Sorry I'm a little late; we had to go out of town for a few days, and didn't get back until a few minutes ago, but here we are! Things are really going to start getting crazy now and I've already wasted too much time, so let's get on with the shout-outs!
gamelover41592- Thanks for your review! It was not the best episode, but it was definitely one of my favorites.
Female Fantasy Freak- While it wasn't the best episode, it was definitely one of the most emotional, and it was one of my favorites. And I'm glad you liked the Baldwin line. And the whole infinity-die thing was one of the stupidest things EVER! I mean, if it was banned in bleventeen dimensions, there must have been a good reason for it, right? And then he puts it in something a two-year-old would put crayons in?! I mean, SERIOUSLY?! YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE A GENIUS!
Vulcran- Thanks for your review!
Kirk- Thanks for your reviews!
Disclaimer: I only own Willow Pines and anything you don't recognize. Everything else belongs to Disney and Alex Hirsch.
Pacifica's POV (August 4th)
"You look stunning Miss," Sebastian told me, taking my arm and leading me down the steps in the foyer. The past week had been a blur of dress fittings, menu/catering meetings, guest list adjustments, and a bunch of other activities I was getting used to being a part of. Ever since I had turned ten, my parents had been giving me more responsibilities to 'Train me to uphold the family name' or something.
But this time of the year it was even more important than the normal parties. Tomorrow was the annual Northwest Fest, and a good two hundred some people from all around the world were coming. But this year was different. It was the 150th party, which meant that if anything was going to happen, it was going to happen soon, which is why everyone was on high alert for anything out of the ordinary. But Sebastian leading me down the main steps, that was nothing abnormal.
"Thank you, Sebastian," I told him, stepping onto the main floor, looking at the buffet tables that had been set up, food dishes already being placed on them at the direction of Charlie, our head chef. My parents would normally just refer to them as 'The Butler' or 'The Chef' (and not always with capitals either), but I had made it a point to learn the names of all the servants (I really hate using that word) my parents had working for them.
"Put the oyster fork at an angle!" I heard my dad snap from the dining room. I walked to the doorway, watching as my parents went over the guest list for probably the billionth time.
"Pacifica!" My mother yelled when she noticed me. I grabbed the sides of the gown I had put on and curtsied as she stormed up to me. "We told you the theme is sea foam green not lake foam green! Go change!"
"But I kind of like this one," I told them, glancing down at myself. It was simple, something there hadn't been a lot of in my life recently. It was mostly one shade of green, darker wave-like patterns on the hem and a bow at the waist. This was at least the twentieth gown my parents had rejected, and I was getting fed up about it. "You said I could pick my own gown, but then you-"
"Don't talk back to your mother, Pacifica," dad told me, ringing the bell he kept in his pocket. The last thing I needed the night before the party was to deal with the consequences of not listening when the bell was rung, so I stayed quiet and was about to head back upstairs when the ground began to shake.
"Dad, is this it?!" I yelled at him as the cooks and waiters panicked and started running around, diving under tables or ducking back into the kitchen.
"It's happening!" dad yelled, plates and silverware beginning to float into the air, flying at all of us. The three of us hid under a table, watching as the utensils bounced around the room, plates shattering and hitting the floor.
"This is a disaster!" mom yelled, pulling the tablecloth down as a newspaper fell in front of us. "The party is in just twenty-four hours!"
"Surely there is someone who can handle this sort of nonsense!" dad responded. I glanced down at the newspaper that had landed next to us, the answer making itself obvious.
"I think I know someone who could help," I told them holding up the newspaper. There was a picture of the old Clock Tower on the front page, the police holding onto each other in fear while something that looked like a giant bat was trying to attack them. I really hated having to go to them, but desperate times call for desperate measures, and if they could hold back a giant bat, then I don't think our little situation would be a problem for the Pines.
Dipper's POV (August 5th)
"Honestly dudes, how do I look?" Soos asked us, spinning around, giving Willow and I a look at him. His cousin's engagement party was today, and Soos was paranoid after the last date he and Melody had, so he was trying to make sure everything went right. He was wearing black pants and black dress shoes, with a dark green button-down and black bow-tie.
"Loose the bow tie," Willow told him. He nodded and tore the tie off, undoing the top button of his shirt. "That's better."
"Thanks dudes," he breathed, walking over to the table and grabbing his keys off it. "I'm gonna go. I'll see you dudes tomorrow."
"Bye Soos!" We called after him, the door shutting behind him. We turned back to the TV, where a Ghost Harassers marathon was starting.
"Get comfortable," I said, half to myself. "We're not gonna move till sunset."
"We interrupt this program to bring you breaking news!" Toby Determined's voice interrupted our show. My first thought was something with President Obama or Mitt Romney because they were the only thing everyone had been talking about since the summer started. But when Mabel and her friends barged in and started staring, wide-eyed, at the TV, I knew it was something else.
"Tonight's the night, but I've been our here for days!" Toby said, his news camera zooming out and showing him looking like he had been living in the woods for a week. "The Northwest family's annual high-society-shindig-ball-soiree is here! And even though common folk aren't let in, that isn't stopping us from camping out for a peek at the fanciness!"
"OOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHH!" Mabel and her friend gasped as I mentally face palmed. I had never understood those big fancy parties rich people had. The fanciest thing any of us had ever been to was our uncle's wedding, and for that I pretty much just wore the same things Soos had on. It's like, 'Your rich, we get it, don't rub it in people's faces,' but the girls, and even Wills a bit, were into this stuff, although Willow was mostly interested in the food. I think it was just a guy thing.
"Seriously, can someone please explain why people care about this?" I asked. Mabel and her friends all looked at me like I had grown a second head or something.
