The door stayed firmly shut.
Mason sighed and flopped back onto the cashier counter. "Grunkle Stan-"
"Hush, kid." Stan fiddled with his cane- a Magic 8 Ball on a stick- but his eyes remained fixated on the door. "Someone oughta be here soon."
Wendy rolled her eyes. "Right, well, if that's the case, I'm gonna read my magazine." The redhead put her feet up on the counter and leaned back into her chair. "Or take a nap."
Stan grumbled and muttered something about youth and slackers. Or maybe he had said crackers- Mason wasn't entirely sure. Either way, he doubted Stan was giving Wendy a compliment.
On the other side of the room, Soos was teaching Mabel where the various gift shop wares went. "Snow globes are on the third shelf from the bottom, t-shirts on the rack, and bobbleheads go on the counter by the register." Mabel pointed around the room at the respective items and their locations, her brow slightly furrowed in concentration. "And... hats are on the wall by the door?"
Soos nodded."I have taught you all that I know, and yet already you have surpassed me," he said, resting a hand on Mabel's shoulder as he gazed off into the distance. "You will make a great worker."
Mabel laughed. "I hope so." She glanced over towards the counter, and for a moment her eyes met Mason's. Something flashed across her face too quickly for Mason to read, though, and her gaze dropped.
Stan propped the cane against the counter and straightened his back. "I'm gonna go talk to Ford. I'm trusting you kids to hold down the fort while I'm gone- don't make me regret it," he added with a warning look. "No funny business."
Wendy arranged her face into an expression of innocence. "Us? Funny business? I'm hurt, Stan."
Stan grunted. "Soos, you're in charge. If anyone comes in, lead the tour."
Soos' eyes widened, and his arm snapped into a salute. "You can count on me, Mr. Pines! I promise I won't let you down."
"Where did Ford go?" Mabel asked, turning to Mason and Wendy as Stan left the gift shop. "He was at breakfast, but I haven't seen him since."
That was right- where was Ford? Normally he went down to the lab right before the Emporium opened, but Mason hadn't even seen him come into the gift shop that morning. Mason glanced back over at Mabel- he wondered if maybe it had to do with her. Ford might not want her to know about the lab behind the vending machine; it wasn't something they told the general public. At breakfast, Ford hadn't seemed to want Mason talking about the cave in front of her, which Mason had to admit made sense. If word got around town that there was something killing the life in the forest, people would panic.
And as nice as Mabel seemed, they really knew nothing about her. Stan said that she'd tell them about why she ran away when she was ready, but Mason couldn't blame Ford for not wanting her to know all their secrets.
"Eh, he's probably off doing some nerd junk," Wendy said, pulling Mason out of his thoughts. She waved a lazy hand above her magazine. "Ford does research on the stuff in the woods- it's all pretty boring, if you ask me."
Mason automatically leapt to his grunkle's defense. "Ford's work is not boring! It's fascinating! He runs tests on the things in the forest and learns about why they're there and where they came from, and that allows him to-" His voice dropped off as he realized both girls were hiding snickers behind their hands. "It's important work, okay?" Mason said, feeling his face burn.
"Dude, it's fine," Wendy said, setting her magazine on the counter. "We're just messing with you. It's great that you and Ford like the research stuff- I just prefer doing other things." Wendy winked, and Mason's mind flashed to her flying around the cave. "And if I had to guess, I'd say Mabel here is in the same boat as me."
Mabel laughed. "Yep, I'm pretty useless when it comes to math and-well, whatever other stuff you do for research. But it's really cool that you can do them!"
Unsure of how to handle the compliments, Mason gave a nervous laugh-shrug. "Heh, thanks."
"No problem. Anyway, now that Stan isn't here to judge me..." Wendy flipped her magazine back open, leaving Mason awkwardly leaning against the counter.
He fidgeted with a Mr. Mystery bobblehead, occasionally stealing glances back up at Wendy as she read. The day before, after she turned back to normal and they were walking home from the cave, she had pulled Mason aside to talk to him.
"Look, just... don't think of me any differently now that you know I'm-you know. I'm still..." She had hesitated, not meeting Mason's eye. "Just because I'm half dragon doesn't mean that I'm-"
Mason had frowned, not really sure what she was trying to say. "You're making it sound like being half-dragon is a bad thing."
