"Hurry up, Ebonique! Grab your stuff and pick out your room!" Salem winced slightly at her mother's tone as she lugged her infinite black messenger bag over her shoulder in irritation.
Her long dirty blonde hair tied in a loose French-braid down her back with a black ribbon pleated inside of it. The fourteen-year-old just rolled her eyes as she made her way into her new house in Reverse Falls, Oregon.
Salem would dearly miss her hometown of New Orleans, but the move was necessary. Her little sisters and brothers soon raced by her and into the house shouting how they were going to beat each other to the biggest room. She smiled lightly thinking at being carefree at their age.
She made her way into the insanely large mansion/plantation-style house. Her brothers and sisters voice were all over the place as she listened closely. Shrugging her shoulders, she made her way up onto the grand spiral staircase and onto the second floor; she soon repeated the process until she made onto the fifth. Considering the rooms on the floor and decided that she would choose one of them.
She walked into one that was spacious and had a clear view of the Reverse Falls Skyline. She decided this was her room, out of the corner of her eye she saw what looked like closet. Taking off her messenger bag and laying it against the wall, she made her way over to it. Upon opening the door, she discovered it was not a closet but a very cleverly hidden passageway with a winding staircase.
Making sure nobody saw her, she entered it and started trekking up the long stairwell. She deduced that must led up to the attic, she soon came upon an ornate-style door that had Victorian-like designs on it and was pleated in gold and silver. The handle was what she suspected was diamond, turning the knob she came upon a factory-sized room.
This room must have covered the entire house, it was that big. Raising an eyebrow and noticing that she could use the room downstairs as a decoy-room and this one as her real one. She could always move her stuff later, sometimes it helped having these powers.
She soon made her way back downstairs and into the decoy room just as her father peered through the door.
"This it?" he asked raising an eyebrow.
"Yep" was her short reply since she rarely talked to others unless she genuinely liked them.
Nodding his head in response, he gone back out into the hallway. She exhaled loudly through her nose and began to massage her temples, already feeling a headache coming on.
Grabbing her messenger bag and slinging it over her shoulder she exited her new room and made her way down to the foyer. Her mother was talking to the guy in charge of moving clearing her throat to get her attention.
"Ah, Ebonique. Have you already chosen your new room?" she inquired raising a perfectly shaped eyebrow.
Nodding her head, "Dad already placed the sheet that labels the room as mine, it's on the fifth floor." She replied in a monotone as she lazily looked at the fit African American man beside her mother in question.
"Alright then." She replied with a small smile.
"Can I go and explore the town?" she asked in an emotionless tone that sat the mover on edge.
"Fine, you have your mace and cell?" she answered back in a clipped tone.
Nodding, Salem replied, "Don't I always?"
"Alright, bye and stay safe!" her mother yelled as she made her way out of the door and into the very busy yard.
Making her way to the moving truck that contained her stuff, she jumped in and found her black, red, purple and gold skateboard.
Soon, she had made it out of her new houses driveway and onto the street into town.
Lazily skating down the road until she came upon a sign that said: "Welcome to Reverse Falls! Population – 3596"
Salem soon came upon an intersection as she moved towards the sidewalk, she began to look at all the storefronts in amusement.
Before she knew it, she was on the ground with a splitting headache. Seeing stars briefly, she shook her head to clear.
"Honestly, Gideon! You're so clumsy!" a girl's voice sounded as she realized that a young boy was on top of her.
"Ain't mah fault, who skates here anyway?" the boy replied with a Texan accent. Raising an eyebrow at his sarcasm, the boy got up off her. Picking herself up she brushed herself off and looked to find a pale blonde haired girl berating a boy with white-blonde hair and greyish-red eyes as he fixed his blue hat.
Salem coughed slightly to get their attention.
"Oh! I'm sorry about my friend, he's such a klutz sometimes." The girl apologized as her cousin grumbled to himself.
"I'm Pacifica, this is Gideon. I don't remember seeing you before, just move here?" she questioned in rapid fire. Blinking slightly at her optimism, her lips soon twitched slightly.
"Yeah, I just got here actually. The name's Salem." She replied as she flipped her skateboard and grabbed it from the air.