"It's only the best party of all time!" Grenda told me, getting a dazed look in her eyes. "Rich food, richer boys!" Go figure it's about the boys for them.
"I heard each gift basket has a live quail inside!" Mabel added, something else I didn't get. Why did rich people think animals made a good present for gift bags?
"Give me your life, Pacifica," Candy said longingly, staring at the TV screen. I sighed and looked at Willow, the only person left who would give me a real answer.
"I'm pretty sure the event itself is just to catch up with international politics," she explained, which made sense. "And I think the party is just to get publicity for the family. It wouldn't be a big deal if they just said they were having a big meeting."
"I get that much," I told them, just as someone knocked on the door. "What I don't get is why everyone in town wants to go to the party," I said, walking backwards to the door. "I mean, the Northwest family is the worst. And that's not jealousy talking. I'd say that to their face." I turned around and opened the door.
"I need your help," Pacifica, wearing sunglasses, a trench coat and head scarf, told me.
"You're the worst," I told her immediately, slamming the door in her face and turning back around to face the girls, who were staring at me like I had kicked a puppy or something. "See?" I told them, Pacifica knocking on the door again. Willow stood up and walked past me, opening the door.
"What's up?" She asked, getting down to business. I turned around and listened to the problem, even though the chances of us helping were slim.
"There's something haunting Northwest Manor, and if you guys don't help me, the party will be ruined," she explained, glancing around as if she was scared of being seen.
"Why should we help you?" I asked her, leaning against the doorframe. "All you've ever done is try to humiliate us."
"I came here, didn't I?" She asked, which, I hated to admit, was a good point. None of her family would ever come to us for help, so the fact that they did said it all. It also meant that people in town were finally taking us seriously, not that that was something I was surprised about. We had already figured out that since people in town would start noticing the weirdness now that the Society was gone, people would start coming to us for help if there was something that needed to be dealt with. "Just name your price, okay?"
"Hey Pacifica!" Mabel yelled excitedly, grabbing mine and Willow's shoulders and pulling us out of earshot. "Guys, if you help Pacifica, you can get us into the greatest party of all time!"
"We're talking about the same girl you had a mini-golf battle with and who embarrassed you in public every time she could since we've been here," Wills reminded her.
"But it's the best party ever!" Mabel pleaded, getting those big sad puppy eyes that you couldn't say no to.
"Fine!" I snapped, heading back over to where Pacifica was waiting for us. "We'll bust your ghost, but we need three tickets to the party for Mabel and her friends." Pacifica growled and reached into her purse, pulling out three gold invitations and handing them to me.
"You guys are lucky we're desperate," she muttered. From behind us, the girls yelled excitedly and started chanting DESPERATE over and over.
"Grenda, get the glue gun!" Mabel yelled. "We're making dresses!"
"I'm already regretting coming to you," Pacifica muttered, walking off the porch and back to the limo that was waiting for her.
GFF
"Welcome to Northwest Manor dorks," Pacifica told us, the large double doors opening wide, revealing the entrance hall of the mansion. I'll admit, it was a nice place. Like most houses in this town, it was made of wood, but there were stone accents on the walls. Large marble steps led to the upper levels, and above the staircase was a fireplace, and above that, a picture of Pacifica and her parents. Beside the stairs on one side was a cider fountain and on the other side an ice sculpture. Long buffet tables ran parallel to the walls, waiters and servants running around, filling them with food. And everyone was dressed up fancy.
As a dude, I have to say, Pacifica didn't look half bad in the gown she had picked out. However, I've always thought blondes look good in purple, so I was kind of biased on that one. The dress was a calm purple color with black fluff on the hem and at the shoulders. She at least looked better than Mabel did.
The dress she had made looked like she had skinned a flamingo. It was a bright pink with feathers and roses. In her hair was a weird pink wire-like thing that made it look like she had stuck a chair back on her head.
Candy's dress looked fine. It was mint green with a dark green bow around the waist. But her hair was sticking up straight in a ponytail, so it looked like she should have been upside-down. Grenda was the most simple of the three. Her dress was gold satin and her hair was pulled back in the back, swooping in the front.
But out of all the girls, Willow looked the best, and she despises dresses. She had one back home that was forest green with black lace on the shoulders, but when we packed, she hadn't brought it, figuring she wouldn't need one living in the woods for three months. She was originally just going to go in her normal clothes, like I did, but Mabel had insisted on making her one, and even though the gown she had made for herself had come out weird, she had done a damn good job on Willow's.
Because we were fighting ghosts, all our weapons were in a backpack, which meant that there was nothing to take away from the look the dress gave her. The best way to describe it was angelic. It was all white satin, the back stopping at her calves, the front just above her knees, both to avoid tripping hazards in case things got crazy. The front was heart-cut, an inch of gold lace on the shoulders because she refused to wear anything without sleeves.
Despite the angelic look of the dress itself, there were still things that only Wills would do for such a fancy party. For starters, her shoes. Instead of wearing heels, or even flats, she had put on combat boots. For most people, that would have taken away from her appearance, but in her case, it helped. Her hair was pulled back in a fishtail braid slung over her shoulder, held together with a gold silk ribbon tied at the top and bottom of the braid, wrapping around the braid itself. All in all, she looked like a rebellious angel.
"Try not to break anything!" Pacifica called as Mabel and her friends took off, grabbing and touching anything they could.
"Pacifica!" Preston Northwest called, walking up to us. "Thank you for coming to deal with our little… situation. Hopefully you'll be able to have everything under control by the time the guests arrive in an hour."
"We'll do our best," I assured him.
"Splendid! Pacifica, find the young man a suit to wear, then show our guests to the problem room and-" A loud crash, followed by a shout, came from the direction I thought the kitchen would be. "Excuse me. Pacifica can handle any questions you have." With that, he spun on his heel and walked towards the kitchen.
