"You may as well come out now. You can't hide from me..."

Pacifica and Stanton both stayed as quiet as they possibly could. The creature had seemed to pick up their scent and knew they were close, but hadn't been able to pick up their exact location. The moment he walked out of the kitchen however he'd spot there. There was nowhere beside the couch to hide behind. And if they made a run for the doors or the stairs now he's easily spot or hear them.

Stanton wondered just what this thing was, and what had attracted it here. His father hadn't mentioned anything that might bring something after them, and he always mentioned what he was working on to him so he could add it in his journal. He always remembered that he said something about two others. It was just him and Pacifica here. His dad and Renee weren't going to be home until later. So who else could he have been talking about?

"He means me..." Arcana said. "I'm afraid this creature is some kind of species that devours souls. He appears to have followed the scent of my presence back to you."

Well, that was unfortunate. And something he probably could have been told about a while ago. He grabbed the desk and began sliding his out of his pocket, but then Pacifica spoke. "Stanton, I'm going for the door," she whispered. "When that thing goes after me, you run upstairs and take the fire escape in your room down."

Stanton looked at her confused. "You can't outrun that thing."

She smirked. "You think just because I'm in heels I can't lose this freak. Trust me, I'll be fine." Stanton didn't believe it for a second. No matter how confident she was, if that thing caught up to her she was done for. He needed it to focus on him. He could trick it with The Fool or the Magician. He just needed Pacifica to get clear and get it to follow him.

"It will follow me the first chance it gets. You two are just in the way."

That... was actually something that worked out in his favor. "Okay," Stanton said nodding towards Pacifica. If it was going to follow him to get to Arcana, then it didn't matter if it spotted her first.

Pacifica nodded and then took a deep breath and took a moment before speeding towards the door. The creature's head shot up towards her, and he began moving. But, just as Arcana said, he soon turned his attention towards Stanton who was making his way towards the stairs. "There you are! You can't escape from me!" it yelled, smiling as it slid to a stop and then sped after Stanton.

Stanton had always been pretty quick on his feet, so he figured he could at least make it up the stairs before this thing caught up to him. But it was far faster than he'd given it credit for. It swung one of it's claws at him, and Stanton grunted as he felt it slash into the back of his leg. He stumbled and fell onto the ground as the creature opened it's jaw and got ready to bite down on him.

"Get away from him!"

Stanton just barely had time to look up before he saw the glass vase in their living room smash against the side of the creature's head. It grunted and growled, turning its head towards the blonde who had thrown it just in time to get an eyeful of mace. "GAH!" It stumbled back, and Pacifica ran over and grabbed Stanton's arm.

"C'mon! Get up! We have to-"

They heard a roar, and the creature lunged back towards them. Pacifica moved in front of him, but was knocked aside with one swing of its tail. Stanton watched as she was knocked into the wall across the room and fell to the ground with a thud. "Irritating little wench," he said before turning back to Stanton. "Now back to-"

"The Magician!"

Stanton suddenly vanished from right in front of him. The creature grew wide eyed. "What the hell?!" Stanton reappeared next to Pacifica and put a hand on her arm before vanishing once more, taking her along with him. "Damn it! Where did they go?!" he growled angrily.

Stanton huffed as he leaned against the wall of the shed and tried to catch his breath. Using The Magician always made him a little dizzy. It was just the shock of suddenly being from one place to another. But this time it seemed to make him feel tired too. Like it took something out of him.

"Hmm... it appears using The Magician with another person causes some physical after effects. Perhaps the bond with the Magician needs to be strengthened further before you attempt to bring others along with you."

Stanton made a mental note of that little theory, but focused on the blonde in front of him. Pacifica was out cold, and had a cut on her forehead. It looked like it was bleeding pretty badly too. He looked around the shed, seeing if there was anything he could use inside, but then just ripped off a piece of his shirt. He pressed it against the cut.

"Okay, think..." he muttered. That thing was using smell to track them, and it was going to realize they weren't in the house soon enough. He had about three, maybe four minutes before it picked up their scent and followed them here. He had to find a way to either keep them hidden, trap that thing, or lose it.

Teleporting around wasn't an option. He couldn't keep doing that. Trapping it... maybe. If he could get to his room he had a few charms that might do the trick. But he didn't want to risk leaving Pacifica behind. Not in this condition. He wasn't about to bring her back into the house either. Not while it was still lurking around.

There had to be a way out of this. He just needed to think. He tried to get up, but then winced. He had forgotten about his leg. That was just one more thing he needed to worry about. "Okay, okay..." he mumbled. He had it. He would teleport Pacifica away, then come right back. Then he'd just use The Magician and The Fool to keep it stalled until it either gave up or his father came home. He was sure he could handle this thing, whatever it was.

