This is the end of arc 1 but it is NOT the end of the story. I'm really excited about arc 2 so after I take some time to plan and outline I'll be back with fresh new Team Pines content. Chapter length may vary in the future, with some of the chapters in arc 2 not being as long as the chapters in the last part of arc 1, maybe not. I've literally just been writing what I want. Thank you again for your continued readership, comments, and questions. Since this is the end of arc 1 feel free to drop more questions for me to answer at the beginning of arc 2, especially anything I might have forgotten to answer during arc 1.

The transformation wasn't full, like the one that affected Eda. Cary's face was stretched and mutated and her skin went pale and large feathery wings protruded from her back but that was about as far as the curse reached. Still, it was enough to cause a little unintentional destruction in the diner, and it was enough to carry her home. That was her one constant, after all. Even with every rug being ripped out from under her, the Mystery Shack was still home.

And there was one spot where Cary had always felt the most at home, always felt the most level-headed and safe. So Cary landed on that little spot on the roof where she'd spent so much time with Wendy, only half aware of her current reality. She felt like she was fighting something inside of her, felt like she had one foot in the real world and one foot back in the world of demons and curses. Gravity Falls could get pretty weird but nothing she'd seen here was anything like the things she'd seen in the Boiling Isles. Her necklace had begun to glow, with a black swirl beginning to creep in. There was no doubt now that she was magical.

When Wendy rolled up to the Mystery Shack on her bike, the last thing she expected to see was her best friend partially transformed into a horrifying bird monster.

That didn't stop her from acting fast, however, beginning to climb up to the roof even as Stan and Ford arrived, having rushed to follow Cary.

"Wendy, be careful! We don't know how the curse has affected her- we don't know if she's still in there!" Ford called.

"That's my child, she's still in there," Stan snapped.

Wendy barely paid any attention to them, "I've got this! Cary, I'm coming. I'm coming."

Cary turned toward Wendy, and the beast inside her roared, but Wendy was undeterred and kept climbing.

"Hey, Feathers, I've missed you. Should have known you'd make a dramatic entrance."

Cary let out a cry, sounding like she was hurt or scared, and backed away.

"No, it's okay! I won't hurt you. I'm unarmed. And I know you won't hurt me. I'm here, I've got you, I trust you."

Cary was shaking, clearly struggling against the beast. She was fighting herself and it was hard to tell if she was winning.

"Cary… Feathers. It's okay. Nothing bad is going to happen to you."

On the ground Ford was flipping through Cary's journal, trying to figure out how they could get Cary back.

"Okay, this says that Eda uses potions to keep the curse in check, but that when she was in the early stages of the curse she would turn back on her own. We don't have potions at the moment, so it seems we have to wait it out. And then I'm speaking to my contact."

"The hand witch?"

"Yes, the hand witch. You know, she probably has a name."

"Unless she can help Cary, I don't care. Look at her up there… She looks like she's in pain."

"She's still dangerous. Frankly, I'm worried about Wendy."

"Have you met Wendy? She can handle herself. Besides, Cary wouldn't hurt her. If anyone could help Cary right now it's Wendy."

"They're close, then?"

"Wendy is Cary's Fiddleford," Stan said. It took Ford a moment to get the full implications of that statement before he blushed and turned his attention back to the scene on the roof.

Wendy was getting closer to Cary, and Cary kept backing up. She backed into the Mystery Shack sign, knocking off the S in Shack with the force of her wings. Unable to go any further, Wendy was able to put a hand on Cary's shoulder, seeming fearless.

"I know you're in there, Feathers. Can you hear me? I know my Cary is in there."

Cary instinctively reached out to Wendy, and Wendy pulled her into a hug, planting her feet to keep them both steady.

"I'm guessing we have a lot to talk about," Wendy said as Cary wrapped her wings around Wendy, beginning to regain control over her mind and body.

"This was a wild summer, Feathers. It looks like you had a wild summer too. Do you know what we should do? We should have a sleepover. You, me, and Tambry, tonight. How's that sound? I just need you to come back to me, first."

Wendy wasn't expecting an answer, but Cary had found her voice, "I'd like that."

Wendy beamed and pulled away enough to look at Cary, not letting go of her.

"I really have missed you. It's so good to have you back."

"I missed you too," Cary was beginning to transform back into herself. She felt exhausted and shaky, and she sank down onto the roof before her legs could give out. She had a feeling that she wouldn't be climbing down for a while.

Wendy sat down too, taking Cary's hand and squeezing it.

"Do you want to talk about what happened?"

"Did you know my dad was gonna go sailing off into the sunset?"

