"Mabel, you and Soos saw him do it! Don't you remember the process?"

She ignored Dipper briefly, choosing instead to look around at the gathering in the living room first. Everyone related to the issue was here: Wendy, Soos, Stan, the identical twins, and yes, even Pacifica, who had gone home and come back before the meeting started. Pallid and quiet, the blonde made Mabel feel awkward. "Bro, I saw candles but I don't remember how many, he was kneeling in front of something but we couldn't see what, and then he started speaking in German or French or whatever and if you ask me to repeat it, I'm gonna laugh in your face."

"Given what we had to do to get him out it was probably Latin," Dipper surmised with a frown. "All right. So, what? We gonna break him out of prison?"

Those who knew him looked directly at Stan. "What?" he fired back, hands raised. "Oh sure, prison comes up and everyone looks at me. I don't appreciate your assumptions."

"Are they really assumptions, man?" Wendy asked with a wry smile.

"I'm not answerin' that without a lawyer."

"You want me to call mine?" Pacifica asked, apparently serious. "She bills $22,000 an hour but dad says she's worth every penny."

"Aw, he's just kidding," Soos assured her. "But, uh, have her number handy. Also some bail money. Can't hurt to be prepared."

"What if we call in a favor?" Summer moved away from the wall she'd been leaning on and to the center of the room. "What's the worst they could tell us, no?"

Stan's brow furrowed deeply. "No, the worst thing they could tell you is 'why'. What would we say? 'Ah, no, we just need this criminal for a minute to summon a creature nobody understands and is dangerous in ways the human mind can't even comprehend. Just to have a talk.' Yeah, that'd go over real well." He frowned at the unhappy noise Pacifica made. "Oh, sorry kid. Maybe you shouldn't be hearing this."

"Too late now," she muttered through clenched teeth. "Not like I can get away from it anyway."

"I know that feel, man." Mabel ruffled up her mousy hair and groaned. "Come on, Grunkle Stan, you've got the journal! I'd like this a lot better if you were the one that summoned him instead of I-refuse-to-friggin'-say-his-name. Then we could send Bill into his mind and do things! Evil, evil things."

He wouldn't yield, crossing his arms and looking a lot like his great niece when she'd get stubborn. "As much as the idea of using Bill against that little brat amuses me, there are bigger things at stake." His attention went to the older twins. "Besides, if he can't get in touch with you two, why do you want to go to him? Seems like a trap."

"I agree completely," Summer said, eyes glued to her sister. "Let's not poke this beehive, hmm?"

Winter stared right back with soft eyes. "Fine... if anyone has a better way to get answers about what's going on. Well?" They all shirked her stare, especially Stan, Wendy, and Soos. Dipper was already looking through the journal for some other option with a fervent Mabel assisting. Pacifica simply shrugged. "Don't all speak at once, now."

"Hold on," Dipper said, shutting the journal as he stood up. "We stopped Bill, but we didn't, I don't know, un-summon him or whatever. He should still be floating around, right?"

Stan, polishing his glasses, shook his head. "Kid, he's always floating around."

"Then why did he need to be summoned in the first place?"

Summer's question made the old man stop cold. "Huh. Hold on a second." He departed into the gift shop; a moment later they heard the distinct thunk of the vending machine being opened.

"What was that?" Pacifica asked.

"I wouldn't even worry about it, man," Mabel replied gently, with sullen, distant eyes. "That's our problem."

Quiet, awkward minutes passed before the thunk repeated. With journal two in his hands Stan returned, flipping through the musty pages as he searched for Bill's entry. "'The demon's true power is only unlocked when engaged in a contract with someone'," he quoted, sitting in the recliner. "'Otherwise, he lays in wait in a stand-by mode, watching and visiting prospective victims in their dreams.' Well, that's helpful. None of you ever sleep again and we should be all right."

The groans and eye rolls he got in reply served to mask Winter and Summer's odd tight-lipped expressions. "That doesn't get us any closer to anything," the blue-eyed woman remarked. "Unless he visits one of us in our dreams. I'm not making a deal with him."

