And so they found themselves wandering through the dark woods, Wendy up front as a guide. The kids hadn't stopped babbling since they'd left the graveyard. Dipper and Mabel had demanded – begged, really – not to fly to the Mystery Shack, and before long Winter knew why: they were buying time to talk things out.

"Dude, there's no way he'd know," Dipper insisted nervously, speaking more to himself than his sister. "He doesn't believe any of this stuff!"

"Yeah. Yeah. And he's not so heartless that he'd let us live in a house where-" Mabel fell silent and wretched a couple of times. "I keep connecting baby murder with the shack now and I just wanna cry forever."

"Yeah, I feel ya, man," Wendy said over her shoulder. "How long has the place been there? Maybe he built it on a vacant lot without knowing what was up, huh?"

Dipper latched onto her logic for dear life. "Of course! That has to be what happened. Please. Please let it be what happened."

Soos was unnervingly quiet. A frazzled Mabel was getting fed up with his silence. "Hey! Are you alive over there?" she asked harshly. "Come on! Do, you know, Soos things! Make us smile! We need a smile!"

"Sorry, hambone, I'm just a little befuddled right now," he murmured in reply.

"Befuddled. Befuddled? We might be living and working in a magical death factory and the best you've got is befuddled?!"

Her brother was at her side in an instant. "Mabel, calm down! I'm sure there's a perfectly logical expla—hold on, I'm trying to apply logic to Gravity Falls. Never mind. There's gotta be a reason, though. Let's just hear what Grunkle Stan has to say."

She emitted a sharp sigh. "It better be good, otherwise we're stealing a car and going home. Home, home. Maybe Winter can fly us there."

That snapped Winter out of her reverie and back into the conversation. "Where is home? I thought you lived here."

"California," Dipper sighed. "Look, we need to know who knows what before we make any rash decisions. Let's just... go."

It wasn't an easy trip, but with Wendy's guidance they crunched through the night until reaching the highway that ran in front of the Mystery Shack. Like Summer before them, they searched the clearing with nervous eyes for anyone they didn't recognize. Nothing suspicious seemed to be afoot, so they darted across the road and charged right at the main entrance. Now Winter was up front – just in case anything attacked.

"Sure is quiet," Mabel noted anxiously, hands wringing. She could barely see a light from the living room as they drew closer. "Someone's here. Let's grab the spare key and go in through the shop."

"I hope the cops or whoever didn't pay Stan a visit while we were gone," Dipper said. He beat everyone up the steps but froze when he found the door unlocked and slightly ajar. "Hey, why is this unlocked...?"

Summer, leaning against the counter, waved a surprised hello when he opened it. "What are you doing here?" Her eyes widened when the rest of the group filed in. "And you... and you, and especially you, sister."

"Wilhelm gave us an address to look at. This one," Winter replied gravely.

"Why are you here, girlfriend?" Mabel demanded with her arms crossed. "Oh. Wait. Did Stan call you for help? Is he okay?! Did anybody-"

"I'm fine, kid." He came through the living room entrance, cleaning his glasses. "So, you and Summer are magicians, huh? Pretty neat." The kids tackled his legs in a hug, making him chuckle. "Yeah, yeah, it's nice to see you too. Don't wrinkle my pants."

Winter let them have their moment. Surprisingly, it was Wendy who turned out to be impatient. "Mister Pines, we've got a question. And don't laugh at us, 'cause it's serious."

"I'm not giving you a pay raise," he quipped. The looks he got in reply, especially from Mabel and Dipper, made the color drain from his cheeks. "Uh... you're makin' me nervous. Do I need to flee the country?"

"We just talked to a ghost, dude," Soos explained. "And he told us to come here."

Stan laughed a little and slid his glasses back on, hellbent on maintaining the facade. "A ghost! Come on, Soos, I know you know better than to believe that hoo-ha."

"Is there, or is there not, a portal somewhere in this house?"

After Dipper dropped the hammer, they all wallowed in awkward silence – except the identical twins, who stood together and waited patiently for their friends or Stan to find the words. The old man clammed up, however. Only the arrival of Waddles, who nearly jumped into Mabel's arms, gave them respite from the tension.

"I missed you too baby," she cooed, petting him on the head. "And if your great uncle doesn't answer Dipper's question, I'm gonna punch him in the shins until he begs for mercy!"

"Uh..." Stan rubbed his arm, remembering the potency of her reassurance that morning. "Okay, okay, fine. You two go home," he said, waving at Wendy and Soos. However, they didn't budge. "I'm the one with the hearing aid, not you. Go on. Go. Two innocent people already got dragged into this. Besides, I'm deathly afraid of your dad, Wendy."

