Dipper found herself immersed in the journal, finding new hidden secrets of Gravity Falls in its contents. She decoded the ciphers, and smiled as she finally dycrypted the Author's personal cryptogram. She never found out which symbols stood for x or z though.

It was around the time she and Marvin found the wax figures that they stumbled upon the tapes. It seemed like there were mountains of cassette tapes, and one outdated tape deck gathering dust.

"Aw sweet!" Marvin shouted. He ran over to examine the machine. "Looks like it's early '80s, Japanese. Grantie Clare has some cool stuff back here."

"Do you think she got it from Grandpa?" Dipper asked, examining the tapes. Each had a strip of masking tape on the front, with cryptograms written in familiar writing…

Dipper gasped.

"Marv, we have to play these!" Dipper exclaimed.

She rushed over to the tape deck and slammed the cassette inside, hastily pushing play,

Suddenly, they were hit with a loud high pitched screech, beeps, low bass, and garbled sounds of static. They covered their ears with their hands as Dipper quickly stopped the tape.

"That…was something." Marvin said, wincing in pain.

"What does it mean though?" Dipper muttered. "The Author was trying to tell us something, I know it!"

"The beeps could be Morse code." Marvin guessed.

"And the other sound…do you think it could be someone speaking?" Dipper said, continuing that train of thought.

"That's possible, but it sounded rushed, and it didn't sound like English." Marvin replied.

"I wish we could find a way of isolating the sounds…" Dipper sighed.

Marvin furrowed his brow, then his face lighten up instantly. "I got it!" He declared, waving his fingers excitedly as he jumped up. "Take the tape deck and whatever tapes you can carry with you, I think we can use my laptop!"

Dipper carried the heavy device in her hand, stuffing tapes in her vest pocket. "Of course, Marv. Not like I could use a hand here," she replied.

When they reached their room, Marvin pulled out his laptop and opened the audio software he used for his music projects.

"Play the tape for me again." Marvin said.

Hesitantly, Dipper complied. They thought the house was shaking from the noise as Marvin recorded the sound on his laptop.

"Kids, what is that racket up there? Are you dead? If you're dead, you've gotta tell me!" Grantie Clare said from downstairs.

"We're fine, Grantie Clare," Marvin shouted back, "I'm just…trying out this new type of music. It's called dubstep!"

"Dubstep?" Clare shouted. "What happened to good old disco? At least you could dance to it! Ok kids, just… try to keep it down during business hours, alright?"

"You've got it!" Marvin said, hoping she could hear him.

Marvin turned back to Dipper. "Ok, I think I can isolate the different sounds." He clicked around on the software that he had bootlegged from the internet, patched up with Dipper's help. After a few moments loading, and the sound of the laptop fan whirring, the task was completed.

Isolating the beeps proved it was Morse code, but the vocals…the couldn't understand what it could be.

"Do you think it's another language?" Marvin asked. "Maybe it's Portuguese?"

Dipper shook her head. "Then why would the Author write the Journal entirely in English, it makes no sense!"

Dipper stood up and started pacing. "We need another set of ears to help us. Someone who also knows music and sound production…" She said as she placed her hand on her chin in contemplation. "Maybe someone like…Robbie!"

Marvin scrunched his face in disgust. "Him? Dip, that dude's a creep. I don't know what you and Wendy see in him."

"Robbie's not a creep!" Dipper protested. "He's sweet, and sensitive. And he has a band. Maybe we could ask for his professional opinion."

"I'd he's a professional, than I'm a lobster." Marvin scoffed.

"Oh don't be like that, Marv! When he comes over to see Wendy tomorrow, I'll ask if he can help us out," Dipper suggested.

"You mean, when he comes over, you'll try to flirt with him. Maybe ask him where he gets those skinny jeans, the preschooler's section?"

Dipper rolled her eyes. "You're just jealous he can pull them off, and the eyeliner."

"Am not!"

They would have continued their argument, but at that point, the wax figures started moving.

They had forgotten about this exchange as they had their own adventures…until they found out Robbie knew a thing or two about hiding messages in audio.

Wendy was understandably upset. And Dipper didn't know how to feel. She used to be so jealous of Wendy for dating Robbie, and she went out of her way to try to stop them, even repeating a whole day in order to make sure she didn't win the prize at the fair. But, it was no use. Neither of them noticed anyway.

