Fifteen minutes later, they happened upon a noisy stream, one which traced a curvy path in both directions as far as they could see – which wasn't far, given the sequoias looming over them from all sides. After lifting the Pines to the far bank, Summer and Winter walked across the water and kept on going up the hill on the other side. Dipper had to clear his throat to get their attention. "Word of advice?"

"Yes?" Winter acknowledged, not looking back.

"Don't walk on water in public either. People will freak the heck out."

"Oh, we know," Summer said with a snicker. "We read that book." As the party reached the top, the older twins paused to get their bearings. "Over there?" she asked Winter, pointing a finger.

She nodded once, rubbing her chin in contemplation. "Mm. Feels like a cluster. Like the fairies."

"This ain't fairy territory," Mabel pointed out. "I don't think. Unless the whole valley is." With a shrug, she skipped down the hill ahead of them. "We come in peace!" she yelled. "Soos isn't with us!"

Dipper, shaking his head, followed her with the twins at his side. "You think our shrinklights would work on them?"

"I'm not sure. They seem to be purely magic." Winter's head was on a swivel, constantly checking their position against the rest of the magical sparks she could detect. Summer appeared to be doing much the same. "Hold on. This cloud appears to be vertical."

"Vertical? What do you mean?" His train of thought was disrupted by Mabel darting out of sight. "Hey! Come back!" he demanded, running toward the redwood she'd gone around. "Dude! You're gonna get Bill-napped or something! Use the buddy system!" She was stopped not far ahead of him; thankful that she'd listened for once, Dipper didn't even bother to wonder why until reaching her. "Please don't run off like that." Now he looked where she did, at the ground. At the tree roots. Except these didn't look like roots at all. "Um, is that a giant wooden foot...?"

It certainly was – a perfect copy of a human foot, five toes and nails included, but a hundred times bigger than life size. Mabel put her hand on Dipper's chest and began to push him along as she retreated. "Slowly," she whispered. "Don't wanna wake this thing up."

He backed away carefully, staring into the canopy. The rest of the tree seemed normal, save the face-like markings three-quarters of the way up its trunk. "Where's the other foot?"

"Don't know, don't care."

The older twins arrived, putting themselves in front of the kids. "We've found our magic," Summer noted quietly. She rolled up her sleeves and eyed the tree. "What do we do?"

With them present, Mabel felt a lot more confident about confronting whatever it was. "I got an idea." She reached into her sweater pouch and pulled out her magic flashlight, turning the crystal around. Before anyone could stop her, she fired a pink beam at the redwood appendage. Not only did it shrink, but so did the tree to which it was attached. The monstrosity came to life with an increasingly adorable roar as it shriveled up. Now no taller than Dipper, its sudden charge was less than threatening. "Pffff! That's adorable!" she said, giggling as it waddled over and beat on Winter with its shrunken limbs. "Hey, hey, don't mess up her dress. She looks super-cute."

With a furrowed brow and a flick of her finger, Winter telekinetically knocked back the creature and sighed. "Its magic feels just as strong as it did before. Handy knowledge, I suppose." She watched as the tree proceeded to assault her sister, with equally little effect. "Is this one in the journal, Dipper?"

He already had journal three open and was whipping through the pages. "Just a second. Juuuuust a... nope, not in here. Crap, I should have brought the black light." He tucked that book away and brought out journal two just as the mini-tree began to whack on him. "Excuse you. I'm busy."

Mabel grabbed it up in a hug and started to squeal. "Ohhhhh my gosh I am so gonna let this thing loose in Pacifica's yard." Her face dropped after a brief cackle. "On second thought, that would make me such a witch. Maybe I'll just bring you home with me. Hrm. Your name is officially Redwood McTreeington!"

He rolled his eyes. "Oh, wow. That's awful, even by your standards."

"It's adorab—ow splinters ow ow ow." Mabel jumped a little as the beast became a plush version of itself. She looked over to see who'd done the snapping and found a smiling Summer. "Thanks. Redwood was starting to get on my nerves."