"Nope. I wanna hear this," she denied, eying him as she tapped her boot.

"I'm with them," Soos added, motioning to Dipper and Mabel. "I already said 'we ride together'. I can't go back on a one-liner like that, dude."

"I never thought I'd call you noble, Soos." Stan looked down at the intense faces of his great niece and nephew and swallowed. "Yeah. There's a portal."

"Show us," Dipper said quietly.

"I don't think that's a good-" He blinked at Mabel's growl. "But, but, it's dangerous! Your parents would kill me! I'm not even being sarcastic. Do you realize how hard not being sarcastic is for an old man?"

"Portal! Now!" she yelled, pointing angrily at him.

"You've seen it already?" Winter muttered to her sister.

She nodded subtly. "Yes. It was the thing that was humming to us."

Stan rubbed his eyes and groaned. "All right, all right, but you're leavin' the pig. And we ain't all gonna fit in the elevator at once, so be patient." Reluctantly, he moved to the vending machine and entered the code.

"Ah, man, it's behind there? That's like the worst cliché ever," Dipper sighed. "All right, time to go have our minds blown, I guess." His face dropped. "Again."

He hadn't been joking – getting everyone down to the dingy lab was a small ordeal. Soos went first, as he needed the elevator all to himself. Wendy and a flustered Dipper were next, followed by Stan and Summer. This left Winter and Mabel, sans Waddles, waiting for the car to return. "What was the code again?" the girl asked. "I wasn't paying attention."

"I'll put it in."

Her flat tone made Mabel raise a brow. "What, seriously? You're not freaked out by this? Like, you're just standing over there all cool and collected and stuff? I mean, I get you have powers, but still. You gotta be a little surprised, right?"

She glanced away from the doors and shrugged. "It's hard to surprise me, I suppose."

Mabel slapped her forehead. "Oh, come on! There's a flippin' gateway to who knows what and all you give about it is a shrug? My eyes are about to pop out of my head! Broseph's probably down there passed out. Wendy might be catapultic!"

Winter looked at her fully. "Cata... what?"

It took a few seconds for her to assemble an explanation. "You know, when you don't move around or say much."

"You mean catatonic."

"Gesundheit." They looked back as the doors opened. "I hope the music's nice." She whined after they entered and started the descent. "Aw, what? Where's the cheesy jams?"

The first person they saw upon arriving was Wendy, who was examining a bank of screens. "Hey, guys," she waved. "You know Stan's got a buncha cameras watchin' the outside? I'm a little creeped out now."

"Huh, I thought he was too cheap for security. What's in here worth stealing?" Mabel stood on tiptoes to look at the images, but was continually distracted by the flashing lights off to her right. "I wanna press every single button in this weird little room so bad."

"Hah." Wendy doffed her hat with a sigh. "You know, I'm alllllmost to the point where I'm comfortably numb about the whole thing, but I still need a hug." She grinned as Mabel immediately clamped on. "Thanks, shorty."

"It's okay, we're all losing it. Except icy eyes over here!" Mabel glanced up as Winter moved past and toward the portal room. "Hey! I'm badmouthing you. You could at least grunt or something. Or wave dismissively."

She did neither while walking away. The expressions on the faces of those she found around the strange machinery varied from a twisted form of relief for Stan all the way to jaw-on-the-floor shock for Dipper. Soos was blank-faced. Summer was actually smiling. "This it it?"

"Yes," the red-eyed woman nodded. "Is... is Dipper okay?"

"What is it for?!" the boy blurted out. "Where did it come from? Who? How is this—I don't—my head hurts." He rubbed at his face and sighed, then reached into his vest. "I need an aspirin."

Mabel announced her arrival with an "Oooo, shiny!" Wendy came in behind her, half a frown on her face. The seven of them stared at the device for a moment. "I'm getting bored."

"I swear, you'd get bored of swimming in a pool full of literal unicorns."

Before she could snap at Dipper, Winter and Summer moved over and stood in front of Stan. "Start talking," Winter said, folding her arms.

"Uh, well." He stepped back, almost bumping into the lever. "It's a portal. The government did some stuff with it, and-" A barrage of pointed stares made him shrink back even further. "Look, I ain't got the whole story either!"

"I'm having a hard time believing you," Dipper frowned.

Mabel bounced for attention. "Hey, hey, hey. Before we get too deep into this, I need to know if anybody died here? If they did, I'm out. All the way out."

