Chapter 8

Jake took a step back. "Wh- What are you talking about?"

Dipper took a step forward. "Exactly what you think I am, Jake. Now confess!"

Jake mentally raced through any possible excuses or explanations he could feed Dipper. Nothing seemed to be coming up, since Dipper had all the information he needed.

Not that Jake would have tried anyway. Dipper was, like, a child prodigy. No way could an F-student outsmart someone like that.

To Jake's relief, Mabel stood up. "Dipper!" she said incredulously. "I can't believe you'd just accuse our cousins like that! You're just being-"

"No."

Everyone looked at Jake, who took a deep breath. Dipper obviously hated being called paranoid, especially when he was right about something, which seemed to be always. He deserved to know, and it didn't matter what the Dragon Council had to throw at him. Besides, even if he tried to tell someone- which Jake was sure he wouldn't- they wouldn't believe him. No one ever listens to children.

"Dipper isn't paranoid," he interrupted. "He's a smart kid- the smartest I've ever met." Another breath. "He's right."

Everyone in the room gasped, except Dipper and Jake.

"He's right about Haley and me being dragons. He's right about Trixie and Spud knowing about it. And he's right about Fu being able to- wait, how did you even guess that?"

He shrugged. "Just a hunch. That, and I heard a deep voice when I stopped by to return this thing. Which I forgot to do."

He pulled out something that Jake instantly recognized as his dream charm.

"How did you- when did- uhh." Jake fell flat on his back.

"I'm sorry, Jake." Dipper said. "Now that I think about it, I probably wasn't supposed to know about that. I just got so curious."

"I don't blame you."

"In my defense, though," Dipper continued, "you really have to work on keeping yourself on the down-low."

"What do you mean?" Haley asked, speaking for the first time since the confrontation.

"Well, for starters," Dipper listed, "in the forest last week, Jake asked us what we were, implying that there is a species of magical creatures that can transform into a human."

"Oh." Jake pulled himself off the floor, wondering why he had done that instead if following Haley.

"Second, you weren't scared at all when we took down Jeff."

"Yeah," Jake agreed. "That was kind of obvious."

"And third," Dipper finalized, "you were in dragon form in your room. Not the smartest idea."

"When did- oh!" Jake realized what had happened. "That was when you came to return the bracelet, wasn't it?"

He nodded. "You're smarter than you let on."

Jake shrugged. "I'm an F-student. You're obviously mistaking me for-"

"But not smart enough."

Jake frowned nervously. "Uh, what?"

Dipper smiled devilishly. "You think I'm stupid enough not to record this?"

Trixie's eyebrows shot up. "What?"

He pulled out a recording device from his pocket. "This is great! Once I give this to Shandra, I'll be famous! I'll go on talk shows and run from Mabel in her hamster ball... the possibilities are endless!"

The four New Yorkers gasped as Dipper laughed in triumph.

"Dipper!" Mabel yelled. "Why are you doing this?!"

"Beecause it's hilarious!"

Mabel faltered. "Huh?"

Dipper wiped a tear from under his eye and said, "Ugh. I sound like Gideon." Slowly, he held up the recording device and smashed it over his knee.

He patted hands together to get the dust off. "That felt good." He turned to the Longs. "See you around, Jake, Haley." With that, he tossed the dream charm to Jake and marched out of the room, the broken recording device in his right hand.

Jake frowned again. "Mabel," he asked slowly, "will you please explain to me what just happened?"

Mabel looked at him. "I wish I knew. But I have a question that you asked me last week."

He raised an eyebrow. "Go on."

"What exactly are you?"

"What do you mean?"

She stood up. "Like, I know you have a human form and a dragon form. But what are you? Are you a human that has a dragon form? Or a dragon that has a human form? Which is it?"

Jake was about to answer- it seemed so obvious. But then he actually pondered the question.

"I don't know myself, actually," he answered. "Hales? Do you know?"

She shook her head. "No idea. That's a really good question, Mabel. I never thought about it that way."

"Well, if you don't know," Mabel reasoned, "then it should be whatever you want it to be. Dragons have rights too!"

Jake, smiling, pondered this as well. Finally he said, "I would want it to be a dragon that can appear to be a human. That sounds cooler. Hales?"

"Same. Way cooler."

Fu finished the crackers Dipper had given him and came up for air. "Did I miss anything?"