"She's a selkie."
Mabel looked up sharply from the strange girl to Grunkle Ford.
"A what now?" Dipper asked. He sounded as confused as Mabel felt.
"A selkie. Women who can magically transform into seals by wrapping themselves in a seal skin. Well, the legends are all about women, but there are male selkies as well. They're just the minority."
"So wait," said Dipper, "this girl is basically a shape-shifter?"
Ford paused, then nodded. "That's one way to put it." Then he was all urgency. "We have to get her back to the Museum, or she could freeze. She would be warmer if she had stayed a seal; but as it is, we have to move quickly. Melody, help me carry her to the car."
Melody nodded. She and Ford got to their feet and crouched carefully on their ice skates, pushing their arms under the selkie and lifting her by slowly straightening their legs. When they were erect, they started moving to the edge of the lake, the selkie resting in their arms.
"Mabel, Dipper, make sure she doesn't slide off. Melody, take long strides in sync with me."
It took Mabel a second to get moving. Was this it? Was she seeing Ford in adventure mode? He didn't seem to have a spark in his eye, just a grim determination. But he certainly seemed to know what he was doing.
Dipper took the front, since he was better at skating, and made sure the selkie didn't slip off tail-first. Mabel followed behind, although there didn't seem to be much risk of her sliding off head-first, since she was tilted slightly forward.
The awkward procession made its way slowly, carefully, and safely across the lake. Even Dipper didn't complain about the pace. He was probably focused on how pretty the girl was, even though she was unconscious and wrapped in a seal. Long, wet dark brown hair framed the girl's pale face (although she was probably only pale from the cold). Mabel wondered what it would be like to be trapped as a seal underneath a thick layer of ice in a freezing lake. It sounded terrifying.
Finally, they made it to the lake shore. Melody and Ford set the selkie down on the dock, switched their skates for their snow boots, picked her up again, and headed to the car. Mabel and Dipper took a little longer to change (Mabel into her boots and Dipper into his brightly colored tennis shoes) before they followed.
"Do you think she's going to be okay, Mabel?"
Mabel glanced to her brother. "Yeah, I think so. Ford knows what he's doing."
Dipper nodded, and Mabel couldn't tell if he agreed with her or not. He'd seen the Journal as well as she, though he hadn't read it as much. She didn't know if he believed that Ford could act like the man from the Journal again. She didn't know if she believed it.
"Melody says she used to watch Ford when he went out on monster hunts," said Mabel quietly. "She said he looked like an adventurer." Well, what she really said was that Ford looked like Mabel when she got excited about something. Maybe it was pretentious of Mabel to label that look as an adventurer's look, but she liked the thought. "Whatever changed between then and now, I think he can still help this selkie."
Dipper nodded again, this time with a smile. "You're right." He noticed Ford and Melody waiting by the car, and he ran to open the door for them. When Mabel made it to the car, the selkie was propped up in one of the window seats. Dipper sat in the middle, making sure she didn't fall over. Mabel slid in next to her brother, feeling awkward with an unconscious passenger two seats over.
Ford turned on the heat but kept it low, increasing it gradually as they drove. He frequently looked back at the selkie, as if checking to make sure she was okay. Mabel found it uncomfortable to look at the selkie, so she looked out the window and watched the lake disappear behind the trees and cabins. The sight made her sad. They'd only been there for an hour or so, and she had just started an actual conversation with Ford. She wished the selkie hadn't turned up and ruined it.
Then she shook her head at herself. The selkie hadn't ruined anything — they were saving her life! Plus, Mabel was seeing Ford in the zone, which probably hadn't happened in decades.
The car ride was spent in silence until they pulled into the driveway at the Mystery Museum. Melody turned off the car, and the artificial heat stopped blowing. "Well, that was an unexpected way to end our Family Fun Day," Melody commented.
"The day isn't over yet!" Dipper pointed out.
Melody looked like she was about to reply, but Ford got out of the car and called for her to join him. Dipper held onto one of the seal fins as the adults opened the door, then pushed gently as they eased the selkie into their arms. Once she was out, he followed.