Stan's brow furrowed. "What? No." However, some hesitance before his denial made the kids glare hard. "I dunno! I don't know about the construction or anything but I'm pretty sure-"

"She really means the babies," Wendy clarified.

This time he was more confident – and revolted. "Oh—what, ugh, no. Not as far as I know."

Mabel's steely gaze said she wasn't completely buying it. "Are you sure?"

"Yes! I wouldn't make you stay in a house where stuff like that hap-" He slumped on his feet and scowled. "Sweet Sally, I am sad now."

Soos gently poked at some of the metal pipes embedded in the cave walls. "I desire two things right now: a why and a what for this whatever it is. And a bag of chips, so three things. Four things—a soda. Pretty warm down here, dude."

Winter nudged her sister and nodded to the rest of the crowd. After a nod in reply, Summer cleared her throat until everyone was looking her way. "We've run out of patience ourselves. Stan, start explaining." Their surprise made her pout. "Sister, you should know I don't like making demands."

Shaking her head, Winter did just that. "Fine, I'll do it. What she said. Please."

He nodded and started to pace around, hands clasped behind his back. "Fine. The short version is this was a device built by the United States Army in 1942 to get an advantage over the Japanese. See, this place has always had weird stuff happenin'. You know Gleeful's factory? You can roll a ball up that hill. Stuff like that. Some people made a livin' off it with little tours and such." He paused to run his finger along the metal edge of the triangle. "The feds had been studyin' it on and off for years, but then they heard rumors of the German Army doin' similar stuff. Before anyone knew it, the War Department moved in with a buncha scientists. It made people whisper at first, but when the Hanford Site opened up a year later they just thought it had something to do with that."

"Huh. Hold on, the Germans had one too?" Dipper looked around, thinking. "Oh man, what if there really is more than one portal?"

Stan turned to look at him. "Easy, kid. They tore Germany apart in '45 lookin' for evidence and never found anything. Either it didn't exist, or the Russians beat us there."

"So you're sayin' the Russians have one?" Wendy asked anxiously.

"No! Stop—stop jumping to conclusions!"

"I don't care about any of this," Winter interrupted, walking over to the old man. "What was it used for?"

"U-uh, well, I don't have the whole story, like I said. I've just got a few things from the journals and some other documentation to go on. After I got the third one from Dipper, I figured out how to activate it. I don't actually know what it does yet, but I'm still lookin'," he explained, tugging ceaselessly at his collar.

"Then we need to find more documentation about Project Apollyon," Summer grumbled off to the side.

Before her twin could tack on anything else, a muffled sound from outside made them look. "Is that an alarm?" They all rushed out and over to a bank of screens. On one was the sheriff's car. He emerged as they watched. "Mm, it's him again."

"Shoot, the fuzz. Kids, get upstairs!" Stan ordered. "We can talk more later!" While Soos was more than happy to usher the young Pines to the elevator, Wendy wasn't in a hurry to go anywhere. "Go on, we'll be up there in a second. You keep those two safe, all right?"

Her face was deeply weary, but that request was enough to perk her up again. "Yeah. You got it, Mister Pines."

"You're lying to us," Summer said cheerfully once the redhead was gone. "Don't deny you're lying to us, because you're lying to us."

Stan tried to feign being insulted, but only came off looking sheepish. "W-why do you say that?"

"Because we've been lied to. We know what to look for." Winter strode toward the elevator, fists clenched. "Come on. Let's get this over with. And when we're done, you're going to tell us everything."

"I'm not telling them everything," he replied, finally standing his ground. "The whole truth is way too much for them to know. It's probably too much for anyone to know."

"Don't worry," Summer chirped with a smile. "Just tell us. You'd be surprised what we consider normal."

Wendy and Soos were peering out the window as they came out into the gift shop. She had a hatchet in her hand. "Wendy?" Stan asked, walking over to look with them. "Why do you have an axe?"

"Mister Pines, this is a toothpick – and I'm a lumberjack, remember?" she answered with a wry grin before getting back to the topic at hand. "I don't see Blubs."

Winter and Summer moved to another set of windows to look for him. "Where are the kids?" the former asked.

"Sent them to the living room, just in case," Soos said, scratching his head. "I don't think he packs heat, but if he does he's probably the worst shot on the planet."

"Do we have a plan?"

Summer's question drew a lot of unsure noises from Stan and Soos, but Wendy straightened up and grinned to herself again. "I do." She waved at the twins and the gift shop door a few times. "If you'll distract him, I can, uh, take care of the situation."

Winter cocked a brow. "What does that mean?"

"Heh, just watch. It'll give you a chance to grab the little guys and get out of here."