"It is! I mean- it's not- but that's not what everyone in town thinks. They-" Wendy stared at the ground. "They think I'm a monster. Or, well, half monster. They hate the forest- they're scared of it- and they're scared of me, too." She sighed. "I've had a lot of friends leave me when they found out who I was. I just- I don't want to lose anyone else."
Wendy thinks I'm her friend Wendy thinks I'm her friend Wendy thinks- "But being half dragon is, like, the coolest thing ever!" Mason said fervently. "If they don't like you for that, then they're just a bunch of- uh- a bunch of-" He fumbled for a suitable insult, but came up empty.
At his words, Wendy had laughed. "Thanks, man. That means a lot. Just... just pretend like you don't even know." She drew a finger across her lips, zipping them shut.
Mason had nodded and returned the gesture. "Alright."
But, Mason realized as he watched her reading the magazine, that would be harder to do than he'd thought. Not for the same reason the townspeople treated her differently- in fact, the complete opposite. Even when he'd first arrived, Wendy had seemed so cool she was almost larger than life. Now that he knew she was half dragon too... her coolness levels had basically broken the charts.
How was he supposed to act the same now that he knew the true depths of her awesome? Mason had had a crush on her for a while, and knowing this wasn't doing anything to dispel it. He sighed inwardly. Maybe he should tell her about it-
No. No way. Just the thought of telling Wendy about his crush on her made Mason start sweating. He wiped his forehead- nope, nope, nope.
Wendy glanced up from her magazine. "Uh, you good, dude?"
"Y-yeah, I'm fine," Mason said, his cheeks burning furiously. As she turned back to her magazine, he slumped down. In a way, things would be a lot easier if he could tell her how he felt- for one, Mason wouldn't have to worry about hiding it from her. But- it was too risky. What if she thought he was weird? What if she didn't want to be his friend anymore? It would just mess everything up- Mason couldn't do it.
A dull thud echoed from behind them, making both Mason and Wendy jump- although Mason was glad to have the attention off of him. "Aw, man! That's the tallest we've gotten yet!"
Mason turned around to see Mabel and Soos down on their knees, assorted Mystery Twins Magic Emporium merchandise spread on the floor around them- everything from license plates to bobble heads to snow globes. Mason cocked his head. "What are you doing?"
"Making a tower!" Mabel said, looking up with a grin. "Soos got it halfway to my knee last time."
"We're trying to get it even taller than Mabel," Soos said. "But gravity conspires against us."
Mason hesitated. "Are you guys sure we should be using the merch as building blocks? What if Stan comes back, or- or a tourist comes in? Something could break!" Those snow globes especially looked like a disaster waiting to happen.
"Eh, you worry too much." Wendy slid out of her seat and walked over. "This beats waiting around for something to happen. Hey, what if we used the license plates as, like, layers? And put the bobbleheads in between."
"Ooh, good idea!" Mabel stacked four bobbleheads, and then placed a license plate on top of them. "Ta-da!"
Soos added another layer. "Wha-blam!"
Grinning in spite of himself, Mason made his way over as Wendy added a third stack of license plates and bobbleheads. "And- oh no."
The tower, now about level with Mason's knee, began to wobble before coming down with a crash. The foursome froze, waiting for Stan to burst in yelling about the racket.
When nothing happened, Mabel let out a relieved laugh, echoed by the others.
"Did anything break?" Mason asked, scouting the floor for broken glass. "Something might have landed on a snow globe and shattered it." He didn't think Stan would make them pay for any broken things, but- well, with Stan, you could never be sure.
"Nah, Stan cheaps out and gets plastic globes instead of glass ones." Wendy frowned. "Actually, that might just be because he doesn't trust us to handle glass."
Soos looked up from where he was holding three snow globes. "Why wouldn't Mr. Pines trust us with glass-" In trying to add a fourth globe to the stack, one, then two, then all three slipped out of his arms and hit the floor. He sighed. "Oh."
Wendy picked one up and showed off the uncracked surface. "But see? Not a mark on 'em."
Mason knelt down, scratching at his birthmark as he inspected the various tourist trap junk sprawled across the floor. "I think the problem was that the bobbleheads are too- well, bobbly." To demonstrate his point, Mason tweaked the head of one to send it shaking. "When you're building a tower, you've gotta have a sturdy base- at least, that's what I've read. What if instead we used-" He cast his eyes around the room. "The mugs? They're not gonna shake."