"Awesome! Hey, if you want we could show you around?" Pacifica questioned with a friendly smile.
Salem blinked slightly, as she decided to use her aura sight to see their personas.
Pacifica's was a wide range of blues and greens, sometimes mixing together. Gideon's was surprisingly a light red with a hint of brown.
Cocking her head to left slightly, Salem decided that she would give them a chance. Turning off her aura sight [i.e. blinking], she nodded her answer.
"Great! Come on, we'll show you around." Stated Pacifica, the trio continued to walk down Main Street with Pacifica describing the town's history and the attractions.
They soon came upon a large blue tent with a pentagram on top with an eye in the middle.
"That's the Tent of Telepathy. The Gleeful family runs it, although Gideon and I have been wanting to go see what the big fuss is about, we just never seem to have the time." Pacifica explained.
Salem hummed in response, she was getting some weird vibes from this place.
"How about we go see it now? If you're hurting for money I help buy your way in?" she suggested.
Gideon and Pacifica's eyes went wide at her suggestion, "Re-really?! You would pay for our tickets! That's soooo nice of you! And sure, why not, it would be a great bonding friend thing!" Pacifica stuttered in her response.
Gideon was confused, here you were offering virtual strangers into an attraction when you just met not twenty minutes ago, he blinked slightly at his thoughts as Salem and Pacifica continued to talk.
All three soon made their way to the entrance of the ToT, Salem soon took out her wallet and handed the man a twenty. Getting five back, grabbing their tickets they noticed that the show was about to begin.
They found some seats in the middle and sat down, Salem took off her messenger bag and placed her skateboard next to it beside the seat next to her.
Stage lights soon enveloped the area, and music began to play.
"We thank you for coming to our show." Two voices, a male and a female soon echoed through the area.
Two figures stood in the middle, they appeared to be the Gleeful Twins she had heard about.
They soon began doing some tricks, unlike everyone else; she was not clapping. Salem was completely unimpressed, and those pendants [the bolo tie and the headband] gave off a very strange vibe that she had sensed earlier. Narrowing her eyes slightly, she activated her aura sight. Their auras, it's a myriad of black and blue; almost ninety percent is pitch black.
Unbeknownst to Salem, who was busy in her own thoughts; the performers asked for a volunteer from the audience. The twins each scanned a section of the area [Dipper for females and Mabel for males]. Dipper seemed to notice a blonde-haired girl with strange heterochromic eyes staring into space, seemingly not paying attention.
'How was that even possible?! She was supposed to be just like the other plebeians.' Narrowing his electric sea-green eyes, he hopped down from the stage and made his way over to the mysterious girl.
"Hello young miss, would you be so kind as to assist us in our show this evening?" Dipper put on his most charming voice he possible could. He soon took note that one of her eyes were an amethyst purple whilst the others a striking emerald green. This girl was beautiful, he had seen many beautiful women in his life, but she took the place of them all.
Salem was startled from her thoughts as she saw a pale hand held out in front of her face. She blinked in confusion, Pacifica elbowed her none-to-gently and urged her to take his hand. Confused she did as instructed, she noticed that the man seemed to tighten his hold upon her hand as the made their way to the stage.
Dipper marveled at how soft her pale tanned skin felt against his. Biting back a shiver he led her to the stage.
Standing in between the twins Salem was confused.
"Now, we shall make this young lady disappear before your very eyes!" Mabel stated as she took out a baby blue cloak and covered her all the way to the floor.
Shifting nervously in anticipation, Dipper's voice whispered behind her, "Don't worry. We won't let anything hurt you. What's your name?" he asked quietly.
"Salem" she replied in a whisper.
"Nice to meet you Salem, I'm Dipper." He replied.
"Now for the count down, One." Mabel stated.
"Two" Dipper continued.
"THREE!" the crowd finished. Salem felt a wash of tingles envelope her body as she disappeared. She soon found herself on a dark blue couch, and seemed to be in some sort of back room.
She could hear cheering from outside, which meant that the audience liked the trick. No matter how cheesy it was, she had to give credit where credit was due. About forty minutes later, Salem heard footsteps approaching with her advanced hearing.
