didn't need them, but that's exactly what Dipper, Wendy, and Mabel concluded. "It's not like Grunkle Ford to take risks," Dipper muttered. "It must be that plan to wipe out the submicroscopic rifts. Something went wrong."

But—Ford wouldn't discuss it on the phone. "Rest assured," he said in his calm, professorial voice, "the immediate problem has been resolved. I've calculated and double-checked, and now there is no danger of a collapse of the particles and the opening of a major rift in our dimension. We're safe from that."

"What happened?" Dipper said. "I thought we were going to do this together—"

"Fiddleford and I talked it over," Ford said. "We decided that the more people involved, the greater the risk was of something catastrophic occurring. It was nothing against you, Mason, believe me."

Dipper clenched his teeth. Then he said, "Then why did you let Billy Sheaffer come along?"

"That . . . was inadvertent," Ford said. "He was exposed to the virus, but he, Fiddleford, and I have been injected with Fiddleford's nanites as an emergency precaution. There's every reason to hope that none of us will fall ill."

"You're not telling me everything," Dipper said.

"Gimme that." Dipper jumped in alarm. "Grunkle Stan! How long have you been standing behind me?"

"Long enough. Let me talk to my smart-ass brother, Dipper. Thanks. Hey, Poindexter, what kind of crap have you landed in this time? Huh? Whaddaya mean? Look, which units are you stayin' in? Whaddaya mean, you're all three in isolation? The kid, too? Sheesh. Why ain't you in the hospital building? Yeah, yeah, but you might get sick is what I mean. Huh? Why tell me that now? Come on, tell me, no secrets between the Kings of New Jersey, remember? Don't make me say it . . . ya made me. Pines! Pines! Pines! OK, yeah, I'm ready. Huh? That's not enough! Sixer—hey—Brainiac? Ford?" With a face full of thunder, Stan thumbed the off key and handed Dipper's phone back. "What did he mean?" he demanded.

"Uh—what did he say?" Dipper asked.

"He said 'The crisis will come at midnight.' And then he hung up on me!"

"Midnight?" Dipper asked.

"Tonight?" asked Mabel from the doorway.

"The whole world listens to my phone calls," grumbled Stan. "You, Dipper, Sheila, Ford, the United States Government. No privacy!"

They were sitting around the dining table in the Shack. Soos and Melody were out in the yard, playing some game with their giggling, squealing kids. Wendy had been taking a nap upstairs, but she came downstairs and right away asked, "What's wrong?"

"Nothin'!" Stan said.

"Yes, there is," Wendy said firmly. She sat beside Dipper and took his hand and through their touch telepathy knew all. "What's going to happen at midnight?" she asked.

"Don't know," Stan growled. "Poindexter clammed up on me. And knowin' him, he won't even answer his phone now. Him and McGucket and Billy are holed up in one of the quarantine houses. Something happened this morning—Ford says it ended good, but I don't know what that really means, an' now something else is due at midnight and he just hung up in my ear! Oy! My brother!"

Wendy took her phone out and dialed. After a few seconds, she said, "Billy's not answering. I'll dry Doc McGucket."

The old man picked up at once, and Wendy said, "Hi, Doc. You somewhere private? Yeah, please. I'll wait." She mouthed "Got him" to the others, then after a few seconds, she said, "Cool, listen, I'm gonna put you on speaker here, OK?"

He said something and she punched a key. "There. You hear us all right?"

"Like a banjo in the moonlight," Fiddleford said. He sounded worried.

Dipper leaned in. "Fiddleford, this is Dipper. Listen, what happened this morning?"

"Aw, don't you fret your heads over that," McGucket said quietly. "It worked. Th' portal took lots more power than we calculated, an' we had to cool it down so it wouldn't explodify. Billy, he sensed what was gonna happen an' rode his bike all the way out to th' Institute to fix it. He did, too, jest in time, but he got exposed to th' dingdang virus. I done vaccinated him, and we got it early, so he oughta be OK. Knocked him for kind of a loop, I reckon. He's awake now and talkin' sense—"

Mabel said, "This is me, Mabel. Grunkle Ford told Grunkle Stan that something's going to happen at midnight. That sounds ominous to us. So spill it, McGucket—and remember, it was me and Dipper who rescued your wife that time. You owe us!"

Silence, and then he said, "Aw, I know I do. But this ain't rightly my secret beans to spill, ya know. Let me think." After a few seconds, he said, "Listen here, I know that Dipper can put hisself into the Mindscape. I think he jest might find something in there if he goes in and takes a look-see. I'm sorry, I can't tell you more'n that right now."

"Thanks," Dipper said.

"I better go. Ford thinks I went to m'bedroom fer something or other, and he's right suspicious."

"OK," Stan said. "Thanks for your help."

Fiddleford grunted and hung up.

For a moment Stan, Wendy, and Mabel gazed at Dipper. He sighed. "I hate doing this," he said. "Too much like spying on Grunkle Stanford. But I'll have to do it." He stood up. "Wendy, will you—"

She was already up, too. "Sure, I'll go with you," she said.

"Me, too!" Mabel exclaimed.

"Sorry, Sis," Dipper said. "It's hard enough to do even when I'm alone. I need Wendy to hold my hand and pull me out if I get in too deep. You and Stan wait here, and we'll be back as soon as I try." After a moment, he added, "It might not even work, you know."