"Uh, I dunno, dood," Soos said. "The mugs are pretty breakable."
"Well, they won't break if they don't fall in the first place," Mason said with a fair amount more confidence than he felt.
Wendy grinned and pointed at him. "See? That's the attitude I'm wanting!"
Shrugging, Soos placed four yellow mugs marked with orange question marks on the ground, and Mabel handed Mason a license plate reading Mystery Seeker. "The real mystery is why anyone buys these," Mason said under his breath, making Mabel laugh. Mason blushed slightly- he hadn't meant for the others to hear that- but Mabel just grinned.
"Eh, people will buy anything to say they've been here." Wendy shrugged. "People are terrified of the stuff in the forest, but they like saying they came and still 'survived' or whatever. That's why Stan and Ford use fake stuff instead of the real things in the woods- people would rather feel safe with the lies than risk knowing the truth about what's out there."
Silence followed Wendy's statement as they added another layer of mugs and a license plate. "That was pretty deep," Mason said finally. He glanced over to see Mabel staring at the ground.
"Don't sound so surprised," Wendy said, lightly punching his shoulder. "I say deep stuff all the time."
"Doods, we're up to five layers! That's the highest it's gotten so far!" Soos said. "That's, like, way past Mabel's knee."
Mabel seemed to snap out of whatever she'd been thinking about. "Wait, seriously? Awesome!"
"Yeah, but we're not stopping, are we?" Wendy asked, a dangerous glint in her eye. "We're gonna keep going until we have the tallest tower of gift shop junk in the entire world!"
"We're probably already there," Mabel said. "I mean, how many towers of tourist trappy stuff can there be in the world?"
Wendy paused. "Touché. Well then, we'll have the tallest tower of gift shop junk in the universe! Take that, aliens."
Mason grinned, but his smile faltered as he looked back down at the tower. "Uh, the aliens may have to wait."
The others' heads snapped to him, then down at the stack of merchandise-which, as Mabel removed her hands from placing the next layer, was beginning to tremble ominously.
Wendy reacted first: as the top license plate clattered to the ground, she managed to catch three of the four mugs below it. Within the split second it happened, Mason wondered if her lightning-fast reflexes were a result of her dragon heritage or just all her practice fighting monsters- he then decided that whichever the answer was, it just made her more awesome.
"I got it! I got it!" Soos said, lunging for the fourth mug. It landed in his arms, but his momentum propelled him forward. "I got-"
Mason looked up and locked eyes with Mabel, and in that moment he would have sworn they each knew what the other was thinking. As Soos stumbled forward, Mason reached to stabilize one side of the precariously shaking tower while Mabel supported the other. Another license plate fell, and the four mugs under it wobbled.
Mason and Mabel steadied them as Soos recovered his balance, taking several steps backwards with exaggerated care. "Sorry, doods."
Mason tapped one of the lower mugs back into place. "I think we're fine now." He and Mabel both relaxed back onto their heels and carefully removed their hands from the tower.
As Mason pulled his hand back, though, it bumped the top mug. He whipped his hand back and out of the way, but it was too late- almost in slow motion, the tower came crashing down.
Wendy's reflexes allowed her to snatch one of the mugs, but the other three could only scramble out of the way as the tower collapsed in a mess of merchandise. Mason felt the color drain from his face as he looked at the mess, complete with shards of broken ceramic from at least one mug. "Grunkle Stan is gonna kill us."
"No, he's-" Wendy hesitated. "Well, he won't kill us. Maybe just- slightly maim?"
Mabel scooted further away from the disaster, staring at the ground. "This is all my fault- I started building the tower. I've not even been here for a day and I've already messed everything up!"
"No, it's my fault," Mason said. "I suggested we use the mugs."
Wendy glanced across the room at the Employee's Only door, then at the door leading outside. "If we make a run for it, I bet we can get out of here and into the woods before Stan comes downstairs."
Soos, too, was staring at the Employee's Only door with a frown. "I think it's a little too late for that."
Sure enough, the door burst open. "What in the blazes is going on down here?" Stan demanded. "I told you to hold down the fort, not drop every piece of merch we own! At least tell me you didn't-" His eyes landed on the ruins of the tower, which Mabel belatedly tried to block from sight.
"S- sorry, Grunkle Stan," Mason said. "It's my fault."
