"Will? Now that's a mighty fine name there. I take it you're not from round here, how did you get here if you don't mind my askin?" Gideon's Georgia accent thickened by the minute as nervousness welled up in him. Things he didn't understand made him nervous, and he wanted to understand them.
Will sniffed again and rubbed his sore wrists, flinching at every noise poking through the tent fabric. "The twins, they – they took me from my home and… and they put in their show. they're not nice and they make me hurt and…and…" He took a deep breath and tried not to let himself shutter. "I want to go home."
"Where is your home, Will?" Pacifica pressed as gently as she could, not wanting to scare the little triangle but also insatiably curious and not a little concerned about this situation. "You're not from the forest like Robbie said, are you?"
"Don't be silly, Paz, there's no way Will's from this world, no matter how weird Robbie says the forest outside is," Gideon answered her, confident in at least that much.
Will blinked as if about to respond but cut himself off unexpectedly. He perked up as if listening for something and suddenly whirled around and hissed "They're coming!", giving just enough time for the cousins to take cover behind some scattered debris before two people who could only be brother and sister—No, twins probably—unfurl an opening from the main part of the tent into the storage area.
The girl marched straight over to the cage, picking her way through the cluttered carnage and promptly unlocking the cage more noisily than necessary. "Showtime, love! It's time to see your fans," she ignored the whimper from Will as she took the chain and pulled on it, raising a plucked eyebrow as Will clung to the opening of the cage to keep her from taking him away from the hidden cousins, which he seemed to have already attached to and really didn't want to leave the only safe people he knew.
"W–wait, Mabel. I, please not again. I don't wanna," Will started, yelping as Mabel gave an unnecessarily rough yank on the chain to unstick him.
"I told you once I told you a hundred times, Blue. You're gonna do this skit until I say we're done. Trust me, it won't be that much longer, I say give it another week or two and–"
"Will you stop telling all your schemes to the captive? Not the brightest idea, Sis." Mason muttered, arms crossed over his beloved journal and holding the tent flap open with his free hand impatiently. "We've done this show how many times now, why is it a struggle every time?"
"Be–because it hurts and I—"
Gideon and Pacifica had been exchanging glances with each other at the spectacle the entire time. Pacifica had been giving Gideon a look that he pretended to not be able to decipher, shaking his head at her in a silent bad idea signal.
Pacifica apparently got tired of trying to communicate any plan and instead jumped up out of her hiding place with a loud "Hey!", scaring the twins nearly out of their wits and causing Mabel to almost drop the chain.
Pacifica's Kerprank-style surprise quickly lost its effect however as Mason scowled and dropped the tent flap, rolling up his sleeves as if expecting a fight. Considering both twins were significantly bigger than both cousins, this gesture was more than a little intimidating. "Who are you and what are you doing in here? The show is in the other part of the tent." His perpetual scowl deepened even further. "You better not be trying to get an all-access pass for free like those tourists out there," he said the word tourist like it was the most repulsive thing on the planet.
Gideon sighed and decided that leaving his cousin to fend for herself against these obvious bullies would be pretty crummy, also abandoned his hiding place with his hands up like a captive surrendering, trying to look as inoffensive as possible. "No, we're just a little concerned about the mistreatment of a sentient creature." He jerked his head at Will, who was trying to make himself as small as possible. Both twins raised their eyebrows.
Mabel laughed, "Is that what you think? Honey, this little weirdo is just a shape with a voice I found on the side of the road. I know it looks like a pet, but trust me, it heals faster than anything and has the intelligence of a rabbit." She nudged Will with her foot as if to demonstrate.
Pacifica's eyes darted from each person and triangle in the tent, lost in thought and trying to figure out what the best thing to do was. Even if what Mabel said was true, they were still being cruel to…whatever this thing was. And if there was anything Pacifica couldn't bear to see, it was cute things being hurt.
Before her brain could catch up to her heart, as nicely sentimental as it was, Pacifica made a sound somewhat resembling a battle cry, snatched the chain out of Mabel's hand quicker than lightning, and dashed out beneath the tent faster than anyone had time to react.
The three other humans staring where Pacifica once stood blinked twice before two of them turned to positively glower at Gideon, who laughed nervously. "You have ten seconds to find her and bring our pet back here, or else ," Mabel ground out evenly, a dangerously thin layer of calm holding back explosive rage. "Do not make me ask twice."
Gideon could only gulp, nod, and scurry out of the tent as fast as his small legs could carry him. Once outside in the open night air, he turned in a full circle before he caught the bright colors of Pacifica's sweater disappear into the foliage bordering the make-shift parking lot and rushed after her, careful to avoid the clumsy grownups throwing their weight around everywhere they went. "Pacifica! Wait!"
By the time he ducked beneath the low-hanging pine branches, he was gasping and really hoping Pacifica wasn't far much farther away. Thankfully, he spotted her barely visible under one of the only beams of moonlight able to penetrate the forest. She was already waving him over rapidly.
He hurried over and grabbed Pacifica by the shoulder and squeezed it hard for support. It just now dawned on him that they were in the woods. Alone. At night. Holy crow they were in the forest and Robbie said there were weird things in the forest and—
"Paz—you, you gotta—you gotta give the thing back to the twins before they, they turn us into baked beans," he gasped.
Pacifica frowned at him. "What does that even mean?"
"I don't know, I'm tired. But it's bad. I know you don't want to, but I really think giving the triangle guy back to them is the best option for us. We don't want to get in trouble with Fiddleford on the first day here, and frankly, I don't want to have to deal with bullies this whole summer. I have enough of those back at home."