Mabel sighed with relief. "Good idea. Pac-Pac, you didn't shake his hand, did you? Especially if it was like, on fire, but blue?"

"No, he just sent me-" Her face suddenly screwed up. "Pac-Pac?"

Dipper rolled his eyes with a smile. "Get used to it. Everybody gets a nickname eventually."

Wendy, arms crossed, tried to joke her way out of her anxiety. "Welp, guess I'd better start guzzlin' coffee. Or start to like coffee, then guzzle some."

"I still can't figure out why he just hasn't visited us." Summer tapped her foot in thought. "If he's so interested, he must know where we are."

"Don't look a gift horse in the mouth." Stan peered at the diagram of the mind attached to Bill's entry, lips pursed. "'Cause once he's in, it looks like he's in forever." He winced when Pacifica started to weep. "Uh, I mean... oops."

"Geez, Grunkle Stan, you're about as smooth as peanut brittle." Mabel tried a hug in fits and starts, but found going through with one too awkward. She settled for pats on the back. "It'll be okay! Somehow? Maybe you should take up yoga or something..."

"Just kill me," she whined, hiding her eyes.

Dipper shuddered at her request. "I've seriously had enough of death for a while. Hey Grunkle Stan, can I read your journals?" The old man made a long series of noncommittal noises and gestures. "Dude, just say no if you want to say no."

"No."

All of this had gotten nowhere, and Mabel, squirming in her seat, knew exactly what that meant. "Nooooooo, I don't wanna. No."

"Don't wanna what?"

She pushed Dipper weakly and curled up in her chair. "Don't wanna have anything to do with Gideon."

Summer and Winter had been having another conversation in spurts. Silent and almost totally carried out with facial expressions, it had lead to the same place as the verbal carousel: right back to where they'd started. Summer waffled, glancing back and forth as if literally looking between her options. Winter was a little more direct, but wanted some indication from her sister before proceeding – and then it hit her.

Her eyes lit up so bright that Summer couldn't help but notice it out loud. "Huh?" Now everyone else was staring their way. "Sister?"

But she looked right at Stan. "Maybe..." The word was barely above a whisper, but he heard it anyway and looked up. "Maybe you've got the right idea."

"Should I be happy or worried?" He blinked as Winter moved past and out the side entrance. "Uh, what?"

"Sister!" Summer gave chase, spurring the others to follow her out into the night. They caught up at the edge of the bottomless pit, where the blue-eyed woman was staring into the abyss. The gentle hum of its resident magic filled her senses. "What are you doing?"

"Remembering something we both forgot." A light began to shine from the hole, steadily brightening until the magic emerged, wobbling and floating like a giant rainbow bubble in the humid air. Its shimmering glory caused everyone but the sisters to gasp. The golden sparkles came along with it, sprinkled through its infinite colors. Three of those tiny lights left the cloud and drew near them; one hovered around Stan, Mabel and Dipper, another went to Wendy, and the last timidly approached Pacifica.

"Awww, I want a shiny buddy," Soos said with a frown. That only deepened when his friends' faces became gloomy. "Or maybe I don't. I'm gonna go get the flyswatter."

"Don't you dare," Summer warned him pleasantly, hands clasped behind her back. "Hello, friends. Sorry about the lack of visits. People were trying to murder us."

"Wait... what?" Pacifica asked absently. Most of her attention remained with the dancing golden sparkle in front of her face. Her confused scowl began to warp into a smile. "What is this thing?"

Stan was grinning faintly by now. "Yeah, yeah," he muttered to the glittering spark, which was reluctant to approach the young Pines too closely. "They're related to you too, you know."

Wendy burst out giggling when her twinkle alighted on her nose. "Dude. Look, I'm a pimped-out Rudolph. And I'm pretty sure this thing is talking to me? I feel like I should be more weirded out than I am."

"Heh. Hey, now I want one! Like, for real this time."

