Everything stayed great for a while, too. Sure, it had its ups and plenty of downs, but we were travelling better than we'd been in a long time.
Until two federal agents decided to poke their noses in.
Dipper was extremely excited to find out that they were investigating the mysteries of this town, just as he was. They handed over a calling card to him then left, Agent Trigger grabbing an armful of bobbleheads on his way out for "evidence".
Stan came out of the back room only a few minutes later, snatching the card from Dipper's hands and muttering about how getting those agents involved would spell doom for all of us. I may have agreed with him on that point but tried to comfort the poor kid anyway. "Hey Dip, try not to focus on it too much. There's a party on tonight! Go enjoy it, spend some time without the stress!" He seemed reluctant but nodded.
"Alright Y/n..." I gave him a light pat on the back and my brightest smile.
"Now go have fun with your sister, it seems like she wants to talk to you."
With that out of the way, I wandered back into "our" bedroom to find Stan closing the safe behind his painting. "How much do you reckon he knows?" I asked grimly.
"No clue, but we need to play dumb just a little longer, until we find that third journal." Stan leant heavily against the wall as I nodded.
"No way around it?" He turned to face me, shaking his head wearily.
"Nope. We need that book to finish the instructions. You have any idea where it might be?" It was my turn to shake my head, turning my gaze to the wooden floors as if I could see the secret basement below. "Darn."
I left the room to go help the kids set up for the Karaoke party that night, since I wasn't going to be around. I was going to be "going to do something out of town", meaning I was spending my time in the basement, tinkering with the portal, and searching for that last journal.
But, of course, I couldn't tell the kids that.
When I finally came out of the basement, I left via the backdoor, then came into the living room through the front door, dumping my bag on the carpet as I beheld the sight in front of me.
Soos, the shack's handyman, was rather awkwardly tied to the chair while the others were mixing something in the corner of the room. I walked to the chair. "Oh hey, Mrs Pines!" Soos was still fully functioning, despite his whited-out eyes. I turned to Stan and the kids,
"Zombification?" I asked, taking the hair tie from my wrist, and pulling my hair up and away from my face.
"Yea, Dipper summoned them, even though I told him not to!" Mabel said in her usual cheery disposition. I caught glimpse of the book in Dipper's hand, in the other a black light and my eyes widened, heart stunting in my chest. I asked as casually as I could,
"What ya reading Dip?" He seemed startled, before replying,
"Well, I told everyone else about this tonight, I suppose you deserve to know too." He steeled himself, clutching the book close to his chest. "I found this at the beginning of summer while I was hammering up signs in the forest. It explains all the strange things that we've seen happen in Gravity Falls, but after a while the writing just stops. Like the author disappeared and left this behind." I felt my chest cave, my shoulders slumping just slightly. "So, I've been using it to do some research of my own, it's pretty much how we've defeated everything this Summer. The Gremoblin, the gnomes, even a category 10 ghost that was haunting the Northwest's mansion!" I played along, saving face despite my aching heart.
"That's really cool Dipper! You mind if I borrow this when you're done here? If all this is going on outside my own home, I'd like to know how to defend myself." I laughed, undistinguishable from the real thing. He mentioned that Stan was going to borrow it and that I could have it after he was finished. I thanked him and left them to go get dinner, trying to keep the brick wall in my mind that kept Ford's disappearance locked away intact.
Down the basement that night, Stan tinkered with the portal using the instructions we had with all three journals combined and I photocopied the various pages for later reference. The portal suddenly began to roar to life and Stan beckoned me over as a countdown began. "We're closer than ever, we just need to keep the kids in the dark and the feds off our backs for a little while longer." He said to me, wrapping an arm around my shoulder. I smiled into the glowing portal.
"You're coming home, Fordsie and we can't wait to see you again." I whispered. Stan and I shared a brief hug before Stan set his watch, the beep sealing our fate.
We ascended back to surface level in silence, a quick nod to each other before we went to our separate rooms, heart beating fast in my chest.