Pacifica's eyebrows furrowed as she looked up at him from where she sat on a tree stump, Will tucked safely beneath her sweater and peeking out from her neck hole, trying to subtly shake his nonexistent head at Gideon. "Gideon Pines, I don't know where in your short stubby body your heart is, but you should be ashamed of yourself for taking the coward's way out." On reading the expression of Gideon's face she backtracked and took a deep breath. "Look, I don't know who or what Will is. I don't know what exactly is going on, but I know that those twins are harming something innocent and good, and I can't let that happen. I promise , we'll both try to get the whole story and find the truth, but will you help me get him out of here? Please?"
Gideon pursed his lips and looked at her, letting out a groan eventually at her pleading look.
"... Fine, yeah…yeah ok. Just for tonight though. And then we'll talk about making things right tomorrow. Let's just, let's just find Robbie and go home. Hopefully we can figure out what to do with him after we get some sleep. Deal?"
Deal," Paz immediately brightened and jumped up, holding Will close against herself as she led Gideon back the way they came. More than several times they both could have sworn they saw oddly shaped shadows and shapes flitting around, not the mention certain trees and plants that seemed to have rearranged themselves, creating a new unfamiliar path. They were inordinately relieved to see the lit-up clearing once again.
Finding Robbie wasn't all that difficult, as Robbie was looking for them as well, combing through the thinning crowd and calling their names. Pacifica ducked under some legs and pulled on his shirt until he turned around.
"There you are! Oh thank goodness, don't do that to me, I can't mess up my literal one job." Robbie rambled on a little while checking them over, but looked more relieved than angry. Pacifica nodded and did her best to look remorseful as she interjected urgently. "Yes yes, we're so sorry we uh, got lost but Gideon is really tired—past his bedtime you know—" she earned a murderous look from Gideon at that comment, "And I think we really should be getting back to the house, don't you think?"
Somehow the suspicious performance only earned an eyebrow raise from Robbie as he produced his car keys from his pocket. "Whatever you say, Chevrolet."
The two children practically dragged the older teen to the truck, wary that Mason and Mabel had already started weaving through the dwindling crowds in search of the thieves. It was only when the doors were closed and locked were the two cousins able the exhale and relax a little, and not a moment too soon. As they were driving away Mason caught Gideon's eyes as he was looking out the smudged truck window and the shared a look that made Gideon a lot more afraid than an excentric bully should have made him. He had a feeling this wasn't going to end well. He ducked down and slouched in his seat, trying to hide as much of himself as possible until they turned onto the main road.
Pacifica rode in the back seat this time, feeling that she could whisper some quiet words of reassurance with Will while Robbie and Gideon conversed in the front seat. All this time Will had been smothered in fuzzy wool, completely blind to his surroundings but oddly comforted by the soft warmth that radiated from the girl. The chain coiled up against him was still tight and uncomfortable, but somehow the pain was more distant, like background music. Was he finally safe? Was he finally free of those awful twins? Would he really never have to go on that stage again?
"You doing ok, Will?" Pacifica asked quietly, stealing glances to make sure Robbie was preoccupied. "Listen, is there any way you can turn off that glow of yours? I'm not wearing my glow-in-the-dark sweater and people might get suspicious."
"I'm sorry," Will sounded like he was about to cry from guilt, "I can't control it. It's linked to my emotions, I'm happy right now." Tears welled up in his eye.
Pacifica looked uncertain. "No no, that's ok. We'll make it work until we can get back to our room, as long as it doesn't get any brighter."
Just as she said that, Will started to get brighter.
Her eyes widened as the blue glow got brighter and brighter until he was practically beaming like a mini moon, only he looked just as concerned as she did. "Wait, this isn't me—"
Pacifica shushed him and hastily took her sweater off to bundle Will up in a thicker layer of clothing. She kicked Gideon's seat and gave him a panicked glance when he turned around. Gideon's eyes bugged out as he whipped back around and folded his hands in his lap, trying to look natural.
"Hope you kids had a good time and are settling in for the summer, I remember being little and having to go to wood-splitting camp all season, and I couldn't see my siblings for over a month. It was pretty hard, so I know how you feel." At this he turned to the children and Gideon almost had a heart attack as Will's blue glow radiated even more, now impossible to ignore. Much to their visible relief, however, Robbie must've believed it to be in fact one of Pacifica's glow-in-the-dark sweaters. "You guys can trust me with anything you need while I'm at work, ok? I got your back."
Gideon and Pacifica smiled through the guilt of keeping a secret from the nice teenager trying to help them feel at home, both voicing their genuine gratitude as much as they could.
They couldn't have pulled into the driveway fast enough as Pacifica practically threw herself out of the old rust bucket and charged through the front door, barely managing to throw a 'thanks Robbieseeyoutomorrow!" Before disappearing inside.
Robbie just smiled and leaned against the car door, nodding at Gideon. "You're cool dude, get some sleep and I can take you exploring tomorrow, ok? G'night, kid." And without another word, he jumped back into his truck and pulled away, one working headlight lighting up his path.
Gideon was able to wave goodbye before heading inside, not without a sinking sensation in his gut.
Once inside and climbing up the stairs he noticed how eerily quiet it was, even for only three people living in the mansion. When Gideon knocked on Pacifica's door and no one answered he turned the knob and opened the door himself, entering the room to find Pacifica standing stiller than he'd ever seen her, staring with wide eyes at a boy about five years old with blue hair hanging over big eyes and a small thin frame shaking on the carpet.
The little boy looked down at his now very fleshy childish fingers and turned them over slowly to look at his palms. Gideon scratched his head and frowned in tired confusion. This day could not get any weirder. "Is that you, Will?"
"He just… changed right in front of me," Pacifica murmured in wonder.
As the cousins drew closer again, eyebrows knit in disturbed perplexion, Will suddenly looked up at them with the biggest smile they'd ever seen on him. "my brother's coming!"