"I told you that you had to dress up a bit," Wills told me, snagging a chocolate covered strawberry off the end of a buffet table.
"Last time I checked, you didn't want to dress up either," I reminded her. She just shrugged and started eating her strawberry as Pacifica led us through the mansion. She took us upstairs and to a huge room that looked like the wardrobe area of a theater, clothes in shelves and on hangars lining both walls. On the far side of the room was a curtain that most likely led to a fitting room. And on one wall were pictures of the Northwest family doing different good things: Giving bags of apples to people, making a deal with the Native American's, and, of course, Nathaniel Northwest, his foot on top of a rock in a heroic pose.
"Try this one on," Pacifica said, handing me a tuxedo and shoving me behind the curtain. I sighed and started changing while the girls talked to each other.
"So, do you know why the ghost is haunting you guys?" Willow asked. "Ghosts always have a reason for haunting somewhere."
"No idea," Pacifica told her as I did up the top button of the undershirt, effectively cutting off my windpipe. But it had to be like that for the bowtie that came with the tux.
"Where's the library?" Willow questioned just as I gave up on figuring out my bowtie. I walked out of the fitting room, trying to prevent the collar from choking me.
"It feels like this collar is strangling me," I said, Pacifica walking up and grabbing my bowtie. "Who do you think you're impressing with this stuff?"
"Everyone," she told me, tying my tie in five seconds and stepping back to look at me. "It'll do, but you clearly don't understand how the upper class works. High standards are what make the Northwest family great."
"I thought it was lying about founding the town," I commented, flicking the tassel of one of the pictures.
"Don't touch that!" She snapped at me, throwing a pair of dress shoes at my feet. "Put those on and meet us in the hall." She and Willow left, and I slipped my feet into the dress shoes before following them. Pacifica was pointing down the hallway, Willow looking in the direction she was pointing.
"Okay," Willow said, turning to me. "You can handle the ghost on your own, right?"
"Probably, yeah," I told her. In the limo on the way here, we had gone over everything we knew about the ghost. From what we could figure, it wasn't a major apparition, and one of us should be able to handle it easily.
"Good. So, I'm gonna head to the library and try to figure out why the ghost is here while you guys deal with it. I'll let you know if I find anything." She took off down the hall, away from the direction the library was in.
"Where's she…?" Pacifica asked me. I sighed, face-palming and laughing to myself.
"Probably off to steal a tray of those chocolate strawberries," I told her, following her down another hall. "Seriously, she's practically addicted to those things."
"So you guys have dealt with ghosts before, right?" She asked.
"Enough to know that that ghost that's haunting you guys is most likely a Category 1, the least dangerous on the scale," I told her, showing her the Journal page on Category 1 ghosts, although she didn't look impressed.
"So what? Are you going to bore him back into the afterlife by reading from that book?" She asked, opening a door. The room was lit only by a fireplace and the light spilling in from the hallway. The walls were covered in animal heads, except for one picture of a vaguely familiar lumberjack, axe slung over his shoulder, above the fireplace. "This is the main room where it's been happening," she told me, the two of us walking in, closing the door behind us.
"Don't worry," I assured her, pulling a glass bottle of water out of my backpack. "I just gotta splash this sucker with some anointed water and he should be out of your probably-fake blonde hair."
"What was that about my hair?!" She snapped at me, a buzzing sound coming from my backpack.
"Ssshhh," I told her, pulling out the EMF detector. I held it out in front of me, playing a game of hot-cold, the signal getting stronger and weaker, but eventually leading me to the picture of the lumberjack. Just then, the detector went dead. "Come on, stupid thing," I muttered, glancing down, hitting the sides of it, turning it back on. I glanced back up at the picture and froze, for the lumberjack that was there had now disappeared.
"AAAHHH!" Pacifica yelled. I whirled around and saw a red pool of liquid on the floor by her feet. We looked up and saw that the animal heads along the wall had all started bleeding from the eyes and mouth, dripping on the floor. The flames in the fireplace surged upwards and out, smoke beginning to fill the room.
"ANCIENT SINS! ANCIENT SINS! ANCIENT SINS!" The animal heads started chanting, their eyes glowing red. Pacifica and I gathered together in the center of the room as books, furniture, weapons, pretty much anything in the room not nailed down started floating around in a tornado, the animal heads still chanting and dripping blood.
"Dipper! What is this?!" Pacifica yelled at me, grabbing my arm, her nails digging into my skin.
"It's a category 10," I realized, just as the bottle of anointed water I had in my hand exploded, water and shards of glass going everywhere. Pacifica let go of my arm and grabbed my collar, shaking me back and forth.
"What do we do, what do we do?!" She yelled, border line on having a panic attack.
"Don't worry," I told her, more to keep her calm than anything. "It can't get worse than this!"
You would think I would have learned by now to never say something like that, but it was too late. "ANICENT BLOOD AND BLACKENED SKIES! THE FOREST DARK SHALL ONCE MORE RISE!" The animal heads said, the flames in the fireplace getting bigger again. If that wasn't enough, a skeletal hand reached out of the flames, hitting the floor hard and leaving distinguished scorch marks. I grabbed Pacifica's arm and dragged her under the pool table as the rest of the skeleton came out of the fireplace.
A body started to take shape around the skeleton, revealing it to be the lumberjack from the picture, at least ten feet tall, his beard made of blue-white fire, an axe stuck in his skull, one of his eyes missing. "I smell… A NORTHWEST!" The ghost boomed, making a double-headed battle-ax appear in his hand. He struck it into the floor, dragging it behind him as he started walking around the room, saying, "Come out, come out wherever you are!"
