A/N: Thanks for the reviews, everyone.

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They already blew their allowance on candy and soda at the first rest stop. After using the restroom, there was no reason for them to loiter in the gas station. Mabel took this as an opportunity to run up and down the aisles while Dipper simply stretched. Three hours straight on a cramped bus was tough, even with a hearty stack of mystery novels and a bag full of yarn to keep them occupied.

Dipper's joints popped as he stretched and he stared warily at the bus, its doors open. He wasn't sure if he and Mabel could go another three hours.

"Dipper! Dippeeeer!" Mabel was running back to him, a pamphlet in her hand, waving her arms excitedly.

Dipper's first thought was that the bus was leaving without them, but Mabel's smile reassured him it wasn't that.

"Look what I found!"

"A half-eaten chocolate bar?"

Mabel looked a little forlorn at that. "If only. But check this! I found a tourist pamphlet from our Grunkle's place."

She waved it in Dipper's face and nearly gave him a papercut on the tip of his nose. Annoyed, Dipper snatched it away. He uncrumbled the piece of paper, smoothing it out between the palm of his hand and the top of the glass case of the ice cream freezer.

"Mystery Shack?" he asked, raising an eyebrow skeptically.

The front of the pamphlet showed a picture of the Mystery Shack. 'Shack' was the right word for it: letters were crooked, and the whole building look like it was on the verge of collapse. The only thing that looked sturdy in the photo was some bird totem pole planted in front of the Mystery Shack. The words "Believe it or believe it!" were printed garishly in big neon green letters over the front. Dipper licked his thumb and opened the three page pamphlet. Eyeballs in a jar, a sasquatch covered in feathers, and a mummified werewolf were pictured inside, along with a picture of a broken down go-cart A caption underneath read: "Guided tours!" using exactly that many unnecessary exclamation points.

"Aren't you excited? This is the kind of kooky stuff you're into." Mabel elbowed him. Dipper shot her a glare as he rubbed his elbow.

"I'll neither confirm or deny that. . ." Dipper said dryly. ". . .But doesn't this all seem sketchy? Our grand uncle can't possibly make money off this crap. How is he going to feed us?"

"With love and kindness. Duh, Dip!" Mabel joked, and then, "he's retired, right? This is probably his lifelong passion. . .?"

Dipper groaned. "I knew it. This summer is completely ruined. We don't know the first thing about. . ." Dipper glanced at the pamphlet, searching for a name.

". . .Stan?" Mabel helpfully offered, though she sounded unsure too. That is what their parents had called their relative before shipping them out of state, right?

"See. That's where I'm getting at- we don't even know his name!"

Mabel hooked an arm over Dipper's shoulder. "Course we don't. But I'm sure we'll learn lots about him! Even things we don't want to. That's what will be fun about it. We'll be fine. He loves us."

"How?" Dipper demanded, the stress of the bus ride and his entire summer being ripped away from him finally coming to a head. He appreciated Mabel's positivity, but sometimes it exhausted his patience. "How can he love us if he's never met us?"

It wasn't a question but Mabel provided an answer anyway. "Because we're family. And I'm adorable, and you're. . ." Mabel paused, then poked him on the nose. "You're a nerd."

Dipper swatted her finger away and crossed his arms, unconvinced.

Mabel snatched the pamphlet from Dipper's hand, folded it back up, then flipped it over. On the back was a small map with directions to the Mystery Shack, and below that, a picture of a man, possibly in his early sixties, wearing a square-shouldered suit slightly eaten up by mothballs, and a red fez hat. He held a cane in one hand, a crystal skull in the other, and wore his best used car salesman smile. Dipper wondered if the man would look more or less ridiculous if he wore the eye patch underneath the glasses rather than over them.

"He looks trustworthy," Mabel said, trying to reassure her brother. The photo of their relative did nothing to ease Dipper's nerves. Mabel frowned slightly, tucking the tourist pamphlet in her bag for her summer vacation scrapbook. She took Dipper's hand, smiling as she tugged on his arm, gentle yet earnest. "Hey, at least we have each other."

Dipper couldn't find an argument for that, not with that goofy smile she was giving him, gummy koalas stuck in her braces.

The bus honked a warning and they rushed out of the gas station, barely making it, the bus moving before they made it back to their seats at the back of the bus. The tourist pamphlet to the Mystery Shack was crumbled up in his vest pocket, though he didn't remember placing it there. He glanced at Mabel, assuming she had slipped it in there, and uncrumbled the pamphlet, giving the picture of their grand uncle a pensive look before shoving it back in his vest pocket.

He stared out the window, at the scenery whipping past, from concrete jungle to rural, then even more rural, with trees everywhere.

Dipper couldn't wait for this summer to end.