WARPED

Chapter 3

Lucy couldn't breathe.

She, Hazelle, and Jocelyn had been sprinting for so long. She grimaced into the sun blinding her, and at the ache in her chest and legs. I . . . hate . . . RUNNING.

"There it is!" Hazelle cried.

Lucy blinked—they had made it. The three of them panted their way to Hazelle's house and up to her front door. Hazelle opened the door using her house key and Lucy and Jocelyn stumbled inside. Cool air conditioning slammed into Lucy's sweaty face, and she couldn't help but slide to the floor from exhaustion.

Hazelle double locked her front door and peeked outside. She waited a few beats, and then said in obvious relief, "I don't see anything—"

"WHAT JUST HAPPENED?!" Jocelyn exploded. "Did that SERIOUSLY just happen? Please say no!"

"It happened," Lucy said, wiping the back of her neck. "But I wish it hadn't."

"HE'S REAL!" Jocelyn's eyes were wide. "BILL—IS—REAL! Searchfortheblindeye wasn't a joke! THE WORLD IS ENDING!"

"JOCELYN!" Lucy grabbed Jocelyn's shaking shoulders. "Re-lax!"

Hazelle frowned, tapping the top of her glasses. "I can't believe this is happening. I was just sitting in Music Lab and then Miss Kingsley's projection screen started to flip out and . . . well, you guys know the rest."

"I was in bio!" Jocelyn screeched. "I almost had a freaking heart attack!"

Lucy closed her eyes and replayed the scene in her head: last-minute studying for her osmosis quiz and Mrs. Gull's shout of surprise when Bill appeared on her computer and the pungent stab of fear into Lucy's heart when her face was onscreen and the acknowledgment that Bill Cipher was looking for them and meeting up with Jocelyn and Hazelle and running all the way to Hazelle's house, the closest safe haven they could think of.

It hadn't been the best day, that was for sure.

"Wait," Lucy said, eyebrows furrowed. "What were the things he'd called us again? He didn't say our names."

A pause. "Music Note," Jocelyn mumbled. "Caduceus. Pen."

"Hmmm," Hazelle hummed, looking excited and worried. "Ohmygosh! It's just like in Dreamscaperers! Remember when Bill called Dipper, Mabel, and Soos by their symbols?"

Lucy's skin prickled. "You don't think…" Lucy gazed at her two friends and realized with a jolt how completely it made sense. Jocelyn wanted to be a music teacher. Hazelle wanted to be a doctor. And she wanted to be a writer.

Hazelle caught Lucy's realization. "I do. It makes sense." She hesitated, taking a deep, nervous breath. "We are involved in something."

"But what?" Lucy asked, mind racing. "Gravity Falls is…it's just a cartoon."

"But how can it just be a cartoon when we just saw its main villain come to life?" Jocelyn screeched, throwing her hands into the air. "This literally doesn't make any sense!"

Hazelle glanced back. "Let's check searchfortheblindeye."

Lucy didn't want to, but she rose from sitting on the floor and trudged over to Hazelle's computer. Hazelle typed in the URL, and the site came up.

Holy crap, Lucy thought, throat dry.

The website was going insane: pixels crashed across the screen in bright, colorful bursts. The screen kept on flickering in and out, like a dying candle. Bill's image still hovered in the middle of the screen, but under him was a new code. Hazelle clicked on it: I WARNED YOU.

"Ohhhhhhhh my god," Hazelle whispered.

"I'm done," Jocelyn proclaimed weakly. "I'm three hundred percent done. My entire soul is done."

Lucy stared at the screen. She scrutinized it as much as she could, but with everything so loopy, it was hard to make out anything that could help them. But then there it was! For a second anyway. But that was enough.

"Look!" Lucy pointed at the screen: in the corner, there was a shifting, winking little circle, smaller than Lucy's pinky fingernail.

"What the hell is that?" Jocelyn wailed.

"Just click on it," Lucy urged.

Hazelle nodded and clicked on the circle. Nothing happened for a moment, but then BAM! Light flooded the room, purer and whiter than snow. All three girls were instantly blinded.

Lucy couldn't hear or see. She could only feel the ground as she ducked down for cover, praying Jocelyn and Hazelle would do the same. But then the light began to fade, softly and slowly. When it was finally gone and Lucy regained her senses, she went rigid and stood up, looking to Jocelyn and Hazelle, who looked as freaked out as she felt.

A voice behind them made them all do double takes in disbelief.

"Ha! I was right! I knew I was seeing girls on the other side of that potato chip! IN YO FACE, DIPPINGSAUCE!"