"You're welcome." Patting at her hair, she looked around the forest. "I don't feel anything else too close. Do you?"

"No." Winter's attention went back to Mabel's new toy. "I'm not sure we should let you keep that."

"Come on, what's the worst that co—mmph!"

Dipper was the one to shut her up, covering her mouth with his hand. "Don't tempt fate. Don't. So many things could happen I want to puke just thinking about it. Let them have the thing."

"But Dipper! It's adorable!"

"Yeah, it kinda is. Do you want it so close to the portal? What if it explodes or something?" he countered with anxious hand motions. "No thanks, man!"

"Oh my gosh, it's a plushie. What's the wo—mmph!" This time she slapped his arm away. "Stop that!"

"Enough," Winter said, smoothing back her hair. "Let's move on to the next... mm?" A new sensation made her look around in confusion. Summer, off to her left, was doing it too.

Both the Pines blinked up at her, uttering an uncertain "What?"

"New sparks." Summer walked toward the hole where the tree monster had been standing and found several of the awful white insects skittering around, looking for the wooden beast that was once there and screeching occasionally. "Well, well." The bugs suddenly all turned her way and approached. "Oh my." They weren't after her, however; instead the horde darted past her legs and made a beeline for Mabel. They were prevented from reaching her by Summer's magic.

"Ew!" the girl said, face twisted in disgust as she watched them writhe and chatter in the air. "Squish 'em! Quick! Before they do something stupid!"

"They're not going anywhere, don't worry." Winter took hold of a few and brought them closer to look at. "Why were they moving toward you?" On a hunch, she stretched out a hand and pulled the tree plushie from her grip, floating it a few yards away. Then she let the bugs drop. All of them moved toward it, jumping weakly when they arrived. Brow creased curiously, she moved the object around through the air and watched the white bugs give chase. "They sense the magic."

Dipper looked on in amazement. "Dude... wait, why didn't they sense your magic, though?"

Summer also dropped her captives, who quickly joined the pursuit. "It's probably not the same. We've been theorizing that the magic here is changing itself to avoid destroying the environment. We can't feel it through bones or stone, but..." She glanced over and magically yanked a fallen branch off the ground, whipping it into a stone box that Winter dropped the plushie into. Even with the lid on, however, the bugs were still able to track it as she made it dance. "But they can, I guess."

Mabel, hands on her hips, didn't care in the least about this revelation. "Whatever. Somebody get a can of Raid!"

Winter began to deconstruct the whole experiment, dismissing the box back into its former shape and turning the bugs into what looked like gumballs. Summer picked them up and put them into her pockets as the blue-eyed woman moved back toward the kids. "You should be glad. This is good news."

"How so?" Dipper asked, now fanning himself with his hat.

"If you had magic, they'd be chasing you."

"Hey." His eyes lit up. "Hey! I'm normal! I mean besides the birthmark."

"And the awkward. And the dorkiness. And the way you talk in your sleep. And the way you put on socks. And the fact that you can't talk to anyone without using huge words. And the freaky amount of knowledge you have about Japanese cartoons. And the way you whisper to yourself when you're around Wen-"

"Okay! Mabel! We get it. Thanks," he snapped. He cleared his throat and sighed. "Phew. At least I'm clean." He thought about Mabel's last barb, however, and his heart crashed into his shoes. "Wait, are these things gonna attack Wendy since she's showing her power now? How does this work?"

Both women opened their mouths to assure him otherwise, but were silent when they realized they couldn't actually guarantee anything. "Good question," Summer finally admitted while pulling out her phone. "No reception. Just a second, let me climb up and look for a signal."

Her method of "climbing" was to zip right up and disappear into the canopy above. They all watched her depart – then Dipper picked the worst moment to make a quip about their change in wardrobe. "Heh, good thing she's not the one wearing the dress or that could have been weird," he said, laughing a little afterward. Winter peered at him. "...d-did I say that out loud? I, uh..."