"Hurry! Read through your dumb book already!" Pacifica whisper-yelled to me as I started flipping through the Journal.
"I'm looking," I whispered back, getting to the right page and pulling the black-light out of my backpack. "And it's not dumb, okay? This book is gonna save our lives! Let's see… advice." I turned the black-light on, revealing the helpful advice of PRAY FOR MERCY! "Seriously?!" I questioned, just loud enough for the ghost to hear.
"YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE COME HERE!" He boomed, the table floating up and away from us. He brought his axe up and down, trying to hit us, but we rolled out of the way just in time, the axe imbedding itself in the floor. We ran out into the hallway, Pacifica leading me through a maze of halls that all looked pretty much the same to me, the ghost right behind us, all while I was frantically flipping through the Journal to try and figure out a way to defeat the ghost.
"Hurry! Through the garden!" Pacifica yelled, grabbing my arm and pulling me outside. Not watching where I was going, I got a face full of green feathers, almost slipping in the mud. Pacifica grabbed my arm and pulled me upright, us thankfully leaving the garden behind.
"WHY DO YOU HAVE PEACOCKS?!" I yelled at her, glancing behind me quickly. The ghost wasn't right behind us, thank God, so that at least meant we had a bit of time, although it wouldn't be much. I turned back around and caught up to Pacifica, who was doing surprisingly well in fancy heels (which were now muddy) and a party gown.
"Have you found anything?" She yelled back at me, pulling me down one of the longest hallways in the mansion. I buried my head back in the Journal, flipping back and forth on the ghost pages. I knew there was something in here on haunted paintings. I just had to-
"Got it!" I yelled excitedly, finally finding the correct page. "Haunted paintings can only be trapped in a silver mirror." I glanced back up, scanning the walls of the hallway for a silver mirror. At the end of the hall was a white room, and on the far wall above the couch was a large silver mirror. I put on a bit more speed, but just before I entered the room, Pacifica grabbed me and literally pulled me back, the two of us crashing into each other.
"You can't!" She told me, righting herself. "This room has my parents favorite carpet pattern! They'll lose it if we track mud in there!" Okay, SERIOUSLY?! I mean, that was just excessive. I tried to shoulder my way past her, but she held me back. She was stronger than she looks, I'll give her that much.
"We don't have time for this!" I yelled at her, trying to use the Journal as a weapon. "Let me through!"
"My parents will kill me!" She yelled, grabbing the Journal, the two or us having a mini tug-of-war over it. I understood people being respectful of their parents, but maybe it was something in her eyes (which were a blue so dark they were almost black) that I saw that made me realize there was something more going on here.
"Why are you so afraid of your parents?" I asked her, trying to sound calm, but I think it came off more like yelling than I would have preferred.
"You wouldn't understand," she told me, pulling hard on the Journal, stepping back and tripping over the hem of her dress. She grabbed my shoulders to try and balance, but instead the two of us fell, her arms wrapping around my neck while I tried to catch the wall, or the picture that was on said wall. But just as my hands touched the picture, the canvas gave way, the two of us falling through the wall, me grabbing her just in time to spin her around so I wouldn't land on her.
"Don't move," I whispered when I felt her try to stand up, hearing the ghost calling for us from the hallway. Believe it or not, as the ghost's voice got quieter, I was wishing that ghosts had footsteps. I mean, if they did, we would know for sure when it left. But because they didn't, voice was all we had to go on, so as soon as the ghost's voice disappeared, I stood up and helped Pacifica to her feet.
"What is this place?" I asked, pulling a flashlight out of my backpack and shining it around the room. It looked like it was supposed to be an attic. There were a lot of pictures covered with sheets, a thick layer of dust on everything.
"I don't even know where this room is," she admitted, dusting off and walking over to some pictures.
"Hopefully the ghost doesn't either," I said hopefully, looking at a table that had some old business letters on it. I sighed and turned around, about to sit on the table when I saw it. You know those body-sized things with rods on one side that make imprints of your body? It looked like that, but it was coming from one of the sheet that was over a picture, and Pacifica was right in front of it.
"Pacifica! WATCH OUT!" I yelled, dropping the flashlight and running towards her as she turned around, the ghost coming out from behind the sheet.
"YOUR FATE IS SEALED!" The ghost yelled, chasing Pacifica to the other side of the room, knocking over a box of old silverware. I was about to run after them when I saw it. I bent down and picked it up, running over to where Pacifica was leaning against a thick red velvet curtain that went all the way to the floor, the ghost in front of her, ax brought back and ready to strike.
"PREPARE TO DIE, NORTHWEEE-" Just as the ax was about to find its mark, I stepped in front of the ghost, holding the silver mirror I had found out in front of me. Everything went white, the mirror got heavy, I got thrown back into Pacifica, taking her down with me, the two of us getting tangled in the curtain and crashing through a window, rolling down a hill and into the garden, somehow not getting hurt.
"You okay?" I asked her breathlessly, pulling her to her feet.
"I-I think so," she said, staring up at the now broken window in shock. "Did- did you get him?" I looked around for the mirror and saw it at the base of a tree, somehow still in one piece. The two of us ran over and I picked it up, the surface going white before revealing the ghost yelling and pounding furiously on the glass.
"YES!" "We did it!" The two of us celebrated, hugging each other. I hadn't noticed it before, but unlike most of the people in town, who smelled like the forest and maple syrup, she smelled like champagne and flowers. It wasn't bad, just different. Then I realized what I was thinking, apparently at the same time Pacifica realized what she was doing, because she pulled back quickly, shoving me off her.
"Can I pay you to pretend that never happened?" She asked, holding out a twenty, even though I hadn't been planning on telling anyone anyway. Before we could do anything, a voice called from the other end of the garden.
