The dawn found Mabel and Dipper, bleary-eyed and yawning, in the back of Stan's ancient sedan. The three of them were headed to the lake – in a downpour. It was raining so hard they could hardly see the road out the windshield. If it hadn't been for their lack of sleep, the thought of their great uncle – cataracts and all – trying to see through the raindrops would have made them shriek with terror.

"Grunkle Stan, why do you hate us?" she asked, trying to rub the tired out of her eyes.

There was a large yellow-toothed smile on his face. "You two need some fresh air, and this time I'm gonna catch something! Something fish-shaped I mean. Besides, everyone knows there are two times to fish: when it's early, and when it's raining. We got the best of both worlds!"

Dipper, slumped forward against the seat belt because he had no power to sit upright, groaned long and loud. "Don't fish sleep when's it early?"

"I don't have an answer for that. Besides, we're probably the only ones dumb—brave, I mean brave enough to go out. We'll have all of those bass to ourselves."

Mabel was wholly unable to think. "For what? What are we gonna do with fish?!"

Still grinning, he adjusted he glasses. "Cook them. Mount them on our walls as proof of our fishing prowess. Sell them! I haven't figured out who's gonna buy 'em yet, but give me a minute. There's some sucker somewhere. Probably on the internet tubes or whatever you call it now." Suddenly his face dropped. "I'm just gonna assume I'm still on the road."

Too sleepy for his brain to recognize danger or process panic, Dipper responded like a zombie. He currently looked like one anyway. "Unnnnnngh."

By some miracle they reached the lake. While Stan hopped out of the car, umbrella in hand, to go rent a boat, his great niece and nephew more or less fell out onto the ground and laid there. "Dipper, we have to... we have to move," Mabel droned around a mouthful of sand.

His body and brain were still disconnected, leaving him an immobile pile. "Get to the trunk. Gotta get the umbrellas."

She managed to engage her limbs first and stand up, dashing to the rear of the car as the frigid rain penetrated her sweater. In her rush, she only pulled out one umbrella, a bright yellow thing with a huge smiley face on top. Instead of fumbling for the other, she went back to Dipper and knelt down beside him to try to protect him from the rain until he was able to move. "Hey. Hey. Broface. Wake up," she encouragred, gently patting his cheek. "Dipper! You're gonna drown!"

"I am up. Alive, I mean. Not literally up." He got to his knees, shaking with cold. "Where's Stan? Let's go push him into the lake."

After looking around, she gave him some help with standing. "In the shop, I guess. And we could, but who would drive us back?" Her face went blank. "On second thought it would probably be less dangerous if one of us were behind the wheel."

"No joke." They went to the trunk so he could get his own umbrella and the cooler full of soda. He began to drag it away toward the shore. "Look out there. I can't believe people are actually trying to fish in this disaster." Before long that included Stan, who raced out onto the lake screaming about making fish into trophies. "Wow. He forgot us."

"We couldn't go anyway, we ain't got any life jackets." Mabel peered through the deluge. "Sit on the shop porch and drink soda 'til we puke?"

Dipper shrugged his approval. "Sounds like a plan to me."

And so they did, watching the best – or at least most persistent – fishermen and women Gravity Falls had to offer fail hilariously at catching anything. "Um, how did Lazy Susan get her boat to turn upside down without falling out of it?" Mabel asked, pointing that way. The waitress was sitting on the capsized vessel, rowing toward the opposite end of the lake. "Look at her... uh, go. I guess."

"I don't know. It's way too early to brain." Half an hour passed as they tried to fully wake up. The rain eased some, but not much; most of the occupants of the smaller boats on the water had to bail constantly to keep afloat. This included Stan. "Bet you a dollar he sinks."

Mabel snorted. "I'd do better just giving you a dollar than take that bet."

"Ha! Man, I'm freezing." Dipper tried to hide in his vest as she did with her sweaters. "Hey, I meant to ask you. What do you think of the new girls?"

