"So where exactly are we?"
"This is the Boiling Isles, and this town is called Bonesburrough." Luz explained as she guided Dipper and Pacifica through the city, waving her arms in a spin for a moment. "I don't know all the details but it's a very interesting place to be."
"How long have you been here?" Pacifica asked.
"Since school ended, so… somewhere around a week? Honestly I haven't been keeping track."
Pacifica raised an eyebrow. 'Did her school end earlier than ours? Because we just ended the year yesterday.'
"Where were you originally from?" Dipper asked.
Luz blinked. "Gravesfield, Connecticut. You're not from there too?"
Dipper and Pacifica shook their heads. "Nope, we're from Gravity Falls, Oregon."
"Whoa, there's another portal? How did you get here?"
"We followed some-" Dipper started.
"Watch out!" Luz warned, pushing them towards one of the buildings just before a giant caterpillar creature walked by without slowing down. "Sorry, I forgot to warn you to keep an eye on your surroundings here. I don't think 'right of way' exists here."
Once the path was clear, Pacifica saw something new on the ground. It looked like a bracelet made out of gold and silver woven together in a lattice pattern and it had four gemstones set into it. To her they looked like a ruby, sapphire, emerald, and topaz. Curious, she picked it up.
"Did someone drop this?" She asked, looking towards the caterpillar creature which was no longer in sight. As a result, she shrugged and put the bracelet on herself, finding it to be a nice fit. "Like Mason's uncle would say, finders keepers."
"Hold on. You said 'another portal'." Dipper noted, unaware of what his blonde friend was doing. "You have a way back?"
Luz nodded. "Sort of, Eda's the one who can open it, but yeah we have a way back."
Dipper slightly tilted his head. "Then why are you here?"
Luz looked uncomfortable and broke eye contact. "I have my reasons. But if you want to go home, I'm sure Eda will take you back."
"Will it take us back to Oregon?" Dipper asked.
Luz shrugged. "Can't say, I don't know if Eda chooses the destination or not. Why can't you use the way you two got here?"
"We tried, but it didn't work." Pacifica groaned, getting back into the conversation. "It's like it was a one-way trip or something."
"But it couldn't be, how else could those small animals get through?" Dipper noted.
"Small animals?" Luz repeated.
Dipper nodded. "We were exploring the woods and we saw several small animals in one place that ran into a deserted cabin. We saw them go through a door, we followed, next thing we know this is where we are."
Luz nodded in return. "That's actually what happened to me. Hey, maybe you guys saw a bunch of palismans."
"Talismans?" Dipper repeated, confused.
Luz shook her head. "No, palisman. With a 'p'. Think of it like a witch's familiar. Eda's got a cute owl one, I'd love to have one of my own someday."
"Well, the important thing is we have a way back. So if we have to wait, we might as well kill some time here." Pacifica clarified.
Dipper could only nod. "Right, so tell me all about this place. Wait, let me write this down."
The blonde girl rolled her eyes yet smiled. That was just like Dipper, wanting to make his own journals. He had already gotten his own Journal 1, a pine tree symbol instead of a six-fingered hand, but the first half of it was him recapping what he had learned from what he saw in Ford's journals and his own experiences. The second half was made slower with more original content over the past two years, and now he was getting his Journal 2 started.
Reaching into the duffel bag, he pulled out his second journal and opened it to the first empty page.
"Okay, I guess. Hmm… where do I start?" Luz asked herself.
"Wait, first I should write down how I got here. Want to set up context and everything." Dipper added, already getting that part started.
Pacifica leaned against a building, certain this could take a while.
"Hey Luz!"
The Latina girl turned to look down the road, prompting the other two to do the same. They could see a small creature pulling a cart with a big sack in it. Said creature was a small mammal looking similar to a grey fox, except it walked on two legs and had a skull covering its face like the pokemon Cubone. The skull had two horns but the left one was broken.
"Hi King, Eda's been waiting for you." Luz greeted. "Guys, this is King, he lives with me and Eda. Isn't he adorable?"
"Hell yes he is." Pacifica said happily, reaching down and grabbing the little demon, lifting him up into a hug. "He's just made for cuddling."
"Not again! Help! This strange girl is trying to crush me!" King wailed, reaching out for escape.
"Better let him down. That's the 'king of demons' you're smothering." Luz advised, though she still grinned.
"King of demons?" Dipper repeated. "Oh I've got to interview him."
"Interview?" King asked as he was released, then he walked up to the capped boy. "So, you're impressed by my greatness, aren't you?"
"More like his cuteness." Luz joked, making her and Pacifica giggle.
