Again, I have no excuses other than I've been writing elsewhere. But thank you for this book being #1 in the MabelXGideon tag!
"What? You made a deal with Bill?"
"It was a different time, Mabel. I didn't know as much about Bill as I do now. He looked away. "I understand how this must make you feel. But I also know what Pacifica has gotten herself into."
"So is there a way to break their deal?" Gideon asked.
"I don't understand any of this." Melody exclaimed.
"I'm afraid not." Ford said. "Once she shook his hand the deal was made and cannot be broken. But, we can use this to our advantage."
"How?" Ford took out his journal and flipped to a page that had a picture of Bill shaking a disembodied hand.
"Bill's deals are fully committed. As much as the person who makes the deal is bound, so is Bill. He is contractually obligated to fulfill his half of the deal."
"If he can't pay up, he has to back out of the deal." Gideon said, glancing at me. Obviously we knew this from our conversation with Bill, but Ford didn't need to know that.
"If my theory is correct, then yes." Ford said. "Do you know what Pacifica asked for in the deal?"
"She asked for some of Bill's power." Gideon said. "She wants to gain control of Gravity Rises, then the world."
"But he already gave her that I thought." I said. "Isn't that what made her go crazy?"
"Well, there goes that plan." Ford sighed.
"Well, wait." Melody added. "What about Pacifica? Doesn't she have to give him something?"
"Well, yes, but usually what Bill's looking for is a vessel. Somebody to aid him in his final goal: manifesting himself into the physical realm."
"So he wants to possess her?" I asked.
"That's right."
"But she'd already made the deal last time we saw her, and she didn't look possessed."
"Her eyes, Mabel. You need to check her eyes. If someone's possessed by Bill, their eyes will turn yellow and their pupils will extend vertically. Did her eyes look like that?"
"No." Gideon said. "Her eyes looked like those of a madman, but they were hers." I thought about what Bill had said to us about gathering a group of people. A group that involved me.
"Has she spoken to her parents lately? I can't stand that Pleasure man any more than his obnoxious child, but I can't imagine he'd let her get too bad."
"She refuses to see them." Gideon said. "She's shut herself in her trailer. Not even her employees see her unless they're bringing her things."
"That's ridiculous!" Ford stood up and took his glasses off, rubbing his face. "Ugh... alright, here's the plan for the time being. Melody: open up the Shack again. We've won back the business that the Tent of Telepathy had stolen, and we'd be stupid to deny ourselves sales. You two." He turned back to me and Gideon. "Stay here. for the love of all things holy. I have no idea why you always think that running off into the woods in December is a good idea." And with that, he made his way back to the elevator. "Well, come on. I don't want you three stuck down here while I'm gone."
While Ford went off to talk to Pacifica's parents, I sat behind the counter in the gift shop so Melody could lead a tour in the museum. When the tour ended and made its way into the gift shop, Melody joined me."
"Hey Mabes. This whole demon thing is kinda scary, isn't it?"
"Yeah, I guess so. I'm kind of used to it now though?" I shrugged. Melody leaned against the counter as I checked out an old lady.
"What do you reckon he wants?" I decided to be honest.
"He wants a specific group of people. I don't know who, and I don't know why. But I know that apparently, I'm part of it."
"...yikes."
"Hey, you're handling this pretty well. What's your secret?" Melody chuckled and shrugged.
"I dunno. I've been working for Mister Pines for a few years now though. Originally I was just supposed to be kinda like a caretaker, y'know, getting his meds, grocery shopping, making sure he actually eats- that's the hard part, by the way. But pretty early on into the job I started helping out in the Mystery Shack, and then I kinda fell into his paranormal stuff. He used to always go out investigating when he was younger. But he stopped around thirty years ago."
"Why?" She shrugged again.
"I dunno. He doesn't like to talk about it, so I don't push. But he's talked about it enough to where I'm pretty used to it. He's always got everything under control in the end, even though it doesn't look like it." She gestured to the other side of the shop, where a shelf holding merchandise was being held up by a broom. "Like the Shack! It's a literal nightmare, and if it ever got investigated Ford would probably be facing a pretty big lawsuit, but it still attracts the crowds. I mean, it's the offseason and I just gave a tour! Speaking of which..." She checked her watch. "I gotta go give my 3:30 tour. But hey, good luck with this demon stuff." She left the shop, leaving me alone aside from a few customers still in the shop.
I sighed. If Some demon wanted me that badly, couldn't he just make it easy and tell me why?