But now that Wendy dumped Robbie, maybe Dipper had a chance?

Robbie's parents let them in, and Marvin had a blast talking to them, though Dipper couldn't believe she was in Robbie's house, his sanctum. Soon, they'd be in his room. She kicked the air in anticipation.

"Robbie! Your little friends are here!" Mrs. Valentino shouted.

"Go away!" Robbie's voice cracked, on the verge of tears.

"Excuse us for a second." Marvin said, grabbing his sister's hand as they left the sitting room. They made their way upstairs to Robbie's room to see him curled up on his bed, writing on a notepad. Black streaks of tears and eyeliner were running down his face. He wiped the snot from his face, and noticed them at his doorway.

"I thought I told you to get lost. Why are you here? Is Wendy begging to take me back?"

Marvin was about to retort when Dipper elbowed him in the ribs.

"Robbie," Dipper replied. "We need your help."

She pulled out the tape deck. "We found a series of tapes with some unusual messages. We've decided some of them, but others we can't figure out. You know how to make secret messages, could you take a listen?"

Robbie sighed and plugged his headphones in. "Ok, why not."

Dipper winced preemptively, "I'll lower the volume, but you might want to brace yourself on the sound."

Robbie rolled his eyes. "I listen to Norwegian Black Metal, I should be fine."

Marvin grinned. "Do it."

Dipper sighed, and played the tape.

After Robbie's initial panic, he calmed down and listened again.

"Looks like some sort of backwards messaging. Could you try playing it in reverse?" Robbie asked.

"It's worth a shot." Dipper replied. "Does your software come with that feature, Marv?"

"Yeah, it can do just about anything." Marvin said.

Dipper brought out the laptop, and highlighted the isolated sound. With a few clicks, they played the inverse.

"Log date 0182, I'm recording these tapes for posterity - so that I know this was all for something, and it is unfiltered, untampered with. From my studies…it seems he has an unusual relationship with sound- he can travel into one's mind through low infrasonic frequencies and suggestions- but more commonly through R.E.M. cycles. If I record these at a certain frequency out of his range- maybe I can evade him…"

It was the voice of a woman, hoarse and terrified, but full of determination. Her tone was even, and she sounded sophisticated.

Robbie gave a low whistle. "She sounds hot."

Marvin wrinkled his nose. "Gross. You know these tapes are super old, right? The Author's probably an old lady by now."

Robbie shrugged. "Still hot though."

Dipper chewed on her fingernails in thought. "The Author is a woman…like me!"

"How do you think Grantie Clare found the tapes?" Marvin asked curiously as he took out the tape, examining the writing.

"Probably stole them, like she does with anything else of value." Dipper replied. Her mind was racing at the possibilities that she now had a new role model other than Ada Lovelace and Maria Mitchell, and how cool that was.

"So, do you need me, or can you just go?" Robbie asked them.

Marvin noticed something in Robbie, for once he wasn't closed off, but looking at them expectantly.

"We'll get out of your hair, but do you want to meet up with us tomorrow to decode the rest of these?" Marvin asked.

Robbie hid his excitement, putting his hands in his pockets. "Um, sure, whatever."

By the end of the month, they had decoded most of the tapes and they were learning more about him, whoever he was.

"He once told me he loved the woods, and all its creatures…and that they looked more interesting turned inside out."

"Once, when I visited him, he told me he was a muse to all who needed him. I was so jealous at the time, but I think it was one of his tactics. He kept bragging about how the film Eraserhead was his idea in the first place. Preposterous. Perhaps he was trying to impress me, or distract me to make me lose at chess. I still miss him."

"How can I still hear his voice in my head? He's laughing at me, taunting me. I must hold on, I can't let him take over."

"The other day, F and I were discussing the future. He wants me to go back with him to California, but I can't. There's still so much to do here. How can he think I'd leave it all behind? How can he think I can leave my muse behind?"

"Maybe we should stop listening." Marvin suggested. "This seems invasive."

"Yeah, this chick sounds crazy." Robbie agreed.

Dipper glared at them. "We have to complete the tapes. If you don't, I will!"

Marvin looked at the pile of tapes in front of them. "I think you should take a break too."