Dipper on the other hand was less amused. 'His voice, it reminds me of Bill. Could this guy be connected? I don't think so, but Bill did know a lot of weird creatures. I wonder if this is the world they came from.'
"You better get to Eda, King. These guys most likely will come by the owl house later, so you can be interviewed then." Luz added.
"Very well, that will give me time to prep for what to go over first. See you soon my subjects." King boosted before walking off, pulling the cart behind him.
"He's not really a king of demons, is he?" Pacifica asked.
Luz shrugged. "I haven't seen anything to confirm it, but who knows? But yeah, I get the feeling that Eda's just humoring him."
"So demons live here, what else does?" Dipper asked.
Luz thought it over. "From what I've seen, it's mostly witches and demons. I'm not sure if all of the unusual creatures here are demons or if there's a third type, but humans like us do not live here. Oh, and according to Eda, giraffes originally came from this world but they were banished to Earth."
Dipper blinked. "Really?"
Luz nodded. "Yeah I don't understand it either but I'm not going to argue. Now, let's keep checking the town."
While certainly weird to look at, Luz's tour showed that it did have a lot of features that were familiar to the two newcomers. Residential areas, restaurants, a playground and park, a public library, and more. Luz didn't have too much information to provide beyond that, not having much experience in Bonesburrough yet, but at least she had been taught how to get around should she ever be separated from Eda.
After a bit the trio of humans decided to get off their feet and sat down on a bench at a park. They saw some kids playing a game with a ball that looked like it was made from skin sewn together and even had an eye on it. They tried to ignore it while Luz gave them all some fruit cups that were suitable for human consumption.
"You have to be careful with the food here. Most of it wasn't made for humans to eat. If you're really unlucky it'll try to bite you first."
Pacifica held a chunk of fruit that looked like a pineapple square and slowly ate it. At least it tasted normal.
"So you came here because you followed Eda's 'palisman' through a door." Dipper noted, making sure he had gotten this right. "And you can go home anytime you want thanks to her having this door. So why do you stay here? Is there something you're avoiding back home?"
Luz looked away, chewing on an apple slice. "Sort of. But mainly, truth be told, I've always been interested in magic and fantasy. I've always thought the world we live in is just too... normal. Too afraid of anything different. Sure, people try to be accepting, but they do that by trying to make the weird become normal. Anything unusual or different has to be made conventional or understood. I don't like that. If the weird stops being weird, then doesn't it also stop being interesting?"
Dipper nodded in understanding. "That does make sense. I got involved in the supernatural because it was so interesting. I loved finding things that were unknown and not understood. But still, learning about those things is part of the fun. I mean, don't you want to know how magic actually works? How many legends are actually real? Where everything comes from and how it stayed hidden all this time? There's just so much to learn about all this, and this place too. Did Ford ever come here? Has anything in Gravity Falls ever been here too? Where else in the world-?"
"Mason!" Pacifica stated sharply, grabbing his shoulder and lightly shaking it. "Cool it. I can smell the toast from here."
Silent for a minute, the capped boy blushed and laughed sheepishly. "Sorry, my mind can get a little 'overheated' when I'm on this subject."
"I see." Luz replied. "Oh, actually I am learning magic."
"You are?" Dipper asked.
Luz nodded and pulled out a notepad, quickly drawing a strange symbol inside a circle. With a light tap the paper crinkled and turned into a floating orb of light that she gently cupped in her hands.
"See? A little light spell. Real magic, and a normal human like me can do it."
"Amazing. My journal had nothing like that in it."
"Wait, didn't your uncle's book have a way to capture ghosts and raise the dead in it?" Pacifica asked her friend.
Dipper snapped his fingers before reaching into his backpack. "Right, Ford must have found some magic of his own. So maybe he really had been here in the past."
"You know magic too?" Luz asked, seeing him take out another book with the emblem of a gold pine tree on the cover, this one having the number 1 on it. "We've got to share spells."
"I'd love to, but there's no way I'm reusing the zombie maker spell." Dipper answered, looking through his first journal.
"Don't fret. Eda says that all magic is good magic, it's the witch that's bad." Luz replied. "That's why she's a free witch, belonging to no coven."
"Hey Luz!"
The three humans turned to look down the road, seeing two people that looked human but with pointed ears coming their way. One was a somewhat chubby girl with short black hair wearing a green dress and beige pants under. The other was a young dark-skinned boy wearing a blue shirt and grey pants.
LUz smiled and stood up. "Gus, Willow. Great to see you two. Oh and guess what? Two more humans found their way here too."
Gus's eyes lit up and he immediately went up to Dipper and Pacifica. "You've got round ears too! You're humans like Luz! Do you live where she did? Did you bring anything with you? What can you tell me about the human world? I have so many questions!"
