When Rowan reached the bottom of the ladder to the attic, she heard voices coming from the front. That's odd. It's past closing time. Who did Oma let in?
An oaken wardrobe blocked her view of the front desk, but it sounded like there were at least two customers. Still holding the bag, Rowan looked around the wardrobe and toward the desk.
"So we were wondering if you had seen anything that looked like this." The guy's voice was familiar, and Rowan nearly gasped when she saw the three teens from the road. They were all gathered around an old book. Dipper was pointing to something on the open page and watching Oma's face carefully. Mabel was busy at a display, putting ring after ring on her fingers, and Pacifica was fixing her hair in an old mirror.
So. At least they are real. At the sight of the teens, Rowan's doubts abandoned her. She knew the encounter on the road to be true. Entirely true. Now she had to figure out what to do with that information.
Rowan watched from a distance, still partially behind the wardrobe, as Oma talked with Dipper. Oma seemed to know the group well. Shortly, she gestured in the general direction of the bookroom and suggested that they look over there for more information. Dipper nodded, thanked her, and – after gathering his sister and their friend – headed over to the books. Oma pulled out a ledger and started her daily profit calculations.
The bookroom used to be the old master bedroom, but when Oma bought the place she turned it into a used book store. So, the books were separated from the rest of the store. As soon as Dipper, Mabel, and Pacifica disappeared into the room, Rowan approached Oma.
Oma must have heard Rowan's footsteps on the old floor because she was unshaken when Rowan spoke. "What were they asking about?" Oma replied without taking her eyes off the current figure.
"Some old science-y thing. I haven't seen it before, but I suggested that there might be some local research in the bookroom. Dipper's eyes seemed to light up. I hope they find something helpful." She paused for a short moment before asking. "Why did you hide from them?"
Rowan was caught off guard. She couldn't very well tell her still sane grandmother that these three had wrangled and shrank an elephant-sized mosquito. Fortunately, Oma didn't wait for her response. Sighing, she put down her pencil and faced Rowan. "I know it's scary moving to a strange town, and ever since you were a small girl you've been shy. But, honey, you should make some friends for this summer."
"But Oma, it's –"
"No, Rowan. I've made up my mind. Go in there and say hi. Mabel Pines would be a great place to start making friends."
"Yes, Oma." Rowan sighed. Well, I suppose I wanted to know more about them anyway. Approaching the door was a formidable task. Meeting new people always made Rowan nervous, but this was going to be weird, and she hoped they wouldn't think her a coward, or crazy – what if all she saw was a result of stress? This thought almost stopped her, but her curiosity still pulled her forward. Was it real?
As she entered the room, she could hear the friends discussing a whether or not this was a waste of time. She crept slowly toward the sound, trying to avoid all the creaking spots on the old floor.
Suddenly a blur, pink and glittering, swung out from behind the bookshelf right in front of Rowan. Rowan jumped back, yelling out of pure shock. Unfortunately, she tripped on a wrinkle in the carpet and fell over backwards.
"Mabel? Are you alright?" The concerned voice accompanied hurrying footsteps. The blur, or - as it was more commonly known - Mabel, giggled lightheartedly.
"It's fine!" she called back, grinning widely. "I found somebody though." Dipper, carrying an old book like a mace, appeared from behind the bookshelf with Pacifica, who held a crossbow at the ready.
A crossbow? Who are these guys?
"Oh! It's you!" Dipper lowered the book, and reached out his hand to help her up, grinning. "We have got to stop meeting like this."
Rowan hesitated. There was still something about him that irritated her thoughts, but she couldn't figure it out. So, she accepted his hand, and smiled back. "I agree," she replied cheerfully.
There was a bit of an awkward silence after that. Pacifica decided to break it.
"So, did you want something? Or…?"
"Oh, right. Sorry." Rowan felt herself blushing. This was turning out to be even more awkward than she'd expected. She decided to resort to asking a question. This was a move she often resorted to when put in an uncomfortable situation. "I just really have to know… What happened back there?" The twins looked at each other, confused for a moment.
"Guys!" Pacifica sounded annoyed. "She means back on the road! With the giant mosquito?"
"Ooooohhhhhhh." They remembered in unison.