"PACIFICA!" The voice yelled. We turned around and saw Pacifica's parents staring at us and the broken window in shock, the two of them walking up to us, a butler following behind them.
"What on Earth happened here?" Priscilla asked, the butler checking over Pacifica while I explained everything that had happened. It was pretty simple actually. They were mostly just concerned that we got him, not how we did it or the room we had found.
"Well Pacifica, you really found the right man for the job," Preston said once they made sure Pacifica was okay. He snapped his fingers and the butler started shaking my hand.
"We can't thank you enough," Priscilla told me, a beat later saying, "That's enough," the butler dropping his hand from mine.
"Just holding up my end of the deal," I told them, gathering my backpack up and walking out of the garden.
"Wait, leaving already?" Pacifica called after me. "You're at the world's best party dummy."
"I'd love to stay," I told her, actually kind of meaning it, but I still had to exorcise the ghost, something that could take a while, so I wanted to get it done as soon as possible. "But I have a Category 10 ghost to dispose of." I turned around and crashed into one of the stone pillars in the garden, laughing it off as I left.
"Dipper!" A muffled voice said from my backpack. I swung it around and pulled out the walkie talkie.
"Wills, I'm in the garden. I've got the ghost trapped."
"Don't move!" She told me quickly. "I've got something to show you. Be there soon." She turned her end off, so I sat down on a bench that was on the side of the path, waiting for her to show up. When she did, she was clutching an old scroll in her hands, making a visible effort to not crush it in her grip.
"Read this," she said bluntly, grabbing my backpack and looking through it as I unrolled the scroll, reading the words out loud.
"'Beware the Lumberjack curse. And so I say with final breath, 150 years I'll return from death, and if the gate's still closed to town, Northwest blood will stain the ground!'"
"Hey Ghost," Willow said, talking to the mirror. "You have a name?"
"Archibald," he responded, a few pieces clicking in my brain.
"You're Archibald Corduroy!" I yelled, coming up behind Willow so he could see both of us. "Your… what? three? four greats-granddaughter is a friend of ours."
"Not the priority right now," Wills told me, taking the scroll from me and holding it up for the gho- for Archibald to read. "What does this have to do with you?"
"It's a long story," he told us, but I made a keep going gesture, so he began to elaborate. "One-hundred fifty-some years ago, the Northwest's asked us lumber-folk to build them a mansion atop the hill. We were told it would be a service to the town, and that once a year they would throw a grand party and all would share in the bounty. It took years of backbreaking labor and sacrifice, but one hundred and fifty years ago this day, it was finally time for the grand party they promised us. But when the common folk and myself arrived, they refused to let us in. And with the trees gone, the mudslides began. While they partied and laughed, I was swept away by the storm, the very axe I had used to build the mansion burying itself in my skull. And so I said with final breath, one-fifty years I'll return from death, and if the gate's still closed to town, Northwest blood will stain the ground. The curse passed down until this day…"
"Wills, where did you find this?" I asked, a feeling of betrayal sinking into my stomach.
"In a hidden layer of a desk drawer, which wasn't very hidden," she told me, rolling the scroll up and putting the mirror back in my backpack. "Thanks Archibald. We'll be right back." I slung the backpack over my shoulder and the two of us walked up the steps to the house, throwing the doors open.
"NORTHWESTS!" I called, noticing the adults talking to the mayor, who for some reason had a monkey dressed like a waiter in his lap. "You've got some explaining to do!" I yelled, the mayor wheeling himself away as Pacifica came running up.
"You came back!" She said happily, which was the last thing I wanted to hear.
"You lied to us! All of you did!" I yelled, Preston glaring at me.
"How dare you accuse us of-"
"I found this," Willow interrupted him, holding up the scroll. I'll admit, I had kind of been hoping Pacifica wouldn't react to it. But when her face went red and she started staring at the floor, I knew she was involved. "And don't deny you didn't know about this. Archibald told us everything. Why couldn't you have just let the town into the party?"
"Look at who you're talking to," Preston told us, bending down in our faces, gesturing at the party that was going on behind him. "I'm hosting a party for the most powerful people in the world. You think they would come here if they had to rub elbows with your kind?"
"'Our kind?'" Willow repeated furiously. "You mean the kind who work hard to make a living and who can barely spare a cent, but still give back to people who need it more than they do. I'd rather be dirt poor than rich and-"
"And you!" I interrupted her, turning to Pacifica, knowing that Wills would talk for an hour, and people were already starting to stare at us. "You're just as bad as your parents. Another link in the country's worst chain!" Was that cruel? Yes, it was, but she deserved it.
"I'm sorry! They made me!" She yelled, like I believed her. "I should've told you but-" Preston rang a small hand bell, and Pacifica stopped talking, almost like that bell had power over her, but that was ridiculous.
"Enjoy the party," Preston told us, tucking the bell back in his jacket. "It's the last time you and your kind will ever come." Furious, we spun on our heels and marched out of the mansion, walking to the back and down the path to where a tree stump was sitting. I slung the backpack off my shoulder and the two of us started setting up for the exorcism, muttering about the Northwests the entire time.
"Please let me get my vengeance on the Northwests!" Archibald pleaded us when we were finally ready. "You hate them as much as I."
"Believe me, I would," I told him, only slightly angry at myself for wanting to do it. "But our sister and her friends are in there, and no offense, but you seem a little unstable."
"I understand," Archibald said sadly, resigning himself to his fate. "But before you banish my soul, would you be so kind as to allow this tired lumber eye to gaze upon the trees one final time?" Wills and I exchanged glances and she shrugged.
"I guess," I decided, holding the mirror up to face the forest. "Go nuts man."