Winter shook her head at Soos and stared up into the cloud. "May we ask you something?" She slid her hands into her pockets and nodded. "Have you heard of Bill Cipher?" A ripple went through the opalescent blob. Slowly, it lost its amorphous shape and became a vast, rainbow triangle with simple stick arms, legs, a bow tie, and a top hat. A huge, almond-shaped eye opened in its center. Pacifica shrieked with terror and ran toward the house, startling her sparkle. Everyone but the identical twins watched her go for varying lengths of time. Mabel looked long enough to see the golden twinkle follow.

"I think that's a yes." Summer reached out and poked at the magical shape. Whether in response to her touch or of its own volition, it reverted back to its original bubbly, bouncy form. "What do you know about him... it? I'm not sure which to use."

The cloud was clearly talking to them – their expressions betrayed this fact – but in words only they could hear. This left everyone else standing around and looking at each other. "So, uh, what's it saying?" Stan finally asked. "Can we get some subtitles? Translation, maybe?"

"A moment, please." Winter shifted a bit, hand on her weight-bearing hip as if perturbed by something. "He came before? Came before what? All of you?" She stood straight again. "I see." Several moments of silence followed.

"Well?" Wendy glanced about for some guidance. "Should we be running, man?"

"No, no, it's okay," Summer assured her with a light smile before listening some more. "Apparently the entity is very old, but the Bill we know is not."

"The entity?" Dipper's face twisted with uncertainty. "I can't even begin to explain how much I don't like the sound of that."

"Mm. The good news is he can't really interact with us in the physical realm unless someone 'calls on him'. I assume that's the summoning everyone keeps talking about."

"Hey, great!" Mabel looked up at some displeased grunts from her great uncle. "Could you be not grumpy for like, five minutes?"

"But he can invade your mind via dreams and slowly drive you insane. We already knew that." Summer winced at Pacifica's cry and looked down. The blonde had chosen a poor time to come back to the pit's edge. "Oh, sorry. It seems he likes some people more than others! Maybe he won't like you?"

She wiped her eyes with a sleeve and glowered. "Oh yeah, that's real comforting."

More silence as the rainbow blob communicated, though a summary was quicker in coming this time. "He feeds on magic," Winter said, rubbing her hair down in thought. "If he has trouble interacting with things physically, all the magic already contained in objects should be safe from him."

"What magic? What is any of this? Why is this twinkly thing so... friendly?!"

Dipper rubbed his eyes with a low groan. "Pacifica, maybe you should just go home."

Summer frowned at the overwhelmed girl for a second before looking at her sister. "I don't know about this. Maybe we should leave it alone and go elsewhere for information."

"Perhaps, but where?"

Suddenly their eyes went to Stan. "Huh? What?" He tugged at his collar, chuckling nervously. "Has anyone told you your eyes are utterly terrifying? I mean that as a compliment. I swear."

"We have to get information from somewhere, Stan," Winter advised flatly. "Be it you or Bill."

"Or we could go to the other residents of Gravity Falls," Dipper thought out loud. "Like the manotaurs, or the gnomes. They've gotta know something."

"Oh, come on!" Mabel yelled, throwing up her arms. "You're gonna stand there and tell me my choices are fake psychic that literally tried to murder us or little beardy guys that wanted to make me their eternal queen? Really?"

Wendy, brow cocked, had a little trouble with the picture being painted. "Dude, like garden gnomes? Like the ones in front of Soos' house?"

"I wish."

"Feels like we're just spinning our wheels," Soos pointed out with a yawn. "Let's sleep on it. Most of us have had a rough day. Even me! I got electrocuted twice. Wasn't—wasn't much fun, dudes."

The idea of sleep crippled Pacifica again, dropping her to her knees. Winter scowled lightly at the sight. "You have a point. If nothing else, perhaps Bill will visit us and we can avoid Gideon altogether." Mabel's 'woohoo' made her smile a bit. "In the morning, then. If anyone sees him tonight, call us. You have our numbers."

"Wh-what about me?" the blonde asked weakly, hugging herself tight. "What am I supposed to do if he comes back?"

