Cassandra rolled over, planning on going back to sleep. When she hit the back of the couch, she sat up with a jolt - not fully awake by any means, but sure that she needed to be, and soon. She looked around her Great-Grunkle Ford's study.
It was empty, lit mostly by the light of the early morning filtering through the window. Her eyes wandered, looking for any kind of time piece, and discovered that it was 7:30 in the morning. She rubbed her eyes, and wondered if maybe she could've slept a little longer. She got up from the sofa and paused to check her pockets - tape measure in one, sketch of the wheel in the other. All good.
Cassandra stepped cautiously out of the room, not sure what to expect from the house. She didn't run into anyone as she snuck back up to the attic room, and sat cross-legged on the sleeping bag. She wondered if she should wake Ashwin, laying next to her, jaw slack. She paused, taking in the stillness of the room. She looked over the light filtering through the window, how the twins had decorated their room, the complexities of the old wood… but soon, she turned to Ashwin, nudging his arm.
It took a few nudges, but with a snort he was conscious, trying hard to blink away the disorienting sleep. He grunted in question.
"I have what I need," she spoke softly, "we can go home."
"Really?" he responded, sitting up and trying to rub the sleep out of his eyes with greater success. "Cool."
"We should get dressed."
"Yeah, alright."
Dressed, the pair stood towards the door, taking stock.
"You have the tape measure?" Ashwin asked.
"Yep," she assured him, patting the hunk of metal in her pocket.
"And this was all we came with, wasn't it?"
"Yeah."
"Should we, like, leave a note or something?"
Cassandra shrugged.
"Where would we get paper?"
"I don't know, we-"
"Guys?" Mabel squeaked, propped up on one elbow and trying to work the sleep out of her eyes just as her future-son had done, "What are you doing?"
"Well, uh, we were just about to head home," Cassandra admitted.
"You don't want breakfast?" she asked, slightly more awake with each word.
The cousins exchanged looks, and with a twinge in her stomach Cassandra realized they were returning to a time several hours away from a meal.
"Actually, breakfast would be wonderful."
Fed and reinvigorated, Cassie and Ashwin stood outside The Mystery Shack.
"Thanks for everything," Cassandra said to the Pines sending them off. (Stan was least involved, simply hovering by the door, behind his brother and the twins on the porch.)
"It was nice meeting you!" Mabel beamed, "Maybe we'll see you again some time?"
Ashwin and Cassandra exchanged looks.
"Yeah," Cassandra responded, "yeah, we'll see you again. Sometime."
"You guys have all been really nice," Ashwin added, "Thank you, really."
"Hey, no problem!" Dipper insisted, "You guys make pretty good monster hunters."
"Thanks," Cassandra smiled. They would need to be good for what awaited them. "Well, um, see ya'," she concluded, tossing the group a wave as they stepped back into the forrest. Goodbyes were called through the trees, but soon the cousins were alone in the woods.
"It's weird," Cassandra noted, "we're going to see all of them again soon, but at the same time… we may never see them again."
"Maybe the time travel guy will let us use the tape measure again!" Ashwin said.
"I doubt it after what I've done," Cassandra sighed, coming to a stop and pulling out the tape measure. "What do you think, is this as good a place as any?"
"Looks good to me," Ashwin agreed.
"I promise, I'll pay more attention this time," she assured him, taking her time to measure out years, months, days. Ashwin clutched her arm. "With any luck, this will get us home."
They held their breaths, and let the tape measure snap back on itself.
They popped back into existence in front of a still-stunned Blendin Blandin.
"How-How DARE you!" he shrieked, "I said you could go back hours, not years! You've missed your departure time by an hour!"
"Early or late?" Cassandra asked.
"Late! You left an hour ago! Now give me that before you cause a-any- any MORE trouble!" he squawked, snatching the device away. He yanked the tape and was gone, before Cassandra could offer even so much as a 'sorry.'
"All's well that ends well?" Ashwin offered half-heartedly.
Cassandra sighed, and pulled the scrap of paper Ford had given her out of her pocket.
"Whatever just happened, we need to get these people together. Bill could be trying to destroy the world."
"What?! That little song-and-dance corn-chip?!" Ashwin spluttered.
"Yep. You know that thing nobody would tell me about?"
Ashwin nodded.
