Chapter 12

Holy Crud. This has definitely been the hardest chapter I have had to write and definitely the longest. At first I rewrote the chapter then I struggled finding the best way to end it, and more chaos like that. I've just been dealing with multiple internals as well so things have been slow on the writing end. Anyway to the story.

We pushed onwards into the forest heading in the direction mapped in my head. Going off the slightest weirdly shaped tree to give me an idea in which way it was. Before I knew it I was standing at the edge of the circle being just able to see the pit, through the ferns surrounding it.

"Here we are." Pointing out the ring around the whole for Ford to see. Ford, however, didn't give me a second glance as he took a knee examining the circular shape surrounding it. He took a few moments to examine the anomaly before glancing up searching the trees for something. "What you looking at?" Squatting down behind him to try and see what he was looking at.

"I'm looking…" pausing as he squinted to the tree tops "For whatever is making this perfect circle, but I can't see anything." Frowning at the mention of that.

"So that means that there is nothing casting a projection down causing the perfect shape, right?"

"You got it. That means whatever is causing this is mystical or supernatural in some way." Getting to his feet and walking into the circle to get a closer examination of the pit. "Dipper look her" I walked u next to him and took a closer look at what he was pointing at. "See these smooth cuts in the ground?" I nodded not exactly sure where this was going "These are not natural in the geographic formation of the ground. By looking at the cuts in the soil, it has a slight curvature in shape."

"So…" Rolling my hands to emphasis him getting to the point.

"It shows signs that someone used a shovel to dig this. It means that someone purposely came here with the intention of digging something out. Recently as well."

"Wait, you mean this was done in the last week or so."

"Not even two days' tops. There are no signs of erosion, not even in the slightest meaning that it whoever was here, was here recently. But what really worries me is the use of magic or whatever this circle is made of. All we know is that the person wasn't experienced in the supernatural so that the object here was the source of it."

"You're convinced this was an excavation of some kind don't you?"

"Well, all the signs point there. No one digs a hole for no reason. That's not what we should be focused on right now. What we should be focused upon is how do we get whatever was here back. It must have a stupendous amount of magical residue to leave a lasting affect like this."

Today just happened to be full of surprises. First finding this magical spot and hen Ford unable to even pick up anything about it, besides that it was dangerous. "So where on from here them?"

"Well seeing as there is no signs of the person getting whatever it was out of here, we have nothing. Nil. Zilch. Nada."

"Wait, you're saying we just forget about this?" Getting a bit annoyed by the work we had done analysing the scene only for it all to be shut down.

"On the contrary. Keep searching but we have no leads. Nothing to go off. We just have to wait until something happens changing the situation for us."

I lowered my head in disappointment. The first real taste of the supernatural this summer for it to be shut down by lack of leads of all things. Ford noticed my disappointment and put a supporting arm on me. "Don't worry kid, you did all you could. If anyone should be disappointed it should be me. I've spent the last couple of years here and you've found more stuff in three days than I did in a month." Offering a reassuring smile "Head back to the shack, I'll be with you soon."

"Sure thing." Still unable to get my mood back up as I turned around and shuffled away into the forest. When am I going to get answers to anything? Already things are sparking up and I am barely doing anything. Feeling my chest grow hard as the same thoughts of doubt echoed through my mind, repeating again and again. At least Wendy might be done soon. The thought of Wendy instantly made the tightness easy slightly as I imagined her beside me, her calm, humorous self. I concentrated on her so much it almost felt like she was walking beside me.

By the time I reached the shack all the slivers of guilt were gone, revitalising the energy inside me. Making my way inside I made a small detour by the kitchen where I grabbed an apple crunching into it to fill the empty stomach I didn't realise I had for the last hour. Tossing the core into the bin I wandered back into the gift shop I stuck to the back of the room, watching the chaos as Wendy struggled with the few remaining stragglers.

"Come on people! We're closing the store now; I have to request that you leave the store now!" Pointing her finger at the main door as anger grew in her voice as people slowly shuffled towards the door.

"Been a while since I've seen you angry." I called from the back of the room. The expression on Wendy's face instantly changed to one of relief seeing me walk towards her.

"You wouldn't believe the amount of people I had to deal with." As she ripped off her name tag and placed it on the counter top.