Mabel jogged away from Dipper and Stan and over to her, crouching down when she arrived. "Listen, you're a jerk. I don't like you. Dipper kind of hates you a lot. But... that doesn't mean I'm gonna leave you hanging. Not like this." She pulled her phone out from under her sweater and turned it on. "You got yours? Here's their numbers."

"Uh, yeah," she nodded, producing her iPhone and looking at Mabel's screen. "Thanks."

"Yep!" Mabel straightened with a smile after the blonde was done. "And welcome to the real Gravity Falls, I guess."

"Totally know how you feel!" Wendy shouted encouragingly. "It gets better. Sorta."

As everyone retreated toward the house, the magic flowed back into the pit, taking with it the little golden sparkles. Wendy was first to leave, hopping on her bike and taking off through the woods. Soos departed next in his old truck. With Mabel and Dipper heading upstairs, the identical twins were left in the living room with Stan and Pacifica. "You haven't been exactly forthcoming," Winter said to the old man. "You still owe us."

He busied himself with channel surfing. "Yeah, yeah. I've got some..." he paused, looking at the blonde, "...stuff I wanna do tonight. I'll bring up what notes I've got for you tomorrow, but I need 'em for my work."

Dissatisfaction shone in her turquoise eyes, but for Pacifica's sake she let it drop for now. "Very well. Tomorrow, then. Do you want a ride home?"

Pacifica looked up. Red-faced and still weepy, a nod was all she could manage. Summer lead them out to the BMW, took the wheel, and soon the three of them left the Mystery Shack behind.

Mabel's reward for waking up early was being engulfed in a groggy haze. To burn it off, she stumbled her way up to the roof and sat in Wendy's lounge chair, hoping the dawn would get her going. She put a shaky hand on her chest. While the pain was gone, some tightness remained. Perhaps it was physical – or maybe it was the effect of so much worry. Either way, the sensation made her grimace. "Nope. Nope. Gotta smile for Dipper. Gotta smile." Forcing one took enough effort to make her sleepy again. "Dang. Maybe I should... maybe I..."

From impromptu nap to awake again took what felt like a second, but when she looked around the sun was almost completely above the trees and shining right into her face. She shielded herself with an arm. "Wow." The hatch was open, she noted; Dipper must have come looking for her and let her be when he found her asleep. "Gee, thanks. You coulda moved the umbrella for me." After sliding off the chair, she bounced a bit to get blood back into her feet. "Woo! That's better. Maybe I'm solar-powered?" Her dance left her back to the sun – and the rest of her vaguely sweaty. "Too hot. Already too hot."

But when she turned around, the sun had dimmed into a reddish circle behind a cloud, allowing her to gaze right at it. "Pretty!" she exclaimed, finally wearing a grin. "I wonder if you can get yarn that color." For a while, she contemplated. "So that's what a star looks like when it's not frying your eyeballs. Man, no wonder Dip loves astronomy. It's so nice to look at." As she watched, a huge, vertical black slit suddenly opened up in the sun's center. "U-um..." Mabel stumbled backwards until she bumped into the roof. "What the heck?!"

She shrunk back as a cackle split the sky. The sun, now a small white eyeball, zipped toward her and stopped a few feet away, where Bill's yellow, triangular body faded into sight. "Hey, Shooting Star! You seem a little stressed out – and it's not even my fault! I can't have that, you know."

"You!" she growled, storming forward and jabbing a finger at him. It went right through. "Ugh. What are you doing here?"

"I love to prey on people that are suffering!" he replied cheerfully. "Like you! What's the matter, kid? Feeling the pressure?"

"N-no I'm not. Get lost." She turned her back and crossed her arms, frowning at the wooden planks under her feet. "I heard what you did to Pacifica. That wasn't very nice."

"Ha! I need a nickname for her. Not sure which way to go on that one. She's blonde, rich and dull. Oh well. I've got her entire life to figure something out!"

His words filled Mabel's heart with terror. "You're... you're evil!"

"Wow, you're a lot slower than your brother, aren't you?"