"Bill almost brought on the apocalypse," she explained.
"Woah. See, catastrophe! I was right!"
"What a thing to be right about," she muttered, looking over the symbols. "Let's go see the Corduroys first."
It was Paul who answered the door, Danny and Faith peeking out from behind him.
"Oh, hey dudes," he grinned at the two younger teens, "what's up?"
"Hey guys!" Faith chirped. "Are we going home already?"
"Hey, Faith," Ashwin responded, kneeling down to his little sister's level. "we're not taking you back quite yet-"
"We're looking for your mom," Cassandra told Paul.
"Oh, man, she's not here," he explained. "she had to go into the woods to check on something. Why?"
"Uh… we need her for something," was all Cassandra could think to say, "can you call us when she gets back?"
"Sure. I'll shoot Ashwin a message."
"Would you?" Ashwin asked wistfully, "That'd be great."
"OK, see you guys later," Cassandra concluded. "OK, so, Ms. Wendy isn't here right now," Cassandra said, "not a major setback. She'll be back, right? So… let's go see Mr. Valentino. He lives over that way, right?"
Mrs. Valentino met them at the door.
"No, Rob went to see his parents. I don't know when he'll be back."
Cassandra frowned.
"OK, well, thanks anyway," she responded. "could Lilith let us know if he comes back?"
"Of course, dear."
"Thanks, Ms. Tambry!" Ashwin waved as they headed for The Mystery Shack.
"Mom and Dad go for breakfast on Tuesdays, remember?" Gabby told them when they came looking for Soos. "He's not here."
"Why do you need him?" Stan asked, the Mr. Mystery fez perched on his head.
"Um… no reason," Cassandra said, "we'll come back later."
"I'm getting a little worried," Ashwin muttered as they left The Shack, "I mean, we've got three people we can't find."
"Six."
"Six?!"
"I don't know how we'll get our Great-grunkles into town, and I don't even know who 'Fiddleford' is, and we've come up empty handed on three people already! Oh, and Dad's possessed, so that might take us up to seven missing symbols."
"We can't defeat a demon with only three people!"
"First let's see if we can find anybody," Cassandra returned, heading towards the Gleefuls' cabin.
But again, they came up empty handed as Elowen answered the door.
"What are you doing here?" she asked, little Gilda watching TV on the sofa behind her.
"Elowen?" Cassandra spluttered, "Where's Mr. Gleeful?!"
"The Gleefuls went into the city for a day off. Why?"
Cassandra tried to form words, but nothing was working. After some spluttering, the truth spilled out,
"My dad's been possessed and the world might end and we need these ten people to stop it, but I can't find any of them."
"What?"
"You heard me."
"Woah. That's kinda' nuts."
"Yeah," Cassandra agreed.
"So, what's on the paper, again?"
"Oh, just a series of symbols. Apparently they're all relevant to people that were here thirty-"
"Isn't that Gilda's pendant?" Elowen piped up, pointing to Gideon's star.
"What?"
"Isn't it? And Lilith has that heart on a necklace."
"She does?" Cassandra asked.
"Yeah, she totally does!" Ashwin confirmed.
All of a sudden Cassandra was practically slapped in the face by what she'd seen only moments before-
"Stan Ramirez had Great-Grunkle Stan's fez, and Gabby has a t-shirt with that question mark on it!" she realized, "Do you know what this means?!"
Elowen and Ashwin shook their heads.
"We shouldn't be looking for the old symbol holders, we should be looking for new ones! Elowen!" she yelped, causing the other girl to flinch, "Elowen, those glasses look just like yours!"
Elowen squinted at the doodle.
"Oh my god, you're right," she agreed, pulling the frames out of her pocket.
"OK, so, we need you, and the Ramirez twins, and-" Cassandra hesitated, turning her attention to the toddler in the poofy dress, "…and Gilda."
"Gilda?! Hang on," Elowen retorted, voice lowered, "I thought you just said the world was ending! And you want to bring a toddler into that?!"
"She has the amulet!" Cassandra insisted, "We need her to complete the circle."
"Well, until you have all your ducks in a row, I'm gonna' stay here and keep the toddler out of danger."
"Sounds good," Cassandra accepted, "we'll get everybody else together and call you when we're ready."
"Alright."