The day outside lay hot, the air heavy with humidity. Normally the Valley's summers were mostly dry, but without the thick moisture that had made high summer in Florida so smothering and oppressive—though Dipper had not been to Florida often, once when he was very young and once after he and Wendy had married. To him, this July day felt almost like one of those oppressive Southern afternoons.

He and Wendy walked down the Mystery Trail holding hands and exchanging thoughts.

—You're worried, Dipper.

Yeah, I kind of am. I'm not even sure what to expect. For the past couple of years I haven't been able to find Bill Cipher in the Mindscape. I don't know if this will do any good—maybe just a vision of the weird gray Gravity Falls, with nobody in it.

—Maybe not. Somewhere in the town or Valley, somebody's gotta be sleeping.

That was the thing about the Mindscape. If you entered it consciously, you might also be able to communicate with someone else, if that person were asleep and in an REM state. Heck, this one time he, Mabel, and Soos had even managed to enter Grunkle Stan's mind, when Gideon had bargained with Cipher to retrieve the safe combination from Stan's memories.

Which was not a terrific memory for Dipper.

They reached the bonfire clearing. For some reason, during the day especially it was the one place where Dipper could relax and slip into the altered state of consciousness that put him into the Mindscape, not physically, but at least—appropriately—mentally.

"Trees need trimming," Wendy said as they sat side by side on a log that, very slowly, was sinking into the soil, eaten by insects and fungi.

"Shade feels good," Dipper said. Normally the clearing was a sunny spot, but now the overhanging limbs cast dappled shadow. Dipper grasped Wendy's hand. You don't have to come with me. All you could do would be to watch and shake me awake if I get anxious.

—I wouldn't let you go in alone, Dip.

Love you.

—Yeah, I kind of love you, too.

Here goes.

It was like autosuggestion. Dipper had created his own formula for putting his mind into the right state to slip into the lucid-dreaming sort of awareness that let him tour the Mindscape while still awake and conscious.

He closed his eyes and in his mind repeated the steps. They wouldn't work for Wendy—though, as long as she held his hand, she could hear through his ears and see through his eyes, along for the ride. He felt a sensation of sinking, as if he were on a descending elevator, and then, though his physical eyes were closed, he saw a light-gray blur of light that deepened and expanded until he sat alone on the log. Now the world had become a sketch in black and gray, everything weirdly distorted. He wasn't surprised to look across the clearing and clearly see a pine tree rooted in the air, the soil around it completely transparent.

Wendy?

—Right here with you, man.

Wow. Now he was aware of her in his peripheral vision, the only source of color, his beautiful wife, her shirt turned filmy and transparent, her red hair swirling as if she were underwater, some glorious mermaid with tresses afloat.

—That's flattering and all, but you'd better keep your mind on what you're here to do.

Sorry, sorry, it's just you're so gorgeous.

—You can do something about that later. Hey, there's a Gnome watching us.

I see him.

The Gnome was so blurry that Dipper couldn't recognize him. In his mind, Dipper addressed the small intruder: "Hi, who are you?"

"I think I'm dreaming. I'm Andy. Uh—do I know you?"

Dipper concentrated. "Yes, you and Jeff and about ninety-eight others once tried to marry my sister."

"Oh, Dipper Pines! I remember the leaf-blower."

"Andy, is, uh, anybody else around? Uh, have you seen Bill Cipher in the Mindscape?"

"Ahhh!" Andy must have been startled awake, because he faded away.

—You scared him off, Dipper. Hey, why don't you concentrate on Bill? You might be able to get in touch with him.

It's really hard since he and Billy sort of merged. But I'll try.

Dipper concentrated on Bill's familiar yellow-triangle form, complete with stovepipe hat, bow tie, and cane. The trouble was that he could feel himself slipping away from the Mindscape. Concentration and staying suspended in that trancelike condition didn't exactly complement each other.

But Dipper saw something fading in. More circular than triangular, and very pale. Somehow it looked familiar—

"The Axolotl?" Dipper asked. "Here?"

"I am often everywhere," came a strange, inhuman voice—though the apparition of the Axolotl simply hung there smiling, the lips not moving. "I know already why you have come here, Dipper Pines. Bill Cipher is not here."

"Listen, my sister and I have to know—"

"Yes. What will happen at midnight."

"Uh—yes. What?"

"Judgment," the Axolotl said.

"Look, if Great-Uncle Stanford is in trouble—"

"He will be there," the Axolotl said.

"Then I want to be there, too," Dipper said. "I should have gone with him."

"Hey, lizard guy," Wendy said, "if Dipper goes, I go, too. Where's the meeting?"

"Not a lizard," the Axolotl said serenely. "This form is that of a salamander, an amphibian. It is not my true form, but humans seem to like it. Where is the meeting, Wendy Corduroy Pines? It will be here."

"The Mindscape?" Dipper said.

"Yes and no."

"Come on, amphibian guy!" Wendy said. "Don't give us this philosophical mumbo-jumbo, OK? Do we have to come here to the clearing?"

"You will be there," replied the Axolotl. "And Mabel Pines. And Stanley Pines. Those of you who faced Bill Cipher."

The world of the Mindscape began to shimmer. Dipper realized he was about to wake up. Hurriedly, he asked, "Who is going to be judged?"

The reply came, but he wasn't sure he had understood it.

The word might have been "Humanity."