Robbie looked at the two of them, putting his hands in his hoodie pockets. "You know, I thought you two were a bunch of dorks, but you aren't so bad. Do you want to maybe jam together sometime?"

"I might. If you don't mind adding some New Wave into your music." Marvin grinned, jumping up and down. "Dipper's not as big into music as I am."

Dipper rolled her eyes. "It's not that I don't like it. I just don't like it being shoved down my throat. We go to a performing arts school. It's unbearable."

"Well, I love it!" Marvin exclaimed. "And come on, you were all for helping me free Sev'ral Timez."

Dipper blushed. "Marv!" She hissed. "Not in front of Robbie!"

"It's cool." Robbie shrugged. "I've seen them rummaging through my trash."

"What do you like to do for fun, Robbie?" Marvin asked.

Robbie shrugged. "Oh, just hang out. Write music. Think about Wendy, the usual." He moped, thinking about his breakup. He placed his hoodie over his head.

Dipper angrily started shoving the tapes back in their storage space as soon as she heard the dreaded name. Marvin sighed. It was like pulling teeth with the both of them.

"Would you like to help us shoot a Guide to the Unexplained?" Marvin asked. Dipper perked up. She jumped up and ran out the room.

"I'll go get my camera!"

They spent the afternoon exploring the mysterious mailbox in the woods.

After the incident with Waddles and the dinosaurs, Dipper and Mabel had mostly been too preoccupied to focus on the tapes.

Grantie Clare had punched a pterodactyl! McGucket followed them into the mines, and almost caught them. Waddles was safe, and Soos and Dipper patched up their friendship. Soos's arm pant arrived in the mail a week later, and somehow he was able to pull off the look.

Time seemed to fly by as they watched television one rainy afternoon.

Gideon had broken into the house. As Grantie Clare chased him away with the broom, she proudly boasted, "the combination is in the one place Gideon can't get to." She pointed smugly at her head.

As they headed inside, Dipper could overhear Gideon mutter, "the mind isn't as safe as you think it is, Claremont."

Later, as Marvin and Soos helped bandage Dipper from the bat's attack, Dipper recounted what she overheard.

"What do you think he's up to?" Marvin asked.

"I don't know, but it doesn't sound good." Dipper replied.

"Hey doods, I think he's still outside. Should we go see what he's doing?" Soos interjected.

As they made their way out the door, Grantie Clare grabbed Dipper by the shoulder. "And where are you going, Missy?"

"We were going to…"

"You haven't finished your chores. Go fix the kitchen sink, it's backed up." She handed her niece a plunger.

Dipper huffed. "It's not fair! Why do I have the hardest chores?"

Clare raised an eyebrow. "Just go do it, ok?"

"Is it because I'm a girl?" Dipper demanded. "I shouldn't have to do all this because I'm the only girl here."

Clare shook her head in resignation. "You and I are going to have a talk after this. But for now, there's a nice nap in front of the tv calling my name."

Dipper finally finished unclogging the sink when Marvin and Soos rushed in.

"Dipper! You wouldn't believe it, Gideon has his own journal!" Marvin gasped, out of breath from running as he grabbed his knees.

"Yeah, dood! And he summoned some triangle thingy to go into Ms. Pines head. They're going to steal the safe combo!" Soos added.

Dipper dramatically closed the tap, lifting her plunger for emphasis. "Not if we can help it. Guys, I think I know a way we can get into Grantie Clare's brain."

Meeting Bill Cipher face to face, Dipper finally understood who he was. At least, she could see it. There was something deeply unsettling about the creature.

As they searched door to door for Clare's memories, they saw her life flash before them. Her stay in Colombia, her time on Broadway, and even her sneaking out to go boxing.

Dipper wondered if it was worth saving Grantie Clare if she thought Dipper was such a disappointment. But then, she opened the door to the conversation she had thought she had heard before. About how Clare had said she was weak and useless…

"That's what they used to say about me. My old man, he thought I wouldn't amount to anything and never really wanted us to. Thought I didn't have it in me to be anything other than a pretty face. I had to learn how to fix a car, do basic home maintenance and even change a tire on my own. That's why I'm so hard on Dipper. She needs to know how to be able to handle herself in the real world. To help toughen her up. So when the world fights, she fights back."

