Mabel, Dipper, and Wendy were all piled into the station wagon. Mabel and Wendy were talking animatedly, but Dipper was deep in thought. He kept looking towards his glove box, where he was keeping the three book. It felt like something hot and tight coiled in his stomach. He felt sick and nervous. He couldn't believe Wendy and Mabel were being so blase about this. Then again, it could just be a defense mechanism. Maybe they didn't want to think about the horrible truth of their situation. He sighed, and tapped his fingers on the steering wheel. This summer should have been awesome. Their last hurrah before they went up to college. And what were they doing? Hanging out with friends? Going out to the beach? Going to parties? Nope. They were fighting monsters. He thought about school. He was always in his element there. When he was younger, he had struggled academically. But one day it all clicked. He couldn't really explain it. It just felt like a piece of a puzzle had fell into place. Suddenly, things that the teachers were saying began to make sense. Before he knew it, his report card was full of A's. He had been able to make some money tutoring. It had even helped his social standing. He had tutored some of the football players, and in turn they had invited him to some ragers.
Bu this wasn't school. He felt out of place. His whole life he had been sufficiently remarkable, passing through the crowd without disturbing the status quo. He didn't feel like he should be battling evil. He wasn't a superhero, he wasn't some sort of super genius. He was just a teenager. But he supposed that all heroes started out like this. Just regular people thrown into crazy situations. But he doubted anyone would remember what they were doing here. No one remembered anything about the last time they helped the town. It was as if everyone had their memory wiped clean.
"Hey Mabel, are you okay?" asked Wendy. Dipper looked in the rearview mirror. Mabel was pale and sweaty.
"Mabel?" Dipper shook a hand at his sister. "Mabel? What's going on?" When Mabel didn't answer, Dipper pulled the car over. He opened her door, and unbuckled her seatbelt. She wasn't moving. She was breathing shallowly, her eyes unfocused, spittle dripping from the corner of her mouth.
"What's wrong with her?" asked Wendy. Her face was creased with worry. She was holding Mabel's hand. It was clammy and cold.
"I don't know," said Dipper. "I think I should call an ambulance." Mabel heard none of this. Her mind was miles away, in another world. She was sitting in a ring of fire. A tremendous shadow, bigger then anything she had ever seen, lurked in the distance. It spoke to her. It wasn't english, and she didn't hear it in her ears. It was a series of images in her head. They were all horrible. Pictures of her brother and her friends being tortured, killed. Horrible things, things she never could have imagined by herself. The shadow thing seemed to grow more bloated as she began to grow more panicked. Back in the real world, she began to whisper.
"Stop it," Mabel said. Her voice was crackly, as if she had strep throat.
"Stop what?" asked Dipper. Mabel's eyes focused, and she stared at Dipper.
"Make it stop," Mabel said to her brother. "Please, Dipper. It's hurting me."
"What is!?" Dipper screamed. He was close to panic himself.
"I'm calling nine one one," said Wendy. As she pulled her cell phone out of her pocket, Mabel gasped for air. She was back in this reality. She pushed Dipper aside, and ran towards a clearing in the forest. Dipper and Mabel both followed. She held her stomach, and began to gasp. Dipper recognized what was happening immediately.
"Turn around," Dipper said to Wendy. At first the redhead was confused, but she caught on and whirled in place. Dipper walked over to her sister, and moved her hair out of her face.
"Thank you," Mabel managed to get out. She retched, and Dipper closed his eyes. It lasted about a minute. When Mabel finished throwing up, Dipper pulled a handkerchief from his pocket. Mabel cleaned her face off, and put the hanky in her pocket. Dipper let her hair go, and Mabel did her best to regain her composure. "I feel better now," she muttered.
"We should still take you to the doctor," said Dipper. "You looked really sick."
"I'm fine now, really," said Mabel. "I wasn't sick. I was..." She tried to find the right words. "I was somewhere else. Dipper, whatever is causing all this is getting stronger. We have to hurry and find Gideon. The sooner we end all this, the better."
"You're sure you're okay?" asked Dipper.
"Positive," said Mabel. Dipper put an arm around Mabel's shoulder, and walked her to the car. Wendy followed behind them. They all got in, and Dipper started up the car.
"You said Gideon is working at the auto repair shop?" Dipper asked Wendy.
"That's what Tambry said," said Wendy.
"I never pictured him ending up there," said Dipper.