Stan released a sigh of relief. Winter glared at him, but decided the young Pines' safety was the most important thing and frowned in defeat. "Very well... but we'll be back to talk to you later." She almost smiled at his terrified look.

"All right, let's do this – as long as it doesn't involve anyone getting hurt." Summer nodded at the redhead and headed for the door. Once Winter had emerged behind her, they hopped onto the grass and started searching. "I wonder why he's here. For us? For Dipper and Mabel?"

"I don't think he knows we're here. And if he wants the kids, he's going to be sorely disappointed." A flashlight beam, sweeping around from the corner of the house, caught her eye. "Hold on. Who's there?" she called.

"Aha!" Blubs came bouncing around the corner, but his only visible weapon was the flashlight itself. "Gotcha! You think you can evade capture forever?"

"Um, does that mean we evaded capture by going shopping?" Summer asked, her face twisted in surprise.

He shone the light right into her eyes. "Hey! I'm gonna hold you in contempt! Contempt of... my skills!"

"I am utterly terrified," Winter said, hands on her hips. "If you think you can arrest us, feel free."

As he moved to try, a car engine started behind them. It was his car, in fact, and as they all looked the light bar came on. "Hey, Sheriff!" Wendy yelled, waving out the driver's side window. "When are you gonna learn not to leave your keys in the ignition, man?"

Flustered, he started to run toward her – although running was a generous way to describe his gait. "Oh, not ag—get outta there, young lady! That's police property!" He bellowed angrily as she drove off, chasing her all the way out of the clearing and out of sight. "Cordurooooooooooooy!"

Winter blinked a few times at the spectacle. "That was fun. Come on, let's get the kids."

They were already on the porch waiting. "Are we really running from the police?" Mabel asked. "'Cause I've got my fugitive sweater!" She pointed proudly at the black-and-white striped garment. "Can I take Waddles?"

"I'll take care of him, kid." Stan gave her a pat on the head. "Gonna be weird not having you two around."

Soos's eyes lit up. "I can stay with you, Mister Pines. We might get killed in cold blood by a government assassin, but at least we won't be lonely!"

"Your encouragement really needs work, but thanks." Stan gave the young twins one last smile. "Get some sleep. I'm sure we'll get this figured out in a day or two. Maybe."

They gave both men a hug in turn. "Be careful, you guys," Dipper said quietly. "Then again, I guess you can just hide in the secret freakin' lab if anything bad goes down."

Stan's advice was easier given than acted upon. Endless minutes passed with them staring at the ceiling of their bedroom. Footsteps wandering through the house provided background noise – they knew it was either Summer or Winter patrolling, but the sounds never stopped. Someone was always walking around. It was this vigilance and its implications that gave rise to nerves, and that anxiety stopped them from drifting off.

"Man, are they ever gonna go to bed?" Mabel asked lowly, clinging to a pineapple plushie.

"They're probably sleeping in shifts," Dipper said, clutching a pen in his left hand. "Wow. Are we really in that much danger?"

She tried to guess who was on watch by focusing on the measured sounds. "I dunno, but... if they're that nervous, should we be that nervous?"

"Maybe? I'm not sure. How many times have we almost gotten killed already? If I remember right, it's like all the times."

Mabel's face dropped. "Yeah, but back then we could see the thing trying to murder our faces."

A chill went down his spine. "I can't even explain how right you are. We always knew what the enemy was – I mean, after a certain point. Now they could be anybody anywhere."

"Yeah!" She glanced at the slightly open door. "And we got people risking their lives to keep us safe. This is kinda scary, bro." Mabel squeezed the fuzzy fruit a little tighter.

"And as the icing on the what the heck cake, our great uncle has a secret portal!" Unable to contain himself any longer, he sat up with a long growl. "So much for a boring summer. I don't know if I wanna find out how deep this hole goes, but I guess it's too late."

"Ya scared, Dipper?" she teased, though her worried undertone was easy to pick up.

"Aren't you?" They shared a long, awkward stare in the dim light. "Aren't we all?"

She cocked her head. "I dunno, Summer and Winter seem to be more afraid for us than for themselves. Man, Winter didn't even bat an eye about the whole portally-business, either."

"How is that even possible?" Dipper rubbed his chin in thought and got quiet.

Mabel blinked at him. "Hello?" His continued silence made her blow idle raspberries. "Maybe it's 'cause they're full of magic, Dip. Why would anything surprise them?"