"Stanton. If you teleport with Pacifica again in your current condition, it's unlikely you'll be in any shape to carry out such a plan."

"It's the best I can think of," Stanton said as he grabbed the deck once more. It was the only way to make sure she wasn't at any risk. Just as he was about to put his plan into action though, the desk suddenly began to glow. He stopped and looked down at it. "What?"

"Well, how fortunate. You may not have to go through with this half baked plan after all." Stanton had really wished this could have happened earlier, but at least it seemed like he had more options now. "You've still yet to use The High Priestess, and now you also have the power of The Empress at your disposal. With this you can-" The deck suddenly began glowing even brighter than it had before. "What's this? How interesting?"

Stanton looked over the deck once more, and nodded. Okay, he was pretty sure he could pull something off. He just needed to know what he was working with. He really hoped this deck gave him what he needed.

The creature growled as he made his way back out into the backyard. He'd picked up their scent once more, and this time he didn't intend to let them get away. Neither one of them would be able to move very fast with their injuries. So it was just a matter of tracking them down and finishing the job.

He still couldn't believe the kid had managed to give him the slip. The spirit must have been inhabiting the kid's body or something, giving him power. Well, that just meant two meals for the price of one. "Where are you, you little..." He sniffed around and then looked towards the shed when he heard a noise.

Stanton came rushing out of the shed and making a run for the back gate. "I've got you now!" he shouted rushing after him. He seemed to have either gotten over or just been ignoring the pain in his leg, but it didn't matter. He easily caught up to the boy and swiped at him again. Instead of slashing right through him though, Stanton just seemed to vanish into thin air. "What in the-?!"

"Hey."

He turned around and saw Stanton standing back in the middle of the yard. "How did you-?! Uh! It doesn't matter! No matter how many tricks you have up your sleeves you don't escape me!" he yelled, rushing after him.

"First lure him out with The Fool," Stanton thought, pulling out another card. "And then..."

The creature jumped towards him, clawed and teeth bared. He got ready to pounce on Stanton, but then held the card up. "The Emperor!" The card glowed brightly, and just as the creature was about to pounce on him, a large force field grew around him. It's claws bounced right off, and it's teeth shattered against the barrier. "Then knock him back with the Emperor!"

"GAHHHH!"

The creature stumbled back in pain as Stanton raised his hand and activated the next card. "Then finish him off with-" "The High Priestess!" The card once again grew brightly, and suddenly a blew flame grew around Stanton's hand. He took aim, and it shot out at the creature before completely engulfing him.

"What-?! No! You damn brat!" it shouted trying to shake the flames off. "I'm not about to be, AH!"

Stanton turned up the heat, and the creature quickly turned and began to flee, shouting and cursing as the flames continued to grow all over its body. Stanton watched as it ran off, and then let out a sigh. He turned back towards the shed and quickly made his way back to Pacifica. He then held his hand up. "The Empress..." One again, the deck glowed as a small vine seemed to sprout from his sleeve and make its way down to his hand. Once it reached the back of his hand, a small rosebud sprouted, and then bloomed.

He placed his hand on Pacifica's forehead, and then watched as the cut she had slowly started to heal itself. The Empress had given him some kind of healing ability, which he found out when it fixed the cut on his leg. The Emperor had given him a sort of shield, which he guessed made sense. It was his dad's card, and he was also looking out for him and protecting him. But the one that had let him piece his plan together was The High Priestess. He guessed it's flames were because of Maggie's powers. That's the only link he could see.

He looked down at the three cards he'd use just now. The Empress had a picture of Pacifica sitting on a throne and wearing a crown and holding a rose, while the Emperor had one of his fathers doing the same, only with a shield. They were numbered 3 and 4 respectively. One Pacifica's cut was healed, he slumped up against the wall and let out an extenuated sigh. He felt tired. Really tired. Was it just the stress of it all, or some kind of aftereffect of the cards?

"The second one," Arcana answered. "The cards require both a slight magical and physical exertion from the user. Your magic is fine, but physically you're... less than impressive. It may be wise to limit the number of card uses for now until you're able to better handle the side effects."

"You could have told me that before..." Stanton said.

"It wasn't relevant before now..."

Meanwhile, far away from Stanton, the creature had finally managed to put out the flames over its body and growled in anger. The boy had pulled a fast one on him. Made him drop his guard and then tried to turn the tables on him. Well he should have finished the job. If he thought this was over he was going to be sorely disappointed. He'd go back when he dropped his guard and slay him. And the women. And everyone else in that damned house to boot.

"Meow..."

The creature looked down curiously and spotted a cat nearby, staring up at him. He grunted. It certainly wasn't the meal he was looking for, but it would hold him over until he went back.