She shrugged a little. "They seem nice. Winnie's a little scary though. Kinda reminds me of Gideon except taller and prettier."

"Yeah, I was thinking the same thing." He stared off in thought. "You really think she got that tooth from a living dinosaur?"

"Come on, bro-bro, she'd have to be a freaking superhero to do that. She was just messing with us."

"Yeah. You're right." The conversation died there due to a pervasive, but distant noise that came from over their shoulders where the highway was. "What is that? Do you hear it?"

"Huh?" Mabel set her soda down and looked back. A few seconds passed; she let the sound get louder and clearer before trying to put a label on it. "Car? Sounds evil. There weren't any Transformer type death-bots in the journal, were there?"

"No, thank goodness." He stood and walked off the porch with Mabel not far behind. "Boy, you weren't kidding about the 'evil' part. It's like a dragon with psychosis."

The din was so apparent now that people on the lake were looking for its source. "This better not be aliens. I didn't get enough sleep for aliens."

Fortunately, the source was terrestrial – but no less breathtaking. A silver beast of a car slipped through the trees and pulled up beside Stan's old clunker. Its exhaust note was indescribable both in volume and tone, at least until the engine was cut and the two doors opened. The identical twins stepped out – Winnie had been driving – and waved at a stunned Dipper and Mabel.

"Is this a Lamborghini?!" he exclaimed, running over. "Wendy said you guys were rich, but whoa!"

"Great googly moogly," Mabel whispered, jaw dropped and one hand on her face. Her eyes were drawn to the odd interior color – black with green accents – and the enormous red brake calipers. "We heard you coming for miles!"

"Do you like it? It's very shiny!" Sue beamed at them, then at her sister. "I can't pronounce its name, though."

"Huracán. I believe it's Italian for hurricane?" Winnie shrugged. "Whatever. I like the noise it makes."

"Of course you do." Neither woman had umbrellas, so they followed the twins back to the shelter of the shop porch. "Why is your uncle fishing in a rainstorm?"

Mabel shook her head at him; he was the only one on the lake not trying to take a picture of the supercar with a camera or phone. "Because he's old and nobody's going to tell him what to do. And I think he has a vendetta against bass."

Sue blinked. "...interesting. Anyway, my sister wanted to apologize and there was a note on the door that said you were here. Actually, it said – and I quote – 'We are at the lake don't bother us go away'."

Dipper's brow furrowed. "Gee, I wonder who wrote that." This time they all looked toward Stan. He looked back and gave Winnie a wry grin. "Get any more dinosaur teeth?"

Realizing he took her statement yesterday as a joke, Winnie decided to run with it. "I'm afraid not." Her smile faded. "I didn't mean to seem so unhappy yesterday. I've been dealing with some... personal things." Her eyes darted over as Mabel glomped onto her right side. "Huh?"

She issued a few pats on the back. "S'okay. We all have days. Besides, Sue already apologized for you."

With a sigh, she relaxed and accepted the hug. "I know. I wanted to do it in person. I try not to come across as scary, but Sue is better at it than I am."

"It's cool." Dipper glanced back at their car. "Dang. I'm just waiting for Stan to figure out how much that thing cost and come over here looking for cash."

The red-eyed woman nudged her sister. "Which reminds me, what was the price on the invoice again?"

Winnie, still bearing a Mabel-shaped leech, shrugged again. "Two hundred and eighty-five thousand something. It's not like the money matters."

Several laws of physics were violated the moment she uttered those words. Stan appeared before them as if by magic, a broad smile on his face. The Pines recognized it as his semi-professional 'prepare to get conned' expression, while the other two twins were just startled by his sudden arrival. "Good morning, ladies! I'm Stan Pines, Gravity Falls' most beloved entrepreneur." His face screwed up. "Well, behind that guy who runs the arcade. And the Greasy's Diner guy. And the... fourth. I am at least the fourth most beloved entrepreneur in Gravity Falls. I couldn't help but notice your exceptional taste in motor vehicles." He thumbed over to the Lamborghini, eyebrows waggling.