Note to self; NEVER tell a ghost to go nuts, because he really will. Before I knew what was happening, the mirror got burning hot, falling out of my hand and shattering on the ground. From the shards, wisps of what I guess was his soul came out and gathered in the air, forming into the shape of him. He floated towards the mansion, the candles we had set up going out, the two of us diving to the ground.
"YES! VENGENCE!" Archibald yelled from above the mansion, lightning striking somewhere far away, the storm that had been building all day finally breaking and breaking hard. Willow and I looked at each other through the raindrops that were quickly soaking through everything and went into fight mode. In less than ten seconds, we had gathered up everything we had been using for the exorcism in my backpack and were running up the path back to the mansion. We ran up the steps and threw the doors open, freezing in the doorway as we processed what was going on.
In short, it was chaos. Vines had started climbing the walls and wrapping themselves around anything they could. In addition, tree trunks had grown through the floor and were reaching towards and through the ceiling. The taxidermy animals that had been on the walls were now alive, their eyes glowing white, and were chasing the people that were still moving around the room, some birds even lifting people into the air. But the people who were not being chased were also running around in a panic, stopping mid-stride when Archi- when the ghost hit them with rays of what looked like lightning. When the blasts hit people, they began turning into wood, starting at the legs and working the way up, freezing their faces with a look of pure terror. It was… I don't know what it was, and I don't know how long we stood there, but Mabel ran up to us and shook our shoulders.
"I don't care what happened or whose fault it is, just tell me what we have to do to get rid of ghosty fire-face," she told us firmly, snapping us out of our trance.
"Dip, how'd you catch him last time?" Wills asked, stepping onto the porch and pulling the doors shut before rifling through our backpack.
"Last time I just stood in front of him with the mirror," I explained, staring up at the ghost who was floating just under the ceiling. "But he's going to be ready for that again."
"Well, why is he doing this?" Mabel asked, bending down next to Willow, who had pulled the scroll out of the backpack. "Don't ghosts always have a reason or something?"
"He wants revenge on the Northwests, but the curse says that he would return if the town had never been let into the party."
"So we open the gates and let the town in?" Mabel asked, the ghost laughing.
"Just one way to change your fates!" He yelled, whether it was at us or just in general, I didn't know, but he was telling us how to end this, so whatever. "A Northwest must open the party gates!"
"A Northwest?" We repeated, glancing at each other, the answer coming to us at the same time. "Pacifica!"
"Okay, you go find her, we'll deal with fire face," Willow told me, she and Mabel running across the room, me running down a hallway. At the end, I turned left, heading down another hall and hanging a right, quickly getting lost. There were dozens of hallways and they all looked the same to me. Just as I was getting really worried about finding Pacifica, I rounded a corner and saw at the end of the hallway the white room from earlier with the silver mirror on the far wall. And light was reflecting off the floor from the direction the room we had found was.
"PACIFICA!" I yelled, ducking through the picture into the room. Pacifica was sitting against the back wall, turning the flashlight I had dropped earlier on and off, her legs tucked under her, her head down and eyes closed. "Pacifica, the ghost escaped and is turning everyone into wood, and he just started rhyming. He said the only way he'll leave is if a Northwest opens the main gate, so come on, I need your help!" I rambled, grabbing her hand and standing up. I turned around and tried to pull her up, but she pulled back, sending me to the ground. I turned over and looked at her. "Pacifica?"
She looked up and I finally saw her. Her eyes were red and swollen, the area around them puffy. Under her eyes were little black lines that smeared to the sides about halfway down her face. "Pacifica, what's wrong?"
"You wanna know why this room was locked up?" She asked in a shaky voice, turning the flashlight on and aiming it across the room. The beam illuminated three pictures, similar to the ones I had seen earlier in the dressing room, but there were important differences. The image of a Northwest making a deal with a Native American tribe now showed the Northwest with his fingers crossed behind his back. The picture of a Northwest giving apples to people was replaced with a bandit holding sacks of money. And the iconic photo of Nathaniel Northwest now showed that the rock or stump he always had one foot on was really a pile of dead animals.
"These are what I found in here," Pacifica continued quietly. "A painted record of every horrible thing my family's ever done. Lying, cheating, and then there's me." She turned the flashlight towards her, making her eyes glitter before turning it off. "I lied to you just because I'm too afraid to talk back to my stupid PARENTS!" She took her earrings off and threw them to the side, bouncing them against a picture of her parents, sending them rattling to the floor. She froze for a second, then turned to look at me, her eyes watering and lip quivering just enough to be noticeable. "You were right about me. I am just another link in the world's worst chain," she admitted, her voice cracking.
"Technically, I only said country," I joked lightly, causing her to glare at me. "Sorry," I told her, sitting beside her on the wall, taking her hands and holding them in mine. "Seriously though, I'm sorry about what I said earlier. But you know what? Just because you're your parents' daughter doesn't mean you have to be like them."
"Y-you really mean that?" She asked shakily, wiping her eyes. I nodded, smiling at her, glad to see she was feeling better.
"I do. It's not too late."
"IT'S TOO LATE!" A voice called, echoing around the mansion. Without thinking, I pulled Pacifica to her feet and the two of us ran out of the room, her pulling me down hallways, getting us to the main room quickly. We froze when we saw what had happened, her hand falling out of mine.
Imagine the mansion from Jumanji after the plants took over times bleventillion plus statues of people looking like they had been exposed to Medusa, who turned people to wood instead of stone, and you'll have a pretty good idea of what it looked like. The ghost was floating about a foot above the ground of the landing of the stairs, staring into the fire, his arms crossed behind his back. I looked around for Willow or Mabel or anybody who was not wood, but there was nobody. Then I saw my sisters.