Wendy nodded solemnly, glancing at the Stans down on the ground.

"I did."

Stan yelled up at them, "Cary, sweetheart! Are you okay? Can we talk?"

"Tell him I don't want to talk to him," Cary said, hugging herself.

"Uh, Cary needs more time to process!" Wendy yelled down.

"We can't just leave her up there," Ford said, "We don't know the side effects of the curse, or how quickly it will reappear. She needs to be studied."

"Now hold up, Poindexter, that's my fucking kid up there, not one of your lab rats. I want to protect Cary as much if not more than you do, but if she needs a minute to just breathe right now then we have got to be prepared to give it to her."

"Stanley, you're not thinking clearly."

"Oh no, I am. I'm the one who set off the curse in the first place by upsetting her. We don't want her flying off again because I didn't give her the space she needed. I haven't been a good dad lately, at least let me do this for her."

"Fine, but we'll need to observe her when she climbs down."

"Yeah, sure, whatever."

Wendy held Cary close and didn't say anything for a minute until Cary spoke again.

"I've turned into a monster."

"No, you haven't… That beast might be a part of you, but you're still my Cary. You're still my best friend, no matter what happens."

"My dreams were right… She said I wasn't cursed but I was right… I do have magic inside me!"

"You've lost me, Feathers."

"Wendy, I didn't go to theatre camp. I went to another dimension and met my bio mom. Long story short, she's a witch with a curse and 15-ish years ago she had me, a half-witch with, I guess, a half-curse."

Wendy opened her mouth and then closed it.

"That's not actually the weirdest thing that happened this summer. Are you okay, though? All that must have come as quite a shock to you."

"No, it came as a relief that I'd finally figured out how I fit into the world. What came as a shock was when summer ended, Eda, my mom, kicked me out, saying it wasn't safe for me there even though I'd handled my own just fine without magic. I felt isolated and betrayed, but I thought, 'At least I'll always have Team Pines.' Then I found out about dad leaving. And now… I don't know what to think."

"You still have people here in Gravity Falls who care about you, Cary. Me, Soos, and all of our friends. And I know your dad is trying his best."

"Yeah, yeah, I know. It's just… He always used to say that wherever we went we'd go together. And after this summer, it's not true anymore."

"Well, you're growing up. You and your dad are going to have to go down different paths, but that doesn't mean you'll stop being Team Pines."

Cary smiled weakly at Wendy, "It seems like you got wiser while I was away."

"If fighting a shapeshifter taking your own form doesn't make a person wise then I don't know what does," Wendy said.

"What the hell happened while I was gone?"

"A lot a lot."

"Fill me in. I could use a distraction."

"Well, for one thing, we finally spent the night in Dusk 2 Dawn. It was totally haunted. Nate got turned into a hot dog."

"Is he still a hot dog?"

"Spiritually? Yes. Physically? No."

Cary laughed, "Whoa."

"Oh, speaking of Nate. I started dating Robbie this summer."

"How's that speaking of Nate?" Cary frowned and hugged themself.

"Well, he and I broke up, and then Robbie started dating Tambry and Nate was pissed. I was kind of pissed too, to be honest. But Robbie and Tambry are like, weirdly good together. He's mellowed out a lot since he started dating her."

"Huh."

"That all went down at the Woodstick festival."

"Aww, I wanted to go to that."

"Next year," Wendy promised, placing a hand on Cary's arm.

"What else happened?" Wendy filled Cary in on all the juicy stuff that Stan and Ford had been unable to tell her, effectively distracting Cary while also helping Cary feel more at home. She was a little bummed that she'd missed out on so much stuff, but she didn't mind living vicariously through Wendy. In turn, Cary told Wendy a little bit about the Boiling Isles, but there was a lot of stuff she felt like she couldn't talk about just yet.

There was one thing she felt the need to talk about, however, which she brought up when Wendy turned Cary's attention back to the sleepover she wanted to have that evening.

"It'll be great, Feathers, just like old times. We'll watch bad movies, eat popcorn, and do each other's makeup. It was hard to have a proper girl's night without you."

"Hey, Wendy? There's one more thing I should tell you."

"Oh, do you want me to stop calling you Feathers? I understand if it's a little insensitive."

"No, I don't mind that. Like you said, the beast is a part of me. But I do want you to stop calling me a girl, because, well, I'm not…"

"What do you mean? Are you trans?" Wendy didn't sound judgmental, just curious.

"Sort of? I think I'm nonbinary. It means I'm not really a girl or a boy, I'm something in between. Everything and nothing at once. Just like I'm the beast and Cary at the same time."