Mabel, tree plushie again in hand, rubbed her face with a groan. "Bro-bro, just shut your face."

"I've had to deal with that at home. It isn't funny," Winter stated, her words soaked with too-bitter venom. Knowing she'd come on too strong, she tried to apologize. "Sorry. That's a pet peeve of mine." When it got quiet again, her ears pricked at noises echoing through the woods. She moved the group toward the shelter of a redwood. "I hear something."

"Huh?" After a second, Mabel heard it too. "People talkin'?"

Before long, Dan Corduroy and his merry band – rather, his rowdy band – of sons came through the trees, each holding a hatchet or axe of some sort. The boys were in a tremendous argument about something or other. Their father, bearing a weary expression, managed to ignore the fighting as he pressed on. Of course, he wasn't really certain just why Winter and the Pines were there, but he offered a friendly greeting anyway – one he had to shout over his children. "Hey, what brings you three out here?"

"Just out for a stroll!" Dipper yelled in return. "I'd ask you the same thing but I think I know what's up."

"Ha, yeah, scrawny boy-child." He turned to his offspring and bellowed, "Quiet! Daddy's talking!" so loud it seemed to rattle the very ground itself. It worked. "Thank you. Go pick something for us to cut. Something real good this time. I've had enough of the Northwests whining about our wood." One of his sons chuckled, drawing his ire. "Get your mind out of the gutter, David." As they departed, scuffling once more, he thundered over to Winter and company. "How is my baby girl?" he asked, having gone from mighty to meek so fast it made Mabel and Dipper's heads spin.

"She's fine. Summer is checking on her now." Winter regarded him with a strange mask of frigid pleasantness. "We know what you did to her."

"Um, what?" Dipper blinked. "I missed something."

Dan shed his hat, clasping his hands in front of him and looking incredibly uncomfortable. "Ma'am, I had to. If she knew the truth..."

"I'm out!" Mabel blurted as she threw her arms up in the air. "If you want me, I'm gonna be behind this tree. I ain't in no mood for anymore of this truth crap." This time, however, Dipper grabbed her sleeve and held her back. "Unhand me, you noodle-armed brigand."

"Don't you think we should hear this?" he asked her lowly. "She's one of our best friends."

The blue-eyed woman had come to a realization, though. From what she had seen, Dan loved his daughter dearly. There had to be a reason – and she knew if the kids heard it they would never be able to keep the secret... especially not Dipper. Too heavy a burden already sat on Wendy's shoulders; she decided to intercept this weight before it reached her. "You stay here," she commanded, pointing at the young twins. "Mister Corduroy, let's walk and talk."

"But!" Dipper was silenced by Winter's frigid glance.

"Don't argue. Wait for my sister to return." Only after some space was between the two groups did she speak again in hushed tones. "I know you must have meant well. What did you make her forget?"

He avoided her piercing gaze by looking off to the side. "I don't know if I should—you know. Things happen around here. Straaaaaange things. I wouldn't want you to get caught up in 'em."

"Summer and I know about the memory eraser. We've even met some of the Society. We know enough."

This made Dan stop in his tracks and finally meet her eyes. "You... you do? Do you know about the magic?"

Winter lifted him briefly with her power, then flashed him a little smile just after his feet were on the ground again. "You tell me."

While she fully expected the shock on his face, the relief – in the form of a smile and a hug – was bemusing. "You! You – no wonder she went to you! She knew! Can you... can you help her? Can you take it away?"

Lost in his arms – quite literally, as they seemed to be larger around than her torso – she struggled to give him a pat on the back. "If that's what she wants, perhaps we can. Why did you have her memory erased in the first place?"

His answer was to break away, sit roughly and hide his face behind those massive hands. Despite his efforts to stifle it, the crying was obvious; a patient Winter stood quietly by and waited for him to collect himself. This process took so long that Summer dropped from the trees over by the Pines, saw her sister was gone, and had walked over to meet her by the time he caught his breath. "Is she okay?" he asked.

She nodded, smiling cheerfully despite her confusion. "Fine, fine. What did I miss?"