"That was just an accident. You see…" Dipper opened his old book and flipped through the yellowed and well-worn pages before finding the page he wanted. On the page was a sketch of some crystals and the title, "Hight-Altering" in beautiful, cursive lettering. He continued, "A few years back I found one of these crystals and strapped it to a flashlight. Today we were bored, so we were messing around with it, and the mosquito got a little out of hand."
"Honestly, can we just hurry up and find what we're looking for?" Pacifica had gone back to browsing shelves, but she didn't seem to be having any luck.
"What are you looking for?" Rowan asked. "I might be able to help. My grandma owns this store."
"Really?" Dipper flipped to a different page in the book – Rowan had gathered that it was some kind of journal. "Well, we were trying to decipher this code. Not even the guy who wrote it knows what it means." Rowan was confused, but she had experienced weirder events than someone forgetting things. She moved toward the non-fiction section of shelves.
"Do you mind if I can see the code?"
"Sure." Turning to a new page in the journal, Dipper turned the book toward her and pointed at a page covered in symbols. "We think they may have to do with alchemy."
"Oh! I know these! They're old witch glyphs." Rowan turned back to the shelves and moved quickly toward the bottom right corner. There should be a book right about… "Here!" Rowan pulled a grey, thin book from the shelf. "The Wiccan Casters of Gravity Falls. There's a whole section on old glyphs and their meanings."
They got to work translating. As they worked, Rowan began to feel at home for the first time in Gravity Falls. She suddenly discovered that she wanted to be friends with these people, and that she hoped they wanted to be friends with her. They were inquisitive, and fun, and they were as strange as the things they encountered. Life with them would never be boring.
Within a few minutes, one of the cipher's meaning had been translated.
"Light of day come and be mine to command, to wield, to shine." Mabel read aloud. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Maybe it's a riddle." Dipper said, chewing on his pen cap.
"It's more likely a spell." Everyone turned to Rowan, as if surprised. "Oh, come on you guys. You fought off and shrunk a giant mosquito, and based off the other things in this journal, many, many other strange and bizarre things, but you're surprised when old witch symbols contain a spell?"
There was a moment's pause before they all agreed in a chorus of nodding heads, and "Yeah, that makes sense."
"So how does it work?" Pacifica asked.
Rowan thought for a second, trying to remember a conversation she once had with her mother. "Well, it has to be said in Latin – or was it Greek? To be honest, I don't remember. But, some spells work if they are said backwards." Dipper quickly scribbled out the spell on a spare piece of paper, spelling the words in reverse.
"So, that's 'Enish ot, dleiw ot, dnammoc ot enim eb dna emoc yad fo t-hgil.'" They waited for something to happen, but the semi-dark and quiet room did not change.
"That's a bummer." Mabel said. "I was hoping for some fireworks!"
The group looked a little disappointed. Somehow, Rowan felt responsible. Of course, that was ridiculous, and Rowan reminded herself that magic was not supposed to be real. Even so, she felt oddly certain that it should have worked. "Here, let me try." She read the words softly once to be sure she had the pronunciation, then – "Enish ot, dleiw ot, dnammoc ot enim ed dna emoc yad fo t-hgil."
Suddenly her body locked into place. Rowan's chest tightened, and pressure seemed to swell and build, filling her. Her vision became blinded by a bright blue light and her scalp tingled with a strange energy. The others were plunged into darkness as the lightbulbs in the room shattered. Pacifica screamed, and Dipper pulled her under a nearby table. But Mabel stood, transfixed as Rowan's pupils glowed a luminescent purple and blue electricity sparked around her body. The pressure in Rowan's chest began to ache. Tears trickled down her face from the agony and pain racing through her body. Then, all at once, the energy left, streaming out of Rowan's fingertips and snapping into a small point in front of her. She felt this focal point more than she saw it. The blue light was dimming, and slowly her vision was turning a soft yellow.
Finally, she could move again. She opened her eyes and gasped for air. It felt like she had been drowning. But almost immediately she forgot to breathe again. There, inches from her face, was a ball of softly shining light floating in the air. Rowan wobbled, blinking. The light winked. She could feel a thin connection hanging in the air between the light and her mind, and a trickle of energy seemed to come from her, into the light.
Then, the connection was cut. Immediately the light collapsed in on itself and the room again went dark.