Mabel didn't feel like scooting across the selkie's wet seat, so she got out on her own side. She went around to close the other door, too, since Dipper forgot. When she caught up to the others, she stood with Dipper as Melody and Ford side-stepped through the door. "Onto the couch," Ford instructed. He sounded strained; Mabel figured that the wet seal pelt was heavy, even if the girl inside wasn't. "We'll let her sleep for a while," Ford continued, "and once she wakes up, we'll ask her about how she got here."
"What do you mean, how she got here?" Mabel asked, following him inside. Dipper closed the door behind them all. Melody and Ford lowered the selkie onto the couch; the girl's eyes fluttered, and she rolled onto her side.
"I've only met one selkie before," Ford said to Mabel, "and he came here through a portal under the lake. My guess is that this girl got here the same way."
Mabel frowned. "Didn't you say that Gravity Rises was the only place with magical creatures? Except ghosts?"
"I did. I believe I also named selkies as another exception. For some reason, they left this place ages ago. They're the only ones who have left, and they could be anywhere by now."
"And this girl is here," Melody said quietly. "She must be so scared."
"We'll help her," said Ford. "Mabel, go get some of your clothes. And a towel."
"Wait, what?" Mabel asked.
"She's going to need them," was all Ford said.
Mabel took the stairs two at a time. She could hear Dipper thumping up behind her; as she rummaged through her clothes, he ran in and did the same.
"What are you doing?" Mabel asked.
"You never do your laundry," Dipper replied, "and I bet that girl would rather wear boy's clothes than your dirty ones."
"Not fair!" Mabel pouted. But Dipper was right. Mabel couldn't remember the last time she'd washed any of the clothes she was looking through. She grabbed the cleanest looking shirt she could find and a pair of jeans, then took some underwear and rolled it into the shirt, just in case. Dipper grabbed the towel and some clothes of his own. The twins picked up the bundles and went back down the stairs.
Ford gave them a once-over and nodded in approval. "All right. Now we wait." So Mabel and Dipper deposited their bundles next to the couch, sat on the floor, and started to wait.
And wait.
Thirty minutes later, Ford had a fire going in the fireplace. He, Mabel, Dipper, and Melody were all playing cards cross-legged on the floor. Dipper's new pig, Waddles, had joined in the fun and was eating the occasional card that Dipper fed to him. Mabel, for her part, had opted to sit across from Dipper. Considering that Waddles used to be a slightly evil Mabel clone, the original Mabel had no intention of going near the pig.
"Ha!" said Dipper, throwing a trump card onto the stack.
"Aw, come on!" Mabel said. "Do you even know what we're playing?"
"The higher the card, the more I win!" Dipper replied.
Ford chuckled. "That is true."
Mabel sighed. Dipper had beaten her almost every round.
There was a moan from the couch.
Everybody turned their attention to the sleeping selkie. (Dipper dropped his cards; Waddles took the opportunity to have a snack, but nobody was watching the pig.) The selkie tossed a bit in her seal skin, which bulged unnaturally. Mabel found it easier to think of the skin as a sleeping bag than as a former live seal.
Melody and Ford got to their feet as the selkie slowly opened her eyes. She blinked a few times. Her head lifted, and she brought an arm out of the seal skin, propping herself up on her elbow. After a staring contest between her and the four humans in the room, she asked quietly, "Where am I?"
Dipper jumped to his feet, but Ford spoke first. "You're at our home," he told the selkie. "We brought you here so you wouldn't freeze to death out on the lake."
The selkie looked up at him, processing this. "Thank you," she finally said, her voice small.
Ford smiled at her. It was a gentle and caring smile that Mabel had never seen on his face before. "You're welcome. My name is Stanford Pines, and I've studied the supernatural for a long time. You don't have to worry about any of us hurting you because of what you are. Right, everyone?"
They all nodded.
The tension in the selkie's body left. "Thank you," she said again, this time in a whisper.
"Would you like to finish transforming?" Ford asked. "We have some clothes for you."
The selkie looked down at the pile of clothes. "Y-yes, thanks." She carefully reached her free arm out of her seal skin, but couldn't quite reach the clothes without leaving her skin. Dipper rushed over and handed the bundle to her, his face flushing as he did. The selkie smiled at him, making his face redder. She disappeared into her seal skin and took the clothes with her. The seal's head didn't close over her, so Mabel figured she was just inside the skin, rather than turning into a seal.