Pacifica groaned as he slowly opened her eyes. She then gasped and quickly sat up. "Stanton, I..." She looked around and then realized she was on the couch in the living room. "Wait? What? What happened?" she asked, confused. The last thing she remembered was... some creature. It was after her and Stanton. And then...

"You're awake." She looked down and then saw Stanton sitting in front of the couch.

She blinked. "Stanton? What happened?" she asked, confused.

"You fell asleep during the movie," Stanton said, eating a handful of popcorn.

"I... I fell asleep?" she asked. "But... What about the monster? That thing that was in the house?"

Stanton hummed. "Must have just been a bad dream." He hoped she couldn't tell he was lying. He'd never been good at it. At least not towards his dad anyway. But he figured this was simple enough that it would work. The creature hadn't done any serious damage to the house, and he'd healed both their injuries up fine.

She rubbed her head. "A dream... huh..." It had felt so real though. And she remembered it so clearly. "Wow. I guess the day must have taken more out of me than I thought," she muttered. "Sorry for dozing off on you. I guess bad movie night was a bit of a bust."

"I liked it," Stanton said. "We should do it again. Maybe when you're not so sleepy."

Pacifica looked surprised, but smiled. "Really?"

"Yeah. You can pick the movie next time," he said, passing her the bowl of popcorn. "Also, I had a good time today. Maybe every now and then we can do it again."

The blonde's smile grew wider at hearing his words. It might have been a small start, but at least she was getting somewhere. "That sounds fine by me Stanton," she said happily. Just then, Antigone made her way over the back of the couch and towards Stanton. She jumped into the boy's lap and curled up. "Hey, where have you been all night little lady?" Pacifica asked.

Stanton frowned down at the cat. She had seemed to go conveniently missing when the creature arrived. Had she sensed it coming. Suddenly Antigone began wheezing slightly, and then coughed up a ball of black fur. Pacifica gagged. "Uh! That's disgusting! Bad girl! She must have caught a rat or something..." she muttered.

The boy looked down at the... very familiar looking pitch black fur. It couldn't have been...? No, he was overthinking this. It really must have just been some rat or mouse.

Dipper yawned as he flipped through the pages of his journal. He was sure he could peg just what type of ghosts was haunting this place. It had to be something low level, but it was keeping itself hidden pretty well. He just hoped it slipped up soon, otherwise he was going to be in for another late night. Not that he wasn't used to that already. It was rare he wasn't the last one home. The upside was that he usually got to get some extra shut eye in the morning. Most paranormal creatures he dealt with tended to move at night.

He skimmed through the page and got ready to turn to the next, but then his phone began ringing. He grabbed it and answered. It was probably Pacifica calling to tell him how things went with Stanton. "You've reached Dipper Pines, paranormal investigator, how can I help you?" he answered with a smirk. It still felt good saying that after all these years.

"Hey Mason. It's been a while." Dipper's eyes widened, and he nearly dropped his phone. That voice. It couldn't be. Not after all these years. "You're quiet, what's wrong?"

Dipper shook his head and then frowned. "Sarah? Is that you?"

"You seriously don't recognize my voice?"

He grit his teeth. "Well, it's been almost eleven years since I've last seen or heard from you, so you'll forgive me if I'm having a little trouble remembering," he said angrily. "What's this about? Why did you call?"

"You don't sound happy to hear from me..."

"I wonder why..." She had always been so oblivious with things like this. Dipper never said it to him, but Stanton had taken a lot after his mother when it came to social interaction. Only she had never seemed to have anybody to help her out before him. And with the way things played out, he couldn't say he did all that great a job himself

"I was just calling to check up on Stanton."

Dipper gripped his phone tightly. "Are you kidding me?! Eleven years and you're just now calling to see if anything is up with our son?!"

"Well, some things just happened recently and I wanted to make sure-"

"You had your chance to make sure! You had plenty of chances!" Dipper snapped. "I'm not in the mood to play whatever game you're up to! Tell me where you are right now and-"

"I'm in Townsville."

Dipper looked shocked. "What?"

"I said I'm in Townsville. I've been here for a while actually. Like I said, I wanted to check up on Stanton. I only got to see him once though. I've been pretty busy with other stuff. That's why I called you. But you seem like you're in a mood right now, so I'll just check up on him myself when I get free time."

Dipper stood up. "What?! No! Sarah, you tell me where you are right now! I mean tell! Where are you?! Where is-?!" She hung up, and Dipper grit his teeth and slammed his fist on his desk. "God damn it!"

He got up and headed for the door. He would have to deal with this later. Right now he needed to start working on how he was going to track her down. She had gotten away from him eleven years ago, and taken something important from him. Now that he knew she was so close, he wasn't about to let her slip away again.