Dipper blinked. "Is this what I sound li-?"
"Yes, yes it is." Pacifica answered for him.
"Pardon Gus, he's very interested in humans." Willow said on behalf of her friend. "Hi, I'm Willow. Welcome to the Boiling Isles. What are your names?"
"I'm Mason, but some people call me Dipper. This is Pacifica, and she doesn't have a nickname except for the one I use."
"So how long are you two going to be here in the Boiling Isles?" Willow asked.
Dipper froze, finding himself unable to answer. And the weird thing was he didn't know why.
"Just for the day." Pacifica spoke for him. "We got here by accident, but Luz says she has a way back. Later when her boss is done we'll go home."
"Just one day?" Gus asked, disappointed. "If you're going to be here for just one day, I want to know everything you can tell me. What's your home like?"
"Hold it Gus, I think it would be better to let them have some fun here while they can and talk to them that way, rather than give them a hundred questions all at once." Willow advised.
The short boy nodded. "Okay, that makes sense. Oh Luz, we got some time at a greenhouse today if you'd like to see some magical plants."
Luz smiled and nodded. "No problem."
"What makes a plant magical?" Pacifica asked.
"Mostly it's very useful as a potion ingredient, but they also react strongly to magic." Willow explained. "Herbcraft is kind of my best subject."
"Herbcraft?" Dipper and Pacifica repeated together, confused.
"Oh, magic focusing on plants. Plant magic is the common name, but herbcraft is the proper name."
"There are nine branches of magic. Ten if you count the generic spells." Gus clarified.
"Tell me a generic spell." Dipper requested, ready to take notes.
"Okay, one of the most common is the spell to clean clothes or repair damage to them. You do it like this." Willow instructed, making a circle in the air in front of her chest. To do so she used her whole hand rather than a single finger and the circumference of the circle was the same as her ribcage. All of a sudden her clothes glowed and when they faded they looked somewhat brighter and refreshed. Like they were just washed, dried, and ironed in a second.
"Huh?" Dipper asked, confused. "You didn't say anything. All the magic I remember reading about used incantations."
"Oh you meant verbal casting? Sorry, most of us here use spell circles so there's no need for incantations."
Luz nodded. "Hence why I use glyphs. Well, the one that I know."
"So all you had to do was this?" Pacifica asked, mimicking the move in front of her own chest with her own hand. Surprisingly, her new bracelet glowed and then her own clothes glowed, and when the glow faded they looked brand new as well.
Everyone looked at the blonde girl with wide eyes and in Dipper and Gus's case, dropped jaws.
"Holy crap! Did I just do magic?" Pacifica asked, looking at her outfit and new jewelry.
"You did! You just did magic!" Dipper exclaimed, excited.
"Without a glyph." Luz noted.
"How did you do that?" Gus begged to know.
"I… I think it had something to do with this." She responded, holding out the arm with the bracelet on it. "I just found it after someone dropped it. I didn't think it was magical."
Willow took a closer look. "These look like magical ores, commonly used in abomination or construction magic. Nothing to worry about, though I do wonder who this originally belonged to."
"You've got to show Eda." Luz insisted. "Another human who can use magic, this is incredible. We could be students of hers together."
Pacifica looked uncomfortable. "I don't know. We're not planning on staying here, and I don't have the best history with magic."
"C'mon, you can't just give up now. Humans using magic is a big deal. This changes everything we think we know about magic." Gus insisted.
"Can I try?" Dipper asked. Pacifica nodded and let him put on the bracelet. He proceeded to repeat the action, but for some reason it wasn't working for him. "Sheesh, why can't I do it?"
"Maybe it just needs a woman's touch?" Pacifica replied with a somewhat teasing tone.
Giving up, Dipper handed the jewelry to Luz who also tried to repeat the spell. And like the capped boy she failed to get results. "No, it's not that. It doesn't work when I do it either. This is something to ask Eda. For now though, let's go see those magical plants."
Everyone nodded and started to walk away, with Pacifica being given the bracelet back. All were unaware that off behind a building they were being watched.
The greenhouse in Bonesburrough from the outside looked like an ordinary one, but the inside was as unexpected as the town itself. The plants were huge, there were flowers big enough to sit on and vines that could be worn as neckties. There were a few fruit trees, berry bushes, carnivorous plants, and things that looked like cacti but also looked like they could move.
"Please tell me that those aren't real eyes." Pacifica asked, seeing a cluster of flowers that looked like it was literally looking at her. It unnerved her enough that she clung onto Dipper's arm nervously.