"No, it's all our faults," Wendy said. "We were trying to build a tower with the merch, and- well, it fell down. As you can probably tell. Sorry?"
Stan marched across the room and stared down at them and the mess on the floor, his expression unreadable. Mason fidgeted under his gaze, anxiously awaiting his great-uncle's verdict.
Then Stan started to laugh.
Mason exchanged a worried look with Mabel as Stan guffawed above them. This was not the reaction he was expecting. "Does- does this mean you aren't mad?"
"Mad? Don't worry, I'm plenty mad," Stan said, taking a deep breath. "This is just the funniest thing I've seen in a while."
"We're really, really sorry!" Mabel said fervently. "We'll- clean it up, and-"
Stan arched an eyebrow at them. "You'd best bet you'll be cleaning it up- and if you do a good enough job, I probably won't take it out of your pay."
Mason frowned. "Grunkle Stan, you don't pay me."
"All the more reason to do a good job cleaning, then," Stan said. Mason was about to protest that that didn't even make sense, but thought better of it and closed his mouth. "Broom's behind the counter," Stan added, turning his back as he let out a loud cough- one that sounded suspiciously like a snort of laughter.
Mabel was the first to move, heading over to get the broom and dustpan from behind the counter and then setting to work sweeping up the shards of ceramic. Wendy let out a long-suffering sigh, but began pulling the license plates out of the way while Soos sorted out the mugs that were still intact.
Mason grabbed the dustpan and held it while Mabel swept up the debris. A small cloud of dust poofed into Mason's face, making him sneeze. Mabel laughed and covered her mouth. "Sorry."
"No worries. And, uh- nice job stabilizing the tower," Mason said. "Sorry that I- you know- ended up messing it up and getting us all in trouble."
"No, I'm sorry. I started this whole thing." She sighed. "Stan and Ford were so nice to take me in, and then I go do something like this. I just can't seem to-" Mabel paused, as if she were trying to figure out what to say next. "It's like I can't do anything." From the way she said it, Mason wondered if she was talking about something beyond just the broken tower.
Most of the dust was in the pan, so Mason walked over to dump it in the trash can. Mabel followed with the broom. "I- I know how you feel," Mason said hesitantly, thinking of Wendy and the idea of confessing his crush to her.
Mabel cracked a half smile at him. "Hopefully we'll both figure it out," she said. Mason smiled back.
Wendy walked over to the trash can and brushed off her hands into it. "So, Stan, does our cleaning job meet your standards?"
Stan arched an eyebrow at her. "For your sake, I hope so." He looked down at the patch of wood, which, if Mason did say so himself, looked pretty good. Stan, too, apparently couldn't find anything wrong with it. "I guess today's youth aren't entirely useless after all."
Wendy rolled her eyes. "Thank you so very much."
"You're welcome." Stan grabbed his cane off the ground and crossed his arms. "Now go. You all get the rest of the day off."
The other three were as shocked by Stan's words as Mason was, judging by their expressions. "Uh, Stan, are you feeling all right?" Wendy asked, frowning. "This is the second time in two days you've given us half the day off. Actually, today, it's like not even half the day- we've barely been here an hour. What gives?" Her eyes narrowed. "You're not some kind of shapeshifter, are you? This is the real Stan?"
Stan snorted. "You wish I was a shapeshifter. Look, it's been a- a slow week, so there's not much point in me paying you to just hang around and break my merchandise. Might as well let you go and enjoy the fresh air, or- whatever it is kids do in their free time." He paused, then amended, "Kids and Soos."
"Well then, no need to tell me twice," Wendy said, turning and marching out the door. After a moment of hesitation, Soos followed, leaving only Mason and Mabel facing Stan. Mason looked at his great-uncle.
"Grunkle Stan, is- is everything okay?"
Stan's expression softened, and Mason could see worry lines creasing his forehead. "Just boring adult stuff. Don't let it worry you, kid. Go enjoy your summer- after all, your parents didn't send you up here to spend all of it working."
Mason hesitated, but then nodded and moved towards the door with Mabel trailing after. He hoped everything was okay- but Stan and Ford had been in the business for years. They knew what they were doing.
He let that thought reassure him as they headed out onto the porch, where Wendy was leaning against the wall with a lazy grin.
"We should break the merch more often," she said.
An early chapter in honor of @BrightnessWings19's birthday!