Mabel was bending down, one hand holding the backpack open, the other reaching inside to pull something out. I couldn't tell from here whether the stuff inside the backpack was also wood, but since the backpack was, and Mabel was in the middle of the room, pretty much everything in there would be useless anyway. And the only thing I needed was on the ground by Willow's feet.
It was clear Willow had been giving the ghost a lot of problems. Vines were wrapped around her legs, going up to her waist, most of them half-torn away. She was frozen as wood, glaring daggers at the ceiling, which must have been where the ghost was when he hit her. One arm was out, like she had been trying to throw something across the room, but that something hadn't gotten far. It was on the ground, maybe two feet away from her, the gold hand sparkling in the firelight.
"Dipper! WAIT!" Pacifica called after me, but I was already moving. I ran past Wills, scooping the Journal up along with a silver serving plate and jumping onto a table.
"Alright ghost!" I yelled, holding the plate up in one hand and the Journal in another. "Prepare to get-" I'm an idiot sometimes. I STUPIDLY looked at the Journal, taking my focus away from the ghost. Thank God, instinct kicked in and I was able to bring the plate in front of me just in time to block the energy beam he fired at me. Unfortunately, I had to use two hands to hold it, meaning the Journal fell out of one, hitting the floor and opening to a page about the Bunker.
Time seemed to slow down and speed up all at once. I threw the plate towards the ghost, but it only made it to the steps. As I threw, I jumped off the table. But before my feet hit the floor, another energy beam hit me in the chest, sending me flying back. The hit itself didn't hurt, but hitting the floor did. I tried to stand up as soon as I could, and I was barely able to, but it was already too late. My legs were wood from the knees down, and it was quickly moving up my body.
I started screaming for help as it moved up. I glanced behind me towards where Pacifica was standing, staring at me in shock. I tried to reach out to her, but I think it looked more like I was reaching up than out. Somewhere, a grandfather clock started ringing, then everything went black.
Pacifica's POV (August 6th)
This is all my fault! I mentally yelled at myself over and over as I watched Dipper get frozen, his mouth open in a scream, both hands above his head, one higher than the other. Last time I had to deal with the craziness of this town (which I had just started noticing) was when Mabel and I had fought those little golf-creatures, there had been an easy way to deal with them, but this was just… I was frozen.
"A forest of death, a lesson learned," the ghost yelled, turning around and facing the fire again. "And now the Northwest manor will BURN!" As he said the last word, he spread out his arms, causing the flames to grow as high as the ceiling, the picture of me and my parents above the fireplace burning away. I think that was what got me out of it, because before I knew what I was doing, I was walking out onto the main floor.
"HEY UGLY!" I called, stopping in front of the door, the lever that would open the main gate on the wall to my left. The ghost turned around and glared at me, which was weird because of the whole one-eye thing. "You want me to let in the townsfolk? Cause I'll do it! Just change everyone back!"
"You wish to prove yourself?" He asked me, lowering the flames back into the fireplace and pointing at the lever. "Pull that lever and open the grand gate to the town! FULFILL YOUR ANCESTORS' PROMISE!" Without turning around, I started to reach back. My hand touched the lever, then-
"Pacifica Elise Northwest!" dad said, opening the door of the panic room, his, mom's, and Sebastian's heads appearing between the door and the floor. "Stop this instant! We can't let the town see us like this! We have a reputation to uphold! Now, come into the panic room. There's enough mini-sandwiches and oxygen to last you, me, and a butler for a week. We'll eat the butler!"
"The butler has a name," I told him, tightening my grip on the lever as he reached into his coat pocket.
"You dare disobey us?" He asked, ringing that STUPID bell. I really hated having to deal with the consequences when I didn't listen to the bell, but then I saw Dipper. He had tried to fight the ghost on his own to save me, my family, his sisters, and everyone at the party, even though we had lied to him. After he yelled at me, I honestly had no idea what I was going to do. I probably would have stayed in that room all night had he not come and found me. And when I saw him and he had apologized, I could tell he meant what he had told me. I'm not my parents. I could still change. And it would start now.
"Our family name is broken, and I'm gonna fix it!" I yelled, stamping down on the marble floor hard enough to break my heel, pulling the lever down, opening the main gates. The ghost gasped and floated over to a window, placing his hands on the glass and looking out as my parents and Sebastian climbed out of the panic room, my dad glaring at me furiously, but I didn't care. I had done the right thing, and it felt great.
"Yes, it's happening!" The gho- Archibald said from the window. "My heart, once as hard as oak, now grows soft like more of a birch, or something." He turned around and made a large, sweeping gesture around the foyer, the vines and trees disappearing, the people unfreezing and moving around in a daze, the taxidermy animals going back to where they were supposed to be, even the tables and chairs rearranging themselves. Archibald smiled and floated down towards me. "Pacifica, you are not like the other Northwests. I feel… lumber. Justice…" He floated towards the ceiling, fizzling out of existence, the ax that had been in his head falling and sticking in the floor. I let out the breath I hadn't realized I had been holding and started looking around the foyer when I felt it.
It wasn't much, but living on the west coast (and the adrenaline still flowing through me) made it easy for you to know when the ground was shaking, and even though it was barely noticeable, I could feel it. I turned around just as the doors exploded, people pouring in. Everyone started running around, shoving past me in the chaos. It was pretty funny to watch, all the rich people acting like it was the plague (my dad was especially funny, grabbing random people like a mother cat picking up her kittens) and the common- and the town not caring about anything. I smiled and looked down at myself, thinking that I should really go put on one of the dresses my parents had turned down when someone crashed into me, picking me up and spinning me around once before putting me down.
"You did that, and then you, and the ghost, and oh my God, we're alive!" Dipper choked out, talking over himself. I couldn't help it; I started cracking up, and it felt so good to laugh. After a few seconds, Dipper joined me, and soon the two of us were practically on the ground laughing, and we couldn't stop. And whenever one of us calmed down and looked at the other, it happened again.