"Grunkle Stan, don't you dare," Mabel warned, her eyes narrowed. "These our are new friends! Don't do the things!'

He put on his best insulted face and adjusted his glasses. "What things? I'm not doing any things. I'm simply complimenting the obvious financial acumen and/or enormous family inheritance of, uh, what are your names again?"

"I'm Winnie. This is Sue." The blue-eyed woman regarded Stan with a confused look. "How did you get over-

"Never mind that. Did you say that thing cost you almost three hundred grand?"

Sue crossed her arms. "Well, yes. So what?"

"Hmm. That's a pretty wad of dough to drop on a car, you know. Got any cash I could, uh, borrow? It'd be an investment of course. You'd get... stuff. A great ROI and compound interest and other words and acronyms." Stan rubbed his hands together, grinning like a madman. "And I'd get sweet, sweet cash! Everyone wins."

"Grunkle Stan!" Both Dipper and Mabel yelled at him this time.

The identical twins were by now engaged in a staring contest with each other. It got awkward after a few seconds – especially for the old man. "Oh boy, you're doing that thing these two do. That twins thing with the no talking. Stop it! Stop with the creepy! Use words like the rest of us!"

Their silent conversation was over. Winnie stood up and stared him dead in the eye. "If we actually did give you money, what would we get in return?"

"Well, uh... gonna be honest here, I didn't really expect you to consider the offer." He moved off a few steps and faced away while thinking.

"No! Don't do it!" Dipper yelled, waving his hands. "He'll rob you blind!"

Mabel agreed vehemently, but soon lost her train of thought. "Yeah! He'll... hee hee hee, he's kinda blind. A blind guy robbing people blind."

Sue also stood. Both sisters sported expressions that made the young Pines' skin crawl. "The last people that tried to steal from us didn't fare well," Sue said, her voice lacking all its usual cheerfulness. "I wouldn't recommend it."

"Okay, this just got tense," Dipper pointed out. "Stan, seriously. Leave them alone. They just moved in."

"But they're rich!" He looked remarkably pouty. "Throw me a bone! I'll... I'll give you free bobbleheads! They're Stantastic!"

His niece snapped her arm in the direction the lake. "No! No bones! Get back on your boat and go fish!"

"Awwwww." Stan walked off the porch, but whirled around and pointed at Winnie and Sue. "You're lucky the kids like you!" He received a pair of hellish glares in reply. "Yeesh. You two are grumpier than me. I didn't think that was possible." He turned away and went back toward the docks.

Mabel rubbed her face and sighed. "I am so sorry."

Sue was still displeased. "He seems... nice."

"He'll grow on you," Dipper said, sitting back down. "Believe it or not. Right now he probably just views you guys as tourists. Walking wallets full of cash."

"Like a big money pinata!" Mabel also sat, wincing at the splinters that jabbed into her thighs. "Yeowch! Stupid wood! Haven't you people heard of belt sanders?"

Winnie smoothed her hair back and sighed, releasing an invisible cloud of frustration. "Let's go home. I'm getting tired of the weather. Perhaps we'll drop by the shack if the weather clears up and see something interesting together."

"Sure!" Mabel stood and gave each a quick hug. "Really though we are so, so, so sorry. Once that man sees dollar signs... ugh."

At least the red-eyed woman had regained her usual cheer. "It's all right. See you later!" Just as soon as they were back in the car, she looked at Winnie and frowned. "We should actually get to the vacation part of our vacation, shouldn't we?"

"Tell that to the air." She started the engine and relished the noise it made. "It's driving me insane. Why would it feel like this? It's too similar."

They were pulling out and back onto the road, so Sue had to wait for the metallic apocalypse behind her to quiet down. "I agree, but what if we break something by finding out?" Winnie's face bent with anger. "Sister?"

"Don't you get tired of feeling like you have to walk on eggshells? I do." There was no answer. They drove on in whatever amount of silence the engine felt like giving them. "I thought the point of a vacation was to feel better. Maybe we should go back."