"I think I can imagine quite well." Thinking back to midday with the overwhelming number of people then.

"At least Stan and Soos should be happy. I easily made over $6,000 today at the minimum pulling open the cash register to show me the overflowing amount of cash.

"They will be. Stan will be happy with any sort of cash coming in, while Soos… well Soos is always happy."

I couldn't help but laugh thinking of the man child. Only a life or death scenario could really break the cool character that he had. "So want to go and hang out for a while?" Eagerly looking forward to spending more time with her.

"Yeah about that." I frowned slightly hearing the hesitance in her voice. "I might of organised a hang out with the gang after work today, last night before I came over." She rubbed the back of her head awkwardly, seeing the energy in me.

"Oh" feeling a pang of disappointment hit me. I smiled though not going to show her how upset I was. "That's ok then. I guess I'll leave you then to meet them."

"Yeah," I watched her stand up and head to the door "so get your stuff and let's go."

"Wait, I'm coming?"

"Yeah dude. I ain't leaving my man here all on his own to wallow in your mystery stuff. Truth be told, they asked for you to come with us."

I felt a smile break across my face and the weight disappear from my chest. "Let's go then." unable to hold the excitement in me as I bounced across the room to Wendy's side. She opened the door and we walked onto the porch as a van pulled up into the parking lot. We raced across to it as someone from the inside opened the door for us as we leapt into the vehicle.

"Hey Wendy. Hey Mr Fun times." Said the easy voice of Nate, sitting in the middle row. Next to him sat Lee, leaving Tambry and Thompson sitting in the driver and passenger seats.

"Hey guys. Thanks for the invite." As me and Wendy crawled into the second from back row.

"You didn't think we'd forget you, did you?" Lee said "There is a reason you've got that name. There is always some excitement to be had with you around."

"Plus can't have Wendy sulking the entire time since you couldn't come." Tambry called from the front, not looking up from the phone in her hands "Pretty funny how she almost seemed to beg through the texts she sent me."

"Tambry shut up." I almost burst out laughing at the look of pure embarrassment Wendy had on her face.

"I don't know I pretty keen to hear the rest of this." Leaning on the seat in front of me in anticipation of what else was to be said.

"Oh not much. Just going on about how she would promise to break my phone if I didn't invite you."

This time I couldn't hold the laughter in. I began laughing even harder as I saw that Wendy was covering her face with her hands leaning down out of site. "Tambry that's enough or I'll go through with that promise."

"Don't worry. The next few texts after that are for my ears only. But I'll say that she did say that you were a great kisser." Finally turning backwards to get a look of my expression in response to what she said.

I couldn't help but feel a tinge of heat in my checks at the comment. "Wendy, I knew you cared about me, but that much?" trying to shift the conversation off me.

"Tambry, I'm coming forwards." Placing her hands on the seat in front, standing up only to be pushed down by the forwards momentum of the van as it lurched out of its stationary spot.

"Sorry dudes. The gas pedal is a bit rusty." Taking a look in the mirror though exposed his grinning face, making me guess the only reason he did that was to prevent a fight. As the Van pulled out onto the road, I finally noticed the lack of a certain downy atmosphere.

"Where's Robbie?" I said questioning at the lack of the black greasy haired individual.

"We ditched him," Nate said simply "After he smashed you, Me and Thompson went to see him as he left the slammer. We told him enough was enough. We'd taken his crap for years as friends but he took one look at the line between right and wrong and flipping sprinted for a kilometre past it."

At this point Thompson took over "He lost his shit. He started swearing as us about how the only reason we had any friends was because of him and we'd take him back the next day. As you can see that hasn't happened and it won't till he gets his problems under control."

"I tried going to his house and talking to him" said Tambry as she looked up from her phone and gazed out of the window. I caught her face in the reflection in the mirror and she actually seemed to be quite upset. "But he wasn't there. His parents said he had been acting differently after that. Going on about some plan of his. Well that's what they said when they saw him. Apparently he's barely been home in the past few days." She looked back down as she continued.

"Oh man." I felt like there was little else I could say to ease the situation back into the same cheerful vibe as before.

"Dudes just forget about it." Lee said, slight grin on his face "He'll get his problems together no matter how long it takes. In the meantime, no use in sulking over what he's done."