Dan hefted himself to his feet with one more sniffle. "This ain't the first time Wendy's done that mind-grabby thing. The first time it scared her so bad she... she's why the car accident happened. She accidentally killed Whitney."

Dumbstruck, neither woman knew how to respond until Winter finally whispered, "Oh my."

"Yeah." Dan turned to stare off through the woods. His sons' ruckus echoed off the trees, as did the impacts of their blades against some object. "Preston was behind them on the highway. When he stopped to help 'em she told him about the 'power' that came from her hands. If it'd been anyone else, they probably would have taken her from me too. That's how I ended up cuttin' trees for the Northwests. To pay off that debt." He inhaled sharply to stave off another round of tears. "You can't tell her. Please. It would..."

"We're not. You can't tell anyone what I did either."

Dan nodded at Winter and raised his right hand. "I swear. You girls might be the only ones that can save us from this crap. Ivan oughta talk to you."

"You know Ivan?" Summer asked, her brow raised.

"Sure. Nobody knows these woods better than me. I go around at night on weekends and check the valley for new... what's the word? Anom... aomon..." He trailed off with a frown.

"Anomalies. Mm. We're supposed to meet with him at some point anyway." Winter glanced at Dipper and Mabel as she folded her arms. "Her secret is safe with us, but she still needs to know. I suggest you're the one that breaks the news."

"I couldn't! It would hurt her too much. She'd hate me."

Suddenly looking sullen, Summer pawed at the nape of her neck. Her eyes were locked on the soil. "She'd hate herself more. Besides, she already knows something is wrong. It's better to let her face it. Trust us. Anything can be forgiven."

Winter's face was blank, but her tone was concerned. "How you want to handle it is up to you. Until then, this conversation never happened."

"All right." All three of them began to walk back. "My wife used to walk in the woods in shoes like those," he noted, motioning at Winter's wedge heels. "Never figured out how."

A smile bent her thin lips as Summer giggled. "It's not easy. I wouldn't even be wearing them if Summer hadn't made me."

Dan said his goodbyes halfway there, leaving them to return to the antsy Pines alone. Mabel had her brother in a headlock. "Don't ask what happened!" she chided him. "I know you wanna!"

"I won't!" he yelled, smacking her arm. "Stop choking me out!" Reluctantly, she released him. Straightening his vest with an annoyed huff, he regarded the older twins and tried to smile. "Whatever it was, we'll deal with it whenever. See? I didn't ask."

"I got my eye on you, broface." Mabel warned. Summer plucked the tree plushie from her grip. "Awwww."

"I'll trade you," the red-eyed woman said. She snapped a nearby bramble into a rainbow-shaped and colored plushie with beady black eyes and a huge smile. "How's this?" Everyone winced at the pitch of Mabel's joyous squeal. "I guess I did okay."

"Yeah. She loves rainbows." Dipper paused to rub at his ear with a wince. "So what else is close by?"

Winter stared up at the blue sky beyond the weave of branches. "It's about lunch time, isn't it?"

"Half past noon," Summer confirmed with the help of her phone. Dipper and Mabel's sweaty, tired states made her frown. "Let's go back for lunch before you two pass out. You don't look so good."

"Maybe that's not such a bad idea," he admitted, mopping his brow. "You guys haven't even broken a sweat but I feel like I'm gonna die."

They headed back toward the creek, walking – or in Mabel's case, skipping – at a leisurely pace. Behind them, leaning into view around one of the great redwoods, was someone in a hooded, camouflage jacket who watched them for a moment before moving to follow.

Afternoon turned the air from stuffy to absolutely unbearable, a phantom soup that sucked the life out of the Pines until they were wilted, grumpy shells. Meanwhile, the older twins looked fresh as daisies, barely sporting a sheen on their pale skin.

And that annoyed Mabel to no end. "What the fudge," she said abruptly, motioning at Winter. "You look like someone photoshopped your skin! Except in real life!"

The insinuation flew right over her head as she examined her arms. "What?"