"But we've already made friends."

She just sighed and kept on driving. "Yes. At least something went right."

"And they know something odd is going on, even if they perceive it differently. I wish he had that journal. Maybe it would help put your mind at ease."

"Maybe." Winnie pulled up for a red light and glanced around. "I'm surprised at how similar things are here. They even drive on the right. We'd better bring some of the electronics with us when we return, though."

"Ooo, yes. Laptops are neat. I know someone who'll like them." They shared a grin. "I hope things are getting along well without us."

"I'm sure they're fine. If they needed us, they would come out here and get us."

"Right." Sue looked out her window at more people taking pictures of their car. "Uh, I think we're using the wrong kind of transportation. Everyone's staring at it."

"We could draw far more attention than this. Besides, you could call it 'hiding in plain sight'." Her twin launched the Lamborghini and headed for the hills. "Speaking of hiding, I think we can drop the nicknames. That boy's name is Dipper. Our real ones are no worse than his."

"Aw, I happen to like them. Honestly, yours is hilarious." A pointed look from her sister caused a laugh. "Besides, it's a chance for us to be someone new!"

Winnie's eyes narrowed. "I'm not sure I agree with that sentiment."

They found themselves back at the Mystery Shack just after noon. Once again, their ride attracted attention. This time it came from a tour group waiting to go in.

"Hey! You wanna take a picture of that thing, give me five dollars!" Stan demanded, standing between them and the Lamborghini to block their views.

Eyes rolling, the twins ignored him and walked to the side of the house. The moment Sue opened the door and looked to the living room, where Dipper and Mabel were, Wendy burst in through the gift shop. "Holy crap!" she yelled, pointing outside. "Do you see that thing parked out front?"

Dipper chuckled at her. "We know, it's theirs. By the way, hey."

Winnie couldn't help but smile at the redhead's slack-jawed look. "Hello." The sensation she felt before wafted around, just out of reach of her usual senses. Sue felt it too – both twins' eyes narrowed when they glanced at each other. "It sure is... muggy."

"Yeah," Mabel agreed around a mouthful of some chips. "I don't even need a drink! I just breathe and get gallons of water."

Wendy interrupted, walking closer. "C-can I go check out your car?" she asked timidly. "I wanna post a pic on Facebook. Tambry is gonna freak out."

"Sure!" Sue replied happily. "I still feel like we went overboard," she added, addressing her sister with crossed arms after the redhead was gone.

"I do not care." Winnie's interest was on the TV. The volume was down, but on screen was an odd-looking boy with poofy white hair. He appeared to be in a prison. "What are you watching?"

"Ugggggggggggh," Mabel groaned dramatically. "Lil' Gideon's Big House. This is the jerk I was talkin' about yesterday."

"And we're not watching it, we're waiting on the next show," her brother corrected. "Which happens to be Mabel's favorite."

"Happy little clouds!" she blurted out, throwing her hands into the air. "Woooo!"

"I... see. I guess." Winnie nudged Sue, now standing on her right, to stop her giggling. "We were wondering if you'd give us the special tour now. The one you mentioned yesterday."

"Aww, but also yay! Let me get my sneakers!" Mabel was gone in a flash, thumping up the stairs before Dipper could even stand.

"Heh. You know, it's nice to have a few more people willing to accept something weird is going on around here," he admitted, straightening his vest. "I mean, besides Wendy, but I think it bothers her a little. You guys don't seem to mind."

"Nope. We've seen things you people wouldn't believe!" Sue's chipper tone made the words sound a little odd.

Dipper's face went blank. "Oh. I'll just not even ask."

"Good idea." Winnie moved them all toward the door as Mabel hopped back down. "This should be interesting."

Oh, was it ever. The four walked away from the Mystery Shack and toward town. One of the Pines would start weaving a tale of insanity only for the other to take over and finish it. Some of the stories had only one narrator, such as the tale of the Manotaurs. Others, like the Summerween Trickster, were a tennis match of competing viewpoints. Winnie and Sue were content to listen, only speaking when checked on. Thanks to their leisurely pace, by the time Gravity Falls came into view the identical twins had a full overview of the Pines' summer escapades.