Dipper plopped on the floor next to Mabel, his face still red. Mabel couldn't resist nudging him and whispering, "She's cute, isn't she?" Dipper shushed her violently in response.
"All right, kids," Melody said. "Let's go into the other room. We'll come back once she's ready."
Mabel and Dipper obeyed without complaining, following Melody into the kitchen. Ford tagged along and leaned silently in the doorway.
Melody busied herself with getting some food out, which made Mabel realize that it was lunch time. Dipper sat at the table and stared at the wall like it would make the blood drain from his face faster. He usually didn't show this level of embarrassment toward his crushes, but Mabel supposed that loaning the selkie some of his clothes made this particular crush a bit more awkward.
"Ford, she eats the same food as us, right?" asked Melody.
"Hmm? Oh, yes. When she's in human form."
Melody paused. "Sandwiches, then," she said to no one in particular. She started getting out condiments and lunch meats. The sound of plastic placed on the counter was the only noise for a few minutes.
"Mr. Pines?" said a voice.
They all turned. The selkie stood in the doorway; she looked, for all intents and purposes, human. She wore the jeans that Mabel had lent her (they looked better on her than they did on Mabel) and one of Dipper's t-shirts that was cream and bore the word "AWESOME" in stylized red letters.
The red glow on Dipper's face grew brighter.
"Come on in," Ford said, moving away from the kitchen entrance. "We're just getting some food ready, if you're hungry. Are you feeling better?"
The selkie smiled. The smile radiated so much that Mabel wondered if it would blind them. "Yes, I am. Hungry and feeling better, that is. I haven't been human in a while; it feels really nice." Then she stopped and blushed a bit. "Sorry."
"About what?" Ford asked. "You can speak freely in here, don't worry. What's your name?"
"Amanda," she replied, smiling again.
"I'm Dipper!" Dipper blurted. He looked embarrassed, but that didn't stop him. "I'm not magical, but I do have a cool birthmark — wanna see?"
"Sure," Amanda said, pulling up a chair next to him.
Dipper pushed his hair back to reveal his birthmark. His face returned to its normal shade; he was in the zone now.
"Oh, that's cool!" Amanda said. "It's the Big Dipper!" She frowned, but it wasn't a negative expression, just a confused one. "Is Dipper actually your name?"
"Nope, a nickname," Dipper replied. "But it's what everybody calls me."
Ford coughed into his fist to get their attention. "Amanda, do you know how you ended up here in Gravity Rises?"
Amanda's expression froze on her face before sliding off like melting water. "Gravity Rises," she repeated.
"Yes, that's this town."
"Gravity Rises. . . Oregon?" She seemed afraid to hear the answer.
"Yes. You've heard of it?"
Amanda stared at Ford for a moment. Then she propped her elbows on the table and put her head in her hands. Her dark hair splayed over her arms as she leaned forward.
"Are you okay?" Dipper asked, a bit too fast.
Amanda didn't respond. Dipper reached for her, probably to give her a comforting pat or something, but Mabel shook her head. If Amanda was anything like her, she wouldn't want to be touched right now.
"Do you know how you got here?" Ford asked again.
Amanda took a deep breath before looking back up at him. "Not really," she said. There were no tears on her face, no tremble in her voice, but she sounded sad and scared all the same. "I was out for a swim. . ."
"Where?"
"Off the coast of Southern California," Amanda said. "I was just swimming, you know, for fun, when the water kept getting colder and colder. . . . It was getting so cold that I needed to surface and get out, but. . . when I swam for the surface. . . it was covered in ice."
"You were trapped in there," Mabel said softly.
Amanda nodded, though she wasn't looking at Mabel. "If you hadn't saved me. . ."
She didn't seem to know how to finish the sentence, but Dipper interrupted her before she could, anyway. "I found you!" he declared out of nowhere. "I saw you trying to break the ice," he continued, his voice mellowing as he went on, hopefully realizing his outburst was out of line. "Then Melody had the idea to hit the ice with our skates to help you out. We thought you were just a seal, though."
Dipper Pines: Master of Tactlessness since 1999.