"See you in a little bit," Cassandra concluded, heading back to the paths, pulling her cousin behind her. "OK, so the plan's changed," she muttered, only a little bit for his benefit, "we need to go back and get Lilith, and the Ramirez twins, and- oh, the llama is probably Ms. McGucket! You remember her?"
Ashwin responded with a blank stare.
"The librarian! She has cute earrings."
"How do you remember this?!"
"Unlike you, I've been back to the library," Cassandra pointed out. "so let's see, that's six of them covered… what about the ice bag?"
They paused for a moment, squinting at the paper as though it had the answers deeper in the details. A twinge in Cassandra's shoulder sent her train of thought running: Ow, monster bite- Gnome bite- ice for bite-
"BRENDA!" she realized with a snap, "Not only does she seem to fit the cool-under-pressure concept, but she actually gave me ice! Come on!" she insisted, heading out with more gusto.
None of said gusto had diminished when they knocked on Ms. Valentino's door again.
"Hello again," Tambry said, opening the door to find the same children from only a little while earlier.
"Hi," Cassandra cut right to the chase, "can we talk to Lilith?"
"Sure, hun," she stepped away from the door to get her daughter, and Ashwin turned to Cassandra.
"Let me handle this one," he insisted. Lilith was at the door before Cassandra had time to respond.
"Yeah?" Lilith asked, in a comparatively less somber mood. "What's up?"
"Hey, Lilith," Ashwin began, "you doing good?"
"Yeah…" Lilith responded with some apprehension.
"Listen, we need your help. All you have to do is, uh-" he turned to Cassandra, realizing he didn't really know what this whole banishing ritual entailed.
"Hold hands," Cassandra told her, "you just gotta' hold two people's hands."
"What?"
"Just, trust us, Lilith. We really kinda' need you to do this."
"Why?"
The cousins hesitated.
"We'll explain once we get all the people together," Cassandra decided.
"All the people?" Lilith echoed.
"That need to hold hands," Cassandra explained. "just, be outside The Mystery Shack in half an hour, OK?"
Ashwin and Cassandra rushed into The Mystery Shack next.
"Gabby! Stan! Can you help us?" Cassandra shouted, rushing up to the counter.
"Sure, kiddo, what's up?" Gabby said.
"A bunch of people - mostly other kids - are gonna' show up here in about half an hour, OK?"
"…OK," Gabby accepted reluctantly.
"Great. See you in half an hour!" Cassandra said. She began to rush out the door, but paused for a moment to grab a hat off the shelf - blue and white - to replace the one she'd left in the rental cabin, before bolting back out the door again.
Cassandra texted Elowen the plan as they headed for the library, where they had to slow down quite a bit to step up to the desk with minimal suspicion.
"Hello, Cassandra, how can I help you?" Kathy McGucket smiled at them.
"Uh…" Cassandra realized she might need to tell more of the truth to get an actual adult on her side. "We need you to meet us at The Mystery Shack in half an hour- actually, more like twenty minutes."
"Now, why is that?" she asked, looking over the top of her glasses.
"So, um, does this look familiar to you at all?" Cassandra asked, pulling out the paper.
Kathy pushed up her glasses,
"The figure in the center is… a little familiar. Where did you get this?"
"My Great-Grunkle Ford. Listen-"
"Mr. Pines?!" she spluttered. "What do you need from me?"
"To be at The Shack in twenty minutes. You're this symbol here," Cassandra explained, pointing out the llama.
"I'll be there," Kathy assured her.
It was on their way to find Brenda that an unwelcome voice reached their ears.
"Hey, Pines,"
Cassandra growled, not bothering to turn to look at the squat little boy striding up to her.
"Seen any, oh, I don't know, demons, lately?" Mervin asked.
She stopped in her tracks,
"Why?"
"So… is that a no?" he prompted.
"Why?" she asked again, her tone grimmer.
"I- I was just wondering if, maybe, you'd been visited by-"
"Yes, Mervin. I have seen a demon. That one we woke up a few days ago. Why do you ask?" She snapped.
"I- I was just wondering. Did that, uh, change your perspective on anything, or-?"
"Mervin, I don't know what you're trying to pull out of me, but I don't really have time for this, since that hell-spawn of a nacho chip happens to be currently possessing my father and TRYING TO DESTROY THE WORLD."