"Whoa… That's so cool." Wendy smiled genuinely at Cary.

"Really?"

"Really. If you're like, kind of trans, do you want to be called he?"

"I don't know, maybe? I don't mind she. I might also like singular they?"

"We can try them all out if you want."

"I'd like that."

"Okay, so like… That's Cary, he's my best friend. Or, that's Feathers, they're the coolest person I know. Or, she's my Cary. How's that sound?"

Cary beamed, "I like all of it. I'm open to all of it."

Wendy nodded, "Thank you for telling me."

"Dad and Uncle Ford already know, but I don't want to tell anyone else right now, except maybe Soos… I don't know how people would react in Oregon. It's a pretty normal thing to be in the Boiling Isles, though. And maybe somewhere on earth, there are other people like me, but for now… It's a Team Pines secret, okay?"

Wendy mimed zipping her lips.

"Thanks for making me part of your team," Wendy said, resting her head on Cary's shoulder.

"I should be the one thanking you. You've always been my friend, you've always been supportive of me. If it weren't for you, I might not have turned back into Cary, and… You make me feel like everything is going to be okay."

"Everything will be okay, because I'll always have your back, and I'm a flipping Corduroy."

Cary giggled, letting out a happy little sigh. They were feeling better, almost good enough to go down and talk to their dad.

"I should… Shouldn't I?" Cary didn't fill in the blanks but Wendy understood.

"Yeah, you should. But don't worry, I'll be with you. And tonight we're gonna have a cool people sleepover." Cary really appreciated that Wendy said people instead of girls.

"Yeah, I guess I'll have to ask him about that, too. He's still my dad even if he wants to up and leave me for a while." Just like Eda was still her mom, even if she wanted to cut her off.

"I'll be with you," Wendy promised.

"The gift shop entrance is still there?"

"Yep."

"Tell them we'll meet them inside." Cary began to climb down from their typical spot on the roof and Wendy lingered long enough to look down at where Stan and Ford had been standing, bickering, for a while now.

"He's ready to talk! Meet us in the gift shop." Then Wendy hurried to climb down as well, so Cary wouldn't have to face this alone.

When Stan and Ford got inside, Cary was standing, holding a snow globe and shaking it vigorously, not looking at either of them.

"Cary, I'm so sorry-" Stan started. Cary held up his hand.

"No apologies right now. Tell me exactly what's going to happen."

"Ford and I plan to be gone for several months, investigating the paranormal, but we'll be back at least by next summer, if not sooner."

"And when are you leaving?"

"We haven't discussed that," Stan admitted, "We were going to wait at least until we made sure you got home safely, but with the beast, we might need to stay longer…"

"So I'm holding you back?"

"No, Carebear, of course not… We just want to make sure you're okay. I don't want you struggling through this by yourself."

"We can stay a few months to make sure you're adjusting to and managing the curse," Ford said. "We can stay until November before it will become urgent to begin our investigations. Of course, we'll miss Hanukkah and all the other winter celebrations, but I've missed Hanukkah for the last 30 years, so I think we'll be just fine."

"Dad doesn't actually celebrate Hanukkah anymore," Cary said, "We don't actually celebrate much of anything other than like, Halloween and Summerween. Oh! You'll be there for Halloween, right?"

Ford nodded.

"So you'll be there for my birthday." Cary smiled genuinely at her dad and uncle for the first time since that morning. Stan smiled too.

"We will. We wouldn't miss it for the world," Stan promised.

"Okay. I still feel weird about all of this, but I can't stop you from doing what you want 'cause I'm not the dad in this relationship."

"I really am sorry, Cary. It's just for a little while, and it's something I always wanted to do. I know the Mystery Shack will be in good hands with Soos and so will you."

"We are a pretty good team," Cary said offhandedly.

"Yeah, my kids are pretty great," Stan said, surprising Cary.

"You're finally calling Soos your kid?"

"Might as well, I've known him since he was twelve, I know he thinks of me as his father figure."

"Does he know that you think of yourself as his father figure?"

"Uh…"

Cary took a deep breath, "It's not just you and me anymore, dad. Everything about our lives is changing, which we can get through, but it means that you can no longer think of Team Pines as being just us. There's Ford, and Soos, and Wendy as well as me and you. Which means you need to communicate with all of us."

Cary felt pretty good about putting their foot down.

Stan whistled, "Yeah, no, you're right. I'm never gonna be Mr. Honesty or whatever, but I'll try to communicate better with this family. But you gotta tell me when something's up, too, okay? Especially with the curse."

Cary nodded.

"We should really examine you for any side effects," Ford butted in.