Luckily, Amanda didn't seem as offended as Mabel would've been. She flashed her radiating smile at Dipper. "You saved me, then."
"I helped!" Dipper agreed, grinning back.
Mabel didn't understand how Dipper's aggressive flirting style didn't turn away every girl he met. Still, it worked like a charm on most of his crushes. He was a master at acting clueless for eighty percent of the time when he was only actually clueless for thirty percent.
"Do you want something to eat, Amanda?" Melody asked from behind them. "I can make a sandwich for you."
Amanda looked over her shoulder. "Oh, sure," she said. "Thanks. Could I just have PB&J?"
"Sure thing." Melody turned halfway back to the counter, then paused. "If you don't mind my asking," she said, "shouldn't you have been fine in cold water? As a seal, I mean?"
Amanda shrugged uncomfortably. "I've. . . I've never been in water that cold. I panicked." She looked back to Ford. "My mom warned me about this place," she said. "She said there were portals all over the world that led here. Do you think that's what happened?"
Ford nodded. "Almost certainly. This place has portals leading to and from the forest. I've had experiences with a few of those portals — including when another selkie, like you, came here years ago."
"And. . . did you help them get home?"
Ford approached the table and pulled out a chair, sitting down so he was at eye level with Amanda. "Don't worry," he said. "We'll get you home. I promise. We'll reverse the portal's pull and send you through there, and you'll be right back in California."
"Is it that easy?" Dipper asked. "Can't you just send her back home on a plane?"
"Send her on a plane with a seal skin?" Ford pointed out. "If all else fails, we'll drive you home, Amanda; but reversing the portal is likely to be faster. I've done it before, and I'm sure I can do it again. It shouldn't take long. Do you mind staying with us here for a few hours while I get everything ready?"
Amanda shook her head. "Thanks for being willing to have me," she said. She paused for a moment, then asked, "Do you have a phone I can use to call my mom?"
"Seals can use phones?" Dipper asked, looking fascinated.
Mabel nearly face-palmed right then and there, but Amanda just smiled. "My mom is a selkie too," she told Dipper. "We have normal human lives on the shore as well as our seal ones."
Dipper gasped. "Like secret identities!"
"I guess so."
Ford stood up, his bones creaking. "My phone is connected to the wall in my lab. Do you want me to show you where it is? Then you can come back in here and have some food."
"Sure, thanks."
The two left. Mabel watched them go. A sudden, burning desire to hear Amanda's phone call washed over her. The girl seemed so calm and collected — nothing like Mabel had felt all winter so far. Was it just a front? Or was she just a lot braver than Mabel?
Only one way to find out.
"I-I'm gonna go use the bathroom," she said to no one in particular. She hoped Dipper didn't see through her. But she made it all the way to the bathroom without hearing him follow, so she waited behind the bathroom door and watched through the crack until she saw Ford pass. Once she was certain he was gone, she left the bathroom and tip-toed to the nearby door to the lab, which was half open. Mabel stood behind it, out of sight, and began to listen.
"Leave a message and I'll get back to you! Thanks!" said a cheerful voice from the phone, which Mabel could just make out. The phone beeped, and Amanda started talking.
"Hey, Mom. It's Amanda. I guess you're probably out looking for me and don't have your phone. I want you to know, I-I'm safe."
The thrill of sneaking around started to puddle in Mabel's shoes as she listened to Amanda's voice tremble.
"I went for a swim, and I guess I swam through one of those portals you told me about. I ended up in Oregon, in this frozen lake." She paused; when she spoke again, her voice was wet. "I thought. . . I thought I was going to die."
Mabel put a hand to her mouth.
"B-but I'm okay," Amanda continued, pushing back the tears with a breath. "I was rescued by this family. They. . . saw what I am, but Mr. Pines — he helped rescue me; he's old but really nice — he said he knows all about supernatural stuff, so it's okay."
Now that she had gotten to this part of the story, her voice strengthened again. Mabel, however, was stuck on "old but really nice." Since when was "nice" ever a word to describe Ford? Unless one was referring to an older use of the word that meant nit-picky or careful, but Mabel doubted many other people knew about that. If "nice" meant "kind". . . well, Mabel hadn't seen that side of Ford until today.