"No, those are stareberries, but they're not quite ripe yet." Willow assured, gently touching and squeezing one of the floral eyes. "They're good to eat when the pupil turns red."
"I swear I just saw it blink." Pacifica added.
"Yeah, they'll do that." Willow replied, unconcerned before moving on. "Here, let me show you something much cuter."
She tugged on Pacifica's arm, who reluctantly followed. Luz came along too.
Dipper meanwhile was trying to sketch several of the more outlandish plants he was seeing. One that got his attention the most was something that looked like a pitcher plant except it had arms and teeth. As if it had evolved to deal with prey that resisted capture.
"I wonder what kind of insects or birds would be able to pollinate these things." He thought out loud.
"The ones that evolved to survive." Gus replied, feeding the plant some kind of pellets while using magic to keep his distance.
"I wonder what the animals here are like. And the environments they live in. And the people who live here and the magics they use. This whole place would be fascinating to learn about."
Gus smiled as if he had been praised. "So why not stay a little and learn more? I can teach you more and you can teach me about humans."
Dipper stopped drawing. "I would like to, but I can't."
"Why?"
"I… I just have to go back home."
Gus raised an eyebrow. "You sure? Because you don't sound happy about it."
Dipper hesitated and said nothing, merely putting away his journal. "Honestly… I'm not."
"Then why be in a hurry to do it?"
"Because I…" Dipper started, only to stop and stare into nothing. Once again he couldn't figure out an answer to this line of questioning. On the one hand, it seemed so obvious as to why he had to go back, but on the other hand, he didn't want to.
"Uhh… you okay?" Gus asked, coming up to the cap-wearing teen and waving his hand in front of him.
"Huh?" Dipper asked, shaking his head briefly. "Sorry. I must have zoned out. Never mind. What would you like to know about my world?"
Pacifica, Luz, and Willow went deeper into the greenhouse, seeing more flowers and trees and less of the more menacing plants. Willow looked comfortable and stopped to smell some of the flowers, with Luz doing the same. Pacifica tried one only to have it spit some kind of syrup in her face.
"Sorry about that." Willow said, using her magic to clean the mess.
"It could have been worse. I had a fairy try to eat my skin." Luz remarked with a chuckle.
"And yet you act so comfortable here." Pacifica commented.
"Oh believe me, I'm still adjusting. But yeah, I like it here. It's fun and I'm seeing things here that no one has ever seen before."
"I have." Pacifica countered.
Luz turned to the blonde girl. "Seriously?"
"Well not this exact stuff, but yeah where I live there's a lot of supernatural stuff around every corner. Ghosts, living golfball people, face stealers, we even got invaded by demons from another dimension back in the summer of 2012. Believe me, after that a lot of people back home were very afraid of what would happen with that supposed 2012 Mayan doomsday thing."
Luz blinked. "How could that happen and no one else know about it?"
"No one could get in or out of Gravity Falls during that time, and afterwards we all kind of agreed to not talk about it. But still, I'm no stranger to this sort of thing and neither is Mason."
"What's your connection to him anyway?" Willow asked, offering them both some berries that looked more normal by human standards. They looked like blueberries but were orange, at least they didn't look like body parts.
"Yeah, I'm curious too." Luz added, taking some berries while Pacifica did the same.
Pacifica fidgeted for a moment before tasting one. She had to admit it was sweet. "It's complicated, but the short version is he's my best friend. My only friend, in fact."
"Really? A girl like you has only one friend? How is that possible?" Willow asked, eating a berry too.
Pacifica looked away then sighed. "I don't want to talk about it. Let's just say that I don't really have a home anymore. Staying off the streets was more important than my social life these last few years."
Luz and Willow stared at the blonde girl, unsure what to say. Both knew what it was like to not have the best social life, but neither had bad home lives.
"What about your family?" Luz asked.
Pacifica turned away completely. "I don't want to talk about it."
Luz and Willow looked at each other, confused, but after a bit Luz went to Pacifica and put an arm around her. "It's okay, we won't make you talk. But being here doesn't have to be a bad thing. Maybe you should stay here a little, like me."
"Why?" Pacifica asked, turning towards the Hispanic girl.
Luz shrugged. "Why not? I mean, if you have no home then what do you have to go back to?"
Pacifica blinked and dropped her berries.
In another part of the Boiling Isles, a masked man in robes was sitting in one of his private chambers when a bird flew in with a rolled up piece of paper that it deposited before him.
"I wonder what this is." He said before taking the paper and unrolling it.
'More humans have appeared in the Boiling Isles. What should we do?'
"More humans? That is surprising." He noted, leaning back. "Hmm… I think I know exactly what to do about this."