"W-what?" Mervin stammered, "Destroy the-"
"Oh, and, you know, just as icing on the cake, he might kill my dad!" she added, turning to walk away.
"K-kill-? That wasn't part of the deal!" Mervin whimpered, rushing back up beside her. "I- I just wanted him to scare some sense into you-"
"What?" Cassandra hissed, turning on him again. "WHAT did you just say?"
"I- I wanted him to scare some-"
"Mervin, what did you do?" she asked, voice low and full of unspoken threats.
"I- I summoned Bill to get back at you," he explained. "You've been stealing all my thunder, and-and I thought-"
"You?!" she shrieked, "You summoned Bill?! I've been beating myself up for summoning the thing that'll kill Dad, and it was YOU?!"
"Y-yes?" he stammered, Cassandra looming over him. She took a deep breath, and almost turned away.
But in an instant Mervin was on the ground, dazed, a red-tinted splotch on his jaw where Cassandra's fist had made contact - thumb on the outside, arm bent around 90 degrees, a left-hook just like her Great-Grunkle Stan taught her.
"You son of a bitch," she spat, before wincing at the dull pain in her knuckles. She'd never actually punched anyone before, and damned if it didn't sting. "Goddamnit," she hissed, turning away and starting to walk back towards The Shack.
"Hey, I know he's a terrible person," Ashwin piped up as she got farther away, still standing right where he'd been when Mervin walked up to them, "but he's bleeding."
"Serves him right," Cassandra responded, not bothering to turn back, but not walking any farther, either.
Mervin didn't dare speak. He just stared at the blood his glove had picked up from under his nose.
Ashwin stood between the two, glancing back and forth. Mervin sniffed, inadvertently gaining Ashwin's attention, and the older kid shot him a look of concern,
"Are- are you crying?" Ashwin asked, taking a step closer to him.
"No!" Mervin insisted, "It just hurts, is all. It's not like I've never been punched before."
"Cassie, he's crying," Ashwin told her.
"I don't care!" she snapped back. "Are you coming or not?"
"Mervin," Ashwin said, kneeling down in front of him, "do you know what you did?"
Mervin just glared back at him, resenting his tone. So Ashwin would just have to get more serious.
"Mervin, you fucked up bad," Ashwin reiterated, "you get that, right?"
They stared at each other for a moment.
Mervin looked at the dirt. After a moment of hesitation, he nodded.
"Good. So, if you know you fucked up, do you want to help us fix it?"
"What?!" Cassandra hollered, finally turning to look at her cousin, "Why should we bring him?"
"We're still missing some symbols, right?" Ashwin said, "He carries that binder everywhere! You're telling me he's not the hand?"
"That's ridiculous," Cassandra scoffed, "Great-Grunkle Ford is the hand."
"But he's not here," Ashwin reminded her, "just like everyone else that should be on the wheel. We have to make it up."
"No. He's nothing like Great-Grunkle Ford."
"Cassie, nobody's really like the other people. We just have to make do-"
"Well at least Ford's really polydactl!" she snapped.
"Um, a-acutally," Mervin squeaked, regaining their attention. He struggled to his feet and held up a hand, blood-stained glove removed, and wiggled his fingers - all six of them.
Cassandra just turned away. Ashwin hesitated a moment before adding,
"We need you at The Shack in fifteen minutes," and following his cousin back towards Brenda's house.
Cassandra was still not really up for talking when they first arrived, but Grenda Von Fundchauser would have none of that.
"The Pines kids!" she boomed, scooping them up in a bear hug. "Come in, come in!" she insisted. (Though they didn't exactly have a choice - she picked them up in her hug and didn't put them down again until they reached the living room.) "What can we do for you?"
"We need to talk to Brenda," Ashwin explained, "it's a little bit urgent."
"BRENDA!" Grenda hollered, and in an instant her eldest daughter was there.
"What's up?" she responded, leaning into the room.
"The Pines kids need to talk to you!"
"Oh, cool," she accepted, joining them in the living room.
"Can you meet us- wait," Ashwin looked over Cassandra's shoulder at the wheel, counting off the symbols, "actually, can you come with us to The Mystery Shack?"
"Sure," Brenda said without hesitation. "let's go."