"She's mad because you don't look tired enough," Dipper said. "No, I'm serious." On closer inspection, however, her true complaint became more obvious – and something, he realized, wasn't right. "Wait... she's got a point. Your skin looks way too dry."

"That's what you get for being fit!" Summer said cheerfully, flexing with both arms. "Oh. I rhymed. How fun."

He didn't buy it for a second. "Uh, no. You're not sweating enough. Fitness hasn't got that much to do with how you regulate your body temperature."

"It doesn't? Um..." For guidance she looked to Winter, who glanced back with an equal amount of anxiety. Then her ruby eyes lit up with the perfect lie. "How hot do you think it gets on our planet?"

Dipper's face dropped in contemplation. "I—good point. Didn't think of that."

Winter tacked on some truth to fill it out and ensure no more questions would be asked. "And cold. The region we're from has some very dramatic shifts in climate."

"Right. Sorry. I just—it's you guys look so much like us that sometimes I forget you're aliens, you know."

Summer dropped back to give him a pat on the hat. "We understand."

As they passed beyond the treeline and back into the Mystery Shack's clearing, the sunlight boosted the heat to even more unbearable levels. Mabel used what was left of her strength to dash for the house, but Dipper had nothing left to give. Since a new bus full of tourists was just unloading, neither Winter nor Summer felt safe enough to magic up some sort of relief. Eventually he made it to the gift shop porch and more or less fell through the open door. They heard Wendy exclaim with surprise. "Mm. I suppose it is a bit warm," Winter admitted, shielding her eyes against the sun. "We should have come in the winter."

"And gotten buried in the snow?" Summer also looked to the sky. "That might have been..." Against the washed-out sea of blue was a weird little white shape; a small airplane, it turned out, flying slowly from her left. "...interesting."

In they went. Mabel was nowhere to be seen, though the pitch and tone of her whining said she'd landed in the living room. Wendy was over a face-up Dipper on the gift shop floor, fanning him with her trapper hat. "Dude!" she said, patting him on the cheek. "Wake up!"

He was red-faced and squirming slightly. A huge smile split his face. "Noooooooo. I'm having a dream that Wendy's massaging my face."

The redhead's brow creased. "I kind of am, man."

"Sure you are. I know you're..." Slowly, his eyes began to open. "Mab...el?" He stared at Wendy for ages. "Huh. What do you know?"

Rolling her eyes, Wendy pulled him to his feet. "Anyway, see something weird out there? Weirder than usual, I mean. I guess."

"More of the bugs." He rubbed at his eyes with the backs of his hands and groaned. "Check with them for the details. I need fluid of some kind and it's probably gonna be Pitt."

Once he'd stumbled out – bouncing off the door frame with a cutesy grunt as he left – Wendy turned her attention to the sisters. "What's he talkin' about? Where'd you find the bugs?"

"We'll explain." Summer looked down at the tree monster plushie and blinked. "Where is its other foot?"

Winter smoothed her hair down with a half-shrug. "Who knows. Wendy... I have an idea I want to test and I could use your help. Would you mind?"

The redhead cocked a brow. "I guess. As long as it doesn't involve something awful."

So of course it did. After the Shack was closed for the day and the sun was beginning to set, Wendy found herself standing on the side opposite where the bottomless pit was located, between the building and the treeline behind her. Winter and Summer were there as well, the latter tossing a green gumball in her right hand. The kids, Stan, and Soos, were still inside. "Okay, so, uh... what's going on?" the redhead asked anxiously.

"I want to see if the bugs can detect your power," Winter explained. "We're only going to release one."

"And it won't get anywhere near you," Summer assured her happily.

Wendy raised her hands in defense as the gumball inflated into a glistening white insect and started to make noise. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, is that thing gonna try and chew on me? 'Cause I'm not too sure about this if it is..." A little scream escaped her lips as Summer put the bug down and it started to dart through the grass. "Dude! Warn me first!"

Winter crossed her arms, watching it run. "Relax."