She bared teeth, rolling up her sleeves and preparing to fight. "What do you want with me?!"

He pulled at her cheek a few times, grinning like a madman. "Pff, look at you. Humans are adorable when they get riled up. Maybe that's why I rile them up so much! Makes sense."

She threw a punch at him, which again passed right through. "Dang it! Explain yourself, triangle... triangle butt... I dunno, some insult having to do with shapes and junk, shut up I'm sleepy."

"Ha! Just passing the time, Shooting Star. Actually..." Bill folded his arms and idly looked around. "Hmm, actually... how about this: I'll not invade Pine Tree's mind if you give me some more info on those weirdos from... what's it called again? Iowa? Whatever. Rich girl didn't have much and she started askin' some awkward questions." He stretched his hand out for a shake. "What do ya say?"

Mabel relaxed from her combat stance and watched as his appendage was consumed by blue flame. "Are you serious? How dumb do you think I am?"

"Admittedly pretty dumb, but that's got nothing to do with this. I know how much you shambling meatballs care for each other. Come on... save him from me! I know you wanna."

Grumbling, she hugged herself and avoided looking at the demon. Something about this was very wrong, but exactly what eluded her. A struggle broke out in her heart; what was more important? Was it Dipper, or was it keeping safe the secrets that could destroy Earth? Not surprisingly, this was an even fight. "I—I dunno."

Bill's eye did the grinning for the mouth he lacked. "I've got lots of time, kid. No hurry. Just keep being miserable so I can watch."

And she obliged him until her sense of duty and honor, inflated by watching far too many movies, took hold. "Dipper would do the same thing," she said to herself, body straightening and chest puffed out. "The good of the many and whatever the rest of that line was I wasn't paying attention to. I won't talk! Get lost!"

Bill withdrew his hand, extinguished the flame and shrugged. "I admire your sense of stupidity, but boy are you gonna regret this!" After saying so, however, he simply hovered there. "Or maybe not. You guys are pretty forgetful."

"Huh?" Mabel tilted her head. "Are you messing with me? Wait. Pacifica said you made people forget."

"Ha! I ain't got that kind of power... yet," he replied, voice deep and booming for the final word. "Oho, but I will! It's just a matter of time. I've already won, even if making it official is gonna take a while."

Hands on her hips, Mabel gave him her dourest glare. "You know what? I don't even care what you're babbling about. We're gonna stop you."

"Mhm. You sure beat me that last time! What are you gonna stop me from doing, huh? You haven't got a clue what's going on!"

His teasing nearly worked. Fortunately, the angry rant full of sensitive facts stopped short of her lips and stayed there. "Maybe I don't, but not knowing everything never stopped me before. Look, you wanna talk to Summer and Winter, go talk to 'em! Why haven't you? Huh? Huh? You scared, triangle face?"

Being taunted made Bill swell up and redden with anger. "The last girl who asked me that got some mental scarring for her effort. I won't be so easy on you!"

His warning was far too late; Mabel had him off guard, knew it, and pressed her advantage literally, getting up close and trying unsuccessfully to jab him again and again as she spoke. "Bring it on! You can't deal with twins, man! We kicked your angles all over my uncle's mind and you can't even talk to Summer and Winter. Like, really? Some dream demon. Get outta my face."

Bill roared at her so forcefully her hair was blown back, but she continued to stand her ground. He deflated back to his usual size and color and growled. "Ugh! I thought you'd be as fun to mess with as what's-her-name. Like it even matters. I'm gonna go torture her again, at least she cries." He popped out of sight with a little 'poof' sound.

"Yes!" Mabel raised her arms in victory, grinning at the restored sun. "That's for all the times geometry homework gave me a headache!"

His voice trickled over her shoulder, barely a whisper. "But before I go..."

"Huh?" She tried to turn but couldn't, launched off the platform by a force unseen. Shrieking for all she was worth, Mabel fell head first toward the grass below... and woke up with a start in bed. Dipper was awake too – apparently she hadn't just been dream-screaming. "What the?" While sitting up she looked around to make sure everything was in order. Not an easy task; the room was almost pitch-black.