There was no stopping this train of thought, however. He crossed his legs and began to click the pen. "Our whole world just got slapped upside the head. Whatever that portal was used for, wherever it leads – it could change the course of human history. I know they've had a hard – and probably really weird – life, but even they have to be a little... perplexed." He paused to let her snort at his big word. "Seriously, though. Even Summer's all business. Why?" And then it occurred to him: "Wait. How much about them do we really know?"

"Huh." Mabel's eyes went to the ceiling. "They're from Iowa and they're wizards aaaaand I dunno. I wonder if Wendy and Soos found out anything on their trip last night."

He shrugged. "Might not hurt to ask, assuming Wendy isn't in jail by now."

She laughed a little, but frowned afterward. "Hey, you don't think they'd hurt us, do you?"

"Huh?" Now he looked at the door. "Nah. If they wanted to, we'd be toast by now. Heck, the whole town would be. Then again, they seem to be willing to fight if they have to. I guess they're holding back so nobody else knows."

"Riiiiight." She deflated with an obnoxious sigh. "Dang, we just got back home and boom, we're gone again. This blows."

"No joke." Dipper fell back down and exhaled deeply. "We're definitely taking these mattresses home with us. I hope you know this."

"Ohhh yeah. It's like I'm being cuddled by a cloud, bro. I need this bed in my life forever."

After their weak chuckles faded they listened to the footsteps again. It was hard to tell where their source was in the house. Dipper rolled onto his side to face Mabel again. "You think our family is hiding anything else from us?"

"Nrgh, I don't wanna think about it," she replied with a wince.

"...yeah. Sorry. I just want some full disclosure to go with my government conspiracy, I guess." He followed up with a few half hearted clicks on his pen. "I read somewhere that dull emotions are a result of trauma happening. Like, a lot of it. I wonder what Summer and Winter have really been through."

"Can... can we think about happier things, please? Like—I don't even know. Ugh, my flow is the harshed-est, Dipper. Being paranoid is not my style!"

"Oh, I'm with you. Totally. Hey, what time is it?"

"Ummm." She hung off the edge of the bed and searched for her watch. Its glow-in-the-dark hands told her it was roughly fifteen after midnight. "12:15. Hey, it's finally tomorrow!"

"Wow. I'm actually glad it's a Monday. I can't believe it. Maybe 'cause Sunday sucked so incredibly much." Stretching, he tried to get comfortable. "Let's try and sleep at least. I have a feeling we're gonna need it."

"Yep. Night, broface."

"Good night."

As things got quiet, Summer moved away from the door and floated silently down the hallway. Her sister had been the one walking around; she followed the sounds until they met in the pitch black living room. "They're rattled."

Winter glanced away from the windows with surprise. "You eavesdropped on them?"

She blushed with shame. "I wanted to hear what they really thought about things."

"Mm. And?"

"They're ready to jump at shadows. And they seem to wonder what happened to us." Summer scowled when her sister wouldn't respond. "Won't we have to tell the truth eventually?"

"Only if we must. Everyone has enough to deal with right now."

"Fine, I guess." She examined her fingernails in the dim light. "Stan wasn't very surprised when I showed him my power. I think he's seen it before."

"I'm not really surprised." Winter moved toward the kitchen. "It doesn't make sense, though. If there are survivors, why can't we feel them? The sparks don't move around much unless we move relative to them. Even the fairies stay in one spot. If they belonged to people, those people would be moving – and we'd notice them whenever we were in town."

"You're right. How odd." She tapped her chin while leaning in the doorway. "I saw two more journals on his desk down there. I should have taken them."

"We don't steal," Winter chided her sarcastically. "Besides, we can ask for them in the morning."

The red-eyed woman fidgeted slightly. "Actually, I think we should split up again. I could take the kids out somewhere. You could talk to him while we do something fun to keep their minds off things."

"I didn't consider that," she admitted, deflating a little. "I'm so glad to have you around. Sometimes my pragmatism gets the better of me."

"Oh, sister. We're learning from each other." She embraced her with a smile. "Besides, sometimes my optimism gets the better of me. Isn't this what twins are supposed to be anyway? Two parts of a whole?"

"Perhaps." Winter broke their hug and shuffled back to the counter. "We have to be careful. As long as they don't ask why we hardly sleep, I think it'll be fine."

Summer perked up with a huge smile. "Oh, yes. Eating is no problem. I think it's fun!"

"Mm." A sound from beyond the wall drew her eyes away. "What was that?"

"Go find out. I'll stay here." She stepped aside as Winter darted out of the house, then moved toward the bedroom. Mabel let out a hilarious snore as she peeked around the door. "How cute." For a long while, she stared at the slumbering children. A frown slowly appeared. "It feels so nice to be on the other side of this for once."