Northwest-Pines Mystery Hunters

Twenty-Six- Northwest Realizes His Mistake

That change came when he started coughing. Hard. He sat up and leaned over the bowl on the ground beside him(Ford had insisted and I was glad) and threw up. It sounds disgusting, but I noticed his vomit was black, contrary to the white liquid he drank.

"Gideon!" I exclaimed when he finished, hugging him tightly. He hugged me back.

"Mabel, what happened? All I can remember is a flash of light, then me trying to get back to you. I was so worried..." He trailed off, deep in thought. "Of course! Pacifica made a deal with the demon Bill Cipher to get more power. She ended up with my Journal, and I was so worried that she'd send Cipher after yours!" I blinked.

"Wow. That story was wild from start to finish." He grinned sheepishly. "I'm glad you're safe. I was so worried." I squeezed his hand, and he looked away.

"Thank you."

"Why do you do that?" I asked. Gideon looked back at me.

"Do what?"

"You do this thing where we'll be talking, and then I'll tease you or say something sincere and you'll look away. Why do you do that." Gideon blushed and looked down.

"Oh. I guess I hadn't realized I did that."

"That's it!"  He looked back up at me.

"That's what?"

"You're blushing! You get embarrassed!" He blushed even harder.

"I do not! The very notion is absurd!" I smirked.

"You know, you're almost cute when you get flustered. Almost." By now Gideon looked like a tomato.

"Can't we please change the subject?" I decided to give Gideon a break so he could have blood in places other than his face, so I brought the subject back to Pacifica.

"Why did she summon Bill Cipher? What happened?"

"What else? She wanted more power. And he promised to get her that power in exchange for information." He explained. His mind was still dazed from the flash, so the sentence was dragged out.

"Information on what?" I asked, gripping the couch.

"I can't remember... He kept talking about stars, and being alone, and... trees." He stopped, staring at me. "Has your shirt always had that Pine Tree on it?" He asked, his tone urgent.

"Yeah, why?"

"Pine tree. He wanted information on a Pine Tree. He wanted information on you, Mabel!" I sat still, shocked.

"Are you sure we're not just jumping to conclusions here? Maybe he just likes trees?" Gideon shook his head.

"Cipher spoke in a sort of code. He called Pacifica something..." He thought for a moment. "Moon. Crescent Moon." I thought for a second.

"Oh! Like on the Tent Of Telepathy!" Gideon gasped.

"You're right! Mabel, you genius! Cipher said he was watching several people, maybe these symbols that are iconic to them are all a big key!" Gideon smiled and high-fived me.

"That means we can just start finding symbols that could represent people, and be on the lookout!" Gideon thought for a minute.

"Cipher... He's a floating triangle with one eye. I've seen that symbol many places, it terrified me when I saw it in the journal. Could all of these symbols be how he's watching us?" I refrained from making a comment about his appearance to consider what Gideon said.

"You know what? You're right. I've never seen the symbol before this winter, but now I see it everywhere!" Gideon and I shuddered. The thought of that was terrifying. "We'll have to tell Ford when he get's back from the store." Gideon nodded.

"This is important. He needs to know."

***

Preston Northwest sat in his office. Nobody wanted to make Mr. Northwest upset, least of all his only child and heir to the Northwest company Gideon. However, it had lately appeared that his son was the only person upsetting him.

"It's been days. Where is my son?" Everyone in the room remained silent. Not even his wife, Priscilla, dared to make a sound. "If no one can tell me, I will cut all of your paychecks in half, and keep half for a missing child reward!" He threatened, raising his voice. Everyone quivered with fear. There was a small knock on the door. A large security guard opened the door to reveal a young intern.

"I'm sorry for interrupting you Mr. Northwest, but I thought you might want to see this!" She said timidly, handing a newspaper to the guard and leaving quickly.

"What is it, another stock market crash? Give it to me!" He commanded. He was slightly surprised, one might even say amused, when he saw that the paper he held in his hand was not The New York Times. Not The Washington Post. None of the major newspapers he typically read. It was the town paper of the hick town In the middle of nowhere where his ancestors had built Northwest manor. 

He chuckled aloud, but stopped when he read the headline. Northwest-Pines does it again. He grimaced. So this is where his son had been. Playing detective with commoners.

"Everybody get out!" He shouted, clearing the room almost instantaneously. He was going to get his son back, and there would be consequences.

"If he wants to play detective, I'll let him play detective. And I'll show him where meddling will get him."

(A/N) 1500 words you guys!!!