"Dude's right. Plus, we're here so no point in sulking any further." Thompson called as the van slowed to a crawling pace.

I tried to put on a wide smile but I felt somewhat guilty about what happened to Robbie. Even though what he did was wrong I shouldn't have pushed him. The though niggled at the back of my head as everyone else jumped out of the now open doors. "Hey dude, you coming or what?" The grinning face of Wendy reappeared from around the open gap.

"Yeah, yeah," I pulled myself up and shifted towards the door. Finally getting out I gazed out at my surroundings. If I had been paying more attention on our trip I would've easily guessed where we were heading. In front of us lay the entirety of Gravity Falls, from one end of the valley to the other. We were in the place where Gideon had chased us in his giant metal robot to the near archway overlooking the valley.

"Didn't think you guys knew about this place." Walking up to the rest of the group as they stood mere meters away from the edge.

"Bro, you may think yourself some sort of genius. But you have no idea how many places we know of that we are yet to show you." Tambry said smiling to herself as we all gazed over the sight in front of us.

"Ignoring the obvious error there," smirking as I said this "This place is just amazing."

"The view on the way down is better though." Nate called out from behind me. Wait what? I felt a sinking feeling as I turned around and instantly began paling at the sight of him pulling what looked like rock climbing gear out of the trunk.

"That better not be what I think it is." My voice quivering at the sight of it.

"You guessed it. Six pairs of abseil equipment with helmets included. From yours truly." Adding in a little bow as the others began cheering at him.

"Didn't let us down this time bro." Lee followed up grabbing a harness and hooking himself up with the others following suit.

"You've got to be kidding yourself if you think I'm getting in that." Taking a step backwards.

The group looked confused at this "You knew what you were signing up for we you came didn't you?" I followed everyone's gaze towards Wendy, who skittishly rubbed her neck.

"I might have forgot to tell him…" she glanced down trying to ovoid the daggers I was glaring at her.

"Well, you're here now. So there isn't much you can do except man up." Nate walked up to me and forced a harness into my arms. I just gazed at it, still in a bit of shock at the whole thing.

"Couldn't I just wait in the Van? You know wait for you guys to come back up?" trying to muster an excuse to get out.

"Unless you want to wait all night to tomorrow." Thompson said as he made an obvious motion of placing the van keys into his pocket. "I come pick it up tomorrow. The plan was to walk back home after this."

I realised I was backed up against a wall with only one way out. "Can at least someone help me get this on." Lifting up the harness half-heartedly. After 5 minutes of struggling with Lee to get my harness fully secured, I was finally ready for going. Thompson, Wendy and Nate finished placing in the metal stakes where our cables were going to be fastened to, making sure they were safe and ready to go. Tambry quickly took a selfie and then rushed over to us, everyone pumped and ready to go… except me of course.

"Ok Dipper, use this to lower leaver to lower yourself, you won't go down without it." Jerking the blue leaver on my left. "Keep one hand on it at all times and make sure you kick off the rock face before lowering yourself. That way you shouldn't fall and end up in a messy puddle for us to clean up." Giving me a confident smile, which did little to calm my nerves.

"Thanks for the confidence booster." Trying to add as much sarcasm into my shaky voice.

"That's the spirit." Before walking over to the supports and double checking them, as I clipped myself up to the hooks.

Realising I was first up I walked up to the edge of the cliff and gazed at the ledge. Only now did I fully take in how god damn high up we were. Feeling my palms grow sweaty I wiped them on my trousers as I lowered myself dangling my legs over the edge.

"Struggling to find the moment to go?" The all reassuring voice of Lee spoke from behind me.

"Yeah." I replied nervously still trying to take in the height issue.

"I'll help ya out." Expecting him to lower me over the edge slowly I relaxed and turned around to face him. He grasped hold of my harness before he continued "Grab hold of the ledge and lower your legs of the edge. Don't worry I won't let go."

"If you say so gently easing myself over the edge doing as he said so. Within moments I could feel the almost weightlessness of my body as it dangled in the precarious location. I forced myself to take deep breaths in as I felt a small gust rock my body from side to side. "Done it, what now?" Still eyes focused directly on Lee.

"Now…" pausing for effect "you jump." And with that he let go of my harness causing me to drop suddenly. I opened my mouth to scream as a quick rush of air passed me as air rushed past me. Before a sound could get out of my mouth, I felt myself being jerked up, stopping me in space.

