Dipper stared at his phone for a while in shock, not knowing how exactly to respond to Candy's message. Uh...wow.

Yeah, I expected you'd say something like that. Candy replied.

So, um...for how long?

How long what?

Er...can I call you? Maybe this would be easier in words.

As Dipper worried that he might be sending weird vibes to Candy, his phone rang with her number on the display. He answered as fast as humanly possible.

"I gotta keep my voice down." Candy whispered to Dipper through the phone. "Lights out was an hour ago. How long what?"

"Uh..." Dipper stuttered briefly before remembering what he was going to ask. "How long have your parents been missing?"

The line was silent, with nothing but phone static traveling through Dipper's ears for a couple of seconds.

"I mean, I don't want to make you uncomfortable or anything." Dipper quickly added. "If you don't wanna talk about it-"

"Three years ago." Candy interrupted, her tone slightly louder before she forced it back down to a whisper. "Three years ago exactly today, actually. One day I just came home from school and found them missing without a trace. All of my other family were in China, so I was put in an orphanage for a while before being shipped off to a 'soooo nice family' here in Gravity Falls."

From the tone of Candy's voice, Dipper could tell her life at home was a bit rough. "So Pearl and those twins also...?"

"All disappeared the same way, without a trace." Candy whispered. "The twins' parents disappeared nine years ago, and Pearl's disappeared six years ago. See the pattern? That's why Pearl thinks-"

Suddenly, Dipper heard muffled shouting coming from the background on Candy's end.

"Shoot." Candy grumbled, hanging up the phone abruptly.

After Candy hung up, Dipper saw no further reason to be awake, so he lied down in bed, thinking about all that Candy had told him for a while while his eyes slowly drifted.

"Could it be connected to...?" Dipper muttered to himself groggily, as his mind thought up a certain figure he had been familiar with before for a second or two. "No. It couldn't be."


"AHHHHHHHH!"

A loud, ear-piercing scream suddenly shifted Dipper out of a deep sleep. Barely stopping himself from falling out of bed due to the sudden shock, he sat straight up and realized the scream had come from his sister Mabel.

Dipper heard some more muffled conversations as well; it sounded like Wendy was out there, trying to calm Mabel down. Stan and Soos were talking, and Dipper was able to pick up little bits and pieces of their conversation that seemed unnerving.

"Can't believe they'd let him out..."

"It's dangerous out there now..."

Dipper's eyes shifted over to his clock. 5:49. They didn't have to be up until six for school. Something had clearly triggered this early wakeup call - something important.

Deciding whatever was going on was urgent right now and couldn't wait ten more minutes, Dipper leaped out of his bed into the living room. When he entered the room, the first thing he saw was Mabel in a broken state he had only seen her in a few times before, rocking back and forth with her body enclosed in a giant sweater. She called this "Sweater Town".

Soos, Wendy, and Stan all had looks of concern on their face as they turned from the television towards Dipper.

"Guys, what's going on?" Dipper asked. "I heard Mabel scream and-"

"Continuing on with our headline from earlier," The television anchorwoman suddenly loudly interrupted, "the Gravity Falls News Team has indeed been able to confirm that notorious child psychic Gideon Gleeful, who previously caused one of the most controversial events in the history of Gravity Falls, has been let out of prison ahead of his sentenced release time today."

Thump! Thump! Thump!

The room suddenly felt much heavier to Dipper as he processed the news. His heart was suddenly thumping out of his chest at a mile a minute, and he had to sit down on the couch to catch his breath.

"Why..." Dipper barely choked out, letting out a cough. Soos patted his back.

"Just let them explain, dude." Soos told Dipper. Dipper remained silent and tried to calm himself down as the news report continued.

"Parents in Gravity Falls have expressed concern about the psychic being released, as he plans to attend the highly-successful Gravity High starting today, being allowed to skip a grade due to his high test results during his in-prison schooling." The anchorwoman continued. "However, talking to Gideon and his father, they seem assured that the town will soon become warmed up to him again."

The faces of Bud and Gideon Gleeful suddenly filled the television set. The first thing Dipper noticed was despite how much two years had changed him and Mabel's appearances, Gideon hadn't changed a bit. Same little kid face with chubby cheeks, same height; same everything, it seemed.

"Spending hard time in a cell has really changed me." Gideon stated towards the camera, bringing the only immediate change in him to Dipper's attention; Gideon's voice sounded more squeaky now, much like Dipper's had been during his first summer in Gravity Falls. "I'm ready to go out there and make a difference in the world, and I have a feeling my fellow classmates will come to warm up to me once they see how I've reformed."

The news report ended with Gideon giving a smile to the camera - one Dipper wasn't sure, well, exactly just what it was - was it a sincere smile, or a smug smile of "I'm going to trick all you suckers into thinking I've changed"?

Dipper stared blankly at the screen for a couple of seconds before turning towards Soos again. "So, uh...wow."

"Good behavior my foot!" Grunkle Stan shouted. "Does no one remember how long that kid had us all fooled? He's doing it again, making a mockery out of this town..."

Wendy sighed. "Well, I certainly wouldn't feel comfortable going to any school with that little creep roaming around freely in it."

Mabel, for the first time since Dipper had awoken, peered up from Sweater Town and began to speak again, albeit weakly. "Well, it's not like we can just skip school..."

"Yeah, Mabel's right." Dipper stated. "Even if Gideon's there, we just gotta...I don't know, try to avoid him."

So Dipper and Mabel got ready for school as normal, despite the tightening in their throats and a painful sensation simultaneously elevating in both of their heads as they thought about seeing Gideon Gleeful again.

They both knew the other one was thinking about it, too. (Must've been a twin connection of sorts.)

As they headed out the door to the bus, Grunkle Stan stopped them, giving one last deal of advice: "Just...be careful."

Soos and Wendy nodded in agreement at Stan's warning. But it seemed like with Gideon Gleeful around, the word 'careful' lost all meaning.


A/N: So...Gideon's back. Poop.

Hope you all enjoyed this chapter. We'll be getting to see more of the Paranormal Club after next chapter. Who knows? Gideon might actually have a clue or two in order for them...

As usual, R&R highly desired. It'd really make me happy and stuff. See you all next time!