The door soon opened revealing the twins, Mabel got three bottles of water from the mini-fridge as Dipper sat down beside her and smiled, showing his dimples.
She was soon handed a bottle of water by Mabel, opening and began to drink slightly.
"I'm Mabel, it's nice to meet you. You were great up there, most of our volunteers are so happy or nervous it's impossible to get them to stand still." She stated and began to drink from her own bottle.
Salem blushed slightly at her praise, putting some of her loose hair behind her ear she said, "Naw, I was just stunned that's all." She replied with a smile.
Dipper continued to stare at the beautiful woman beside him until she looked at her black and purple wristwatch and her eyes widen.
"Oh no! I completely forgot about Gideon and Pacifica! You guys are good, but I have to go now, see ya later!" she got and exited from the room and made her way outside where Pacifica and Gideon were waiting for her. Pacifica was holding her bag and Gideon her skateboard.
Gideon was pacing back and forth nervously.
Back with the twins, Dipper continued to stare at the door she went out of until his sister snapped her fingers in front of his face.
"Looks like someone has a little crush~" she smirked slightly at her brother's red face.
"Maybe, did you notice how she seemed to be unaffected when all of the other audience members were?" he asked with his electric sea-green eyes coldly.
"Now that you mention it, yes. She did seem to be unaffected by it." She pondered in thought.
"And let's not forget she's hanging with that trash Gideon Pines and Pacifica Southeast, I think we should show her how she could do better than those losers." Mabel smirked slightly, she always hated Pacifica.
Smirking back, Dipper began to think of all the things he and Salem could do once they become friends, and then onto the next stage. He sighed happily at the thought of her in his arms after making love all night.
Mabel was thinking about how Salem and she could be shopping buddies and be the best of friends. She was also thinking of her becoming her sister-in-law in the future.
The twins soon began to plan on getting Salem on their side, as a glowing blue triangle in chains wept in the corner.
With the trio
"So, did they do anything to you?" Gideon asked with questions in his eyes.
"Nah, they just let me relax on the couch in the backstage area until the show was over." Salem shrugged as she cruised lazily on her skateboard with her hair flowing freely and her bag over her shoulder.
"It was sooo~ cool how you just kept your calm up there! Heaven knows I wouldn't have been to do that!" Pacifica gushed slightly as they came upon a rundown cabin in the middle of Reverse Falls Woods. Salem peered up and saw that it was named the Mystery Hack. Salem cocked her head slightly and made an ah sound as she noticed that it said Shack, not Hack, the S must've fallen off, she mused.
"Grunkle Bud, we're back and we brought a new friend!" Gideon's voice yelled as all three entered the establishment. Salem soon recognized the place as the cabin she helped Ben make for his research. What the hell happened to it though?! Salem felt her eye twitch slightly as she gazed upon the obviously fake attractions and overpriced gifts.
"It's not a lawyer, is it?!" a deep voice sounded in the back as a man appeared that looked to be in his sixties, his dark brown hair was slowly turning gray, he wore a red and yellow Hawaiian-style shirt and dull cargo shorts and flip-flops. Salem soon noticed the fez on his head and the jewelry he sported. At first, she thought Ben must've gotten into the Vitt again, until she noticed his aura of that of his twin brother Bud. Damn it, now it all made sense! Salem felt like hitting herself, when she remembered Ben was knocked into the Dimensional portal forty years ago!
"Oh, that's a relief I thought for sure that the IRS finally caught up to me." Bud sighed in relief as he made his way into the den as the trio walked in after him.
"Make yourself at home kid." Bud stated as he got a Vitt beer out of the fridge.
"You wouldn't happen to need another employee by any chance, would you?" Salem inquired as she continued to look around the man cave with carefully concealed disgust.
Bud made a sound that sounded between a cough and desperate laugh.
"Why yes, I do happen to have an opening. Wendy goes to the local college on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays. Do ya think ya could work with that kid?" Bud asked almost pleadingly. Salem thought it over and nodded, Bud jumped high and shouted a triumphed yell.
"I'll give ya the hours later." Bud said as he made his way to his Sleazy Boy reclining chair with a satisfied grunt.