Stan glared at his brother, "Right now? Really? We're having a moment."

"It's okay, dad. You'll be around until Halloween, we'll have plenty of moments."

Wendy cleared her throat.

"Oh! Yeah, Wendy and Tambry and I are having a sleepover tonight."

"Hey, now, just wait a minute," Stan said.

Cary effectively weaponized puppy dog eyes, "Please, dad? It's been a rough couple of days, some time with my friends would be really good for me."

Stan looked at Ford, who looked unsure.

"Okay, some ground rules. First, you're having the sleepover here. Second, you have to let Ford examine you with his science magic. Third, if anything dangerous happens at the sleepover I'm sending Wendy and Tambry home."

"Bad idea," Wendy said, checking her nails. She was due for some new polish.

"Oh yeah?" Stan crossed his arms.

"If the curse resurfaces I'm the best bet Cary has for getting it back under control. I'm staying here tonight as Cary's friend but I'm also their safety net." Cary reached out and squeezed Wendy's hand, Wendy squeezed back, whispering, "I've got you, Feathers."

"Fine. But no intentional shenanigans. Not now, while things are still shaky," Stan said.

"Shenanigans? Us? I don't know what you're talking about," Wendy said with a grin.

"Get to work, Corduroy." Wendy let go of Cary's hand then, looking at Cary reluctantly.

"After work, I'll get some stuff for the sleepover. And I'll text Tambry in a minute to make sure she's in."

"Thanks, Wendy. I guess I have to be examined now."

"Good luck!"

Cary let a very concerned Ford lead her away to a private study that she hadn't known existed.

"You know, Wendy's dad built the original house," Ford said absently.

"Really?"

"He was a young man, then, but his workmanship was impeccable regardless."

"Huh. That's cool."

"Anyway, how are you feeling?"

"Really tired," Cary admitted.

"Are you sure you should be having a sleepover tonight?"

"Yeah, it'll be good for me," Cary said.

"Just don't overdo yourself, Caryn."

Cary shifted, "I don't really like it when people use my full name. Even when I'm in trouble dad just calls me 'Cary Leigh.'"

"My apologies. But I am serious, you need to be careful. We have no idea what triggers the curse, how to successfully subdue it, or what the side effects could be."

"I'm just a little tired, Uncle Ford."

"A little tired or really tired? Which is it? It's like you said, Cary, we all have to communicate."

"I'm sorry that I can't control it, but clearly the trigger is stress and the cure is Wendy."

"Okay, the cure is not Wendy. Just because she was able to talk you down this time doesn't mean she will every time, and we don't know if it'll get worse or not."

"Maybe she is the cure," Cary said, "she's my cure. She's my answer. My safety net." Cary was getting anxious, trembling a little.

Ford noticed and stepped back, taking a deep breath.

"Is there anything else I should know, Cary? About the curse, or any of it?"

"I only felt partially in control when it happened. I knew where I was going, and I was vaguely aware of the presence of other people. As Wendy talked I became more and more aware, until finally, I was able to seize control once more. And, there was this…" Cary held up her amulet.

"It's supposed to glow when it detects my magic. All summer long, no glow. I was starting to think I really wasn't a witch. Today, when I turned? It was glowing black. That's what's supposed to happen when the curse takes hold. Maybe we could use it to detect the incoming curse… Episodes, and find a way to stop them before they take place?"

"That we could work with, but I'd need to study it more. I'd need to study you more."

"I don't love the sound of that."

"When's the last time you had a vision?"

"Before summer started."

"So, a quiet summer for your dreamscape?"

"My what?"

"Your dreamscape. It's where your memories and dreams exist. It might be where your magic lies."

"For witches, magic lies in a bile sack that attaches to the heart."

"That is intriguing."

"I don't have a bile sack."

"But you have magic, clearly. So maybe your magic is in your head."

"Huh. I guess Eda didn't think to look there for magic. Too in her own head."

"I know what that's like," Ford said with a chuckle. Cary laughed too.

"I'm going figure this out, Cary. I'm going to do everything I can to keep you safe."

"Yeah, well… I'll be there too. It's my body, my inherited curse, I want to figure this out even more than you do. Do you trust me?"

Ford hesitated. For the longest time, he hadn't trusted anyone. Then, he nodded.

"Go take a nap, I doubt you'll be sleeping much at your sleepover. If anything happens, though, let me or Stan know."

Cary gave Ford a thumbs up and he had to smile. They really were quite alike, and it seemed that against all odds Stan had raised an incredible kid.

Okay, I'm tired so I'll write the sleepover in arc 2.