"Have fun, kids!" Grenda beamed as they headed out, "Try to be back by dinner time!"
"No problem!" Brenda assured her. "Right?" she added, turning to the cousins.
"Hopefully," Cassandra responded.
There was some silence as they walked down the road, broken after a little while by Ashwin.
"Hey, Cass?"
His cousin grunted back.
"How dangerous is what we're about to do?"
Brenda perked up, interested in the answer as well.
"I don't know," Cassandra admitted.
There was a few moments more of silence between the three teenagers, Ashwin fidgeting slightly, before making a decision.
"I have something I gotta' do," he concluded, heading off the path. "I'll meet you there."
Ashwin walked through the woods, keeping a good pace, and arrived quickly at the Corduroy house. He knocked, and again, Paul answered.
"Oh, hey, dude," the tall red-head grinned, "sorry, my mom's still not back."
"That's OK-"
"Ash!" Faith chirped, bounding up to him, "What's up?"
"Hey, Faith," he replied, getting down on her level and giving her a tight hug, "I'll come get you in just a little bit, but right now I've gotta' talk to Paul for a second, OK?"
"OK."
"Alone."
"OK," she repeated with a shrug, skipping back into the house.
"Do you think she can still hear us?" Ashwin asked after a moment, his voice low.
"Nah, the TV's pretty loud."
"OK. So, I'm about to go do something kinda' dangerous," Ashwin explained, "and I don't really know how bad it could get. And I don't think it's super likely, but there's, like, a ten percent chance I might not come back? So, could you maybe look after Faith? If something happens to me?"
"Of course," Paul assured him, caught a little off-guard by Ashwin's seriousness.
Ashwin nodded, reassured, and started to leave, but something brought him back. He took a deep breath, and let the words scramble out.
"Also I think you're really cool, and really cute, and I've had a crush on you like this whole time and you're still probably better off with Lilith I just thought maybe if I'm gonna' die I should tell you, OK bye!" he concluded before turning tail and running away, not willing to wait and see Paul's reaction.
Cassandra and Brenda reached The Shack to find most of the other symbols represented, standing outside. They wouldn't have thought much of the kids gathering outside, if it wasn't for Gabby.
"Cassie!" she rushed up to them, unable to hide the concern on her face, "Cassie, your dad was just here."
Cassandra's stomach sank uncomfortably.
"What?"
"He was just here, told us something was going on outside, and locked the door behind us! What's up with him?"
"Uh… it's probably better if I tell everybody at once-"
"And he went behind the vending machine," Stan added, "why would he do that?!"
Cassandra did not feel good about this at all. She looked over the symbols, waiting for the group to be complete, and hesitated on the shooting star and the pine tree. She'd thought maybe she could still get her dad and her aunt into the circle, but-
The light bulb went on as Ashwin jogged up. The design on his favorite t-shirt suddenly held a deeper meaning.
"Ashwin!" she shouted, "You're the shooting star!"
"What?" he perked up, "Am I?"
"Yes, of course! But then, who's the tree-?" all eyes turned on her. "What?"
"Have you looked in a mirror lately?" Elowen asked.
"What?"
"The hat, kiddo!" Gabby told her, pulling the cap off, "It's got the tree on it!"
"Oh my god," she wondered why that hadn't hit her sooner.
"But, what's going on?" Brenda asked, "Let us in on the secret, Cass."
Cassandra took a deep breath, and began her explanation, the ten symbols gathered around.
Mervin still clutched the photocopied journal, Elowen wore her glasses and held one of Gilda's hands, the amulet tucked safely in her pocket. Gabby had her handyman shirt on, of course, and Stan wore his fez lopsided, beside the better-kempt Kathy McGucket, complete with llama earrings. Lilith's heart-shaped pendant caught the light, and Brenda, though concerned, showed no signs of the stress being placed on them all. As she formed a plan, Cassandra exchanged looks with her cousin, who gave her an assured smile. They were ready.
Or at least, as ready as they would ever be.
—
—
—
Back in twenty-sñeventy-thirteen (also known as 01 ATB - After Time Baby) Blendin pocketed the time measure. He felt he had done the right thing, and though he knew the time council would not approve it was a lot easier to get away with things without the omniscient Time Baby around. He allowed himself a smile.
"She did just what I expected."
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