"Truth teeth," Sue mumbled while looking around. "I'm not sure where to go with that."

Mabel shuddered with the recollection. "Stan's mouth is one place to avoid. Ugh."

"Hey, let's go somewhere none of us have been." Dipper waved them toward a side street instead of going downtown. "The journal mentioned something about the old hospital. Some sort of weird ghosts that are supposed to haunt it."

"Wouldn't we have to break in?" Mabel squealed at his nod. "I love breaking into things! We've gotten so good at it, too." Winnie and Sue shared a confused look, but stayed quiet.

Their target was toward the hills, but not as far as the conclave of rich residents, nor as high. It took the form of a square, three-floor, concrete building missing several windows. The parking lot was cracked and riddled with grassy streaks. More than one light post was absent. All of it was surrounded by a high chain-link fence topped with barbed wire. Even the road that went by seemed abandoned, with only one or two cars going past as they walked closer. Despite the sun shining down it made for an unsettling scene.

"Dang, talk about pegging the needle on the creep-o-meter," Mabel grumbled. Her eyes went up to the fence. "How are we gonna get over this?"

Dipper frowned at the razor wire. "Let's check the back."

There wasn't anything helpful to be found in the rear. The fence was unbroken all the way around the property. Winnie and Sue were deadly silent. That wafting spark of sensation was present again, stronger than in the town, but not quite as potent as the pall over the Mystery Shack. While the Pines fussed with an entry plan, they walked off to have a private chat. "It's gathered here, too." Winnie concluded. "Did it follow us?"

"No... it doesn't feel the quite the same." Sue's eyes darted between gaps in the glass. "Let's cut the fence. They're not looking."

The blue-eyed woman was a bit surprised. "You want to go in that badly? We could just pretend to give up and come back tonight."

"No." Her tone was like steel. "Something... something about it is bothering me."

"All right."

Winnie stepped to the fence and dragged her fingertip along the links, about eye-level, for a few feet. The metal gave way to some unseen force. Sue did the same, except vertically, and in a few seconds a section drooped away to step through. "I suppose I could have done this to the dinosaurs," she admitted, looking a bit embarrassed.

"Sometimes, sister, there is no substitute for a punch." Winnie spun and called the kids with hands cupped around her mouth. "There's a hole here!"

"Sweet!" Mabel replied, running over with Dipper in tow. "Ha, beat ya to it."

"I wasn't ready," he countered with a glare. His eyes went to the hole. "Man, how did we miss this? I wonder if someone's been stealing stuff. This looks like it was cut."

His sister shrugged, skipping along after the other twins, who had already entered. "No cares given. As long as they aren't in there now. Then I might care."

The interior of the hospital was infinitely more dreadful. Light from outside didn't travel far, leaving the empty interior fringed by darkness. It was hard to tell much about the color scheme. All the paint was faded badly. Broken fixtures hung from the ceiling. Cracks riddled the tile floors. To fight the shadows, Dipper reached into his vest and produced a flashlight. "Good thing I always carry this around."

"Yeaaaaaah," Mabel droned, her mind clearly elsewhere. "Man. It is depressing as balls in here."

"Why do you think it was abandoned?" Winnie asked, leading them past the reception desk and toward a stairwell. A distinct pang of dread was settling in. Sue's eyes said it had hit her too.

"The journal didn't really say, just that something bad happened. So bad they built a new hospital. And everyone that came here afterward went missing." He swept the light around as they went. "Wow. I did not think this through."

"Aw, it'll be fine. There are four of us! We can deal with it." Mabel's optimism was choked by a cloud of dust as they climbed the stairs. She coughed for several seconds. "Although breathing would be a thing I'd like to do right now..."