Wendy did anything but, constantly retreating and moving and complaining whenever the insect came her way. It traced a seemingly random path around the yard, never skittering for more than a few seconds before changing direction. Suddenly, it stopped. "What's it doing?" Wendy asked loudly. "I... I think I liked it better when it wasn't sitting still."

"Good question." The blue-eyed woman walked over to it and peered down. "If it doesn't detect us, it doesn't detect you, and it doesn't detect what's in the pit, then what does it detect?"

"Besides one-footed tree monsters," Summer added with a smile. The bug was on the move again; both sisters followed while Wendy trailed a good distance behind. "It's heading toward that nearest spark over there."

"At least it's not trying to eat me," Wendy muttered uncomfortably.

Yanking it back with her telekinesis before it could reach the trees, Winter snapped the bug back into a gumball and dropped it into her cleavage. The three of them stared into the forest. "Those must be the only sparks they can feel. Why?"

"I'm not sure." Now Summer was the one crossing her arms. Her next words were louder. "We see you, by the way."

"Huh?" Wendy squinted into the orange pall. "See wh-" Then the shape became apparent: a hooded figure barely visible in the light between trunks, approaching slowly. "Oh, come on. What is it with people and hoods around here, man?"

It wasn't a red-clad Society member, though. The camouflage dress made Summer blink. "Who are you?"

"I mean you no harm, I assure you. I doubt I could harm you anyway." A male voice, somehow familiar to the twins and Wendy – but they couldn't put their finger on why. He stopped after just getting into the clearing. His hood shifted; now he was looking at Wendy. "Including you, miss."

"If you're so friendly, stop hiding," she fired back, a hand on her hip.

He chuckled faintly. "That's not why I'm keeping my face a secret." His attention returned to the twins. "I know you have Bellissima. Were you able to help her?"

Winter furrowed her brow. "You left the note."

"I did."

"Mm." She rubbed her chin for a moment. "No. There's too much magic in her body. It's affecting her ability to do anything. I'm not sure if we can extract it safely either."

Before their guest could respond, the back door of the Shack flew open and Pines of all sorts spilled out, bearing down on them with various battle cries. Stan wielded a shotgun; his great niece and nephew brandished a shovel and baseball bat respectively. Soos brought up the rear – he was in a much less flustered state, too busy snacking on some sort of chips. He was the first to speak. "'Sup, dude? Or dudette." He peered at the stranger. "Pretty sure you're a dude but I don't wanna assume."

"Yeah, yeah," Stan interrupted. "Look, get off my property and leave us alone. You're scaring Mabel."

"I saw you earlier!" she said, pointing at his camouflage. "He's been following us! Hit him! Hit him in the shins!"

"Stanford Pines, put that blunderbuss away," the stranger quipped. "You look absolutely ridiculous."

"Wait a minute." Stan lowered his gun, staring. "I know that voice."

"You do?" Dipper glanced at his metal bat. "Can I put this down, then?"

"Please introduce us," Summer said, tapping her foot impatiently.

Stan waved his free hand at the stranger. "Go on, old man. It's fine. We're all friends here."

He pulled the hood back, revealing salt and pepper hair, oval glasses, and a neatly trimmed mustache. His skin was nearly as fair as Wendy's. Winter and Summer immediately picked up on his stately demeanor and stared at him. "Wilhelm told me about you, but I felt your presence long before. When the government didn't contact me about it, well, I got a bit suspicious and came here." He had to pause and let Stan shake his hand. The old men shared a little laugh. "It's been quite a while."

"You ain't kidding, Dietrich. Thought you'd be dead by now," Stan joked. He motioned to the identical twins. "You saw these two from a mile away, huh?"

He nodded, adjusting his glasses. "They are by far the most powerful presences I have ever encountered."

"There's a reason for that," Summer assured him with a bright grin. "I kind of assumed you were dead like your brother. No offense."

"None taken," Dietrich said with a smile of his own. "As I have learned, sometimes magic just doesn't want to let you go."