Time went by and the sun was getting close to setting. Willow and Gus went to their own homes while Luz led Dipper and Pacifica to the place known as the Owl House. From the outside it looked like a normal cottage in the woods. A closer look though changed that.
"Hoot! Hiya Luz. Who are they?" An owl face on a long wooden tube greeted, stretching out from the door.
"Hi Hooty. This is Dipper and Pacifica, humans like me." Luz greeted back.
"More humans? Wow, and here I thought other humans looked more like you did Luz." Hooty replied, stretching around the other two teens to get better looks at them. Until he got pulled back making him yelp.
"I told you Hooty that people prefer their personal space." Eda chided, coming out from the owl house along with King.
"Alright alright. Sheeesh." Hooty bemoaned, withdrawing into the door.
"So you two stay out of trouble?" Eda asked.
They nodded but Luz came up to her mentor. "Eda guess what? They know some magic too. Pacifica even did a spell."
"Really?" Eda asked, looking to the blonde for confirmation.
Using her hand, Pacifica repeated the clothes cleaning spell and made herself fresh again.
"That is impressive. I wonder what's happening in the human realm to make humans do this sort of stuff."
Dipper and Pacifica shared a look.
"Anyway, so if you kids are going back, here's the way home for you." Eda said before making a door appear in the air and opened to somewhere the teens didn't recognize.
"This is Luz's town?" Dipper asked.
Luz nodded. "An abandoned house somewhere on the edge of my suburbs at least. If it's the same way I got here that is."
"Can you move it to our town?" Dipper asked.
Eda shook her head. "Isn't that easy boy. I mean I can, at least I think I can, but it would take at least a month or two to actually do it. And I'm not familiar with your world, so you'd have to guide me during that time to make sure I get it right. And even if I succeed, that means I have to change it back to Luz's town later. Kinda rude to leave her stuck here just so you can go back sooner."
"Oh it's okay Eda, I'm in no hurry to get back home. Mom thinks I'm at some camp so I've got plenty of time to hang around here." Luz insisted.
"Actually, if it's okay with you, could we stay a little while too?" Pacifica asked.
Dipper looked at his friend. "You sure Pacifica?"
She nodded. "Face it Mason, neither of us really want to go back to Gravity Falls right now. What will happen if we do? I'll just go back to my motel and you'll be waiting for Mabel to bring you back to California. Are you really in a hurry to get to that?"
Dipper closed his eyes for a moment. "If we do go through the door, we'd still have to deal with actually getting to Oregon on our own. And I don't know how we can do that. So we might as well spend some time here and give Eda a chance to move the portal."
Pacifica smiled and nodded. "Besides, this way I can learn more magic. That would be fun."
Luz smiled and nodded too. "I'd like to have a learning buddy here."
"But what about the people back home who will be wondering where we are?" Dipper asked.
"Here's what I'm thinking. How about you and I go through the portal as it is now so we can call someone back home and let them know we'll be gone. That way no one will worry and we can wait here for a more direct route." Pacifica offered.
"Here, you can use my phone." Luz offered, holding out her cell. "Unless you guys have one."
Dipper and Pacifica shook their heads. Neither were in any financial state to have one of their own, nor enough of a social circle to want to call a lot of people.
"Well, if you two want to stay here then that's okay, but what I say goes, understand?" Eda stated, resulting in them nodding. "Good, now make it quick. I don't like keeping this open for too long."
Taking a deep breath, the two teens stepped through the door, finding themselves in Connecticut.
Ring ring
"Hello, this is the Mystery Shack."
"Hi Soos, it's me."
"Oh Dipper, where are you? You've been out all day."
"I'm okay, but I've run into a bit of a problem."
"A problem?" Soos repeated. "What's wrong? What can I do?"
"First, can you go to the motel and pick up all of Pacifica's things and put them in my room?"
Soos raised an eyebrow. "I think so, but why?"
"Well… remember that bottomless pit we fell into years ago? Let's just say Pacifica and I fell into something like that but it's going to take us longer to get out. We will get back, but I'm not sure when. Maybe a month, maybe longer. We'll be okay, just get her stuff so it's not thrown out. Can you do that?"
"I can. But you sure you'll be okay dude? Are you really going to be gone that long? Mabel will come here in a few days."
Dipper sighed on the other end of the call. "I can't control it Soos. I'll be back when I can. When you see my sister, let her know I'm not in danger. And tell her that this isn't her fault."
"Dipper, you're not avoiding Mabel are you?"
"I gotta go. I'll see you later Soos. Tell Melody I'll be fine."
"But-"
The call ended.