I just dangled there looking up into the sky. The sudden rush of fear still remaining in my system, my head scrambling to figure out what happened. OF COURSE. Glancing down at the blue leaver by my side. I wouldn't fall unless pulled. The feeling of fear disappointed in a heartbeat as it turned to rage.

"YOU GOD DAMN ARSE HAT!" I yelled hoping that the prick heard me.

"YOU'RE WELCOME!" The reply was followed by a string of giggles as I gazed up to see the others coming down to me. As Wendy and Nate stopped on either side of me, I could see the amusement written in their faces.

"WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT? WHAT WOULD HAVE HAPPENED IF THE CABLE SNAPPED?" Still in outrage at what he did.

"Relax man, it's just a prank. Anyway the cable isn't second hand. We got it at a professional dealer in Portland." Thompson said, still coming down to my level on the furthest side away from me.

"Calm down Dipper." Wendy said trying to calm me down, reaching her arm across grabbing my hand, and gently stroking it. The gently touch of her and my unwillingness to yell at her helped ease my temper at the whole situation. "Take a look behind you and tell me this isn't worth it."

I gingerly released Wendy's hand a used the rock face to spin my body slightly to the side before looking to the side. Only then did I fully realise why people did this insane thing. The sight was even better than standing at the top. The sun was sitting above the trees as the feeling of weightlessness with dangling made .

"Maybe not defiantly worth it but boy is that a sight to see." Gazing at the shimmering reflection of the sun as it rippled across the lake in the corner of the valley, even at this height it was still impossible to see how the entirety of the lake in the far distance.

"Something special huh." I couldn't help but agree with her, not even caring about the fact that I was hundreds of meters in the air. "Come on let's catch up with the others." I glanced down between my legs to see the heads of the others kicking off the wall and lowering themselves down meter by meter. Eagerly to catch up with them, my previous worries had disappeared as I followed Lee's instructions kicking off from the wall and lowering myself. Wendy kicked off after me just one step behind me as we made our way down to where the others had stopped around halfway.

"See you're enjoying yourself now, Dr Fun times." Joked Lee as we stopped besides them.

"Oh, I still plan to kill you when we get to the bottom." Everyone started cracking up at that as we dangled in thin air spinning slightly. The gathering just turned into another lookout stage again as this time we all gazed back across Gravity Falls marvelling in its beauty.

After a few minutes of nothing, Thompson decided to speak up "Probably should get moving soon," Pointing at the sun as it moved gradually towards the horizon. "Don't wont to be caught out here in the dark." I shivered at the thought of that being caught up here in the pitch blackness being unable to see anything.

"Before you move, picture time!" Tambry called happily from her end of the line. Somehow with a strange sense of ease she whipped out her phone and leaned away from the rock face as far as possible to get us all in frame "Say… cheese."

"CHEESE!" everyone one yelled as the flash illuminated the surroundings. Tambry quickly pulled the phone close keeping a tight grip on it checking out the quality.

"Awesome, this is going into the cloud when we hit solid rock." Carefully pocketing the device before she got a better grip on the cable. Even after the photo was taken I couldn't wipe the smile off my face. This entire time spent out with the gang really took my mind off all the chaos and confusion I was dealing with.

"Looks like Dip can't stop grinning," Wendy said glancing back over at me "What happened to the I'm gonna faint performance earlier?"

"You did." the simple reply caused an outbreak of whooping from the others as a tinge of red broke her usual white freckled face.

"I think it's time to get moving again." Wendy said before launching herself down to avoid further embarrassment. Sniggering to myself I leaped after her before the catch up, turned to a race again to the bottom. Feeling the tendons in my arm finally begin to wear we continued all the way to the base with no more stops.

With feet planted firmly on the ground I felt a rush of weight hit my body, causing me to collapse under the invisible weight. There we waited still coupled up as the rest joined us as the bright blue sky finally shifted to the pinkie orange glow of dusk.

Yes, I know weird place to end this, but that's due to not wanting to hold this off for another week. As this goes out I begin three week long internals forcing my full attention, so be patient about the next one. Don't worry the story is going to take a twist for the better in the next few chapters since I've filled in the last plot holes I can see. Till then.

Chao.