"Do you think it's working?" Memory Soos asked.

As Dipper split the wood in half, Memory Clare smiled. "Looks like it. She's really coming along. When push comes to shove, I'm actually really proud of her. Just don't let her know I said that. She's got a big enough head as it is!"

Dipper touched the barrier affectionately, only to fall in.

Memory Clare looked at Dipper, then back at the one in the distance chopping wood. "Kid? What are you doing here? Let's fix that hole in your chest."

She lifted her finger, and Dipper could she the empty space filling up.

"How did you do that?" Dipper asked in astonishment.

"Word to the wise, we're in the mind. You can do anything in here." With a flick of her wrist, she summoned a cola from thin air and cracked it open.

Dipper could hear Bill's laughter in the distance. "What am I doing here? I've got to stop Bill!"

She didn't see Memory Clare looking back at her with pride.

Dipper ran out of the barrier, straight to the floating podium of Clare's head. She arrived just in time to see Bill torturing Soos and Marvin with their nightmares. As a British dog started yelling and hitting Soos, Marvin's hands swelled up five sizes.

"No! I won't be able to play my keyboard! What will I do now?" Marvin cried.

Bill laughed at their pain, until Dipper floated towards them, shooting lasers out of his eyes.

"Guys! You can do anything you want in Clare's mind! Think of cool fighting things."

"Who told you that?!" Bill shouted in fury.

They fought back. Dipper with laser eye beams, Marvin with kitten bombs, then a dazzling rainbow keytar he conjured for himself. Crazz and Xyler returned, on the drums and the bass.

"Ah! Synthesizer music!" Bill cried in pain.

"There's more where that came from!" Marvin shouted, turning up the volume. Soos lifted his shirt to shoot Question Marks from his belly button.

"Enough!" Bill shouted. "No more games."

With a flash, they were brought to a blank void.

"You were more clever than I expected, so I'm keeping an eye on you. Never know when you kids might be useful. But know that the end is coming soon, and you can't avoid it." Bill said.

Bill conjured a blue hand with six fingers. Dipper grimaced. The Author.

"But until then, I'll be waiting!"

Bill disappeared in a circle of symbols.

As they felt themselves phasing out, they could feel themselves returned back to their bodies.

"Kids, what are you doing here?" Clare asked groggily. She was still in her dressing gown and rollers.

Dipper pulled her in for a hug, then a chokehold.

"We saved the Shack!" Marvin exclaimed.

They felt the ground shake as a flash of light engulfed them.

"Oh, sorry Pines family. Did I wake you up?" Gideon taunted.

"But…we defeated Bill!" Marvin said in horror.

"Bill failed me, I went with Plan B. Dynamite." Gideon replied.

"Bill?" Clare asked in confusion. "What do you mean…"

Gideon took out his walkie talkie. "Bring it in, Daddy."

As the bulldozer made its way through the Shack, the four of them stared in confusion and shock. McGucket stood outside, his arms folded.

"You!" Clare exclaimed. "This is your doing, I can smell it from a mile away."

"I have no idea what you're talking about, Clare. But I can't say in good conscious I haven't been waiting for this day for a long time." McGucket replied, smirking.

"Can't you do something about this? The kid just walked in and stole my property!"

"Do you have any proof?" He asked.

"We saw the whole thing!" Dipper shouted.

"Yeah, the three of us saw it!" Marvin added.

McGucket sighed dramatically. "I'm sorry kids, my hands are tied here. Gravity Falls abides by the Doctrine of Finders Keepers. You find it, you keep it."

Clare rolled up her sleeves. "Oh? Well, I'll give you something to find…"

Soos placed his hand on her shoulders, stopping her. "Come on Ms. Pines, let's get out of here. Last thing we need is for you to get arrested again."

"Don't worry, I'll do what needs to be done." McGucket said ominously.

"Don't you touch anything in my house!" Clare screamed as Soos dragged her away.

They dragged her to her car to calm down. Dipper noticed Gideon walked over to McGucket and handed him a set of blueprints.

"Maybe this is all still a dream." Marvin said hopefully. He pinched his arm and winced. "No, it's not." He also noticed the exchange and turned to his sister, "What do you think Gideon is building?" Marvin asked.

"Whatever it is, we have to stop him." Dipper declared