"You scared the crap out of me!" Dipper yelled, a hand on his chest as he tried to catch his breath. "What were you dreaming about?"

"Bill." She didn't understand his horrified silence until recalling what Pacifica had said earlier. "Oh, balls. I wonder if I'm stuck with him now too." Realizing she'd likely thrown her brother under the same bus made her queasy. "Dipper, I'm so sorry..."

He was in the process of turning on his light and looking for a phone to sound the alarm. "Sorry for what?"

"He wanted to know more about the super-twins but I wouldn't tell him. He, um, he kind of threatened to invade your mind too because I wouldn't, so, my bad."

Dipper froze mid-motion, face drained of life. Movement and color came back to him... eventually. "Right. Okay. Thanks for the warning, I'll deal."

His toneless acknowledgment made her blood freeze. "B-bro? You would have done the same thing, right? You know? Saving the world? Heroic jazz?"

"At the cost of losing you? Not a chance," he stated, finally picking up his phone from the table and turning it on.

Mabel's eyes became saucer-sized with confusion. "Wh-wh... what?"

"Hello?" Dipper spoke to the device now, ignoring his sister. "Summer? Hey, sorry, but Bill came to Mabel just now. No, she's fine. He might be after me next. What should we do?" He had to wait out a conference on the other end, doing so with absentminded taps of his foot. "Yeah, I'm here. You're dropping by tomorrow anyway? Great, we'll work it out then. Okay. I'll, well, I'll try to sleep, ahaha. Right. I'm gonna ask her about it, but I don't want to keep you guys on the phone. You know, sneaky ears and stuff. Yep. Okay, later."

"Dipper?" Mabel watched him hang up and sit on the edge of his bed. "Um... you're awfully freaking calm right now."

He scratched at his nose with a shrug. "Calm? Try sleepy. So, like, what happened? Short version and small words, please."

Despite the uncomfortable pit in her stomach, she did her best to parse out the important details. "Mostly Bill being a butt. Except... he said he wasn't making people forget. He isn't strong enough. Then he said he'd already won, but I don't even know what he means. Maybe he was just playing mind games."

"Wait, what? If he's not making people forget, what is?" Dipper hunched over in contemplation. "Hey, Mabel? You ever wondered why hardly anyone else seems to know what's going on around here?"

"Are you kidding? They're dumb as bricks. And that's an insult to bricks." She blinked at his annoyed reaction. "What? We don't know what magic does to brains, Dippingsauce."

He snorted at that. "I really doubt it would make people dumber, Mabel. That toxic water on the other hand... no, no, something else is going on here. I mean, the hospital story has been going around for fifty years. You'd think people would see and talk about a cedar tree that does calculus, or an island that tries to eat children."

"Yeeeeeeaaaah, well..." Lacking an explanation – at least one that was easy to swallow – Mabel couldn't help but sniffle. "Do we have to ask this question? I don't wanna. I don't wanna ask anything ever again."

He slid back under the covers with a sigh. "Let's just get some sleep. I have a feeling we're going to need it."

"And you're okay with sleeping? Shoot, so much for not asking questions anymore. Dang it."

"Look, if he wants to come after me, that's fine. Just as long as he leaves you alone, I don't care what he does to me," he said, turning off his lamp. "Besides, we already beat him once. We can do it again if we have to."

Mabel's jaw dropped. "Dipper Pines! Since when are you so mantastically smooth?"

"That's not even a word. Good night. If Bill bothers you anymore, just... I dunno, talk in your sleep or something. I'll dump a bucket of water on your head."

Slack-jawed, she sat in bed and tried to get over his attitude about the whole affair. "Wow. Why don't you just take all the bullets for me, huh?" she whispered. It rang familiar – her great uncle, she realized, had much the same outlook. He was willing to possibly endanger the world to find his brother. Dipper would apparently condemn the world himself if it meant saving her from Bill Cipher. The idea continued to make her shudder. "Geez. Maybe it just runs in the family."