The identical twins had run out of words. They communicated instead with touches and glances in the dim light. Both were coming to a conclusion: something else was here. The sting of whatever it was saturated the musty air, though it had a different pitch than outside. As they left the stairwell and moved through the second floor, that sensation grew. Before long they ignored the Pines' conversation to focus on other voices drifting around. Soon they entered a large space. The flashlight's glow revealed it didn't have the same color scheme as everywhere else; it was pink and blue, at least where paint still existed. There were also faded balloons and bears and other images everywhere. A pungent odor hung in the air, so strong Mabel had to wave it away from her face.

"Ew, what the heck?" she complained. "What is that-" Her eyes bulged when the flashlight swept across a haphazard cluster of bones in the corner. They didn't seem kid-sized. "Uh... guys?"

"Yeah! Yeah. Oh boy." Dipper avoided shining the light on them again. "Is anyone else cold?"

"Well, duh. No windows," Mabel pointed out.

"But it's so hot outside. It should be warmer than this." He noticed the silence from their companions and shone the light at them. They were staring at the skeletal remains. "You guys still with us?"

"Something is speaking," Sue whispered. Her eyes traveled everywhere but where the kids were.

Winnie was doing much the same. "No, it's not words. What is this?"

"Wait, what? You hear something?" Mabel strained to detect sound. "All I hear is me trying to hear stuff."

Sue snapped her fingers for attention. "Hold on. Look." A tiny yellow ball of light, no bigger than a fingernail, was floating in front of her face.

"Oh! A fairy!" Mabel approached excitedly, only to frown after getting close. "Aw, it's just a ball of mystery light. Boo."

"There are more!" Dipper exclaimed, hand raised toward the ceiling. Hundreds of them floated there, looking like a swarm of fireflies in the darkness. More winked to life as they watched. "Great. Hopefully these won't make me dress up in stupid costumes. Or add me to that pile of death over there. Oh man. Please be nice ghosts. Please?"

Before Mabel could agree with him, the orbs began to coagulate. They formed a huge, wobbling sphere of light in the corner opposite of the bones. "Whoa! W-whoa..." She wilted on her feet and stumbled, along with Dipper, away from the thing. "Why do I wanna cry?"

He already was, based on the sound of his voice. "Is it doing something to us?"

Winnie and Sue, however, were stoic – at least until the double doors they'd entered through slammed shut and caused them to jump. "It certainly doesn't want us to leave," the blue-eyed woman said, her body tensing up.

"I... what's the point of even trying," Mabel droned suddenly. "I just... want to sleep."

Dipper's tone was even more gloomy. "Yeah. Let's stay here."

The massive sphere began to pulse. When Sue walked up to it, however, it ceased and grew dim. Winnie joined her a few seconds later.

"Lonely," Sue muttered. "And sad. I hear tones without words. They sound human, but what are they saying?" When the answer hit her, she let out a long, pained sigh. "Sister, these sound like children."

"Do you mean-" She matched the noise against one from a memory and slumped forward. "If they died too young, they never would have had a chance to get attached to anything. That's..." Her voice failed.

Not that the rest of her statement mattered right now. They looked back at the kids, lying on the floor and curled up. "You can't hurt us," Sue informed the glowing mass.

"It doesn't want to, it just wants to play." Mabel sounded like a robot by this point.

"They'll die here if we don't do... you know."

Winnie looked at Sue for a long time. "What if they can't keep our secret?" she asked, nodding over her shoulder.

For this, she had no answer. They stared into the yellow light, each wrangling with a set of thoughts that weighed a thousand tons. It cried out to them with a chorus both strange and familiar all at once. Their faces might have been blank, but those voices battered their hearts with an inconceivable sadness – a sadness borne of actions they would have moved mountains to forget.

Sue finally found the strength to reply. Her fingers curled up into tight fists as the sphere began to pulse again. "I don't care. There will be no more blood on my hands. I'd rather they live and shout it from the rooftops than allow them to die in ignorance."

"Very well." Their stances became more martial as the light moved towards them. "Time to throw away our leashes for a while."