"Oh man," I said finally after we calmed down enough. The two of us started looking at the party, watching everyone have a good time. I think even some of the people my parents had invited were even starting to enjoy it. I even saw a couple ducking into a closet for some privacy. "It's too bad it can't be like this every year," I commented. "I'm sure next time my parents are just going to lock everyone out again."
"Doesn't mean we can't have fun now," Dipper responded, glancing down. "And I know how we could start." He grabbed a tray of food and threw it on the ground.
"Why'd you just-?" I began, staring at him, then I noticed what we were standing on. My parents favorite carpet pattern, now a dirty mess. There was half a second of My parents are going to kill me but then I realized that carpet would be the least of their concerns after tonight. So when Riley, one of Charlie's chefs, walked by carrying two serving plates, I didn't think twice about 'accidentally' knocking them out of his hands.
"Nice one," Dipper told me, grabbing a jug of apple cider and pouring it onto the floor, causing another round of laughter between the two of us.
"Hey, I'm gonna go change," I told him, walking towards the steps. I stopped after a second and, glancing around me to make sure no one was watching, I ran back and gave him a quick hug. "Thanks, for everything," I told him, pulling away and running upstairs before he could respond at all. Something I had learned about boys was that you couldn't force them to like you. You confuse them a bit and let them figure out their feelings before you…
"Oh my God," I whispered, stopping at the top of the stairs, realizing what I was thinking. Man, today had been crazy, and when I glanced back and saw the crazy old guy from the junk yard pull Dipper and his sister behind a pillar, I knew that things were going to get much, much crazier, and soon.
Fiddleford's POV
Thank them Gods that I had been able to get in here. I normally had never cared about all that fancy stuff, but after what I found today, I would have burned this place down if I had to. But that would've been a loss cause this place was pretty nice, though I barely noticed it. After what I had found, all I was focused on was tellin' Dolly and them and figurin' out what to do next. But times like this were when I really wanted to know what had happened all those years ago. Chunks had come back here and there; bright lights, weird shapes, outlines of faces. But it wouldn't come into focus, though it was gettin' close. I could feel it.
I saw her, finally, talkin' with her brother, lookin' a bit like Izzy when we was little; an angel with a rebellious streak inside her. I was about to just grab 'em and pull 'em aside, but that would cause a scene, so instead I just walked up normally.
"Woo!" I called, gettin' their attention. I started hamboning as I said some random gibberish (somethin' bout Scooby-Doo and goats) to make it look like we was just talkin'. But I saw Dolly understand what I had meant. Found something. Need to talk. I grabbed their shoulders and pulled 'em behind one of them stone pillars, making sure no one was watchin' us. When I knew it was safe, I put on my readin' glasses.
"I been lookin' for ya both," I said quickly, still lookin' to make sure there were no wire-tappers nearby. "I fixed up my laptop. I been doin' calculations and I think somethin' terrible is comin'! The apocalypse! The End Times!"
"You believe all that Mayan stuff too?" Dolly asked me, laughin' to herself. This wasn't good. She wasn't takin' me seriously. I had to show 'em the-
"McGucket, let's talk about this stuff tomorrow, okay?" Dipper asked, focusin' on somethin' in the party. "Let's have some fun for once." He started walkin' towards the little Northwest girl, the two smilin' at each other. I turned back to Dolly and pulled my laptop out, openin' it up to show her the countdown. 18:00:00 and countin', the words IMMINENT THREAT above the countdown.
"You know I trust you," Dolly told me pointedly. I knew she was right bout that; I could tell cause of what she told me after all that Blind Eye BS. "Just, trust me on this one, okay? Whatever you think is gonna happen, we can handle it. Don't worry." Then she disappeared into the crowd too fast for me to see her.
"Dolly!" I called, but she was already gone. I sighed and turned back to my laptop, then I saw it. A tapestry showing a black triangle with a glowin' red eye burnin' the world, people bowin' down to him.
Everythin' was a blur after that. The was like the dam walls had opened up, allowin' all the memories that had been locked away to flood in, practically drownin' me. Before I knew it, I had my laptop in my hands and was runnin' out of the doors and back home, not carin' about the rain or anythin' else, just tryin' to avoid the memories that were coming back too fast to control. Faces comin' into focus; words, phrases, letters, voices and handwriting I had never expected to see or hear again; events that probably would have been better off forgotten. It was all too much. As soon as I got back, I threw my laptop onto a worktable and curled up in my bed to try and avoid it all. It was a while before I finally fell asleep.
But in the end, it wasn't enough. When I woke up the next morning, everythin' made sense, and I could remember my life again. And from the weird state of things, I knew that the machine was on, and it wasn't going to turn off again until it destroyed itself (even though it should really have been destroyed long ago). I also knew what this would do to Dolly and her family, and I couldn't be around for that. It would be hard enough on them as it is. My gettin' involved wouldn't help anybody. Besides, the memories for me were bad enough. I may not be able to escape what I have in my head, but I could at least limit the damage.
But that would mean I had to leave. I really didn't want to go. My son was here. My grandbaby would be here soon. My gadgets and gizmos were here. Dolly was here. My entire life was here. But I couldn't stay around while everything else was going on, so it was time. The day had finally come. I grabbed some papers and started writing out letters, to my son, to Dolly, to anyone who would care that I had left (not many). Then I packed up my things and as soon as the helicopters flew past (man, I didn't think it was that bad) I walked out of my home and up the road leading out of the valley. When I reached the top of the mountains, I couldn't help it. I glanced back and looked down at the town as I left Gravity Falls, my home, and my life, behind.