WARPED

Chapter 4

Hazelle blinked. And then she blinked again.

Looking back, maybe she should have reacted better. The way you reacted in a dire, adrenaline-high situation could be the difference between life and death. She probably should have grabbed Jocelyn and Lucy and ran, or somehow prepared for a possible threat.

Instead, Hazelle screamed like a twelve year old at a boy band concert.

She hadn't been a fan of Gravity Falls for that long. A couple months, probably. But it had completely taken over her life, like things with a section on always did. And at that moment, she was experiencing every fan's dream: the characters, in flesh and blood, right in front of her.

Only the main cast seemed to have jumped out of her computer: twins Mabel and Dipper, exchanging a twin-telepathy look of confusion; Grunkle Stan, mouth open and staring around at Hazelle's opulent living room; Soos, who hadn't seemed to notice his new surroundings yet; and Waddles, trapped in Mabel's arms, drooling on her sleeve. If Hazelle was being honest with herself, she had wished more of her favorite characters had accompanied them: Wendy, Old Man McGucket, Lazy Susan, Pizza Dude, Blendin Blanden, Quentin Trembley, Toby Determined. Even getting to meet Robbieand Pacificawould have been cool!

But maybe she was getting ahead of herself.

"Mabel, please," choked Dipper, whose eyes were bulging out of his head.

"What the heck?" Grunkle Stan frowned at Hazelle, Jocelyn, and Lucy, who were stunned into silence. "Who are you people?"

"And are you okay, dude?" Soos asked Hazelle. "That scream kinda sounded like Waddles for a sec."

"You're in my living room." Hazelle found her voice, curled into a ball deep in the back of her throat. "The main characters of Gravity Falls are in my living room."

Things got very fuzzy after that statement, and then everything went black.

XxX

Annoyingly, Hazelle's body had chosen that precise moment to give up on her. When she woke up, she was on her couch, Lucy wiping her forehead with a cold cloth.

"What happened?" Hazelle groaned. "I had the weirdest freakin' dream…"

"Spoiler alert," Jocelyn called from across the room. "That wasn't a dream."

It was then that Hazelle noticed Jocelyn on the other side of the room, freaking out over who was undeniably Mabel Pines.

"Oh," said Hazelle in a small voice. "Not…not a dream."

Oh.

"How long was I out?" she added tiredly.

"Only a couple seconds." Hazelle jerked as she realized Dipper Pines was sitting next to her. He gave her a tiny, awkward smile—the kind of smile you gave someone when you didn't want them flipping out over something. "Hi. You, uh, dropped your glasses."

Hazelle had wanted to thank him, take her glasses, whip them on gracefully, and collect herself in a way that showed she had pulled herself together. Instead, she yammered, "Ohmygodyou'reDipperfreakingPines."

"Um…yes." It took Dipper a moment to decipher what she had said. "How, um, do you know that?"

Hazelle turned her gaze to Lucy. A silent conversation flitted between them—Should we tell them? It might ruin their idea of reality. But what else can we say? "It's a really long story," she finally said.

"Basically," Lucy said, "here, in this world, you guys are part of a TV show named after your town."

"A TV show?" Mabel bounced on her heels. "Wowza!"

"How is that possible?" Dipper asked, whipping out Journal #3 from his vest—the real Journal #3! Hazelle almost squealed. "I've never noticed any cameras or anything like that….Wait!" He flipped ahead a couple pages. "The journal does mention something about alternate realities. Is this…did we just jump realities?"

"Whatever happened," Grunkle Stan cut in, seemingly eager to stop the discussion about alternate realities, "we gotta find a way to reverse it. I've gotta get back to the Shack!"

"Chill your grill, Mr. Pines," Soos said. "Where even are we? And who are you dudes—dudettes? Is that the right term? Ya know what, I'm just gonna call you dudes."

Hazelle's guests all looked to her, Jocelyn, and Lucy.

Lucy cleared her throat, smiled, and pushed her hair back. "Well, I'm Lucy Glint."

"I'm Jocelyn Swanson," Jocelyn continued, enthusiastic.

Hazelle tried for a grin, but she was sure it just came off as a goofy face. "And I'm, uh, Hazelle Krimms. Hola."

"And I guess you dudes know who we are?" Soos asked. "Either that or you're awesome at guessing games."

"Oh yes we know who you guys are!" Jocelyn squawked, grinning. "We love you guys! You're the stars of our favorite show!"

"Or, from what the kid is spoutin', your favorite alternate reality," Grunkle Stan said.

"Also accurate," Lucy replied.

"But what are we doing here?" Dipper said, furrowing his brow. "I mean, before this, we were all at the Shack, doing normal, everyday activities."

"And then we saw you guys through the magic floating potato chip," Mabel added, nodding.

"Back up—the what?" Hazelle said, finally taking her glasses from Dipper and offering him what she hoped was a normal, grateful smile.

"Mabel, I think your 'potato chip' was actually a rip in the space time continuum," Dipper said, frowning.

Mabel shrugged. "We'll agree to disagree."

"Wait." Jocelyn looked around at the group, worry darkening her face. "I don't think you guys came here. I think you were brought here on purpose. By the same person-creature thing that paid a visit to our school earlier."

It hit Hazelle like a punch to the gut. "Oh my god," she gasped. "Bill."