"No one did," said Wendy. Mabel was quiet. She was a little embarrassed. They rode in silence for a while, both Dipper and Wendy looking at Mabel every few seconds. They were just making sure she was okay, but it was making Mabel incredibly self-conscious. "It's coming up here on the right," said Wendy. Dipper took the turn, and pulled into the parking lot. The repair shop was an old, dirty looking place. The kind of place where you could get stuff done for cheap, but it was likely to break again in a few days. The group got out of the car, and walked towards the building. An older man sat out front in a rocking chair. He was smoking a smelly cigar, and rocking back and forth. He noticed the group coming towards him, and he nodded.
"How y'all doin?" he asked.
"Fine," said Dipper.
"Y'all don't look fine," the man said. "To be honest, y'all look mighty perturbed."
"Death in the family," said Wendy. Dipper and Mabel both gave her a confused look. She had made it up off the top of her head without thinking. The old man seemed to buy it thought.
"That's really too bad," said the old man. "My condolences."
"Thanks," said Dipper.
"Need me to look at your wagon?" the old man asked.
"Actually, we need to talk to one of your employees," said Dipper. The old man narrowed his eyes.
"Which one?" the old man asked.
"Gideon Gleeful," said Dipper. The man took a long drag on his cigar. He blew the smoke out slowly, and took the group in.
"What do you want with him?" asked the old man.
"We just need to talk," said Wendy.
"Really?" said the old man. "Or do you just want to harass him?" The old man dropped his cigar, and crushed it under his foot. "He's a hell of a hard worker, and a hell of a nice kid. He's got enough problems without a bunch of assholes coming and giving him crap."
"What?" asked Mabel. "Sir, we don't want to mess with him. We just want to talk." The man looked the group up and down, sizing them up. He thought for a second, and shrugged.
"He's inside," the old man said. "But I'm warning you. You mess with him, I'm calling the police."
"We understand," said Dipper. The group walked past the old man, and went into the building. It was just three rooms. A large office space, a bathroom, and a door that led to the garage. The walked into the garage, and looked around. It was big, and dark. Three cars were in various states of disrepair. The floor was covered in oil and grease, and the walls were smeared with spray paint. They saw a figure squirming underneath an old Crown Victoria. The group walked over to him. He came out from under the car, and Mabel gasped. Gideon had not aged well. He was still short and stocky. It wasn't cute anymore. He just looked like a fat kid. His long white hair was short now. It was a complete mess, looking like it hadn't been combed in weeks. He was pale, almost an albino. He had an bad outbreak of acne across his face, and he was covered in sweat. He turned to face them, and looked nonplussed.
"Gideon Gleeful," hissed Dipper.
"That's me," Gideon muttered. "Funny seeing you guys here. Didn't think you much cared for me."
"We don't," said Dipper.
"Oh," said Gideon. He sighed. "So you're just here to make fun of me like everyone else." He opened his arms. "Go ahead. Say what you want. Believe me, there isn't anything I haven't heard." The Pines and Wendy shared a perplexed look. This wasn't what they had expected. Gideon was far from being some sort of evil, vengeance seeking force. He was just some nerdy kid.
"We're not here to make fun of you," Mabel said. Gideon scoffed.
"Yeah right," said Gideon.
"Really," said Mabel. "We're here to ask about what's been happening around town."
"What do you mean?" said Gideon.
"Cut the crap!" said Dipper. "We know you're a part of it. You were in Mabel's dream, and Wendy said you were being crazy and yelling at Tambry."
"Well, I don't know what to say about Mabel's dream," said Gideon. "I can't really control that. And as for Tambry, I was just checking in to see how Wendy was doing. But she thinks I'm some sort of freak, so I'm sure she skewed my words."
"Why would you check in one me?" asked Wendy. Gideon looked hurt.
"We didn't hang out much, but I did see you once in a while," said Gideon. "I thought it might be nice to hang out." Dipper, Mabel, and Wendy all began to think they might have made a mistake. This didn't seem like acting. Gideon really seemed rather... rather harmless.
"Dipper," said Mabel. "I think we might have messed up."
"I think you might be right," said Dipper. Dipper walked over to Gideon. "You know what dude. You're right. We were going to come make fun of you. But you don't deserve it. It was really crappy of us, and we're sorry."
"Yup," said Wendy.
"For sure," said Mabel.
"So we're just going to leave now," said Dipper.
"Good," said Gideon. "I have a lot of work to do." The redhead and the twins backed away from Gideon. They gave him a final look, and left the way they came. Gideon stood in place for a few seconds. He felt a hand touch his shoulder.
"Excellent," his voice said. He turned around. It was his double. They were an exact physical copy in every way, down to the very last detail. But his double was somehow clearly more sinister. He radiated an aura of evil and hatred. "You've done well," his double said. "They suspect nothing." Gideon didn't say anything.