"Anyway, Mr. Pines says he can reverse the portal and send me back home, s-so everything is going to be okay. I should be home in a few hours." Her voice took on a bit of a laugh. "When I get home, I can tell you about the cute boy who rescued me."
The joke was weak, and Mabel could hear the fear laced through the laughter.
"I. . . I love you, Mom. I'll see you again soon. I-I promise."
Something, some feeling, was pushing fiercely at Mabel's chest from within.
"Don't worry about me, okay?" Amanda's voice had grown soft. "I love you."
There was a soft click as she hung up the phone.
Mabel stood there behind the door, feeling more guilty than she had in a long time. What had she hoped to feel when she learned that Amanda really was scared? Triumph that she had caught her? Relief that she was a person too? All Mabel felt now was paralyzing guilt mixed with the itchy face feeling that preceded crying. Amanda was scared and sad, and Mabel had heard it when she wasn't supposed to. Mabel was only supposed to see the mask, the brave face, but she had peeked under it. She had invaded Amanda's privacy.
But you're not a coward if she's scared too, her brain whispered.
The thought was quickly squelched by more guilt, followed by the realization that Amanda was about to exit the lab — Mabel had to get out of here. She darted for the bathroom and hid behind the door, listening in the darkness as Amanda's footsteps passed her by.
"Did she call me cute?" Dipper asked.
Mabel jumped and knocked into something and stifled a yell.
"Ow! Mabes!"
Mabel turned on the bathroom light to see Dipper rubbing his elbow and squinting into the light. "Dipper! What are you doing here?" The lab was close to the bathroom; Dipper must have silently crept in without Mabel even noticing.
Dipper gave her a withering look. "Well, it took me a minute, but I realized your 'going to the bathroom' was strangely right when Amanda was going to go call her mom. Really, Mabel? Eavesdropping?"
Mabel winced. "Can we just say that I feel really bad about it, and you don't need to remind me?" When Dipper didn't reply, she continued, "What did you hear?"
"Nothing really, because it was private"—he gave her a significant look—"but I could make out 'cute boy.' Was she talking about me?"
"Considering that the only guys she's seen are you and Ford, and it would be really creepy if she meant Ford, I think we can assume she meant you." Mabel rolled her eyes as she said it, but it felt good to distract herself from her guilt by talking about something so trivial.
Dipper took a moment to absorb this information. Mabel hoped he would go off on how great it was that Amanda thought he was cute, but instead he said, "Why'd you do it, Mabes?"
Mabel looked at the floor. "I dunno. She just seemed so. . . collected. And I thought, I don't act that way when I'm scared. I didn't think it could be real. A-and it wasn't, but. . ." She trailed off.
Dipper didn't respond right away — which, considering him, was probably the worst way he could've responded. "Mabel, you aren't. . . comparing yourself to Amanda, are you?" He took the time to craft a sentence before saying it. He must have really wanted to be careful in this conversation, which didn't make Mabel feel any better.
"Wh-what do you mean?"
"I mean. . . you both have been in scary situations before. Amanda swam through that portal; all those clones trapped you in that cave. You're not telling yourself that Amanda is better than you just because she isn't freaking out, are you?"
Mabel decided not to bring up the experience that Dipper didn't mention. She still didn't feel comfortable thinking of Pacifica's name. Instead, "She's not better than me," Mabel said. "She just is. . . braver."
"I don't know, Mabel," Dipper said softly. "Is it braver to hide what you're feeling or show it?"
Mabel blinked, thinking about that. Amanda was hiding her fear. Mabel had never really done that, not that she could remember. Whatever she felt was there for all to see, unless it was hidden by shyness. Dipper had a point, but she wasn't ready to admit it. "I'm not brave, Dipper," she said. And to end the conversation, she continued, "Let's get back to the kitchen or everyone will figure out what we've done."
"Hey, no we've. You were the one who decided to eavesdrop."
Well, there went Dipper's empathy, defenestrated in one sentence. "Yeah, thanks, Dip. C'mon."
They left the bathroom, turning the light off behind them, and walked lightly through the hall back to the kitchen. Mabel watched Dipper's footprints in the shag ahead of her. Her brain felt fuzzy.
Whatever she had felt before she decided to eavesdrop, she certainly felt much worse now.